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“We did get a little bit of swing [against GT] but that came at the expense of getting a dry ball, which probably affected Yuzi a little bit,” PBKS assistant coach Hopes said

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2025To continue with the same ball to try to get some reverse swing or opt for a drier ball to ensure spinners can grip the ball better? Punjab Kings (PBKS) will weigh up the options before making a decision, their assistant coach James Hopes said ahead of their IPL 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).Before the start of the season, the IPL decided to revoke the ban on the use of saliva on the ball and allowed one ball change on demand by the fielding team after the tenth over of the second innings in evening games.”Arshdeep [Singh] enjoyed it [against Gujarat Titans (GT)],” Hopes said. “He was worked on the ball properly with saliva, and we did get a little bit of swing in that last game at the end. But, to be fair, that came at the expense of getting a dry ball as well because we didn’t change our ball, and that probably affected Yuzi [Yuzvendra Chahal] a little bit as well because he wasn’t bowling with the dry ball for that game.Related

• LSG aim to take down Punjab Kings in bowler-friendly Lucknow

• Thakur: 'All bowlers want is a fair chance'

• KKR coach bats for home teams getting favourable conditions

• Fleming: 'No home advantage at Chepauk'

“So we have to weigh up what we’re going to need the most: whether we’re going to need to try and get a little bit of tail with the older ball or whether we’re going to need to give our world-class spinner a dry ball to make an impact within the last ten overs of the innings.”Tuesday’s match will be played on a red-soil pitch, which has plenty of grass covering. Hopes said he expected a “spin-heavy night out” at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.”I think it’s fine to have a home-ground advantage,” he said. “If that home-ground advantage is [that] you have a spin-heavy attack and you can play on a spinning wicket, that’s fine. At the end of the day, if you’re playing there – like you only play one game there – you’ve just got to prepare accordingly and try to combat that. It’s fine in a competition that in the last two years has got very batting-centric – like the scores are starting to get large. Teams can play with a little bit of home-ground advantage. I haven’t seen a pitch that’s unplayable by any means.”

‘Bowlers raving about Shreyas Iyer’

At PBKS, Hopes has been reunited with Shreyas Iyer – the pair had previously worked together at Delhi Capitals (DC). Iyer, who is leading PBKS after taking Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the title last season, entered the IPL after being India’s highest run-getter at the Champions Trophy. Hopes talked up Iyer’s calmness on the field, especially in high-pressure situations.”His batting is world-class, and has got to a point in the last seven weeks – with what he’s done at the Champions Trophy and the rest of it – that he’s now considered one of the better short-format players in the world,” Hopes said. “From a captaincy viewpoint, he keeps everything calm on the field. The bowlers were raving about it after the first game (against GT) that how clear he is with his communication, how calm he is when the ball’s flying around, [and] when the game gets on the line.”

da brdice： Tottenham are now targeting a Premier League star who’s rejected several attempts from his club to agree a contract extension, according to a fresh report, with the player also very keen to play in the Champions League.

Related Tottenham moving for £78m "crown jewel" signing after arrival of new investor

Spurs have fresh financial backing.

Posts 2 ByEmilio Galantini Jul 30, 2025

da betsson： Spurs have a few key areas of Thomas Frank’s squad they still wish to strengthen before deadline day on September 1.

After missing out on Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White in bizarre fashion, the north Londoners remain in pursuit of fresh attacking options to instill some much-needed creativity.

Tottenham’s best-performing regulars in the Premier League – 2024/2025

Average match rating

Son Heung-min

7.00

James Maddison

6.98

Pedro Porro

6.95

Dominic Solanke

6.84

Dejan Kulusevski

6.83

via WhoScored

According to some reports, Tottenham have held talks with intermediaries over an audacious move for Real Madrid forward Rodrygo, which would potentially require chairman Daniel Levy to shatter the club’s transfer record (AS).

A new number six is also possible, if Spurs make room in their squad by selling a midfielder (Alasdair Gold), with reliable media sources confirming that Bayern Munich and former Fulham star, Joao Palhinha, is on their list of targets.

Another area to look out for is at centre-half, despite Frank’s current abundance of defenders.

Kevin Danso, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Radu Dragusin and Luka Vuskovic are on Tottenham’s books right now, but the latter two may not be solid options to call upon ahead of the new season.

Vuskovic is still raw and could go out on loan again, as is the case with Ashley Phillips after he sealed a return to Stoke City, while Dragusin is still in recovery from a crushing ACL injury.

Tottenham were forced to utilise teenager Archie Gray as a makeshift centre-half amid their injury nightmare under Ange Postecoglou last season, and Frank will be very keen not to suffer the same fate as his predecessor.

Spurs are believed to remain contenders for Crystal Palace star Marc Guehi as a result, coming after they had a mammoth £70m offer rejected for the Englishman in January, but he isn’t the only Premier League stalwart on Levy’s agenda.

Tottenham eye Brighton contract rebel Jan Paul van Hecke

According to Voetbal International and reporter Joost Blaauwhof, Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke is attracting interest from N17 too.

