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Senior figures at the ECB have been grilled by MPs on the budget for the Hundred at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee, amid fears that projected costs for the new competition have grown significantly.In an oral evidence session that formed a key part of the DCMS inquiry into the future of English cricket, Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, repeatedly failed to give specific answers to questions regarding the budget for the new tournament.Former Somerset chairman Andy Nash – who resigned from the board of the ECB 18 months ago citing “standards of corporate governance… falling well short of what’s acceptable,” and a “move to promote eight counties as the first among equals” – gave evidence citing figures from an ESPNcricinfo article which demonstrated that the expected cost of the Hundred has risen significantly since the tournament was initially proposed.ALSO READ: ECB deny downplaying Blast amid fears for Hundred’s ticket salesJo Stevens, the Labour MP for Cardiff Central, questioned why the ECB had chosen to introduce a fourth format, asking “what’s wrong with T20?”Colin Graves, the ECB’s chairman, claimed that “the rest of the world is looking at it [the 100-ball format]. There’s at least four countries out there that are looking at how it develops, and they are certainly interested in it.”But the tensest exchange came between Stevens and Harrison on the subject of the budget for the Hundred, with the competition set to start in July 2020.”You presumably had a budget for it when you started the Hundred,” Stevens said. “What was the budget, and how much has it cost? How are you doing against your budgeting?”Unhappy with Harrison’s initial answer, Stevens repeated: “Can you answer the question I’m asking? What was the budget and what have you spent?”Harrison replied: “That is three years ago, the budget has obviously moved from that point as the development of the concept comes to light and there are costs… we actually added a women’s tournament…”Stevens continued: “Mr Harrison, it’s a simple question. What was the budget and how much have you spent?”In total, Stevens asked six times what the budget was for the new competition, and how the ECB’s costs had compared to expectations. Harrison said: “The budget is in line with the game’s expectations. I’m not going to reveal what that is.”We have a valuation which was met in the process of the broadcast budget, and the tournament budget which is… the tournament hasn’t happened yet. It’s happening next year. We’re in the budget-planning process. We’re planning the budget now for next year which will go through the board, through the proper governance structures and will be revealed… will effectively be confirmed in time for next year. We haven’t done budgets for any part of our business next year yet.”The budget is in line with the expectations of the Hundred board, and the ECB board.”In the second part of the session, Nash described the introduction of the new tournament as “an almighty punt and a reckless gamble” with “the potential to split and bankrupt the game”.”It will clearly will damage the other three formats,” he said. “We’ll be left with a financial crisis.”Andy Nash expressed concerns about the ECB’s financial position at a DCMS select committee oral evidence session•Getty Images

Nash claimed the first year of the Hundred would see the ECB lost £20m, and said that it “is going to cost about £60m a year to put on. So if no new fans come it will have cost £200m to cannibalise the existing game.”In fact, the first-year lost is likely to be closer to £7.5million. As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the ECB is set to claim that the Hundred will make a profit in its first year. The board projects that it will gross £51million in its first year against costs of £35million – but those costs exclude the £1.3m fee guaranteed to each county. With those included, the competition is not projected to make a profit in its first five years, though it could break even in year five. For the 2020 edition, the costs including payments to the counties are projected to be around £58.6million.T20 leagues around the world have similarly struggled for profitability until several years after their inception. Harrison later claimed that he could not provide full budget figures as they are not yet fully agreed and signed off by the board.Nash later claimed that “fans feel as though the game is being taken away from them”.”[The ECB] really are betting the farm that the next TV deal will pay back the investment on the Hundred,” he said. “We have here the germ of a major financial crisis for the game. This year was a fantastic success for cricket. Why put it all at risk? A lot of people in the game are completely baffled.”We’ll be left with a financial crisis. Where’s the justification for such a high-risk route?”Nash reasserted his support for a T20 competition split between two divisions of nine counties, as proposed by a working party he chaired when at the ECB. The plan was initially backed by the CEOs of the first-class counties.”You’d have nine teams in each division and, hey presto, you have an English Premier League in the top division,” he said. “That option is still there. It’s still what fans would like. It would cost nothing like as much as The Hundred. It would present far less of a risk.”

Birmingham City have reportedly hijacked a Champions League team’s summer move for a striker who “does everything” in attack.

