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Leeds United are among the clubs interested in signing Derby County midfielder Tom Lawrence, according to a report from the Daily Mail. 

The lowdown: Lawrence’s career so far

A product of the youth academy at Manchester United, the 28-year-old joined the Rams in 2017 following spells at Leicester City, Cardiff City and Blackburn Rovers among others.

Lawrence has been a star performer for the Midlands club since his arrival at Pride Park, directly contributing to 62 goals in 185 outings.

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However, following a troubled 2021/22 campaign off the field, Wayne Rooney’s side were relegated from the Championship and now look set to lose their captain and talismanic attacker.

The latest: Leeds linked with Lawrence

As per the Daily Mail, Lawrence has a long list of prospective suitors including Everton, Anderlecht, Burnley, Norwich City, Watford and newly promoted duo Fulham and Bournemouth.

Leeds are also said to be ‘admirers’ of the 23-cap Wales international, who is set to be out of contract at the end of June (Transfermarkt).

It’s claimed that the man once described as a ‘fabulous talent’ by Gary Bowyer has already ‘attracted a number of enquiries’ as a move away from Derby beckons this summer.

The verdict: No-brainer

Lawrence is largely unproven in the Premier League with only four top-flight appearances to his name, but as a free agent and with possible relegation contingency planning in mind, signing such a top-quality Championship operator for nothing would be a superb piece of business by Leeds.

The Wrexham-born winger is capable of playing in numerous attacking roles and possesses an array of attributes which would make him a worthwhile addition to the Elland Road ranks (WhoScored).

Despite the general plight at Derby this season, Lawrence still managed to score 11 times and register another five assists in the second tier, further evidence as to why Whites manager Jesse Marsch should be making a strong attempt to sign the Welshman.

In other news: Leeds also want this powerful 12-goal striker who is ‘ideal’ for the Championship

Whenever Mumbai have been in trouble in recent times, Lad has stood up and has almost always helped his team to victory or safety

Vishal Dikshit29-Dec-2018If you get close to the old-school Mumbai batsman Siddhesh Lad, you may notice a certain scribble peeking out from under the sleeve on his right arm. It’s not a style statement because Lad is not a big fan of tattoos. He got one because it sums up his struggles and the hard days he is putting in to make it to the “next level”.A consistent performer and batting mainstay for Mumbai for the last few years, Lad – who averages 53.58 this season – is reaping benefits now of the seeds he has sown since childhood.”You can’t become a strong person if you don’t face tough situations in your life,” he tells ESPNcricinfo in Mumbai. “I have also had to work hard for what I’ve achieved, I’ve had to fight for them.”Like the stories of many Mumbai players, Lad has had to travel in the sweaty local trains from the suburbs to south Mumbai. He used to study at the Swami Vivekanand International School in Borivali and when he was barely 10, the director of the school spotted his flair and approached his parents. Soon, Siddhesh’s father, Dinesh, was asked to coach at the school, the father-son duo started training together and Dinesh thought it was time Siddhesh started making the trips to south Mumbai, where the “real cricket” was. A new academy was coming up then at Shivaji Park Gymkhana, where former India batsman Pravin Amre was the head coach.”Dad told me, ‘ (go and give it a shot)’,” Lad recalls. He impressed Amre in the Under-14 trials and thus began his journeys. He would begin his day by first practising at school before classes began, then attend classes, hop on the local train to commute from Borivali to Shivaji Park (nearly 30 km). Lad would be so tired sometimes that he would sleep through his stop (Dadar), end up at the last one (Churchgate) and then take another train back to one of the most chaotic stations.”It was quite an experience to travel at a young age in that kind of crowd for so many years. If you go through all this at the age of 11-12 at the beginning of your career, it shapes your mental toughness.”

