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Liverpool have made contact with AS Monaco regarding the possible transfer of Aurelien Tchouameni, according to a report from 90min. 

The lowdown: Hot property

The 22-year-old midfielder has enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom in France having graduated from the FC Girondins Bordeaux academy before making the switch to Monaco in 2020.

Tchouameni has already made 128 senior outings in France and has recently become a regular for Didier Deschamps’ national side following a debut against Bosnia during World Cup qualification.

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Now, seemingly almost the finished article having honed his skills in Ligue 1, the powerful French youngster could be ready for the step in his promising career, with Paul Joyce of The Times confirming interest from Anfield last week.

The latest: Reds make contact

As per 90min, Liverpool and UEFA Champions League final opponents Real Madrid have both ‘spoken with Monaco’ regarding the eight-cap ace.

The report also claims that Chelsea are ‘keen to agree a deal’ but that move would be hard to foresee given their off-field issues at present.

That leaves the path clear for the European giants who will face off in Paris to battle it out for the midfielder who has been dubbed as an ‘octopus’ for his ability to dictate a game from a holding midfield role.

The verdict: Win this race

Not only will Jurgen Klopp be vying to beat Real to European glory, but also the capture of the £36million valued starlet who is regarded as one of the hottest talents on the continent.

So far this season, Tchouameni has scored three times and provided two assists in 46 appearances across all competitions, earning an impressive 7.27 Sofascore rating whilst making 2.8 interceptions, 2.5 tackles and winning a staggering 7.6 duels on average per game in the French top flight.

Those statistics are born out by the Frenchman’s very strong aerial and tackling ability (WhoScored), as well as a stylistic likeness to Real Madrid ace Casemiro and Anfield’s own Thiago, when using FBref’s player comparison tool.

With calibre and performances such as this despite his tender years, new Reds transfer chief Julian Ward would be instantly heralded should he deliver the Frenchman into Klopp’s squad following the remarkable signing of Luis Diaz in January.

In other news: Liverpool interested in Bundesliga sensation, find out more here.

Having amassed 552 runs in six innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the 27-year old has been in red-hot form across formats and has also earned the praise of MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2018This has by far been Mayank Agarwal’s best season. After a slow start, he led the run charts in the Ranji Trophy with 1160 runs at an average of 105.45 with five centuries, including an unbeaten triple hundred. He didn’t enjoy the same heady success in the T20 format (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy), but he still managed to score three half-centuries to finish with 258 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 144.94. Agarwal, though, was quickly back to his barnstorming best at the 50-over competition – the Vijay Hazare Trophy – where he has amassed 552 runs in six innings opening the batting, with scores of 140, 89, 102, 28, 84 and 109. The second highest run-scorer in the tournament – Siddhesh Lad – is 179 runs behind Agarwal’s tally.Mayank Agarwal’s 1970 runs across formats is now the second-most in an Indian domestic season•ESPNcricinfo LtdOn Wednesday, Agarwal smashed a 111-ball 140, including 12 fours and seven sixes, to power Karnataka to a 103-run win over Hyderabad in the quarter-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. His bountiful run hasn’t gone unnoticed; MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors, remarked that Agarwal “has been absolutely terrific”. Given the selectors’ inclination to reward consistency with low-intensity launches into international cricket, Agarwal, 27, will be hoping to get picked in the India squad for the Nidahas Trophy tri-nation T20 tournament in Sri Lanka next month.Agarwal’s success this season, however, has largely been a product of having a “blank mind”, and he wouldn’t like it any other way. “Stats bore me, I don’t play to prove a point to anyone,” he told the after the Hyderabad game. “I’ve been enjoying my game over the last four months or so. This can be attributed to being more self-aware about my game and just knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are.”A striking feature of Agarwal’s batting is he has maintained a steady tempo across formats. This has been down to a lot of pre-season work with his coach of three years, R Muralidhar. Together, they ensured Agarwal didn’t sweat over pre-determined goals and let go of the fear of failure. “There isn’t much difference to batting in the three formats. It’s just making minor adjustments and playing according to the situation of a game,” he said. “In order to address this, Murali sir put me through a lot of situation-based training and asked me to keep setting targets at every five overs of the game.”Agarwal’s 242-run stand for the second wicket with schoolmate and friend R Samarth proved decisive in Karnataka’s decimation of Hyderabad. Samarth, who made 125 off 124 deliveries, proved the ideal foil to Agarwal. “I am more aggressive in my outlook, while Sam is more dogged in his approach. I guess, that helps both of us,” Agarwal said.

