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There is a ‘real possibility’ Arnaud Kalimuendo will sign for Leeds United this summer, according to journalist Ben Jacobs.

The Lowdown: Bid tabled

The Whites have been linked with the PSG forward for a number of weeks now, and they appear to have firmed up their interest after missing out on Charles De Ketelaere.

Reports in recent days have claimed that Victor Orta has made a ‘very good’ offer worth €20m (£16.7m) for the 20-year-old, however, PSG could hold out for a fee of around €25m (£21m).

The Latest: Transfer update

French journalist Hadrien Grenier relayed an update from Jacobs regarding Kalimuendo and Leeds on Twitter, with the latter liking the post shared on Tuesday evening.

There is thought to be a ‘real possibility’ that the 20-year-old ‘will join Leeds’, with PSG chief Luis Campo happy to sell at the right price.

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The Verdict: Get it done

Leeds aren’t the only club showing an interest in the West Ham, Newcastle and Everton all thought to be keen.

Therefore, the Whites may want to try and push through a deal as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Reliable reporter Phil Hay has even confirmed in recent days that Leeds have had their eye on Kalimuendo, and following this latest update, it looks as if a transfer could well be on the cards in what would be a big boost with Jesse Marsch relatively short of centre-forward options.

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has been giving his thoughts on Crystal Palace’s interest in Napoli forward Hirving Lozano.

The Lowdown: Palace links

The Eagles have made four signings so far this summer ahead of Patrick Vieira’s second season in charge but appear to want even more.

Reports in recent days have claimed that Palace are interested in signing Lozano, who is open to a move to the Premier League.

The 26-year-old’s new representatives apparently have a positive relationship with Palace officials, with West Ham also keen on the player.

The Latest: O’Rourke’s comments

Talking to FootballFanCast, O’Rourke was excited at Palace’s interest in Lozano, labelling the forward as a ‘top player’ and describing a possible move to Selhurst Park as ‘huge’.

“Yeah would be a huge signing, Hirving Lozano. I think a real top player across the world, a Mexican international. Was a big signing for Napoli as well when they signed him from PSV, so for Crystal Palace to be in that market looking at him just shows where Crystal Palace are looking to go right now.

“They’re looking like building an exciting young team under Patrick Vieira and they’ll be hoping to build upon an impressive last term in this new season as well.”

The Verdict: Ambitious

Lozano, described as ‘unique’ by Luciano Spalleti, has scored 124 goals during his career for both club and country and has played in European competitions over the past five seasons.

Palace can’t offer that at this moment in time, so securing a move for the attacker would be a huge coup for Steve Parish and Dougie Freedman.

He could be just what Vieira needs with Palace yet to make a senior attacking addition this summer, and with Lozano capable of playing on either wing and even central if required, this could be one to watch over the coming weeks.

Leeds United are poised to make a move to bring Josh Tymon to Elland Road in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by the Daily Mail (14/07; page 83), who claim that, after Junior Firpo was ruled out for up to eight weeks as a result of a knock picked up during the Whites’ 4-0 pre-season victory over Blackpool last Thursday, Victor Orta is now set to launch a bid for the Stoke City left-back.

Previous reports had revealed that the Spanish director of football has already made contact with the Championship side regarding his interest in a move for the 23-year-old – who is believed to be available for a figure in the region of £6m this summer.

Marsch needs him

Considering just how short Jesse Marsch was of depth at left-back prior to Firpo’s injury setback – with Stuart Dallas looking to be ruled out until the turn of the year with a femoral fracture and Leif Davis being largely unproven at Premier League level – it is clear to see that the 48-year-old American could very much use the addition of a new player in the position ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

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And, considering just how exciting a prospect Tymon appears to be, should the former England U20 international indeed be available for a fee of just £6m this summer, a move for the 23-year-old would appear something of a no-brainer for Orta and the Whites’ transfer team.

Indeed, over his 44 Championship appearances in 2021/22, the £1.62m-rated talent was in excellent form for Michael O’Neill’s side, scoring one goal, providing four assists and creating 14 big chances for his teammates, in addition to making an average of 1.2 key passes, taking 0.7 shots and completing 1.1 dribbles per fixture.

The £7.1k-per-week full-back who Steve Bruce dubbed “outstanding” also impressed in a defensive capacity, making an average of 1.3 tackles, 0.8 interceptions, 1.3 clearances, 25.7 passes, 1.3 long balls and winning 3.7 duels per game.

As such, with both Firpo and Dallas facing lengthy spells on the sidelines, launching a bid for Tymon would very much appear a smart move for Orta to make, as it is evident just how badly Marsch needs reinforcements on the left-hand side of his backline ahead of the upcoming Premier League campaign.