The Dutchman’s form last season prompted a call to the Netherlands international team, whilst also winning Brighton’s Player of the Season award following a stellar 2024/2025.

Brighton, for their part, are desperate to agree an extension and have made ‘several’ new deal offers. Fabian Hurzeler’s side were even prepared to table a record-breaking new contract by making van Hecke the highest-paid player in their history.

However, the 25-year-old has no interest in committing his future, and he’s firmly set his sights on a move away.

According to Voetbal, Tottenham are eyeing a move for van Hecke alongside Newcastle, with the former NAC Breda sensation dreaming of moving to a Champions League side.

Tony Bloom and co have priced van Hecke at around £43m, which could be seen as amazing value considering both his age and proven top-level experience. Just two years remain on the player’s current contract, though, so there is scope for Levy to even whittle down this price tag.

South Australian seamer will be available for the Division Two club’s County Championship fixtures in May

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2025

This will be Conway’s first taste of County Cricket•Getty Images

Australian seamer Harry Conway has signed a deal with Northamptonshire to play in the County Championship during May.Conway will join Wantage Road for four Division Two matches. His first will be against Leicestershire (May 2) before fixtures against Lancashire, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire.The 32-year-old has made three appearances for Sheffield Shield finalists South Australia this winter, taking eight wickets at 27.12. A quick bowler capable of extracting decent bounce, Conway reinforces Northamptonshire’s seam options which were diminished by the loss of Jack White to Yorkshire at the end of last season.A former Australia U19, Conway came through at New South Wales, before eventually swapping states with a move to the Adelaide Oval in 2022. He boasts a first-class record of 119 wickets at 28.86 across 46 appearances.Conway joins fellow South Australian Darren Lehmann who now heads up the coaching team at Northamptonshire. Both he and South African Matthew Breetzke are the club’s overseas options for the first half of the season, before the arrival of India leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal from June until the end of the season.”I’m super excited for the opportunity to come over and try and win games for an awesome County,” said Conway in a statement released on Friday. “The team is full of young talent, and I can’t wait to play under an international standard coach in Darren Lehmann.”Lehmann believes Conway’s skillsets will see him thrive during his stint. “Harry perfectly fits the mould of English conditions and will hopefully help us get off to a positive start.””The experience that he brings will be invaluable, especially on the wickets that we’ll play on early in the season.”

The former allrounder, now president of the ACA, believes outside investment can bring fresh ideas and approaches

Daniel Brettig16-Feb-2021Shane Watson, the Australian Cricketers’ Association president, believes Cricket Australia should re-examine the notion of private ownership of BBL clubs, a decade after the governing body’s initial “float” of stakes in the T20 league met a quiet end.Private ownership of BBL clubs, the tournament model favoured by a large portion of overseas domestic leagues including the IPL, PSL, CPL and BPL, was a contentious issue at the time CA elected to move towards new identities for eight T20 teams, with a prospectus drawn up and a business mission taken to India to gauge private interest in the idea. Some of the initial structures of the BBL clubs, namely the independent boards and chief executives of the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades, were drawn up partly with private investment in mind.CA’s executives, led by the then CEO James Sutherland and former head of strategy Andrew Jones, were cooler about the idea than some members of the CA board, and the idea fizzled out as the league was launched on a trajectory towards securing a far larger slice of an A$1.2 billion broadcast rights pie in 2018. Three years on, with CA embroiled in a battle with Seven West Media over the network’s campaign for a discount to its fees and Covid-19 affecting events more broadly, Watson reckons the concept should be revisited.Related