With New Zealand touring South Africa, Kruger van Wyk, who made the journey in reverse and called New Zealand his home for nearly a decade, talks about his cricket experiences in the land he briefly adopted

Luke Alfred11-Aug-2016According to Kruger van Wyk there are many things to like about his former coach John Wright, but top of the list is his humour.”I remember him waiting a while before telling me that the South Africans were going to give me shit during my debut Test [for New Zealand],” says van Wyk. “Thinking back on it, that was probably his way of telling me I was in the team, because he was always very dry. John was very much a man’s man: he had that old-school toughness and was really comfortable in those sorts of environments. The best thing about him was his sense of humour, because he’d listen to things for a long time and then come in with perfect timing. In that respect he was always very good to me.”Van Wyk spent the three days prior to his Test debut, in Dunedin against the South Africans in March 2012, flat on his back with a bad case of gastroenteritis. “I lost 5kgs and really wasn’t in the best of shape,” he says. By the time it came to the Test itself he was, however, back in the saddle – slightly lighter but ready to pounce should the South Africans forget he was there and lapse into some ill-advised (swearing) or off-the-cuff analysis in Afrikaans.Far from the South Africans “giving him shit”, the Test passed off reasonably amicably. Van Wyk had grown up with players like Jacques Rudolph and AB de Villiers and the verbals were restricted to a good-natured trickle. “Chris Martin nipped [Jacques] Kallis and [AB] de Villiers out on the first day and we led on the first innings by 40-odd,” van Wyk remembers. “They batted well in the second innings [with hundreds to Kallis, Smith and Rudolph], and then at close on the fourth day we were about 140 for 2, with Brendon [McCullum] and Ross [Taylor] at the crease; we needed 300 runs to win with eight wickets standing on a flat track on the final day. Kane [Williamson] was due to come in at five. I think we could have been in for a very exciting final day of cricket, except that it rained on the fourth night and that was it.”

“The Kiwis’ ingenuity is something they’re really proud of. If they need to pick three spinners in a World T20 to beat India in India, they’re going to do that”

