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The clamour earlier in the season from the Real Madrid support to see Alvaro Morata start ahead of Karim Benzema should be an indication of the striker’s talent.

As of now, the Spain U21 international is the only other option Carlo Ancelotti has at centre-forward, unless, in a desperate situation, he deploys Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or Jese Rodriguez in that position. So it seems a little out there that Real Madrid would even entertain a loan for Morata in January.

Arsenal, however, do need reinforcements. Much in the same way as Madrid, the Gunners only have senior centre-forward in Olivier Giroud, if you discount Lukas Podolski. The trust placed in the Frenchman this season has seen him flourish, but no amount of confidence can fully recuperate a tired body when the fixtures come thick and fast.

Morata is seen by some as the perfect answer to this short-term problem. Arsenal need another senior striker but they’re unlikely to get exactly what they want in January. Not only that, but following a World Cup and the numerous reshuffling of squads over the summer, there is likely to be a good handful of high-class centre-forwards available. Think Mario Mandzukic as one of those likely to be on the market.

The thing about Morata and the talk about a January loan is that some of the excitement, which is justified, doesn’t quite acknowledge that it’s for the short term. Or at least that’s the way it appears.

Morata is an exceptionally talented footballer who is destined for big things in his career. There is a hunger to see him at Real Madrid. Once again, Real Madrid. He’s only 21 and won’t have a sniff at a place in Vicente Del Bosque’s side for the World Cup in the summer, and yet people can see the quality in him. On almost every occasion this season where he’s made a cameo appearance, he’s made an impact. At last summer’s U21 European Championship, he finished as tournament top scorer. He only started one game.

But Arsenal won’t see the end result. They’ll play a small hand in his development and then that’s it. I simply won’t entertain the idea of Arsenal having an option to buy him if a loan deal takes place; Florentino Perez will be persuaded and even urged to retain the youngster, such is the desire from the support to see more homegrown players in the team.

And then you have to ask how much of an impact Morata will have. For all his talent, let’s not forget that he’s still a young player in his first season as a regular in the Real Madrid squad. Moving to the Premier League, where even the best have trouble adapting, and then being asked to help play a key role in a title race is too much for a player of such limited experience.

He’s been very good when turning out for Madrid this season, but let’s not forget that this is a team who have Cristiano Ronaldo and a myriad of other stars. At the moment, they’re trouncing opponents. Benzema is back in form, Bale has found his rhythm and the return of Xabi Alonso has helped the team to move through the gears with much greater fluidity.

And that’s not to take anything away from how good Arsenal are at present, but at Madrid, there is no pressure on Morata. As mentioned, worst case scenario, Ronaldo plays at centre-forward. One of the best players in the world playing in a position that he’s quite accustomed. Arsenal simply don’t have that luxury.

If it was a case that Arsenal were permanently signing Morata, I could be a little more supportive of the idea. After all, Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott, while offering different qualities to Giroud, are also options. Bringing in Morata with the view to him having a long-term impact at the club is no problem. But that’s not happening.

When Manchester United needed a boost in their title bid in 2007, they brought in Henrik Larsson on a short-term deal. It suited everyone. Larsson was a high-quality veteran of the game who could be trusted to put the ball in the net. He’s done the lot. No pressure.

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If Arsenal can’t get their first-choice targets in January, then a deal similar to that of United’s signing of Larsson should be pursued.

Despite all of Morata’s talent, it just doesn’t make a great deal of sense for either Arsenal or Real Madrid.

Coventry’s first season back in the third tier of English football is turning out to be a disastrous one and after weeks of uncertainty the Skyblues have finally appointed a new manager in the form of Mark Robins.

The need for a new appointment has been clear for everyone to see as Coventry’s winless run in the league continues. Richard Shaw has been the man to oversee proceedings since the sacking of Andy Thorn and everyone involved was hoping for an upturn in fortunes. The complete opposite has in fact happened, seeing the Skyblues slip to within one place of the bottom of the table being kept off it only by the fact that they have scored one goal more than Bury.

