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Wolves are showing an interest in signing Vitoria Guimaraes youngster Andre Almeida this summer, according to a fresh transfer rumour which has emerged.

The Lowdown: Summer incomings expected

The Old Gold have enjoyed a good season in the Premier League overall, finishing in the top halfo of the table and narrowly missing out on European football.

The important thing now is for Bruno Lage to further improve his squad in order to take them up another level next season, with summer arrivals expected at Molineux.

Midfield could be an area where the manager looks to strengthen, and an intriguing transfer update has emerged in that respect as Wolves line up their first new signing of the summer.

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The Latest: Almeida linked with Wolves

According to Jornal de Noticias [via Sport Witness], Wolves ‘may advance’ in their efforts to sign Almeida, with an €8m (£6.7m) offer potentially coming his way as a move is ‘being discussed’.

The 21-year-old’s current deal with Vitoria Guimaraes expires at the end of next season, and the Old Gold are hopeful of taking advantage of that situation.

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The Verdict: Good for squad depth

While Almeida wouldn’t necessarily come to Molineux as a guaranteed starter, he is someone who would add some welcome squad depth in the middle of the park, especially if Ruben Neves leaves this summer amid strong links with Barcelona.

The 21-year-old has made 31 Primeira Liga appearances this season, enjoying an 86.3% pass completion rate, which suggests that he could thrive in Lage’s ball-playing system.

Not only that, but Almeida would be a long-term acquisition who could mature into a formidable player over time. That has been the case with his compatriot Neves, who incidentally has an inferior pass completion rate in the Premier League this term (84.2%) compared to Almeida in Portugal.

If the 25-year-old leaves Molineux, as seems likely, the Old Gold may already be lining up his long-term successor to pull the strings in midfield.

In other news, Wolves have been boosted in their attempts to sign one player. Find out who it is here.

Tottenham Hotspur may have been handed a potential transfer boost as they eye a move for Villarreal star Arnaut Danjuma, according to Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge.

The Lowdown: Spurs in Danjuma transfer hunt…

The Lilywhites and club chief Fabio Paratici are apparently interested in a move to bring the former Bournemouth forward to the Premier League.

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Sharing news recently, 90min claimed that Spurs officials were in attendance to run the rule over Danjuma and heavily-linked team-mate Pau Torres in Villarreal’s recent Champions League semi-final clash against Liverpool.

The 25-year-old has been in red-hot form in La Liga, with pundit Kevin Phillips claiming that the Dutchman is a rare type of player who can be a ‘nightmare’ for defenders when at his best (Football Insider).

The Latest: Bridge drops Danjuma transfer hint…

Speaking to GiveMeSport in sharing what he’s ‘heard’, Sky Sports journalist Bridge has now hinted that Danjuma could be open to joining Spurs.

The reporter says that the 25-year-old would ‘like to come back to England’ amid reports Tottenham have registered their interest.

Bridge explained: “The little bits I’ve heard here and there is that he’d like to come back to England. He’s enjoyed his time in Villarreal, but I don’t know how happy he is there.”

The Verdict: Make a move?

As this claim emerges that Danjuma is in fact eyeing a move back to England, we believe that Paratici shouldn’t hesitate in giving him the opportunity to sign on the dotted line.

The Dutchman is one of Unai Emery’s most potent attacking threats, ranking among the most goals and assists combined (13) for Villarreal over the 2021/22 domestic season (WhoScored).

He also attempts the most shots at goal per 90 for Villarreal (2.7), illustrating his real menace going forward and leaving little wonder that his club saw fit to include a €75m (£64m) release clause in his contract.

If Spurs can negotiate that price down in potential negotiations and persuade the La Liga outfit to sell for less, Danjuma may well be a brilliant capture if the north London club decide to advance.

In other news: Paratici tables crucial bid as Conte personally pushes for Spurs signing, find out more here

Puducherry and Bihar completed victory inside two days; Jalaj Saxena made it a birthday to remember, and Shahbaz Nadeem got a maiden first-class 100