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“Yes, it 100% needs a revisit, and it’s a way to continue to get a cash injection as well,” Watson told ESPNcricinfo. “Obviously they’d need to set things up to put things in place to make sure CA still have control that they desire across the franchises and the playing group, but absolutely, it’ll bring in an influx of different people, new money as well, to be able to continue to grow the game. So I think that absolutely would be a big step forward.”There are plenty of other backers of private investment around the ACA board table: chairman Greg Dyer and director Neil Maxwell – also a Cricket New South Wales board member – have both publicly advocated for the concept in the past. Others with considerable knowledge of the area include the NSW Cricket chairman John Knox, who in his former role with Credit Suisse drew up the prospectus when privatisation was first mooted in 2010-11. Much of the opposition to private investment focused on differing priorities between team owners and governing bodies.Other models are emerging however. Private equity investment, as is currently being explored by New Zealand Rugby to exploit the All Blacks brand, presents the opportunity to somewhat tilt the balance in negotiations over a whole range of commercial areas for a club or tournament.”I’ve seen it in a lot of the tournaments I’ve played in, one thing when you have private owners is it brings in a new type of person, a new type of industry, new money streams into a very traditional cricket environment,” Watson said. “It’s the same sort of sponsors, the same people who’ve always been around cricket in Australia for example, so if you open it up to privatisation it means you’re getting some very successful people or business with different ideas on how to be able to expand things, make them better, challenge the status quo.”Not just from a financial point of view but also just from a brand and evolution point of view. I’ve always been very surprised it hasn’t been something that CA have looked at, and gone for. I’ve seen it work so incredibly well in the IPL and the PSL for example, because it brings in new, successful people, new money into something that’s been, in CA’s case, the same sort of status quo for a long period of time.”Speaking on other issues around the game, Watson expressed his disappointment that dressing room questions about the mentoring style of the coach Justin Langer had reached the public domain, but said that it was incumbent on administrators to be “proactive” about how the national team’s leaders were operating relative to the ever-changing nature of the dressing room.”The biggest thing is having the right person at the right time, the right coach or the right captain at the right time,” Watson said. “People retire, people come in and out of the team and as soon as a couple of people move in and out of the team, that can change the whole dynamic of what’s required from a coaching or leadership perspective. That’s where we have to make sure we are really proactive, because when the decision-makers aren’t proactive around what’s required right now, that’s when we can get into trouble.”Watson noted that it was vital for the game’s custodians to be aware also that – whatever might be said publicly – leadership roles in Australian cricket were highly sought-after as prizes with rich rewards for their holders, meaning that it was critical that open discussions were had about whether anyone might be hanging onto them for too long.”That is one of the biggest things – are the people who want to be the captain of Australia doing it because that’s just been their whole goal and that’s all they want, and they’ll do anything they can to get to the top, and that’s not just in the Australian cricket team, that’s leadership in general,” he said.”What are the reasons why you want to be in the top position, is it because it’s all about you and you’ve always wanted that and you’ll just make sure you get there and then you make sure you stay there. For all different reasons, whether it’s sponsorship or marketing, whether it’s just because you love being the main man.Or whether it’s the other side of things: you love helping people, you love getting the best out of them, you weren’t chasing it, but once you got an opportunity, then you loved helping people out and guiding people. The person who stands out straight away to me there is Ricky Ponting; he was never chasing the captaincy, a great team man, but then when he got it, yes he was a leader, but he still cared about others, it wasn’t just about him.Shane Watson has branched out into producing cricket equipment•T20stars

“For some of these coaches, [Australia] is a huge job. You’re the one who’s pointing the ship of Australian cricket in one direction, you’re making the call, that’s your vision filtering down through all the layers. You’re dealing with the media, with the board, with the playing group to get the best out of them, and then your coaching staff as well. So of course, the coach of Australia does get paid incredibly well, and there’s no question that’s going to be one of the reasons why some people hang in a bit longer, because it’s such a big carrot dangling in front of them.”In addition to his ACA role, Watson has ventured into the bats and equipment game, arguing he is trying to “break the model” of established brands and high overheads with a direct-to-customer model based largely upon online sales under the T20 Stars umbrella with which he has also launched a podcast.”I’ve always been a cricket gear tragic since I was a kid, so I’m very particular about every little detail of my gear,” he said. “When it comes to challenging the pricing model that’s out there, it’s just something that when I really started to dig into it I had the realisation of just how expensive cricket gear has got from when I first started playing in my early years. My parents certainly weren’t wealthy, they just got together enough money for me to be able to feel like I never went without.”But nowadays there’s no way they could’ve afforded the top of the range gear. So when I dug into why things have got so expensive, there is a really simple way to be able to break that model down, which is going direct to consumer…and that means the people buying the equipment because they want to get into the game, can actually get it more affordably, just because it’s going directly to them.”The biggest challenge is that everyone’s used to going to cricket shops to try the gear and feel the bats. Absolutely there has to be a way for people to touch and feel the gear as well. I’m getting some guys I played cricket with around the states to be like the agents to get gear into people’s hands, and in Sydney I’ll be getting out to schools and clubs to allow them to see the products.” Shane Watson’s cricket equipment is available at shop.t20stars.com

Recent results aside, things are generally looking up for Tottenham Hotspur at the moment.

They have a popular manager in the hot seat who is dedicated to playing aesthetically pleasing, attacking football, and while they might not make the Champions League, they stand a great chance of qualifying for the Europa League.

Moreover, with the summer transfer window right around the corner, the club have an opportunity to flex their financial muscles a bit and really back Ange Postecoglou's vision.

That said, alongside bringing some players into the club, Daniel Levy and Co must cut the deadwood, and there is one high earner in particular that simply has to go.

Tanguy Ndombele's Spurs career

Come on, who else could it have been?

French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele joined Spurs from Ligue 1 giants Lyon in the summer of 2019, attracting considerable fanfare from supporters and pundits alike due to his impressive performances in his home country and the Champions League.

For example, in an assessment that might still haunt him to this day, The Athletic's Jack Pitt-Brooke wrote (for the Independent) that 'The £55million arrival of Tanguy Ndombele from Olympique Lyonnais is not just the most important football signing of the summer, but the loudest statement about the direction of any club for years.'

However, in his defence, most of us thought he would be a hit signing at the time, as just a year prior, Pep Guardiola described the Lyon team he was a part of as being "full of quality" after it was reported that the Spaniard encouraged Manchester City to sign the midfielder ahead of Spurs.