It has been hard to watch for all Coventry fans, who went into this season hoping for a promotion push but carry on playing in the manner we have been and another relegation could be on the cards. We have seen a real lack of heart and passion from the players in these opening weeks and couple that with some truly shocking defensive displays and it is no wonder we are where we are.

We all know that life as a Coventry fan is never going to be easy but just once we were having realistic ambitions of challenging for a place in the top six. This is looking like a distant dream right now but just maybe with this managerial appointment we can once again dream of an upturn in fortunes.

Mark Robins comes to the club with both management and playing experience. He was a striker by trade and I do think it’s a little ironic that we as fans have been calling for an attack minded manager to come in and it happens at a time when we are at our worst defensively. He does have good managerial experience though having managed both in League One as well as in the lower echelons of the Championship which on the face of it seems a perfect fit for us.

His first job was as manager of Rotherham United where he was praised for the job that he did. Rotherham were in the race for promotion in both of the season he was in charge even in spite of the 17 point deduction which was imposed upon them in the second season. All in all it was a successful couple of seasons for both Robins and Rotherham.

He was then given the chance to impress in the Championship with Barnsley. When he was appointed Barnsley were struggling near the foot of the table and he managed to turn there fortunes around and staved off the threat of relegation. The club remained very much at the same level finishing in 17th in his second season, one place higher than in his first season in charge. He then took the decision to resign and stated differences with the board as the reason for his decision.

His record considering he did both jobs on shoestring budgets is a relatively good one. His reasoning for leaving his last job though does worry me a little. Differences with the Coventry board are going to be a given when looking at SISU’s record and unlike Thorn it looks as though Robins would be unwilling to put up with that and would walk away.

This is however the least of our worries at the moment as all us fans want is a win and to see our club begin to move up the table. Any managerial appointment usually coincides with an upturn in fortunes and there is no reason to suggest that this won’t be the case here and for everyone’s sake who is involved with the club I hope that this happens starting Saturday.

Possibly a more pressing question would be do I reckon he will be able to maintain an improvement in form? Of course it is a possibility but with the stats of his teams often losing form and of course Coventry’s record of basically never having any kind of form I would suggest not. I hope this isn’t the case and that finally we have a man in charge who can change the fortunes of this club for the better but when Coventry are concerned I think I will always be sceptical.

All in all Robins seems like a decent guy and a manager who has a lot to offer the club. Coventry however is somewhat of a poisoned chalice when it comes to managers. We have the facilities along with the tag of a big club which seems to attract managers but good managers have come and gone and the majority if not all have left with their reputation in tatters and their career as a manager on the line.

Examples of ex managers are Aidy Boothroyd who has had experience of Premier League football with Watford but after taking the chance of managing Coventry has been left trying to rebuild his reputation at League Two Northampton. Peter Reid is another high profile manager and he ended up having to manage abroad in Thailand as well as at stricken Plymouth Argyle. Iain Dowie is another who came with a great reputation and he hasn’t really had a great time of it since leaving the Ricoh Arena. Chris Coleman is another who struggled to get another job and wouldn’t have had the Wales job if it had not been for the sad passing of the late great Gary Speed.

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Managers arrive at Coventry often with glowing CV’s but previous experience tells us that Mark Robins is taking a massive gamble with his career and I hope for his as well as Coventry’s sake that this will change and he can make a success of his time here at Coventry. I for one am fully behind the guy and all I can say is good luck to him as he’s going to need it.

PUSB!!

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The pitches have come in for criticism after the surfaces used for the first two games were extremely hard to bat on

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-20242:03

Flower on New York pitch – ‘Bordering on dangerous’

The ICC has acknowledged that the two pitches used so far at the Nassau County International Cricket Ground in New York have been substandard and are striving to “remedy” the issue for the remaining T20 World Cup games at the venue.In a statement on Thursday, a day after India and Ireland played their group game on an extremely difficult wicket, the ICC said “the pitches used so far at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium have not played as consistently as we would have all wanted.”The world-class grounds team have been working hard since the conclusion of yesterday’s game to remedy the situation and deliver the best possible surfaces for the remaining matches.”The first match played at the new venue in New York – a pop-up cricket stadium built in park land in the span of five months, with drop-in pitches made in Florida and transported there – was between South Africa and Sri Lanka on June 3. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 77 on pitch no. 1, and South Africa achieved the target only in 16.2 overs.Related

• T20 World Cup 2024: New York, Tarouba pitches rated 'unsatisfactory' by ICC

• Explainer – what's wrong with the T20 World Cup pitches in New York?

