Head coach believes that the swing-friendly conditions at the Hagley Oval will assist his seam attack in the final

Deivarayan Muthu09-Feb-2023Since taking charge of the Canterbury men’s team in 2020, Peter Fulton has coached them to Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy title victories, but the Super Smash trophy is the one that keeps getting away from him. Canterbury last won the 20-over competition in 2006, the inaugural edition of the tournament, when Fulton, Brendon McCullum, Chris Cairns and Craig McMillian were still active players.Fulton has since lost two 20-over finals as a player [in 2009 and 2012] and two more finals as Canterbury’s coach [in 2021 and 2022].Despite the absence of a number of senior players who were on tour with the New Zealand side in Pakistan and India, Canterbury have made it to their third successive Super Smash final. They will also be without the likes of Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Ish Sodhi, and Matt Henry for their home final on Saturday, but Fulton is hopeful that they can break the jinx this time.”I’ve played in a couple of losing finals since we won that first one back in 2005-06, I think it was,” Fulton recalls, speaking to ESPNcricinfo. “So, I’ve lost a couple as a player and I’ve lost two now as a coach. So, let’s hope the third time’s the charm.”I think it probably starts with the players, as it does with most cricket teams. You have to have good cricket players [to have such sustained success] and we’re lucky in Canterbury…on the last Black Caps tour of Pakistan and India, I think we had six Canterbury players. That’s a good start, but our T20 success this season has been while all those Black Caps have been away. So, we obviously have some good depth in Canterbury and some good young players coming through.”With Henry Shipley being called up to New Zealand’s tours of Pakistan and India, Matt Henry on the sidelines, and Will Williams ending his Canterbury career to join Lancashire in 2022, Canterbury’s pace stocks appeared particularly thin at the start of the season. But Zakary Foulkes, William O’Rourke and Angus McKenzie have emerged as unlikely match-winners, picking up 12 wickets each. Among seamers, only Otago’s pair of Michael Rae (16) and Matthew Bacon (13) has got more wickets than them in this Super Smash. Even Fulton is surprised by the rapid progress of his raw, inexperienced seam attack.”I think probably at the start of this T20 campaign, if I’d have been completely honest, I’d have said that we would struggle in the bowling department by virtue of those guys being very young and inexperienced,” Fulton says. “Zak Foulkes is only 20, Will O’Rourke only 21 and Angus McKenzie 23. A lot of inexperience there, but they’ve really progressed quickly. They’re fast learners and they’ve embraced the challenge of T20 cricket, which is not quite easy as a bowler. Sometimes, the ball disappears to all parts of the ground, but they’ve shown a lot of maturity and they’ve probably progressed a little bit quicker than I thought they might.Peter Fulton hopes to produce more players for New Zealand from Canterbury’s talent pool•Getty Images”I guess, as a coach, we knew that those [senior] guys would be away [in Pakistan and India] or very likely to be away. In our planning, we sort of identified guys who might be playing at this time of the season. But, as I said, you can plan for what might happen, but the players still have to take the opportunity themselves and they have to, I guess, step up and take some responsibility. The fact that Zak and Will O’Rourke have opened the bowling as young players… and they have also bowled at the death. And they’ve been outstanding, so that’s quite uncommon for young guys to do that. Like I said, you can have all the planning in the world, but the players have to go out and do the job themselves.”Fulton also believes that the swing-friendly conditions and the bigger boundaries at the Hagley Oval will work in the favour of his seam attack in the final.”Really looking to the home final,” Fulton says. “The last two times we played the final we lost and that was away. So, I hope the home advantage will be good for us. The boundaries are bigger, and the wicket generally has good pace and bounce, which will hopefully assist our bowlers. And the ball generally swings at Hagley. On the day, we got to play some good cricket.”Fulton: ‘Having a short memory is important in T20 cricket’
Canterbury’s progress to the final didn’t look as likely, especially when they started their home leg with three successive defeats. However, they overcame the early setbacks and pressed on to win five of their next six matches to storm into the final. Their thumping eight-wicket victory against Otago in Dunedin on Monday saw them leap from third to the top spot in the league phase.”I think having a short memory is really important in T20 cricket – whether you have success or maybe struggling a little bit as individuals or as a team,” Fulton says. “The game can change pretty quickly and we had three games in a row, where we lost, and we didn’t necessarily play great cricket. But in two of those games, we came up against an opposition that performed really well on the day. So, that can happen in T20 cricket and I guess it’s [about] encouraging the guys to go out and play each game like a new game and not to carry the baggage from potentially previous failures or previous losses.”Chad Bowes was part of the New Zealand A team that toured India in 2022•Manoj Bookanakere/KSCA Chad Bowes – a future New Zealand player? Opening batter Chad Bowes, 30, has been central to Canterbury’s success this season, rattling up 342 runs in ten innings at an average of 42.75 and strike rate of 156.88. A former South Africa Under-19 captain, Bowes has done his time at Canterbury and recently in 2022, he was even part of the New Zealand A team that had toured India.Fulton reckons that Bowes has the tools to be part of the senior team later this year for the home series against Sri Lanka in March-April, when a number of New Zealand’s first-choice players will be in India for IPL 2023.”Look, he’s been outstanding this season,” Fulton says of Bowes. “When you watch domestic cricket, you try to identify players who can play at the next level. Watching them play here, you look for that extra little bit of class or the extra little bit of time [to play shots]. He’s certainly got that and to be fair, he has always had that ability.”I think he’s been a bit more consistent this season, in terms of the scores he has been putting on the board. He’s really standing out amongst the other players at this level. So, the Black Caps have been away, but he has really stood out this season and at times shown that he’s a class above the other guys on display.”

