Cricinfo writers select their best and worst moments from 2006

20-Dec-2006

Martin Williamson

Bangladesh had a good year winning 12 of their 14 ODIs and giving Australia quite a scare © AFP

Best: Bangladesh on the up
Bangladesh, so long the whipping boys of international cricket, have enjoyed handing out some drubbings of their own and ended the year flushed with success after 12 wins in 14 ODIs – their previous 129 ODIs had brought just 16 victories. While the opposition were not top class, Bangladesh more than underlined that they have opened a wide gap between themselves and the chasing pack. Although restricted to two Tests by the grossly imbalanced Future Tours Programme, they gave Australia some sleepless nights – and almost a follow-on – before the pressure got to them. Their aim in 2007 is to pick off the sides in eighth and ninth in the ODI rankings … England and Sri Lanka.Worst: Haves and have nots
Speaking of the gap between the best and the rest, 2006 was the year in which the ICC’s brave new (albeit under-funded) plan to allow the top six Associates kicked in. However, there were no surprises, although Kenya hinted at what we all suspected, namely they are the best of the rest, by drawing a series in Zimbabwe although they were trounced by Bangladesh. That aside, no upsets were threatened and some woefully one-sided games were also in evidence, none more than when Sri Lanka piled on 443 for 9. The biggest disappointments were the highly-funded Bermudans and the Scots, who were thrashed in Bangladesh in December. But the main problem was still that the big boys simply didn’t want to play with the minnows whose appeal to sponsors and TV companies was zero.

Sriram Veera

Sourav Ganguly: India’s highest run-scorer in the Test series against South Africa © AFP

Best: Dada returns
It was all set up for a fall. The critics were chuckling quietly, “Ah … He’s going to get buried on the bouncy South African track.” Obituaries were dusted up and one more line, describing his latest debacle, was about to be added. He made them look sheepish with a gutsy 87 against Rest of South Africa. And by the end of the first Test, he had converted a few of the critics to his side. Ridicule had made way for respect. ‘Dada ki baat sunenge na?” he had cajoled us in an astounding advertisement that I can’t believe any other cricketer would have done. He impressed with his desire, if not with the scores, by playing every Ranji Trophy match and surprised some of us, with his show in South Africa. The redemption song is on. How long it will last is anybody’s guess but, briefly, at end of the year, when old dies for new, Sourav Ganguly gave us a lilting tune.Worst: Story of Sachin’s life?
A little story first. During the ball-by-ball commentary of the second Test
against South Africa in Durban, I had written this: “Two wickets down, in
comes Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Another semi-crisis to deal with. The story
of his life.” Almost immediately, two feed-backers pinged me with, “Story of
Sachin’s life you said? How many times did he rescue India out of crisis?
What a statement?”What a statement indeed, the worst of the year. But to me, it’s not a comment on the hero, more a reflection of the escapist-fantasy that we cling to. We don’t like to watch
our heroes turn into mortals. We like to see them riding off into the sunset. Some like Shane Warne do. Tendulkar can easily walk off now. He has runs, money and respect. To me it’s fascinating to watch how a master is prepared to swallow his ego and is willing to look ungainly, even scratch around, for his runs and the team. The injuries have taken its toll on the mindset, the free-flowing man is slowly turning into a thing of past and yes
it would be great if he returns to his pristine best. But till then, even if
it never comes, his monk-like efforts in Sydney, his fight back, albeit
brief, in the first innings at Durban are to be cherished. The horse can
wait.

Peter English

Ponting might have gotten away with two hundreds and an average of 88.50 in the Ashes but for Kasprowicz and MacGill Buchanan’s boot camp meant a long break from international cricket © Getty Images

Best: Pidgeon II
Stuart Clark waited until he was 31 to make his mark on Australian cricket
with a Man-of-the-Series performance against South Africa. A useful fast
bowler for New South Wales, he quickly became a stand-out for Australia with
his nine wickets on debut at Cape Town. Twenty dismissals came in his first
series and his continued strong performances have shown there will be life
after Glenn McGrath.Worst: Boot camp busting
John Buchanan’s boot camp might have bonded Australia’s contract-holders
successfully, but it pushed Michael Kasprowicz to consider retirement.
Kasprowicz could cope with the various tasks, but he suffered a groin injury
that later flared into a painful back problem and he is still waiting to
return to domestic action. John Buchanan rated the camp as one of his
greatest achievements, but it has almost certainly led to the end of
Kasprowicz’s international career. Stuart MacGill, who suffered a knee
problem during the week, has also not appeared for Australia since the
pre-season activity.

Nishi Narayanan

And so it all came together © Getty Images

Best: Hussey catches his destiny

If like the movies we could flashback a cricketer’s life in quick rewind to ‘where it all came together’, Michael Hussey’s catch to dismiss Ashwell Prince in the second match of the VB series this year, would be such a moment. Hussey ran in from mid-wicket to square leg with his left hand out. He stretched a little more than one’s imagination could and flung himself towards the ball. The scoreboard innocuously read Prince c Hussey b McGrath 19. Hussey had played 22 ODIs before the one at the Gabba and in three months into his Test career he had three hundreds and was already a ‘find of the year’. But the catch was the moment it all fit into place. No turning back from there. An ODI average of 77.11 and with four fifties and a hundred from six Ashes innings he is now on full fast-forward mode.Worst: Coaching Videos
One had to tune into this one – Greg Chappell coaching Sourav Ganguly on playing the short ball – a nicely packaged ‘unrehearsed’ video of the coach and batsman in the nets going over the processes of hooking and pulling. Then Sunil Gavaskar, a commentator on the channel which broadcast these exclusive videos, gave Rahul Dravid some batting tips and Allan Donald, also a commentator, had a friendly chat with Indian bowlers Sreesanth and VRV Singh. As televisions were switched on to watch the fourth day of the Durban Test, Sreesanth and VRV stood awkwardly by the camera while Donald advised Sreesanth not to lose his cool on the field. Painful to watch, it reminded one of a teacher reprimanding a student while the rest of the class listened in. More painful was Harsha Bhogle’s claim that the best reality tv is that which is spontaneous. There have been worse moments this year, but nothing so cringe-worthy.

Sambit Bal

Best: Return of the sporting ODI
South Africa’s chase of 434 at Johannesburg was breathlessly described by many, including Cricinfo, as the greatest one-day match ever. But I must admit that it made me queasy. It was, without doubt, the most incredible chase and a spectacle. But it was hardly a match. On that pitch and with those short boundaries, the bowlers didn’t have a chance.This year’s Champion’s Trophy somewhat restored my faith in one-day cricket. It wasn’t by design, but the pitches prepared by the Indian curators brought bowlers back in to the game. Mohali provided bounce, Jaipur seam, and Brabourne spin. Batsmen were forced to buckle down, apply themselves and choose the right balls to hit. Most matches were low scoring, but almost each of them was a contest. One-day cricket has suffered grievously because of misplaced notion that big runs equals big excitement; to see the balance redressed, that too in India where plus-300 scores are boringly routine, was refreshing.Worst: Viru walks on eggshellsI write this on the second of the Boxing day Test between India and South Africa and about an hour ago, Virender Sehwag has played the most horrendous of strokes to be out on zero. It was his first ball, wide, and on its way up when Sehwag flailed at it. It was not merely careless; it was the worst of Sehwag in what has been the worst year of his career.To watch a confident player like Sehwag to be reduced to a bundle of confusion has been one of the most distressing sights of 2006. To say bowlers have sorted him out is simplistic. Watch him bat in the first Test innings it’s easy to see that his batting has regressed; from a batsman who could play strokes all around the wicket, he now merely looks for space to free his arms to blast the ball square on the offside, which makes him one-fourth the player. Insouciance is a great virtue when married with common sense, Sehwag’s first-ball swish made him more like a fool on a death wish.

Paul Coupar

Brian Lara can make even the savage demolishers of the Aussies look weak © Getty Images

Best: Aussies look mortal
Perhaps it was the tantalising mirage of the Aussies being made to look
mortal ahead of the Ashes. Perhaps it was because I was puffing on a gym
treadmill at the time and appreciated a distraction – any distraction. But
watching Lara’s front-foot pull for six, during the Champions Trophy clash at Mumbai, to a ball most would have nurdled through third man, was truly electric. More risky than Dravid, more inventive than Ponting, he remains thrilling to watch.Worst: December 16
Every serious Test nation will be playing, with Bangladesh hosting a major
series against Scotland. It’s far, too much cricket. It’s dulling
our appetite and the sharpness of our memories. It’s weakened competition and diluted fine performances. Cricket becomes a meaningless blur.