• Rohit Sharma retires hurt in India's opening T20 World Cup game

• Klaasen on New York pitch: Batters need to suck it up

On June 5, India bowled Ireland out for 96 on pitch no. 4, and though they won by eight wickets two of their batters – Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant – suffered blows to the body. Rohit had to retire hurt after getting hit on his arm. Ireland’s Harry Tector was also struck on the finger by a sharp bouncer from Jasprit Bumrah.Following the India-Ireland game, the pitch came in for heavy criticism from several former cricketers, with Andy Flower, an expert on ESPNcricinfo’s Timeout show, saying it was “bordering on dangerous”.Pitch no. 2 and 3 have not yet been used for games and it was observed that grass had been shaved off one of those surfaces. The New York venue is scheduled to host six more group games, including India versus Pakistan on June 9.

Ace legspinner has two and a half days to recover before Lahore face Multan in the playoffs on Wednesday

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2023Having already qualified for the play-offs, Lahore Qalandars rested their captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and lost their final league game to Karachi Kings but that won’t worry them so much as the fact that Rashid Khan had to retire hurt, having been hit on the helmet. Qalandars are due to face the big-hitting Multan Sultans in the Qualifier on Wednesday and they’d really prefer going into that game with their ace legspinner in fighting form.Far removed from those concerns though, the Kings were able to celebrate just their third win of the tournament, which took them off the bottom of the points table. Muhammad Akhlaq, after a poor first two seasons in 2021 and 2022, struck his first PSL half-century. An innings of 51 off 36 balls that set the Kings up for the final flourish provided by the captain Imad Wasim (43 off 31) and Ben Cutting (33 off 14). They were able to put up a total of 196 for 7 after choosing to bat in Lahore, with Tayyab Tahir also contributing a sprightly 40 off 23 balls at No. 3.The Qalandars’ chase went nowhere as they lost their top order inside the powerplay and continued to collapse. They were 79 for 7 when Rashid had to retire hurt at the end of the 15th over. He’d got hit in the 14th, trying to pull a James Fuller bouncer, but continued batting after receiving medical attention. Things seemed okay, especially when Rashid was able to hit the first ball after taking the blow, for an emphatic boundary over square leg. But he couldn’t go on for much longer.The Kings’ bowlers enjoyed as good a time as their batters with Imad, Akif Javed, Mohammad Umar and Imran Tahir all picking up two wickets a piece.

Kuldeep Yadav has been named as his replacement

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2022Washington Sundar has been ruled out of India’s three-match T20I series against West Indies, which begins in Kolkata on Wednesday. According to a BCCI release, the spin-bowling allrounder suffered a hamstring strain while fielding during the third ODI in Ahmedabad on Friday.Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav has been named as Washington’s replacement in India’s squad.The hamstring strain is the latest in a series of injuries and illnesses that have hounded Washington over the last few months. First, he was forced to miss the second half of IPL 2021 in the UAE after suffering a finger injury. He returned to domestic action during the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy, helping Tamil Nadu reach the final, but a bout of Covid-19 kept him waiting for his international comeback, ruling him out of the ODI leg of India’s tour of South Africa in January this year.Washington finally returned to India colours during the ODIs against West Indies, playing all three games and showing promise with both ball and bat. He picked up four wickets at 18.75, while conceding just 4.16 runs per over, and he also contributed scores of 24 and 33 in his two outings with the bat.Just when he seemed to be back in the thick of things, however, injury has struck once more.As a specialist bowler, Kuldeep isn’t a like-for-like replacement for Washington; the batting ability of seamers Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel, however, should still allow India to pick an XI without compromising on their batting depth.India squad for T20I series: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav.