Fortunately for them, the Lilywhites got their man, and despite the odd good performance here and there, the Frenchman has never been able to live up to the expectations people had for him, often being labelled as "lazy" by fans and pundits for his apparent lack of effort on the pitch.

Appearances

91

Goals

10

Assists

9

Goal Involvements per Match

0.20

The 27-year-old has made 91 appearances for the club since 2019, scoring ten goals, providing nine assists, and leaving on loan three times, and to make matters worse, when he returns from his current loan, he'll be the club's top earner.

Tanguy Ndombele's salary at Spurs

When Ndombele joined the North Londoners in 2019 for £63m, he was handed a massive £200k-per-week deal, which, at the time, made him the joint-top earner at the club alongside Harry Kane and means that he's currently making more money than club captain and icon Heung-min Son, who makes around £190k-per-week.

His mammoth salary comes to around £10.4m-per-season, which means, for the first two and a half years at the club, he earned £26m before spending the second half of the 2021/22 campaign on loan with Lyon.

With it clear that he no longer had a future in N17, Antonio Conte agreed to send the central midfielder on loan to Serie A giants Napoli last season, who paid €3.5m – £3m – towards his salary, leaving Tottenham to foot the other £7.4m.

Whereas this year, his new loan club, Galatasaray agreed to pay just €3.1m – £2.6m – meaning Postecoglou's Spurs are still paying a massive £7.8m for a player they clearly do not want.

Transfer Fee

£63m

Wages (Total)

£200k (£41.2m)

Appearances

91

Cost per Appearance

£1.1m

Goals

10

Cost per Goal

£10.4m

Assists

9

Cost per Assist

£11.5m

Goal Involvements

19

Cost per Goal Involvement

£5.4m

Therefore, when combining the Frenchman's wages from his time in England and on loan with his transfer fee, the total cost will amount to a whopping £104.2m by the end of the season, and it could be even higher depending on the agreement the club had with Lyon in 2021/22.

In other words, the Longjumeau-born flop cost Spurs around £1.1m-per-appearance, £10.4m-per-goal, or £11.5m-per-assist – talk about value for money.

Ultimately, while there have undoubtedly been worse players to have represented Tottenham in the past, the sheer amount of money involved here has to make Ndombele one of the worst transfers in the club's history, and if Galatasaray do not take up their €15m – £13m – option to buy at the end of the season, Levy and Co must be cold and terminate his deal.

Spurs were rinsed by Poch's "deadwood" who earned more than Van de Ven

The Pochettino-backed flop cost the Lilywhites an awful lot of money.

ByJack Salveson Holmes May 7, 2024

Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly seems to have entered pole position for a £56 million forward signing, and a bid has already gone in pre-summer.

Chelsea making transfer plans amid PSR worries

Much has been made of Chelsea's waning ability to comply with Profit and Sustainability regulations, so much so that there have been suggestions that Mauricio Pochettino's side could have to raise £100 million through player sales by June 30.

Boehly willing to ditch Lukaku to bring £77m "force of nature" to Chelsea

Reports say the £97.5m flop could be on the chopping block.

ByJosh Barker May 5, 2024

However, despite their financial worries and doubts surrounding Pochettino's future at Chelsea after an inconsistent season, Boehly and Chelsea transfer chiefs remain in planning for the 2024/2025 season.

The west Londoners, it is believed, are keen to bring in a world-class striker to add that extra bit of goal threat in the forward areas. Chelsea are targeting Napoli star Victor Osimhen as one option this summer, but Fabrizio Romano has backed that PSR will have a major say on whether they move for the Nigerian.

“I think Chelsea will be there,” the transfer expert said in March (via CaughtOffside).

Cole Palmer

21

Nicolas Jackson

13

Raheem Sterling

6

Conor Gallagher

5

Noni Madueke

5

“The interest is still there. It is really important to understand what is happening; first of all with the FFP situation because Chelsea do not want to overpay, so it is important to know how much the package is going to be for Victor Osimhen.

"We already know about the release clause between €120m-€130m with Napoli so Chelsea and other clubs are waiting to see if Napoli can be flexible but usually with their president, De Laurentiis, it is usually very tough to go there and negotiate, especially for a fantastic player like Victor Osimhen.

“It will then be important to see how much Osimhen wants in terms of salary and his contract. So there are some crucial financial points to sort out before Chelsea can say ‘ok’ and go for Osimhen.”

Chelsea are also eager to bring in more top young talent from across the globe, adding to their large crop of young, exciting signings which have already been made during the Boehly era.

Indeed, another bright starlet attracting their attention is Palmeiras forward Estevao Willian, with reports suggesting recently that Chelsea have been preparing a bid for Estevao.

Chelsea table offer for Estevao as they enter pole position

Now, according to journalist Jorge Nicola on YouTube, relayed by The Chelsea Chronicle, Chelsea's bid worth a total of €65m (£56m) has already gone in for Estevao as they become a "favourite" to sign him.

