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According to transfer insider Dean Jones, Wolverhampton Wanderers are ‘definitely looking’ at potential moves for duo Haris Seferovic and Goncalo Inacio.

The Lowdown: Inacio signing a possibility

According to Portuguese outlet A Bola, Bruno Lage recently met with Seferovic to discuss the possibility of signing a deal at Molineux, but it appears as though it’s actually Inacio who could join the Wanderers as early as next week.

In an article published by The Mirror, it’s reported that the Midlands outfit are now ‘closing in’ on the 20-year-old, with the source stating that the defender is keen for the move to happen and that both parties are expected to soon meet to arrange details.

The centre-back remains under contract at the Jose Alvalade until 2026, but has a £39m buyout clause included as part of his deal at Sporting CP, allowing potential suitors to take him off their hands earlier than anticipated.

The Latest: Jones confirms Wolves interest

Jones confirmed that Wolves are currently ‘looking’ at both Inacio and Seferovic, but believes that it’s the Portugal U21 starlet who the club could swoop for ‘this week’. He told GiveMeSport:

“They are definitely looking at them. And I think Inacio is one to perhaps even look out for this week.

“They’re trying to get a better idea of whether they can make a breakthrough and get this signing done. If not, they want to move on quite quickly from it.”

The Verdict: Positive impact at both ends

If Lage was able to get the signing of Inacio over the line, he would be a fantastic addition to the defensive backline, where he’s proven to be so solid in Lisbon.

This season, the 6 foot 1 colossus, who was once hailed a “quality” player by former Sporting manager Jose Lima, made 28 appearances in Liga Portugal, recording six goal contributions whilst averaging 2.4 clearances and 1.4 tackles per game, via WhoScored, showing his ability to make a positive impact at opposite ends of the pitch.

Whether Wolves will be able to fend off interest from Manchester United remains to be seen, but his potential arrival at Molineux could come as a huge advantage for the club as they look to regain a place in Europe next term.

In other news… Wolves have offered a 22 y/o ace a new contract in a bid to keep him at the club.

Liverpool will need to ramp up their interest in signing a forward this summer as reports have emerged that Sadio Mane is set to leave this summer, and now a new update has emerged on a potential transfer target.

What’s the latest?

According to Daily Express, Liverpool’s recruitment team have already identified a transfer target in Arnaut Danjuma to potentially replace Sadio Mane and could make a £38.3m bid.

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As per the report, the powers at Anfield are already preparing for the potential departure of the Senegalese winger and the Villarreal player is seen as the perfect candidate for the role to replace him and is someone the club has done extensive research on.

Sadio Mane heir

When it comes to replacing a player like Mane who has had a huge impact and influence on Liverpool’s success over the last six years, it will be a difficult task and one that the club won’t take lightly as they intend to continue to compete for trophies at the highest level.

Jurgen Klopp has had no trouble seamlessly fitting in new players when it comes to adapting and adding strength to his team with Ibrahim Konate and Luis Diaz making a positive impact on the side since their arrival this season, so whoever was to replace Mane in the long term would also need to live up to his high-quality output.

Danjuma has gone from strength to strength with Villarreal. This season he has been a consistent and reliable player for the La Liga club following their Europe League win the season before.

The 25-year-old who was hailed “exceptional” by Jonathan Woodgate, has scored 16 goals and contributed four assists, with six of his strikes making a huge influence on Villarreal’s Champions League campaign.

The Spanish side reached their first semi-final in the prestigious European competition in 16 years with Danjuma scoring against Atlanta three times, as well as finding the back of net against BSC Young Boys, Juventus and netting the winning goal in the first leg of the quarter-final against Bayern Munich.

The Dutchman was dubbed a “nightmare” by pundit Kevin Phillips in an interview with Football Insider, telling the publication:

“On his day he is a nightmare for defenders. He can create and score goals. He can hurt any defence with his pace and directness.”

With that being said, it is no wonder that Liverpool have identified the player as a potential replacement for Mane when you consider the attacking threat he has imposed on opponents this season and the signing would be something worth considering if the Senegalese star does leave Anfield this summer.

AND in other news: FSG could unearth Liverpool’s next Salah by signing “special” 131-goal star

Rumoured Liverpool transfer target Aurelien Tchouameni is unlikely to move to Real Madrid until 2023, acting as a potential boost for the Reds in their pursuit of the player.

The Lowdown: Tchouameni interest hotting up

The 22-year-old is one of Europe’s hottest properties at the moment, having caught the eye with a string of excellent performances for Monaco this season.

Tchouameni, who is adept in either a number 6 or number 8 midfield role, has started 31 matches in Ligue 1 in 2021/22, winning 2.3 aerial duels per game in the French top flight.

Liverpool have been strongly linked with signing the youngster, but they aren’t alone in expressing an interest.

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The Latest: Liverpool given Tchouameni boost

According to Marca reporter Jose Felix Diaz [via Madrid Zone on Twitter], Real Madrid prefer to wait until next year to sign the Frenchman, telling him as much.

That has been declared unlikely to happen, though, with Monaco ready to sell Tchouameni to the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain well before then.

The Verdict: Sign him soon

This is an undoubted boost for Liverpool, with one of Tchouameni’s main suitors seemingly ruling themselves out of contention this summer, so they must move quickly to ensure that they capitalise on Real Madrid’s dithering.

