It might sound like it, but it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to state that this summer has been one of Chelsea’s best in a very long time.

Enzo Maresca’s men came into it as Conference League champions and with Champions League football secured, only to then go and demolish Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final.

On top of the successes on the pitch, the West Londoners have been incredibly busy off it, welcoming in a host of brilliant players, including striker duo Liam Delap and Joao Pedro.

Yet, the Pensioners are not done there, as reports have now linked them with a goalscoring monster who is so dangerous he could be bad news for the two forwards.

Chelsea's summer business

To ensure Maresca’s side can kick on next season, the board have gone out of their way to back the manager over the last month or so.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

On top of the £60m for Pedro and the £30m for Delap, the West Londoners splashed £48m on the dynamic Jamie Gittens, who racked up 17 goal involvements in 49 games for Borussia Dortmund last season.

However, the Blues may have saved their most audacious transfer for last, as they’re now being linked to an incredibly in-demand forward who would possibly be bad news for Pedro and Delap: Hugo Ekitiké.

Yes, according to a recent report from journalist Ben Jacobs, Chelsea are one of a number of clubs who admire the Eintracht Frankfurt star.

Newcastle United are currently leading the race for his signature and have seen a £70m offer rejected, but Liverpool and Manchester United are also keen on the player, alongside the Blues, per Jacobs.

In terms of how much he’d ultimately cost, reports from earlier this summer claimed that an offer of around £85m should be enough to tempt the German side into selling.

It would be a costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, but one well worth fighting for, even if it would potentially be bad news for Pedro and Delap.

Why Ekitike could be bad news for Pedro and Delap

The first thing to say is that both Delap and Pedro are incredibly talented forwards, with the former already racking up a goal and an assist in six games for the Blues and the latter doing even better, scoring three goals in three games.

However, when it comes to pure output, the pair pale in comparison to what Ekitike was able to produce last season, and that ultimately is why his arrival could be bad news for their future game time.

For example, in 48 appearances this season, totalling 3644 minutes, the former Paris Saint-Germain ace scored a mammoth 22 goals and provided 12 assists for good measure.

In other words, the 23-year-old machine was able to maintain an average of a goal involvement every 1.41 games, or every 107.17 minutes.

In contrast, the former Brighton & Hove Albion star scored ten goals and provided seven assists in 30 appearances, totalling 2136 minutes, which comes out to a less impressive average of a goal involvement every 1.76 games, or every 125.64 minutes.

Likewise, the former Ipswich Town gem did well, scoring 12 goals and providing two assists in 40 appearances, totalling 2670 minutes, but that still comes out to a far less impressive average of a goal involvement every 2.85 games, or every 190.71 minutes.

Then, on top of his vastly superior output, the Frankfurt star, whom journalist Graeme Bailey once dubbed the “next Mbappé,” also has the advantage of more top-level experience.

He has made four appearances in the Champions League and 12 in the Europa League, compared to six for the Brazilian and none for the Englishman.

Ultimately, there are enough games in a season for all three to get game time, but should Chelsea sign Ekitike this summer, his outrageous ability in front of goal would surely see Pedro and Delap relegated to second and third choice, respectively.

PL rivals eyeing £100m Chelsea star; his exit could make room for Ekitike

It would be wise of Chelsea to cash in and upgrade.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Jul 16, 2025

تحدد مواجهات دور نصف النهائي من بطولة كأس الخليج 2024 “خليحي 26” المقامة في دولة الكويت، بعد انتهاء مباريات دور المجموعات.

وتقام بطولة كأس الخليج “خليجي 26″، بمشاركة 8 منتخبات، حيث انطلقت بداية من يوم السبت 21 ديسمبر وتنتهي يوم الجمعة 3 يناير 2025.

واستطاع منتخب عمان أن يتأهل متصدرًا للمجموعة الأولى بعدما أنهي دور المجموعات برصيد 5 نقاط، بينما جاء منتخب الكويت في المركز الثاني، بترتيب المجموعة، بنفس عدد النقاط.