AND in other news: Victor Orta plotting Leeds bid for “formidable” £19m sensation, he’s “one of the best”

Transfer insider Dean Jones believes Aston Villa are still looking to make two ‘big additions’, as per GiveMeSport.

The Lowdown: Busy summer

Johan Lange has helped to bolster Steven Gerrard’s first-team squad this summer with four permanent signings already. Philippe Coutinho and Robin Olsen have converted their loan spells into full-time transfers, while Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos have moved to Villa Park in recent weeks.

Those four deals have set NSWE back just under £50m, and it looks as if there could still be more to come.

The Latest: Jones’ comments

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones claimed that Villa are still looking at two ‘big’ additions in midfield and attack but didn’t name-check any players as possible targets.

He outlined:

“I think they’re still looking for a centre midfielder that can go into that team and start games.

“They’re still looking at a big addition in centre-midfield and they’re looking for a big addition in attack. It’s just about finding the right type of player.”

The Verdict: Exciting few weeks

The new season is fast approaching, so it seems as if it could be an exciting few weeks at Bodymoor Heath in regards to transfers.

NSWE were reportedly willing to spend more than £150m on new players this summer and were expected to break their transfer record, something that is yet to materialise.

However, with Jones now claiming that two big additions are being lined up, it wouldn’t come as a shock if one of those potential arrivals were to eclipse the club-record £34.56m fee that Villa paid to Norwich for Emiliano Buendia last year.

Everton have reportedly now ‘asked for’ versatile Porto midfielder Otavio and are expected to make an official bid soon.

The Lowdown: Liverpool target

Otavio has been strongly linked with a move to Merseyside rivals Liverpool this summer, but given that they are now set to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica, they may put any potential move for the FC Porto attacker on the back-burner.

This would open the door for the Goodison Park outfit, as Frank Lampard looks to strengthen his starting eleven ahead of the new season.

The Latest: Enquiry made

As per O Jogo (via Sport Witness), the Toffees have now made an enquiry over the possibility of signing Otavio and have ‘asked for’ the Portugal international.

They are expected to make an official bid, but Otavio is protected by his whopping €60m (£51.2m) release clause.

The Verdict: Unrealistic

Given that Porto will be playing in the UEFA Champions League next term after winning their domestic title, and that the Blues have reportedly had financial trouble over the last year, it just seems too unrealistic that they would be able to sign Otavio, especially for his asking price.

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He would be a great signing, having scored five goals and made a further 14 assists in total over all competitions last campaign (whole of the frontline and on both flanks would be a valuable asset to Lampard.

However, the club should not be wasting their time here unless they can seriously whittle that release clause down.

In other news, find out what ‘massive’ boost EFC have now received here!

A report out of Italy has now shared some interesting Manchester City transfer news involving manager Pep Guardiola and Inter Milan sensation Alessandro Bastoni.

The Lowdown: Sky Blue summer spending spree?

Sky Blues chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, speaking in his annual end-of-season interview last week, confirmed that there will be more arrivals following the Premier League champions’ moves for both Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.

After retaining their domestic crown in emotional and dramatic fashion, Guardiola could be about to oversee a real summer of change at Eastlands with Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus all heading into the final year of their contracts (The Times).

Defensive exits are also possible for the likes of Nathan Ake and Oleksandr Zinchenko, according to reports, with City allegedly keeping an eye on options for their backline as a result.

The Latest: Guardiola eyeing Bastoni…

According to FC Inter News, one of City’s potential targets is Nerazzurri centre-half Bastoni, even despite the notion he wishes to remain at the San Siro.

It is claimed that Guardiola is personally eyeing a move alongside Spurs and Paris-Saint Germain, with the Spaniard personally appreciating Inter’s gem.

The report goes on to claim that Bastoni, amid all of this interest, is ‘seriously in danger’ of being sold this summer.

The Verdict: Get it done?

Even if Ake departs the Etihad Stadium, competition will be fierce for a starting place in Guardiola’s backline, with England international John Stones even struggling for regular game time despite his phenomenal 2020/2021 campaign partnering Ruben Dias.

Bastoni, valued at €70 million (£60m) by Inter, would certainly come with a glowing reputation as members of the Italian media have already branded him ‘world class’ (Kaustubh Pandey, GIFN).

The £122,000-per-week ace, still just 23-years-old, has even been tipped as an heir to Italy international legend Giorgio Chiellini in the centre of defence.

However, taking into account the form of both Dias and Aymeric Laporte as a partnership over 2021/2022, he will have to seriously impress Guardiola behind-the-scenes.

In other news: ‘I understand’ – Journalist says Man City attempt to sign ‘phenomenal’ star is ‘in motion’…find out more here.

Liverpool have their final trophy challenge this weekend with the Champions League final coming up against Real Madrid, and now a reliable source has revealed a major injury update ahead of the clash.