Anand Vasu

Best: Jubilation at Jo’burg

The win at the Wanderers may not keep the critics at bay for long but for a team often falling frustratingly short of what it’s capable of this was a situation where even Australia couldn’t have done better © AFP

When former Indian cricketers are baying for blood, when newspapers and television channels are shrill in their calls for immediate and brutal reaction, when the batting has failed and when the decisions and comments of administrators are not always what they seem, the Indian cricket team must be the worst possible place to be. And it was exactly the situation when Rahul Dravid courageously chose to bat on a fast pitch with damp spots on it at the Wanderers. Then, batsmen applied themselves, fast bowlers breathed fire from a good line and length, fielders held every catch and snaffled out run outs from half chances. When India won for the first time on foreign soil, it was for many, a vindication of the faith that they had in this team. It was total cricket from a team that frustratingly, often falls well short of what it is capable of. It was one of those rare moments when you don’t think, “what would Australia have done in this situation?” for mighty as they are, even they could have done no better.Worst: Read me a riot
They say subjects get the kings they deserve. But sometimes you are left wondering if India’s cricketers get the fans they deserve – not quantity, but quality wise. One of the more distressing sights is watching Sachin Tendulkar fielding on the fence at an Indian ground and getting booed and barracked for not having made runs in a game. Cowards who yell anonymously from a group are one thing, but in Guwahati, when the appalling side of fan behaviour reached its crescendo. After no play was possible because heavy overnight rains had drenched the ground, even the most desperate attempts of the organisers failed. Angry fans rioted, destroying equipment, breaking down fences and walls, assaulting security personnel. Blood was shed and tear gas cannisters were fired. Riots and violence of this kind remind of all the things that are wrong in this world – communal violence, dictatorial oppression, that sort of thing. It’s the sort of thing I never expected to see at a cricket ground, and hope I never have to write about again.

Sam Collins

Best: Bell tolls
As the vultures hovered over Duncan Fletcher at Perth, Ian Bell’s treatment of Shane Warne in his spunky 87 drew attention to the many positive aspects of the coach’s reign. Bell, for so long the golden-child of English cricket, had been comprehensively worked over by Australia in 2005 and a spell on the sidelines followed. However, rather than join the lost generation of Ramprakash, Hick and Crawley he seized the second chance afforded him by Flintoff’s injury, and three hundreds against Pakistan signalled that in this England set-up players do not wither when dropped, they fight back.Worst: Captaincy conundrums

How well will Flintoff hold up in the Ashes post-mortem? © Getty Images

Just when it seemed English cricket had finally emerged from the dark ages and embraced common sense, the mess following Michael Vaughan’s injury showed that madness can only be hidden, never dispelled. Flintoff’s premature appointment as captain for the summer followed his Mumbai heroics, and his subsequent injury made the whole affair farcical. Strauss then impressed in the role against Pakistan – but the selectors’ hands were tied: Flintoff would captain in Australia. All the while Vaughan was still the official captain. Confused? Cue a media frenzy when Vaughan returned to action with England 2-0 down, only for Fletcher to belatedly rule out his involvement; the same Fletcher who then shoddily threw Flintoff a hospital-pass by blaming selection muddles on his captain. The real pity is the effect on Flintoff. Clearly not fit, the beaming smile of 2005 is a distant memory and we can only hope he retains his love for the game in the wake of the inevitable Ashes post-mortem.

Steven Lynch

One that snaked through – Monty sends back a stunned Younis Khan © Getty Images

Best: Monty python

It’s one thing for a spinner to grab the wicket of an out-of-form batsman,
or a wide-eyed rabbit. But the ball which announced Monty Panesar as a
bowling star of the first magnitude was to a batsman at the top of his
form, fresh from 173 in the first innings at Headingley. The recipient
was Younis Khan, half of Pakistan’s Two Ys batting pairing which
troubled England all summer. Panesar dragged Younis forward, beat his jabbed defensive push, and the ball snaked back from the rough outside
leg, just kissing the top of off stump and flicking the bail. It was a
great delivery – one that should have been played on a continuous loop
in a locked room to the England tour selectors before they made the
ruinous decision to leave Panesar out of the Brisbane and, especially,
Adelaide Tests against Australia.Worst: Adelaide atrocity
Actually I wouldn’t have minded Australia winning the Ashes, as long as it had been a decent series. And when England rolled past 500 in the
second Test at least it looked as if the series would be still alive
come Christmas. That predictable first-up defeat at Brisbane wouldn’t
have looked quite so bad if it had been followed by a strong draw – or
even a surprise victory – at Adelaide. But then came that peculiar
declaration-by-numbers, the expensive drop of Ponting … and the
strokeless collapse on the fifth day that gave Australia the chance of
victory, which they greedily guzzled. If Australia had won the Edgbaston
Test in 2005, and gone two up, it would have ruined the “Greatest Ever”
Ashes series: their victory here killed this one stone dead. There was
never any way back from 2-0.

Brydon Coverdale

Michael Hussey – Sir Don’s statistical twin (almost) © Getty Images

Best: A champion arrives
Michael Hussey is not Don Bradman. Statistically, however, he is pretty
darn close. Few players have taken to Test cricket as quickly and
impressively as Hussey, who Australia have discovered can plug any hole
in the top six. Sadly, there is only one of him, because there could be
a few leaks soon if any more batsmen call it a day. After 14 Tests, he
averages 86.33 – Bradman averaged 94.45 at the same point in his career.
Hussey’s average will almost certainly decline but Australia’s No. 4
spot is definitely in safe hands. Suggestions have even been made that
Australia might not have lost the Ashes in 2005 had he played. That
might be drawing a long bow, but his class and composure has been
patently obvious in 2006.Worst: Losing a legend
Australian cricket fans considered losing the Ashes in 2005 a calamity.
They probably should be thankful, however, because it postponed for just
over a year the moment they would regard as an even bigger tragedy –
Shane Warne’s retirement. He would have quit had Australia retained the
Ashes last year but his total commitment to regaining the urn pushed him
on to 2006-07. Warne’s departure was a desperately sad moment for world
cricket because his complete mastery of legspin is as unlikely to be
replicated as a Jason Gillespie double-century. There have been plenty
of stars in world cricket in the past 20 years but few towering legends
of the game. Warne is unquestionably one of them.

Vaneisa Baksh

Best: Lara’s opera

Brian Lara was in his element at Multan © AFP

If Danish Kaneria had been bowling badly, it would have dimmed the sparkle somewhat. He hadn’t been; and despite the two sixes Brian Lara had already taken off him, he couldn’t have been more shell-shocked than at the end of over number 83 in the second Test
at Multan. Stepping out, Lara dispatched the first ball, straight and true, with one bounce to the fence. He subsided for the next, but leant back to pull the short third ball outside leg stump clear over the mid-wicket boundary.The fourth met a dancer’s footwork, as Lara sashayed forward and lofted a powerful arc to long on. Like reaching a crescendo, the third six was the biggest, over the sight screen. Last ball was like waiting for the climax of a symphonic piece, and the full toss got a baton wave over mid-wicket. Three consecutive sixes and two fours, just two runs short of his record 28. Perhaps it was the second six, but the over had suddenly become musical, and Lara was composing an opera full of tragedy, drama, and enthralling conquest.Worst: Windies’ bumbling board
West Indies sank to the debacle between Allen Stanford and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over the clash between fixtures for his Super Star tournament (Nov 10-12) and the West Indies tour of Pakistan. Discussions began early in the year between the parties, but somewhere wires got crossed and what was represented as a hardline position from the Pakistan board turned out to be flexible, but only after the tournament had been called off by an irate Stanford. A possible five million US dollars to South Africa was lost in the rush, while the WICB claimed that Stanford had backed out of a promised US $2 million donation.The WICB President had refused to name the team for Pakistan on Brian Lara’s advice, he said, which made it impossible for Stanford to select a team. Michael Holding, incensed that Lara’s advice was the rationale offered by the WICB for not naming players, resigned from the Cricket Committee on the grounds that it had been sidestepped. He accused the WICB President of being economical with the truth after the Board issued a rebuttal, and with Clive Lloyd drawn in, things got even more unseemly.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

Sabina went bonkers and Dwayne Bravo’s celebration was the symbol of Windies’ one-day revival © AFP

Best: Slow death at Sabina
This was the one-day version
of Steve Harmison’s short ball to Michael Kasprowicz at Edgbaston. Ten needed off the last five, Bravo to Yuvraj, and Sabina Park is going delirious. A top-edged four sends down shivers and a blistering cover-drive that follows induces a sense of utter hopelessness. In a couple of minutes, a cheering arena was turned into a morgue. Two off three was too easy. India were going 2-0 up in a five match series and Windies were all but buried.And then it arrived, ever so slowly. Rising from the adrenalin pool, Bravo resorted to guile when everyone expected force, delivering a quite audacious slower yorker. Yuvraj’s attempted sweep around the corner was complete as the ball passed him and before he realised, the stumps were rattled. To a man, Sabina went bonkers, electricity pierced the concrete, and the pillars quaked under the mountain of noise. It was also an inflexion point for the two teams – West Indies won 11 of their next 17 games; India lost 12 of their next 16.Worst: Runs and ruins
Strangely the Iqbal Stadium was full, on a the fifth day of a quite meaningless Test.
A grand total of 1702 runs were scored in five days and chances of a result were as remote as Shoaib Akhtar embracing Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Then Afridi entered and, after an innings lasting three balls, edged to the keeper. And then, in one mighty wave, Iqbal was empty. Barring two sessions on the third day, nobody needed have turned up for this batting orgy. Six centuries, five half-centuries, eight bowlers conceding more than 100, 200 fours, 27 sixes … On a tar road masquerading as a pitch, cricket wept, wailed and finally died.