طالع | المنتخبات المتأهلة إلى نصف نهائي كأس الخليج 2024 “خليجي 26”

كما حسم منتخبا البحرين والسعودية تأهلهما إلى دور نصف النهائي من المجموعة الثانية لبطولة كأس الخليج، بعد نهاية الجولة الثالثة مساء السبت.

حيث تأهل منتخب البحرين متصدرًا للمجموعة الثانية برصيد 6 نقاط، يأتي منتخب السعودية في المركز الثاني بنفس عدد النقاط، لكن الصدارة لمنتخب البحرين، للفوز في المواجهة المباشرة بينهما. 

وبذلك يواجه منتخب عمان وصيف المجموعة الثانية السعودية، في دور نصف النهائي الأول لـ كأس الخليج “خليجي 26”.

بينما منتخب الكويت يلاقي متصدر المجموعة الثانية، البحرين في دور نصف النهائي الثاني من بطولة كأس الخليج “خليجي 26”. مواجهات نصف نهائي كأس الخليج 2024 “خليجي 26”

عمان ضد السعودية

الكويت ضد البحرين. مواعيد مواجهات نصف نهائي كأس الخليج 2024 “خليجي 26”

عمان ضد السعودية

تقام يوم الثلاثاء 31 ديسمبر، في تمام الساعة 4:30 مساءً بتوقيت مصر، 5:30 بتوقيت السعودية والبحرين و6:30 بتوقيت عمان.

البحرين ضد الكويت

تقام يوم الثلاثاء 31 ديسمبر، في تمام الساعة 7:45 مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة، 8:45 بتوقيت السعودية والكويت.

That was all far more dramatic than it needed to be for Arsenal.

The Gunners came into this game top of the Premier League and top of the Champions League. They have been the best team in the country.

By contrast, Wolverhampton Wanderers have been one of the worst sides we’ve seen in top-flight history. They had and still have two points to their name.

The match didn’t play out like that, however. Some might say this was the worst performance of the Mikel Arteta era to date.

Arsenal found life difficult and did look as though they were heading towards a 1-0 victory. Rob Edwards’ side stood firm and scored a dramatic last-gasp equaliser. Off they went, celebrating like crazy in front of the travelling support.

Yet, the Gunners had other ideas. Bukayo Saka grabbed the bull by the horns, swung in a delicious cross that was headed into the back of his own net by Yerson Mosquera with a matter of minutes left. Arsenal had secured a 2-1 win.

How Arsenal beat Wolves

The north Londoners have swept teams aside with relative ease this term.

Yet, in recent weeks, they have found things trickier. They drew with ten-man Chelsea, lost in the last minute to Aston Villa and then very nearly tripped up against the bottom team in the division on Saturday night.

Arsenal have been accused of looking leggy across that run but the team selected by Arteta this weekend should have had enough.

Chalkboard

No disrespect to Wolves but Arsenal’s B team should have had enough to swat them aside. However, as the old saying goes, there is no easy game in the Premier League.

On this occasion, they had the mighty Saka to thank as he showcased why he is one of the best right wingers in the land.

Truth be told, Saka hasn’t been at his fluent best in 2025. His assist for Mikel Merino’s equaliser at Chelsea was his first league assist for a year.

That said, in recent weeks, he’s started to come alive and he delivered arguably his finest performance of 2025/26 to date.

It was Saka’s inswinging corner that led to the first goal. The ball came in, evaded everyone before it struck the post and came off Sam Johnstone before going in. It went down as an own goal.

Then, as Arsenal desperately craved a winner, Saka came up trumps again. He grabbed proceedings by the scruff of the neck and put his team back in the driver’s seat to win the title.

Saka’s cross was aimed at substitute Gabriel Jesus who got across Arokodare inside the area. Jesus didn’t get a touch but the Wolves defender did.