By his own admission, van Wyk wasn’t ready for international cricket when he arrived in New Zealand. He was there because Dave Nosworthy, his former coach at Titans (in South Africa), had been recruited by Canterbury and the South Island outfit needed a wicketkeeper. Mark Boucher wasn’t going to relinquish the gloves for South Africa anytime soon and the opportunity seemed like a godsend. This was a chance to reinvent himself, have an adventure and subsume himself in the New Zealand cricketing way.”I think we play a boring brand here in South Africa – we’re one-dimensional,” he says. “The Kiwis’ ingenuity is something they’re really proud of. If they need to pick three spinners in a World T20 to beat India in India, they’re going to do that. They’re really proud of their ingenuity. [Brendon] McCullum and [Mike] Hesson were always prepared to be brave, and that’s absolutely great.”While the stereotype of the canny Kiwi can be overplayed, there’s no doubt that their mentalité, as the French would call it, is to put everything they have to the best possible use – in terms of being prepared to lose as they gamble for a win. Van Wyk says he loved this approach, the idea that they were exhausting every available opportunity to improve themselves, and found himself growing exponentially as a cricketer.He played nine Tests, being knocked off his perch by BJ Watling, but there is no sign of regret. Indeed, you rather feel that his sojourn turned out far better than he ever had reason to expect. Here, after all, was the boy from Wolmaransstad, a veritable Wagga Wagga of the veld. He was too small for rugby and didn’t like disappearing into the wastes of the outfield, so became a wicketkeeper. His entire career was a story of scaling heights he didn’t naturally reach.”You have to allow players to grow outside of a structure or a game plan, to keep challenging them in different ways”•AFPVan Wyk and his young family (one boy, one girl) returned to South Africa in December 2015, after nine years in New Zealand, and he became director of cricket at the Assupol Tuks Cricket Academy at the University of Pretoria. He’s hoping to back up words with deeds by inculcating a far more adventurous brand of cricket, saying that he’s frequently gobsmacked at the conveyor belt of talent that the African sunshine and good facilities seem to almost carelessly produce. “You have to allow players to grow outside of a structure or a game plan, to keep challenging them in different ways. I’d say it’s a state-of-mind thing rather than a technique or set of techniques.”Van Wyk has an opportunity to see what Tuks can do when they defend their Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals title in Sri Lanka early next month. In preparation for the event, van Wyk has been hard at work simulating the kinds of conditions he expects to find in Sri Lanka, roughing up wickets, underpreparing them and leaving them bereft of grass. “Twenty-over cricket provides players with the opportunity to be reckless – and you’ve got to allow them that freedom and license.”Prior to the New Zealanders hopping up to Zimbabwe, they spent a week at Tuks’ Pretoria facility where van Wyk’s boys were able to rub shoulders with the tourists. It was great, he says, for his left-arm quicks to swap notes with Trent Boult or his fast bowlers to bask in the presence of, say, Tim Southee.Unlike the South Africans, who haven’t played much recent Test cricket, the visitors look well-grooved. Kingsmead, the venue for the first Test, has been known to be unkind to home sides in recent years, and the New Zealanders will probably be closer to where they want to be than the hosts. It’s increasingly tempting, in fact, to see the two teams as different sides of the same ball: South African cricket is in the midst of blithely frittering away its riches (some of those riches heading for New Zealand), its Test outfit less successful than it should be. By contrast, New Zealand make best use of what they have, proud to innovate and bold enough to try. It’s the very shift Van Wyk is trying to initiate with his young charges.

A new Test captain, a new wicketkeeper, a new administration, and whole new set of challenges. Indian cricket’s latest chapter begins now