Anil Nair

Best: Freddie at Alamo

Flintoff carried the torch for England at the Gabba till he was forced off the field with a sore ankle © Getty Images

Andrew Flintoff in the first innings at the Gabba will remain a sight to cherish despite the ignominy of the Ashes surrender. As the other English bowlers reduced themselves to pie-chuckers, Flintoff, wearing his size like a cloak and chewing gum, ran in over, after desperate over, with the mercury rising and the humidity touching 88%. He was the only one with the pace, accuracy and menace to hurry the Australians on a belter. In just his second over he had Ponting hopping around with a steepler, and, even if momentarily, reliving the nightmare of Ashes 2005. Finally, as Flintoff hobbled off with a sore ankle and an air of the knacker’s yard about him, the enduring image was less the Charge of the Light Brigade than of Alamo – of martyrdom gilded and redeemed by the victories that preceded it.Worst: KP and IQ

Kevin Pietersen’s continuing tirade against alleged racism in the land of his birth is a blot on his otherwise remarkable story of courage and adaptability. South Africa does have a skewed quota system in cricket, official protestations notwithstanding, and Pietersen obviously was a victim of it. But there is the larger reality and his phenomenal success as an England player ought to have made Pietersen realise that what goes around comes around too. In the new South Africa, violent crime and rape is rampant but it is also a great experiment in multiculturalism, where the unity is willed, still not quite on strong foundations but not a facade either: the power is with the blacks, the money largely white and the balance between empowerment and exploitation is ever so steadily shifting towards the former. To call such historical redress racism is simply diabolical, but in this case it appears more a matter of a challenged IQ.

Will Luke

Best: KP takes on Warne
Some have numbed Shane Warne’s spitting legbreak but precious few have silenced his venomous tongue. Kevin Pietersen’s direct, planned attack on Warne has been this series’ mesmerising sideshow. He smashed him for six fours and a six – 59 out of his masterful 158 at Adelaide – leaving Warne bemused and becalmed. Warne got his revenge in the second innings, bowling him around his legs – but his and Australia’s euphoric celebration said plenty. Finally, an Englishman who could match Warne’s ability as a cricketer – and with verbals, too.Worst: Selection shocker
It was so depressingly inevitable. Wrongly chosen for the first Test, we hoped, a little naively, that Ashley Giles would be joined by Monty Panesar for the second at Adelaide. He wasn’t. Giles dropped Ricky Ponting on 35 (he made 142); scratched around at Duncan Fletcher’s precious No.8 position and bowled haplessly. Monty finally made his belated Ashes debut at Perth, took eight wickets and showed promising class and ability with the bat. Too late.

Jenny Thompson

Best: When Claire soared

An out-of-form Steve Harmison could not prevent the Aussies from regaining the Ashes before Christmas © Getty Images

It was an innings fit to grace any stage, let alone the home of cricket. Claire Taylor’s silky 156 from 151 balls eclipsed Viv Richard’s record of fastest one-day hundred at Lord’s, and she was immediately rewarded with an honours board at the ground. But the true value of that innings – and indeed of both England and India’s immaculate conduct – will be measured when discussions are held as to whether to hold another women’s match there. Taylor couldn’t have done more to help the cause and hopefully the women will be back before long.Worst: Wide, wider, widest
From the sublime to the ridiculed… England took fewer than 16 months to lose the Ashes they’d taken 16 years to regain – and poor Steve Harmison’s first ball in the first Test at Brisbane set the tone. wide was so wide it flew to Andrew Flintoff at second slip and at that point the England captain must have thought the urn could easily slip from their grasp. So it proved, with an out-of-sorts Harmison typifying England’s woes. They did play well in parts, but not the vital ones, and Ponting had the Ashes all wrapped up for Christmas.

Sidharth Monga

Best: Uttar Pradesh find their Gary Pratt
Ali Hamid Zaidi had had nothing to do with Uttar Pradesh’s Ranji campaign till the final, where he fielded as a substitute. The whole innings went without him having to do anything significant. Until Bengal were nine down and needed 15 runs to gain the first innings lead that would, in all probability, decide the Ranji Trophy final. For three days and a bit, the game had meandered towards this climax. The lack of action and pace could have been a good excuse for missing the defining moment when it came your way. Not for Zaidi.Top-scorer Lakshmi Ratan Shukla swept Piyush Chawla, all fielders, except the slip, were at the boundary. The ball took the top-edge and flew towards square-leg. Zaidi ran in 15 yards from the boundary, knowing if he missed it could go for four (more than one-fourths of the required runs), dived and did not let the ball touch the ground. Nothing else mattered then; the whole team mobbed him. There was another innings to be played, but that could be negotiated with reasonable batting. The Ranji Trophy was won.Zaidi later said he hadn’t the time to think about the four runs he could have given away in going for the catch. This was the closest they had ever come to the title, and a miss could have cost them the Ranji Trophy. And he didn’t have time to think such thoughts. Ah, for such absence of cobwebs.Worst: I swear
Walking off after being bowled by Monty Panesar at the WACA, Justin Langer’s attention was attracted by somebody from the crowd. To his credit Langer didn’t say anything, didn’t scream, but his look said it all. A disrespectful word from who could be a loser but thinks he is a hero, hiding in the crowd, is the last thing you would want to hear when you are walking back.The year saw worse. After the South Africans last year, the Australian crowds reportedly racially abused the Sri Lankan players in this year’s VB series. And Australia is not the only place where spectators abuse players. And the abuse is not limited to only the opposition players, as Langer’s case showed. Aakash Chopra, playing a Duleep Trophy game, got his share of abuse from the crowd just because he was the most known face on the field.The ICC have done their bit to try and stop players swearing at each other, but a player would rather deal with a man-to-man swearathon than a faceless drunk, whose kids, ironically, perhaps look upto the abused party.

Charlie Austin

Best: Mahela’s rearguard

A series-draw in England turned Sri Lanka’s bad year into a new beginning under the leadership of Mahela Jayawardene © AFP

During the first seven sessions of the first Test at Lord’s Sri Lanka were abject. Even diehard Sri Lanka fans agreed with Geoff Boycott: “My granny could provide better practice for the Pakistan series.” But during the next eight sessions the team salvaged their pride with one of the greatest rearguard’s in the game’s long history: Sri Lanka’s very own Dunkirk. At the centre was Mahela Jayawardene, a captain under the microscope and extreme pressure. His splendid 119, an innings of beautiful touch and unbending determination was the innings that turned a bad year into a landmark tour and a new beginning.Worst: A blot on the spirit

Call me old fashioned if you must, but I cherish cricket’s long-held commitment to sportsmanship. The “Spirit of the Game” is a woolly concept, but it enshrines values of great importance. Brendon McCullum’s run out of Murali during the first Test in Christchurch may have been lawfully correct, but it was wholly at odds with the spirit of the game.Kumar Sangakkara had just completed a magnificent century and Murali was overeager to congratulate him. Yes, he was foolish in the extreme to leave his crease before the ball was in McCullum’s gloves, but he was not attempting a run in the context his excitement in his close friend’s achievement was understandable. In the Champions Trophy, just a few weeks before, Sangakkara could have run out Nathan Astle, who was patting down the pitch, but he choose instead to give him a gentle warning.Even if McCullum’s natural instinct as a wicketkeeper was to break the stumps, Stephen Fleming, an international captain of high regard who has a responsibility to protect cricket’s ethics, could have called Murali back. It was an opportunity to do the right thing; to set an example for thousands of young cricketers around the world. Sadly, instead, the match was soured and cricket was hurt.

Jamie Alter

Best: Monty!