What’s the latest?

According to Northern correspondent for The Times Paul Joyce, Thiago Alcantara has a good chance of being fit for the Champions League final on Saturday night.

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Joyce tweeted: “Jurgen Klopp said Thiago Alcantara has a good chance of making the Champions League final. He will train this afternoon [Wednesday].”

The midfielder was sidelined with an Achilles injury late into the first half of the final Premier League game of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend.

Supporters will be excited

There is no doubt that supporters will be excited that the Spaniard could be fit for the game in Paris this weekend, especially with the news following a promising update on Fabinho who has returned to full training today.

Impressively, Liverpool have lost just one game with Thiago and Fabinho starting in the midfield since the former Bayern Munich star joined the team, so if the pair could be fit for the game against Real Madrid it would be a massive advantage for The Reds.

Thiago is an undeniable and powerful influence in Liverpool’s midfield with 70.2 touches, 1.2 key passes and 1.9 tackles on average per game, scoring once and contributing four assists, creating three big chances and proving successful in 63% of his dribbles over 25 appearances in the Premier League this season.

The Spaniard is no stranger to Champions League finals either, winning the prestigious European trophy twice once with Bayern Munich the summer before he moved to Merseyside and the other with Barcelona, so his experience in the competition will definitely be a huge advantage for Liverpool.

With that being said, Jurgen Klopp will be absolutely delighted with the progress his injured players have made over the last few weeks to ensure they can put themselves in contention for the final game of an incredible season for the Kopites and will be hoping that his team can pick up their third and final trophy on Saturday.

AND in other news: Forget Tchouameni: FSG can get Anfield rocking with LFC deal for “dangerous” £21m tank

Who makes the first group as we begin the countdown of the best female players of the last 25 years?

25-Sep-20242:51

Would Suzie Bates rather face Lea Tahuhu or Hayley Jensen?

Everyone loves a ranking list, right? Following on from our colleagues in ESPN, who have been running lists of the top athletes of the century on their platforms, we thought the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup was a good time to look back over the 21st century so far and select the top 25 female cricketers.Will the player you expect to finish No. 1 finish here? Will a player be ranked too high? Will your favourite player be ranked too low or not make the list (sorry if that’s the case). You’ll find out over the next three days.The game has evolved dramatically over the time frame under consideration for this list, particularly in the last decade with the advent of the WBBL, followed by the Hundred and WPL. More international teams are now beating each other and this upcoming World Cup has the potential to be one of the most competitive.A group of ESPNcricinfo writers came up with a longlist of 50 names, which were then put into a voting system that played off pairs against each other. Once that was completed, a smaller group then assessed the list for anomalies or glaring omissions.Here, present Nos. 25-16 on the rankings. You can check out Nos. 15-6 here and 5-1 here.Note: only achievements posted after January 1, 2000 are taken into consideration, even if the athlete’s career ran either side of the millenniumStats for 2000 and beyond
Test batting | Test bowling | ODI batting | ODI bowling | T20I batting | T20I bowling | All T20 batting | All T20 bowling

25: Sarah Taylor (England)

Sarah Taylor: legendary behind the stumps, and not bad with the bat•Getty ImagesWhen Adam Gilchrist calls you “the best wicketkeeper in the world… male or female” the world’s media notices. But anyone familiar with Taylor would know the slick dismissal of Sune Luus in a 2018 ODI he was referring to was just one in an impressive line-up of brilliant leg-side stumpings in an England career spanning 13 years. During that time she amassed 6533 international runs and 232 dismissals. With gloves and bat, she was pivotal to England’s World Cup victories in 2009 and 2017. Mental-health breaks punctuating her career helped normalise conversations around anxiety, and she broke down barriers elsewhere too. From the 1st XI at Brighton College to the Birmingham Premier League and Australian grade cricket, Taylor proved she could match it with her male counterparts, and she went on to forge a successful coaching career with a number of men’s sides, including Sussex, Abu Dhabi and Manchester Originals.

24: Beth Mooney (Australia)

Beth Mooney’s masterful 125 not out in a chase against India gave Australia a record 26th ODI win on the trot•Albert Perez/Getty ImagesIt would be hard to a find a more versatile batter than Mooney. She has developed into a player who can adapt to whatever role is asked of her, whether opening the batting in Tests or T20s, or being a middle-order star in ODIs. Mooney was part of the destructive opening stand that decided the 2020 T20 World Cup final against India, and in 2021 produced one of the finest ODI innings in a chase against India. In 2022 she remarkably returned to action during the Ashes barely a week after breaking her jaw. On the domestic scene she is the leading run-scorer in WBBL history.