Saurabh Somani15-Dec-2018Hardik Pandya turned his three into five, and Jalaj Saxena made it a 32nd birthday to remember. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill went one better than Shreyas Iyer among batsmen back from India A, and will resume the day on 199 not out. And Shahbaz Nadeem got to a maiden first-class century, completing a happy homecoming for the India A team members, while two matches in the Plate Group finished on the second day itself. Here are the highlights of how the second day of the sixth round for Ranji Trophy 2018-19 went.Hardik takes five as Baroda fight backHe had three wickets on a high-scoring first day, and Hardik Pandya took the remaining two to end with 5 for 81 with Mumbai all out for 465. That Mumbai scored at five runs per over was not as impressive as Baroda being in the match after Mumbai were 384 for 3. More importantly for Pandya, who bowled 18.5 overs, if his economy rate seemed high, the pitch didn’t seem to have much in it for bowlers. Baroda ended the day on 244 for 1. In that light, Hardik’s figures are impressive. Are they impressive enough to merit a dash to Australia before the Boxing Day Test though? Gill, Nadeem lead the wayYuvraj Singh is playing his second Ranji match of the season, but he hasn’t even got to bat yet and Punjab are already ahead by 93 runs against Tamil Nadu. That’s thanks to Shubman Gill, who is batting on 199, at a strike-rate of more than 85. Of those runs, 108 have come in boundaries, and Gill has dealt with Tamil Nadu’s bowlers imperiously.Shahbaz Nadeem hit a maiden first-class century, making 109 from No. 8 to drag Jharkhand to 354. For Uttar Pradesh, Dhruv Pratap Singh, the 21-year-old right-arm seamer playing his first match of the season, took career-best figures of 6 for 105. In a match that could well decide who finishes top two and who doesn’t, UP ended the day on 173 for 4. Suresh Raina is still batting on 65, and Rinku Singh, UP’s best batsman this season, is on 22.Among other notable batting feats, Abhimanyu Easwaran made a career-best 186 – more than half of Bengal’s 336, against Hyderabad. Tripura’s Pratyush Singh hit a maiden first-class century, taking his team to a position of strength against Goa.Two men who didn’t get to centuries but made significant 90s were Saurashtra’s Vishvaraj Jadeja and Vidarbha’s Akshay Karnewar. Vishvaraj, 20, had made 97 on the first day, missing out on a century on debut in Saurashtra’s post-Jaydev Shah era, though his team are reasonably placed against Maharashtra. Karnewar, the ambidextrous bowler, hit 94 to lift defending champions Vidarbha from 202 for 6 to 331 all out against Railways.In the Plate Group, Vineet Saxena is batting on 150, fresh off an unbeaten 202 in his last match, with Uttarakhand dominant against Nagaland.Birthday-boy Saxena makes Delhi feel the post-Gambhir bluesJalaj Saxena took 6 for 39 – in 31 overs – to make it a memorable 32nd birthday as Delhi were bowled out for 139 against Kerala and were made to follow on. They’ve already lost five wickets in 13 overs with just 41 on the board in their second dig, and need 140 runs just to make Kerala bat again. In their first match since Gautam Gambhir’s retirement, the Delhi batsmen haven’t covered themselves in glory.ALSO READ: Jalaj Saxena: record-making allrounder, but not for Indian sidesPuducherry, Bihar win in two daysPuducherry smothered Arunachal Pradesh by 334 runs to win inside two days to pocket six points. Both teams had already been bowled out once on the first day, and Puducherry rode on Paras Dogra’s 139 and Fabid Ahmed’s 88 to pile on 351. Arunachal couldn’t effect a similar turnaround when they batted, crashing to 71 all out, with Pankaj Singh taking 5 for 25. Captain Rohit Damodaren took 4 for 7 in five overs, and at one point he had figures of 3-3-0-3.Meghalaya crashed to an innings and 71 runs defeat against Bihar, for whom Ashutosh Aman was the star once again. Aman had already taken 8 for 51 in the first innings, and he followed that with 6 for 17 in the second. He thus had his best match, and innings figures. His first-class career is only five matches old, but he already has 39 wickets, at a stunning average of 4.79. His economy rate is 1.74, and he takes a wicket every 16.5 balls. Almost makes Meghalaya’s 46 all out look good.Tight finishes loomingOn the first day, 15 wickets had fallen in the Haryana vs J&K match. On the second, 19 fell. J&K grabbed a slender 16-run lead on the first innings, and then made 205. Yuzvendra Chahal, back for Haryana, took 4 for 37. A target of 222 in a low-scoring match isn’t particularly easy, but Irfan Pathan made it more difficult for Haryana with a burst of four wickets.Rajasthan and Odisha were also engaged in a low-scoring thriller, with 18 wickets falling on second day after 14 had fallen on the first day. Tanvir Ul-Haq (5 for 14) and Aniket Choudhary (5 for 49) had bowled Odisha out for 111 in their first innings. Basant Mohanty took a fifer of his own as Rajasthan then keeled over for 148, leaving Odisha with a target of 173. However, Tanvir added two more wickets, bowling two overs without giving up any runs, as Odisha ended the day on 6 for 2. In the first innings, Tanvir had bowled 23 overs, and so far in the match he’s bowled 25 overs for just 14 runs and seven wickets. Spare a thought for Basant Mohanty, who has taken 11 for 49 – his best match figures – but now needs his batsmen to step up.Brief scoresGroups A and B:
Baroda 244/1 (Waghmode 87*, Solanki 128*) trail Mumbai 465 (Iyer 178, Lad 130, Hardik Pandya 5-81, Bhatt 4-76) by 221 runs in Mumbai
Maharashtra 86/3 (Jadhav 38*) trail Saurashtra 398 (Vishvaraj Jadeja 97, Snell Patel 84, Vasavada 62, Sanklecha 6-103) by 312 runs in Nasik
Karnataka 348/7 (Padikkal 74, Shreyas 93, Nagwaswalla 3-48) lead Gujarat 216 (Panchal 74, Shreyas 2-21, Vinay 2-33) by 132 runs in Surat
Railways 170/2 (Pratham 84*) trail Vidarbha 331 (Fazal 53, Karnewar 94, Avinash Yadav 5-78) by 161 runs in New Delhi
Delhi 139 (Saxena 6-39) & 41/5 (Warrier 3-16) trail Kerala 320 (Rahul 77, Manoharan 77, Saxena 68, Shivam 6-98) by 140 runs in Thumba
Punjab 308/2 (Gill 199*, Mandeep 50*) lead Tamil Nadu 215 (Vijay Shankar 71, Gony 5-55) by 93 runs in Mohali
Hyderabad 20/1 trail Bengal 336 (Easwaran 186, Ravi Kiran 4-46) by 316 runs in Hyderabad
Himachal 320/5 (Chopra 65, Kalsi 103*, Rishi Dhawan 76) lead Andhra 173 (Sai Krishna 74, Jaiswal 5-50) by 147 runs in Amtar
Group C
Uttar Pradesh 173/4 (Garg 54, Raina 65*) trail Jharkhand 354 (Jaggi 95, Kishan 54, Nadeem 109, Dhruv 6-105) by 181 runs in Lucknow
Services 213/2 (Navneet 79*, Paliwal 104*) lead Assam 211 (Sinha 56, Pandey 5-74) by 2 runs in New Delhi
Haryana 145 (Rohit 41, Mudhasir 4-50, Umar Nazir 5-55) & 49/4 (Irfan Pathan 4-10) trail Jammu & Kashmir 161 (Ajit Chahal 3-31, Yuzvendra Chahal 3-50) & 205 (Owais 71, Ajit Chahal 3-55, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-37) by 172 runs in Lahli
Odisha 111 (Choudhary 5-49, Tanvir 5-14) & 6/2 (Tanvir 2-0) trail Rajasthan 135 (Lomror 85, Basant Mohanty 6-20) & 148 (Gautam 51, Basant Mohanty 5-29) by 166 runs in Bhubaneswar
Goa 107/4 (Kauthankar 42*) trail Tripura 358 (Pratyush 110, Rajib Saha 68*, Amit Verma 3-87) by 251 runs in Agartala
Plate Group
Bihar 242 (Babul 43, Lakhan 3-30) beat Meghalaya 125 (Biswa 56, Aman 8-51) & 46 (Aman 6-17, Quadri 4-24) by an innings and 71 runs in Shillong
Sikkim 332 (Milind 139, Sinan 3-74) and 75/3 lead Mizoram 161 (Taruwar 74, Chaudhary 5-57) by 246 runs in Jorhat
Puducherry 136 (Fabid 41*, Deendyal 4-36, Neri 3-28) & 351 (Dogra 139, Fabid 88, Deendyal 4-63, Neri 3-76) beat Arunachal 82 (Fabid 6-29) & 71 (Pankaj 5-25, Rohit 4-7) by 334 runs in Goalpara
Uttarakhand 371/4 (Vineet 150*, Panwar 101) lead Nagaland 207 (Jonathan 69, Dhapola 5-49) by 164 runs in Dehradun