Davies eyeing another striker for Birmingham

The Blues have enjoyed a productive summer transfer window to date, signings the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi and Demarai Gray, bringing the latter back to the club where he started his career.

Manager Chris Davies has refused to rule out the idea of another centre forward arriving at Birmingham before the 2025/26 Championship season gets underway, though, no doubt wanting as much firepower as possible in his squad.

“No, not necessarily. At the moment we have got four centre-backs which is what we want. If nothing changes then we are where we are but you just don’t know how things are going to develop in the next few weeks.”

Birmingham will go strutting into the Championship looking for back-to-back promotions, following last season’s relentless title-winning League One campaign, and they are now being linked with an attacker who could help take them to greater heights.

Birmingham could sign a bigger talent than Cashin in "dynamite" £10m star

Birmingham City could soon win themselves a bigger talent than Eiran Cashin by landing this dynamite attacker.

1 ByKelan Sarson Jul 25, 2025 Birmingham hijack Celtic's move for striker

According to a report from Gol [via Celts Are Here], Birmingham are looking to hijack Celtic’s move for Girona striker Bojan Miovski this summer, holding talks with him over a switch to England. This has been followed by claims in the Spanish press that Girona are eyeing Leeds striker Mateo Joseph as they expect Miovski to leave.

The 26-year-old is a wanted man ahead of the new season, despite struggling to set the world alight in Spain since moving from Aberdeen last year.

Miovski could be another statement signing on top of Kyogo for Birmingham this summer, with the North Macedonia international scoring eight goals in 33 caps for his country.

It was at Aberdeen that the striker really made a name for himself, which is why he has been linked with Scotland’s biggest club for some time in Celtic, with a tally of 44 strikes in 98 appearances outlining his class. Meanwhile, former Scotland striker Billy Dodds is a big admirer of the attacker.

Miovski has the ability and pedigree to be a big hit in a Birmingham shirt, given his status as a proven international attacker, so it would feel big if they got a deal over the line.

To pip Celtic to his signature would also feel significant, considering they are a Champions League team, showing the giant strides being made by the Midlands outfit.

The calamity of Cape Town 18 months ago has helped Australia accept that the Headingley loss was simply a game of cricket they can learn from