23: Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

Stafanie Taylor: a World Cup-winning captain as well as the Player of the Tournament•AFPA hard-hitting opener, Taylor has been unstoppable since her debut T20I innings, when she made a 49-ball 90 as a 17-year-old. She’s not just brilliant with bat and ball but is one of West Indies’ most decorated captains. At 19 she became the youngest woman to make 1000 ODI runs, and she took over as West Indies captain at 24. Her biggest moment as captain came in 2016 when she led West Indies to the T20 World Cup title, helping beat three-time champions Australia. She led from the front through that campaign, scoring a crucial 59 in the thrilling final and finishing as the Player of the Tournament for her 246 runs and eight wickets. Her performance against New Zealand in 2013, where she became the first woman to score a century and take four wickets in an ODI, exemplifies her all-round prowess. Taylor is also the only woman with over 5000 runs and 150 wickets in ODIs.

22: Katherine Sciver-Brunt (England)

Katherine Sciver-Brunt: injuries didn’t keep the long-time leader of England’s attack down for long•Getty ImagesThe England fast bowler’s career was a roller-coaster: a superb all-round showing in England’s first women’s Ashes win in 42 years, in 2005, was followed by a spate of injuries – a troublesome back being at the centre of it – a few years later, which made her contemplate retirement. She then found her mojo again to finish as one of England’s, if not the world’s, greats. Sciver-Brunt was feisty, passionate and rapid. Her ability to swing the ball at high pace made her a ferocious threat, and she finished with the most five-wicket hauls (five) by a fast bowler in women’s ODIs.

21: Cathryn Fitzpatrick (Australia)

Cathryn Fitzpatrick: a fast-bowling trailblazer•Daniel Berehulak/Getty ImagesThough there have been major advancements in the game, particularly in fast bowling, since her time, Fitzpatrick’s record still shines. Renowned as the fastest bowler to have played in her day – an accolade that would stand against today’s quicks – her numbers in the seven years she played from 2000 onwards are superb: 127 ODI wickets at 16.88 and an economy of 3.10, and 44 in seven Tests at 13.56. In 2003 she became the first bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets. Although it was towards the latter stages of her career, she was a key part of Australia’s 2005 World Cup victory in India. Her overall tally of ODI wickets was only surpassed by Jhulan Goswami in 2017.

20: Amelia Kerr (New Zealand)

Amelia Kerr: the present and future for New Zealand•AFP/Getty ImagesAt 17, the legspin-bowling allrounder broke former Australia captain Belinda Clark’s 21-year-old record for the highest individual score in women’s ODIs when she amassed 232 not out against Ireland. Kerr followed it with career-best returns of 5 for 17 in the same match to lead her team to a 305-run win. Kerr announced herself the previous year, with the wickets of Australia’s Meg Lanning, Elyse Villani, Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy in her sixth ODI. Earmarked as a potential star, Kerr has since established herself as a vital cog in the New Zealand side in the last few years with consistent batting and bowling performances. She has gone past 3000 international runs and taken 150-plus wickets.

19: Charlotte Edwards (England)

Charlotte Edwards remains England’s most successful captain in women’s cricket, with 72 wins in ODIs and 68 in T20Is•Getty ImagesEdwards, who represented England 309 times, 220 of those as captain, was not only a prodigious talent but an enduring one. After taking over the captaincy in 2006, she led England as they retained the Ashes in Australia, achieving back-to-back victories against the Australians, in 2013 and 2014. She also took England to the World Cup-World T20 double in 2009. The England record of nine ODI centuries Edwards shared with Nat Sciver-Brunt and Tammy Beaumont was only broken in September 2024, eight years after her last game. Her leadership has continued post-retirement as a highly successful coach in the women’s game.

18: Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa)

Laura Wolvaardt is among the most stylish batters in the game and now has centuries across all formats•BCCIShe could have been a medical student or a musician but Wolvaardt chose to pursue a career in cricket and quickly rose to the top of the class. Armed with a selection of textbook shots, including one of the smoothest cover drives in the game, Wolvaardt uses traditional technique to dominate contemporary cricket. She is South Africa’s leading run-scorer in ODI cricket and their only player to have made more than 4000 runs in the format, and is closing in on the T20I record, with the three players above her now retired. Wolvaardt is one of only three women’s players to have scored a century in all three formats of the game, and the only one to have do it in one calendar year. That was also the year after she took on the all-format captaincy long-term, proving her leadership ability at all levels.