Monty Panesar: Comical spinner to bona fide match-winner © Getty Images

The sight of a turbaned, Asian spin bowler bringing English crowds to their feet, waving flags, chanting his name, cheering his every move, was especially endearing. Monty Panesar, the first Sikh to play for England, shot up from comical spinner to cult hero to bona fide matchwinner – heck, he’s even had football players copying his enthusiastic, unabashed wicket-taking histrionics – and will prove an inspiration to many others like him. For an Asian to establish himself in England, where British Asians feel misrepresented, was something very, very special. England’s cricket make-up, seen for decades as institutionally racist, has hopefully woken up to an opportunity.Worst: Dope, undope

The lifting of the bans on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, they had tested positive for banned steroid nandrolone. How a three-member panel was allowed to decide the verdict for a matter as serious as doping, and for a national federation such as the Pakistan board, to tell an international federation what rules it is going to apply for the controversial case, was shocking and unacceptable. The PCB-appointed tribunal acquitted Akhtar and Asif with the reasoning that they had not been warned about dietary supplements blamed for their positive tests. The bottom line is that they tested . Enough said, case closed. International athletes must be aware of the risks involved and a lack of knowledge was no excuse.

Andrew Miller

Best: The M&H show

It looked like a vision of a glorious future when Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar combined their mercurial talents to deliver a remarkable innings-and-120-run victory against Pakistan at Old Trafford. England’s odd couple thrived on a trampoline pitch to share 19 wickets between them – 50 years to the week since Jim Laker had managed that number all by himself, on the same ground. Teasing tweakers and menacing lift. It had a nation in raptures, in anticipation of similar conditions Down Under. Oh well …

launches a scathing attack on England’s dismal one-day form © The Mirror

Worst: Nightmare in pyjamas

Where do we start with this one? That dismal 5-1 drubbing against India? That dismal 5-0 drubbing against Sri Lanka? That dismal and hollow victory over a hopeless Irish team at Stormont? That dismal capitulation against Australia at Jaipur. Dismal, dismal, dismal. England couldn’t give a toss about one-day cricket this year. The Ashes (past and present) was all that mattered. Which is rather ironic, seeing as the disciplines and momentum that Australia carried over from their Champions Trophy triumph were precisely what seized that decisive final day at Adelaide.

Kanishkaa Balachandran

Rahul Dravid gave the cricket world a batting lesson at Sabina Park © AFP

Best: The Wall stands

Rahul Dravid’s twin half centuries on a minefield of a pitch in Jamaica highlighted the gulf between the good and the great. Dravid’s impeccable technique and unfazed concentration combined to guide India to its Holy Grail – a Test series victory abroad against a credible opposition, which took 20 years of waiting. The innings was a throwback to an earlier era, as Dravid gritted it out on a two-paced pitch, cutting down on flamboyance and playing the ball on its merit. The fact that he faced more number of deliveries in his first-innings 81 than the West Indians did in their first-innings capitulation was an indication that it was one man against the rest.Worst: Mumbai mania

India’s hapless surrender for 100 in the final day of the final Test against England at Mumbai would rank high among the Test cricket’s meek capitulations. The injury-hit Johnny-Cash inspired England side led by Andrew Flintoff were treated like royalty, as the Indians gifted away wickets at a frenetic pace, courtesy some diabolical shot selection. Relative unknowns and newcomers in international cricket had their moments under the sun, as did a certain Monty Panesar, who was given a second chance in the deep after dropping a sitter just two balls before. India renounced their stranglehold in the series, settling for a 1-1 draw after 49 overs of madness. Gracious hosts? Well done India…

Jayaditya Gupta

‘Remember us?’ – Zaheer Khan and Sourav Ganguly were back at their best © AFP

Best: Roaring back in style
This was the year of the fightback. It happened with players – Zaheer
Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Chamara Silva (whose match-winning century and
half-century in Wellington came after a pair in Christchurch) – who defied the odds,
conventional wisdom and the crushing weight of expectation to record personal landmarks. It happened with teams in a match situation; most famously, South Africa, who chased down Australia’s 434 at the Wanderers; Australia themselves, who fashioned a victory out of sheer self-belief at Adelaide; Pakistan, recovering from Irfan Pathan’s first-over hat-trick at Karachi. And in the context of a tradition: Australia again, for so emphatically winning back the Ashes.The Worst: India’s leviathan board

The BCCI, like Topsy, just grow’d. And grow’d. And somewhere along the
way the pounds, dollars, rupees and whatever other currency they were
raking in, stopped making sense. Full credit to all those manning the
bean counters but the list of things left undone is far too long:
Rotting stadiums, a shoddily-run domestic structure, an overpowering
stench of ad-hocism…and, above all, the belief that big bucks alone
can change everything. It’s a monopolist leviathan thriving in a free-market
economy. Not much room for cricket there.

Dan Brigham

THAT shot again – Pietersen reverse-sweeps Muralitharan for a six © Getty Images

Best: KP goes gonzo

The crowd’s gasp was as loud as it was revealing. Pietersen had just fallen
after a breathtaking 142, and the crowd knew that some of the greatest, most
creative hitting ever seen in a Test arena was at an end. Once regarded with
suspicion by the English for his South African-ness and his love of
celebrity, this magical innings famous for the left-handed sweep for six
over point off Muralitharan changed all that.Worst: Flights of madness

England’s preparations for retaining the Ashes were bad enough. Then someone
took the ridiculous decision to fly the team home from India following their
inept Champions Trophy showing rather than heading straight to Australia to
prepare for the Ashes. There was everyone thinking this was the most
important series since, well, Ashes 2005, and yet England were flying
half-way around the world to spend a couple days at home before again flying
half-way around the world. Was it vindicated? Was it hell?

Neil Manthorp

‘That will cost you five bucks…sorry…runs gentlemen’ – Darrell Hair at The Oval © Getty Images

Best: Mick takes the mickey
Mick Lewis (10-0-113-0): “It’s not like I bowled a heap of pies. I actually
bowled quite well. It was just one of those freaky games.
I wouldn’t have
bowled 10 overs if I was bowling a heap of crap. I’m not a selector, but
they’re in the job for a reason, they’re smart and I’m sure they don’t just
look at one game and say ‘He’s not up to it’.” The game needs its comedians
and delusionists.Worst: Hair’s Ovalgate

The moment Darrell Hair’s superiority complex and ‘sense of theatre’
over-ruled common sense and persuaded him to signal five penalty runs
against Pakistan at the Oval. If only he had considered the consequences –
or, at the very least, caught Inzamam with a pen knife and a bottle top in
his pocket.

Andrew McGlashan

Best: Shaggy! You beauty
Every dog has its day and for Shaun ‘Shaggy’ Udal it couldn’t have come much sweeter than the third Test against India at Mumbai. It was his last chance to make a mark in international cricket after being overlooked for the first two Tests following a poor tour of Pakistan. Shortly after lunch on the final day, Sachin Tendulkar propped forward and an inside edge popped to short leg and an hour later he’d help to wrap up a famous England victory. One to tell the grand kids about.Worst: Harmy the scatter-gun
There has been plenty to bemoan about England’s one-day cricket over the last 12 months, but Harmison’s scatter-gun spells are up there with the worst moments – and they have infected his Test form. His mauling at the hands of Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga at Headingley was the most damaging to his figures (0 for 97), but for his mental state his performance against Australia at the Champions Trophy had longer side-effects. It is time for him to leave the white ball behind.

Osman Samiuddin

Mohammad Asif goes one step above cricket’s pop idol © Getty Images

Best: Asif the snake

There existed few reasons for cheer during the summer tour to England. Through the series their batsmen battered Pakistan’s bowlers. Kevin Pietersen wasn’t the most successful but he went about it with a more brutal relish than any. He is, as Australia found out, a batsman designed to dominate. But where McGrath and Warne failed, Mohammad Asif prospered. In four matches after his belated return, Asif tormented Pietersen. Twice, he fell first ball and every other time cricket’s pop idol was taunted, teased, set up and chicken-danced at before being sent back. Nobody has done it to him before or since. It was but an isolated symbol of resistance for Pakistan’s bowling, but what a symbol.Worst: Pakistan’s Jonty? You wish

Even by Pakistan’s standards, this was a particularly shambolic fielding year. And slap, bang in the middle of it was Imran Farhat, the man Jonty Rhodes had tipped as the best catcher during a futile two-week stint as fielding consultant. The first thing Farhat did after Rhodes’s tips was to drop three catches during the Lord’s Test. The last thing he did before it was to drop chances in Sri Lanka. At slip, at point, at crucial stages, at irrelevant junctures, anywhere, anytime, Farhat spent the year shelling chance after chance, easy or difficult. At one point, it seemed he had dropped more catches than he had scored runs and if there was a record kept of these things, Pakistan would have had another record-breaker in their ranks. Jonty what were you thinking?