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Sep-2016He raced to 80 before heaving Ravindra Jadeja across the line to give India the breakthrough•BCCIMitchell Santner displayed impressive patience and technique against the spinners to hold one end up•BCCIMohammed Shami took two wickets in two balls in a superb display of reverse-swing bowling to leave New Zealand struggling at 205 for 7 at lunch•BCCIR Ashwin quickly cleaned up the tail after the break to finish with 6 for 132 as India completed a memorable 197-run win in their 500th Test in Kanpur•BCCI

On Sunday, Tillakaratne Dilshan became the 11th batsman to score 10,000-plus ODI runs. Here are the key numbers from his ODI career

S Rajesh27-Jul-20151:04

Tillakaratne Dilshan passes 10,000 ODI runs

47.06 Tillakaratne Dilshan’s average since the beginning of 2009; before that, he averaged 18 runs fewer per dismissal – 29.06. That’s largely because he has been opening the batting since 2009, while earlier he batted mostly at No. 6. When opening the batting, he averages 47.22, with 21 hundreds in 166 innings; at other positions he averages 28.65, with one century in 127 innings.

Tillakaratne Dilshan’s ODI career

InningsRunsAverageSR100s/ 50sTill Dec 2008129299429.0680.261/ 14Jan 2009 onwards164701347.0688.5521/ 31As opener166708447.2288.7021/ 32In other positions127292328.6579.791/ 13Career29310,00739.7185.9022/ 452 Openers who have scored at least 4000 ODI runs at an average higher than Dilshan’s 47.22. Only Hashim Amla (average 54.45) and Sachin Tendulkar (48.29) have higher averages. Also, as an opener, Dilshan has scored 21 hundreds in 166 innings, an average of one every 7.90 innings – it’s a rate bettered only by Amla (5.65 innings per 100) and Tendulkar (7.56 innings per 100). Among the 24 openers who have scored 4000-plus ODI runs, the only other batsman with a rate of less than ten innings per century is Mark Waugh (9.40).