The lure of joining such an exciting group of players at Anfield must surely appeals to the Monaco gem, along with the small matter of playing under an iconic manager in Jurgen Klopp.

It certainly feels as though Liverpool are in pole position to snap up a massive prospect – he has been hailed as the ‘best’ midfielder in Ligue 1 by his former manager Niko Kovac – and he is someone who could hopefully be a monstrous presence in the Reds’ midfield for many years to come.

In other news, James Pearce has dropped some key Liverpool team news before Villa. Read more here.

The New Zealand captain improvised to hit the previously un-hittable fast bowler for three consecutive boundaries

Karthik Krishnaswamy29-Jan-2020Four overs to go, 43 to get, six wickets in hand. These are situations that usually favour the batting team, but things are a little different when Jasprit Bumrah has the ball.The first ball of the 17th over, Bumrah’s third, is a case in point. It’s the ball that has troubled New Zealand throughout the series – the wide, dipping slower ball that batsmen seem to pick up a fraction late from his whirling-limbs action. Tim Seifert looked to hit one of these over the covers in the first T20I, and ended up dragging a catch to long-on, reaching for the ball and losing his shape completely.Kane Williamson is on strike, on 71, and even he doesn’t pick it up properly. He goes for a big off-side whack, and fails to connect.The next ball is another slower one, but fuller. Williamson doesn’t really time his lofted drive. He slices it closer to deep cover point than he perhaps intends, and if he’d hit it a few inches higher, a few inches closer to the fielder, who dives desperately to his right… well, he hits it where he hits it and it streaks away for a lucky boundary.Two balls, four runs, moral victory to the bowler, but those don’t count for anything. New Zealand now need 39 from 22.Williamson’s innings has already contained a number of brilliant hits. In the 16th over, he had lofted Shardul Thakur for an effortless six over long-off, inside-out, after skating away from the line of the ball. If that ball, landing right in his hitting arc, was a bit of a gift in terms of its length, Williamson’s two previous sixes had required a lot more work on his part.These came off Ravindra Jadeja in the 15th over. First, he got a wide-ish delivery outside off stump, on a more-or-less typical Jadeja length and at a more-or-less typical Jadeja pace. Williamson hit it back over the bowler’s head for six. The length wasn’t full enough for the regulation lofted drive, so he ended up playing something like a straight slog-sweep. He stretched his front foot an unusually long way forward, and planted it to the leg side of the ball, to ensure he was close to its pitch while still having enough room to swing his bat through a powerful arc.Getting near the pitch of the ball was vitally important on this Seddon Park surface, where the ball was gripping and turning considerably. Jadeja, when he bowled that ball, must have been pretty confident Williamson wouldn’t be able to.With that one massive stride, Williamson did two things. He hit that ball for six, and he messed with Jadeja’s mind. If a batsman can get that far forward – Williamson had done it earlier too, to slog-sweep Yuzvendra Chahal, so this wasn’t a one-off – a bowler’s natural response is to look to bowl a little shorter, which is what Jadeja did. It wasn’t a genuinely short ball – it was back of a length, and sliding into the stumps with the angle, but Williamson expected it, rocked back in a flash, and pulled it for six more.Thanks to shots of that nature, Williamson was scoring at an absurd rate on a pitch that wasn’t straightforward to bat on. He scored 26 off 15 balls when Mitchell Santner made 9 off 11 at the other end. He clattered 44 off 20 when Colin de Grandhomme plodded to 5 off 12.Those two Bumrah deliveries, then, infuse proceedings with a bit of tension. What’s he going to do next? How will Williamson respond?The third ball of Bumrah’s over is one of the defining balls of the match. Williamson takes a back-and-across step just as Bumrah delivers it, so his back foot is outside the line of off stump at release. The ball is on a length, at full pace, angled in but directed at a fourth- or fifth-stump line, and Williamson, with his step across the stumps, is able to hoick it over the leg side, into the big gap between deep backward square leg and deep midwicket.Getty ImagesOn TV, Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand coach, suggests this step across the stumps is pre-planned. New Zealand, he surmises, have sussed out that Bumrah has bowled most of his full-pace balls at the stumps or just outside off, and his slower balls on a wider line. By getting closer to the line, Williamson should be able to hit the slower balls with more power, and use Bumrah’s natural angle to hit the quicker ones into the leg side.At his post-match press conference, Williamson denies – or refuses to disclose – that any such plans were in place. “I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe ask like AB [de Villiers] or some of these guys that are superstars that might have some bits of gold for you. For me, it was trying to look for areas in the moment on that surface.”The leg-side boundary, from the end Bumrah is bowling, is significantly shorter than the opposite square boundary, so that may well have been the simpler explanation.Either way, Williamson’s movements have got into Bumrah’s head now. In what might be (remember, this is all conjecture) an effort to surprise Williamson and serve up something he may not have planned for, he goes for the wider line again, but at pace. Maybe he’s looking for the wide yorker. If that’s the case, he misses his length, and doesn’t bowl it full enough, and Williamson hits it over cover. Four more.Williamson has hit the previously un-hittable Bumrah for 4, 4, 4, and New Zealand need 31 from 20.Kane Williamson blasted 95 off 48 balls•Getty ImagesThe feeling that New Zealand have a plan against Bumrah resurfaces in his next over, when Ross Taylor mimics Williamson’s movement across his stumps, picks up a length ball from just outside off stump, and wallops it to the square leg boundary.Then Williamson gets on strike again, and plays what could well be the shot of his innings. Bumrah has sent fine leg back, and this perhaps tells Williamson that his line is going to be straighter. He shuffles across anyway, and meets a middle-stump yorker with an impudent flick. If he misses, he’s bowled. He middles it, and the fielder at fine leg, sprinting desperately and flinging himself to his right, can’t cut off the boundary.New Zealand need 11 off 8 now, and it becomes 9 off 6, and 3 off 5, and 2 off 4, before… You know what happens next, but that is immaterial, or should be, when you evaluate Williamson’s innings. He’s scored 95 off 48 balls and, in his time at the crease, the batsmen at the other end, plus extras, have made 36 off 35. When he’s dismissed, he leaves New Zealand two runs to get off three balls. Whichever way the result may have eventually gone, that’s the definition of a match-winning innings.

