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Joe Clarke’s latest century will have alerted the new England selector Ed Smith, but would a call-up be too much, too soon?

Jon Culley at New Road12-May-20181:59

County round-up: Clarke century rattles champions Essex

ScorecardIf runs scored in a struggling team really do carry extra value, then Joe Clarke has done his statistics no harm in the last few days. After his 157 at The Oval last week helped Worcestershire end the losing run that had made for an unpromising return to Division One cricket, his 105 here was the difference between a hefty first-innings deficit against the defending champions and a workable lead.Both hundreds, incidentally, have come since Ed Smith was appointed as James Whitaker’s successor as national selector, charged with rebuilding the standing of England’s Test team after a depressing Ashes winter. Whether this is significant may become known on Tuesday, when the first England selection of Smith’s tenure is announced.,He is probably an outside bet to be named in the squad for the opening Test against Pakistan but, if Smith is minded to make a statement by stepping away from the usual suspects, then Clarke will surely be one of those whose form has been scrutinised with particular interest.Here at New Road opinion is divided, not on the matter of Clarke’s talent but over whether he is ready to be exposed to Test cricket. Clarke will not be 22 until later this month and with all young players there is a risk that a poor start under the pressure of international cricket will have a negative psychological impact.”Am I ready to step up? Until you play at that level I don’t think you can know,” he said afterwards. “But to show that I can perform in the higher league after a few seasons in Division Two is pleasing. I’ll just try to score as many runs as I can for Worcestershire and let the runs do the talking really.”These last two innings, the latest in particular, have shown a responsible side to his game. With only Daryl Mitchell able to stay with him more than briefly, drawing on his experience to steady a rocking boat after Brett D’Oliveira and Tom Fell had been dismissed within the first three overs of the day, the onus was largely on Clarke to make sure the previous day’s achievement in denying Essex any batting points was not wasted.In that respect, he succeeded impressively. There was a wobble or two at the beginning, but for the most part his judgment of which balls he should attack was sound. Against an attack of this calibre, with Peter Siddle looking to sign off his five-match stint with the county on a strong note, making the correct decisions was essential. Yet when he did put bat to ball he looked in good order. Three of his 14 fours came in one over against Jamie Porter, two with muscular pulls through midwicket, the third driven serenely into the boundary boards at long off.Only the end was disappointing, a push at a ball from Ravi Bopara that beat the bat and punished his tentative footwork. Bopara had also dismissed Mitchell is returning 3 for 30, although Siddle was the best of the bowlers, unlucky to claim only two wickets.Essex overhauled Worcestershire’s lead for only one loss but suffered an unexpected blow when Alastair Cook, looking ominously well set on 66, offered no shot to a ball from Steve Magoffin that came back sharply to clip his off stump.Bizarrely, Essex’s top three batsmen were all bowled by balls they opted to leave, which is an unusual occurrence to say the least. Little wonder that Bopara and Dan Lawrence chose to negotiate a gloomy last hour somewhat cautiously, although for not quite long enough in the case of Bopara, who was caught behind pushing at one from an impressive Josh Tongue just before seven o’clock, with 12 balls left in the day.

A shattering spell of reverse swing by Tom Curran foiled Australia’s chase of a modest total as England took the one-day series 4-1