Arsenal had Saka and a brace of own goals to thank for their win. Plenty in red and white were way below par though.

Arsenal's biggest underperformer against Wolves

On paper, this looked like a very dangerous Arsenal side.

Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres all started as a three-prong attack but while the former dazzled, the latter two struggled significantly.

Gyokeres, in particular, has had a difficult week since returning from injury. The Swede came off the bench a week ago but did very little to inspire the Gunners at Villa Park.

In midweek, the big-money summer arrival struggled again, taken off just after the hour mark having made just four passes. He barely had a sniff of goal.

Sadly, the same could be said of his display against Wolves this weekend. On this occasion, he completed just three passes and had fewer touches (15) than goalkeeper David Raya (30). It was hardly a surprise to see one Arsenal podcaster suggest that it looked like Arsenal are “playing with ten men” when Gyokeres leads the line.

While his hold-up play has improved to a degree, the hulking striker simply isn’t doing enough to influence play in the final third. His runs aren’t strong enough and that was evident in the first half.

Saka should have had another assist as the winger flashed in a low cross across the face of the goal. Gyokeres didn’t react quickly enough and couldn’t get on the end of it.

The former Sporting forward only ended up taking one shot, an effort he did well to fashion himself but he ultimately dragged the ball wide.

His performance was summarised brilliantly by Arsenal reporter Charles Watts who handed the attacker a 5/10 match rating, writing that ‘he couldn’t get into the game’ and that ‘Arsenal need more from him’. Sadly, that would appear to be an ongoing theme of his time at the Emirates to date.

For a man who scored 54 goals last season, it’s staggering that he doesn’t look likely to score. Arteta needed a striker who can score with regularity more than anything in the summer but on the evidence we’ve seen thus far, he is not good enough.

When Arsenal face Everton next week, the manager must choose either Merino or Jesus ahead of him instead.

أكد ألكسندر لافيت، المدير الفني لفريق استاد أبيدجان الإيفواري، أن مواجهة فريقه المقبلة أمام النادي الأهلي تمثل أهمية كبيرة، مشيرًا إلى أن الأهلي فريق قوي ومرشح دائمًا لحصد البطولات الإفريقية.

ويحل الأهلي ضيفًا على استاد أبيدجان في خامس جولات دور المجموعات ببطولة دوري أبطال إفريقيا.

عرض عراقي يقرب كهربا من الرحيل.. والأهلي ينتظر القرار

وقال لافيت في تصريحات تلفزيونية بفضائية “أون تايم سبورتس”: “مباراة السبت أمام الأهلي هامة جدًا، خاصة بعد اللقاء الأخير للأهلي أمام شباب بلوزداد، نحن نسعى لتحقيق الفوز والحصول على النقاط الثلاث، لأن المباراة النهائية ستكون على ملعبنا في أبيدجان، وهذا يمنحها طابعًا خاصًا”.

وأضاف: “الأهلي فريق كبير معتاد على الانتصارات، وهو أحد أفضل الفرق في إفريقيا والعالم، ندرك جيدًا أن المباراة ستكون صعبة لأن الأهلي يمتلك لاعبين مميزين قادرين على صناعة الفارق”. 

وأردف: “الأهلي لديه حارس مرمى هام جدًا، بالإضافة إلى رأس حربة متميز يمثل تهديدًا حقيقيًا، علينا إيقاف مفاتيح لعب الأهلي إذا أردنا تحقيق نتيجة إيجابية”.

وتابع لافيت: “الأهلي هو الفريق الأصعب والأفضل في المجموعة، وأراه مرشحًا بقوة للتتويج باللقب هذا الموسم كما فعل في الموسم الماضي”.

واختتم مدرب استاد أبيدجان حديثه قائلًا: “مواجهة شباب بلوزداد في أبيدجان ستكون أيضًا صعبة، لكننا نمتلك الإمكانيات لتحقيق الفوز، وسنسعى لتحقيق أفضل النتائج في المباراتين المقبلتين”.