Learie Constantine’s influence on life and cricket in the West Indies and in his adopted home, England, went far beyond his deeds on the field

Alan Gardner09-Sep-2017West Indian cricket has probably long grown tired of being reminded of its glorious past, which is why the current team’s famous win at Headingley this year was such a tonic to players and followers alike. From having their fitness for Test cricket questioned they were suddenly conquering heroes, able to travel to Lord’s for what few expected to be a series decider, in the hope of making some more history of their own.It is 67 years since those “two little pals” of Lord Beginner, Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine, spun West Indies to their first victory in England on the same ground; 22 years before that, they made their Test bow, also at Lord’s, only to be beaten by an innings. Those early tours more closely resembled West Indies’ recent fortunes in England – where they did not win a Test between 2000 and 2017 – but the struggle for recognition was more profound. Three heavy defeats in 1928 left to question whether they had been elevated to Test status too soon.What was not in dispute was the talent of one man: Learie Constantine. His Test record as an allrounder may seem unspectacular, with 58 wickets at 30.10 and a batting average below 20, but in other respects he was a colossus. An important figure in the fight for West Indian self-rule, he helped break down some of the racial barriers that affected life for black people in Britain, his adopted home, during the middle of the 20th century, and went on to receive a knighthood and serve at a different Lords – the House of Lords – as the first black peer. That’s without touching on his time as a legend of the Lancashire League.Constantine – or “Connie”, as he was affectionately known – was a T20 hitter before the idea was conceived, as well as a formidable fast bowler and extrovert fielder, perhaps second only to Bradman as one of the sensations of the age. But he was pragmatic about how cricket could help him advance in life, using his natural ability and showman’s skills on that 1928 tour to win a contract as a professional with Nelson, a small town in Lancashire where he spent nine English summers during the prime of his career, becoming one of the highest-paid sportsmen in Britain.It is when charting Constantine’s time in this northern cloth-manufacturing community that Harry Pearson’s new biography of the man really comes to life. When Constantine arrived, he became a local hero – there is now a blue plaque commemorating the house where he lived – and star attraction in Lancashire cricket, drawing record crowds to Nelson’s Seedhill ground and on trips to rivals such as Bacup, Rawtenstall and Colne. (More than 50 years later, Viv Richards would briefly tread a similar path with Rishton.)If it seems strange that a player of Constantine’s ability would choose to commit himself to club cricket (albeit as a professional), sometimes at the expense of representing his country, it is important to remember the context of being a black West Indian in the 1920s and ’30s. As Pearson writes: “The West Indies was a divided society, and white people ruled it.”Players were often selected for the national team on the basis of which island was hosting a touring side, and the captain was by default always a white man – though Constantine stepped in to help guide West Indies to a series-sealing victory in Jamaica on England’s 1934-35 tour, when Jackie Grant went off injured. Perhaps ironically, it was in the tight-knit, white working-class environment of Nelson that Constantine could leave such indignities behind. “It was a little world all to itself, drawing strength from its parochialism. Here, Connie noted approvingly, ‘a cricketer is just a cricketer and nothing else’.”Little, BrownIncidentally the Lancashire League – and equivalents such as the Bradford League, where Constantine ended his professional career – seems to have been a sort of proto-IPL (without the cheerleaders and global TV audience), attracting the likes of SF Barnes, Hedley Verity, Ted McDonald, George Headley and Lala Amarnath for what could be highly lucrative stints well away from the world of Test cricket. Things change, things stay the same.Constantine was a man of strong principles (he held an eight-year grudge against Wally Hammond for a perceived snub on England’s 1925 visit), though his demeanour could sometimes be taken for arrogance and he struggled to adapt to life back in Trinidad after going into politics. He was, as CLR James noted in , a beacon for West Indian cricketers in their fight for recognition, but his most significant legacy may have been as an advocate of Caribbean independence, as well as in improving race relations in the UK. “The country we live in would be a much diminished place had he stayed in Trinidad,” writes Pearson.There are times when slips into rather mundane Test match reportage, and it is a shame that Pearson – a noted humourist – appears somewhat constrained in his writing about a historical figure of such gravity. But this is an excellently researched and sensitively handled account of Constantine’s life and impact beyond the game. He was “a ‘Champagne cocktail’ cricketer – effervescent but with a kick” and half a century on, his story has lost none of its fizz.Connie: The marvellous life of Learie Constantine
By Harry Pearson
Little, Brown
£20, 352 pages