Daniel Brettig27-Aug-2019The last time an Australian Test tour took on the trajectory of the current Ashes series, starting with a victory before beginning to fall away, the response of a tiring and weakening team desperate for victory was to resort to the infamous, obvious cheating of Newlands.With pressure compounding fatigue, a performance culture wearing away at weary minds and bodies, and anger at how circumstances and failings had conspired against them, that Australian team lost its way in the most awful and spectacular manner, while the rest of the world took the opportunity to raise a host of accumulated grievances.Australia’s current captain Tim Paine and vice-captain Pat Cummins were both part of that group, and in the deep anguish and frustration of Headingley, Ben Stokes’ heroics and all, there was acknowledgement that this time around, a different and better path must be taken. And that, for all of the difficulties of the past 18 months, there are now far more members of the team able to step away from events in the middle and remind everyone that this is, after all, a game.”Someone like Matt Wade, he’s been out of the side for two years and one of the first things he said this morning [before the final day] was, ‘if we win or if we lose, you turn up on the building site and no one knows’,” Cummins said. “So I think it’s a good reminder that it’s not the be all and end all. One lesson we learnt from Lord’s probably on that night where we were really close to ripping the game open, we got really emotional and almost just wanted it too much, so I was really proud how everyone stayed quite level this game.”When we bowled them out for 67 or they got a partnership we were quite even. I think it’s the sign of a pretty confident squad. Painey’s been brilliant. He walked straight into the change room and said it’s one-all, it’s all good, two more matches to go. Bowlers, him as a captain, everyone makes decisions and you reflect after the game and think, what could I have done differently?”When you look at it – a couple of catches, maybe a run out, but when a batsman comes out and scores a hundred like that, hitting sixes from an offspinner out of the rough so cleanly, you’ve just got to say well done. Someone’s had a day out, we’ll be right.”Marshalling the bowlers, Cummins agreed that there were a few moments to ponder. Not least some profligate bowling with the second new ball, having imposed enormous pressure on England for over after over leading up to it. “That was one thing we spoke about was with the new ball,” he said. “Obviously you feel like you’re more in the game with wickets but that wicket almost felt like a one-day wicket or an Indian wicket where with the new ball it’s a double-edged sword.”If you’re not absolutely perfect you can go for runs and I think if we reflect on that half-an-hour, they might have got 30 or 40 runs pretty quickly. But other than that I thought we were brilliant. We’ll have a look at that but the second new ball sometimes is a different ball game to the first new ball.”I think the most pleasing thing for us, one, we bowled really well, but as you said I feel like we’ve got really good plans and processes to all of them. Ben Stokes obviously had a day out today and was probably playing more like one-day cricket towards the end there but we saw yesterday they batted for 70 overs and kept them to two runs an over and always felt like we were in the game. All three games we’ve been in a match-winning position so we know how to do 99 per cent of it. Hopefully we can get over the line in the next one.”Ben Stokes survives an lbw appeal•Getty ImagesThe approach taken by Paine to spread the field for Stokes all the way through his match-winning 76-run stand with the last man Jack Leach (contribution: one run) has been a source of some consternation in the wake of defeat. Paine has admitted that he should at least have spoken more with the bowlers about maintaining attacking lines and lengths with that field, rather than taking it as a sign to effectively put the cue in the rack against Stokes and only try to dismiss Leach. Cummins admitted that such fields tended to put any bowler into white-ball mode.”Unfortunately yeah it is [like one-day cricket],” he said. “When the wicket’s like that and the ball’s still hard, it didn’t feel like it was going to swing or seam so as a bowler your options are you’re hopefully going to still snick him off so you’ve got the slips out there but other than that just trying to limit the damage. He’s faced almost 200 balls and when he started going he’s at the top of his game so it’s certainly hard work but we still had our chances. Obvious thing is the wicket got better and better the longer the game went on. I would have liked to score a few more runs myself.”Runs will more than likely be available from a welcome avenue at Old Trafford, via the return to fitness and selection of Steven Smith. Cummins said that Smith had remained very much involved in the game since he was ruled out through concussion, making his impending recall all the more welcome. “I know last week at Lord’s he said he was screaming at the TV from his hotel room watching the final hour,” Cummins said.”This game we were right on top and we’ve got the world’s best batter coming in for the next one so it’s great. I think from all reports he’s going to play the tour match next week. What has he got? 100-odd, 100-odd and 90-odd so it’s going to be great to be back.”Cummins had one more crucial involvement, firing in the return to Nathan Lyon that, had he held it, would have seen Leach run out with Australia triumphant by a single run. Here, once again, was a reminder why the refreshed Australian approach, forged out of the infamy of Newlands, should serve the tourists well at the pointy end of this Ashes series. “I probably didn’t help him out with the throw there, it could have been a bit better,” Cummins said. “But yeah, like everyone, you just want to win so desperately and the emotion gets to everyone slightly differently.”Gaz obviously wears his heart on his shoulder so we’ve got to get around him. But I think the next ball he bowled after that was three reds [for lbw] so on another day he’s the match-winner. It’s that fine line, if you lived and died by a win and a loss you’d be out of this business pretty quickly.”

With a total of just 224 to defend Virat Kohli admitted the dressing had “doubts” about what would happen. The India captain was also honest about their batting not going to according to plan because some of his men had played “horizontal” bat shots on a pitch that demanded they play straight.On a sunny Saturday, Kohli had no qualms in electing to bat and wanted to put up a score well above 250. But as the game progressed, and the slow nature of the pitch and a quality Afghanistan attack challenged the Indian batsmen, Kohli said they had to recalculate.”You expect yourself to win the toss and put up big runs on the board,” Kohli told the host broadcaster after India’s narrow 11-run win, wrapped up by a Mohammad Shami hat-trick off the penultimate ball of the match. “Then you see the nature of the pitch slowing down drastically with three wrist spinners [Rashid Khan, Rahmat Shah and Mujeeb Ur Rahman]. We thought 250-260 would have been par, but 270 would have been outstanding effort.”Watch on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Kohli’s fiftyBarring Kohli, who made his third half-century of the World Cup, every other Indian batsman struggled to find rhythm. Rohit Sharma was clueless against the carom ball from Mujeeb. KL Rahul abruptly played a reverse sweep and paid the price. Vijay Shankar attempted a sweep, tempted by the empty area at fine leg, but was lbw. MS Dhoni’s dot-ball kitty swelled once again before he charged Rashid in desperation and was stumped. Kedar Jadhav played a scrappy and unconvincing innings.Virat Kohli pulls one away•Getty Images