Edward Craig

That just a dream – Jubilation at the Wanderers © Getty Images

Best: Wanderers’ wonder

South Africa and Australia’s record-breaking ODI
at Johannesburg. It was gruesome, dirty, unfair cricket but completely absorbing. This was not the greatest game ever, not even close, but it was as exciting a spectacle as the sport can produce – the noise of the crowd, the buzz in the press box, the look of shock on people’s faces as they left the ground. And the world champions lost. Brilliant.Worst: Good tournament, wrong name

The Champions Trophy – not because it was a superfluous tournament, an ICC cash cow clogging up the international fixture list – but because it wasn’t the World Cup. This is the format and time-scale the World Cup should be played over. I’d even argue that these are the type of wickets the World Cup should be played on. Low-scoring ODIs are, on balance, more exciting than run-fests – a Johannesburg-type match every game (which is what the ICC want) would be very dull.

John Stern

Andrew Flintoff: inspired by Johnny Cash at Mumbai © Getty Images

Best : Freddie fires in the ring

We know now that this Flintoff-fuelled comeback victory was not a turning
point in England’s mixed post-Ashes fortunes but a joyous blip in a
miserable year. Inspired by their larger-than-life stand-in captain and his choice in
music (Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire) England drew the three-match rubber by
bowling India out for 100 on the final day. It was a day to be remembered
for Monty holding a steepler to dismiss Dhoni two balls after he’d
completely missed a similar chance and for the never-to-be-repeated
scorecard entry: Tendulkar c Bell b Udal.Worst: Curioser and curioser

The departure of Marcus Trescothick from the England team (twice in eight
months) has been a desperately sad affair. Sad for him and his family, sad
for team-mates and supporters who harboured hopes of retaining the Ashes.
But also sad because it has shown the ECB in its worst obfuscatory light.Privacy is one thing but to stage-manage a TV interview in which
Trescothick claimed he had a virus was an insult to people’s intelligence.
To think that a month off to miss the Champions Trophy would see him right
for the biggest tour of his career when he had been having treatment for
his “stress-related illness” for most of the year was naïve not to say
unprofessional.

George Binoy

Sreesanth does his thing © Getty Images

Best: Pump up the volume

It’s the second innings of the Johannesburg Test between South Africa and India. Andre Nel steams in to bowl his first ball at Sreesanth. He lets loose a bouncer and spouts his usual dose of verbal diarrhoea at Sreesanth who had hurried out of the way. We didn’t have a clue to the scenes that would follow for Sreesanth’s body language indicated nothing. Nel runs in to bowl his second ball. This time it isn’t a bouncer, Sreesanth backs away again but flat-bats an astonishing six over long-off, an ungainly slog. His riposte doesn’t end there for as he reaches the bowler’s end he does something that is best viewed and not described. I hope more batsmen give as good as they get from Nel.Worst: Robbed at Fatullah

Not many will remember that 2006 was also the year that Bangladesh nearly derailed the Australian juggernaut. And it wasn’t just a sliver of a chance. Bangladesh piled up 427 in the first innings and then secured a lead of 158. At one stage during the run-chase, Australia needed 76 with four wickets in hand. They were close to suffering the most humiliating defeat in history. And that prospect of seeing Goliath felled by David’s little brother was mouth-watering. For who doesn’t love supporting the underdog? Beating Australia in a one-day at Cardiff was surreal enough, but a Test win would have been … But Ricky Ponting played spoilsport to millions of hopefuls like myself and scored a matchwinning hundred under circumstances where the humiliation of defeat weighed more heavily than the task at hand. Glorious uncertainty of sport? Bah humbug.

Will Luke talks to the West Indian fast bowler, Daren Powell

Will Luke in Dublin12-Jul-2007

Daren Powell: putting a spring back into West Indies’ step © Getty Images
Watching West Indies celebrate their win over England in the one-day series was special, and marked a remarkable transformation in fortunes for such a brittle side. And for Daren Powell, their fast bowler who suffered during the preceding Tests, the win was a relief as much as anything else. For once, his team could walk tall on this tour.”It was a big relief because we’d been losing, and we didn’t want to be going home with our heads down,” Powell told Cricinfo after West Indies’ thumping win over Netherlands in Dublin on Monday, “For the past year or so, I’ve been saying that I really want to come home from a series with my head up, smiling – and it’s so good that we beat England, you know, it was a real good one.”When we travelled down on the bus to London, I spent some time looking at everyone on the bus…and it was just completely changed, a different bunch of players. Happy, joking, laughing and having a nice time. It’s good to see everyone smiling, happy about what we did, and how we felt.”For a team whose decline in the past 10 years has been as stark as it has been depressing, the victory was a timely fillip, especially as they now have to pit their wits against some of the lesser teams of the world. The squad has decamped to Ireland for a Quadrangular tournament that also involves Netherlands and Scotland, and the onus is on them to maintain the same intensity they showed against England.”It’s pretty hard when you’re playing a team that’s less competitive,” said Powell. “But we haven’t been winning much cricket, and then had a really good series in the one-dayers against England. And after those one-dayers, we just forget everything that happened in the [preceding] Tests.”It just showed that it’s good to win,” he said. “And whatever happens here, we just have to remember how good it is to win. Winning gives you confidence, and then you know how to carry on in other games, when you reach tougher opposition. [In the past] West Indies haven’t pulled off the victory when we should.”Why has it been a tour of two halves, though? West Indies were so dismal during the Test series that few gave them much hope of even challenging England in the one-dayers. Yet they lifted themselves to a new, thrilling level – and, crucially for them, they were clearly enjoying it all so much. Powell, too, was a man reborn, consistently bowling in excess of 90mph and showing excellent control, picking up six wickets at 21.83. Could it have had anything to do with the identity of his captain, Chris Gayle?

Chris Gayle: ‘The whole team has changed since the day he took over’ © Getty Images
“Chris really is tremendous you know,” Powell, a good friend of Gayle’s, said. “Maybe people will take this the wrong way, because we’re from the same country [Jamaica], but really, I’ve played under so many other captains in the past. He doesn’t say much, but he knows how to gel the team together – to spark off your plugs and stuff – and it’s very pleasing to see someone like him generating this team spirit.”He’s a funny guy – always jovial around the team, not like what you see on TV when he probably has a serious face. He’s a jovial kind of guy and often in team meetings, he’ll just say ‘believe in yourself’. He just has a way with people. To me, the whole team has changed since the day he took over.”That’s quite some statement. Who, honestly, would have thought Gayle – as laid back as a flattened deckchair – could inspire so much from his troops? Gayle himself has been very quick to maintain that he’s keeping the seat warm for Ramnaresh Sarwan, who left their tour of England through injury. But inspiration, fortune and success can manifest themselves from the most unlikely of sources and people.Gayle to captain the Test side, then? A broad smile and a revealingly guffawing laugh from Powell suggests he’s already given it some thought. But why the laugh? “Well, because of the name Sarwan! [cue even more laughter].”Sarwan is also good, but it’s up to what the selectors want to do now,” said Powell. “To me, if they want to have different captains for the one-day side and the Test side, that would be nice. And if they pick Sarwan again, that too would be tremendous, you know, as long as the guys can keep up the same momentum as with Chris.”And the impression you get from Powell – a character almost as hynotically relaxed as Gayle – is that West Indies are in no mood to let up the pressure on Ireland, Scotland – or anyone else. Maybe Gayle is the man for the job, after all.

Deepti Sharma is the only player not belonging to the two finalists to make the cut

Vishal Dikshit18-Mar-20241 Shafali Verma (Delhi Capitals)
For the second season in a row, Shafali, not surprisingly, finished with the most sixes (20) in the WPL, double that of the second-best. While she continued to target the boundaries to provide Delhi Capitals rapid starts, this season saw a much more consistent Shafali who also took more responsibility towards building a solid opening stand with Meg Lanning. She also finished WPL 2024 with the best batting strike rate (minimum 75 balls faced) and shone in the final too with a 27-ball 44.2 Smriti Mandhana (capt, Royal Challengers Bangalore)
The title-winning captain doubled her run-tally compared to her forgettable WPL 2023 and looked more assured and free in her strokeplay. Her runs at the top meant a lot more to RCB because she didn’t find a stable opening partner in the tournament. She also impressed with her astute captaincy, field settings and use of resources to be named captain of this XI. In the modest chase in the final, she steered her team almost all the way.Related