England Test opener adds half-century to first-innings ton as Surrey defeat Sussex by six wickets

ECB Reporters Network09-Sep-2020England Test opener Rory Burns added 52 to his first-innings hundred to lead Surrey to their first victory of the Bob Willis Trophy, at the final attempt, in a six-wicket win against Sussex at the Kia Oval.Surrey captain Burns was joined in a decisive third-wicket partnership of 64 in 14 overs by Jamie Smith, who scored 33 from 51 balls as a fourth-innings target of 156 was chased down in 44.5 overs on a turning pitch.There was a late twist to a well-contested match, however, when 16-year-old debutant James Coles – Sussex’s youngest first-class cricketer – dismissed both Smith and Burns in the space of four balls to leave Surrey 120 for 4.Ben Foakes, on 1, then edged Delray Rawlins just short of slip but he survived to finish on 13 not out, hitting the winning blow when he pulled the same bowler for six after a necessarily circumspect fifth-wicket stand of 37 in 18 overs with Will Jacks, who ended up unbeaten on 22.Victory was eventually completed a little over an hour after lunch on a day which began with Sussex resuming their second innings on 109 for 9 after a torrid final session the previous evening against Surrey spinners Dan Moriarty and Amar Virdi.They made 128 in the end, thanks to Stuart Meaker’s defiant 42, but a policy of controlled and sensible aggression by Surrey’s top order paid dividends as Burns and company never allowed Sussex’s own trio of young spinners to settle.Jack Carson, the highly-promising 19-year-old off-spinner, did remove Scott Borthwick for 11 in the eighth over, having been given the new ball, and Rawlins’ left-arm spin then accounted for Hashim Amla for the second time in the match, caught low at short leg, before the Burns-Smith alliance looked like taking Surrey to a comfortable win.But Coles’s double strike when brought back to bowl his fourth over, first bowling Smith middle stump with an arm ball – his third ball back – and then having Burns stumped by Ben Brown after beating his forward push on the outside, at least concentrated Surrey minds again and the youngster finished with figures of 2 for 32 from 11 overs.All-rounder Coles, a student at Oxford’s Magdalen College and brought up in the Oxfordshire age group teams before joining the Sussex Academy at the end of last year, is believed to be the second-youngest player – after Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik – to take three wickets or more on first-class debut.The Surrey chase began with Borthwick managing one straight six off Carson before he was caught at slip from one that turned and bounced, and Amla’s 18 included two sixes – straight off Carson and then pulled over the mid wicket ropes off Rawlins.Surrey had earlier finished off Sussex’s second innings for 128, with off-spinner Virdi taking the final wicket for figures of 4 for 40. Slow left-arm spinner Moriarty, the chief destroyer of Sussex’s second innings, ended with 6 for 70.Sussex added another 19 runs before Meaker went down the pitch to Virdi but could only pick out Jamie Overton at long on after putting on 26 for the last wicket with No. 11 Henry Crocombe, who remained 9 not out and hit one lovely on-driven four off Moriarty.

A few months ago Pakistan were beaten 5-0 by their next World Cup opponents but they have already shown that recent form can go out of the window if things click

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan11-Jun-20192:58

Hussey: Stoinis’ injury is a big loss for Australia

Big Picture

Things are starting to bubble up nicely. Both teams are entering a key phase of the tournament in terms of their semi-final hopes. Australia’s shortcomings were shown up by an impressive Indian performance at The Oval, and Pakistan have been kicking their heels since turning on the style to beat England with a washout against Sri Lanka.If you go by recent history, Pakistan would appear a long shot for this match. But, as we well know, that isn’t how it works. Their 5-0 defeat in the UAE a couple of months ago came with an underpowered side. If they can channel the form shown against England, with bat and ball, they are fully capable of overturning Australia – it would be a huge result ahead of their marquee clash against India on Sunday.Australia need to get the show back on the road to make a case for being serious contenders for the title. The format of the tournament means there is time to do that, but lessons will need to be learned from the India match and it will be interesting to see how rigid, or not, their game plans are. The batting order and balance of the side are raising questions with the news of Marcus Stoinis’ side injury creating a headache.The venue for the match, Taunton, could add a few more issues to consider with some short boundaries on offer and the weather forecast remaining uncertain. All that points to win toss, bowl first.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia LWWWW
Pakistan WLLLLDavid Warner walks off after his unbeaten 89•Getty Images

