SkyBet have Southampton as the 2/1 favourites to sign Middlesbrough centre-back Ben Gibson in this summer’s transfer window.

Everton are believed to have turned to Gibson after cooling their interest in Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles.

The Toffees are the second-favourites to sign the 25-year-old, but if the bookmakers are to be believed, Gibson will join Southampton if he leaves Boro in this summer’s transfer window.

Southampton seemingly have big plans this summer after managing to stay in the Premier League last season, and Mark Hughes is staying on as head coach.

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Barcelona forward Paco Alcacer is amongst those to be linked with St Mary’s, but there is no question that the club are in need of some reinforcements at the back following the sale of Virgil van Dijk during the January transfer window.

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The Southampton fans have been reacting to the speculation surrounding Gibson, and it would be fair to say that they have some mixed opinions.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Northwest surprised Western Province with a four wicket victory off the penultimate ball of the match in the Standard Bank Cup clash in Potchefstroom on Friday.Northwest scored 261 for six in response to Western Province’s 258 for five in their allotted 45 overs.Home side opener Hendrik de Vos scored 82 not out while West Indian Mark Lavine blasted 44 off 21 balls down the order that swung the match in favour of the hosts.Western Province’s bowling was well below par as they conceded 23 wides to compound their misery.It started well for the visitors, who won the toss and elected to bat. Spearheaded by a maiden one-day century from opener Graeme Smith they looked well placed to record a win that seemed a mere formality.Smith scored 106 and took three for 46 in 8.2 overs to earn the man of the match award. His heroics were not enough as the rest of the team failed to raise their game when it was needed.Western Province openers Smith and suspended national team player Herschelle Gibbs put on 40 for the first wicket. Gibbs blitzed 22 that included five boundaries before being caught by De Vos off the bowling of seamer Garth Roe.Zimbabwean international Neil Johnson played the dominant role in a 103-run second wicket partnership with Smith, scoring 58. It was an aggressive knock that included four boundaries and one six. He holed out to Craig Light off spinnner Corrie Jordaan.Lloyd Ferreira then played the support role as Smith moved to his century. Ferreira was Roe’s second victim caught in the covers by West Indian Mark Lavine.Smith was run out two overs from the end of the innings as he tried to force the pace further. But he had already done enough to put his side into a strong positionThe Northwest response was spirited as they tried manfully to stay with the required run rate of five and a half to the over.They had fallen behind with the loss of opener Glen Hewitt (42), Arno Jacobs (18) and Martin Venter (3) before Lavine made hay and turned the match on its head.When he holed out to Herschelle Gibbs at point, the way was paved for De Vos to steer his side to victory.

ScorecardLaurie Evans’ 70 proved a match-winning knock for Warwickshire•PA Photos