Best averages for ODI openers (Min 4000 runs)

Player Inns Runs Average SR 100s 50s Inngs per 100Hashim Amla 113 5718 54.45 89.70 20 28 5.65Sachin Tendulkar 340 15310 48.29 88.05 45 75 7.56Tillakaratne Dilshan 166 7084 47.22 88.70 21 32 7.90Gordon Greenidge 120 4993 45.39 64.65 11 31 10.91Matthew Hayden 147 5892 44.30 78.70 10 33 14.70Mark Waugh 141 5729 44.06 76.74 15 32 9.40Gary Kirsten 175 6647 41.80 72.25 13 45 13.46Sourav Ganguly 236 9146 41.57 73.59 19 58 12.42Desmond Haynes 237 8648 41.37 63.09 17 57 13.94Saeed Anwar 220 8156 39.98 79.93 20 37 11.002354 Runs scored by Dilshan when not batting in the top five. He has scored 2046 runs in 87 innings at No. 6, 277 runs in 17 innings at No. 7, and 31 in three innings at No. 8. Among the 11 batsmen who are in the 10,000-run club, no other player has scored even 750 runs when not batting in the top five. The next-highest is Mahela Jayawardene’s 748, while Inzamam-ul-Haq made 542, and Kumar Sangakkara 533. At the other end of the spectrum is Ricky Ponting, who made only 75 of his 13,704 runs when not batting in the top five.293 Innings taken by Dilshan to reach 10,000 ODI runs. He is the seventh-quickest, in terms of innings; the fastest is Tendulkar, who took 259 innings, and the slowest is Jayawardene, who needed 333 innings to get there. Among the four Sri Lankans in the club, Dilshan is the fastest in terms of innings.

When they reached 10,000 ODI runs*

Batsman Innings Average SR 100s 50sSachin Tendulkar 259 42.63 86.52 28 50Sourav Ganguly 263 41.22 73.93 22 60Ricky Ponting 266 42.90 80.08 23 59Jacques Kallis 272 45.44 71.68 16 71Brian Lara 278 40.56 79.24 19 61Rahul Dravid 287 40.01 70.75 12 77Tillakaratne Dilshan 293 39.71 85.90 22 45Kumar Sangakkara 296 37.80 75.33 12 67Inzamam-ul-Haq 299 38.98 73.11 10 70Sanath Jayasuriya 328 32.13 88.52 18 58Mahela Jayawardene 333 33.45 77.66 15 6152 Sixes struck by Dilshan in his ODI career. Among the 11 batsmen in the 10,000 club, only Dravid (42) has fewer sixes. In terms of percentage of runs scored in sixes, Dilshan’s 3.12% is the second-lowest, next to Dravid’s 2.31%; Jayawardene is next with a percentage of 3.60. The highest is Jayasuriya’s 12.06%, followed by Ganguly’s 10.03%.63.14 Dilshan’s ODI average in wins since the beginning of 2009 – he has scored 4420 runs in 80 innings, with 17 hundreds. Among the 20 batsmen who have scored at least 2000 runs in wins during this period, only four have a better average – AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni, Amla and Virat Kohli.4391 ODI runs Dilshan has scored since the age of 35, the highest by any batsman. The next highest is Jayasuriya’s 4142 – they are the only batsmen with 4000-plus runs since the age of 35. Both have 12 hundreds after turning 35, which is also the highest. Dilshan has scored those runs at an average of 47.72, and a strike rate of 84.11.11 Percentage of his ODI runs that Dilshan has scored in World Cup games – he has scored 1112 runs in 25 innings across three World Cups, at an average of 52.95. Among the 11 members of the 10,000 club, Dilshan’s World Cup percentage is the fourth highest, after Ponting (12.72), Tendulkar (12.36) and Brian Lara (11.77). Dilshan’s World Cup average is fifth among these 11 batsmen, after Dravid (61.42), Tendulkar (56.95), Sangakkara (56.74), and Ganguly (55.88).

Despite the 3-0 scoreline and the performance of the bowlers in this series, Australia’s top order failures should be taken as a major warning to their future success

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG27-Dec-20130:00

Chappell: England need to drive hard the advantage

Brisbane, November 21, 2013: Australia are 6 for 132 on the first day of their home Ashes campaign. The top order has failed. Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson rescue them, push the total up to 295. Australia win.Adelaide, December 5, 2013: Australia are 5 for 257 on a good pitch for batting. The top order has failed. Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke rescue them with centuries. Australia declare on 570. Australia win.Perth, December 13, 2013: Australia are 5 for 143. The top order has failed. Brad Haddin and Steven Smith rescue them. The total reaches 385. Australia win.Melbourne, December 27, 2013: Australia are 6 for 122. The top order has failed. Brad Haddin…Sense a theme developing? The problem on the second day at the MCG was that Haddin tried to rescue Australia again but nobody joined him. By stumps they were 9 for 164, Haddin still there on 43. It was Australia’s worst day of the series, only because Haddin and a variety of team-mates had saved others that could have been equally bad.Australia’s average first-innings total at the loss of their fifth wicket in this series has been 153. Only their stronger effort in Adelaide, on the best batting surface of the series, has allowed it to be that high. But by no standards is 5 for 153 a satisfactory average. It is reflective of poor top-order performances – decision-making, technique, patience, whatever.Rogers sees red