In the spotlight

David Warner is scoring runs, but not at the rate that everyone has become accustomed to and that Australia ideally need him to. In the space of three innings at the World Cup, he has twice set a new mark for his slowest ODI fifties. Against Afghanistan, it wasn’t an issue, but needing 353 against India, it left Australia well behind the required rate. Team-mates have come out in support, with Glenn Maxwell saying conditions have been trickier than expected, but Australia need some impetus at the top. At the very least, if Warner is going to soak up a lot of deliveries, he needs to bat through for a big hundred.Four years ago, Wahab Riaz was half of one of the most thrilling duels of the 2015 World Cup as he put Shane Watson through the wringer which a vicious spell of short bowling in Adelaide. Little more than a month ago, it did not seem like Wahab would be back for the 2019 event but a typically last-minute change of plans altered that. Against England, he shipped 82 runs but, crucially, claimed three wickets to help secure Pakistan’s victory. Australia’s top order was rattled by the West Indies bouncers. Can Wahab reprise 2015?

Team news

Stoinis’ injury leaves Australia with two ways to go, both significantly changing the make-up of the team. They can either bring in Shaun Marsh, which would leave Maxwell as the fifth bowler, or add another frontline bowler which would shorten the batting order – although Stoinis hasn’t contributed many runs of late.Australia (possible): 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jason BehrendorffAgainst Australia, there is always the temptation to play more spin, so, ideally, Imad Wasim should into the equation. But the weather and conditions could have a say in team selection too. Pakistan are keen to play the same top seven from the England game and keep the batting strong; the bowling dilemma is whether Shaheen Afridi comes in, his swing perhaps more useful than Wahab’s pace.Pakistan (probable): 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Asif Ali, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Shadab Khan, 11 Mohammad Amir

Pitch and conditions

Traditionally a high-scoring venue for domestic one-day cricket, Taunton’s first match of the World Cup saw New Zealand’s seamers prove too much for Afghanistan’s flimsy batting. The forecast is for a cloudy day with a chance of showers so it could again be the quicks who prosper.Fakhar Zaman plays a pull•Getty Images

Strategy punt

• Warner has struggled to up the tempo so far at the World Cup and Pakistan have three bowlers in their likely line-up – Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez – against whom he has scored significantly under a run-a-ball and has a dot ball percentage of over 50. The bowler Pakistan may want to hide from Warner is Hasan Ali – the left hander has a strike rate of 168 against him.
• If there isn’t a frontline pace bowler operating when Hafeez comes to the crease, Aaron Finch should quickly change the bowling. All seven of his ODI dismissals this year have been against pace. Against England he skipped down the pitch to his first ball against Moeen Ali to dispatch a boundary which kickstarted his match-defining innings of 84 off 62 balls. The short ball from the quicks is worth considering, too, with Hafeez falling 11 times in his ODI career from 161 short balls he has faced – although his strike-rate against them is a handy 126.
• Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins will need to avoid length deliveries against Fakhar Zaman who has made positive starts in both his innings without converting. It is better to err full or short; Fakhar’s ball-per-dismissal ratio is considerably lower – 19.5 in both cases – to those two lengths compared to good length (30.5) and back of a length where he is most comfortable and has only been dismissed once in 110 deliveries.