Alagappan Muthu09-Jun-2015A new Test captain, who makes it difficult to decide whether his pull shot or his press conferences are stronger. A new BCCI regime, systematically dulling the influence of its predecessor. Four wise men trooping back into service to help connect the present to the future. And a new season that is almost like a video game, demanding the team to level up with every tour and winding up with a World T20. There is a lot afoot in Indian cricket. The game itself will join in tomorrow.When 0-8 happened in 2011-12, there were no immediate consequences. MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher held on. The N Srinivasan administration bided their time as well. Now, Dalmiya and Thakur are making a lot of moves, Dhoni has retired from Tests, Virat Kohli has stepped in as the leader, and Wriddhiman Saha has taken up the gloves.Test cricket has changed as well. The people’s cry for an attacking brand of play is louder. The onus on the captain to provide as much is starker. Kohli appears to be in tune with that. He wants India to dominate the world.”Over the years I have matured in my mind,” he said. “The people around me in BCCI and my team-mates thought that I was the right guy for the job. I am pretty grateful for that. I have some vision in my mind which I have discussed with the team. We are all on the same page. It is pretty exciting for me to start as full-time Test captain and hopefully it is a positive start.”The Bangladesh tour is a good curtain raiser. The hosts have topped a World Cup quarter-final appearance with a whitewash of Pakistan in three ODIs, and a world record second-innings opening partnership in Tests. They have reason to be confident and might even get a kick out of forcing Kohli into second thoughts. How would he deal with the ebb and flow of a Test? Does he let it drift? Does he pull back too soon? Can he sustain pressure on the opposition? Can he then find a way to create opportunities?The Bangladesh batsmen have showed an improved capacity for occupying the crease. Last month, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes chomped off a 296-run deficit with a 312-run partnership for the first wicket. Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim form a rather hardy batting line-up, while the emergence of Soumya Sarkar lends lower-order firepower.So India’s bowlers need to find some threat. Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav have impressed no less a cricket mind than Glenn McGrath. A lot of that perhaps has to do with the potential they represent – both young and eager to bowl quick. A phalanx of left-handers for Bangladesh also persuaded the selectors to recall Harbhajan Singh. He might well end a two-year hiatus from Test cricket in Fatullah and, in between helping Kohli push for a win, initiate a challenge for R Ashwin’s role as the team’s lead offspinner.Lord’s has been India’s only victory over the last 23 overseas Tests. There will be great expectation to ensure the tally is upped to two, and then more when they visit Sri Lanka, before the attention turns to safeguarding home dominance, against South Africa.Saha could only dream of a calendar as full as that until now. He has played four Tests in five years despite the reputation of being the best wicketkeeper in India.Captains and wicketkeepers share close working relationships. From ascertaining if the ball is swinging, to helping out with DRS calls, to marking fielding positions and working out a batsman’s inadequacies, the vantage point from behind the stumps can be rather useful. Saha has had to wait a long time to enjoy the view. Now, with Dhoni sticking to limited-overs cricket, his Test career restarts at 30.”I think now is the time for Saha,” Kohli said. “He is a super fit guy. His keeping skills and reach are unbelievable. He is a gutsy batsman, confident, technique very good. He has everything to become a very good Test player for India. For next five to six years I can assure you will be exciting time for him. I am happy for him that he got this regular chance now.”Saha’s batting has the skill to last, as a first-class best of 178 not out suggests. He can even up his tempo, as Australia found out for the briefest of moments in Adelaide. India were 87 short of an improbable 364 target when he strode out to bat, tonked a six and a four off Nathan Lyon to tease the visitors’ hopes. He was dismissed the next ball, but that innings is a neat little example of Saha’s utility and Kohli’s methods. Later, the India captain would say he wouldn’t have settled for a draw and neither did he want his team to.One of MS Dhoni’s final addresses to the team was that he thought he was standing with the players who would form India’s core for a better part of the next decade. It starts now.