Durham had lost only two home matches in three years before Yorkshire won by an innings at the Riverside last month. Now they have lost two in a row and Yorkshire are the clear beneficiaries, the gap between themselves and Durham still a yawning 25 points. Middlesex are closer, 11 points in front of Durham in second place, but they have played two matches more than Yorkshire, who also have a game in hand on Durham.Jon Lewis, the Durham head coach, is not yet ready to concede defeat, particularly with a trip to Scarborough to face the leaders still to come. Yet Dougie Brown, Warwickshire’s director of cricket, believes the title is Yorkshire’s to lose and having played the two rivals back to back he is as well placed as anyone to judge.”They are the ones looking behind them,” he said. “They have played exceptionally well up to now and you would think it is unlikely they are going to slip up from this position. They are a strong side, and even when they don’t have their international stars they are a very good squad. They have some young players who have stepped up to the plate and they are playing really good team cricket.”Warwickshire were beaten by 174 runs by Yorkshire last week but came out best in a nail-biting finish here, when enough batsmen showed enough composure in conditions that were still giving the bowlers an advantage to reach a challenging target of 265 with two wickets to spare. Brown admitted that his nerves were frayed watching from the players’ balcony but out in the middle, along with one innings of substance, from Laurie Evans, there was a supporting cast long enough to supply six partnerships in the innings of between 20 and 38 runs and, therefore, few moments of real panic. It meant that while wickets kept falling, the scoreboard kept ticking over. The Durham bowlers did not manage to produce back to back maidens at any stage of the innings, which was telling.After Warwickshire had begun the final day with seven wickets in hand and 140 more to score, Graham Onions struck an early blow for the home side when a short ball took the glove of Sam Hain to give Michael Richardson the second of three catches taken down the legside. Evans became the next, Richardson moving sharply to snare the ball as the right-hander, on 70, glanced a ball from Chris Rushworth, at which point the total was still 107 short of the target and Durham were beginning to sense that the balance was tipping their way. But Tim Ambrose, Rikki Clarke and Chris Woakes all batted with purpose.Ambrose fell to a fine catch by Paul Collingwood, standing wide as the only slip, as a swinging ball from Jamie Harrison induced an uncertain jab from the batsman. Woakes fell just before lunch, leg before to a ball from Rushworth that gave the Durham seamer his 250th first-class wicket. Seven down, but with only 38 needed, Warwickshire were by then looking strong favourites.Clarke’s dismissal to the first ball of the afternoon might have prompted panic, particularly after the batsman departed with a clear sense of injustice, smacking the face of his bat with his glove, while looking daggers in the direction of umpire David Millns, who had upheld an Onions appeal for leg before.In Jeetan Patel and Tom Milnes, the ninth wicket pair were at opposite ends of the experience scale. But Patel, while not exactly curbing his natural tendency to swing the bat, stayed sensible, the odd streaky moment more than balanced by some controlled and relatively risk averse aggression that kept the pressure from building. Milnes showed some composure too and it was his second boundary, clipped through midwicket off Onions, that finished the job.Having led by 116 on first innings, Durham can be said to have squandered a good position in the match, but that would be to downplay the quality of Warwickshire’s bowling during the critical phase of the match, which reduced Durham 55 for 7 at the start of their second innings, having at one point been 9 for 4, the period of the game which showed Chris Woakes, even in his first competitive action for four months, to be near his best with the ball.”At that point it was going to be a long way back into the game for us and we knew the only way we could get back was to have a magic third innings,” Brown said. “We got it right straight away, putting pressure on from both ends and we had that magic half an hour or 40 minutes where they managed to nick everything and we took our catches. That spell from Chris along with Rikki Clarke was as good as we have seen from anybody all season.”Brown may feel Yorkshire now hold all the aces and Lewis probably agrees. He conceded that by losing to all of their closest rivals – Middlesex at Lord’s, Yorkshire here and to Warwickshire away and now at home – Durham have not made life easy for themselves but does not believe the race is over.”I wouldn’t say the title is out of reach,” he said. “I would have liked to have been closer than 25 points, and had we won this game – and we were only two wickets away from doing so – we would be closer. But we still have to play Yorkshire at Scarborough and that was a crucial game in 2013.”

Whatever Trevor Bayliss’ ability as a coach – and an early Ashes victory enhances an already outstanding record – he surely has no future as a media spin doctor.Certainly his attempts to play down expectations of Ben Stokes backfired. What started as an attempt to avoid comparisons with Andrew Flintoff or Ian Botham, ended with England’s new coach comparing him with England’s highest wicket-taker and praising both other aspects of his game. Even the outwardly calm Bayliss, it seems, is excited by Stokes’ potential.”We don’t want to put too much expectation on him,” Bayliss said. “We don’t want to say he’s going to be the next Botham, or the next Flintoff. He’ll be the next Ben Stokes.”But then he couldn’t help himself.”His batting is right up there,” Bayliss continued, now warming to his subject. “And with his bowling, as we’ve seen here, he could be another Jimmy Anderson.”Another James Anderson. Another man who takes 400 Test wickets and leads the attack with distinction in England, Australia and India. It is quite a claim.On the evidence of Trent Bridge, though, it is not quite so outlandish as it may sound. Stokes harnessed the conditions so expertly that he did a more than a reasonable job of standing in for the injured Anderson. Swinging the ball sharply, generating sharp pace and delivering long, consistent spells, he claimed six second-innings wickets and looked every inch Anderson’s successor.Add to that Stokes’ batting and you can understand why Bayliss is excited and why, during the Caribbean tour, Phil Simmons compared Stokes to Jacques Kallis.