Plus, Williamson reveals a new kind of spin in the Plays of the Day from Mohali

Alagappan Muthu22-Mar-2016The extra spin
The script for New Zealand at the World T20 has been relatively straightforward. Win the toss, exploit the conditions, win the match. The first step of that sequence rested in Kane Williamson’s hands as he was given the coin. He promptly spun around, and with his back to all the cameras, flipped it up. If Shahid Afridi was surprised by the unorthodoxy, he didn’t give much of it away. Except his call ended up incorrect and New Zealand got first use of a batting beauty.The 100s
Martin Guptill finished off the fifth over with full marks all round. Imad Wasim made his bid to close out an over that had cost only three runs by bowling a quick dart but the batsman was quicker. Guptill came down the pitch and unfurled a majestic swing of the arms to deposit the ball into a delirious crowd behind long-on. The host broadcaster indicated that the ball had come in at 104 kph, left the bat at 133 kph and, if the distance of that hit had been measured, it would have probably been beyond 100 metres too.Switch on, switched off
Colin Munro is down as a left-hander but he seems just as adept batting the other way around. So when a simple push into the off side did not work as intended, he shaped up for a switch hit. Afridi was good enough to adjust and cramp the suddenly right-handed Munro for room. A late cut helped him get off strike, but the moment he was back facing up, Munro switched again and Afridi one-upped him again. The batsman did get to free his arms with a slog sweep, but it went straight to the man at sweeper cover (or deep square leg, if you prefer).The surprise four
Sharjeel Khan looked pleased with himself. He had just smacked the leading left-arm spinner in the competition Mitchell Santner over cow corner. The sound off the bat was crisp, the hang time was impressive and everyone thought this was six. Everyone except Guptill, who knows a thing or two about hitting the ball out of the park and knew this one didn’t quite have the legs. He ran after it and found himself within touching distance of pulling off a spectacular catch. Instead, the ball bounced away for four.Bat up, Pakistan
Chasing a big total, Sharjeel’s blitz had given the team just the start they needed. Eventually, it became a record-breaking one. Pakistan raised their fifty off only 24 balls – their fastest in T20Is – and it came about as a result of a nonchalant flick. Mitchell McClenaghan had given away a hat-trick of fours and, simply for a change, went around the wicket. But he offered a length ball on the pads and with a whip of the wrists, Sharjeel provided the appropriate flourish.

Stats highlights from West Indies’ clean sweep of the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh, after their win in St Kitts

Shiva Jayaraman26-Aug-2014169 Runs Denesh Ramdin scored in this ODI, the highest by a West Indies batsman at home, beating Desmond Haynes’ 152 not out against India in Georgetown, way back in 1989. This is also the second-highest ODI score by a batsman in West Indies. Upul Tharanga’s unbeaten 174 against India in Kingston in the tri-series last year is the highest by a batsman in West Indies.11 Sixes hit by Ramdin in this match, the highest by any batsman in ODIs in West Indies, beating Chris Gayle’s nine sixes against New Zealand in Kingston in 2012. Ramdin’s 11 sixes are the second highest by a West Indies batsman in an ODI, just one short of Xavier Marshall’s 12 sixes against Canada in 2008. Ramdin’s 11 sixes in this match are also the highest by a wicketkeeper in an innings, beating MS Dhoni’s 10 sixes against Sri Lanka in Jaipur in 2005.258 Runs added for the third wicket by Darren Bravo and Ramdin, the highest by a West Indies pair for any wicket. They beat the 226-run partnership between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper for the fourth wicket against South Africa in East London in 1999. This is also the highest third-wicket partnership in ODIs beating the 238-run stand between Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers against Pakistan in Johannesburg in 2013. This was also the highest partnership for any wicket against Bangladesh beating the 250-run stand between Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott at Edgbaston in 2010.338 Runs scored by West Indies in this match – their highest total at home in ODIs, beating the 337 they scored against Zimbabwe in St George’s last year. This was also the fifth-highest score posted by West Indies in an ODI.8 Scores of 150 or more by No. 4 batsmen in ODIs, including Ramdin’s in this match. His 169 is now the third highest by a No. 4 after Viv Richards’ 189 not out against England at Old Trafford in 1984 and 181 against Sri Lanka in Karachi in the 1987 World Cup. Of the eight scores of 150 or more by No. 4 batsmen, five have been by West Indies batsmen.11 Number of instances, including this match, when two West Indies batsmen have hit centuries in the same ODI. The last such instance came against New Zealand earlier this year in Hamilton, when Kirk Edwards and Dwayne Bravo hit centuries.19 Sixes hit by West Indies batsmen – the highest they have ever hit in an ODI. Their previous highest was 14 sixes, which they hit against Canada in 2008. This was also the most sixes hit against Bangladesh in an ODI, beating the 16 that Australia struck in Dhaka in 2011.2 ODI centuries by West Indies wicketkeepers including Ramdin’s in this match. The previous one was also hit by him, against England in North Sound earlier this year.241 Runs scored by wicketkeepers in this match – the third-highest total runs scored by the designated wicketkeepers of both teams in an ODI. The highest such aggregate came in a match between India and Sri Lanka in 2005, when India’s wicketkeeper MS Dhoni got 183 and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara hit 138, taking the total by wicketkeepers in that match to 321 runs.13 Number of consecutive ODIs Bangladesh have now played without winning. The last time they won was against New Zealand in Fatullah last year. Click here for the list of the longest winless streaks in ODIs.