Sam Curran says he was a “bit gutted” to be overlooked for a Test recall in the wake of Ben Stokes’ hamstring injury this summer, but hopes that a central role on England’s white-ball tour of the Caribbean will restate his credentials across formats.Despite being named Player of the Final and Tournament during England’s T20 World Cup triumph in Australia two years ago, Curran’s international career is at something of a crossroads at the age of 26 – both because he has lacked the role clarity in white-ball cricket that has been a feature of his success on the franchise circuit, but also because he senses he doesn’t quite “fit the mould” of what England are looking for now that Brendon McCullum has taken over as head coach in all formats.Curran struggled to make an impact in England’s disappointing T20 title defence in the Caribbean earlier this year, taking three wickets at 38.33 while batting for a total of 11 balls in five matches, and he hasn’t featured in the ODI format since December 2023, having been a fall-guy for England’s doomed World Cup campaign earlier that winter.In red-ball cricket, meanwhile, Curran’s most Test appearance came against India in August 2021, meaning he hasn’t featured in any of the 30 matches to date of McCullum’s England tenure. This is despite his uncanny knack of contributing to winning causes, with 16 victories in his 24 caps to date, including seven in a row from the start of his breakthrough summer, as a 20-year-old, also against India in 2018.Partly that is a consequence of Stokes’ status as England’s senior allrounder. But Curran also suspects that his physical limitations are not helping his cause. Though his left-arm line is a point of difference, his 5ft9in medium-pacers do not chime with the zeitgeist, as shown when Leicestershire’s 20-year-old left-armer, Josh Hull (6ft7in and high-80s pace) was called up for a surprise Test debut at Curran’s home ground, the Kia Oval, last month.”The way the teams are being set up now, guys are getting picked for certain skills and a bit out of the unknown,” Curran told talkSPORT. “As a county player, it’s an interesting one, because you’ve got to hope that you fit that mould right now. And if you don’t, you’ve just got to crack on and win games for your franchise and your counties, and just hope that that call comes.”There’s actually nothing you can do about it. If you fit what they’re looking for, you’re great. But if you don’t, it actually might not be an ability thing.”That sense that Curran’s face doesn’t currently fit was exacerbated by his omission for the recent Test series against Sri Lanka. When Stokes tore his hamstring during the Hundred in early August – an injury that has also kept him out of the ongoing first Test against Pakistan in Multan – Curran allowed himself to believe his chance for a Test recall had arrived.Curran got the better of Kohli, among others, during his breakthrough Test summer in 2018•Philip Brown/Getty Images

“I’ll be totally honest, when Stokesy got injured, I did probably think that was my way back into the Test team,” he said. “A couple of weeks back, I had a meeting with Keysy [Rob Key, director of cricket] just to get a bit of understanding of where the group is, and how I see myself getting back into the Test side.”Being a young player who experienced Test cricket so young, I feel like I had an advantage to know what it’s about, to know what winning a Test match is, and the grind and the grit and attitude that you need … so I was a little bit gutted. Selection is selection, but I thought that was my way back into the side at the minute.”They’ve got their own structure at the minute, and they’re picking the guys that fit that environment, and there’s a big thing going on at the minute about extra pace and stuff like that. And I guess for 12 months’ time, and the Ashes, these are the guys they want, so you can’t question it until the plan comes to an end.”For the time being, however, England’s eight-match tour of the Caribbean offers Curran an opportunity to take centre stage – not least because the timing of the tour, between the end of the Pakistan Test series and the start of the subsequent tour of New Zealand, may give him the chance to bat up the order in the absence of several multi-format stars.”At the Oval Invincibles and Surrey, and a couple of the franchise teams, I feel like my role has been pretty nailed on, whereas with England, there’s been myself, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone … Woakesy [Chris Woakes] as well, all these allrounders at 6, 7, 8 and 9, and it can be confusing.”Sometimes you take the new ball, and then [the selectors] go to four seamers, and you’re the one to lose out, so it’s a frustrating role. My strongest role in most teams is batting in the top six and bowling, but I love playing all sorts of roles.”My goal is always to try and get back into the England sides, and there’s only one way of doing that … scoring runs, taking wickets and winning games for England or the franchises. There’s no doubt I’d love to be on an Ashes tour or in a Champions Trophy victory. I’m someone who likes to prove a point, so fingers crossed the next couple of months go well.”

In-form captain has team-mates running out of superlatives and home crowd loving every moment

Andrew Miller14-Aug-20216:00

Root or KP – England’s greatest batsman?