The sight of red on Chris Rogers’s head is not unusual, but when it was trickling down his right cheek on the second day at the MCG it was enough to have the team doctor Peter Brukner rush on to the field to assess him.
Rogers was struck by a Stuart Broad bouncer that didn’t rise as much as he expected, and in attempting to duck he turned his head and the ball slammed into his helmet near the right temple.
“He was bowling quite quick there,” Rogers said after play. “He’s a tall guy, so if you slightly misjudge it you’ve only got fractions of a second. It’s okay actually, the helmet did its job this time. It was a bit of a scare but it’s not too bad.”
Rogers batted on and played some of his best strokes, reminiscent of when Shivnarine Chanderpaul was nearly knocked out by a Brett Lee bouncer in Jamaica in 2008 and went on to score a hundred. Rogers only managed 61, a fine effort given he had to try four helmets, two of them belonging to Ryan Harris and James Faulkner, until he found one that fitted.
“My head is too big,” Rogers said. “With my weird technique I kept hitting the grilles on my front shoulder. I’ll have to go get a new helmet to make sure I’ve got a good one when I face Mitch in the nets next.”
Notably, when Rogers was struck, Broad was one of the first players to approach him and check if he was okay, immediately signalling for medical assistance. Whether the same sympathy would have been shown for David Warner remains a mystery, but Rogers said his own disinclination to sledge might have played a part.
“They were pretty good actually, a tap on the arse and ask if you’re alright,” he said. “I don’t tend to sledge much, so maybe it’s just not coming back around my way. They were pretty good. Whenever you see someone get hit in the helmet it’s generally quite serious. I think sportsmanship is still alive and well.”

It has been easy to forget because England’s own batting has been abominable. Australia have a 3-0 lead and the Ashes. They could feasibly still complete a clean sweep. They will travel to South Africa in just over a month’s time with the Urn safely theirs, confident in their form, confident they can return to No. 1, confident their darkest times are behind them and confident their attacking “brand” of cricket is the right one.But South Africa are not England. Attack South Africa, or counterattack against them, and you may well find yourself in a bigger hole than when you began. Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander are the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked Test bowlers in the world for a reason. They are unrelenting.On the drop-in pitch at the MCG, the ball didn’t come on to the bat, forcing several batsmen into poorly chosen shots. England also bowled much more consistently than they have so far in this series. But Adelaide was a good batting pitch. So was Perth in the first innings. So was Brisbane. Four stunted first-innings performances in a row is not a coincidence, it is a discernible trend.David Warner’s biggest runs have all come in the second innings with hefty leads. George Bailey is yet to play a knock of real importance and averages 15.75 in the first innings. Chris Rogers gets himself in and then gets himself out. Clarke and Smith have at least each made a first-innings hundred.Shane Watson’s only substantial performance at No. 3 in this series came in the second innings in Perth, where Australia had a huge lead and Watson was given licence to slog. At the MCG, he drove loosely outside off and was caught behind for 10. His lbw problem has disappeared but been replaced by mediocre shot selection – he is constantly edging behind the wicket or picking out fielders.If Australia get out of their MCG mire, as they have managed to do so far in this series, their batting problems will be forgotten again. But they should take another top-order collapse as a cautionary tale.Lean on me: Brad Haddin propped up Australia again but found little support•Getty ImagesCape Town, November 10, 2011: Australia are 5 for 18. They struggle, then wobble, then panic against high-class seam and swing bowling. Brad Haddin is at the crease. Brad Haddin shimmies down the pitch and away to leg, tries to smash Philander over cover and edges behind. Brad Haddin is no longer at the crease. Australia are 6 for 18. Then they are 7 for 21, 8 for 21, 9 for 21. Somehow their last pair gets them to 47.Australia: Brad Haddin will not always rescue you.

The performance by Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann in Mumbai was one of the greatest slow-bowling double acts in England’s history