ويحتل الأهلي وصافة ترتيب المجموعة الثالثة برصيد 7 نقاط بفارق نقطة واحدة عن أورلاندو بايرتس الجنوب إفريقي صاحب الصدارة.

فيما يتذيل استاد أبيدجان ترتيب المجموعة ببطولة دوري أبطال إفريقيا برصيد نقطة واحدة بعد أن خسر 3 مباريات وتعادل في واحدة.

سجل كودي جاكبو لاعب فريق كرة القدم الأول بنادي ليفربول، هدف التعادل للريدز في المباراة التي تجمعه بـ مانشستر يونايتد في كلاسيكو الكرة الإنجليزية.

المباراة تجمع بين الفريقين ضمن الجولة 20، ويستضيف فيها ليفربول على ملعبه أنفيلد رود، نظيره مانشستر يونايتد الذي لم يفز خلال المباريات الخمس الأخيرة.

تقدم ليساندرو مارتينيز هدف التقدم بعد أقل من دقائق على بداية الشوط الثاني، ولكن الرد لم يتأخر.

الهدف جاء في الدقيقة 59، برد سريع من أصحاب الأرض، بعد تمريرة من ماك أليستر لـ كودي جاكبو الذي تمكن من مراوغة ماتياس دي ليخت بطريقة رائعة ووضع الكرة بشكل أروع في شباك الحارس أندريه أونانا. هدف كودي جاكبو في مباراة ليفربول ومانشستر يونايتد

انتقل أحمد رفاعي لاعب فريق الكرة الأول بنادي الزمالك، إلى صفوف فريق نادي سيراميكا كليوباترا خلال فترة الانتقالات الشتوية الحالية.

وعلم بطولات أن رفاعي (مواليد 2005) والذي يشغل مركز المدافع، قد وقع على عقود انضمامه لنادي سيراميكا كليوباترا في صفقة انتقال حر.

خاص.. التفاصيل المالية الكاملة لاتفاق الزمالك الجديد مع الجزيري

الجدير بالذكر، أن أحمد رفاعي قد أعلن في وقت سابق عن تجديد تعاقده مع الزمالك لمدة خمسة مواسم.

الجدير بالذكر أن انتقال اللاعب إلى صفوف فريق سيراميكا كليوباترا، جاء بعد عدم توثيق عقوده مع الزمالك.

يذكر، أنه قد تم تصعيد أحمد رفاعي للفريق الأول بنادي الزمالك وخاض أول مباراة في أغسطس 2022 تحت قيادة جوسفالدو فيريرا.

حقق فريق آينتراخت فرانكفورت فوزًا ضد بوروسيا دورتموند، مساء اليوم الجمعة، في إطار منافسات بطولة الدوري الألماني.

واستضاف ملعب “دوتش بانك بارك” مباراة الفريقين في إطار منافسات الجولة الثامنة عشر من بطولة الدوري الألماني، حيث فاز فرانكفورت بهدفين دون رد. أهداف مباراة فرانكفورت وبوروسيا دورتموند في الدوري الألماني

وتمكن هوجو إيكتيكي من تسجيل هدف فرانكفورت الأول، في الدقيقة الثامنة عشر من الشوط الأول.

وتمكن فرانكفورت من القضاء على أي آمال لدى بوروسيا دورتموند بعدما أحرز أوسكار هويلوند الهدف الثاني في الدقيقة 92.

جاء فوز آينتراخت فرانكفورت الليلة في غياب النجم المصري عمر مرموش، حيث أكد النادي عدم مشاركته في مباراة اليوم لوجود مفاوضات مع نادِ آخر بشأن رحيله.

وتشير التقارير إلى اقتراب رحيل عمر مرموش عن فرانكفورت وانضمامه إلى صفوف مانشستر سيتي بمقتضى عقد مغري من الناحية المادية (لمطالعة التفاصيل من هنا).