Bayliss on…

Australia
“It’s a challenge for any team to win away. I think that’s the way it should be. I know how good these Australia players are, but it is probably a team in a little bit of a transition period. I’m not going to gloat. Not in front of them, anyway.
Steven Smith
“He will handle captaincy well. He has shown it already in Test cricket earlier this year. He’s a very proactive type of captain. I think he’ll do a fantastic job, and certainly has the respect of the rest of his team-mates. They know he is one hell of a player and a very good captain.”
Alastair Cook
“First of all, he’s a fantastic guy. He is very well-respected in the dressing room, not just because of his own record but the type of person he is. I think he’s captained extremely well in this series so far. He has been pro-active, not reactive and I think the results speak for themselves.”

As Bayliss put it: “On top of that he’s probably the best fielder in the team as well. To have that rolled up in one player is a good thing for English cricket.”I’m sure we’ll all enjoy watching where he’ll end up, and the performances he puts on the board over the next 10 to 15 years. I’m looking forward to it.”Stokes’ first experience of international cricket was not especially happy. Only once in his first 27 ODIs did he reach 40 and he struggled to find consistency with the ball.But now, in the more relaxed England environment, he is one of the players who appears to be thriving and seems set to play a defining role in the team over the next decade.Bayliss has played a role in creating that environment. Outwardly calm, at least – “I’m like a duck under the water, feet paddling pretty quickly,” he said – he has emphasised enjoyment and relaxation and, notably, has reintroduced football in the warm-ups where it was, in the past, considered an injury risk.It probably is an injury risk, of course. But Bayliss has reasoned that the positives – it brings the team together in a way in which they enjoy – outweighs the potential negatives.”I think if the coach is showing his emotion, or looking nervous and making comments that are not necessarily helpful, it just makes the players even more nervous,” he explained. “They are going to be nervous anyway. They just don’t need that negative feel from others as well.”You want the team to be happy. It doesn’t matter what it is – it could be a game of marbles – but as long as they’re feeling good about themselves and doing what they want to do, that’s great. The football the boys play certainly gets their juices flowing.”The “juices are flowing” in Bayliss, too. Much as he tried to minimise expectations, much as he knows his team are raw and that tough challenges loom in the not too distant future, it is clear he is excited by the potential of what he sees.”We’ll enjoy this win tonight,” he said. “But we’re not going to paper over the cracks. There are some improvements to be made with this team if we want to be the best in the world, and want to play consistent cricket over a period of time and on foreign soil.”So we have got some things we’ve got to work on. But if they keep improving, the future is bright.”