We cannot keep asking more of our star players. That has been the message from the ECB high command in recent months – including on the eve of this Test, when Tom Harrison, the chief executive, insisted the board were committed to a “people first” policy, for the remainder of England’s summer campaign and, most significantly, on into this winter’s Ashes.”It’s no longer acceptable to go ‘once more unto the breach dear friends’,” Harrison said, with Covid restrictions foremost in his thoughts, but with England’s insane itinerary right up there at the top of everyone else’s. For despite such stirring rhetoric, there really is no other way. The reality for England’s cricketers, in the sport’s post-pandemic panic, is that every day is Groundhog Day, every next-biggest occasion ever is just another day on the treadmill.But just as Bill Murray discovered while hanging out in Punxsutawney, some days can still be better than others if you can find it within you to seize the moment. And when you’ve ploughed on for as long as Joe Root has, willing yourself to perform in empty echoing stadiums for months of bubbled-up existence, then to emerge into a sunlight Saturday of a Lord’s Test, in front of a packed and enraptured crowd, with your own family looking on from their box in the Grandstand … well, there couldn’t really be a more perfect stage for a masterpiece.Related

• Stats: Joe Root reaches 9000 Test runs as superb 2021 form continues

• Joe Root's flawless 180* helps England edge 27 ahead

• India refuse to go on the back foot thanks to Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah

Root has had plenty reason to wave his bat in triumph in the course of his extraordinary 2021. But few milestone moments have dripped with more glee than his jab into the covers off Jasprit Bumrah, armed with the second new ball on Saturday afternoon. He scampered the single then veered abruptly towards his family in the stands, punching the air with a delirium that only the most devout can know.For Root isn’t just going to the well for England, time and time again. He’s living in the well. He’s so immersed in the day-to-day pressures of carrying the fortunes of his team that he’s become at one with his surroundings, at peace with the pressure of treading water for hours at an end, knowing that if he dares to stop swimming, everyone is liable to sink. Today he soared, and it was glorious.”Joe and I, when we were walking out, we were just smiling at each other,” Jonny Bairstow said at the close, after an innings of 57 that ended up being less than a third of his captain’s tally, but is still, remarkably, the only other half-century to have come from one of his team-mates this series.”How good is it to walk out on a Saturday at Lord’s, with one of your best mates?” Bairstow added. “That’s exactly what it was. Our partnership was about having fun while we were out there, and to have a full crowd back at Lord’s, with the new stand, with family and friends, was really special. That Lord’s buzz, or hum, or however you want to phrase it, was most definitely back.”Mohammed Siraj congratulates Joe Root on his unbeaten 180•Getty ImagesMuch like James Anderson’s first-innings five-for, hindsight confers an inevitability on Root’s magnificence that circumstance really shouldn’t allow. It was a point put to him in the lead-up to this match – as he opted once again to do his captain’s media duties two days out from the Test, in a bid to cocoon his game-brain and filter out the noise for an extra 24 hours.”How are you Joe?” was the gist of the final question, almost as an afterthought at the end of a 20-minute interrogation, featuring topics including the return of Moeen Ali and the wider failings of a team that had been outplayed in each of their first three Tests of the summer, the longest they’d been made to wait for a home victory since their struggles against Sri Lanka and India back in 2014.He insisted he was fine – but then so too, you suspect, did Ben Stokes last month, when he fielded that SOS after the white-ball Covid outbreak, and broke off his recuperation to lead out a squad of reserves. Today, however, Root offered up the most ringing affirmative he could muster, an innings so serene it was as though the solitude of his supremacy had bought even his classically tailored game an extra yard of response time.Soft hands, calm choices, unhurried strokeplay – at least until his white-ball savvy surged to the fore as Anderson got peppered in the day’s frantic closing moments. He barely presented a straight bat through the V at any stage of his innings, relying instead on nudges off his legs for the balls that veered too straight, and needle-threading judgement on his favoured off-side, which made a mockery at times of Virat Kohli’s attempts to bung up his options with a trio of short covers and two slips to check his dab to third man.And in keeping with the need to think happy thoughts to haul England through this summer’s predicament, Root’s running between the wickets was able to step up an extra notch once he had linked up with sidekicks in whom he could fully trust – Bairstow in the first instance, but Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali too, a trio whose white-ball world-beating counts for more than perhaps it ought to in the cramped confines of this itinerary. In the end Bairstow was bested by the short ball – a method he cannot really plan for when ruling the roost in one-day cricket – while Buttler and Moeen made just 50 runs between them. But they between scratched out half-century stands, and gave Root the ballast he needed to drag the match towards parity.None of this is sustainable. It’s barely even credible – much as in 2018, when India’s 4-1 losing margin was a travesty, it beggars belief that they are not already 1-0 up from Trent Bridge, and pushing for a second. But like a high-wire act over Niagara Falls, Root’s progress is both utterly compelling, and so inexorable, you start to believe he might just get to the other side without looking down.