• Anatomy of champions: How RCB went from 0-5 to WPL winners in a year

• Perry and spinners steer RCB to WPL title

• Mandhana shuns the spotlight as 'Queens 2024' party at the Kotla

• Smart Stats – Deepti Sharma bags impact honours in WPL 2024

3 Meg Lanning (Delhi Capitals)
As imposing and imperious as she has ever been, Lanning was the solid batter at one end with a regular flow of fours while Shafali targeted the sixes. After taking home the orange cap last season, she finished second on the list this time, just behind Ellyse Perry, with another prolific and consistent season. She was as good as ever at finding the gaps on her way to striking more fours than anyone and struck four fifties, also the most, but couldn’t see her side out of a collapse in the final which left her in tears at the end.4 Jemimah Rodrigues (Delhi Capitals)
Barring the two-ball duck in the final, this WPL season saw a different avatar of Rodrigues whose free-flowing strokes were more powerful, more aerial, and more frequent. Otherwise not known for her six-hitting abilities, Rodrigues impressed with her consistency and along-the-ground strokes, especially in the Delhi leg where the lack of bounce suited her natural game. As compared to zero sixes off her bat in WPL 2023, this time she hit eight sixes and played a pivotal role at No. 3 by shooting up her strike rate from 128.57 to 153.59 in the two WPL seasons.ESPNcricinfo Ltd5 Ellyse Perry (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
The Australian hand in winning the trophy, who first confirmed RCB’s knockout berth with a career-best 6 for 15, then lifted them from the pits of 49 for 4 in the eliminator and stayed not out on 35 when Richa Ghosh hit the winning runs on Sunday night. Her four unbeaten knocks gave her a staggering average of 69.40 in the tournament along with the orange cap.6 Richa Ghosh (wk, Royal Challengers Bangalore)
After starting the tournament with a bang – 62 off 37 against UP Warriorz – Ghosh was putting in blitzy performances in the middle order. Then came her stunning 51 off 29 in a high-pressure chase against Capitals to nearly snatch victory. That she led the team almost single-handedly against a top bowling attack in the second half of that chase spoke volumes of her ability to handle pressure-cooker situations. The Indian team management will hope this has prepared the 20-year-old for the big games in the forthcoming World Cups.7 Marizanne Kapp (Delhi Capitals)
A gun new-ball bowler. Powerplay specialist. Swing and seam movement. Dot-ball pressure. Name the skill and she had it this season, impressing at 34 despite battling recent illnesses and injuries. Coming on the back of solid all-round performances in Australia before the WPL, Kapp thrived in different conditions in both Bengaluru and Delhi. She was the main force Capitals used early on to break through before others rallied around her. She was the purple-cap holder until the final, the only game in which she went wicketless.She also set up a victory against RCB by smacking a 16-ball 32 to help Capitals post an imposing 194 before dismissing Mandhana and Ghosh in the chase.Jemimah Rodrigues and Shreyanka Patil were crucial cogs in their teams’ runs to the final•BCCI8 Deepti Sharma (UP Warriorz)
One of the top India allrounders, Deepti showed a new facet to her T20 batting with a high-octane 88 off 60 against Gujarat Giants, her third fifty in a row, which nearly saw Warriorz mow down 67 in the last three overs. She struck four sixes in that innings alone after not managing even one in the last WPL.She was promoted to Nos. 3 and 4 towards the end of the league and did the heavy lifting when some of the other international players didn’t score as much.With the ball, she got breakthroughs in almost all games, highlighted by her match-turning hat-trick against Capitals and frugal figures of 2 for 22 in their last game. She was hence named the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the tournament.9 Shreyanka Patil (Royal Challengers Bangalore
Picked the most wickets, did the victory on Sunday night, held the glittery purple-cap trophy and lifted the WPL trophy – all with a hairline fracture on her left hand, which earned her praise from captain Mandhana and many others. After a lean Bengaluru leg, her campaign burst to life in Delhi when she bagged 4 for 26 – all big international wickets – against Capitals before stifling the Mumbai Indians openers and dismissing Harmanpreet Kaur late in the eliminator to turn the match on its head. In the final, she pounced on Capitals again after Sophie Molineux’s triple-wicket over, starting with the wicket of Lanning, who fell to Patil twice in three games.10 Shikha Pandey (Delhi Capitals)
The oldest bowler in the Capitals set-up also bowled the most overs for them because of her experience and regularity of picking wickets. If Kapp did it with the new ball, Pandey shone in the death overs, being the only quick bowler among the top wicket-takers in that phase. Her accuracy stifled the opposition and even though she didn’t pick more than two wickets in any game, she struck in all games but one and finished with nine scalps, only behind Kapp and Nat Sciver-Brunt among the fast bowlers.11 Asha Sobhana (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
A woman who wears her heart on her sleeve, Sobhana was among the brightest uncapped stars this WPL along with Tanuja Kanwar, who narrowly missed out in this XI.Sobhana bagged the first five-for of this season – in their opening game – and bowled some ripping legbreaks for an attack that had eight bowling options in the final. She was the most economical spinner for champions RCB and bowled the high-pressure last over ahead of Sophie Devine and Renuka Singh when Mumbai needed 12 runs to win the eliminator. She conceded only six in that over and made a name with her fearless flight and change of pace that also fetched her the wickets of Kapp and Jess Jonaseen in the space of three balls in the final.

Tottenham Hotspur's acquisition of James Maddison for £40m from relegated Leicester City was an astute piece of business. The England international has already been labelled by football pundit Jamie Carragher as "one of the most influential players" in the Premier League this season.

However, Spurs' display against Wolverhampton Wanderers prior to the international break was living proof that the side have become quite reliant on Maddison to create chances under Ange Postecoglou, having had just six shots at Molineux with an expected goals total of 0.7 while the playmaker was absent through injury.

Reports are now suggesting that the North London outfit have set their sights on adding more midfield depth ahead of the January transfer window.

Jobe Bellingham to Tottenham Hotspur links

According to Football Insider, Spurs are keeping tabs on Sunderland's highly-rated youngster Jobe Bellingham and have been interested in securing the 18-year-old's signature ever since January, when he was in Birmingham City's starting lineup. The outlet are also reporting that Bellingham's impressive form with the Black Cats has garnered interest from other sides in the Premier League as well as clubs in the Bundesliga.

Despite, having just turned 18 in September, Bellingham has featured in all 16 games in the Championship for Sunderland as Tony Mowbray's side sit just inside the playoff places, seeking a return to the top-flight for the first time in seven years. The youngster has managed to bag three goals and record one assist in the process, having been deployed as both a central midfielder and a number ten.

Jobe, the brother of Real Madrid superstar Jude, has made waves in England's second tier, and has been described by former Premier League striker Troy Deeney as an "absolute monster" in the making.

Jobe Bellingham's stats this season

Some Sunderland supporters even believe that Bellingham is a "copy and paste" of his older sibling which could mean the youngster has a higher ceiling than Tottenham Hotspur's Maddison, should the English giants secure his signature this winter.

Bellingham's stats at such a young age certainly make for impressive reading when compared to all players in the same position from similar leagues to the Championship over the past calendar year. The £3m midfielder is ranked in the top 12% for non-penalty goals per 90 as well as the top 2% for non-penalty xG per 90. Additionally, Bellingham is currently sitting in the top 6% for touches in the attacking penalty area per 90 and the top 19% for progressive passes received per 90, according to FBref.

This season, only Jack Clarke has scored more goals for the Black Cats than Bellingham, who is level with Dan Neil on three goals and boasts a 56% shot accuracy as well as a 17% conversion rate, according to the BBC.

The Sunderland starlet is also holding his own against Maddison in a number of key attacking metrics, proving Bellingham's frightening talent – despite his tender age.

Per 90 Metrics	Jobe Bellingham	James Maddison
Goals	0.22	0.31
Expected Goals	0.25	0.29
Assists	0.07	0.51
Expected Assists	0.1	0.33
Key Passes	0.89	3.16
Progressive Passes	4.07	9.9
Progressive Carries	1.78	2.96
Goals Per Shot	0.13	0.11
Stats via FBref

Maddison is still way ahead of Bellingham in quality, especially with his creative nous. However, the fact that the youngster can even keep up in certain stats is a testament to his ability and could point towards a future passing of the torch should Spurs make a deal with Sunderland over the coming months.

It may be Maddison who is the shinight light at N17 at present, but if a deal for the teenager is done in 2024, it could be Bellingham who reaches heights similar to that of his Golden Boy-winning brother.

da stake casino： Glasgow Rangers were held to a draw for the first time in the Scottish Premiership this season as they failed to secure all three points against Aberdeen on Sunday.

da betobet： Philippe Clement, who replaced Michael Beale in the dugout at Ibrox last month, remains unbeaten in charge of the Scottish giants but failed to capitalise on Celtic dropping points on Saturday.

The Belgian head coach has racked up six wins and two draws in eight matches in all competitions, which is an impressive start to life in Glasgow for the former AS Monaco and Club Brugge boss.

He has not had the opportunity to bring his own players to Ibrox to shape his squad and the upcoming January transfer window will be the tactician's first chance to bolster his side with possible new additions.

Beale was allowed to bring in new recruits over the summer; including Danilo, Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers, Jose Cifuentes, Dujon Sterling, Jack Butland, Kieran Dowell, Abdallah Sima, and Leon Balogun.

It has now been reported that Clement would like to add to his forward department, despite the signings of Danilo, Lammers, and Dessers by his predecessor.