“I told you a few days ago that there was a big dispute between three English clubs. There is already a favourite. This team is Chelsea, the one that is willing to pay above the 60 million euros release clause," said Nicola.

“Neither Chelsea nor their two English rivals want to pay that fixed €60m for the deal to go through. The idea is to pay a lump sum and the rest in bonuses. And to try and convince Palmeiras to do the deal, Chelsea have already offered €40m in a lump sum and €25m in bonuses.”

Called a "real phenomenon", tipped for the Balon d'Or and likened to Lionel Messi by his agent Andre Crury, this transfer could be an exciting one to watch at Stamford Bridge.

Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke has showcased his willingness to trust and develop academy talents in his debut season with the Yorkshire-based side.

The German boss worked the likes of James Maddison, Ben Godfrey, Max Aarons, and Emiliano Buendia during his time with Norwich City, and has now provided Mateo Joseph and Archie Gray with opportunities to shine this season.

Gray, who was 17 at the start of the campaign, made his senior debut under the Whites manager this term and has racked up 36 appearances in the Championship so far.

The England U21 international is the first-choice option for Farke at right-back, whilst Joseph is currently the back-up to Patrick Bamford in the number nine position, and this shows that the tactician is prepared to bring academy gems into the team if they are good enough and ready to feature.

This bodes well for the array of talent currently occupying the U21 and U18 teams at Thorp Arch, as they know that the club have a manager who will not ignore them if they perform to a high level, in matches and in training.

Current U18s star Josh McDonald is one player who could have his eyes on a future place in the first-team, and Farke could eventually unearth him as a homegrown heir to Dan James, who has had somewhat of a revival at Elland Road this season.

Dan James' initial struggles at Leeds

In the summer of 2021, former Leeds duo Marcelo Bielsa and Victor Orta swooped to sign the Wales international from Manchester United for a reported fee of £25m.

The forward started regularly throughout the 2021/22 campaign for Bielsa, and then his replacement Jesse Marsch, but failed to deliver goals and assists at an impressive rate.

He produced four goals, with eight 'big chances' missed, and assisted four for his teammates, with 0.8 key passes per game, over 31 Premier League starts.

His less-than-impressive form at the top end of the pitch, after a big £25m move to Elland Road, led to a loan to league rivals Fulham for the 2022/23 campaign.

22/23 Premier League	Dan James
Appearances	24
Starts	7
Goals	2
Assists	1
Key passes per game	0.4
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, James also struggled during his time with the Cottagers as he only racked up three direct goal contributions in 24 matches.

His lack of end product on the wing in the Premier League may have contributed to Fulham's decision to send him back to Elland Road last summer, instead of attempting to sign him on a permanent basis.

That did, however, provide Leeds and Farke with an opportunity to help him regain his confidence by playing regular football in the Championship this season.

Dan James' impressive form this season

The 26-year-old speedster has started 24 of his 34 appearances in the second tier for the Whites so far this season, and has showcased his quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals.

James has plundered an eye-catching 12 goals and seven assists in those 24 starts – a return of one goal or assist every 1.26 starts on average in the league.

Only Wilfried Gnonto (2.72) has outscored his Expected Goals by more than James (1.8) within the Leeds squad, as the electric winger has found the back of the net 12 times from an xG of 10.2.

This shows that the former Manchester United forward has been efficient in front of goal, and not wasted many opportunities to get his name on the scoresheet.

The Welsh wizard has also showcased his creativity with 12 'big chances' created and 1.5 key passes per game across his 34 league matches for Leeds this term. He ranks within the top 5% of Championship attacking midfielders and wingers for Expected Assisted Goals (0.29) per 90, and the top 8% for assists (0.30) per 90.

These statistics show that the Whites star has been an excellent operator as both a scorer and a creator of goals, whilst having the quality to operate on either the right or the left wing for Farke.

In total, James has racked up 16 goals and 12 assists in 77 appearances in all competitions since he made the move to Leeds in the summer of 2021, which is a return of 2.75 matches per game on average.

Josh McDonald's Leeds potential

Leeds swooped to sign McDonald from Scottish side Hamilton Academical in the summer of 2023, at the age of 16, amid interest from Premiership giants Glasgow Rangers.

Football Insider quoted an unnamed Scotland U18 coach as describing the talented teenager as an "exceptional" young gem, which is why he played for his country at U18 level despite being just 16 at the time.

The outlet noted the club's desire to bolster the quality of their youth teams across the board, which is why they were keen to sign the 16-year-old to add him to their U18 group.

McDonald has been playing for Leeds at that level so far this season and has caught the eye with his contributions at the top end of the pitch.

Like James, the Scottish wizard has the ability to play on either the left or the right side of the attack, rather than being restricted to one or the other, and that could help his first-team chances as he could fill in for multiple positions.

As you can see in the table below, McDonald has featured regularly for the club in the league and the cup during his debut campaign in English football.