“I run out of superlatives, to be honest”Jonny Bairstow marvels at the feats of his captain

For his achievements in 2021 are already sensational. In the course of this innings, Root first skittered past Graham Gooch’s former England record of 8900 Test runs, then pushed on past 9000 too, and at a younger age than anyone bar the one Englishman ahead of him in the run-charts, Alastair Cook.By the time he’d run out of partners on 180 not out, Root’s tally for the year was close to double that of any other batter in world cricket – 1244 to Rohit Sharma’s mid-match tally of 669 – and while England’s overloaded itinerary is a contributory factor, the comparison with his peers is even more revealing.By the end of England’s innings, Root had scored almost four times as many runs in 2021 as his next most prolific team-mate, Rory Burns (353), and more runs than the rest of England’s top six in this match combined.He’s made five of their six centuries this year, including each of their four 150-plus scores, and is only one shy of England’s all-time record of six in a calendar year. And, as if further proof was needed of the burden he has carried for his side, in this match he even had to see off two hat-trick balls in the same innings. His first ball came in the wake of Haseeb Hameed’s golden duck on Friday; and his 277th came 152 runs later, as Ishant Sharma started a new over, fresh from delivering Sam Curran his own first-baller.”I run out of superlatives, to be honest,” Bairstow said at the close. “He means a heck of a lot [to the team], like he does to English cricket.”To go into second place in the leading run-scorers in the history of the English game is very special, to pass 9000 Test runs in this game is extremely special, to score another 180 not out at Lord’s is great, isn’t it, and to see him in the form that he is, playing the way he is, it’s awesome to be out there with him, putting on partnerships with him, and enjoying every single moment of it.”And as a consequence, he’s on the brink of his masterpiece now. A year to stand comparison with any of the greats that have gone before. Richards in 1976, Ponting in 2005… even the most prolific of them all, Mohammad Yousuf, whose 1788 runs in his annus mirablis in 2006 included nine centuries in 19 innings. That’s as many as Root himself has now played, but he’s still got 12 more scheduled before the New Year. As might have been mentioned once or twice, England’s itinerary really is something else.But more immediately, Root’s got the chance to prove a point about his contemporary credentials. The mutterings in recent seasons were that he had slipped out of the fabled “Fab Four” of modern batting – his century at Trent Bridge last week had been his first on home soil since India’s last tour in 2018, notwithstanding the fact that his role in England’s World Cup triumph had caused a wavering in his Test focus.But now it’s Kohli who’s feeling the heat for his own relative dip in standards. In consecutive series against England in 2016-17 and 2018, he amassed the small matter of 655 runs at 109.16, and 593 at 59.30. Likewise, Steve Smith racked up 687 runs at 137.40 in Australia’s 4-0 rout in their last home Ashes in 2017-18; then followed that up with 774 more at 110.57.Root, right at this moment, has 353 runs at 176.50, with potentially seven more innings to come. The same, in fact, as his next most prolific colleague for the entire year. It may not be fair to expect Root to keep giving more to the cause. But when you’re in a zone quite like this, who would ever wish it to end?

AC Milan have confirmed interest in Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund after he was dropped by manager Ruben Amorim for Sunday's clash with Arsenal.

Milan confirm interest in HojlundStriker dropped for Arsenal clashCould now be heading back to ItalyFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Hojlund appears to be surplus to requirements at Old Trafford after the Red Devils splashed out to sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig. Amorim then dropped Hojlund for his team's Premier League opener against Arsenal, suggesting he will have to move if he wants regular minutes in the 2025-26 season.

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Serie A giants AC Milan have been linked with a move for Hojlund, with the striker's father reportedly claiming his son is now open to a move to San Siro. Hojlund shone previously in Serie A with Atalanta, and Milan sporting director Igli Tare has admitted the Rossoneri are keen on the Denmark international.

WHAT AC MILAN SAID

Tare told Mediaset: "Højlund is a good option for us. We are thinking about him, but in the transfer market, you never know what could happen."

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Amorim also spoke about Hojlund after Sunday's defeat at Arsenal. He told reporters: "He is our player — we have to make choices. We have players that have to stay helping the team from the outside. He has to fight for his place. We will see what's going to happen. Rasmus has the same characteristics as Sesko, so sometimes we need to choose."

Tamim has not played an international game since September 2023 but now the selectors are hopeful he will make the trip to Pakistan next month

Mohammad Isam08-Jan-2025

Will Tamim Iqbal be back in the green and red of Bangladesh come the Champions Trophy?•Joe Allison/Getty Images

Bangladesh’s selectors are waiting for Tamim Iqbal to make up his mind about a possible comeback to international cricket ahead of the Champions Trophy next month. The deadline for announcing squads is January 12, and the BCB is willing to wait till the last minute to see if Tamim wants to play. Chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain led the talks with Tamim at the Fortune Barishal team hotel in Sylhet; Tamim is captaining the side in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).Tamim retired from international cricket in July 2023, before reversing his decision the next day after intervention from then Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Tamim had a falling out with then BCB president Nazmul Hassan. Both Hasina and Hassan left the country during the anti-government protests in mid-2024 which left several hundred protesters dead.Tamim gave up the captaincy during that run-in with the board in 2023 but returned to play two ODIs against New Zealand in September before the then selectors, led by Minhajul Abedin, dropped him for the 2023 World Cup. That was followed by then captain Shakib Al Hasan blasting Tamim in a televised interview.Tamim Iqbal has been a key cog for Fortune Barishal at the BPL•Fortune Barishal