Whenever I have faced a challenge, I have done well by accepting the challenge and bailing the team out. I really enjoy doing that

Lad was carrying not one dream but three during those train rides. His father was a former cricketer who represented Western Railways, and wanted his son to become “an even better player”. The second dream was of representing Mumbai, and the third of playing for India.”My first aim to was to represent Mumbai,” Lad says. “Right from my childhood I dreamt of getting selected in the Mumbai Ranji team and then perform to get into the Indian team. I had never thought that I would get to play four-five seasons for Mumbai.”Dad told me from the beginning how I’d have to work hard if I wanted to play for the Indian team. (that passion was always there from the beginning).”Rising through age-group cricket, Lad made his first-class debut in the 2013-14 season with several established batsmen already in the side – Wasim Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, Hiken Shah, even Sachin Tendulkar played a match that season. What even Lad wouldn’t have known then was that his best knock of the season would offer a glimpse into his promising future.On a green pitch in Bengaluru against eventual champions Karnataka, Mumbai were reduced to 61 for 4 in reply to the hosts’ 251. In only his third first-class match, Lad exhibited the maturity many only attain after a few seasons; he batted with the tail, looked comfortable against both pace and spin, and fought a potent bowling attack for over four hours for his 93 runs. Even though Mumbai lost, Lad had pulled them out of a crisis for a first-innings lead.Two seasons later, Lad was batting at No. 7 after Tamil Nadu had piled up 434 and Mumbai were reeling at 52 for 5. Batting with the tail again, he burst through the mountain of pressure with a counter-attacking 150 off 184 balls – still his highest score – with 16 fours and seven sixes to take them past the follow-on mark. Such was the effect of his fightback, Mumbai then shot out Tamil Nadu for 95 and then chased down 236 in dramatic fashion on the last day with only one wicket in hand.”I don’t think too much about pressure, I bat depending on the match situation,” Lad says. “Before I go out to bat, I’m nervous but I don’t take much pressure in such situations. It’s a challenge for you that if you bail the team out from here, it will be great for the team. And if you can’t do it, there’s no problem, all the blame won’t come on you. I go with a positive mindset that if I can score in such situations, then it will have a different impact and I’m not very nervous.”Dinesh Lad (left) watches his son Siddhesh bat for Mumbai•Sidharth Monga/ESPNcricinfoA few months later, Lad was playing his first Ranji final, against Saurashtra. After bowling them out for 235, Mumbai knew they had to take a substantial first-innings lead on the green track in Pune. From 195 for 3, Mumbai collapsed to 268 for 9 with Lad holding one end and No. 11 Balwinder Sandhu for company. The two stretched the score past 350 with a record stand of 103 that eventually earned them an innings win on the third day.”That was a memorable knock for me because it came in the Ranji Trophy final,” Lad says with glee. “I counterattacked with the last wicket, I was playing my shots, I was playing well.”A match that doesn’t bring as much happiness but some level of satisfaction to him is Mumbai’s historic 500th, at the Wankhede Stadium last season. For the momentous occasion, the Mumbai Cricket Association held a felicitation for former Mumbai players, their 41 titles and the current squad that was carrying the legacy forward.On the first day itself, though, Mumbai were skittled for 171 by Baroda, who went on to amass 575 over the next two days. When Mumbai batted again, they were buried under a deficit of 404 and were soon 125 for 5. Before batting with the tail, Lad, at No. 7, had Suryakumar at the other end as his last hope. Suryakumar (44) batted for over three hours while Lad remained unbeaten on 71 after surviving for five hours, with a strike-rate of under 30. Mumbai’s skilled sailor had salvaged them through troubled waters yet again, this time for a draw.

If you do well in IPL, it’s almost like you’re ready for international cricket. That’s something I’ve missed in the last four seasons