23/24 season
Josh McDonald	FA Youth Cup	U18 Premier League
Appearances	4	17
Minutes played	344	1,028
Goals	0	5
Assists	1	3
Stats via Transfermarkt

He has racked up eight direct goal contributions in 17 appearances for the U18s this season, which is a return of one goal or assist every 2.13 outings on average – better than James' Leeds career average of one every 2.75 games.

These statistics show that McDonald, like the Wales international, can both score and create goals at a decent rate from either the right or left wing.

At the age of 17, the Scottish maestro also has plenty of time left to develop and progress over the years to come, and could be a player Farke keeps an eye on for the future as a possible long-term homegrown heir to James, who is nine years older than him.

It would be a dream scenario for Leeds and the German boss as the club would not need to splash out millions on a replacement for the Welshman, should McDonald continue to progress and emerge as a senior option.

Ireland’s rebuilding paid dividends at the Ageas Bowl, but can that win be a launchpad?

Matt Roller at the Ageas Bowl05-Aug-2020

Andy Balbirnie notched up his sixth century in ODIs•AFP via Getty Images

Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie admitted that he would watch Tuesday’s win against England “four or five times” during his 14-day quarantine period upon returning to Dublin. But there’s no doubt that, along with the rest of the Irish hierarchy, he will be thinking of ways to build on that result, too. Here are five ways to do just that…Ireland’s XI for the final match had an average age of just 26, making it their youngest ODI side since 2010; only two years earlier, against Zimbabwe in March 2018, they had fielded their oldest-ever team. In this series, Balbirnie took the bold call to leave out his predecessor, with 20-year-old Harry Tector preferred to William Porterfield at No. 4. He also backed Gareth Delany (23), Lorcan Tucker (23) and Curtis Campher (21) throughout, while Josh Little (20) impressed in the second ODI.There are hopes that either JJ Garth, a reserve throughout this series, or Jacob Mulder can fill the long-term wristspinning void, while there are now signs of genuine seam-bowling depth, with the quicks performing creditably in this series despite injury limiting Barry McCarthy to five legitimate deliveries.”It’s been a process since May 2019, really, since that ODI in Malahide,” said Niall O’Brien, the former Ireland wicketkeeper. “[Head coach] Graham Ford and the selectors have had an eye on the future. My feeling is that they’ve made the decision to go with the youngsters and they’re going to pursue it.ALSO READ: Echoes of Bangalore as Ireland chase 329 in historic win”They’re not going to learn anything about these players if they’re sitting on the bench. We may need to endure some tough days at the office, but who’s to say if they had played the more experienced heads the results would have been any different? The big thing is that they just need more cricket.”More regular fixtures against top opposition through the World Cup Super League will mean that those players are thrown in at the deep end. “There’s no hiding place anymore,” Balbirnie said. “Guys coming into the squad for the first time are going to be coming up against some of the best players in the world from the off. It’s sink or swim.”And while their returns in the series were mixed, the young players have to be backed all the way. Ireland have struggled to replace their golden generation over the last decade, but there are finally signs of a talented group coming through together. They must nurture them.Curtis Campher calmly upper-cuts for runs•Getty Images

Embrace the ‘granny rule’Irish sport has benefitted hugely from the ‘granny rule’ over the years, so called due to FIFA’s eligibility regulations which allow a player to represent a country so long as one grandparent was born there. Ireland’s broadly-spread diaspora – and relatively low barriers for getting a passport – have therefore enabled various players to represent their national teams, despite limited ties to the country.Curtis Campher is the latest example of how cricket has benefitted, following the path of other adopted Irishmen like Trent Johnston, Alex Cusack and Tim Murtagh. Campher happened to mention to Niall O’Brien that he had an Irish passport while batting in a tour game in early 2018. His initial hope was to play some club cricket, but within two years he had signed a development contract. He is still yet to play a match on Irish soil, but is already their most promising talent thanks to a stunning breakout series.”I don’t have any real problem with it,” O’Brien said. “You don’t just want anybody coming over – you don’t want to be emailing every county player in case they have Irish heritage. But if you can find someone like Campher, who is going to live in Dublin and play club cricket for YMCA, and really buy into it, then why not?”Nick Larkin, Daniel Worrall, Matt Dunn and South Africans Graham Hume and Ruhan Pretorius are among the players that could be convinced to qualify. And if there any feelings of unease, Ireland need only look to Hove as a reminder that the talent drain to England is still firmly in process. Sussex’s 19-year-old offspinner Jack Carson took 5 for 52 against Hampshire this week: he was brought up in County Armagh and played age-group cricket for Ireland, but has set out his stall to follow the Morgan, Joyce and Rankin route.One of the drawbacks of Ireland being awarded Test status is that their players can no longer play as locals in county cricket – unless, like Murtagh and Stuart Poynter, they decide to give up their international careers. Paul Stirling has an overseas contract with Northants for the upcoming T20 Blast but is currently the only current Ireland player who will play for a county this season.Previously, even being part of a county’s staff was a significant boost for Irish players. “It was pivotal,” O’Brien said. “I wouldn’t have reached anywhere near the level of consistency and professionalism I did without county cricket – no way.”Even if I wasn’t in the first team in Kent, I was still working with Geraint Jones, Matt Walker, Rob Key. Back in those days, you’d have been left to your own devices. The structure, coaching and facilities in Ireland now are a lot better, but the loss of county cricket to the Irish game is significant. It’ll take a long time to replicate and get players to that standard.”While the chances of being signed for a full season as an overseas are slim, some Ireland players should be able to put their names in the hat for 50-over cricket next season, with two overseas players permitted per side in the Royal London Cup and the best internationals likely to be signed up for the Hundred. If agents pitch them as young, talented and – most importantly – cheap options for teams’ second slots, then players like Balbirnie, Campher and Mark Adair should find suitors.A more radical move would be an attempt to enter that competition, possibly under the guise of Ireland Wolves, the national ‘A’ team. Ireland’s players got regular cricket through the Friends Provident/C&G Trophy from 2006-09 after it moved to a round-robin group stage, but rejected an invitation for the CB40 in 2010 citing a busy international schedule. The number of mid-summer fixtures has hardly increased since then, but sending a second-string side could be a worthwhile compromise.Gareth Delany pulls the ball away•Getty Images