The ICC and Full Member nations need to encourage Associate teams like Ireland if the game has to thrive globally

Alex Braae02-Mar-2013The Irish have, for long, been a diasporic people. Over the past two centuries, it is believed nearly 100 million Irish have emigrated, a number that far outstrips the current population of the island. Limited opportunities and harsh economic conditions have created a culture of leaving to survive and prosper.Cricket is just another facet of Irish society where opportunities don’t exist at home, forcing their best to leave in order to advance their careers. As was the case with the many waves of the Irish emigrants, this is not the fault of anyone in Ireland.The Irish cricket setup is the most professional among all Associate nations. However, they are given scant opportunities to show their development against Full Members. Over the rest of the year, Ireland will play three times against Full Members – twice against Pakistan and once against England. Even if they do win one of these games, it probably wouldn’t help their cause, as evidenced by the situation they are in, in spite of having repeatedly beaten Full Member teams at ICC events.Now there is news that Boyd Rankin will follow in the footsteps of Eoin Morgan, quitting Irish duty in the hope of an England call-up. Rankin is a talented and ferocious fast bowler, and would be a fine candidate for most Test teams in the world. His county cricket bowling average is below 30, a fantastic return in a competitive league. He has spoken about his desire to play Test cricket and who can blame him? It is the pinnacle of the sport we all love and he has a chance to play if he denies his homeland. The temptation to remain committed to Ireland must be strong on a personal level, but on a professional level he is right to make the best of what limited time is available to him as an athlete.The ICC is nominally committed to growing the game worldwide, but it is dismally failing in this mission. As Martin Williamson argued, the prospects of Associate nations have diminished even further with lucrative Twenty20 leagues pushing them off the fixture calendar. Greed, it appears, is costing cricket the chance to develop into a truly global sport. Imagine the boost cricket would get if a fraction of the millions of people of Irish descent were given a real chance to cheer for their country.Players leaving Ireland to play elsewhere is a symptom of a wider problem. Afghanistan, Holland, Canada, Scotland and Namibia are also promising nations who aren’t being given the opportunity to develop. The message being sent by Full Member boards to Associates seems clear: They are second-class nations. The ICC which, alas, is dominated by the boards of Full Member nations must realise that their sport will stagnate and die if they don’t stop chasing short-term cash over long-term development. They should not confine Associate teams to the ghetto of the Intercontinental Cup; rather they should show real leadership and force Full Member boards to play against Associate teams.In the case of Ireland, they must be put on a clear pathway to Test status. Their national team should have first-class fixtures against A teams of Full Member nations and the latter must commit to playing at least five games against Associate nations every year. They could be in any format, and Full Members could even field second-string lineups, but the matches could have full international status. Third, all players who are eligible to play for an Associate nation should be granted some form of amnesty to return and play for them, ensuring that Associate teams have the talent required to test the Full Member nations.With these measures, cricket could become a more vibrant, dynamic and global sport. It could have the global appeal of basketball or football; instead those who currently control it seem content to let it become akin to the rugby league. The Irish should be the test case – if they are given the opportunity to become a Test nation, perhaps the exodus of cricketers can be reversed and Irish cricketers will have a reason to return home.This is a crucial moment for the game: it can either spread across the entire world, or it can choose to become a niche sport, uncared for outside the few nations who play it.

The 2011-12 Australian summer begins on Sunday with a one-day match between Queensland and Victoria, before the opening Sheffield Shield round starts on Tuesday. ESPNcricinfo looks at some of the young men to keep an eye on this season