“I was personally hurt in that because one day before the match we had a function and so much was said about Mumbai cricket,” Lad says. “And then I was hurt to see the situation the next day. Baroda didn’t have such a strong team then, they had a few debutants also. Despite that we got into a tricky situation so there was a drive that if I do well in this situation, it will be a great boost for my confidence too. I spoke to daddy a day before the match, Pravin sir had also come. I spoke to some senior players also about what to do. I just decided that day to not get out.”Such knocks have earned Lad the title of Mumbai’s “crisis man”. Whenever Mumbai have been in trouble in recent times, Lad has stood up against threatening attacks, on lively pitches, in crunch situations, in big matches and has almost always helped his team to victory or safety.”Whenever I have faced a challenge, I have done well by accepting the challenge and bailing the team out,” he says. “I really enjoy doing that. (I’ve done well so I’ve been given that name). But I don’t think much about that, I’m a normal batsman and I need to play with responsibility.”Now a senior in the squad in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Rahane and Prtihvi Shaw, Lad is playing a different role. After starting the first-class season with 88 and 68 for India Red in the Duleep Trophy, he scored a flurry of half-centuries in the Ranji Trophy, mostly in the middle order, including a 99 and a 93. Then he decided to move up the order and immediately scored two centuries – 130 against Baroda and 108 versus Saurashtra as Mumbai’s hopes of making it to the knockouts started dwindling. So far in 12 innings this Ranji season, Lad has accumulated 643 runs with two centuries, four half-centuries as Mumbai’s highest scorer and seventh on the overall charts.Siddhesh lad celebrates his milestone•Prakash Parsekar”Given the option, I would want to bat at No. 3 or 4. If you want to move to the next level, you will have to bat in the top order because that’s how you get time to score big runs. I’ve always been consistent but I didn’t get the time while batting at No. 6. Last year when I got to bat at No. 3 in Vijay Hazare then I scored three hundreds in five innings. In T20s I was the highest run-scorer [for Mumbai] last season. When you bat in the top order, the field is also attacking so you get more chances of scoring.”Lad belongs to that rare species in domestic cricket that has not played IPL yet and has to bank on his first-class and List A performances to make the India cut. He has been with the Mumbai Indians set-up since 2015, training with international players and coaches such as Lasith Malinga, Ricky Ponting, Mahela Jayawardene, Shane Bond, among others. Even though he rues not getting the chance to make his IPL debut yet, he is finding his own ways to prepare himself for the international circuit if the chance arises.”I feel performing in the IPL has a different impact because it’s a platform where you are exposed against international players. If you do well there, it’s almost like you’re ready for international cricket. That’s something I’ve missed in the last four seasons in the IPL. If I had played and done well, I could have been somewhere else right now.”It’s important to be prepared for how to dominate international bowlers because thinking about it is not enough,” Lad believes. “I need to prepare for months for that because I’m not playing international cricket. My preparations are going on for that.”One of Lad’s ways of preparing is batting against the wet rubber ball, another is standing in the middle of the pitch and setting the bowling machine at a speed of 60-65 mph, which, he says, is effectively 90-95mph. He feels he is “almost there”.With plenty of runs under his belt and maybe many more to come, the father-son duo’s aim left to be fulfilled is to reach the destination Siddhesh set out for when he started those train journeys many years ago.

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2016Craig Ervine then fell for a duck, which added to Zimbabwe’s collapse. From 68 for 1, they became 100 for 6•Associated PressSean Williams laid the groundwork for Zimbabwe’s fightback, making 40 off 92 balls, before falling to Rangana Herath in the first over of the last session•Associated PressWhen Herath had Donald Tiripano lbw for a duck, Zimbabwe were 145 for 8•AFPCremer survived a nervy moment when he flicked one in the air to the right of short leg. He went on to soak up 144 balls for his 43•AFPHerath, though, found a way past Cremer as Sri Lanka sealed a 225-run win in the last hour•AFPDebutant Carl Mumba was left stranded on 10 off 62 balls•Associated Press

The team’s bowling combinations and choice of second spinner could primarily depend on the injury status of JP Duminy and Morne Morkel