Only Kohli displayed dominance over the bowlers as he rotated strike with ease before he cut a ball that bounced sharply and took his leading edge. Kohli admitted India’s shot selection was not good on the day.”As soon as I went in I understood the pace of the pitch. I thought cross-batted shots are not on on this pitch at all. You’ve got to play with a straight bat [and because of that] I was able to rotate strike. Our shot selection could have been much better – a lot of horizontal bat shot costs us a lot of wickets. You can’t really take the game away from the opposition, you’ll have to respect the pace of the pitch and knock the ball around for ones and twos and work yourself into an innings. But once you lose wickets on a pitch like that with three quality wristspinners…””They really put some pressure on us in the middle overs. A team like Afghanistan who have a lot of talent doesn’t let you play the way you want to play.”What then was India’s plan at the innings break? Kohli said it was to have the “collective belief” and the bowling attack showed plenty, led by Jasprit Bumrah, Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal. “At halfway mark, we did have some sort of doubts in our minds [about] what’s going to happen in the game, but everyone had belief in the change room. Everyone had collective belief that we can win this one.”This game was way more important for us. It didn’t go as planned, but when things don’t go your way you need to show character and bounce back and fight till the last ball. That shows the character of our team.”

With an impressive history of success across all formats, Riki Wessels was not short of possible destinations when he left Nottinghamshire at the end of last season. Yet he chose Worcester, much to the excitement of supporters who had seen his destructive qualities at first hand last summer.Wessels smashed nine sixes in a Vitality Blast T20 match on this ground in August, in an 18-ball 55 that launched Nottinghamshire towards a five-wicket win, a rare setback in a campaign that ended with Worcestershire being crowned T20 champions for the first time.New Road, he said, was his favourite ground outside Trent Bridge, which showed him to be a man of taste. As if to underline his liking for the place, he celebrated his first Championship appearance here by scoring his 23rd first-class hundred.It was a typically energetic Wessels knock, one made with a constant eye for a gap in the field and a willingness to take the initiative. Before his arrival at the crease, Worcestershire were progressing at barely two an over against a disciplined and testing Durham attack. He doubled that almost on his own.That is not intended as a criticism. Having lost Daryl Mitchell to the second ball of the innings on Tuesday evening, Worcestershire quickly suffered two more setbacks as a lively new ball spell from Matt Salisbury accounted for Tom Fell and nightwatchman Charlie Morris, leaving a rebuilding job in the hands of George Rhodes, whose struggle for form last year meant he had not played a Championship match in 11 months, and Josh Dell, a 21-year-old academy graduate making his debut. Their watchful approach was entirely the correct one.Dell made a handsome start, executing a lovely late cut for four off Matthew Potts to get off the mark. The right-hander, born in the county at Tenbury Wells, was given his chance after carrying his bat for 131 in a Second XI match against a decent Lancashire attack last month, but he was never likely to imagine that the transition would be easy.A Worcestershire collapse in the circumstances would not have been at all surprising but Rhodes and Dell stood firm and taking their side to 57 at lunch with no further losses was a commendable effort.They were unable to maintain their defiance far into the afternoon session before Rhodes was pinned leg before by Ben Raine. But Dell was not to be shifted for some while, raising his bat to warm applause after his eighth boundary, steered to third man off Rushworth, took him to his half-century.By this point he was playing second fiddle to Wessels, who had drawn on his depth of experience to take control away from Durham’s quintet of seamers for the first time in the day. He got into his stride with two consecutive boundaries off Salisbury and did the same to Potts in the next over.Durham turned to Liam Trevaskis, a 20-year-old left-arm spinner playing in only his fourth first-class match, at which Wessels’s eyes lit up. Twice in four deliveries, he lofted the ball into the seats at the Diglis End, the second one ending in a dark corner somewhere and needing to be replaced.Wessels was enjoying himself now. His fifty came up off 56 balls, including a third maximum off the unfortunate Trevaskis, and when he and Dell touched gloves to celebrate a 100-stand in 19 overs, Wessels had 73 of them.Dell’s vigil ended on 61 off 175 balls when he was bowled by a ball of full length from Gareth Harte, before Wessels mistimed one to be caught at midwicket for 118 off 133.Durham took the second new ball when it was due but did not profit from it. Instead, Ross Whiteley punished them for dropping him on five, when Salisbury spilled a boundary catch at long leg that sprang out of his hands as he landed, by muscling his way to an unbeaten 62, adding 85 unbroken with Ben Cox to give Worcestershire a lead of 48 to take into the third day.