Australia’s captain Steven Smith has expressed disappointment at his team’s middle-order slump against Ireland but said the side would be better for the hit-out ahead of their ODI series against England. In Smith’s first match as full-time one-day captain, Australia won by 23 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis system in a rain-affected contest reduced to a 24-over chase.Debutant Joe Burns (69) and David Warner (84) put on 139 for the opening wicket but the rest of the batting order struggled to find the same rhythm. Smith scored 21 off 38 balls, George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell managed only single-figure scores, and Australia reached 222 for 6 before rain ended their innings prematurely after 40.2 overs.However, their total was big enough against an Ireland outfit that relied largely on an 86-run partnership between Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien for the third wicket. The revised target became 181 from 24 overs due to the rain, and Ireland were bowled out for 157 in the final over of their chase.”It was a good workout for us,” Smith said. “It was a pretty frustrating day, going on and off but I think all the boys got what they needed out of it. I think Davey Warner and Joe Burns, on debut, played really nicely. They’re positive signs for us.”The middle order again, we lost a few wickets in clumps, which is disappointing, but it’s our first game back in white-ball cricket, so I’m not really reading too much into it. I thought with the ball we were pretty good.”It was tough to get in a rhythm, whether being a batter or a bowler. That comes down to attitude. The boys had the attitude today. Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien got a little partnership together there, and we always thought we were one wicket away from cracking it open and it turned out to be that way.”Nathan Coulter-Nile picked up 3 for 13 in his first international match since last November, and Pat Cummins bowled with good pace to collect 2 for 19. But perhaps the most promising sign for Australia was the success of Burns, whose 69 came from 70 deliveries and served as a timely reminder of his credentials after he was left out of the Ashes squad.”Joe has had a taste of Test cricket [against India] and he played quite well in those Test matches that he played,” Smith said. “I thought he played really nicely today. He complemented Warner. They both played really well. Rod [Marsh] has said before if you’re scoring runs in one-day cricket you can certainly put your name up for Test cricket and hopefully he can take the opportunity of opening in this series with both hands.”The match was Australia’s first ODI since their triumph in the World Cup final against New Zealand in March. Their five-match one-day series against England begins in Southampton on Thursday next week, preceded by a T20 in Cardiff on Monday.

Former fast-bowling great Dennis Lillee has reportedly quit as president of the WACA. The has reported that Lillee stood down on Tuesday evening, two days before a report was due to be released on how much cricket should remain at the WACA Ground and how much should be moved to Perth’s new stadium at Burswood.”I cannot stand by and watch what is happening at the WACA,” Lillee told the paper. “I do not wish to be part of it any longer.”According to the , the upcoming report is likely to recommend that Test cricket remains at the WACA Ground but most forms of limited-overs cricket, including BBL games, be moved to Burswood. The new stadium is due to open in 2018.Lillee’s departure comes after former Test fast bowler Sam Gannon last month announced that he would not seek re-election as chairman of the WACA. Both men joined the board in 2004 as part of a significant shake-up of the organisation.

Imad Wasim has the air and confidence of a natural leader. A long-term captain of the Pakistan Under-19 side, he has also led Islamabad in both first-class and limited-overs cricket, and captained sides in the PCB Patron’s Trophy. In the midst of his match-winning spell of left-arm spin in the first T20I against Zimbabwe, however, Wasim was quite happy to follow the plans laid out to him by his captain and coaches.”Whatever is required, I do,” Wasim said. “Whatever my captain tells me, I do that.” He was deployed early against Zimbabwe opener Chamu Chibhabha, who has a reputation for preferring pace on the ball, and insisted “the coaching staff and captain were part of that decision.”Despite his respectful deference, Wasim is also a street-smart cricketer who has played the game professionally for almost a decade. On current evidence, he could be around for a lot longer. “Look, I’ve been playing cricket for ten years now,” he said. “First-class, and before that Under-19, so there is a bit of pressure coming into international cricket but I played in Sri Lanka, and against Zimbabwe at home, so I think I can cope with it now.”Wasim’s international debut came against Zimbabwe at home in May, in the second Twenty20 international. He had been selected on the basis of his all-round performances for Pakistan A. On a flat track at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, he bowled only two overs but played a more vital hand with the bat as Pakistan snuck home by two wickets.There were also some handy runs from him today, the best of which was a mighty loft down the ground for one of only four sixes in the entire match. It’s clearly a stroke he’s worked on: at Saturday’s centre net he spent the best part of an hour practising it. His 19 runs off 12 balls were crucial in a low-scoring game.”The wicket was not as good as we felt it was at the start, so I felt our score was okay,” Wasim said. “And to win by 20 or so runs in a low-scoring game is a convincing win.”Wasim’s all-round contributions included two run-outs, but it was his bowling which was most eye-catching. Though the wicket was taking spin, it was his drift which caused the most trouble. “The pitch was a bit slow, and it was spinning a lot, but you still have to bowl in good areas,” he said. “I use spin and drift, I do both. But was I using drift as a weapon today? Yes, definitely.”

