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The MCC’s spinners, James Tredwell and Samit Patel, combined to take five wickets in Yorkshire’s second innings in Abu Dhabi to set up an intriguing final day

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2016Yorkshire 275 and 239 for 7 (Lees 86, Tredwell 3-70) lead MCC 299 by 215 runs
ScorecardAlex Lees made 86 in Yorkshire’s second innings•Getty ImagesThe MCC’s spinners, James Tredwell and Samit Patel, combined to take five wickets in Yorkshire’s second innings in Abu Dhabi to set up an intriguing final day.The MCC could only extend their lead to 24 on the third morning then Yorkshire slipped from a promising 108 for 2 to 147 for 6 with Tredwell and Patel sharing the bulk of the bowling as they sent down 55 overs before them. However, a seventh-wicket stand of 80 between Will Rhodes and Andy Hodd pushed the advantage over 200.Alex Lees had initially anchored Yorkshire’s second innings after Adam Lyth was lbw to Tredwell’s second delivery. He struck seven fours and a six before being bowled by Patel after he had earlier claimed the captain Andrew Gale lbw to begin Yorkshire’s wobble.Tredwell, meanwhile, added to his early strike with the scalps of Jack Leaning caught at slip and Tim Bresnan taken at mid-off to take his match tally to six wickets before the MCC came up against some stubborn lower-order resistance as Yorkshire had done the previous day.Rhodes, who fell five runs short of a maiden first-class hundred in the first innings, and Hodd batted for the majority of the evening session before Hodd was lbw to Jake Ball.Earlier, the MCC had lost their last four wickets for nine runs. Ben Foakes struck two early boundaries but was then bowled by Karl Carver for 91 – to end a seventh-wicket stand of 139 with Rikki Clarke – and Carver also claimed Ball and last-man Graham Onions to finish with 4 for 106.

Steven Smith and Shane Watson are convinced Australia are on course to retain the Ashes in England later in the summer

Gaurav Kalra28-Apr-20154:58

Huge hunger in Australia squad for Ashes – Watson

Steven Smith and Shane Watson are convinced Australia are on course to retain the Ashes in England later in the summer. Speaking exclusively to ESPNcricinfo, Smith said he doesn’t think England will “come close” to challenging the Australian team on current form, while Watson said there is “huge hunger” within the squad to end the sequence of three consecutive Ashes series defeats in England of 2005, 2009 & 2013.”We’ve got a very strong squad that’s going over to England,” Watson said. “We’ve got good depth and the best part is everyone is in nearly career-best form right now which is most important as well. There is a huge hunger within the group because we know that we haven’t won in England for the last three series. I’ve been involved in two of those. There’s a big burning desire to be involved in an Ashes winning campaign in England as well. We’re as well prepared as we can be within our group. I’m incredibly excited about what’s on the horizon with the Ashes and everyone else is as well.””I can’t wait to get over there and play another Ashes against England in their conditions after beating them so convincingly in Australia,” Smith said. “It’s going to be nice to go in their backyard. If we continue to play the way we have been playing over the last 12-18 months, I don’t think that they’ll come close to us to be honest.”Smith is widely expected to be formally named Australia’s one-day captain after Michael Clarke decided to retire after the World Cup. Smith is also tipped to take over the reigns of the Test team when Clarke decides to hang his boots. While Watson endorsed the 25-year old for the job whole-heartedly, quipping Cricket Australia would be “crazy” to not give him the job, Smith was understandably not as forthcoming.”It’s not my job to decide who is going to be the captain in the future,” Smith said. “I’ve had some good experiences and really enjoyed captaining the team in Michael’s absence in the summer against India. It was a great learning experience for me to have senior players like Shane and Brad Haddin around the group to bounce ideas off. Shane was very supportive throughout the home series and to have him and Hadds next to me while I was standing at second slip and to have that wealth of experience beside me and to bounce ideas off them was really beneficial for me at the start and I really enjoyed the experience of captaining Australia.”Watson and Smith are currently in India as part of the Rajasthan Royals squad in the ongoing IPL. The 2008 champions made a strong start to their campaign, winning their first five matches although they lost their last two. Smith believes that Rajasthan are “yet to play their best cricket” despite having started the tournament well and expects the team to reach peak capacity come the home stretch of the tournament.Watson, who was Man of the Series in the first edition of the IPL in 2008 and played a key role in Royals’ unexpected run to the title, credits the “culture” built at the franchise over the years for them being able to punch above their weight and challenge teams that can boast of more marquee players. He thinks the current squad has the depth to be strong contenders this season again.”Some of the other teams spend all their salary caps but in the end it’s part of the evolution of our group to give an opportunity to people, like myself in the first year, to impress and get those guys in and around our group because we know they really want to get the best out of themselves and also for the team,” Watson said. “We had a good year a couple of years ago [2013] when we made the Champions League and this year it feels very special as well with the group we’ve got around and the depth in our squad has been as good as it ever has been.”