Rangers transfer news – Bojan Miovski

It was recently claimed by Football Insider that the Belgian manager is 'keen' to snap up a new centre-forward to add to his attacking arsenal in January.

The report added that the 49-year-old chief is also interested in bringing in another left-back to compete with Ridvan Yilmaz and Borna Barisic during the second half of the campaign.

Related Rangers could repeat Boyd masterclass by signing "athletic" £5m gem

Clement could turn to a player close to home in order to bolster his attacking department

Posts ByRoss Kilvington Nov 15, 2023

However, a goalscorer is within his sights as none of his current number nines have managed more than four Premiership goals so far this season.

With this in mind, Clement should push the club to swoop for Aberdeen centre-forward Bojan Miovski to improve his striker options at the start of next year.

Writing for the Scottish Sun, former Gers ace Kris Boyd suggested that the Dons star is someone the club should consider if they want to add another finisher to their roster in January.

He described the impressive ace as a forward with 'terrific' movement who can be a constant 'handful' for opposition defenders to deal with.

However, Boyd feels that it would be a difficult move for the club to complete as Aberdeen may not be keen to sell him to another Scottish club and he believes that it could take a fee within the region of £5m to tempt them into parting ways with him.

Miovski, who was dubbed a "brilliant boy" by Dons boss Barry Robson, is a proven Premiership performer and that is why Rangers must go all out to secure his signature in January.

There has been nothing to suggest that he is an active target for the Light Blues beyond these comments from Boyd but it is something that Clement should now look into given that the Belgian coach wants to bring in another striker.

Rather than signing another player, like Dessers or Lammers, who has no prior experience in Scotland, the Gers could sign a forward who has the potential to hit the ground running.

This could also allow Clement to finally ditch current Rangers centre-forward Kemar Roofe, who has been a liability for the club in recent seasons.

Kemar Roofe's injury record

The Jamaica international has dealt with consistent injury issues and has not been a reliable option for any Ibrox manager during his time in Glasgow to date.

He missed a staggering 84 competitive matches between the start of the 2020/21 and the end of the 2022/23 campaign through seven injuries.

Roofe's injury record since September of 2020 (via Transfermarkt)

Injury

Games missed

Knee injury

35

Knee injury

22

Knee injury

Seven

Knock

Six

Calf problems

Five

Thigh problems

Two

Calf problems

Seven

The experienced marksman has also been absent from ten matchday squads during the current season and only scored one goal in the ten appearances that he has been able to make so far.

This shows that Roofe is not a player Clement can rely upon over the course of a campaign as his injury problems have been a consistent issue throughout his career at Ibrox and prevented him from being a star for the Scottish giants.

It is frustrating for the 30-year-old number nine as his goal record when fit is an impressive one. Prior to his struggles this term, Roofe scored 36 goals in 78 appearances in all competitions for the club, which is a return of one goal every 2.1 matches on average.

His contract in Glasgow is due to expire at the end of the season and this means that Miovski could be brought in as his replacement in January.

Teams from outside of Scotland would be able to agree a pre-contract with him at the start of next year or the club could finally ditch him by cashing in before his exit on a free.

The statistics that show why Rangers should sign Miovski

The 24-year-old attacker has already proven himself as a Premiership performer and could hit the ground running as he knows how to deliver goals on a regular basis in Scotland and would not need a period of adaptation.

Miovski has rattled in five league goals in 12 appearances for the Dons so far this term, which is one more than any current Gers forward has managed.

He has also caught the eye in Europe with a return of two goals and one assist in three Europa Conference League starts for his club.

The left-footed whiz, who scored an excellent goal against Rangers in Sunday's 1-1 draw, also enjoyed an eye-catching 2022/23 campaign with Aberdeen.

Miovski registered an impressive 16 goals in 36 Premiership outings, along with six 'big chances' created for his teammates, and no Gers striker produced more than Antonio Colak's 14-goal haul.

These statistics suggest that the North Macedonia international has the quality to be an outstanding scoring option for Clement, due to his superior record in comparison to the club's other strikers both this and last season.

The 24-year-old talent is also reliable in terms of his durability and availability as he has started 49 of Aberdeen's 50 Premiership matches since the start of last term.

Therefore, the 6 foot 2 marksman could be a superb signing for Rangers to bolster their attack and that is why Clement should swoop for him and, in turn, ditch the injury-prone Roofe.

da betway： Erik ten Hag will look to bolster his attacking options at Manchester United by acquiring a £36m-rated ex-Chelsea forward in January.

da pinnacle： As per reporter Florian Plettenberg, the Red Devils have enquired about 27-year-old, Timo Werner, however negotiations are yet to take place.

The likelihood is that Werner will remain at his current club until the summer, but the move could develop over the next few weeks.

Why Man United want Werner

Following an impressive debut campaign as manager of Manchester United, Ten Hag has been dealt an unfair hand this season, due to the sheer number of players that have been unavailable, with the current list tallying up to ten.

This was on show at Goodison Park at the weekend, with the only attackers on the Red Devils bench being Facundo Pellistri and youngster, Joe Hugill.

Rasmus Hojlund was one of the players who endured time out, which left an injury-prone Anthony Martial as the main striker versus Everton. Unreliable is the most appropriate term to describe the French attacker and Ten Hag will want to ensure that his side isn’t without a true number nine like last season.

Availability is key and Werner’s injury record whilst he was at Chelsea wasn’t an issue, only missing nine matches throughout his time in London due to injury.

The RB Leipzig forward is known for his electric pace, movement beyond the opponent and being a natural goal scorer, who is lethal when confidence is high. Werner also recognises himself as a player who can perform in numerous roles and four years ago, he stated “I’ve become more versatile”.

Buying individuals who can cover a handful of positions will be beneficial to United, especially going into the second half of the campaign. Werner can feature off Hojlund, as a lone striker or as a left-sided forward, but Rafael van der Vaart isn’t convinced by the attacker, labelling him as a "blind horse".

The Bundesliga transfer curse

Manchester United have signed a handful of players from the Bundesliga in the past, with the majority of those individuals failing to live up to the high standards set by the United faithful.

Jadon Sancho, Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all made the switch from Borussia Dortmund, yet despite having small spells of quality, a lack of consistency has been the driving force behind a shortened career at Old Trafford.

Sancho has been the notable Bundesliga nightmare, now alienated from the squad by Ten Hag after some less-than-favourable numbers. Indeed, the former Dortmund man has only registered 12 goals in 82 outings for the Red Devils.

Unlike the three aforementioned, Werner has played in the English top-flight prior and Premier League fans are more informed of his ability. During his first campaign at Chelsea, Werner played an important role in the UEFA Champions League triumph, whilst also scoring 12 goals and accumulating 15 assists in 52 appearances across all competitions.

However, the signing of Romelu Lukaku in the 2021/22 season affected the German and he later claimed that he “didn’t feel honoured enough”.

It is reasonable to presume that if Ten Hag had his full squad available, including Werner, then the rapid forward would not make it into his best starting XI ahead of Marcus Rashford or Hojlund.

Given the quote just mentioned and the fact that the boss doesn’t rotate often, dressing room unrest may occur like at Chelsea, which raises question marks on whether this would be a smart signing.

Everton are in great form in the Premier League and could now be set to welcome back a familiar face after the international break, according to an injury expert.

Everton's flying form under Dyche

Despite a frustrating start to the campaign that culminated in a Merseyside Derby defeat against arch-rivals Liverpool last month, Everton have since recovered in impressive fashion and are now four games unbeaten under Sean Dyche. Last weekend, the Toffees earned a dramatic 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, with goals from Vitaliy Mykolenko, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Idrissa Gueye ensuring all three points made their way back up the M6.

Everton midfielder James Garner has indicated that the Toffees have started to make real progress under Dyche's stewardship, stating via official club channels when asked about the Crystal Palace triumph: "The manager speaks all the time about having that winning mentality. We were under pressure for parts of the game but it was all controlled. As a team, we knew what we were doing."

He then added on his recent form: "The subs who came on knew their job and we got the game over the line. From a personal point of view, I’ve been pleased with how I’ve been playing in recent weeks. I was waiting for my chance to show what I can do in the middle of the park and I’d like to say I’ve done that."

Enjoying a well-deserved break, Everton's stars are on international duty and will return to Premier League action against Erik Ten Hag's Manchester United side on November 26th at Goodison Park. Ahead of the tie, it has been claimed that the Toffees could now be set to welcome back a key man who has been missing for the entirety of this campaign.

Seamus Coleman set to finally return from injury

Speaking to Goodison News, football injury expert Dr Rajpal Brar has given an update on Everton captain Seamus Coleman's potential return from injury, claiming that the Republic of Ireland international could be back in "contention" for the visit of Manchester United.