Tamim has not played an international game since then but continued to play domestic cricket, including winning the 2024 BPL with the Barishal franchise and finishing as the Player of the Tournament. Tamim is currently defending that title in Sylhet, where the meeting with the national selectors took place.”We held a primary discussion with Tamim,” Gazi Ashraf Hossain said. “We have to announce the Champions Trophy team by January 12, so we have a bit of time. We want to let him take time, not be in a hurry to decide. We have spoken to him on behalf of the board. The player has to come to a decision after speaking to his family, friends and well-wishers. He is also in the middle of a tournament so he will need a bit of time.”We have four days left [before announcing the squad]. We have done our homework, so we know how things will shape up. We pay respect to a cricketer like Tamim Iqbal, so he can take his time before informing us. I think it’s fair enough. The board is fine with this, so everyone now has to be patient.”Gazi Ashraf said that ODI captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is in faour of Tamim’s return. “We are always speaking to the captain. He wasn’t however there when we spoke to Tamim. We have spoken to the captain separately about the squad. I think everyone wants Tamim back in the Bangladesh team.”Tamim also recently played in the National Cricket League T20s, where he was the top scorer for Chattogram Division.Gazi Ashraf said that showed Tamim is match fit, though he will have to take a call himself if he can make the step up to international cricket. “There’s a huge gap between domestic and international cricket. A player who is at a crucial juncture in his career, he has to consider a lot of things. I think it will be hasty for everyone to take a call in just one meeting, given that Tamim hasn’t been around international cricket for quite some time.”He is playing the BPL. He played in the NCL T20s. There’s no question about his ability. We are all waiting for his return to the Bangladesh team. He is most welcome from our side. You just have to wait. Let there be suspense.”

Everton supporters are starting to get excited ahead of the new season.

Star centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite signed a new five-year contract last week, which is great news for Evertonians everywhere.

Meantime, it is being widely reported that striker Thierno Barry travelled to Merseyside on Tuesday, ahead of finalising a £32.5m move from Villarreal.

Now, could David Moyes bolster his midfield options as well?

Everton targeting a new midfielder

Ahead of moving into their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, much of the positivity is rooted in Moyes, considering the Toffees won eight of 19 Premier League matches following his reappointment in January, including each of the last three.

The 62-year-old returned to the club 13 years after leaving for Manchester United, having enjoyed so much success during his first stint at Goodison.

2002/03

7th

59

2003/04

17th

39

2004/05

4th

61

UCL qualification

2005/06

11th

50

2006/07

6th

58

2007/08

5th

65

League Cup semi-finals

2008/09

5th

63

FA Cup Finalists

2009/10

8th

61

2010/11

7th

54

2011/12

7th

56

FA Cup semi-finals

2012/13

6th

63

As the table outlines, under Moyes, the Blues regularly finished in the top six of the Premier League, something they’ve not achieved for 11 years, and he enjoyed having countless top-class players at his disposal during this period.

One of the best players during Moyes’ later years at Goodison was Marouane Fellaini, more on the big Belgian shortly, so are Everton about to sign Moyes’ best midfielder since him?

Well, as reported by TEAMtalk, Everton have ‘made an enquiry’ to Juventus over the possibility of signing Douglas Luiz.

They add that the Brazilian ‘has been transfer-listed’ by la Vecchia Signora, with the Italian giants willing to sell him for half of the £43m fee paid to Aston Villa just 12 months ago, with Manchester United and Fulham also showing ‘strong interest’.

So, could Luiz swap Turin for Hill Dickinson Stadium?

How Douglas Luiz would improve Everton

The reason Luiz is on the market this summer is because, as described by Juventus legend Alessio Tacchinardi, the Brazilian’s transfer to I Bianconeri has been a “disaster”.

Since making the move from Villa, the 27-year-old has racked up just 877 minutes of action in a black and white striped shirt, starting just nine Serie A matches.

Before that though, brand strategy consultant Adam Gilks asserted that he was “one of the best sixes in the Premier League”, while Alex Keble of the Premier League added that he had become ‘the most important Villa player’ towards the end of his time in the Midlands.

So, let’s assess that assertion.

Minutes

2,993

41st

Goals

9

31st

Completed passes

1,800

23rd

Key passes

53

29th

Progressive passes

168

26th

Crosses

115

21st

Tackles

58

55th

Ball recoveries

184

27th

Fouls

51

10th

As the table outlines, during his final season at Aston Villa, Luiz ranked highly for most passing metrics, but also out of possession metrics too, namely ball recoveries, underlining his all-action style and hence, why Owen Hargreaves once described him as an “elite” defensive midfielder.

These statistics are certainly more impressive than those of any current Everton midfield options, namely Idrissa Gana Gueye, James Garner, Carlos Alcaraz or Tim Iroegbunam.

Thus, one would have to go back to Moyes’ first stint in charge to find an equally pivotal central midfield, and the star of the 2012/13 side was the aforementioned Fellaini.

After a sequence of impressive performances in 2010, Moyes asserted that “Marouane is probably the best midfielder in the country at the moment”.

Meantime, Barney Ronay of the Guardian outlined how Fellaini’s ‘sheer physical scale tended to generate a buzz’, but that he can be ‘unplayable’ at times, believing he remains one of the most unique players to ever grace the Premier League.

While, in terms of stature, demeanour and playing style, Luiz and Fellaini could hardly be much more different, but should the Brazilian arrive this summer, he would almost unquestionably be the best midfielder Moyes has worked with on Merseyside since the unmistakable Belgian.

Doucoure upgrade: Everton hold talks to sign 'one of the world's best CMs'

Everton are looking to sign a former Premier League midfielder

ByRoss Kilvington Jul 7, 2025

The batter has been with RCB since 2021, and has grown into one of their key players

Ashish Pant13-Feb-202511:44

Will RCB captaincy affect Patidar’s batting?