David Hopps26-Nov-2012There has arguably never been an England spin bowling partnership like it. Not in a single Test. Not where two England slow bowlers have shared the workload and worked together to pull off a famous victory.Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, in dismantling India at the Wankhede, and returning joint match figures of 19 for 323, have between them produced the greatest England spin double act of modern times. Perhaps of all time.This was only the fourth occasion that England spinners had combined to take 19 wickets or more wickets in a Test and the first time for 54 years since Jim Laker and Tony Lock teamed up to demolish New Zealand at Headingley.Thanks to Swann, as garrulous as ever, there is even a wonderful quote to mark the occasion when Panesar, with reference to the fact they had bowled in tandem in seven previous Tests without success, told his spin-bowling partner before the match: “Come on brother, let’s do it, let’s win one.”It was Panesar who attracted most acclaim with his match analysis of 11 for 210 but Swann is hardly overshadowed by his own return of 8 for 113. They hunted together as so few England spinners have been able to do in the past. They hunted, too, as a perfect complement to each other: one left arm and one right arm, one intense and the other free spirited.The English spin bowler is a put-upon soul, often forced to operate alone and, in England, in conditions alien to spin bowling: unresponsive pitches, chilly temperatures and captains who are always one ball away from losing faith and inviting another seam bowler on for a spell.It is therefore perhaps appropriate that one of England’s greatest spin bowling displays came from Tony Greig against West Indies in Port of Spain in 1973.It was appropriate because he only switched to offspin out of necessity during the tour because his medium pace was in danger of getting a battering. Greig took 13 wickets in the match and, even though three specialist spinners – Derek Underwood, Jack Birkenshaw and Pat Pocock – added five more, it essentially felt like a single-handed triumph. It was a great England victory, but nobody could fairly sell it as a double act.Talk of England spin combinations and attention rightly switches to Laker and Lock, the Surrey pair who along with Yorkshire’s Johnny Wardle provided the slow-bowling craft during England’s golden age of the 1950s, but it is possible to argue that when you consider the best by a pair of England spinners in tandem even they have been outdone by Swann and Panesar’s exploits in Mumbai.When Laker and Lock took all 20 against Australia in 1956, Laker had 19 of them. If that really counts as a double act, there is no doubt that Laker got all the good lines. When they shared 19 wickets more evenly against New Zealand two years later, they conceded only 108 runs, statistically far superior. But that was during a mismatch of a series. Swann and Panesar won a Test for England in India when the chips were down.The story of English spin bowling is a story of occasional triumph amid years of hardship. Swann, in the past few years, has challenged that perception. He now has a partner alongside him.Enjoy it while it lasts because history suggests it rarely lasts very long. Who knows, it could even be over by Christmas. Were it to prosper enough for England to win the series, it would be remembered as long as cricket survives.Six great England spin double actsIndia v England, Kanpur, 1952Malcolm Hilton drew attention to himself at 19 when playing for Lancashire in 1948 he dismissed Don Bradman twice in a match. But he struggled to justify his overnight fame until he was called up with his Lancashire colleagues Brian Statham and fellow spinners Bob Berry and Roy Tattersall for a 1951/2 tour of India.Kanpur was a dreamlike surface for a young left-arm spinner. Hilton, Tattersall and Jack Robertson, an occasional offbreak bowler for Middlesex, took 19 wickets in the match and Hilton and Tattersall, an offspinner, opened in the second innings while Statham had a rare day of inactivity. England won by eight wickets. A successful Test career beckoned but his control deserted him as the 1950s progressed and after he was chosen as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers Of The Year in 1957, his career faded.England v Australia, Old Trafford, 1956Jim Laker’s Ashes summer in 1956 has passed into cricketing folklore. His offspin was at its peak and he demoralised Australia, with 46 wickets in the series and 19 at Old Trafford, where he took all ten in the second innings with half an hour to spare on a rain-hit final day. Never have pictures of sawdust-laden squares looked so endearing.Few would present this as a double act but Tony Lock, Laker’s spin-bowling ally with Surrey and England, was exhausted enough to feel that it was. Lock bowled 69 overs in the match, a few more balls than Laker, and denied him all 20 by removing Jim Burke, who was as obdurate as they come, in Australia’s first innings. He also caught Burke off Laker second time around. Without Lock, things might have turned out differently.South Africa v England, Cape Town, 1956-57Johnny Wardle was unfortunate that for much of the 1950s. England preferred the more aggressive qualities of Lock alongside Laker, but Laker was quick to remark that Wardle bowled some of the finest spells he had ever seen.In a series where pedestrian batting was never far away, the charms of the Yorkshire spinner, purveyor of both left-arm orthodox and chinamen (the latter frowned upon at his county) were a blessed relief. Wardle dominated in Cape Town with 12 wickets in the match. Laker, though, played a part in history when Russell Endean, fending him off, became the first batsman to be dismissed Handled Ball.England v West Indies, The Oval, 1957Kennington Oval rarely felt more like home for Laker and Lock than in the 1957 Test against West Indies. It was over in three days and West Indies, bundled out for 89 and 86, were grateful to a 21-year-old on his first England tour who made 39 and 42. Even then it was apparent that Garry Sobers was going to become a helluva player.The West Indies had been awarded five-day Tests for the first time but, unlike 1950, they failed to shine. Their spin pairing of Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine had little success and by the time of the final Test at The Oval, it was Lock, shirt billowing and bowling his left-arm spin at a fair lick, along with the more elegant Laker who held sway.England v New Zealand, Headingley, 1958England won by an innings and 21 runs in a match where New Zealand could barely get the ball of the square in their second innings, crawling to 129 in 101.2 overs (an excruciating run rate of 1.26).The weather was dreadful in 1958 and so was much of the cricket, as England won four of their five Tests at a canter, three of them by an innings. Lock had an unbelievable season, statistically, with 34 wickets at 7.47 runs each, but others found less pleasure in recollecting what was essentially a mismatch.Sri Lanka v England, Colombo, 1981-82When Keith Fletcher, England’s captain, expressed fears that the pitch for Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test had been excessively watered, , in a memorable misprint, said that Fletcher made his observation when England arrived “for early-morning bets”. These were more innocent times.Sri Lanka’s first innings had been rounded up by Derek Underwood’s brisk slow left-arm but they conceded only a five-run first-innings lead as England lost their last five wickets for 23 on the third morning. Bob Willis lambasted his colleagues as they complained about a succession of dubious umpiring decisions. His exhortations initially had little effect, but Sri Lanka lost their last seven wickets for eight runs, the parsimonious Middlesex offspinner John Emburey taking five in 33 deliveries, and England escaped embarrassment.And one that got away:Pakistan v England, Dhaka, 1961/2Lock and Allen shared 15 wickets, and all manner of bit-part spinners provided support, but England could not force victory in Dhaka. The main reason for that was the presence of Hanif Mohammad, one of the finest defensive batsmen in Test history, who made painstaking hundreds in both innings. Hanif is regarded by some as the originator of the reverse sweep but it is fair to say that in this Test he did not play it very often.