Jasprit Bumrah’s discipline and wickets shared among the rest meant that the Australians lost 6 for 54 in 77 balls in the final overs

The Report by Daniel Brettig13-Mar-20195:01

India’s middle order still a concern?

A decade ago Australia won an ODI series in India despite a surfeit of injuries. Numerous stronger sides have left empty handed since then, so it was with a great deal of satisfaction that Aaron Finch’s team sealed this victory from 0-2 down, the first time an Australian side had ever done so in 50-over matches, with a disciplined, determined and tactically astute defence of 272 in Delhi.Being 0-2 down is something the Australians have become used to in more than one sense over the past year, missing the names of David Warner and Steven Smith from their team sheet as a result of the Newlands scandal.But there was much to be savoured in winning a series over one of the World Cup fancies in the final assignment before the Smith and Warner bans expire at the end of this month. Their reintegration meeting in the UAE later this week will take place in the afterglow of a first series victory in seven attempts dating back to January 2017, at the same time inflicting India’s first home ODI defeat since 2015.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Tellingly, two of the men to stand up in the former leaders’ absence were those who were directly replacing them: Usman Khawaja gliding to a second century of the series to further press his case for World Cup inclusion, and Peter Handscomb providing more than useful support having been promoted to No. 3 after Shaun Marsh was dropped. Finch and the national team coach Justin Langer have spent some months feeling like they were short of viable options; now they find themselves spoiled for batting choice.Equally the Australian effort with the ball and in the field showed an expanding tactical and technical repertoire, as Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon combined artfully as spin bowlers on a slow, low Feroz Shah Kotla pitch, only a matter of weeks after it appeared that Langer and company had belatedly acknowledged the need to find wicket-taking spinners for the middle overs. Masterful too was Pat Cummins, giving barely anything away, while Marcus Stoinis returned from injury to enjoy his He-Man moment when coaxing an edge from Virat Kohli.India had not lost any ODI series at home since going down 3-2 to South Africa in October 2015. That result arrived only a matter of months after Australia won the previous World Cup so was not considered a major reverse. However this defeat, on the cusp of the IPL, has left India with precious little time to iron out an increasing number of wrinkles. By contrast the Australians can now look forward to a further five matches against Pakistan.Marcus Stoinis is fairly pleased with his work, don’t you think?•Getty Images

India’s chase, and defeat from 2-0 up for the first time in history, opened more than a few questions for Kohli and the coach Ravi Shastri, not least team balance after only three specialist batsmen were selected. With Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli dismissed cheaply, Rohit Sharma seemed weighed down by the task before him, twice offering chances spurned off Zampa’s bowling before charging wildly to be well stumped by Alex Carey. MS Dhoni’s resting for the final two matches provided opportunities for others in India’s middle order, but they were far from taken.All this was after Khawaja’s dismissal in the 33rd over of Australia’s own innings had seen the game change markedly. Jasprit Bumrah’s discipline and wickets shared among the rest meant that the team lost 6 for 54 in 77 balls just as they were looking to accelerate. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja were the chief wicket-takers for India, while Ashton Turner and Stoinis were irritated to have failed to go on from their starts. Jhye Richardson and Cummins put on a pesky 34 runs in 2.4 overs and ultimately ensured the Australians would be happy with their total.Despite Australia’s record-breaking chase in Mohali, led by Turner, Finch chose to bat first and attempt to put scoreboard pressure on India, who also made a couple of changes, calling in Jadeja and Mohammed Shami while dropping Yuzvendra Chahal and KL Rahul.Shami and Bhuvneshwar floated the ball full in the early overs in search of swing, but slipped obligingly into the driving zones of Khawaja and Finch as the tourists made a fluent start. Khawaja in particular was punishing on balls either too straight or too short, while Finch was for the most part content to bat in his partner’s slipstream. Neither batsman was overly troubled as they rattled to 76, and it took an excellent delivery from Jadeja, spinning past the outside edge of Finch’s bat and clattering off stump, to separate them.Adam Zampa is starting to bamboozle more and more batsmen in international cricket•Getty Images