Rajat Patidar has been appointed captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025, which begins around March 21. The development was contrary to wide speculation that Virat Kohli would lead RCB again after they did not retain Faf du Plessis, their captain from 2022 to 2024, before the mega auction.RCB made the announcement in Bengaluru on Thursday at an event attended by team director Mo Bobat, head coach Andy Flower, and Patidar. He is the eighth captain for RCB and has played three seasons for the franchise since joining them in 2021 and has grown into one of their key batters, scoring 799 runs in 28 matches at a strike rate of 158.85.”I could speak for quite a long time about Rajat, but I’ve settled on three main things that I thought might be interesting to share,” Flower said. “The first one is there’s a calmness and a simplicity to Rajat that I think will stand him in really good stead as a leader and a captain, particularly in the IPL. As we know, the IPL is one of the premier competitions in the world and there’s pressures involved in that, and I think the calm, simple demeanour that inherently lives within Rajat is going to serve him really well in the hurly-burly of that tournament.Related

• For RCB, Rajat Patidar might be just what the doctor ordered

• Mo Bobat: 'Virat doesn't need a captaincy title to lead'

• Samson expected to be fit in time for IPL 2025

• Pant unveiled as LSG captain, says he will give '200%'

• IPL begins March 21 weekend; WPL to start from February 7

“And his decision-making will be tested like all of ours is. But I think these qualities will stand him in really good stead. We watched Rajat very closely as he captained Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and we really liked what we saw around those qualities.”The second thing I’d say about him, he’s inherently quite a quiet guy, but observing him, he cares about the people around him, he cares about the people that he plays with, that he shares a dressing room with. And I think that’s a quality that means that he will instantly have the respect and care from other people. As a leader, those qualities are important. In that people will follow you and get behind you.”And then the third thing that stands out for me about him is that he’s got a stubbornness and a strength and a steeliness about him. I’ve seen it myself when I’m trying to coach him in the nets and he won’t listen to me, but you see it in the way that he plays. You see the bravery with which he takes on the game and I think that quality within him will be really important for him through the ups and downs, the inevitable ups and downs that come along with playing in the IPL, and now stepping up another gear into leading a big franchise in the IPL.”Bobat confirmed that Kohli was an option the team management had thought about.”With our retentions, it’s probably worth noting that we obviously retained three players, three Indians, and of those three, it’s worth saying that both Virat and Rajat were obviously credible captaincy options for us going into the auction,” he said. “And then at the auction itself, we spent quite a lot of time thinking about leadership characteristics. We didn’t necessarily want to go into the auction and have our heart set on a captain because we felt that was quite a dangerous approach and then you end up probably overvaluing somebody potentially.”Rajat Patidar has been a part of RCB for the past three IPL seasons•AFP/Getty Images

In a video released by RCB, Kohli congratulated Patidar on the appointment, emphasising that he has earned the right to be in this position.”The way you have grown in this franchise and the way you have performed, you have really made a place in the hearts of all the fans of RCB all over India and they get really excited to watch you play,” Kohli said. “I’ve seen Rajat evolve in the last couple of years as a player. He has got the chance to play for India. His game has improved many levels in the last couple of years.”The way he has led his state team as well and the responsibility that he’s taken and has shown everyone that he has what it takes to lead this amazing franchise and I just wish him all the very best and I would request all the fans to show him absolute support, get right behind him and know that he will always and always do what’s best for the team, what’s best for this franchise.”Discussions within the group confirmed to the coaches that Patidar was the right choice, Bobat said.”We spent some time discussing things with the likes of DK [Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach], who’s obviously a really important part of our management team now. [We] had multiple conversations with Virat, even had some discussions with Rajat and I say discussions, they probably felt a little bit more like interviews for Rajat. But Andy and I spent some time talking to Rajat about his captaincy aspirations and what struck us was that he was very determined and ambitious about leadership and captaincy and he really wanted to do this and that was really important for us to understand and feel.”Bobat also said that they wanted an Indian captain to lead RCB this time around.”Andy and I felt quite blessed that we had quite a few to choose from,” he said. “Whether we went Indian or overseas was an important discussion point for us. We felt quite strongly that an Indian captain was preferable.”That’s nothing against any overseas options, but we were really keen on an Indian option primarily because it’s an Indian competition on Indian pitches against predominantly Indian players. So somebody who’s got that local knowledge and insight is really, really helpful for us.”While this will be 31-year-old Patidar’s first captaincy stint in the IPL, he has captained MP in the 2024-25 season of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (where they finished runners-up) and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. Those tournaments were his first full-time assignments as captain in domestic cricket.”I had a conversation with Mo last year,” Patidar said. “I told him before getting the captaincy of RCB, I want to captain a state team. When they told me about this, that it could be between Virat and Rajat, I was happy. I can’t express my reaction.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“I really feel good right now. If I talk about my way of captaincy, I’m not that much expressive, but at the same time, I’m aware of the situation of the matches. So I think for me it’s important to back my players and stand with them and give the sort of involvement where they feel relaxed and confident. So yeah, I’m lucky that I am surrounded by one of the best people in the team and we have a group of leaders as well where their experience and ideas will definitely help in my new leadership role and growth as an individual also.”Patidar was the second-highest run-scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 428 runs in nine innings at an average of 61.14 and strike rate of 186.08. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he made 226 runs at an average of 56.50 and strike rate of 107.10.RCB have not won the IPL title yet, though they have been finalists three times, the last of which was in 2016. They have made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, including in 2024, when they won their last six league matches to get into the top four but then lost the Eliminator.With RCB appointing Patidar, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) are the only teams yet to name their captains for the upcoming season. Shreyas Iyer, KKR’s captain last year, will lead Punjab Kings (PBKS) this year, while the former DC captain Rishabh Pant is now leading Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Endrick has pointed to Vinicius Junior's success as a reason to stay at Real Madrid despite pressure from the club and his Brazil coach to go on loan.