Brydon Coverdale07-Oct-2011New South Wales
Patrick Cummins
At 18, Cummins is one of the most exciting prospects in Australia, and is set to make his international debut in the limited-overs games in South Africa later this month. Despite having taken only nine first-class wickets, Cummins’ pace excited Australia’s selectors so much that they gave him a central contract this year. But he missed the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe due to a back strain and the key question surrounding Cummins this summer is how his young body will handle a full season of first-class cricket. If he gets through without a problem, a baggy green won’t be far away.Nic Maddinson
As if New South Wales don’t have enough top-class openers, they discovered another one last summer. Maddinson, now 19, scored a century opening the batting in his first-class debut and added a second hundred later in the season. It was enough to earn him Australia A selection and he made 63 in one of his two one-day innings on the tour of Zimbabwe, before a calf strain ruled him out of the first-class matches. A classical left-hander with a cool head, Maddinson has every chance of following his flatmate Usman Khawaja into Australia’s Test team in the future.Queensland
Ben Cutting
Two years ago, Cutting topped the Sheffield Shield wicket list with 46 victims at 23.91 and he could have pushed for international selection during the following year but for an ankle injury that was so serious it required surgery. He managed only one Sheffield Shield game last summer but has been named in Queensland’s squad for their opening matches this season. A seamer who gets good bounce from the pitch, Cutting, 24, will be keen to cut back into Australia’s pace-bowling queue with a strong season for the Bulls.Joe Burns
At 21, Burns is – along with the more established Chris Lynn – the future of Queensland’s middle order. A right-hand batsman whose talent was identified early, it took until the tail-end of last summer for Burns to force his way into the state team. When he did, he showed his hunger with an unbeaten 140 in his first game, the third-highest score on debut by a Queensland player. Another half-century followed in his third match and he finished the season averaging 70.25. In the Queensland side from the start of this summer, Burns could progress in leaps and bounds.South Australia
Theo Doropoulos
As the only import in a South Australia squad that the new coach Darren Berry wanted to be based mostly on local talent, Doropoulos has been given a golden opportunity. During his four seasons with Western Australia, Doropoulos, a batting allrounder, was considered not to have made the most of his natural talents. He moved to Melbourne last season and won the Jack Ryder Medal as the best player in grade cricket, and will relish the chance to score runs on the friendly Adelaide Oval. At 26, he cannot afford to waste such a second chance.Kane Richardson
It’s a new era for South Australia’s fast bowlers, with Shaun Tait now a Twenty20-only player and Ben Edmondson, Rob Cassell, Chris Duval and Tim Lang also gone from last year’s contract list. Young fast men will be given plenty of chances and Richardson, 20, will be one of the first on the list. A right-armer who gets the ball to swing in, Richardson collected five wickets in his first-class debut towards the end of last summer and could challenge Peter George to be the Redbacks’ main strike bowler this season.Tasmania
James Faulkner is fit to start the season after missing the Australia A series due to glandular fever•Getty ImagesJames Faulkner
A left-arm pace-bowling allrounder, Faulkner took giant strides last season and not only finished up fourth on the Sheffield Shield wicket tally with 36 at 17.72, he also won the Ricky Ponting Medal as Tasmania’s best player for the season. Faulkner, 21, was picked for the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe but didn’t travel due to glandular fever. He has recovered and was named in Tasmania’s squads for the opening matches of this season and with John Hastings out for the summer, an ODI call-up is a possibility if he can extend his strong first-class form to the one-day arena.Tom Triffitt
Tim Paine’s broken finger means that Triffitt, 20, will be the starting wicketkeeper for Tasmania in the early matches this season. Described by the state captain George Bailey as “a natural gloveman”, Triffitt was part of Australia’s Under-19 World Cup-winning squad last year and made a vital 50 in the semi-final. His challenge this summer is to bring his batting skills to first-class cricket.Victoria
Jayde Herrick
A heavily-tattooed fast bowler who shaves his head before every match, Herrick was this time last year making a dollar by driving heavy machinery in a quarry. At 26, he now has a Victoria contract and has impressed the captain Cameron White with his work during the off-season, after making his state debut last summer. “It’s his first pre-sason having full-time coaching and he’s improved out of sight,” White said this week. “He’s set for a big season.”Glenn Maxwell
A powerful batsman who hovered on the fringes of Victoria’s side for several seasons, Maxwell certainly grabbed his opportunity last summer. In his second first-class match, he scored 103 not out and 63, having earlier in the season blasted a 19-ball half-century – an Australian domestic record – in a one-day match against Tasmania. Also a useful offspinner, Maxwell, 22, has a chance to make himself a permanent member of Victoria’s side in both formats this season.Western Australia
Nathan Coulter-Nile
A tall fast bowler who picked up 21 Sheffield Shield wickets at 22.04 last summer after injuries affected the start of his season, Coulter-Nile is regarded by the Western Australia coach Mickey Arthur as “the one player in this group who will definitely go on and play higher”. At 23, he has started to find his feet at interstate level and is expected to be a key man in the Warriors’ attack this season.Marcus Harris
Finding the right opening combination had been a problem for Western Australia over the past few seasons, so the Warriors were excited when Harris grabbed his chance last summer. In his third Sheffield Shield game, Harris became the youngest Australian to score a first-class 150, when he made 157 against Queensland at the WACA. That effort broke a 115-year-old record set by Clem Hill, and confirmed Harris, who is now 19, as an important part of Western Australia’s future. A short left-hander, Harris will be aiming to forge a strong opening bond with Wes Robinson in the longer format.

Since Alec Stewart retired five years ago England have dropped keepers almost as often as the keepers have dropped catches or flopped with the bat