Stats and Trivia

• Both Nathan Coulter-Nile and Shadab Khan need one wicket each to reach fifty in ODIs
• Maxwell’s average of 55 against Pakistan is his best against any opposition in ODIs – he has scored seven fifty-plus scores in 15 innings against them
• In the domestic Royal London Cup, Somerset made scores of 353 and 358 on their home ground

South Africa will be buoyed by the availability of No. 1 Test bowler Kagiso Rabada while Australia hope to have Mitchells Starc and Marsh fit

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale21-Mar-2018

Big Picture

Two pieces of news regarding Kagiso Rabada have emerged since the Port Elizabeth Test. One is that he is free to play in Cape Town, courtesy of a partially successful appeal against his Code of Conduct charge for brushing his shoulder against Steven Smith. If you’re reading this preview then it’s safe to assume there is no possible way you have missed that news.The other tit-bit, though, may have passed you by. And that is that Rabada has regained the No. 1 Test bowling ranking from James Anderson, thanks to his 11 wickets at St George’s Park. Rabada has been the stand-out bowler in the series so far, and it is possible that his successful appeal will be the deciding factor in the campaign. It is premature to say that he is free to play the remainder of the series – he remains perched on seven demerit points, so even a minor charge in Cape Town could see him suspended for the final Test – but it is notable that he has 19 wickets at 21.00 from his three previous Tests at Newlands. One more good Test there could be enough for South Africa to take an unbeatable 2-1 lead.But of course this Test is not all about Rabada. Several other factors are at play in Cape Town, and few of them favour Australia. Even if Rabada doesn’t fire at Newlands, there is still the small matter of Vernon Philander, whose record there is even more imposing. Philander has piled up 47 Test wickets at 16.34 in Cape Town, where the conditions suit his seaming and swinging style. Australia know this all too well, because when they were humiliated and bowled out for 47 at the venue, Philander took 5 for 15. They must also find a way past the defences of AB de Villiers, whose hundred in Port Elizabeth was one of his best. By contrast, Australia’s batsmen have so far failed to score a single century in this series, and unless they can turn that trend around it is difficult to see them halting South Africa’s momentum. They can at least take heart from the fact that when they last played a Test at Newlands, David Warner scored a hundred in each innings.Whatever happens in Cape Town, this has already been a compelling series, and not always for the right reasons. There has been an undeniable tension between the two sides, from send-offs to sledges to shoulder bumps to stairwell argy-bargy. Don’t expect a nine-day break between Tests to have cooled things down at all.Faf du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada at a training session•Getty Images

Form guide

South Africa WLLWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Australia LWWDW

In the spotlight

AB de Villiers was unlucky not to be named Man of the Match in Port Elizabeth. Rabada’s 11-wicket haul was unquestionably outstanding, but in a Test where nobody else seemed to find batting easy, de Villiers looked as if he was playing another game entirely. His unbeaten 126 from 146 balls in the first innings changed the match. It was his first Test hundred in more than three years, and if there was any question as to how he would return after missing most of 2016 and 2017, that innings alone was an emphatic answer.After taking nine wickets in the first Test in Durban, Mitchell Starc could only manage match figures of 1 for 125 in Port Elizabeth, and the possibility of extra grass on the pitch at Newlands could make it challenging for him to find reverse swing. Starc struggled with a calf problem after the second Test but is expected to take his place in Cape Town, and Australia desperately need him back to his best if they are to prevent South Africa getting away.

Team news

Temba Bavuma has recovered from injury and is likely to replace Theunis de Bruyn, while there is also a question surrounding Lungi Ngidi and a possible toe injury, which could bring Morne Morkel back into the mix.South Africa: (possible) 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Faf du Plessis (capt), 6 Temba Bavuma, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Morne Morkel/Lungi Ngidi.Starc and Mitchell Marsh both had injury niggles after the second Test, but the long break between matches is believed to have allowed them sufficient recovery time, and an unchanged line-up appears likely.Australia: (possible) 1 Cameron Bancroft, 2 David Warner, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Tim Paine (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.

Pitch and conditions

There is expected to be some grass on the Cape Town pitch, which may play slow and low. The forecast for the match is mostly fine.