17: Suzie Bates (New Zealand)

Suzie Bates is second only to Meg Lanning in the list of most ODI hundreds, 13 in 157 innings for New Zealand•Getty ImagesOne of the most respected allrounders in the women’s game, and a former Olympics-level basketball player, Bates has a reputation of being a big-match player and is the leading run-scorer in women’s T20Is. The attacking top-order batter made 168 off just 105 balls in helping New Zealand advance to their fourth ODI World Cup final in 2009, three years after making her ODI debut. She led the side from 2011 through 2018 and did not let captaincy weigh her performances down. In the 2013 ODI World Cup, she topped the batting charts with 407 runs, and was named Player of the Tournament. Bates made 151 off 94 balls on the a record-breaking day in Dublin in 2018 when New Zealand made a massive 491 for 4 against Ireland. In July 2024 she became the first New Zealand women’s cricketer to make over 10,000 international runs. Come October, she is set to play in her ninth T20 World Cup.

16: Sophie Devine (New Zealand)

Sophie Devine: has scored a 36-ball T20 hundred•Getty ImagesStarting out as a seam bowler, Devine evolved as a batter with incredible power-hitting, while taking 200 international wickets. At 17 she made her New Zealand debut, but it was when she blasted a magnificent 145 against South Africa in the 2013 ODI World Cup that she took the world by storm. She holds the record for the fastest fifty in women’s T20Is, off 18 balls against India in 2015. Devine had a blockbuster 2019-20 season, when she made her maiden T20I century against South Africa and became the first cricketer of either sex to hit five consecutive 50-plus scores in T20Is. She was named New Zealand captain in 2020, and the following year she struck the fastest women’s T20 century with a 36-ball hundred for Wellington against Otago in Dunedin. A T20 globetrotter with prolific all-round performance, she has a particularly prolific record in the WBBL with four centuries. ESPNcricinfo’s top 25 women cricketer’s of the 21st century: Nos. 1-5 | 6-15 | 16-25

Among the draws – all 18 of them – there have been protests, flare-ups and the odd moment of success