Firdose Moonda in Mumbai31-Oct-2015South Africa could field two specialist spinners as Imran Tahir and one of Simon Harmer or Dane Piedt are likely to be in the XI for the first Test against India next week, if the evidence of the warm-up match and the utterances of coach Russell Domingo are anything to go by.”A lot of the rumours have been around the wickets being very spin-friendly although Mohali does not have that reputation so we’ll need to look at conditions and decide whether we want an attacking spinner or someone who can hold an end,” Domingo said. “Imran is the attacking option and Dane Piedt and Simon Harmer are pretty similar type of bowlers so we’ll have to see.”If South Africa are anticipating turn, they will want Tahir in the team and all indications are that the legspinner will make a Test return. Tahir was treated as the front-liner in the warm-up game, in the same way Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel were, in that he bowled minimally but with maximum effort, unlike Harmer and Piedt, who were put through their paces in what looked like a bid to decide between them.After underwhelming showings on the first day of the warm-up game, Harmer and Piedt were made to open the bowling on the second day. Despite the match reaching that stage where everyone just wants it over with – and most practice games get to that point – the pair operated in fast-forward mode. They hurried through overs and exclaimed excitedly whenever there was a half-chance.Their efforts did not yield anything though and South Africa may decide they are better off without both if they want a complete pace pack. South Africa’s seam attack is usually three-pronged but conditions and Morkel’s fitness could cause that to change. Morkel injured his quad during the third ODI, forcing him to miss the last two ODIs and has been making steady progress. He bowled five overs on the first day of the warm-up match, all maidens, but felt his injury “a little bit,” according to Domingo and then four on the second day in the nets. He will undergo a fitness test in the week to decide his availability.If Morkel is ruled out, South Africa have a reserve pacer in uncapped Kagiso Rabada but may choose to include a spinner instead. Their decision will also be influenced by whether JP Duminy is ready to play the first Test and as things stand, that looks unlikely. Duminy cut his hand during the ODIs, also missing the last two ODIs, but has not made as much progress as Morkel. His stitches will be removed this week and then he will be monitored but Domingo cautioned that the nature of the injury will mean South Africa have to “be sure he is ready,” before playing him.If Duminy is ruled out, South Africa will not only lose their experience in the middle order but also a part-time spinner and will have to decide whether to include Temba Bavuma as the extra batsman or one of Harmer or Piedt as a spinner. Both bat a bit but South Africa may be more comfortable with a specialist batsman and call on Dean Elgar, who bowled a fair bit in the warm-up match, to play the role of a part-time spinner.”On the recent A tour here, Dean bowled the third-most overs in the limited-overs matches,” Domingo said. “He’s got the knack of getting wickets at strange times because he’s a left-arm spinner with not much expertise as a left-arm spinner. Maybe players relax a little bit against him and that provides the opportunity to take wickets. He’s by no means a first-choice spinner but he’s able to bowl 10 overs a day for us and that’s a big help,” Domingo said.With Elgar also providing an option, much of Harmer and Piedt’s fate lies in Morkel and Duminy’s fitness, especially as South Africa’s confidence in Tahir to finally make an impact in the longest format seems to be growing.

Bangladesh’s fans’ love seems unconditional. Despair is always quickly shelved to give their ‘Tigers’ all support their can muster. The question is, can the team show they deserve that adoring public?

Abhishek Purohit in Mirpur31-Mar-2014This has been the routine during each Bangladesh match in the World T20 in Mirpur: people start assembling on the roads outside the Shere Bangla Stadium hours before the game. Several of them do not have a ticket, they have no hope of getting in, but they just stand there patiently, on the pavement, on the road divider.Those who get in shout “Bangladesh, Bangladesh” in unison as soon as they get the first glimpse of their “Tigers” running onto the field. It is a long word – Bangladesh. You need to say it with intensity and fervour to get it all out in one, powerful shout. The crowd is never lacking in both.Then the names of the Bangladesh players are announced, slowly, one by one, giving the crowd enough time to react to each one. The big stars – Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim – get the loudest cheers. ‘Cheer’ is actually an understatement. These are full-blooded, deep-throated roars. You have to have unshakeable faith in something down to your deepest core to be able to let out this roar.To the outsider, it is like someone has stuck you, without warning, with a high-dose injection of adrenaline. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain in words how they sound. It is also difficult to find a parallel elsewhere. Cricketers are widely adored in India and Pakistan too. But this feels different. These roars are like blank cheques with lifetime validity. Signed by the fans, for the players. Maybe the combination of Eden Gardens and Sourav Ganguly comes close. Maybe it is a Bengali thing.The match starts. Bangladesh threaten to make it a contest for the first couple of overs or so. Tamim Iqbal thumps a boundary. The crowd is delirious. He gets out. Deafening delirium turns into deafening silence, but only momentarily. Shakib has to be welcomed to the middle, and again, no effort is spared in making him know how loved he is. Shakib is soon bowled. The same pattern is repeated. It is the captain who has to be ushered in with a verbal shower of rose petals this time. Mushfiqur smacks a few boundaries. If there exists a state beyond delirium, the stadium has reached it after these blows. Then even Mushfiqur falls, bringing back that momentary disappointment.This state of delirium is a constant, parallel narrative at every Bangladesh match. It only pauses very briefly to register the fall of a Bangladesh wicket, or an opposition boundary. It ends with their defeat, and it resumes just before the start of their next match. It plays out in loop. Delirium. Pause. Delirium. Pause. Delirium. Defeat. Repeat.Love is blind, they say. They must have had Bangladesh cricket fans in mind when they said it. In fact, this love goes further than mere blindness. It is only one side that is being blind to the other’s faults here. For how much this love takes out of Bangladesh fans – time, money, emotion, their voices, with so much cheering – what they get in return can charitably be only called crumbs.You are the host team of a world tournament. This is your home. These are your conditions. You have grown up playing on these grounds. Yet, your captain says early into the main round of the tournament that his team has nothing to lose. This is what Mushfiqur had said during the previous World T20 too, which was also played on the subcontinent. He also added this time that Bangladesh’s major aim would be to compete with other teams in their group. Imagine MS Dhoni saying this at the start of the 2011 World Cup. Nothing to lose. Compete, as opposed to win. If you can imagine the impossible, now imagine the reaction of Indian fans.Bangladesh cricketers are an incalculably fortunate lot to be blessed by such a loyal following. It is incredible that your three biggest stars can make 5, 6 and 16, 0, 1 and 38, and 22, 24 and 2 in a global tournament at home, and the fans’ affection for them does not even as much as wobble. That you can lose three successive T20s in a world tournament by the heavy margins of 73 runs, eight wickets and 50 runs, and the fans’ affection for the team does not even as much as wobble.For once, can Bangladesh actually play like they have nothing to lose in this World T20? Can they actually compete? They have one final opportunity, against Australia. It won’t make their relationship with their fans any less one-sided, but it will be some sort of a surprise parting gift for the Bangladesh cheering party that will doubtless, and regardless, happen in the Mirpur stands.