Handscomb was quickly into stride however, maintaining the momentum from his Mohali innings by finding the boundary while rotating strike expertly with Khawaja, who was soon saluting his second century of the series. It was his third in international cricket since he returned from knee surgery with a hundred against Sri Lanka in Canberra last month.At 175 for 1 with 17.1 overs left, a major score seemed likely, but when Khawaja picked out Kohli at cover, causing the Indian captain to hurl the ball into the turf as he released his frustration, the game began to shift in momentum.The ball was ageing, the pitch slowing, and new entrants to the crease found the going harder. Glenn Maxwell shaped to hit Jadeja inside out but could not clear cover, Handscomb’s innings ended when he was surprised by extra lift from a Shami delivery he wanted to run down to third man, and Turner’s follow-up innings to Mohali ended when he miscued Kuldeep Yadav to long-on after he had lifted the left-arm wristspinner for six.At the other end Stoinis soaked up 16 dot balls out of 27 faced before dragging Bhuvneshwar onto the stumps, but Richardson and Cummins were able to pull together a priceless stand in the closing overs to push Australia’s total past 270. From a point where Kohli’s men had looked likely to need to beat the previous record chase at the ground – 281 in 1982 – they were ultimately left with a target of more modest dimensions.Kedar Jadhav punches through covers•Getty Images

Much depended on how the hosts could start, and though there was a sprinkling of boundaries against the new ball, Cummins’ dismissal of Dhawan opened up the opportunity to hunt Kohli’s wicket while the ball was still new. Cummins and Richardson were unable to find a way through, but Stoinis, bowling across the seam and finding extra bounce, did the trick by finding a thin edge through to an exultant Carey.Rishabh Pant threatened for a while, but was becalmed and then dismissed by Lyon’s offbreaks, prodding at a delivery that turned and bounced, offering a catch to Turner at slip. Vijay Shankar also made a start, only to sky Zampa to Khawaja at deep midwicket, and when Rohit was dropped off consecutive Zampa deliveries – first a thin edge through to Carey and then a catch by Maxwell at cover – Indian frustration was clear.Zampa did not have to wait long to celebrate, for in his next over Rohit ran down the wicket, was beaten between bat and pad and clearly stumped by Carey after he had stayed admirably low with the ball. Ravindra Jadeja had not scored when he stretched forward and was beaten by a Zampa wrong’un with Carey again in position for a stumping, this time achieved by the barest of margins as the left-hander’s foot was deemed to be stuck on the line and not behind it.That left India 132 for 6 and seemingly in quicksand. Bhuvneshwar and Kedar Jadhav got the equation down to 50 off 25 balls with a nifty union of 91 that brought the crowd to life and had Finch nervously drying the ball as late evening dew began to settle.But Cummins returned to have Bhuvneshwar miscuing to mid-off, and the very next ball Jadhav was well pouched by a running Maxwell off Richardson, leaving Stoinis to complete formalities by knocking out Kuldeep’s middle stump. At the boundary’s edge Langer, so frazzled for much of the past 10 months, raised two arms in triumph.

Pakistan will have to fight for just their third Test match win in South Africa without the services of Mohammad Abbas. Sarfraz Ahmed confirmed at a press conference at Supersport Park that the Boxing Day Test came too soon for Abbas, with the shoulder injury that kept him out of the third Test against New Zealand ensuring he will play no part in the opening Test.”Abbas is not fit for the first Test, hopefully he will be fit for the second Test,” Sarfraz said. “Shadab Khan, too, will be back for the second Test, but Fakhar Zaman is fit.”Legspinner Shadab has been nursing a long-term groin injury which caused him to miss the home Tests against Australia and New Zealand, although he did take part in the limited-overs games against New Zealand. Opening batsman Fakhar, meanwhile, has not featured for Pakistan since November 11 thanks to a knee injury, but played in the tour game against a CSA Invitation XI last week.Abbas’s sensational performance in the two-Test series against Australia on the generally placid UAE tracks in October – he took 17 wickets in two Tests at 10.58 – meant he was considered Pakistan’s trump card for the seamer-friendly pitches in South Africa. After the shoulder niggle last month, he was initially thought to be ruled out for the entire South Africa tour, before it emerged that he could participate in the bulk of this series. He had at one point been believed likely to win the fitness race by Boxing Day, only for Sarfraz to confirm otherwise.Abbas’s absence means Pakistan are left with just three specialist seamers in Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi along with the allrounder Faheem Ashraf. That quartet is all set to feature in the Centurion Test now. Sarfraz also hoped the surface would allow the legspinner Yasir Shah some purchase in the later stages, effectively confirming the spinner’s involvement in Shadab’s absence.