Kumar Sangakkara does not usually feature in discussions of modern batting greats. His numbers demand for that to change

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Chittagong05-Feb-2014Kumar Sangakkara approached his maiden triple-hundred at a sprint. When the eighth wicket fell, he had been on 253 – in danger of being stranded short of a milestone he later admitted he desired, if only to “be part of the club”. The team’s goals happily aligned with his own in the late afternoon, lighting a fire underneath his feet. He sped forward from the crease often, with brutal intent.His final 52-runs as a non-member of the 300-club were walloped in 30 balls, but although Sangakkara was still mid-frenzy when he passed the milestone, his celebrations were remarkably collected. A hand-grasp with his partner followed the raising of both arms, before the helmet came off, briefly. Within 90 seconds, he was taking guard again.Perhaps he knew that he had not unlocked anything new in himself in the course of his epic. There were few thorny periods to overcome, and an already-battered opposition had been further hamstrung by an injury to a frontline bowler, as well as their captain and wicketkeeper. His team could not have claimed their commanding position without him, but at a personal level, perhaps his greatest achievements on Wednesday were his statistical harvests.Sangakkara became the quickest man to 11,000 runs on Wednesday. Though outside Sri Lanka he is rarely spoken of in the same breath as the modern batting greats, that discussion is now long overdue.The first port of call for any such exercise is his average. At a career-high 57.83, he comfortably outstrips Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, and is better than Jacques Kallis by more than two runs. Of the seven batsmen that boast better averages (qualification: 2000 career runs), Ken Barrington had the most recent career, from 1955 to 1968. None of the men above him have scored 8000 runs, nor played more than 90 Tests. The debate then moves to how many of Sangakkara’s runs mean little? He is by far Bangladesh’s lead tormentor with the bat, having struck 1711 runs against them – over 15% of his career total. He has not gone easy on Zimbabwe in six innings either, averaging 89.88.To dismiss all those runs is unwise, particularly in light of this Chittagong innings, where only one other Sri Lanka batsman passed 50 and no one else reached triple figures. But for the sake of argument, Sangakkara has impressive numbers even if those teams are omitted. Of batsmen who have played in the last 15 years (qualification: 2000 runs), only Kallis has a better average than Sangakkara’s 52.68, and that only 0.30 higher. If the last 30 years are considered, Javed Miandad is the only other cricketer to join Kallis above Sangakkara on that list.A charge often leveled at Sri Lanka batsmen is that they make their runs on flat home pitches. Galle’s dry surface, however, is often as stiff a test of batting technique as any track in the world, and the P Sara Oval is regularly a result-venue. Still, omitting draws, and only counting matches among the top eight nations, Sangakkara’s figures hold up. Of the seven modern batsmen who have better averages in wins or losses, four – Ponting, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn – are from the legendary Australia team. The remaining three are AB de Villiers and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar. Tendulkar and Lara both rank well below Sangakkara.His away record against the top-eight teams does not place him as highly in the pantheon, but at 45.37, he is hardly liability outside Sri Lanka. Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Lara and Kallis have better away averages, alongside a host of other modern players, but Sangakkara’s returns are marginally better than Ponting’s.Where Sangakkara sets himself apart from Lara, Ponting and Tendulkar in particular, and veers towards all-time greatness, is when his records as a specialist batsman are separated from his career as a wicketkeeper-batsman. Sangakkara has not been the designated keeper for 61% of his 122-Test career, and in those matches, he has averaged 69.55. Only Don Bradman sits above him, and he is almost five clear of the next man. Clyde Walcott surpasses Sangakkara if Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are again stricken from his record, but he drops only that one place, retaining an average of 61.41. The next remotely modern batsman is Miandad, who scored his runs at 53.30.Sangakkara has hundreds against and in every Test nation, but perhaps there are more gaps in his record than the other modern greats. He averages 30.58 in England – a statistic he will hope to partially rectify in two Tests there in June. His average of 36.50 in India will likely remain at retirement, as will his 35.75 in South Africa. Unlike Ponting, Tendulkar and Lara, he was also incapable of demoralising attacks for much of his career – though recently that has begun to change. It is perhaps for this reason he does not place himself in the same realm as batting hero Brian Lara, whose double-century count he matched.”I grew up watching and idolising sir Vivian Richards,” Sangakkara said. “Then Brian Lara came along and he was magical to watch so I am pretty happy to have equalled him in some kind of way. But I don’t think I will equal him as a batsman, because I think he is on a completely different level to most of the batsmen I have seen.”I think I have surpassed him in very little. I may be fastest to 11,000 or whatever, but I don’t think I compare myself to him at all. There is no use of comparing myself to him. To me he is beyond reach.”Whatever Sangakkara’s own view, consistency is its own form of dominance. As he reaps the numerical rewards of his 14-year toil, it is time the wider cricket world appreciated his stature.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from Bangladesh v New Zealand

Abhishek Purohit in Pallekele21-Sep-2012Tough gig of the day
You become the first man to make two hundreds in Twenty20 internationals, have to come back within minutes to keep wicket and also have a disappointed bowler stare at you. Big Jacob Oram didn’t hide his disappointment when Brendon McCullum put down a shoulder-high edge off Mushfiqur Rahim in the fourth over. “Tough being me” is not restricted only to Kevin Pietersen.Six of the day
McCullum muscled 18 boundaries during his century, including seven sixes. While power was the source of most of his runs, one six stood out for being incredulous even by McCullum standards. In the 15th over, barely two deliveries after James Franklin fell, McCullum charged Mashrafe Mortaza, who saw him coming and bowled short. McCullum had built up so much momentum in his charge that there was no turning back, short ball or not. He ended up sending it over the long-off boundary with a tennis forehand.Non-stroke of the day
McCullum’s big hits got all the attention, but apart from being dropped on 92, he hardly did anything wrong throughout his innings. In the 11th over, he jumped out to Shakib Al Hasan and again, his momentum sent a short delivery over deep midwicket. Shakib responded with sharp turn off his next ball, after angling it in from wide of the crease. For a batsman in such a belligerent mood, it could have been a difficult ball to tackle, but McCullum was in the zone. He went across, allowed the ball to turn and defended solidly.False alarm of the day
How would New Zealand fare against Bangladesh’s left-arm spin trio? Not too well, was the feeling when Martin Guptill fell to the second ball of the variety, bowled by Abdur Razzak. McCullum was around to alter that impression completely. By the end of New Zealand’s innings, Shakib Al Hasan, Elias Sunny and Razzak had been taken for 104 in 11 overs.