Stats and trivia

• Australia’s two most recent Cape Town Tests could hardly have been any more different: in 2011, they were bowled out for 47 and beaten comfortably, but in 2014 they piled up 494 and 303, and emerged victorious.
• Steven Smith has now gone three Tests without a hundred, a significant drought by his lofty standards. Last time he played three consecutive Tests without making a century was against South Africa in 2016.
• Rabada is currently sitting on 902 ratings points on the ICC Test bowling rankings, the 20th highest rating by any bowler in Test history. The highest rating of all time was the 932 retrospectively calculated for England’s Sydney Barnes in 1914.

Quotes

“It’s important for me to make runs. Forget the captaincy, I always say you need to score runs – that’s the most important job for any player or any captain or leader.”
“I feel really good. My hit today was the best for six months.”

Andrew Flintoff has urged the ECB to resist the introduction of new teams into the domestic T20 tournament and rely instead on a restructured tournament involving the current 18 first-class counties

George Dobell10-Feb-2017Andrew Flintoff has urged the ECB to resist the introduction of new teams into the domestic T20 tournament and rely instead on a restructured tournament involving the current 18 first-class counties.Flintoff, the former England captain and current PCA president, believes some supporters will be “alienated” by new team identities, especially if they named after cities, and warns that the charm of the game will be diminished if players’ loyalty towards their local side is abandoned.”I wanted to play for Lancashire all my life,” Flintoff told former England team-mate, Rob Key, in a Sky Sports podcast. “I didn’t want to play for Manchester. I’d play for Preston, don’t get me wrong. But Manchester doesn’t have that same thing for me. You look at Yorkshire: are you going to play as Leeds and alienate everyone from Barnsley? If you call it Manchester, you’re going to alienate the Scousers.”You turn it into a football scenario. Loyalty goes out of the game. You just go to the highest bidder. Year in, year out, you’re playing for a different teams.”This is where cricket is separated from the likes of football. Look at the top football teams: you’re telling me Sergio Aguero, as a kid, wanted to play for Man City?”Why does it matter? Because I find in football, the fans are the most loyal people. Not the players or the managers or anybody else. In cricket, we still have an element of loyalty. You played your whole career at Kent; I did the same at Lancashire. The Yorkshire lads are the same. There’s a real pride in playing for your county. I wouldn’t want that to be lost. It’s something that is quite charming about cricket.”Claiming the standard of the Big Bash League was no better than the NatWest Blast – he has appeared in both in recent years – Flintoff cautioned against applying the Australian model in England.”Everyone looks at the Big Bash and says ‘this is brilliant’ and ‘this is what we should do in England’ but I don’t think the standard is any better,” Flintoff said. “The pitches are a lot better.”But the worst thing you can do is compare the Big Bash. Let’s get ours right. The Big Bash has been six years in the making and has started making a profit in the last two years. Before that it was running at a loss.”And, 9pm on Friday at Old Trafford: if you’re watching Lancashire or Manchester, it’s still going to be cold. The weather isn’t going to be any better.”Flintoff did suggest that some aspects of the Big Bash League could be copied, though. But while he appreciated the briefings from commercial teams about the importance of the players understanding the need to reach out to a new audience, he still concluded that a system of promotion and relegation involving all 18 first-class counties would serve English T20 better than a new team competition.”Before we bowled a ball at Brisbane Heat, the commercial department came in and told us what was required of us on and off the field to grow the fan base,” he said. “I’ve never done that with Lancashire. They sat us down and told us about all the interviews we would be doing and what we were expected to do. All the players bought into it. I’d never had that in the county system. Nobody had ever told me what they expected beyond a few runs and wickets.”Why do you need city cricket? I don’t think the NatWest Blast has been done as well as it could. Let’s get the NatWest Blast right, let’s get the format right and put a load of energy into that rather than worrying about a new tournament. Play it in a block. Two divisions, up and down.”Northamptonshire won last year. But will Northants, the best team in the country, be one of the cities? Will they heck. And another thing: you’ll have 200 lads, during the summer, not playing cricket. What are they going to do?”I don’t know if they’ve done this, but they should go to Surrey and see what they’re doing. They play in front of packed houses week in, week out. You see a Surrey game on TV and there’s life and atmosphere and they get full houses.”While Flintoff is a bit loose on a few details – the ECB are looking more at regional rather than city identities for the new teams and those players not involved are scheduled to play a 50-over tournament instead – his words will strike a chord with many traditional cricket lovers. That is not the audience the ECB is targeting with the new team competition, however, and it seems all but inevitable that the new tournament will be launched in 2020.It must also be noted that the company that manages Flintoff is chaired by Surrey chairman Richard Thompson. Surrey have been the strongest opponent of the new team competition among the counties.