Andrew Miller29-Nov-2022After consecutive “home” series on neutral ground in the UAE, Pakistan are finally set to host England for their first Test visit in 17 years. It promises the renewal of a rivalry that has not exactly been packed with tense contests down the years, but has produced an extraordinary amount of controversy. Here’s a recap of England’s eight previous tours.1961-62 – England won 1-0
A curious itinerary greeted MCC’s first official tour of Pakistan, with the three-match series wrapped either side of a full five-Test visit to India – whose subsequent plans to tour West Indies had caused a fixtures rejig. And as it transpired, the one-off Test in Lahore in October could not have been further removed from the two follow-ups in Dacca and Karachi in January and February, where the tone would be set for a diet of lifeless decks over the subsequent two decades. By then, however, England were already 1-0 up in the series after a gripping final-hour win in Lahore, where the new captain Ted Dexter marshalled a high-tempo run-chase with the elan he would soon be bringing to the new-fangled Gillette One-Day Cup. It would be England’s only victory in the country for 39 years, and one of only two to date in 24 Tests and counting.Ted Dexter (second left) and members of the England touring party after returning from Pakistan in 1962•Hulton Archive/Getty Images1968-69 – Series drawn 0-0
South Africa had been England’s original winter destination, but the D’Oliveira Affair put paid to that prospect, and as MCC scouted around for a back-up plan, they hit upon a country that was lurching, with ever more volatile certainty, towards revolution. “The Pakistan tour was a fiasco”, Wisden intoned, at the end of a stalemate in which the three Tests became focal points for mounting unrest, from the first day of the series in Lahore, to the third and final day of the third Test in Karachi, where play was abandoned after a mob had torn down the gates and vandalised the pitch. In between, the schedule was controversially rejigged to send the teams 1100 miles east to Dacca (now Dhaka), where law and order was already breaking down ahead of the bloody war that would, two years later, lead to the birth of Bangladesh. With the city in a state of siege, it was left to a group of teenaged student leaders to guarantee the team’s safety. On the field, a quartet of England centuries were the tour’s stand-out performances: Colin Cowdrey in Lahore, D’Oliveira in Dacca, and Colin Milburn and Tom Graveney in Karachi, where Graveney struck two intruders on their backsides with his bat, and quipped: “They were the two best strokes I made on the whole tour.”1972-73 – Series drawn 0-0
An arduous four-month tour, encompassing five Tests in India, three in Pakistan and a first-class stop-over in the newly-renamed Sri Lanka, came to a dispiriting end on a trio of pitches in Lahore, Hyderabad and Karachi that, Wisden moaned, would still have ended as draws “had they gone on playing for the rest of their lives”. That said, England were twice obliged to guard against mishap after conceding challenging leads in the first two Tests, but on neither occasion were they bowled out in their second innings. The Karachi Test, once again, was marred by crowd unrest and pitch invasions, and was eventually abandoned early due to a dust-storm, after Norman Gifford’s five-for had briefly given England hope of a win against the head. The match also happened to be the last of Tony Lewis’s brief reign as captain – he would play one more Test back in the ranks before being dropped for good the following summer – but its most notable detail was arguably the fact that Majid Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad and Dennis Amiss were all dismissed for 99.Shakoor Rana and Mike Gatting infamously faced-off in Faisalabad on the 1987-88 tour•Getty Images1977-78 – Series drawn 0-0
By the end of another chaotic campaign, England had played 12 Tests across 16 years of touring in Pakistan, and drawn each of the last 11 – a record that Wisden attributed to various factors including food, accommodation, crowd indiscipline and “a shadowy political background” but, most of all, to the hosts’ “obsessive fear of defeat”. The emergence of the legspinner Abdul Qadir seemed to offer Pakistan the means to unlock their own benign surfaces – most particularly in the second Test in Hyderabad, where he exploited the rough created by Bob Willis’s heavy-limbed followthrough to take a first-innings 6 for 44. However, Wasim Bari’s overly cautious declaration killed off any remaining jeopardy, and not for the first time, the tour’s main talking points came off the field: the riots in Lahore that stemmed from a premature celebration of Mudassar Nazar’s century, then the threatened recall of the so-called “Packerstanis” – Imran Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad and Zaheer Abbas – all of whom had signed to play in Kerry Packer’s inaugural season of World Series Cricket, but whose arrivals in Karachi prior to the third Test caused uproar. It wasn’t entirely clear at whose behest they had turned up – it might even have been a publicity stunt from Packer himself – but at the eleventh hour, the Pakistan board confirmed that they would not be considered, and the threat of an England boycott fell away.1983-84 – Pakistan won 1-0
Qadir’s threat was no secret this time around, but his mastery of flight and variation remained unfathomable to England. Barely three days after arriving from a chaotic tour of New Zealand – one beset by injury, ineptitude and subsequent accusations of recreational drug use – England rocked up to the first “result” wicket that they had encountered in more than a decade of Pakistan tours, and finished a distant second-best in a misleadingly tight three-wicket loss. Nick Cook claimed 11 wickets to Qadir’s eight, but the legspinner’s bamboozling display was best epitomised by a stunning googly that Ian Botham was barely able to pick even after it had nestled in short-leg’s hands. “Only a philistine could watch Qadir without fascination,” wrote John Thicknesse in The Cricketer. He was briefly neutered on a dead deck in Faisalabad, but burst back to prominence with ten wickets at Lahore as the series ended amid a compelling tussle for the upper hand. Going into the rest day with England still trailing on their second innings, England’s captain David Gower – by now deputising for the injured Willis – promised positivity in a bid to square the series, and delivered in person with a magnificent 173. But, after Mohsin Khan and Shoaib Mohammad had matched that total in their opening stand, Gower rather went back on his word with a go-slow in the field, and it took a late five-for from Norman Cowans to guard against an unlikely defeat.Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe celebrate victory in the dark, Karachi 2000•Getty Images1987-88 – Pakistan won 1-0
Bad blood abounded in one of the most acrimonious series of all time. Mike Gatting’s infamous finger-jabbing row with umpire Shakoor Rana in Faisalabad was the image that flashed around the globe in an embodiment of the “it’s not cricket!” cliché that the sport still, somehow, clings to to this day. And yet, their stand-off was very much in keeping with the animosity that existed between England and Pakistan throughout the 1980s, as years of festering grievances home and away came to an inevitable climax. Barely four months had elapsed since Pakistan had prevailed on an ill-tempered tour of England, during which complaints about the home umpiring – specifically an old adversary, David Constant – had been batted away by the TCCB. Factor in a draining World Cup campaign in between whiles, in which England’s defeat in the final had matched Pakistan’s semi-final elimination on home soil in the anti-climax stakes, and the time was hardly ripe to renew such a fractious rivalry. The fuse was lit during the first Test at Lahore, where umpire Shakeel Khan gave – by England’s count – nine erroneous decisions, among them Chris Broad, who had to be persuaded to leave the crease by his opening partner, Graham Gooch. The irony was that, with 9 for 56 in the first innings, en route to a series haul of 30 at 14.56, Qadir hardly needed a leg-up to be the difference between the teams. Even so, when the flashpoint came, late on the second day in Faisalabad, it was with England in a position of rare dominance – with Pakistan five-down in their first innings and still almost 200 runs behind. But the loss of the third day’s play, with Rana refusing to officiate until Gatting had issued a grudging written apology, kiboshed any hope of a result.2000-01 – England won 1-0
Fresh from their first victory over West Indies in three decades, Nasser Hussain’s England sealed another famous series win, and in incredible circumstances too, with the winning runs in Karachi coming amid ever-encroaching darkness on the final day of the tour. The advent of central contracts and the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as head coach had been significant factors in a heightened team cohesion, but ultimately this tour was a triumph for Hussain’s hard-bitten leadership – in particular his insistence that England “stay in the game at all costs”, and wait for the pressure to tell on their hosts. Graham Thorpe epitomised this indomitability with a grindingly slow century in Lahore, which contained a solitary boundary in his first 100 runs and in the process thwarted Saqlain Mushtaq, whose eight wickets in the innings came at a cost of 164, and despite a wobble in Faisalabad, they were never seriously in danger of defeat. Then, in Karachi, Mike Atherton responded to Inzamam and Yousuf’s twin hundreds with a ten-hour 125, spanning 430 balls at a tempo slower even than his great Johannesburg rearguard – an effort that the Telegraph correspondent Michael Henderson had described as “insufferable”. Its impact, however, soon became apparent as Pakistan – in what would these days be acknowledged as a “tricky third innings” – chose neither to stick nor twist in stumbling to 158 all out. England’s target, then, was 176 in 44 overs, a chase that Atherton himself ignited with a sprightly 26 from 33. Moin Khan, Pakistan’s captain, was unconcerned, knowing full well that the fast-setting winter sun would come to his aid if he slowed the game down. But umpire Steve Bucknor was having none of it, and – with England’s 12th man Matthew Hoggard dispatched to sightscreen duties – Thorpe donned his night-vision goggles to seal a famous win with an under-edged cut through fine leg, and with mere minutes of serviceable light to spare.Marcus Trescothick bats during his 180-run stand with Ian Bell in Multan•Getty Images2005-06 – Pakistan won 2-0
After the extraordinary highs of the 2005 Ashes, England crashed back to earth in a thoroughly dispiriting fashion in Pakistan, with a brace of defeats – one agonisingly close, the other crushingly complete – that epitomised the sudden dismantling of a fleetingly world-class team. Already lacking Simon Jones through injury, the loss of the captain Michael Vaughan to a knee injury was a further grievous blow, although one that his stand-in Marcus Trescothick seemed to have taken in his stride in leading from the front with a brilliant 193 in the first Test in Multan – sadly the mental toll of that effort would only become apparent in hindsight. In between whiles, Andrew Flintoff bowled supremely to drive England towards victory, only for Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria – in a classical Pakistani pace/legspin double act – to swipe the match by 22 runs in a breathless finish. Inzamam-ul-Haq’s twin hundreds in Faisalabad scotched England’s attempts at a fightback, and when Mohammad Yousuf racked up a career-best 223 in the third Test in Lahore, the end was meek and inevitable. Despite the heightened security surrounding the tour, England’s first post 9/11, there was little sign at that juncture that they would not be returning for another two decades.