Stats preview of the first semi-final between England and Sri Lanka to be played in St Lucia

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan12-May-2010Sri Lanka’s entry in the semi-finals of the ICC World Twenty20 further underlines their consistency in major tournaments over the last few years. They’ve made the final of the last 50-over World Cup and the 20-over version, and a win on Thursday will give them the chance to do what they couldn’t on both those occasions – win the trophy. England, though, have been so consistent in all aspects throughout this tournament that they’ll fancy their chances, even in the slower conditions that should favour Sri Lanka.England have the better numbers in the tournament so far. Their only loss was a rain-induced one, while Sri Lanka have lost two games, one of them convincingly. There’s little to choose between the batting run rates of the two teams, but England score over Sri Lanka in terms of economy rate. Tim Bresnan and Michael Yardy have been extremely thrifty while Graeme Swann has been among the wickets consistently. Despite the Sri Lankan fast bowlers going for a few runs, the spinners have managed to restrict the scoring effectively.

England’s opening pair of Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb have been aggressive in the beginning of the innings all through the tournament, which is reflected in the high scoring rate in the Powerplay overs. Sri Lanka have been boosted by the exceptional batting of Mahela Jayawardene, but he hasn’t received much support at the top of the order.

Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright have provided the much-needed fireworks in the late overs for England. Morgan, in particular, has been outstanding with a strike rate of close to 150 in the death overs. Sri Lanka have scored at a fast clip in the final overs with contributions from Jayawardene and, more recently, Chamara Kapugedera, whose quickfire 37 enabled them to topple India in their final Super Eight game.

Sri Lanka have their noses ahead when it comes to bowling performance in the Powerplay overs. While England have been very economical with Bresnan conceding only a little over five runs per over and Stuart Broad offering excellent support, Sri Lanka have also managed to pick up more wickets in the early overs. Angelo Matthews and Lasith Malinga, with their excellent change of pace, have proved extremely difficult to get away even with the fielding restrictions in place.

One bad game against Australia messed up the bowling stats of Sri Lanka in the last few overs, which have otherwise been quite impressive. Malinga, in particular, has managed to curtail the scoring rate superbly with his yorkers and slower balls. England have bowled the final few overs extremely well too, with Ryan Sidebottom picking up six wickets at an economy rate of 6.60 per over in the final overs.

The tables below list the performances of fast bowlers and spinners for England and Sri Lanka. The fast bowlers for England have been top class with Bresnan leading the way, and their performances are bettered only by the Australian pace attack. Sri Lanka’s fast bowling department hasn’t been as good. Matthews has been top-class, but Malinga has been more expensive than usual, going at over 7.5 runs per over.Sri Lankan spinners, though, haves been much better than their fast bowlers and have picked up ten wickets while conceding less than seven runs per over. Ajantha Mendis has been slightly expensive in the last two games while Suraj Randiv impressed with a fine bowling performance against Australia. For England, Swann and Yardy have been consistent throughout with Swann picking up eight wickets and Yardy being among the most economical bowlers in the tournament.

The pitch in St Lucia hasn’t offered the kind of pace and bounce that was seen Barbados, but fast bowlers have still done better than spinners here. The difference in economy rates isn’t much, but the fast and medium-fast bowlers have taken more wickets than the spinners.

The table below summarises the performances of the top batsmen of each team. Jayawardene has had an extraordinary tournament, but his scores have dropped in the last couple of games leading to the semi-final. Kumar Sangakkara, though, has started to find better form, which has reduced the onus on Jayawardene, and will boost a line-up which is fairly top heavy.For England, Kevin Pietersen and Morgan have been the stars. Pietersen has scored half-centuries against Pakistan and South Africa in the Super Eights and Morgan has consistently proved to be a good finisher. Paul Collingwood is due some runs, though: in five innings he has only managed 39.

In a knockout game the captain winning the toss might be tempted to bat, but the stats at this ground are pretty even. There have been eight games played at St Lucia and four games have been won by the team batting first and four by the team chasing. The average run rate is exactly the same, while there’s only a marginal difference in the averages.