Plays of the Day for the opening day of the second Test at the SSC

Sidharth Monga at the SSC26-Jul-2010Raina’s record stops
When Suresh Raina received his Test cap from Rahul Dravid, he stopped extending his lead on a record he won’t be particularly proud of. Before the Test, he had played 98 ODIs without playing a Test, fast getting bracketed. He will be pleased at least he didn’t reach a hundred there.Dhoni’s wrong calls
If you are a visiting team in Sri Lanka, the first rule is, whatever you do, don’t lose the toss. Their batsmen are so good after that that they will grind you to dust. The best you can then do is, draw the match. But imagine when you come out to bat on the second evening, after five-and-a-half sessions on the field, chances are, enough damage will be done in that final hour itself. And India are in bad tossing form: this is the seventh-straight toss they have lost, and then they watched Sri Lanka pile it on.Music arrives, just in time
Tillakaratne Dilshan smashed, Tharanga Paranavitana punched, Sri Lanka’s fifty came up in the 10th over, but something was missing. Not quite sure what, but something was missing. And then it arrived, did the brass band, during the 12th over of the innings. The fun was complete.Run, Tommy, run
Tommy Simsek is known more for his sprinting onto the field than the creditable physiotherapy he does for the Sri Lankan national team. Just after lunch, though, Kumar Sangakkara turned him into a 12th man. He gestured for something to the dressing room, and Simsek came out running with a helmet. Turned out the captain needed an arm guard. Back ran Simsek. By the time he came charging onto the field, Sangakkara had decided he would let one ball be bowled and then receive the arm guard. Great scenes happened: Simsek kept sprinting even as Mithun ran in to bowl. The umpire noticed in time, and stopped Mithun. Chances are Simsek could have sprinted across the field even before the ball was bowled.

Fleming’s 100 Tests in numbers

George Binoy15-Apr-2006

Stephen Fleming has led New Zealand for 60 consecutive Tests since 1999 © Getty Images
When Stephen Fleming became the youngest captain of New Zealand at 23 years and 320 days because Lee Germon had injured his groin ahead of the Christchurch Test against England in February 1997, he could have scarcely imagined that nine years later, he would be still leading New Zealand in his 100th Test.In sheer number of Tests as captain, Fleming’s 75 is second only to Allan Border’s 93. Of his other contemporaries, Graeme Smith is closest with 37 Tests. Fleming’s streak of 60 Tests as captain since the Birmingham Test in July 1999 is the second-longest consecutive streak for a captain. Border again holds pride of place with all his 93 Tests as leader occurring without interruption. The following table lists the highest percentages of matches as captain for players.

Highest % of matches as captain (min. 30 Tests as captain)

Player Total matches Matches as captain Percentage

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi 46 40 86.95 Graeme Smith 45 37 82.22 Mike Brearley 39 31 79.48 Hansie Cronje 68 53 77.94 Stephen Fleming 99 75 75.75Fleming is by far New Zealand’s most experienced and successful captain. His win-loss record is 27-24 with 24 draws. John Reid and Geoff Howarth are second and third in terms of experience with 34 and 30 Tests respectively.

New Zealand captains

Captain Matches Won Lost Drawn

Stephen Fleming 75 27 2424 John Reid 34 3 1813 Geoff Howarth 30 11 712 Graham Dowling 19 4 78 Ken Rutherford 18 2 115As a batsman, Fleming hasn’t turned many heads. Although he has 6194 Test runs – the most by a New Zealand batsman – he averages only 39.20. Because conditions in New Zealand are quite heavily tilted in the bowler’s favour, Fleming’s away performances overshadow his exploits at home. He averages 65.45 in Asia and his record in Sri Lanka – 733 runs, the most for a visiting batsman, at an average of 104.71 – is second only to Sachin Tendulkar.

Fleming’s home and away record

Matches Runs Avg 50s/100s

Home 44 2474 32.98 2/17 Away523720 44.81 6/24The difference in Fleming’s record in matches won and lost is startling. In matches New Zealand have lost, he averages just 29.11 with one hundred. His average in wins is 52.47 and in drawn Tests it is 43.59.