Ricky Ponting did not hold back in his criticism of the hosts, whose major troubles in approach were exposed by a clinical India

Daniel Brettig28-Dec-2020One of the more under-rated elements of Australia’s’ rise to the top of world cricket in the 1990s was the contribution of Michael Slater as a tone-setting opener, unafraid to take pace bowlers on but still sound enough of technique to handle high-quality spells.He was successful in helping Australia break away from a more obdurate opening tradition – Lawry and Simpson, Boon and Marsh – and with the complementary approach of Mark Taylor, had Australia aiming for at least 300 runs in a day.In Australia, Warner has been the main reason opposition bowlers never feel able to drop into a rhythm•Getty ImagesOnce Slater faded from the scene, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer took things to another level with their left-handed hyper-aggression, bullying bowlers who would otherwise have felt in a most advantageous position when steaming in, fresh, with a new ball in hand. After their retirements, Shane Watson briefly played a similar role, and had fate been kinder, Phillip Hughes may well have done likewise.Since 2011, though, David Warner played this tone-setting role better than just about any of his forebears. In Australian conditions, Warner has been the single greatest factor in ensuring that bowlers never feel able to drop into a rhythm, while also easing a path for the middle-order batsmen behind him.Two years ago, when Warner and Steven Smith were banned for their Newlands transgressions, Australia’s batting tempo fell away noticeably against India, as a quality bowling attack was able to dictate terms in a way more or less unseen in Australia since the West Indies put clamps on scoring while harvesting regular wickets during their 1980s and 1990s dominance.Related