South Africa’s marks out of ten following their 3-0 defeat to Australia

Peter English04-Apr-2006

9
Makhaya Ntini
A constant threat both as a wicket-taker and potential bruiser. Justin Langer (head) and Andrew Symonds (lip) can vouch for his potency while he compiled a list of 19 wickets at 22.36 with probing lines and a never-give-up attitude. Without him South Africa would have been pummelled and his best performance was the 6 for 100 and 4 for 78 at Johannesburg, his third 10-wicket haul in Tests. Was given out incorrectly to end the second match that signalled the series loss.7
Mark Boucher
Comfortably out-batted Adam Gilchrist, who shaded his opponent in the battle of the gloves. Two fantastic half-centuries showed his love of a contest against Australia; the first almost sealed a draw at Durban and the second pushed them to the brink of a win at Johannesburg. Talked about losing respect for some of the Australians before the series, but gained plenty of kudos for his 175 runs at 35 and 11 catches.6.5
Jacques Kallis
The stand-in captain for the gut-wrenching third Test, Kallis was the lead South African batsman in a bowler-dominated contest. His fighting 114 out of 267 at Durban was admirable and he made other useful contributions against a testing attack to grab 227 runs at 37.83. Also collected seven wickets, but could not steer his temporary side to an almost certain victory

5
Nicky Boje
Australia tried to target him but he coped despite being used strangely by Graeme Smith in the first two games. Seven wickets was a suitable reward for a bowler who offered the attack some variety and he made an important 43 in the first innings at Johannesburg.Ashwell Prince
Fought for every run but passed fifty only once with a fantastic 93 in a tough first innings at Johannesburg when the second top score was 43. Was again troubled by Shane Warne and received a bad decision in the second innings of the final Test, but the team wanted greater returns than his 17, 27, 33 and 7 in the first two games.4.5
AB de Villiers
One good Test at Durban was sandwiched by two poor ones as he had more trouble coping with Australia’s fast bowlers. His 50 and 46 was a fine double in the second Test but he needed to turn one of those into a century. Will look forward to easier series where he can show his undoubted talent.4
Andre Nel
Became most involved during an argument with Gilchrist in the second Test as he was being hit for 22 in an over. Came into the series with a foot injury and by the final match was delivering in the 120kph range and suffering from an illness that restricted him to two overs in the second innings. Only six victims in a disappointing series.Jacques Rudolph
Nothing exceptional in six innings for 125 runs ranging from a duck at Johannesburg to 41 at Cape Town. The peak of his summer was the century at Perth in the first Test against Australia this summer and hasn’t neared it since.

3.5
Shaun Pollock
Missed the first Test with a back injury and was relegated from opener to first-change by the third. Tried a new run-up but was not overly effective as he managed only four wickets on pitches expected to suit him.Graeme Smith
Another series to forget against Australia and he must have been almost relieved to miss the final game with a finger injury. Scored only 75 runs in four innings – he didn’t get a half-century in five Tests – and lost the series with a whimper.Herschelle Gibbs
Has severe technical problems to fix after being bowled four times in the series, including a horrible no-shot offering in the first innings at Johannesburg. His 53 in the second attempt there was the most dominant batting performance of the game, but again his side needed more from such a talented player.1.5
Boeta Dippenaar
Came in for Smith for the final Test and made a bright 32 and 20. May get another chance soon if the captain’s injury is a long-term one.Andrew Hall
Played in only the first Test and picked up 1 for 66 and 0 for 16 before being replaced by Pollock.