300 wickets in Bangladesh first-class cricket

• Enamul Haque Jr: 415 at 29.75

• Abdur Razzak: 385 at 27.79

• Mohammad Sharif: 339 at 27.97

• Elias Sunny: 331 at 27.97

• Mosharraf Hossain: 330 at 25.14

• Nabil Samad: 301 at 27.33

Khulna Division took over the top spot in the NCL’s Tier 1 after their drawn game against Dhaka Metropolis in Fatullah. Khulna’s eight points from this outing gave them a six-point lead over second-placed Dhaka Metro, who took ten points from the game.Centuries from Shamsur Rahman and Mahmudullah helped Dhaka Metro post 399 in the first innings. The pair added 124 for the third wicket with Shamsur the aggressor of the two, making his 144 at a strike-rate of 86.22 with 18 fours and five sixes. Mahmudullah made 132 off 224 balls with 14 fours. For Khulna, the offspinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz took five wickets.Imrul Kayes replied firmly for Khulna with his 163 off 275, which had 17 fours and seven sixes. He added 135 for the fifth wicket with Nurul Hasan, who made 76. Left-arm seamer Abu Hider picked up four wickets as Dhaka Metro took a 32-run first-innings lead.In their second innings, Dhaka Metro were bowled out for 262 with only Sharifullah (67) making a fifty while Abdur Razzak and Miraz took three wickets each. With a target of 295, Khulna batted out the last 20 overs of the game safely to reach 84 for 2.At the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra, Rangpur Division could only draw against Dhaka Division despite being in an advantageous position. The result could have an adverse effect on their position in Tier 1 next season as they are in the drop-zone on 30 points.Centuries from Tariq Ahmed, Naeem Islam and Dhiman Ghosh stretched Rangpur’s first innings to 463. Tariq and Naeem added 161 for the third wicket after Rangpur had lost two wickets in the first 2.3 overs. Ghosh then batted well with the lower order to ensure the 450-plus total. Medium-pacer Dewan Sabbir took four wickets while left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam took three wickets.Dhaka were bowled out for 276 – a deficit of 187 – and asked to follow-on. Raqibul Hasan scored the lone fifty of the Dhaka innings while Sajedul Islam and Bishawnath Halder took three wickets each. In their second innings, Dhaka batted better, ending the game on 247 for 4 in 98 overs with Saif Hassan making 84 and Nadif Chowdhury staying unbeaten on 58.Sylhet Division moved up from the bottom of Tier 2 with a five-wicket win over home side Chittagong Division.Set 260 to win on the final day, Sylhet openers Imtiaz Hossain and Shanaj Ahmed added 140 in 30.3 overs, after which Zakir Hasan and Abul Hasan, promoted to stay up with the asking-rate, added 48 for the third wicket before the latter was run out for 19.Zakir made an important half-century but he was dismissed with four runs needed. Ruman Ahmed struck a six to win the game with 15 minutes remaining.Sylhet had taken a 13-run first-innings lead with a total of 283. Chittagong had made 270 after Abul took four wickets, two of which came in an encouraging opening spell on the first day. Rahatul Ferdous’ four wickets helped Sylhet bowl out Chittagong for 272 in the second innings, leaving them a target of 260 in just over four hours.With the wicket of Shanaj Ahmed in the Sylhet second innings, Nabil became the sixth Bangladeshi bowler to reach 300 first-class wickets. Interestingly, this was the first time Nabil was playing first-class cricket away from Sylhet, for Chittagong.