بتلك النتيجة، ارتفع رصيد فرانكفورت إلى 36 نقطة في المركز الثالث، بينما تجمد رصيد بوروسيا دورتموند عند 25 نقطة في المركز العاشر.

The next time people start talking about New Zealand as favourites, Daniel Vettori might just want to tell them to shut up

Andrew McGlashan at Old Trafford26-May-2008
Daniel Vettori watched as the second Test slipped away from New Zealand.’It’s a pretty disappointing feeling in our dressing room at the moment’ © Getty Images
The next time people start talking about New Zealand as favourites, Daniel Vettori might just want to tell them to shut up. It certainly doesn’t seem to suit his troops to have their chances built up, even when they have secured a first-innings of 179 on a turning pitch. Vettori admitted that the six-wicket defeat at Old Trafford was “a tough pill to swallow”, as the dynamic, incisive cricket of the opening two-and-half-days was replaced by a horrendous batting collapse and ragged fielding display.Even with England 76 for 1 overnight there were positive vibes from the New Zealand camp that the pitch would offer them enough to force victory. However, the surface was far more placid and New Zealand’s bowlers couldn’t maintain their disciplines. “When you turn up on the fourth day and have high expectations of winning, to see the game dragged away from you it’s a pretty disappointing feeling in our dressing room at the moment,” Vettori said.This isn’t the first time in recent history that New Zealand put England on the ropes. It happened twice in the preceding series after the home side had taken a 1-0 lead in Hamilton. England were rocking on 136 for 5 in Wellington, before Paul Collingwood and Tim Ambrose turned the match around. Then, in Napier, New Zealand lost 9 for 65 against an inspired Ryan Sidebottom.After their equally rapid demise of 7 for 29 at Old Trafford, it is becoming apparent that they don’t know how to nail the opposition while they are down. The same charge has been laid at England’s door, too, but they have just been able to find that little extra, in three out of the last four Tests, when it has mattered.”Our third innings has let us down for a period of time, whether it’s with bat or ball, and unfortunately in this game it was with the bat,” Vettori said. “I’m not sure if you can put it down to being bad frontrunners. I think it’s down to not assessing situations. We talk quite hard about staying calm and not worrying about outcomes, just realising the more runs we put on the board the more pressure goes on England. Unfortunately we got caught up in losing a couple of wickets and tried to hit our way out of it.”The disappointment was clear in Vettori’s voice. This was a gilt-edged chance for an unfancied New Zealand team to cause a major upset. It was when that realisation dawned on them that the panic began to set it. Although 294 should have been a tough chase, England had already received a vital boost by rolling the visitors for such a small total second time around.”You always lose a little bit of momentum when your batting folds the way it did,” Vettori said. “To be bowled out for 114 hurts, but when we set out we thought with 294, if we could get through their top three or four, we knew there were some guys who hadn’t had runs in a while, and a tail we were confident of getting out. You sit back and think you can do it. But a couple of their guys stepped up and played really well.”Vettori claimed 5 for 66 in the first innings, ripping and fizzing the ball throughout his spell. However, there was far less joy for him second time around after England’s use of the heavy roller, while Vettori also didn’t seem to have quite the same spark. The captain knew New Zealand’s chances of success rested on his shoulders. “Yesterday’s conditions were almost perfect for bowling spin, it had sharp turn,” he said. “Today only towards the end of the second session did it start to liven up a bit. I think we have all acknowledged that was down to the heavy roller and England’s assessment of conditions. So you have to give Michael Vaughan credit for that.”I think we got a little carried away with the fact that the wicket was doing as much so we went searching. That’s not our strength, which is to bowl maidens, build up pressure and see what happens. We perhaps got a little frustrated that the wicket wasn’t doing as much today.”New Zealand weren’t helped by two untimely injuries during the match, the first sending Daniel Flynn off to hospital after a nasty blow in his mouth from James Anderson, and the second when Jacob Oram hurt his shoulder before the third day’s play. The batting order was altered for the second innings, but Vettori refused to make excuses. “It’s all on us, not the injuries.”Vettori now faces the task of motivating his players ahead of the final Test at Trent Bridge. They have a warm-up match against Northamptonshire first, and Vettori is grateful there is time to regroup. “I think if we rolled around into a Test three days later there would be some guys who are still reeling from this loss,” he said. “Hopefully that game will be a chance to get a few things out of the system and work on a few things. Then we can come to Trent Bridge and hopefully square the series. We still know that if we square the series it’s been a good result for us.”For the first half of this match New Zealand were in control, which is what makes the final outcome even harder to accept. Ross Taylor’s 154 was a thrilling innings and the captain himself showed what a craftsman he is with the ball. However, those thoughts were a long way from Vettori’s mind as he was left pondering what might have been. “We lost a game we should have won. Taylor was magnificent and the way Iain O’Brien bowled into the wind stood out, but I don’t think they matter to anyone at the moment.”