The MCG pitch was quick and Australia’s attack assured, but neither were the menace Sri Lanka’s batsmen made them out to be

Andrew Fernando at the MCG26-Dec-2012On the eve of the fixture, Mahela Jayawardene was asked to recall the biggest Test crowd his side had ever played for. “Lord’s,” he offered, “and maybe Mumbai and Madras. Tomorrow might be a special day.” None of those stadia can even seat the number that stepped through turnstiles on Boxing Day in Melbourne. In Sri Lanka’s 30-year Test history, they have never had a greater crowd than the 67,138 that saw them stripped of their fight and bullied out of their senses at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.Even on a difficult tour of South Africa, spiced with green pitches and against the best pace attack in the world, Sri Lanka had not succumbed so woefully in the first innings. The Melbourne surface may have been faster than Sri Lanka had expected, but as David Warner illustrated with a boisterous 62 from 46, it was also tempered with a good deal of the benign. Likewise Australia’s attack was intense and assured, but it was hardly the menace Sri Lanka’s batsmen made it out to be.Sri Lanka had spoken of how critical stability from the top order would be to any hope of victory, but in recent Tests, the most experienced group in the team have given the most flight to failure. Sharp swing bowling might have been their downfall in the home Tests against New Zealand, but at the MCG, they fashioned a collapse from indiscipline.Tillakaratne Dilshan can cite his sparkling Hobart ton as justification for a hyper-aggressive approach despite the presence of swing, but even the “that’s how I play” defense will be stretched thin by the baffling swipe across the line that allowed a Mitchell Johnson inswinger to disturb his stumps. There is a grey area between audacity and imprudence that players of Dilshan’s ilk are allowed to tread, but there is a limit to talent, and fetching a straightening delivery on a fast surface with as wild a stroke as that is perhaps task beyond any batsman.Mahela Jayawardene was out wafting at a delivery that was never threatening the stumps early in his innings. It is a manner of dismissal that has almost defined his career outside Sri Lanka, and severely frustrated his claims to batting greatness. Deliveries of that line trouble most batsmen early in their innings, but for a man of Jayawardene’s talent, he has been staggeringly incapable of overcoming that weakness. In the last two years, he has averaged under 18 outside Asia, in eight Tests.Thilan Samaraweera was out hooking – a rarity for him, which makes his dismissal so puzzling it is almost unfathomable. Angelo Mathews then drove hard at a wide one, when Sri Lanka’s innings was already in tatters. There is occasional merit in launching a counterattack, especially on a pitch as good as this for batting, but having seen three of his team-mates out to loose strokes already, perhaps Mathews would have been better served by the resolve he has so often proved himself capable of. He is saved from the most exacting scrutiny by the shortcomings of the seniors above him, but he will likely be Test captain soon and he will then find moments of such incaution will attract far less generous assessments.It is difficult to suggest a method of improvement, because as coach Graham Ford noted after play, Sri Lanka’s collapse was no major fault of technique. It has been the case throughout their last few innings, where various batsmen have looked in form at different times but they have stumbled collectively. Much of the talk from the Sri Lanka camp before the match had been about staying grounded despite the significance of the Boxing Day Test, but perhaps that is a mental feat they did not quite manage.”Some of it could be as a result of it being such a big occasion and the boys have been looking forward to it for such a long time,” Ford said. “I think the desire to do well is extremely high, which at times can create a little extra pressure. It’s not a technical thing, and I certainly know it’s not a work ethic thing. The guys have worked unbelievably hard on skills that are required in these conditions. Once you get out there though, you’ve got to have a clear mind and you’ve got to make good decisions. I think Kumar showed just how important that is.”The capitulation was all the more disheartening because the day could have been one of celebration for Sri Lanka’s greatest batsman. Kumar Sangakkara batted with the poise and skill entirely befitting a man who confirmed himself statistically among cricket’s batting elite by crossing the 10,000-run threshold. He struck a trio of sublime boundaries off Johnson a few overs before an immaculate cover drive brought up the milestone just before lunch, as the biggest crowd he has ever played for roared their appreciation. By becoming equal fastest to the mark alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, and one innings ahead of Ricky Ponting, Sangakkara’s achievement is Sri Lanka’s second-best individual success after Muttiah Muralitharan’s wicket tally, but his day’s memories will be marred by the meekness of his colleagues. He deserves better than that from the team he has served so consistently, for so long.Sri Lanka’s bowling attack now finds itself having to bring the team into a match that may already have slipped away, when it was that batting that ought to have hidden the attack’s inadequacies with a big total. Sri Lanka have stressed that this is a bowling attack in transition throughout the tour, but judging from the scorecards so far, you would think it was their batting that has been weak, green and ineffective.