The 2017-18 FIFA Ultimate Team of the Season has been revealed, with all this year's biggest and best performers getting huge ratings boosts

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Harry Kane has lifted the lid slightly on his private life, with the Bayern Munich striker revealing what he likes to get up to away from the pitch.

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England captain now in GermanyHas always been a model professionalFamily comes first for prolific frontmanWHAT HAPPENED?

The England captain has never been one to chase the limelight, with the humble 30-year-old frontman happy to let his football do the talking. That has continued to be the case in 2023-24, with Kane rewriting the history books while netting 22 goals through 18 appearances for Bayern – with three hat-tricks recorded along the way.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesWHAT KANE SAID

Kane has now told of how he spends his time off the field, with there never any desire on his part to enjoy wild nights out. He has said: “I like to keep things private and I think that’s all down to the type of person I am. I’m a pretty normal guy and do normal things. I’ve never been someone who goes out to nightclubs. When I have spare time, I like to spend it with my wife and kids, I like to play some golf. Unfortunately, there are some things that are a bit more difficult to do when you are going to a busy place and people recognise you. In general, I’m just a pretty normal guy.

“People have different personalities and take different paths in their life. You can’t say one is right and one is wrong, but this is just the way I have always been. I don’t tend to give too much of my personal life away and like to keep my children away from the spotlight as there is so much out there on social media and you have to be careful. That is all part of learning to be a dad, being a parent. You need to protect your kids from seeing things you don’t want them to see. There are advantages to the internet and social media, but you don’t want to expose your kids to too much too young.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Kane is yet to be joined in Germany by his young family, with a house hunt in Bavaria having dragged on, but they will soon be reunited and the expectation is that stability off the pitch will help the record-breaking forward to take his game to even greater heights.

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR KANE?

Kane is already the all-time leading goalscorer for Tottenham and England, but a €100 million (£86m/$109m) transfer to Bayern was completed in a bid to get his hands on elusive major silverware – with the Bundesliga title holders in the hunt for another domestic crown and continental glory in the Champions League.

While United's manager has used his selection headaches as an excuse for failure, the Merseysiders brushed aside their injuries to win another trophy

Liverpool's Carabao Cup win over Chelsea was a tale of both senior leadership and youthful exuberance. One defining image was the sight of Jurgen Klopp and Virgil van Dijk lifting the trophy together. Klopp shook the club up and rebuilt it in his image while Van Dijk's defensive steel completed their transformation, delivering the latest in a long line of trophies with a towering header deep in extra-time.

The other takeaway was Liverpool's long cast of academy graduates, all born in 2003 or after, streaming off the bench and being utterly unawed by the occasion. As Gary Neville put it so succinctly: "Klopp's kids against the billion pound bottle jobs." Liverpool resembled the walking wounded last week, losing Diogo Jota, Cutis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah in the days before the final, in addition to the already-missing Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson Becker.

And their injury crisis was aggravated during the game as Ryan Gravenberch, Andrew Robertson and Alexis Mac Allister were all forced off. But far from being knocked down by the absence of their best players, Liverpool rose to the occasion. "Liverpool have been absolutely sensational," Neville added. "Those young players have been incredible. Klopp must be so proud."

What a contrast to Neville's own club Manchester United, who had fallen apart against Fulham a day earlier after losing two players to injury. Erik ten Hag pointed to the key absences of Luke Shaw and Rasmus Hojlund as he sought to explain their latest dire home display this season, but he is beginning to sound like a broken record.

After all, Liverpool have demonstrated that injuries do not matter if you have a clear playing identity and rally behind your coach.

GettySenior players not helping out

Ten Hag had taken a chance on youth the day before by handing 19-year-old Omari Forson his full debut against Fulham to cover the absence of Hojlund. It meant there were four academy graduates in the line-up (including three from the 2022 FA Youth Cup winning side) and four more on the bench.

No one could accuse the Dutchman, whose young Ajax team took the Champions League by storm, of not believing in young players. The difference was that while the likes of Van Dijk, Wataru Endo and Luis Diaz led the way for Liverpool, United's senior players shrunk.