The late Bob Woolmer brings the game’s teaching manuals comprehensively up to date

Vic Marks19-Oct-2008

An admission: I have not read every word of , but I feel little guilt about that. The book is over 650 pages long and not designed to be read from start to finish. It is a reference book that will sit invaluably in a club’s pavilion or
on the sturdiest shelves of any cricketing enthusiast.Even if you have decided that the purchase of one more bat or pair of boots is too much of an extravagance in the autumn of your career, there is much to cherish here. As in all the best coaching manuals, it is the specific examples, demonstrating a more general truth, that can captivate ex-players as well as current ones.The book also serves as a poignant memorial of Woolmer’s life. It will soon become a compulsory text for those hoping to make their way in the game, in the same league as some of the masterpieces of the past. Woolmer, who has collaborated here with the sports scientist Tim Noakes, is quick to acknowledge the quality of some of those gems, like Don Bradman’s and Mike Brearley’s , though he may have regarded both these offerings as rather brief. Where Brearley quotes the Greek historian Xenophon at the end of his book, Woolmer is more likely to quote Dermot Reeve.On Bradman’s Woolmer writes: “yet nowhere in his book does Bradman suggest that his batting method was unique, much less a superior solution to the challenges faced by batsmen; nor does he clearly differentiate his method from that taught in the MCC coaching manual.”There is no doubt that we have moved on from the MCC coaching manual. For proof we can turn to the section on reverse-sweeping, a trademark shot of the Warwickshire side that Woolmer coached in the 1990s.I enjoyed his recollection of a little incident at Edgbaston during that time.It was agreed at a team meeting that everyone should practise the shot in the nets before attempting it in the middle. But no one informed Warwickshire’s 2nd XI coach, Neal Abberley, something of a traditionalist in these matters. Woolmer remembers seeing a tearful Roger Twose stomping away across the tarmac. Twose had just been expelled from the nets by Abberley for playing the reverse sweep.It will not surprise those who know of Woolmer’s famous openness to the unorthodox that there is a sequence of photos, with Jacques Kallis as the model batsman, demonstrating the defensive reverse sweep. Yes, the defensive reverse sweep. I am still not sure whether Abberley would approve.Nor does the MCC manual have sections on the pathology of lumbar stress-fractures in fast bowlers or on tobacco and alcohol. We are informed in this treatise that “the shift in attitude towards alcohol by the world’s toughest competitors hopefully presages a move away from the long and unhappy marriage between cricket and the pub so prevalent in the twentieth century”. Ah, well, welcome to the 21st century. Bob Woolmer’s Art and Science of Cricket
by Bob Woolmer and Tim Noakes
New Holland Publishers £30

Sriram Veera explains some Twenty20 tactics, lifts the veil on some common misconceptions, raises some questions – and sticks his neck out answering them