New Zealand batsmen in matches won (min: 1000 runs)

Batsman Matches won Runs/Avg 100s/50s

Martin Crowe 16 1219/55.40 2/7 Craig McMillian 18 1186/53.90 3/8 Stephen Fleming 29 1189/52.47 3/13 John Wright 21 1253/36.85 2/6 Nathan Astle 26 1213/35.67 2/8

Big picture – England’s Super League ends

England arrived in Chattogram on Saturday ahead of their final fixture in the inaugural – and only – edition of the ICC’s ODI Super League. On Monday, they are looking to secure a three-nil series win, thereby becoming the first team to secure an away ODI series whitewash in Bangladesh since Sri Lanka in 2014.The Super League, the qualifying process for the 2023 World Cup in India, launched in 2020 with the lofty, noble aim to “raise the stakes of bilateral 50-over games”, according to the ICC at the time.The idea was simple enough. World Cup qualification had generally been decided on the opaque rankings system. Commercially-driven boards had no competitive incentive to schedule ODI series evenly, so top teams scheduled long series which were largely devoid of context against one another, rarely deigning to play emerging nations.The fixture list was imperfect – each team was scheduled to play eight opponents out of a possible twelve – but still generated series that might never have happened otherwise. The Netherlands hosted West Indies, England, Pakistan and New Zealand in a single summer. Ireland turned West Indies over in the Caribbean. Zimbabwe played Australia in a bilateral ODI series for the first time in 18 years – and won the third game.For Ireland, South Africa and Sri Lanka – who, along with West Indies, are jostling to avoid June’s qualification tournament in Zimbabwe by securing the final automatic World Cup spot – the final months of the Super League represent a vital opportunity.But for the rest, they are an irrelevance. As the qualification cycle draws towards a close, it is clear that market forces have overtaken the ICC’s ambitions: several series have now been abandoned as a result of franchise cricket’s squeeze on the international calendar, and the Super League has been scrapped altogether.”Since each point matters, there will be no dead rubbers and teams will always have to be at their very best,” the ICC said in 2020. Monday’s game in Chattogram is a direct refutation of that claim.

Form guide

Bangladesh LLLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WWWLL

In the spotlight: Litton Das and Rehan Ahmed

Litton Das was the leading run-scorer for BPL champions Comilla Victorians and is long established as Tamim Iqbal’s opening partner in ODIs. But he has not got going in this series, scratching around for 7 off 15 in the first game before chopping his first ball to point in the second. He has now gone five ODI innings in a row without reaching 50, and could do with a score in Chattogram.Litton Das has been unable to reprise his BPL form•AFP/Getty Images

If not now, when? Rehan Ahmed, the 18-year-old legspinning allrounder, is England’s long-term replacement for Adil Rashid and could win his first white-ball cap on Monday. The deadest of rubbers provides the ideal low-stakes opportunity for him to make his debut, and his ability with the bat means he could even play alongside Rashid if conditions suit.

Team news: Will Buttler rest himself?

Mustafizur Rahman looked out of sorts and short on confidence in Mirpur, bowling 18 wicketless overs and leaking 5.83 an over, making him the most expensive bowler on either side. If Bangladesh decide to change things up, he could give way for Ebadot Hossain or Hasan Mahmud. The uncapped Towhid Hridoy is the squad’s spare batter.Bangladesh (possible): 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Litton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Afif Hossain, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Taijul Islam, 11 Ebadot Hossain/Hasan Mahmud.Rehan Ahmed is in line for an ODI debut•AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi

Reece Topley is likely to play for the first time in the series, with England rotating their seam attack throughout the tour. Will Jacks has been ruled out of the rest of the tour with a quad injury; with no spare batter in the squad, England will change their balance somewhat.England (possible): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 James Vince, 5 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Rehan Ahmed, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid/Saqib Mahmood, 11 Reece Topley.

Pitch and conditions: Expect it to spin again

The weather in Chattogram has been warm and dry. The Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium pitches tend to be significantly better for batting than Mirpur; in the most recent game at the venue, India piled on 408 for 9. But this one could assist spinners for a change, as it looks quite dry. “The block, just walking over the square, definitely feels a bit harder; the one in Mirpur felt a little bit tacky, a bit softer,” Mark Wood said on Sunday.

Stats and trivia

• Jason Roy’s hundred on Friday was his 12th in ODIs, taking him joint-third in England’s all-time list. He is one behind Eoin Morgan, and four behind Joe Root.
• Shakib Al Hasan needs four wickets to reach 300 in men’s ODIs. He would be the first Bangladesh bowler to reach that landmark, and the third left-arm spinner after Sanath Jayasuriya and Daniel Vettori.
• England have only played seven men’s fixtures across formats in 2023 but have already used 27 players, the joint-most of any team this year.
• Friday’s victory saw England leapfrog New Zealand at the top of the Super League table. They could extend their lead to 15 points on Sunday.

Quotes

“There’s nothing called an automatic choice. Nobody is an automatic choice. I will not be in the team if I am not performing regularly, even though I am the captain. A player’s performance graph will go up and down all the time, but we believe he will turn his form around.”
“He’s impressed everybody, not just me. The whole team have said how well he’s bowled. He’s bowling quickly, hitting good lengths. In the first game, he showed our seam-bowling group where to bowl, really.”