Perhaps the Wolves entering the Royal London Cup is unlikely, but it would not even be worth speculating about if Irish domestic cricket was restructured. Ford said before the England series: “We’ve got to be honest and accept that the step-up from club cricket and inter-pro cricket to international cricket is pretty huge.”The inter-provincial system has three teams – Leinster Lightning, Northern Knights, North-West Warriors – and a fourth (Munster Reds) in T20 cricket. Leinster have been dominant across formats, with most of the country’s top players at Dublin clubs, and Balbirnie has suggested that some kind of player draft should be used to ensure good young players are not being left out.”We need the best 33 players playing, no matter what the situation, no matter who they’re playing for,” he told the Telegraph. “Sometimes Leinster, my team, can be quite strong and three or four lads will miss out who are definitely good enough to play in the competition but because of the region they’re in they don’t.”ALSO READ: Balbirnie, Stirling underline importance as Ireland take positive approachMeanwhile, Ireland cannot afford the Euro T20 Slam to fail again in 2021, after two aborted launches. “The purpose wasn’t for it to be a business proposition, it was primarily a performance one,” Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s CEO, told ESPNcricinfo earlier this year. “It came from a place of the three nations [Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland] not having too many players participating in global T20 competitions, and therefore Ireland’s ranking suffered.”If that is the case, it may be sensible to cut ties with the league’s organisers, who ran into financial difficulties during the Global T20 Canada in 2019, and run a lower-key competition among the three boards, with lower salary bands for overseas players and fewer of them per team.FundingWhile any of these steps may provide some benefits, the real silver bullet for Ireland is increased funding. The costs of staging cricket with no permanent home ground are eye-watering – hosting the Pakistan Test at Malahide in 2018 was estimated to cost around €1 million – while Deutrom has regularly pointed out that Ireland receive a paltry annual sum from the ICC compared to other full members.”The costs associated with delivering to Full Membership standards and fulfilling a much greater number of international fixtures each year has not been matched by expected revenues,” Deutrom said in December 2019.”This has been a great disappointment to us as we had hoped to have had an injection of new money into the sport from full membership that would have not only helped fulfil fixtures, but invest in infrastructure and the grassroots game across Ireland. We have been told that this expected shortfall is set to continue until 2023 when a new ICC Funding Model will be developed that will hopefully provide a greater share of the overall allocation, although of course that is still subject to discussion among all the members.”With financial reserves low even before the Covid-19 crunch, the reality for Ireland is that funds will be stretched over the next few years. Until that changes, any steps forward will be incremental.

MatériaMais Notícias

da blaze casino： O Palmeiras saiu de campo vitorioso diante do Independiente de Valle, no Equador, pelo placar de 1 a 0. Além dos três pontos conquistados fora de casa, o triunfo garantiu a classificação matemática antecipada da equipe para as oitavas de finais da competição continental.

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da dobrowin： Titular do Verdão na partida, o zagueiro Renan destacou a importância do confronto, ressaltando a dificuldade de enfrentar o adversário em Quito e comemorando o objetivo alcançado, a classificação. Vale lembrar, que essa foi a primeira derrota do Dell Vale em casa na história da Libertadores, além de garantir o Palmeiras como a maior sequência invicta de um visitante na competição.

– Vitória muito importante para nossa equipe. Sabíamos da importância de garantir a nossa classificação e de enfrentar o time deles fora de casa, mas graças a Deus fizemos um jogo muito bom e conquistamos nosso objetivo.

Jogando a 2800 metros acima do nível do mar, o camisa 3 fez uma partida extremamente sólida durante os 90 minutos que permaneceu em campo. Estatisticamente, o zagueiro somou três cortes, duas interceptações, dois desarmes, um chute travado e 66% de aproveitamento nas divididas.