ESPNcricinfo08-Feb-2011Join Jonathan Harris-Bass and the team for all the latest English cricket news and opinion. From the County Championship to the Test arena, the Switch Hit Podcast team chew the fat on all the action. .This week’s show: As England look set to become the number one side in the world, we discuss if the current side are better than the Ashes winners of 2005?Plus, a look at whether India can come back despite growing injury concerns.Jonathan Harris-Bass, Andrew Miller, Andrew McGlashan and Sambit Bal are this week’s Switch Hitters.To download the podcast to your computer, click here.To listen via iTunes click here.If you don’t have iTunes and would like to listen to the show on an RSS feed, click here.

The papers say he is not part of any future, yet Inzamam, and many others, believe he still has a future

Osman Samiuddin02-Aug-2007

If he isn’t Pakistan’s greatest batsman, he is close © Getty Images
Inzamam-ul-Haq is in limbo. Behind him lies the vast expanse of a career well constructed. If he isn’t Pakistan’s greatest batsman, he is close. A World Cup winner, his captaincy tenure, in terms of matches led, is third-longest in Tests and ODIs; only Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram have led Pakistan to more Test wins, and only Imran and Akram to more ODI victories.In front of him, at 37 and having given up green pyjamas and the captaincy, lies uncertainty. Less than a mile from where he is staying on a short trip to Karachi, in a training camp at the National Stadium, Pakistan cricket is going back to the future and, like the film franchise, it gets less funny each time it does so. The papers say he is not part of any future, yet Inzamam, and many others, believe he still has a future.Naturally, he is unruffled but as he nears his end the immediate past weighs on him. Bob Woolmer recollections flow, even a hint slipped in that all was not well towards the end. “It does not matter how we worked together, despite everything Bob managed to gel together a young side. He was completely committed and genuine about it.”A laughing acknowledgment too of Woolmer’s media savvy: “I never used to read the papers towards the end, but only because I knew that Bob would’ve read everything on the net and was waiting to tell me.”If it turns out that we don’t see Inzamam again, his last moments will have been his lowest. He decided to retire after the loss to Ireland and Woolmer’s death, and though it was taken in haste, he does not regret the decision. The thought of not being captain anymore prompts a broad grin: “Thank god.” He was always reluctant.And you just know he doesn’t envy Shoaib Malik, whose prospects, Inzamam philosophises, depend as much off the field as on it. “It’s one thing I learned: on the field is one thing, but off it is another altogether. Handling the media, the attention, the players, the board, dressing-room spirit: a good captain is one who can handle both well.” Like his batting, it is a subtle but powerful tip.”He’s just started and he needs more time. He needs to be supported by the board and by his players. In Pakistan cricket, the real test comes when the team is not doing well. When it is winning, everything is fine. It is when you are losing that the captain has to keep the players together. He has to fight for them.”Though Inzamam is lighter in heart, mood and weight, the immediate future also weighs on him. Details need not be publicised but he feels slighted by moves already afoot to prevent him from adding to his 8813 Test runs: he wants to score 10,000. The selectors refuse to admit this is so; in fact, they stress the opposite. Salahuddin Ahmed, chief of the committee, told Cricinfo at the camp, “He does have a place in the side, subject to fitness. Every player has to be fit, and a fit and in-form Inzamam is an asset for Pakistan.” The “subject to fitness” caveat makes Inzamam smile. “I played unfit all these years then?” It’s another matter that he doesn’t have any way of proving form or fitness before the South Africa series. The domestic season