Getty Images

A sublime unbeaten 250 from Marcus Harris and five wickets from Scott Boland have put Victoria on the verge of a crushing innings victory over New South Wales at the MCG. Needing 286 in their second innings to make Victoria bat again, New South Wales crumbled under the relentless pressure of Boland.He forced a mistake from Daniel Hughes early in the innings before Nick Larkin and Kurtis Patterson put up some resistance. Larkin made a well-compiled 53 before he was bowled leaving a ball from Andrew Fekete that snaked back off the seam from well wide of off stump. Moises Henriques was trapped plumb in front by Boland and Jack Edwards was castled by a devilish inswinger from Tremain.The Blues slumped from 4 for 167 to 9 for 175 in the space of 12 overs. Patterson reached his second half-century of the match but again fell to a right-arm quick angling in and seaming away from around the wicket. In the first innings it was Chris Tremain who found his outside edge, in the second it was Boland.Boland also knocked over Daniel Sams and Daniel Fallins for his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket after Fawad Ahmed accounted for Peter Nevill and Jason Sangha.The Blues’ last wicket pair of Mickey Edwards and Trent Copeland survived for 60 balls on the third evening to ensure the game went into a fourth day.Earlier, Harris pushed on from his overnight total of 210 to make an even 250. He faced 403 balls and struck 22 fours and a six in his remarkable innings to put his name up in lights ahead of the Test series against India.Harris got incredible support from Fawad, who posted his highest score in first-class cricket. He made 34 from 90 balls with four fours and a six to rub salt into the Blues wounds. Harris and Andrew Fekete also added an unbeaten 54 for the 10th wicket before Peter Handscomb declared.

MatériaMais Notícias

da betsul： Na véspera do Derby das Américas — jogo que marca a estreia do Flamengo na Copa Intercontinental da Fifa — a equipe rubro-negra realizou, nesta terça-feira (9), seu último treino no CT Al Ersaal, em Doha (Catar). Atual campeão da Libertadores e do Brasileirão, o Rubro-Negro enfrentará o Cruz Azul, vencedor mais recente da Champions da Concacaf.

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da lvbet： ➡️ Tudo sobre o Mengão agora no WhatsApp. Siga o nosso novo canal Lance! Flamengo

O treino começou por volta das 10h15 (de Brasília, 16h15 no horário local), com transmissão da “Flamengo TV”. Durante o período aberto à imprensa, os jogadores fizeram atividades em campo reduzido, o famoso “bobinho”. Veja como foi abaixo.

Antes das atividades, o canal do clube conversou com alguns jogadores. Confira abaixo.

Cebolinha: “A gente chega fisicamente muito bem, todos à disposição. A dificuldade maior é o fuso horário, mas estamos nos adaptando seguindo as recomendações do clube. Não consegui dormir de jeito nenhum, mas o clube deixou a gente descansar mais. Amanhã estaremos bem melhor. Tem a ansiedade, quero que chegue a hora do jogo, mas já é meu terceiro Mundial com a camisa do Flamengo. Enfrentaremos uma equipe qualificada, mas o professor Filipe Luís já nos deixou preparados.”

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Pulgar: “Temos força e gana para seguir ganhando, foi um ano exitoso para todos. Amanhã, vamos tentar ganhar, fazer uma boa partida. Ajuda muito que jogaremos todos os jogos no mesmo estádio, se estiver bom como do nosso treinamento, será ótimo. E tem cadeiras vermelhas e pretas, estamos em casa.”

Michael: “A gente treina todos os dias baseado no próximo jogo. A gente está treinando para esse jogo, acertando os últimos detalhes. A gente não precisa mudar muito, apenas potencializar o que está dando certo.”