– Jogar na altitude realmente é muito complicado. Demora um pouco para você se adaptar, mas com o tempo a gente vai ficando mais acostumado. Ficamos bem cansados no fim, porque falta um pouco de ar, mas conseguimos fazer uma grande marcação e não tomar gols. Vitória muito importante – enfatizou o atleta sobre a altitude.

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Cada dia mais consolidado no esquema de três defensores, Renan vem ganhando sequência, e entregando um futebol de qualidade para a equipe. Sobre a boa temporada, o jovem agradeceu a Abel Ferreira e o restante do grupo pela confiança.

– Estou me sentindo muito bem. Tenho melhorado a cada dia e agradeço ao professor Abel Ferreira e a todo elenco pela confiança.

Ainda com mistérios na escalação inicial, o Palmeiras volta a campo na noite desta sexta-feira, diante do Red Bull Bragantino, pelas quartas de finais do Campeonato Paulista. Em confronto único realizado na cidade de Bragança Paulista, o empate leva a classificação para as cobranças de pênaltis.

– Esperamos fazer um grande jogo agora no Campeonato Paulista e conquistar a vaga para a semifinal. Vamos trabalhar para isso – finalizou.

He is confident he, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Waqar Younis will work well together on the England tour

Umar Farooq11-Jun-2020Mushtaq Ahmed said it would require clear communication and tactful management to ensure Pakistan’s high-profile coaching team worked smoothly with the players on the team’s upcoming tour of England. The former Pakistan legspinner has been brought in as spin bowling coach, one of two big-name appointments for the England tour, the other being Younis Khan as batting coach.This is the first time since Bob Woolmer’s appointment as head coach in 2004 that Pakistan is travelling with a fully Pakistani backroom staff. The reasons why the PCB had wanted to avoid an all-local environment in that time included internal politics, trust deficits, and infighting that plagued the side in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Besides, the lack of professionally qualified coaches in Pakistan meant the local options were limited.”We all are on the same page with a clear-cut predefined role,” Mushtaq said. “Misbah is our head coach. Younis is going to deal with batsmen as consultant, Waqar [Younis] will be working with the bowlers, and I am doing mentoring and working with spinners. So all of us from the same generation who played modern-day cricket are coming together to work for Pakistan. The problem will arise when there is a communication gap, [so] we have to look out to gel the team. If there is any conflict, it needs to be resolved there and then and move on. We have to play smart.”We all are sensible people and this [combination] is going to work well. I have worked with big coaches and the biggest example is dealing with Andy [Flower] and KP (Kevin Pietersen). Both didn’t have the mutual understanding but England still won big games. I had a role there, I used to mentor KP and at the same time worked with Andy as well to manage the communication gap. So we (the Pakistan dressing room) shouldn’t allow that communication gap to create misunderstandings. We are very optimistic that we will all come together and graciously share our experiences and stay united on tour.”Mushtaq also downplayed the perception that Younis does not get on with the PCB. “Younis Khan is a straightforward guy and people learn with the passage of time,” he said. “With age you learn a lot. Younis is a wonderful guy. Whenever you talk to him sensibly, he always responds positively. His work ethics are great and we give his example to youngsters to follow his lifestyle and how he manages his routines. He is a professional and has a tough mindset and we need people like him. He has the experience playing everywhere in the world in tough situations and coming out fighting against odds.Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq enjoyed a good relationship as players•AFP”His personality of being a tough guy is very useful for players going to England in the ongoing situation. Sometime mental toughness takes more weight than talking technique. With him (Younis) around in the dressing room, players will have a good role model in front of them.”Mushtaq has been in the coaching business for over 10 years, starting in 2008 when he worked with the then England coach Peter Moores. He has since then established himself as a reputed spin-bowling consultant, and his time with the England side coincided with the best years of Graeme Swann, who ended up becoming one of England’s greatest spinners. He worked with spinners in Pakistan for several years following on from that, but it is believed his coaching style made players more dependent on the coach. Pakistan’s high-performance coach Nadeem Khan doesn’t want this to happen.”In the 90s we didn’t have a lot of coaches and I always believed you were your best coach,” Nadeem said. “When you analyse yourself on your own, you have a better prospect of becoming a good player quickly. These days, [the amount of] cricket has increased drastically and players don’t have time to keep a balance between playing matches, fitness [work] and updating themselves with information.”They are playing all formats and are fully engaged series after series. We had more time in the nets on our own, and with less cricket, we had ample recovery time. But in today’s cricket players need coaches, expert coaches to manage [their workload]. Teams these days take a bigger pool of coaches and consultants, and sometimes the support staff easily outnumbers the playing side in the dressing room.”It’s very important to have a relationship with players and you have to take ownership. It’s about communication and a player needs help and information. I used to think that players needed to develop on their own, but they don’t have time to work on their own. They are not even properly enjoying the victories or learning from the failures because they are playing back-to-back cricket. This is exactly where the role of a coach comes in.”