doesn’t start till December; he will, he says, turn out for Lahore Gymkhana. Though Inzamam is lighter in heart, mood and weight, the immediate future also weighs on him. Details need not be publicised but he feels slighted by moves already afoot to prevent him from adding to his 8813 Test runs: he wants to score 10,000. The selectors refuse to admit this is so; in fact they stress the opposite. The truth is the decision is not in the selectors’ hands. No board official will say publicly, but that they are not keen on Inzamam playing again is clear. The policy to award central contracts was tweaked to include only those players available for both Tests and ODIs, thus excluding Inzamam. No matter that the contracted Danish Kaneria has barely played an ODI recently, that Yasir Arafat is unlikely to make a Test debut, or that Younis Khan isn’t keen on playing ODIs anymore. The Indian Cricket League’s (ICL) offer to Inzamam, in fact, prompted the board chairman to go as far as to say that any player signing up wih the ICL will not be considered for future Pakistan internationals – a stance harsher on this matter than any other board’s.You can perhaps understand their concern. Inzamam back in the dressing room, unwittingly or otherwise, they feel, will undermine Malik’s captaincy. They are also worried that the religiosity they have been keen to dampen is likely to resurface. Inzamam is aware of this fear: he turned down the captaincy initially because he didn’t want to handle so many ex-captains. The senior group of players he is close to remain so. Speculation that Mohammad Yousuf might be shunted out of the Twenty20 squad elicits a loyal response from Inzamam: “How can they even think of doing that? It can destabilise the entire team.”But on paper, there is no case. Last year was a moderate one for Inzamam, but only the year before that he touched a rarified peak. And he still averages nearly 60 from his last 20 Tests with over 1600 runs. More importantly, who on earth replaces him? Misbah-ul-Haq, out of the picture for over three years and never really in it in the first place? Faisal Iqbal, who still hasn’t convinced entirely? Or Asim Kamal, whose promising career successive selectors have all but ruined?Thus Inzamam and Pakistan are both in limbo, stranded between whiles. On merit Inzamam is a shoo-in, yet you wonder how his presence will affect the dynamics of a new side. Nothing is clear save this: the Pakistani cricketer who retires with grace, dignity and at an opportune time has not yet set foot on this earth. He has lingered, he has not been allowed to linger; he is pushed, nudged, intrigued out. Often he is just forgotten. Inzamam is on the verge of joining that crowded fraternity. Perhaps he already has.

Sri Lanka has the seam-bowling weaponry to make a serious push for victory on Monday. So believes Angelo Mathews, their centurion from day four, who was most responsible for setting New Zealand a target of 285.In the 17 overs Sri Lanka bowled at New Zealand before stumps, the seamers were probing and disciplined. Kasun Rajitha claimed the wicket of Devon Conway, and New Zealand could not score at more than 1.64 an over, finishing at 28 for 1, with Tom Latham and Kane Williamson the overnight batters.In the first innings, Sri Lanka’s seamers had had New Zealand at 188 for 6, before an outstanding Daryl Mitchell hundred, and lower-order hitting from Matt Henry pushed the hosts into a narrow lead.”We’ve got the fast bowlers to exploit the conditions,” Mathews said after play. “We’ve got some fantastic fast bowlers in the group, and we have the belief that if the batters get the runs on the board, the fast bowlers will definitely come into play, with the conditions. They’ve done exactly that.”We’ve given ourselves a great chance to win the Test match. We have to turn up tomorrow and just go for it. The game is evenly poised. Latham and Williamson – we all know they are world class. We need to strike early to get into the game. If we can open one end, we can put a lot of pressure on the Kiwis.”Related