Lawrence Booth29-Jul-2008

“Wicketkeepers,” wrote Ray Robinson, “are like office-boys in at least one way – few people take notice of them until something gets in a mess, a folder or a chance is lost, an ink pot or a catch spilt, a mail or a stumping missed.” Robinson came from Australia, where Adam Gilchrist would lend the office-boy phenomenon a seminal twist half a century later: these days keepers have to perform like an extension of the top six as well as be ballerinas behind the stumps. And nowhere is this dual imperative more obsessively applied than in England, where the selectors have picked an average of a frontline keeper a year since 2001 as they seek a permanent replacement for the ever more fabled Alec Stewart. If, for the time being, Tim Ambrose has wedged his gloves in the revolving door, it is a door that only ever seems a bungled catch, a fluffed stumping or a few single-figure scores away from moving once more.Yes, times have changed since the days when Ranjitsinhji could write in his without too much fear of contradiction that “one thing is quite certain – it pays to select the
best wicketkeeper quite irrespective of his batting ability”. Back in Ranji’s day it was not unheard of for a keeper to bat at No. 11. Now he is in trouble if he does not average 35. And, as Matt Prior discovered, he may be in trouble even if he averages 40: since none of the 20 regular candidates on the county circuit averages that many over a first-class career – Prior and Hampshire’s Nic Pothas come closest – the decision to drop him after the tour of Sri Lanka struck some as harsh. Yet that is the fate of the 21st-century gloveman. “Since Stewart and Gilchrist came on the scene, the benchmark has changed,” says Jon Batty of Surrey. “You have to score runs as well as take catches. The game can never be the same again and those two have accelerated its evolution.”In fact, English cricket has been mulling over the cultured keeper v batsman-with-gauntlets debate for longer than that. When Len Hutton chose his World XI in his 1956 book he went for Les Ames ahead of Godfrey Evans “because of his superior batting”, despite the fact that “as a wicketkeeper Les Ames was safe without being brilliant in the Godfrey Evans manner”. Two years earlier Jim Parks had embarked on a 46-Test career that he admits was based primarily on his ability in front of the stumps. And there is plenty of sympathy for Jack Russell in the autobiography of Alec Stewart, Russell’s replacement whenever England desperately needed to win a Test, which in the 1990s was quite often. “I felt so sorry for Jack,” wrote Stewart after Russell was rewarded for an electric leg-side stumping to dismiss Dean Jones off Gladstone Small in 1990-91 by being left out of the next Test at Adelaide. “I did have doubts about taking over from such a wonderful performer.”

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On a larger scale the doubts have intensified: as the search for a new Stewart threatens to rival the hunt for a new Botham, a whole generation of English keepers has felt the selectorial pinch. “Since he retired the spotlight has been magnified on us,” says Essex’s James Foster, who stepped in briefly when
Stewart opted out of the India tour in 2001-02 but has not added to his seven Test caps since
December 2002. “Everyone has expected an easy replacement but that was never going to be the case. He was a wonderful player.”Even though Stewart’s Test average while playing as a keeper was a fraction under 35, compared with more than 46 as a batsman only, his impact – to say nothing of Gilchrist, Andy Flower, Kumar Sangakkara, Mark Boucher, Brendon McCullum and Mahendra Singh Dhoni – is clear: no keeper in England currently has a lower first-class average than Phil Mustard’s 25.97. To put that in context: even in the summer of 1990, one of the most run-laden seasons in English history, seven of the regular county keepers fell short of Mustard’s stat. Glamorgan’s Colin Metson, so gifted behind the stumps, averaged 13 that year, which these days would be a dropping offence; only eight keepers averaged over 30. As the table at the end of this article shows, Mustard is one of only four keepers on the circuit today who averages below 30.

So has the post-Stewart hangover created a circuit of batsmen/keepers rather than keeper/batsmen, one in which an inevitable repercussion is the kind of behind-the-stumps uncertainty that cost Prior his place? Chris Read, widely regarded as the best out-and-out keeper in England at the moment, thinks the “standard of glovework isn’t as high as when I first started [in 1998]”. Parks, who believes Ambrose deserves his crack at international cricket, says the lack of quality offspinners has made the modern keeper less adept at standing up. “In all my Tests we generally had two offspinners – from David Allen, Fred Titmus, Ray Illingworth and John Mortimore – but I’ve noticed keepers recently taking two movements to get the ball back to the stumps, so they miss stumping chances. They take a pace
back as they take the ball. I was always taught you work in a half-circle around the stumps.”Keith Piper, once Warwickshire’s keeper and now their 2nd XI coach, has a different view. “I think the next generation will be more in the Metson/Piper/Russell mould,” he says, tacitly acknowledging
his own batting average of a smidgen under 20. “These things go in cycles, like fast bowlers. There are a lot of keepers coming through now in the 16-18 age bracket who are more keeper/batsmen than
the other way round. Ben Brown at Sussex is very talented and so is Richard Johnson at Warwickshire. I think he’ll play for England one day and I’m not just saying that because I’m involved with the club.”If Johnson does one day play for England, one only hopes he gets an extended run, because the selectorial chopping and changing has hardly bred confidence among the current crop. Though Geraint
Jones was given 31 successive Tests between 2003-04 and 2006, most of that time was spent in the spotlight mentioned by Foster, and other stints have been much shorter: to the disgust of Rod Marsh,
Jones replaced Read in the Caribbean in 2003-04 after Read had been given the job for eight games; Jones then lost the gloves to Read for two Tests against Pakistan in 2006, reclaimed them for the first three Tests in Australia, only to lose them at Melbourne and Sydney. One of Peter Moores’ first acts as England coach was to pass them straight to Prior, who was duly dropped ten Tests later for his former Sussex team-mate Ambrose. And we have not even mentioned the one-day roles played by Paul Nixon, Mustard, and during the World Twenty20 a year ago, Vikram Solanki.”The selectors are looking for something and they haven’t necessarily found it,” says Read, whose 15-Test career has been divided into four chunks spanning almost eight years. “The press have picked up on that and it’s become a bit of a vicious circle. The confusing thing from the outside is that it isn’t obvious what the selectors are actually looking for. What do they want? Do they want someone who averages 40-plus and smashes it around or someone to take all the catches? I appreciate there’s a middle ground but where do their priorities lie? I think the message has become blurred.”The difficulty of quantifying a wicketkeeper’s contribution to the team effort has not helped. Yet the table above shows it is possible. If you subtract from a wicketkeeper’s Test average the number of byes he concedes per game as well as runs cost per match in dropped catches and missed stumpings, it emerges that Read – who averaged a negligible three runs in errors per Test – has the best net contribution (18.21) of any of Stewart’s potential replacements. Prior, not helped by dropping Mahela Jayawardene twice on his way to 213 in Galle last December, the match that finally did for him, has a negative overall contribution of 22.56 per game. Of course, the extent to which a batsman
cashes in on a reprieve may be the fault of the bowlers as well as the keeper, but the best keepers
inspire their bowlers by taking most things that come their way. For all Prior’s runs, there must
have been a confidence-sapping suspicion, as Ryan Sidebottom may testify, that he was going to
undo his good batting work with the gloves. “Bowlers want the best keeper behind the stumps, the guy
who takes the half-chance to turn a match,” says Piper. “Because you do win games in the field.”