Sriram Veera18-Apr-2009Sriram Veera explains some Twenty20 tactics, lifts the veil on some common misconceptions, raises some questions – and sticks his neck out answering themShane Watson took an off-stump guard and repeatedly hit to the on side, which proved very effective•Getty ImagesThe toss-upLast year, 28 out of 58 games (one was washed out) were won by the team calling correctly at the toss. The captains realised that chasing a target was the better option, with teams often unsure of what a competitive target could be when batting first. This could be a key factor this year – Stephen Fleming has already gone on record saying that in South Africa batting first in the night games could be the way to go.The runaroundThe two finalists, Rajasthan and Chennai, ran the most singles, twos, and threes (750 and 748 runs respectively) in the tournament and their boundary percentage (as a factor of total runs) was almost identical – 59.28 and 59.23. Interestingly, they had a lower boundary percentage compared to the other teams – showing that Twenty20 is not about slogging.The brain in the brawnThe successful batsmen had a different technique – and it wasn’t slogging. Instead, there was some sound scientific rationale – and lots of practice – behind it. Shane Watson’s was perhaps the most obvious technical change: he took an off-stump guard and repeatedly hit to the on side. Others like Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma chose to stay beside the line and drive through or over the covers. Shaun Marsh stayed very still with a leg stump guard and drove hard in the V. The successful batsmen weren’t too keen to get behind the line. Martin Crowe famously said, “In Twenty20, you have to forget the stumps.” What innovations will this edition on South African pitches throw up? It’s not all runfestsThere were seven 200-plus totals in April but only one in May in the first year. There were several reasons: the pitches slowed down, the bowlers adapted, a few of the big-hitting batsmen left midway and, interestingly, the pressure increased on the batsmen as the tournament moved closer to the semi-final stage.Will the pitches have more zip under lights in South Africa, as Fleming predicted? This could affect the totals. Even during the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, the totals steadily decreased as the tournament progressed.Powerplays and end gameLogic suggests that teams have to make the Powerplays count in this format. But, if the first year was any indication, that wasn’t the case across the board. Mumbai Indians revelled here, taking 26 wickets while losing just 16 and scoring more runs than they conceded. The winners, Rajasthan, were steady in the Powerplays but really controlled the game in the middle and end overs. Rajasthan scored at 8.7 runs per over during the middle phase (6-14 overs) and really tightened the noose in the last six overs – they took 48 wickets. You might see the trend continue in South Africa. The team that controls the middle and end overs might be the ones going all the way.A Cricinfo study at the end of 36 games last season showed that yorkers constituted approximately a little over 2% of the total balls bowled•AFPPace vs spinBoth performed superbly in the first edition. Fast bowlers averaged 28.54 per wicket while the spinners averaged 30.38 for theirs and the economy-rate was pretty much the same; a little over 8. Under lights, in South Africa, logic dictates that the pace bowlers might hold the key but one has to wait and watch how the pitches play. During the recent Australia-South Africa ODI series, the pitches were a tad slow and offered turn.York ’em out?Not really. A Cricinfo study at the end of 36 games last season showed that yorkers constituted approximately a little over 2% of the total balls bowled while a majority – around 61% – were on a good length and nearly 18% of the deliveries were short of length. The trick was the change of pace. Not the really obvious slower ones but there were the cutters, little changes of pace, the slower bouncers and the ball held across the seam. Those were perfectly suited to the slower pitches in India – South Africa could be a whole new ball game.The new starsFinally, it’s down to the players. Who will be this year’s Shane Watson? Tyron Henderson, Jesse Ryder and Albie Morkel are all in the running. Which Indian local cricketer will take the leap from the unknown to stardom? Will it be the fast bowlers Kamran Khan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Amit Singh? All should thrive on South African conditions. There’s been much talk that Indian domestic cricketers would struggle in South African conditions but the fact is that those in contention for their team’s playing XI are mainly seamers and they should revel.