New Zealand A skipper Scott Styris provided the all-round inspiration behind his side’s 134-run success in a 50-over friendly with Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.Styris struck a rapid 57 in a total of 279-9 and then claimed 3-34 from eight overs, including the important wicket of Australian Ian Harvey, as Gloucestershire were restricted to 145-9, with wicketkeeper Reggie Williams unable to bat through injury.After Styris had won the toss, Michael Papps and Jacob Oram laid the basis for an imposing score by the tourists with a second wicket partnership of 90 in 17 overs.The runs come quicklyIndeed, the New Zealand top order scored at such a fast rate that the 200 arrived in only 36 overs.Papps struck five fours in his 97-ball innings of 66 which ended with a catch to Jeremy Snape at square leg off the bowling of Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne.Alleyne also had Oram caught behind by Williams after the left-hander had hit four fours and two sixes, both from spinner Martyn Ball, in his 50-ball innings of 51.Styris played equally well for his 57 before he skied a catch to Dominic Hewson in the deep to give Harvey one of his three wickets.A late clatter of wickets kept New Zealand under 300, but it was never seriously threatened by Gloucestershire.Disappointment for GloucsHewson and Harvey put together a second wicket stand of 63 in just eight overs, but there was precious little other resistance.Harvey, who took four boundaries off one over from Daryll Tuffey, brought up his fifty from only 38 balls. But he was then out from the next one when he was well caught by James Marshall, low at short extra cover, off Styris.Spinner Bruce Martin bowled economically to remove James Averis and Ben Gannon in a return of 2-10 from 5.2 overs.The last eight Gloucestershire wickets fell for 60 runs in 21 overs and it was a sorry batting display by the Benson and Hedges Cup holders.Their disappointment was compounded by a nasty facial injury to Williams, who was deputising behind the stumps for the rested Jack Russell.Wicketkeeper Williams injuredHe was struck abover the right eye by a delivery from harvey in the 48th over. He was taken to Cheltenham General Hospital and had three stitches inserted in the wound.He later returned to the ground with his eye closed by the severe bruising.Williams said of the ball that did the damage: “It was like a top spinner that flew up off the surface. Until the bruising goes down, I don’t know how long I will be out of action.”

Shane Warne – torments Kent with bat and ball Photo © AFP

Shane Warne enjoyed himself at Kent’s expense to give Hampshire the best oftheir championship match at Portsmouth. First he made 69, his highest scoresince joining the county, and then when Kent began their reply to Hampshire’s 320 the Australian leg-spinner dismissed two batsmen in his first over.Pugnacious Warne struck 56 runs in boundaries, which included sixes from David Masters and Min Patel, and then was bowled moving out to drive the latter. He increased his previous highest for Hampshire by 19 by is still a way of his ambition of hitting his first hundred.Jason Laney made the highest score for the home county with a forthright 81 in which there were nine boundaries. Within sight of his first century for two seasons he hit a rising ball from Ben Trott to be caught by Robert Key atmid-wicket.Patel, who bowled with life and lift for just under forty overs, was Kent’s most successful bowler. He dismissed Derek Kenway and Robin Smith to catches by wicket-keeper Paul Nixon and Adrian Aymes to a catch by Matthew Walker in the slips. Earlier Walker had missed two easier chances from Will Kendall.Trott, who had represented Hampshire earlier this season, was included because of the absence of fast bowlers Dean Headley, Martin McCague and Julian Thompson. Trott also dismissed Dmitri Mascarenhas. Then, however, the home lower-order contributed 102 runs for the last three wickets of which Shaun Udal made 31 and Peter Hartley 23.Hampshire were all out in the 94th so their opponents ad to face a further nine before the close. For the fifth Warne was called on to bowl and with his second ball had Robert Key caught by Giles White at short-leg before he had scored andfour balls later had nightwatchman Masters leg-before. David Fulton and Rahul Dravid took the score to 31-2 at the close.