Umesh Yadav is confident of India prising out the eight wickets they need to seal the series 3-0 despite South Africa batting out 72 overs on Day 4 without much discomfort

Sidharth Monga06-Dec-20152:17

‘The way SA are defending is a surprise’ – Yadav

Umesh Yadav, the India fast bowler, is confident the team should be able to wrap up the Test on the final day after South Africa raised hopes of a draw by batting out 72 overs for the loss of just two wickets. They might have scored just 72 runs in those 72 overs, but already, only one of their innings in this series has been longer than this. India had cause for concern in the fact that the few edges that were produced kept dying in front of the catching men despite their creeping up close.”Today also they gave catches, but they were lucky that those catches fell in the gaps rather than going to the fielders,” Yadav said, when asked if the team was confident of taking eight wickets in a day on this pitch. “So I don’t think they will survive the whole day without giving any catches. You never know, the wicket’s character might change tomorrow. It might start turning more.”Yadav also said the pitch had become really slow. “If you see any pitch, after third or fourth day, it starts getting slower and slower,” he said. “You don’t get the desirable pace or bounce from the wicket. This is happening with this wicket also as the pace of this track is gone. Even if you are bowling a bouncer, you are not able to work up the desired pace or bounce. It’s travelling easy.”India went as far as to sacrifice a few overs by bowling Ishant Sharma and Yadav from round the wicket so as to create some rough. “Yes, we tried to create a few patches so that the spinners get some kind of help,” Yadav said. “With no pace or bounce, and with no reverse, we thought any rough that we could create will be good for our spinners.”The other challenge, Yadav said, was the reduced mistakes when batsmen refuse to play any shots. “It’s a surprise as we did not think that they would play like this,” Yadav said. “The way they are defending is a surprise because they are not even trying to play a shot. Even the deliveries in which they can score are being defended.”It becomes a challenge when the batsman does not play a shot as chances of getting a player out decreases. When a batsman doesn’t take any initiative then even if you bowl a good delivery, he will just block it out.”Ishant Sharma had recently remarked that taking wickets in domestic first-class matches can be more difficult than in Tests because the batsmen don’t always look to score runs. Yadav was asked if his recent experience in domestic cricket helped. “I can tell you this kind of cricket can be very boring, because you just are bowling over after over and nothing is happening,” Yadav said. “It becomes so boring that you start thinking as to whether something will happen or not. But yes, there is pressure on them and that’s the reason they are blocking everything and trying to stretch this game. Our first target tomorrow morning will be to dismiss them as quickly as possible.”The biggest question that nobody has answered so far is the reasoning behind not enforcing the follow-on. India had South Africa on the mat when the first innings finished. They were behind 213 runs. Only once have they managed to cross that mark in this series. At the time the decision was made, India had seven minutes to go to stumps, which would have really tested the openers against R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Then the bowlers would have had a whole night to rest; not as though they would have been desperate for a rest: they had bowled only 49.3 overs in the first innings.Yadav was asked if the team wondered the correct decision had been made in the dying moments of day two, but all he did was defend the timing of the declaration. “Don’t know if we made a mistake, but it is common strategy that we wanted to score runs and set a target which makes the team comfortable,” he reasoned. “Then we thought of attacking. We thought the more we score in the first hour, better it will be for us and we did score runs in that first hour. Normally, I don’t think there will be much of a problem to get them out as we have lot of time at our disposal.”