Everton legend Seamus Coleman's record – all competitions (Transfermarkt)
Appearances	409
Goals	28
Assists	32

Brar told the outlet when asked about Coleman's injury: "If he’s responding well to the matches, the next step would be bounce matches with the first team. If that checks out, then he will be greenlighted for longer stretches. He could be back in contention after the break if things go as per plan for Everton."

Coleman has returned to match action with Everton's second string; however, Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has opted to leave him out of his side's double-header against the Netherlands in EURO 2024 qualification, which will be followed with a friendly against New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium, as he stated: "We'd love to have him here but he has been out for seven-and-a-half months. The Netherlands game, it is probably a bridge too far to jump into an international game straight from there."

Nevertheless, £55k-per-week Coleman, who has previously been labelled a "warrior" by former boss Frank Lampard, will soon be ready to make his comeback at first-team level, which will come as a major boost to everyone connected with Everton.

da mrbet： Crystal Palace are interested in a deal to bring an overseas defender to the Premier League to potentially replace Marc Guehi, according to a reliable journalist.

Marc Guehi linked with Palace exit

da 888casino： According to Football Insider, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United have both made contact to register their interest in a deal for Guehi, who has been set a price tag of £60m, but there has recently been an update which is contrary to reports.

Eagles sources are now claiming that the centre-back leaving the club in January is looking impossible and that it is instead likely to happen at the end of the season, but regardless of when he departs, a replacement will still need to be found.

Related Crystal Palace eyeing "rapid" defender wanted by Spurs, Rangers & Newcastle

He’s been revered for his pace.

Posts ByEmilio Galantini Nov 28, 2023

Valencia’s Cristhian Mosquera has emerged as a possible target, with the 19-year-old having worked his way up through his club’s various youth ranks to get promoted to their first-team, where he’s so far made a total of 26 senior appearances to date (Transfermarkt – Mosquera statistics).

The Spain youth international still has just under two years remaining on his deal at the Mestalla Stadium (Valencia contracts), but that hasn’t stopped Roy Hodgson from keeping tabs on his situation as he looks to make an official move in the new year.

Crystal Palace eyeing Mosquera

Writing in his Patreon report, Alan Nixon revealed that Crystal Palace are keen on Mosquera and have indeed placed him onto their shortlist of defensive targets should they be forced to cash in on Guehi in January.

Quoted by We Are Palace, he said: “Crystal Palace are putting Valencia’s top young centre half Cristhian Mosquera on their list of replacements for England’s Marc Guehi.

"The strong defender, who is also good on the ball, was checked out by Palace last week as they prepare for Guehi to move on for a huge fee. Guehi is likely to leave the Eagles next summer but if a massive bid came in next month then they could have to scramble to find someone new.”

Mosquera would be an "interesting" recruit

Standing at 6 foot 2, Mosquera provides a real physical presence at the heart of Valencia’s backline which he’s proven so far this season by averaging 3.4 clearances and 1.6 tackles per game in La Liga (WhoScored – Mosquera statistics).

The Alicante native is also extremely calm and composed in possession, recording an 88.2% pass success rate, which is higher than any of the regular features have managed to achieve this term at Selhurst Park (WhoScored – Crystal Palace statistics). It seems, then, that he'd actually be an upgrade on the current options in terms of ball progression from the back.

Considering he’s only 19, Mosquera is a really “interesting” prospect, as per football talent scout Jacek Kulig, and with his versatility to even operate as a right-back, he possesses all of the qualities that could make him the perfect long-term successor to Guehi.

Leeds United appear to have received some interest in one of their first-team players at Elland Road ahead of the January transfer window, according to a report.

Leeds United's festive period

Daniel Farke's side have made a positive start to life in the Championship and look set to be among the main contenders for promotion this season, having taken 31 points from their first 16 games, which has placed them third in the league standings and eight points behind Ipswich Town in second position.

Nevertheless, the German coach will be under no illusion that his side will find it tough to replicate the consistency they have shown in recent weeks, something that has yielded six wins from their last seven encounters in the English second-tier. Looking ahead to their next batch of tussles, Leeds United travel to face Rotherham United on Friday evening at the AESSEAL New York Stadium before a double bill of action against Swansea City and Middlesbrough at Elland Road in the week following.

Leeds interested in signing “unbelievable” full-back for Farke

The Whites are on the hunt for new players as they continue their hunt for promotion.

By
Sean Markus Clifford

Nov 23, 2023

Speaking in his pre-match press conference before the trip to South Yorkshire on Friday, Farke has urged his players to show no complacency despite facing a lowly Rotherham United, saying:

"So it’s in many ways important to start on the front foot and a goal is also important but sometimes you can’t choose, also your opponent wants to start on the front foot."

"We have to make sure our awareness and sharpness is on the top level. When you face a side like Rotherham who are, especially in their home games, who I would say is playing brave and with intensity, they can go with a long ball and fight for the second balls."

On a different note, a new topic of conversation has come to light regarding one Leeds United man who could now be on his way out of Elland Road come the New Year, as per a report.

Real Betis want Junior Firpo

According to reports in Spain via Sport Witness, Real Betis have approached Leeds United about Junior Firpo, who could be involved against Rotherham United on Friday evening after making his first appearance of the season against Plymouth Argyle prior to the international break.

Real Betis have been in negotiations with the Whites regarding loanee Marc Roca; however, Firpo has come into the conversation as a potential option to replace Juan Miranda if he were to move on from the Sevillians in January.

Junior Firpo at Leeds United – all competitions (Transfermarkt)
Appearances	52
Goals	2
Assists	4

Atletico Madrid defender Javi Galan has been identified as another target for the La Liga outfit; nevertheless, Firpo is being now being weighed up as a potential pursuit by Manuel Pellegrini.

Labelled "immense" by Youtuber Conor McGilligan earlier this year, Firpo, on £30,000-a-week, is believed to be open to a return to his former club, though he does have attributes that would be missed at Elland Road,

As per FBRef, the Dominican Republic cap has fared well in comparison to his positional peers across Europe's top five leagues in the art of tackling over the past 365 days, making around 3.01 successful challenges per 90 minutes, putting him in the 93rd percentile for this metric.

Despite this, Leeds have fared well at the back with Firpo absent for much of the campaign, which could tempt them to look to recoup a decent fee for his services, making this one to watch.

Crystal Palace could be set to sell one of their first-team stars early next year, with a reliable journalist revealing that he’s attracting interest ahead of January.

Crystal Palace's summer departures

The Eagles lost Wilfried Zaha, Luka Milivojevic, Jack Butland and Vicente Guaita during the previous transfer window, while James McArthur retired and Luke Plange was sent on loan to Carlisle United for the season.

The Selhurst Park outfit have a further eight players who will have reached the expiration of their deals at the end of the campaign, so the club don’t have long to cash in on them should they not want to risk losing their prized assets for free. (Crystal Palace contracts)

Crystal Palace make contact over "terrific" player, he'd be open to move

Palace are keen to bolster their squad as they quietly go about their business this term.

By
Sean Markus Clifford

Nov 27, 2023

Roy Hodgson’s centre-forward Jean-Philippe Mateta is another star who could soon be heading for the exit door having fallen significantly out of favour, making just three starts and eight substitute appearances this season in the Premier League (WhoScored – Mateta statistics).

France’s former youth international wanted to leave over the summer and you could say he was right to feel that way given his lack of game time, but despite a deal failing to come to fruition before the deadline, the 26-year-old could get his wish in the coming weeks.

Jean-Philippe Mateta could soon leave

Taking to X, The Athletic’s Matt Woosnam confirmed that Crystal Palace might consider selling Mateta in the new year should they be able to recruit a suitable successor because he’s emerging as a target overseas ahead of January. He wrote:

“Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta's future is uncertain as he seeks more regular football after being overlooked by Roy Hodgson this season. Has attracted interest from abroad but a move away probably hinges on CPFC finding a replacement.”

Hodgson could keep "goal threat" in Mateta

While Crystal Palace will be aware that Mateta hasn’t been playing as regularly as he would have liked, the striker is still a solid option to have in the building and he can perform to a high standard when called upon, so Hodgson could be better off retaining his services beyond January if a suitable replacement isn't found.

The Sevran native has posted six contributions, three goals and the same number of assists, in 13 appearances across all competitions since the start of the season (Transfermarkt – Mateta statistics), showing that he is capable of making a positive impact in the final third.

Standing at 6 foot 3, the colossus also provides a real physical presence up top with his height, making himself a threat when it comes to aerial duels, not to mention how much of a handful he is for the opposition’s defence to try and deal with.

According to Josh Bunting, Mateta is a real “goal threat” with the ball at his disposal, whereas former boss Patrick Vieira once called him a "massive player", so Hodgson could be wise to consider giving him some more minutes between now and the upcoming window to hand him the chance to prove what he can achieve in SE25.