• Endrick wants to stay at Madrid and not move on loan
• Cites Vini Jr and Rodrygo as inspiration to stay
• Injured striker pressured to accept a temporary move

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• WHAT HAPPENED?

  According to , Endrick has insisted to Madrid that he wants to stay, inspired by the success of Vinicius, Rodrygo, and Arda Guler, who broke through at the club without leaving on loan. His entourage, also pointed to the struggles of Reinier and Luka Jovic during their loan spells and chose to go against the advice of former Madrid and current Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti, who urged him to seek regular playing time.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Endrick saw limited action last season, clocking just 847 minutes, mostly in the Copa del Rey, as he fell behind Kylian Mbappe in the pecking order. With Gonzalo Garcia impressing at the Club World Cup, Real Madrid have opted to retain the Spanish striker. Playing time will again be scarce for Endrick under new coach Xabi Alonso and while Madrid would prefer to send him out for a season, he is willing to wait it out.

• ENDIRCK'S INJURY SITUATION

  Endrick relapsed on his recovery from the hamstring injury he sustained last season. This latest setback has ensured the 19-year-old will be out of action until the end of September.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR ENDRICK ?

  Endrick will hope for a smooth recovery from his injury so that he can get back into the team as soon as possible.

Your ready reckoner for the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals, to be played in Pune, Nagpur, Kolkata and Rajkot from Saturday

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2025

Shardul Thakur has been phenomenal for Mumbai with bat and ball•PTI

FixturesJammu & Kashmir vs Kerala in Pune, from 9.30am IST
Vidarbha vs Tamil Nadu in Nagpur, from 9.30am IST
Haryana vs Mumbai in Kolkata, from 9am IST
Saurashtra vs Gujarat in Rajkot, from 9.30am ISTJammu & Kashmir vs KeralaHow they got here: J&K topped Elite Group A with five wins in seven games, including one over Mumbai, the 42-time and defending champions. Kerala, meanwhile, finished second behind Haryana – by just a point, but a vastly superior net run-rate – in Elite Group C.Top performers
J&K
Shubham Khajuria – 663 runs in 12 innings at an average of 55.25 with a top score of 255
Auqib Nabi – 38 wickets in 13 innings at an average of 13.44 with a best of 6 for 54Kerala
Salman Nizar – 399 runs in eight innings at an average of 66.50 with a top score of 150
Jalaj Saxena – 33 wickets in 11 innings at an average of 14.81 with a best of 6 for 41Keep an eye on… The three J&K quicks, Auqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh and Umar NazirRelated

J&K look at new frontiers, with a bit of luck and a lot of planning

How Saurashtra rewired their game to turn their season around

Vidarbha vs Tamil NaduHow they got here: Vidarbha was the standout team in the group stage, scoring 40 points – five clear of the next best, J&K – with six wins in seven games in Elite Group B. The one that got away was Gujarat, but that too could have gone their way with a bit more time. Tamil Nadu have the bonus points system to thank for their place in the knockouts. They won three of their seven games in Elite Group D, the same as group-toppers Saurashtra, but third-placed Chandigarh actually won four games. That said, Tamil Nadu lost just one game, while Chandigarh lost three.Top performers
Vidarbha
Yash Rathod – 603 runs in 12 innings at an average of 50.25 with a top score of 135
Akshay Wadkar – 556 runs in 12 innings at an average of 55.60 with a top score of 139
Harsh Dubey – 55 wickets in 14 innings at an average of 14.50 with a best of 6 for 36 (he is the top wicket-taker in the competition so far, 17 ahead of second-placed Nabi)Tamil Nadu
N Jagadeesan – 634 runs in 11 innings at an average of 63.40 with a top score of 118 not out
C Andre Siddarth – 532 runs in ten innings at an average of 76.00 with a top score of 106
Vijay Shankar – 449 runs in nine innings at an average of 64.14 with a top score of 150 not out
S Ajith Ram – 31 wickets in nine innings at an average of 17.12 with a best of 5 for 34Keep an eye on… The batters from either side – there’s a lot of firepower there – and Dubey, the 22-year-old left-arm spinner is clearly special. Not to forget Karun Nair, who has had a sensational List A season with Vidarbha and hasn’t been too shabby in the Ranji Trophy either.Haryana vs MumbaiHow they got here: Haryana did just about enough to top Elite Group C, with 29 points to second-placed Kerala’s 28, both teams winning three and drawing four. Mumbai, for a while, looked like they might not make the knockouts, but they had a party against Meghalaya in their final game, winning by an innings and 456 runs, to get past Baroda, who lost their last game to J&K.Top performers
Haryana
Himanshu Rana – 424 runs from 11 innings at an average of 42.40 with a top score of 114
Ankit Kumar – 427 runs from 12 innings at an average of 38.81 with a top score of 118
Anshul Kamboj – 29 wickets in ten innings at an average of 11.75 with a best of 10 for 49Mumbai
Siddhesh Lad – 518 runs from eight innings at an average of 86.33 with a top score of 169 not out
Ayush Mhatre – 413 runs from ten innings at an average of 41.30 with a top score of 176; Shardul Thakur – 381 runs from eight innings at an average of 47.62 with a top score of 119 and 24 wickets in 14 innings at an average of 23.95 with a best of 4 for 43
Shams Mulani – 34 wickets in 14 innings at an average of 23.00 with a best of 6 for 115Keep an eye on… Shardul Thakur – he could well be in the fray when India play Test cricket next, in England in JuneSaurashtra vs GujaratHow they got here: Saurashtra topped Elite Group D narrowly after the top three – Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh – were tied on points, while Gujarat finished a distant second to Vidarbha in Elite Group B after winning four and drawing three.Top performers
Saurashtra
Harvik Desai – 511 runs in ten innings at an average of 56.77 with a top score of 155
Chirag Jani – 486 runs in ten innings at an average of 54.00 with a top score of 198
Dharmendrasinh Jadeja – 35 wickets in 12 innings at an average of 20.40 with a best of 6 for 51Gujarat
Manan Hingrajia – 487 runs in 11 innings at an average of 44.27 with a top score of 181
Siddharth Desai – 33 wickets in 12 innings at an average of 23.06 with a best of 9. For 36Keep an eye on… If Cheteshwar Pujara is playing, it has to be him. But there’s a lot talent scattered across these two line-ups demanding attentionHow to followAll the four games are going to be streamed on JioCinema. You can get all the latest updates on ESPNcricinfo as usual, too. But if you are in Pune, Nagpur, Kolkata or Rajkot, why not hop across and watch it live, at least over the weekend?