Marcus Rashford was anonymous at centre-forward and Bruno Fernandes was incapable of sparking any danger, save for long-range shots. Casemiro and Harry Maguire were clumsy in the tackle and Victor Lindelof again looked lost trying to deputise for Shaw, whose absence for several months has left United with no natural left backs.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesYou win nothing with (just) kids

After the Carabao Cup triumph, Klopp said: "I got told outside you don't win trophies with kids. Write it new." The German was referring to former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen's infamous declaration on in August 1995 after watching United sink to a 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa on the opening day of the season.

Those words came back to haunt Hansen at the end of that season when a United team containing David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt went on to win the Premier League title and FA Cup.

But Hansen's words have been taken out of context. He meant you can't win anything with kids. The catalyst of that great double winning side, after all, was Eric Cantona, who was still suspended at the time for kicking a fan but who galvanised the team when he returned in October.

United have a lot of exciting young players such as Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo and Hojlund, but they badly lack a talismanic figure like Cantona. Current captain Fernandes has not scored a league goal since November, while Rashford is a shadow of the brilliant player who scored 30 times in all competitions last season.

Getty ImagesPressing problems

Another huge difference between United and Liverpool could be seen in the way the two teams are set up and work as a unit. Reds youngsters are educated in the art of 'Gegenpressing' from an early age, allowing the likes of Bradley and Bobby Clark to fit so seamlessly into Klopp's team. But United's senior players seem incapable of pressing together, allowing Fulham to repeatedly play their way through them at Old Trafford.

Fernandes is a big part of the problem as he is a free spirit, often blindly chasing down opponents and ruining United's shape. Jamie Carragher said recently: "He's emotional. He runs 30 yards to close the goalkeeper down. People sometimes get kidded by it and say, 'look at him working hard'. No, he's killing the team."

Neville has also criticised Fernandes' free role. "He must be told to go and do what you want. Ten Hag is giving him the freedom to go there, there, there. And that means you can never have a combination or a pattern because you've got your main midfield player everywhere on the pitch."

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(C)Getty ImagesLost without Martinez

Ten Hag has acknowledged that not all of his squad fully get his methods or understand what he wants them to do, which becomes a huge problem when just a few key players like Shaw, Hojlund or Lisandro Martinez are unavailable.

"They know what the routines are but definitely things are changed [with injuries]," he said after losing to Fulham. "Not everyone [gets the ideas], other players coming in, different identities, different skills, that is what we have to adapt as a team."

But the fact that a number of players are unable to implement his style and demonstrate the 'automatisms' he talks about ultimately falls on him. More than 18 months into the job, it is still unclear what Ten Hag's playing philosophy is. It seems that with a full squad available, he wants his team to play on the front foot, with Martinez and Andre Onana starting moves from their own area.

But when the Argentine is absent, as has been the case for most of the season, United seem only capable of playing on the counter, leaving Onana with little option but to launch the ball forward with long punts.

And without Hojlund, they have no one capable of holding the ball up and bringing others into play, leading to the hurried attacks they fashioned in the closing stages of each half against Fulham.

A round-up of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge matches played on March 6, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2013
Scorecard
Knights prevailed over Titans by eight runs in Centurion in a high-scoring game. The Knights were asked to bat and their openers gave them a fitting start, Rilee Rossouw and Loots Bosman adding 92 in 10.4 overs. Bosman almost batted through to the end of the innings, dismissed off the penultimate ball for 91, an innings that included five fours and five sixes. He was involved in another attacking partnership, with Pite van Biljon, who blasted 32 off 16 balls and helped push the score to 196.Titans lost captain Henry Davids in the first ball of the chase. The Knights seamers Johan van der Wath and Malusi Siboto made steady inroads, picking up two wickets each, and reducing the opposition to 61 for 5 in the eighth over. Roelof van der Merwe and Albie Morkel revived the innings, however. Van der Merwe made 66 in 45 and Albie smashed four sixes in his 48. The pair put on 96 runs in 51 balls, giving their team sniff at victory. But both fell off successive deliveries in the 17th over bowled by Dean Elgar, and even though the tail took the Titans to 188, the big push Albie and van der Merwe are capable of delivering at the death was absent.Knights now have three wins from five games.
Scorecard
Warriors beat Cape Cobras by seven wickets in Port Elizabeth. Their bowlers, seamers Wayne Parnell and Andrew Birch, especially, bowled economically, to restrict Cobras to 129 for 7. The pair picked up four wickets between them and conceded just 44 in eight overs. After being reduced to 13 for 3, Justin Ontong (41) and Dane Vilas (35) put together 75, before the lower middle order took the score to 129.Warriors began the chase steadily, with a 42-run opening stand, though quickly slipped to 52 for 3. But Sambit Patel (34) and Adrian McLaren (36*) stabilised the innings in a 630run partnership and set up the team’s victory. Victory was sealed with three balls to spare. Warriors are third on the points table now, behind Knights, who trail table-toppers Lions.