Read’s dilemma – not helped by being what Duncan Fletcher called “a very quiet lad” – has been different from Prior’s. “When I’ve been picked I know it’s not just to keep wicket,” he says. “But I
haven’t scored runs consistently. My record with the bat for England is pretty poor [360 Test runs at less than 19] so I can understand the times when I’ve been dropped. The one thing I regret, though, is
that I never had an extended period to prove myself. I was always in and out of the side and the whole Ashes experience [in 2006-07] was pretty grim, to be honest. I’d had one first-class innings in
four months and then I was thrown into the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day when we were already 3-0 down. I felt pretty out of my depth. If I had been given an extended run and I’d failed, I’d have
put my hand up and said I wasn’t good enough. But I was always filling in for two games and never got a run. It’s a hard environment to come into.”He has a point, especially as keepers seem doomed to play the role of their footballing counterparts: ignored when they do their job, fingered when they make a mistake. But Batty, who was told by
Moores last winter that he came close to selection for the tour of Sri Lanka, is not one for excuses. “It’s difficult to say whether we’re too hard on our keepers in this country,” he says. “The problem is
that when people have been getting the opportunity they haven’t just been making the odd slip-up: there have been several mistakes. Whether they feel under pressure from the start and think they
haven’t got as long as batsmen or bowlers to make an impression, I don’t know. Maybe they feel they’re under the microscope and can’t relax. But good wicketkeepers are ones who don’t make mistakes.
That’s still the most important part of the job.”Robinson, who reckoned the wicketkeeper is “the most important of them all, the cricket field’s VIP”, would be purring at the sound of that, but Batty’s implication is clear: the England job is still up for grabs. And anyone who noticed the little digs at Ambrose during the recent one-dayers against New Zealand – one broadsheet writer lambasted the “folly of not picking Matthew Prior” – might be
persuaded to agree. “There are no stand-out candidates,” says Batty. “No one’s really made the position their own. Tim Ambrose has kept nicely but I still don’t think it is a closed shop. There’s a group of
about five or six of us who could do it.”Read, who says he is “not prepared to give up just yet” on England, argues that it’s “hard to measure people’s success because no one’s really had enough time”, although that modestly ignores his own
strong showing in Table 1. For that reason he feels sorry for Prior, who he says is the best batsmen of all the county keepers but who “needs more belief in his own [wicketkeeping] technique”. Asked
to nominate the two best glovemen in England – without choosing himself – he says: “There are two fellas: James Foster, whose improvement since he was first picked in 2001 has been fantastic; and Ben Scott at Middlesex is a very natural keeper, especially up to the stumps. But he’s got his own little battle with David Nash.”Table 2, which uses batting averages and number of dismissals per match to determine a keeper’s overall standing in the county game, actually places Foster 10th and Scott 16th. Joint-top are Pothas,
who turns 35 in November – not that age prevented a late call-up for Nixon – and Steven Davies, Worcestershire’s 22-year-old England academician. But there is a suspicion that his eggs are currently
placed in the batting basket. “Personally, he doesn’t float my boat,” says Piper. “He gets his runs, but he’s not up there with the best as a keeper.” One experienced county keeper, asked what he thinks of
Davies, replies: “Not a lot.” Batty says: “There aren’t an awful lot of youngsters around.”Of course the table tells only half the story. Batty points out that he has spent the last few seasons opening for Surrey and averaging in the low 40s. The overall positions of Prior (ninth) and Ambrose (13th) are affected by the fact that they had to share the gloves for several seasons at Sussex, thus lowering their average dismissals-per-match figure. Niall O’Brien at Northants, Craig Kieswetter at Somerset, and Steve Snell at Gloucestershire have not been in the game for long enough, while Davies’s stats may be helped by pouching all those outside edges at the traditionally seam-friendly New Road.The truth is that the perfect keeper does not exist: even Gilchrist dropped catches. “People forget that wicketkeepers are human and miss chances,” says Foster. And the nature of the post-Stewart debate is that the focus is often on the new incumbent’s weaker suit anyway. Perhaps the perfect England keeper would have Prior’s batting ability, Read’s glovework, Nixon’s attitude, Batty’s fitness, Foster’s capacity for improvement, with a bit of Mustard’s pinch-hitting and Ambrose’s unflappability thrown in. But until that magical hybrid arrives, we are left with a reminder from Ray Robinson that not a lot changes. “All the mistakes of the wicketkeeper,” he wrote, “and some not perpetrated by him, are mercilessly chalked up against him by the recording angels of the press box.” Expect the debate to run and run.