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An Australian scoring rate of just 2.64 for that series was the lowest for the hosts since 2000, and credit to detailed Indian plans and high-quality execution. This time around, it was widely thought that the returns of Smith and Warner would make it far harder for India to do a similar job – until Warner’s groin pinged in an SCG ODI and the whole balance shifted again.The outcome of Warner’s absence has been another sequence of frustration for the Australians, and a scoring rate of just 2.7 per over in the series so far, the second lowest, after 2018-19, since the year 2000. The ability to control the tempo of the game, hustling between the wickets as much as striking regular boundaries, has been almost entirely absent, underlining why Warner’s talent for top-order batting in Australia will be missed even more whenever he chooses to retire.”We know how good David’s been for a very, very long time, so it hurts having a guy out that averages nearly 50 in Test cricket obviously,” Matthew Wade said of Warner. “So we’ve done the best we can possibly do and will continue to do the same things when we’re asked it.Steven Smith is bowled as the ball just dislodges the leg bail•Getty Images”Hard to get going, they’re bowling pretty well, pretty straight, making it hard for us to score. Our intent’s to go out and score obviously as a batting group and individually, but they’re making it quite challenging at times. To be fair we haven’t gone deep enough yet to really cash in on tired bowlers late in the day, so we’ve only got ourselves to blame a little bit there, but they’ve been prettymuch on the mark from the start.”Australia’s second innings at the MCG, having started out 131 runs in arrears, was a neat case study in all the aforementioned struggles. In terms of setting the tone for the innings, the woefully out-of-touch Joe Burns and the amateur-opener-but-professional-pugilist Wade gave India plenty of hope from the start that they would be able to control proceedings.In Burns’ case, his increasingly fretful efforts simply to survive left almost all the initiative with the visitors, something that Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were able to run with even after Umesh Yadav was forced out of action. Wade, though he fought with plenty of grit, shaking off a blow to the helmet with crazy-brave resilience, was unable to turn the strike over or find the boundary with anything like the sort of regularity that would have placed pressure back on the Indian bowlers.In the meantime, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith continued to find things as tough as they have in Test cricket in the past two years. On every meaningful occasion in this series so far, they have entered the fray under pressure, and this has shown in their inability to find early boundaries or singles to build momentum.Both have been especially well-corralled in terms of their circuit-breaker deflections to the leg side, largely through the posting of square and backward-square legs in close proximity while the bowlers have pursued straight lines threatening the stumps, in between the occasional short ball. Labuschagne made a telling admission on the opening day of this match in terms of how he and Smith have had to hurriedly reconsider their plans in the face of such well-calibrated attacks.”Something that we’re realising very quickly is people are coming up with new ways, thinking about the game slightly differently,” Labuschagne said. “Obviously today, they came out with a heavy leg-side field and bowled very straight and didn’t give us any scoring options to the off-side. So for all our batters, you’ve just got to keep rolling with the punches, learning the game, understanding what they’re doing and take that innings to innings. I think that’s the key.”Given that Smith and Labuschagne are famously the most analytical, even obsessive, members of the Australian top six, the fortunes of others were hardly likely to be much better. In particular, the travails of Travis Head have raised plenty of questions about his Test-match longevity. While Head’s susceptibility to balls angled in from around the stumps is well known, he has also maintained a maddening tendency to mix periods of shotless occupation with a flurry of back-foot-forcing strokes that, on a seaming pitch such as this, offer the chance of an outside edge.When he skewed Siraj’s first ball of a spell into the slips, having failed to find a single boundary in his 46-ball stay, Head caused plenty of furrowed brows around the ground, a year on from a century against New Zealand that had seemed capable of being the making of him. The common denominator for all these Australian struggles was a lack of balanced tempo between attack and defence, with none of the middle-order batsmen able to change the momentum of the game from the halting rhythm set by Burns and Wade at the top.Ricky Ponting, as much an adjutant coach of the Australian side as he is an analyst and a commentator, did not hold back in his criticism of the hosts, nor in his focus on the fact that, without Warner, there were major tempo troubles in their approach.”You can’t blame the pitch. The pitch has been absolutely perfect today. It’s a little bit of spin, yes, but you’d expect that. Day three of a Test Match. Very little on offer for the fast bowlers, but it’s just been poor batting. Very, very poor batting so far,” Ponting said on Seven. “Once again, this Indian attack have made it so hard for the Australians to score. This is the 55th over, 6 for 110.”It’s been one of the reasons, I think, that they’ve eventually got themselves out, playing rash shots. They haven’t been able to tick the scoreboard over on a regular enough basis. Pressure builds. When pressure builds, bad shots come. I talked about it in first innings as well particularly with the way they played Ravi Ashwin. They weren’t proactive against him. Yes, it’s been good bowling, but sometimes against the best bowlers you have to take more risks as a batsman. For the sheer fact they’re not going to bowl bad balls.”The lesser skilled bowlers you can sit on all day because you know you’re going to one or two scoring opportunities an over, but Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja, even Siraj to a certain degree in this game, they don’t make many mistakes. They’ve actually forced the Australian batsman into making mistakes. When you’re just sitting there waiting for good bowlers to make mistakes, you’re basically are a sitting duck.”Warner, meanwhile, continued his rehab away from the main group, batting and running in the MCG nets. His value as an opening batsman had been felt by his absence two years ago. It has risen only further this time around as his contribution to the success of Labuschagne, Smith and company has now been made crystal clear.