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The surface did not appear especially treacherous on day four – though there was still some movement off the seam for the quicks. The Hagley Oval surface has in the past tended to get lower and slower as a match goes on, though spinners have been effective at this venue late in the game as well.”You can’t predict a wicket 100%, but there was variable bounce today,” Mathews said. “But hoping he [Prabath Jayasuriya] can hit the rough spots. Especially to the left-hander there’s a big rough on either side. The spinner also might come into play – you never know.”His own 115 off 235 balls, which was his 14th Test ton and his second in successive tours of New Zealand, Mathews put down to experience. It was a vital innings, during which he forged a 105-run partnership with Dinesh Chandimal, then put on 60 alongside Dhananjaya de Silva.Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara shared five wickets between them in the first innings•AFP/Getty Images

Although in the first innings Sri Lanka rattled along at almost four an over, they were prevented from scoring freely for much of day four, by some disciplined New Zealand bowling.”The more you play the more you learn, and I’ve played a lot of cricket in New Zealand, and in Christchurch as well,” Mathews said. “I know what kinds of conditions we are getting here. Credit should go to the New Zealand bowlers as well. After Neil Wagner got injured, the other three fast bowlers gave nothing away. It was hard work out there, but they kept pegging away, and we had to work extremely hard to get those runs. We had to keep grinding all day, which we did, I thought.”Scoring was especially difficult before lunch, when New Zealand sent down 28 overs and conceded just 67 (a run rate of 2.39).”You come set to play certain shots because they aren’t giving anything away,” Mathews said. “You kind of know what you get from each bowler, so you kind of mentally plan it out. The first session they gave nothing away at all. We had to keep fighting for sngles and twos – forget about the fours. We all know [Tim] Southee is a world-class bowler, and no matter how tired he is he lands it on the spot. Matt Henry bowled extremely well, as well as [Blair] Tickner though he’s young and new to the Test arena, he bowled with a lot of gas. We knew what’s coming with each and every bowler, and we had to plan accordingly.”Sri Lanka must win this match, and the next one, to stand any chance of making the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval later this year. Mathews lauded the work of coach Chris Silverwood and captain Dimuth Karunaratne for creating a vibe through which a side that is not particularly studded with standout players, has been able to come close to making a major final.”The captain and the coach play a major part in the team’s environment. And us seniors will back it up with them. Chris Silverwood and his support staff and the captain has done a fantastic job in creating a great environment, to play cricket with a lot of freedom. That’s what you want – to put everything aside, and go out there and enjoy yourselves, which we’re absolutely doing.”

MatériaMais Notícias

O Fortaleza foi derrotado pelo Cerro Porteño na noite desta quinta-feira (9), em casa, por 1 a 0, no jogo de ida da terceira fase da Libertadores. O gol foi marcado por Churin, ex-Grêmio e Atlético Goianiense. O goleiro Jean, ex-São Paulo, foi um dos destaques da partida com grandes defesas. Ele defendeu um pênalti cobrado por Thiago Galhardo ainda no primeiro tempo.

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Na próxima semana, o Fortaleza vai precisar vencer por mais do que um gol de diferença, no Paraguai, para levar a classificação.

O jogo começou animado, com o Fortaleza pressionando. Aos 19, Calebe invadiu a área e foi derrubado. Na cobrança de pênalti, no entanto, Jean, goleiro ex-São Paulo, defendeu.

O Cerro chegou a marcar aos 26 minutos, mas Carrizo estava em impedimento. Pouco tempo depois, Pochettino obrigou Jean a fazer grande defesa.

Aos 33 minutos, Churín marcou, de cabeça, o gol do Cerro após receber cruzamento. Com a vantagem, o time do Paraguai começou a levar perigo nos contragolpes.

Na volta do intervalo, o Leão chegou com perigo em chutaço de Tinga, que o goleiro Jean salvou. Após falta em Benevenuto, Rivas foi expulso.

Calebe levou perigo em chute forte, perdendo talvez a melhor chance do time no jogo. Titi também ameaçou de cabeça, e Tinga chutou de dentro da área. No fim, Bobadilla desperdiçou uma chance muito boa. Vitória do Cerro Porteño no jogo de ida. Agora, o Fortaleza terá de correr atrás do prejuízo.