When Arne Slot spoke in his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United, it was pretty sobering for the head coach to suggest that the focus is on securing a place in next year’s Champions League proper, and not battling to defend their hard-won Premier League title.

Slot’s right, of course, with Liverpool so far removed from last year’s indomitable success that talk of mounting a challenge against high-flying Arsenal would be scoffed at by even the most ardent supporters.

Among Liverpool’s biggest problems this season has been a struggle in the build-up, especially on the right side. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s absence is keenly felt, and sporting director Richard Hughes is looking to replace the former vice-captain’s creativity.

Liverpool looking to replace Alexander-Arnold

Liverpool have technically replaced Alexander-Arnold already, signing Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5m this summer. However, neither Frimpong or Conor Bradley boast the same playmaking ability as the 27-year-old, who plies his craft for Real Madrid after leaving Anfield at the end of his contract in June.

The £116m signing of Florian Wirtz was meant to help the passing of the creative torch, but Wirtz’s struggles have been well-documented this season, and, as analyst Raj Chohan puts it, “the build-up combination is horrible” on Liverpool’s right-hand side this season.

Those around him know Wirtz has world-class potential in the Premier League and could become a superstar playmaker, a poster boy. However, he doesn’t really operate down the right lane, and this is where Slot and Hughes need to fix Liverpool’s progressive passing.

Perhaps that’s why FSG are showing an interest in signing Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise, having shortlisted the France international this week, according to German outlet BILD.

Olise, 23, has only gone from strength to strength since swapping Crystal Palace for the Allianz Arena in 2024, and if Liverpool want to secure his signature, ostensibly as Mohamed Salah’s long-term replacement, they will need to pay over £100m.

BILD believe that Liverpool have placed Olise back onto their shortlist despite Bayern’s not-for-sale stance.

What Olise would bring to Liverpool

Alexander-Arnold’s influence at Liverpool cannot be understated. Quite simply, he is a one-of-a-kind type of player, and his departure to Santiago Bernabeu was always going to be more than just a blow to the Anfield side’s pride.

1

Trent Alexander-Arnold

64

2

Andy Robertson

60

3

Leighton Baines

53

4

Graeme Le Saux

44

5

Kieran Trippier

38

Olise might not be a right-back, but he would prove the perfect Salah replacement at right wing in that he would not try to mimic the Egyptian’s clinical output, and instead bring his own flavour to Merseyside.

At Bayern, the former Palace star has posted 29 goals and 34 assists across 76 matches. He is regarded as “one of the best players in the world” by teammate Serge Gnabry.

Physical and athletic, Olise is also near matchless when it comes to creating for his peers, setting up passing patterns and adding pressure in the final third with unplayable passing.

As per FBref, he ranks among the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists and shot-creating actions, the top 4% for progressive passes, the top 12% for progressive carries and the top 5% for successful take-ons per 90.

That is not to say he’s a one-trick pony, with fearsome ball-striking qualities that the Premier League’s many defenders and goalkeepers know only too well.

He has proven himself to be a superstar in the English game, and since levelling up in Germany, Olise has fostered the playmaking brilliance that would see him reinvent Slot’s right flank and rekindle the presence of Trent at Anfield.

Huge Gakpo upgrade: £70m "superstar" now keen to join Liverpool in January

Arne Slot’s Liverpool frontline is not quite right this season.

1 ByAngus Sinclair 6 days ago