Tamim Iqbal has returned to the Bangladesh ODI side to lead in the first two matches against England next month. Tamim had missed the ODI series against India in December because of a groin injury, with Liton Das leading the side to a 2-1 win.There were three inclusions in the side. Towhid Hridoy earned a maiden call-up while Taijul Islam returned to the side. Hridoy scored more than 400 runs in the BPL, which prompted his call-up, while Taijul is a like-for-like replacement for Nasum Ahmed, who was among the five players dropped.The others to be dropped were Yasir Ali, Anamul Haque, Nurul Hasan and Shoriful Islam.Anamul, who returned to the ODI side after four years against Zimbabwe in mid-2022, made only 33 runs in three innings against India. Yasir played just one game and scored 25. Nurul, meanwhile, didn’t play a single game in the India series.Among those who returned to the side, Tamim played most of the BPL matches for Khulna Tigers, but he missed the last few games to stay fit for the England games. Taijul played only three ODIs last year, taking a five-wicket haul against West Indies.”Towhid Hridoy has been doing well in the BPL,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin said. “He was in our pool of potential players, and was part of the HP [High Performance] and Bangladesh A sides. Yasir remains in our thinking, as we plan to take another player in the squad. Nasum is being considered for another format, while we dropped Nurul and Shoriful due to form.”The three-match ODI series will start on March 1 in Dhaka and will be part of the ODI Super League. Those will be followed by as many T20Is from March 9 to 14.Bangladesh squad for England ODIs: Tamim Iqbal (capt), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Ebadot Hossain, Taijul Islam, Towhid Hridoy

MatériaMais Notícias

Uma das rivalidades mais antigas e tradicionais do futebol paulista volta a acontecer. Após oito anos sem se enfrentarem, Portuguesa e Corinthians jogam neste domingo (12), às 16h, na Arena Mané Garrincha, em Brasília, mas enfrentando realidades diferentes.

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+ Erro de Balbuena custa caro em noite desastrosa da defesa do Corinthians

O Timão sonha com títulos e começou a temporada com bons resultados sob o comando de Fernando Lázaro. Já a Lusa voltou à elite do futebol paulista após sete anos e luta contra o rebaixamento. A equipe começou o ano com o técnico Mazola Júnior e agora é comandada por Gilson Kleina.

O último embate entre as equipes foi em março de 2015, na Neo Química Arena. Sob o comando de Tite, o Corinthians derrotou a Portuguesa por 2 a 0, com dois gols de Malcom.

+ Veja as movimentações do mercado da bola no LANCE!

Ao todo, Lusa e Timão se enfrentaram 257 vezes, e o clube alvinegro leva vantagem no duelo, tendo levado a melhor em 143 ocasiões. Já o rubro-verde tem 60 vitórias, e 54 partidas terminaram empatadas. O LANCE! separou dois duelos para destrinchar a rivalidade.

CHUVA E RECORDE DE GOLS

Uma das partidas mais emblemáticas neste clássico aconteceu em 1928. Em duelo válido pelo Campeonato Paulista, o Corinthians venceu a Portuguesa por 10 a 5 no antigo Parque Parque Antarctica. Com quinze gols em noventa minutos, o jogo teve média de um gol a cada seis minutos.

Até os dias de hoje, esta é a partida da história do Campeonato Paulista com o maior número de gols.

+ Veja tabela e simule os jogos do Campeonato Paulista

POLÊMICA COM JAVIER CASTRILLI

Outro duelo que ficou marcado na história do clássico aconteceu na semifinal do Campeonato Paulista de 1998. O lado alvinegro era liderado por Gamarra, Rincón, Vampeta e Marcelinho Carioca, enquanto o rubro-verde tinha César, Augusto, Evair e Aílton.

Como teve melhor campanha, o Corinthians jogava por dois resultados iguais, e o primeiro jogo terminou empatado por 1 a 1 no Morumbi.

No confronto decisivo, disputado também no Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, a Lusa saiu na frente com Aílton. No segundo tempo, o árbitro argentino Javier Castrilli deu pênalti de Evair em Cris, e os jogadores da Lusa ficaram enfurecidos. Marcelinho Carioca converteu e empatou a partida, mas Da Silva recolocou a Lusa na frente.

Porém, aos 44 minutos da etapa final, o argentino marcou mais um pênalti polêmico para o Timão. Os ânimos aumentaram e quatro jogadores, sendo três da Portuguesa, foram expulsos. Rincón fez o gol que colocou o Alvinegro na final, mas a equipe de Vanderlei Luxemburgo foi derrotada pelo São Paulo na decisão.

RAIO-X
PORTUGUESA X CORINTHIANS

GERAL
257 jogos
143 vitórias do Corinthians
54 empates
60 vitórias da Portuguesa

PAULISTÃO
162 jogos
89 vitórias do Corinthians
35 empates
38 vitórias da Portuguesa

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