Somerset stepped up their challenge for the Division One title in the County Championship with victory by an innings and eight runs after polishing off Worcestershire for 95 at New Road

29-Jul-2011
ScorecardSomerset stepped up their challenge for the Division One title in the County Championship with victory by an innings and eight runs after polishing off Worcestershire for 95 at New Road. Peter Trego (4 for 22) spearheaded a well-balanced attack with the variety to run through the relegation-threatened home side as a wearing pitch offered bounce for the seamers and some turn for Murali Kartik.Back-to-back wins have lifted fourth-placed Somerset to within 23 points of leaders Durham although Warwickshire could be the team to watch with their game in hand on the other contenders. Somerset were the nearly men of last season when they lost the championship on the last day, but this year they are gearing up to make a late run for a prize that has always eluded them.Four of their last five matches are at home, and while results can be hard to come by on the flat pitches at Taunton, it could boil up to a decider with Lancashire, currently in second place, in the final fixture. For Worcestershire it is back to the drawing board after briefly escaping from the bottom two with a couple of home wins. Now they have to re-build from a deflating defeat after posting their highest and lowest totals of the season in the same match.Somerset bravely followed their strategy to make close to 600, which they did after a double century by Marcus Trescothick, and then bowl out Worcestershire when the pitch began to deteriorate. Overhead conditions on a gloomy morning probably gave their seamers another advantage as a number of bowling changes paid off with immediate wickets.Steve Kirby angled his second delivery across Matt Pardoe to have the opener caught at first slip and Vikram Solanki edged Trego’s fifth ball to second slip. Moeen Ali, having made a career-best 158 in the first innings, got to 10 before a top-edged pull gave Alfonso Thomas an early success and worse still for Worcestershire, this led to a clutch of wickets.Jack Manuel was bowled by Kartik from only the third ball he faced and Thomas (3 for 13) accounted for Gareth Andrew and Alexei Kervezee, the latter giving James Hildreth his fifth catch of the match. Captain Daryl Mitchell stayed for nearly two hours but went for 26 when the second ball of a new spell by Trego kept horribly low.Trego and Kartik then mopped up the last three wickets for 11 runs in six overs after lunch, leaving Ben Scott unbeaten on 15.

Wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman, allrounder Hammad Azam and left-arm seamer Junaid Khan are the new faces in Pakistan’s 15-member squad for the upcoming two-Test series against West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-2011Wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman, allrounder Hammad Azam and left-arm seamer Junaid Khan are the new faces in Pakistan’s 15-member squad for the upcoming two-Test series against West Indies.Misbah-ul-Haq who led the Test side creditably in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal, remains in charge. Salman, Azam and Junaid have all been, in effect, kept on after being blooded in the limited-overs leg of the West Indies tour.The only minor surprise in the squad was the exclusion of Adnan Akmal, who has been the Test wicketkeeper in charge since his elder brother Kamran lost his place in the five-day format in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal last summer. Over four Tests against South Africa and New Zealand he performed well with the gloves, generally neat and clean and, importantly given his brother’s faltering form, safe in taking 17 dismissals.Though there was no big innings with the bat, there was a handy 44 in Hamilton earlier this year. His replacement has impressed behind the stumps in the ongoing ODI series but hasn’t really had an opportunity to do so with the bat, having batted once in three ODIs upto the fourth game between the two sides.There is a fair degree of stability from the last Test squad for New Zealand with the three newcomers the only changes. Sohail Tanvir has been replaced by Junaid and the continuing development of middle order batsmen Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali means there is no place for Khurram Manzoor. Azam, for the first time since Yasir Arafat’s brief Test flirtation in 2007-08, offers Pakistan a genuine Test all-round option – Shahid Afridi’s one-Test comeback last year at Lord’s notwithstanding.Younis Khan, who was rested for the one-dayers, returns for the Tests, as does Umar Gul.The first Test will be played from May 12 at Providence Stadium in Guyana, and the second will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts from May 20. The series is widely regarded as Pakistan’s best chance to win their first-ever Test series in the Caribbean, against a weakened West Indies side that might be missing several key players.Pakistan already have an unassailable lead in the five-match ODI series, having won the first three. West Indies won the lone Twenty20 fixture.Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam

Rajiv Shukla, the new IPL chairman, has said that the interests of players who are contracted to the terminated franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala will be protected

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2011Rajiv Shukla, the new IPL chairman, has said that the interests of players who are contracted to the terminated franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala will be protected. Shukla said the IPL governing council will meet in the second week of October to discuss the issues related to the termination.”Our prime concern will be the players’ interest, their interest is not hampered in terms of financial losses and also in terms of their participation in the tournament,” Shukla told . “Suppose these players are re-auctioned for some other franchise and if there is any difference in what they are supposed to get, it will be compensated by us.”So after the termination of this franchise [Kochi], now nine teams are left. The whole matter will go to the governing council and they will take a view if we should go for one more team or we should stick to nine teams. I am okay with both the plans and whatever the council decides we will go by that.”N Srinivasan, the new BCCI president, had earlier said that efforts would be made to find “an equitable solution that is viable both for the players and the BCCI.”The Kochi franchise was terminated by the BCCI at its annual general meeting on September 19 for breaching its terms of agreement. According to the BCCI the franchise was unable to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. Kochi denied they owed the BCCI any money and filed a case against the board in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. The court, however, rejected Kochi’s case to restrain the BCCI from encashing its bank guarantee of Rs 156 crore. Kochi then filed an appeal against the court’s decision and a new hearing has been set for Thursday.”The status is that on the issue of non-payment, Kochi has been terminated as per the agreement between franchise and BCCI,” Shukla said. “They were supposed to pay the bank guarantee … they have gone to the court, and the court didn’t give them any relief and BCCI is entitled to encash the bank guarantee.”Shukla, however, ruled out any immediate possibility of a new owner coming in to take over Kochi. “No, now if any decision is taken, it has to be on the basis of a new bid.”

A selection of the leading Associate and Affiliate players will get their chance to compete against the No. 1 Test team in the world next month

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Dec-2011A selection of the leading Associate and Affiliate players, led by Ireland captain William Porterfield, will get their chance to compete against England, the No. 1 Test team in the world, next month after it was confirmed they will form part of England’s preparations for the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE.The team, which will be under the banner of an ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate (AM) XI, will face England from January 7-9 at the Global Cricket Academy in Dubai where players from countries below Test level regularly make use of the facilities for training. The team includes three Afghanistan players – pace bowler Hamid Hassan, allrounder Mohammad Nabi and batsman Mohammad Shahzad – while Porterfield is joined by Ireland team-mates Boyd Rankin and George Dockrell.ICC Combined AM XI

William Porterfield (captain, Ireland), Saqib Ali (UAE), Kyle Coetzer (Scotland), George Dockrell (Ireland), Majid Haq (Scotland), Hamid Hassan (Afghanistan), Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Boyd Rankin (Ireland), Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan), Paul Stirling (Ireland), Christi Viljoen (Namibia) and Craig Williams (Namibia)

Rankin has been part of the England Lions set up, and is currently at a fast-bowling camp in Potchefstroom, while Dockrell, the left-arm spinner who plays for Somerset, is also on the England radar after making an impressive start to his Ireland career. Porterfield, Rankin and Dockrell were all involved in the famous World Cup match in Bangalore when Ireland beat England.”It will be a great honour for me to lead out the Associate and Affiliate team against the No. 1 team in the longer format of the game,” Porterfield said. “If you look through their squad they are full of world-class cricketers and it will be a great test for us against whatever XI they put out.”Another challenge we face is coming together as a group ourselves; we have played against each other a few times but we will have to gel pretty quickly in the few days preparation we have in order to put in a good performance. As this is such a great chance for all the individuals to showcase their talent against the No. 1 Test team in the world, I do not see this being an issue at all.”Staging the series in the UAE, which is Pakistan’s ‘home’ venue while they can’t play in their own country, has created the issue of finding suitable warm-up opposition for England. The second game ahead of the Test series will see England face a Pakistan Board XI from January 11-13.Pakistan, meanwhile, will prepare for the one-day series in February with a one-day international against Afghanistan. England will face their own Lions squad as they did on their previous visit to the UAE in 2010 when they played two Twenty20s against Pakistan. On that occasion the Lions beat the full team and the match saw the emergence of Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter as the opening partnership that played in the World Twenty20 in West Indies.The first of three Tests starts in Dubai on January 17 and the tour also includes four one-day internationals and three Twenty20s.