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Flamengo e Cruz Azul se enfrentam pelo chamado “Clássico das Américas” da Copa Intercontinental nesta quarta-feira (10). Se vencer os mexicanos, o Rubro-Negro enfrentará o Pyramids, do Egito, no próximo sábado (13). Em caso de classificação, a final será contra o PSG, campeão da Champions League, no dia 17. Todas as partidas serão disputadas no estádio Ahmad bin Ali, às 14h (de Brasília).

➡️ Siga o Lance! no Google para saber tudo sobre o melhor do esporte brasileiro e mundial

O que Filipe Luís espera de Flamengo x Cruz Azul?

O técnico Filipe Luís, do Flamengo, concedeu entrevista coletiva no Catar nesta terça antes do último treinamento preparatório. O comandante rubro-negro rasgou elogios à equipe do Cruz Azul e negou favoritismo. Também comparou as características dos mexicanos com duas equipes recentes do futebol brasileiro.

— O Cruz Azul é um time com ideias claras: pressiona muito, com muita força física, duelos e perseguições individuais, protagonista dos jogos com a bola, difícil de tirar a bola deles. Costuma dominar os adversários quase sempre. É similar à forma de defender do Bragantino do (Vagner) Mancini e do Atlético Mineiro do Cuca. E, para jogar, lembra várias equipes, mas a individualidade torna a equipe única. São meio-campistas de muita qualidade, que se oferecem para jogar — analisou.

➡️ Filipe Luís mostra otimismo sobre presença de Pedro no Mundial: ‘É o nosso atacante’

Filipe Luís tem estudado exaustivamente o primeiro adversário, do qual se tornou admirador.

— É um time muito competitivo, muito bem treinado. A liga mexicana é muito competitiva, disputada, com poder financeiro grande. A equipe tem ótimos jogadores, especialmente fortes fisicamente. Defendem de maneira agressiva, com pressão, tentando ser protagonista, atacando o máximo possível, com jogadores com qualidade também no banco. A gente pensa futebol de forma parecida: pressionando e tentando controlar o jogo. Vai ser um jogo muito disputado! — elogiou.

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Copa IntercontinentalCruz AzulFlamengoFutebol Internacional

Manchester City are now ready to snap up a “superstar” Champions League player, with the same agent as two members of Pep Guardiola’s squad.

Man City looking to strengthen after Bayer Leverkusen setback

After putting together a solid run to re-establish themselves as Premier League title contenders, Man City have endured a dip in form over the past week, losing 2-1 at Newcastle United on Saturday, before succumbing to a 2-0 home defeat against Bayer Leverkusen.

It was a new-look defence for City, with Guardiola making wholesale changes to his starting XI, bringing in Abdukodir Khusanov to replace Matheus Nunes at right-back, despite the 27-year-old impressing in that area this season.

However, given that both Khusanov and Nunes aren’t natural full-backs, the Blues remain keen on bringing in another option, and there has now been a new update on their pursuit of Newcastle United defender Tino Livramento.

Transfer insider Dean Jones has now told TEAMtalk that Man City will be ready to sign Livramento if the opportunity presents itself, saying: “He’s happy at Newcastle, he is in a good position, he wants to push the limits of a new contract. But equally he knows he could secure a big transfer if he really wanted it.

“City have respect for his situation and have had to wait for him to decide what he does next. If he looks to leave, they are right there and will snap him up.”

"Superstar" Livramento could be perfect for Pep

Of course, any player in a Guardiola system must be comfortable in possession of the ball, and the Newcastle defender, who has the same agent as Stones and Nathan Ake, has averaged an 85.4% pass completion rate per 90 over the past year, placing him in the 87th percentile compared to other full-backs.

Once referred to as a “superstar” by Newcastle content creator Kendall Rowan, the three-time England international is also proven in the Premier League, having reached the 100-game mark in his side’s 2-1 win against City, during which the full-back made three clearances, two interceptions and two tackles.

Having been ranked as one of the best right-backs in the world, ahead of the likes of Nunes and Khusanov, Livramento could be a real upgrade for Pep at right-back, but a deal could be on the expensive side…

Man City preparing £158m+ bid for star who wants to work under Guardiola

The Citizens are keen to make new signings and could now look to acquire one of Europe’s most prominent attackers.

BySean Markus Clifford Nov 24, 2025

Newcastle value Livramento at the £80m mark, which would make him one of the most expensive signings in Man City history, and given that Nunes has been impressing this season, it is questionable whether they should spend that much on another right-back.