The Report by Daniel Brettig28-Jan-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA shattering spell of reverse swing by Tom Curran foiled Australia’s chase of a modest England total and in turn silenced a West Australian record crowd of 53,781 in the first ODI to be played at Perth’s new stadium. A trio of players from out west – Mitchell Marsh, AJ Tye and Marcus Stoinis – had prospered earlier in the match, but it was the effervescent Curran who had the final say, years after he had been childhood friends with Marsh when growing up in Zimbabwe.Australia seemed to be travelling comfortably in pursuit of 260 for victory, after England’s batsmen had squandered a series of starts, when Stoinis fell within sight of a hundred upon his promotion to No. 3 in the home side’s batting order. Having earlier ended a poor series for David Warner with a lively yorker, Curran was called back by Eoin Morgan and had his second ball curling back to confound the recalled Glenn Maxwell.Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Tim Paine followed, leaving England 4-1 victors in the 50-over series and underlining the fact that Australia are currently a long way from putting together a strong limited overs combination, less than 18 months away from next year’s World Cup. England were also well served by David Willey, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, while Jake Ball overcame considerable physical distress to complete his 10 overs. Winning the match without Mark Wood, Chris Woakes or Liam Plunkett was testament to the depth of the England ODI squad.The visitors had seemed headed for a tall total when Jason Roy was hitting the ball with plenty of power early on, but he, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales all failed to go on from promising starts to leave Joe Root more or less stranded with the England tail. In the game after taking his first international wickets, Tye used his vast array of pace variations to scoop five, reaping the rewards of some earlier good work by Marsh and also Zampa, who delivered his best spell of the series.Warner again departed cheaply, but his exit provided the chance for Stoinis to demonstrate his combination of poise and power in a way that will put him very much in the mix to be a more permanent fixture at No. 3. A promising stand with Travis Head, again looking comfortable as an opener, was ended by Morgan’s direct hit run out, which found the left-hander to be fractionally short of his ground.Smith has looked out of sorts all series, and did little to change that impression by being nearly stumped off Rashid and then comfortably stumped off Moeen, who drifted one away from Australia’s captain before sliding it past the outside edge and into Buttler’s gloves. Marsh was victim to a simply outstanding return catch from Moeen, who thrust out his right hand and plucked a fiercely struck straight drive just as the umpire was ducking for cover.For a time it appeared that Stoinis and Maxwell would take the Australians home, leaving the hosts needing just 70 from 97 balls with six wickets in hand. But when Stoinis failed to clear long-on when electing to loft Rashid, he opened up an end for Curran, who made the most of it, turning figures of 1 for 23 after five overs into a match-winning 5 for 35 after 9.2.Smith admitted that his decision to bowl first was based largely on unknowns about the stadium’s drop-in pitch, which offered an odd-looking mosaic of dry grass and greener areas. But it played well from the moment Roy flicked Starc’s first ball of the match through square leg, the vast square boundaries for a stadium devised primarily for football matches allowing an all-run four.Having begun the series with a whirlwind 180 at the MCG, Roy seemed intent on ending it in a similar manner, driving powerfully down the ground and through cover across a fast outfield. The ball after hitting Starc back over his head for six, he edged a ball angling across him through to Paine, only to be reprieved by the detection of a no-ball on replays after the event. Starc beat Roy for pace with the subsequent free-hit, but the no-ball looked likely to be costly as England strode to 44 in the first five overs.Some tighter bowling from the West Australian duo of Marsh and Tye forced Roy’s scoring rate to slacken, and ultimately drew his wicket when trying to force the pace once more – beaten by one of Tye’s slower ball variations and skying to mid-on. Bairstow then took it upon himself to drive the scoreboard forward, but he too was dismissed after making a start, dragging an indeterminate prod at Starc onto the stumps after Smith brought back his No. 1 strike bowler.Marsh, who bowled with notable economy, also ensured Hales would not go on from his own start by coaxing a top edge from a short ball, and Morgan swiped unsuccessfully at another ball banged into the pitch, taken by Stoinis running in from deep point. Buttler briefly threatened to go on the offensive before he too was fooled by Tye’s subtle changes in pace, leaving Root to try to lift the tally with the bowlers.He paid a price in pain when one of Tye’s deliveries came through slower than expected, Root through the shot and struck a painful blow in the ribs that he took some time to recover from. None of Moeen, Rashid or Willey could endure, and when Root found Warner at long on, the end was Tye’s. Australia went to the interval with confidence, but they were to be humbugged by Curran, much as they have been by a more focused and tactically alert England throughout this series.

Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana was involved in a car crash that resulted in EastEnders star Dean Gaffney suffering a broken collarbone.

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Fofana crashed his LamborghiniRan over former Eastenders actorGaffney suffered broken collarboneWHAT HAPPENED?

The 23-year-old was driving his Lamborghini when he ran over the actor, according to a report from . Gaffney was "catapulted" into the air, the report says, and had to be treated at hospital while the France international, who was driving at the end of a night out, was given a breathalyser test, which he passed.

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The incident occurred in December 2022 and Gaffney decided not to speak out about it as he felt there was no blame on Fofana's part. At the time, Fofana was in the early days of his Chelsea career, having joined the club from Leicester in August 2022.

DID YOU KNOW?

Fofana has not featured for Chelsea this season as the centre-back has been ruled out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury. He has managed only 20 appearances for the London team in all competitions since his move to Stamford Bridge.

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The ex-Saint-Etienne star will continue his recovery and hope to be back in action before long. Meanwhile, Chelsea are preparing for their upcoming Carabao Cup match against Middlesbrough, having lost the first-leg 1-0 to the Championship side.

Allrounder Washington Sundar’s maiden first-class hundred – 156* off 223 balls – underpinned Tamil Nadu‘s dominance against Tripura in Chennai. Opening the batting in the absence of M Vijay – who is suffering from a neck spasm – Sundar struck 14 fours and a six to give his team a 74-run first-innings lead at stumps on the second day.He first added 162 for the opening stand with his captain Abhinav Mukund before combining with B Indrajith for an unbroken 152-run stand for the third wicket. Abhinav made 76 off 130 balls – his second successive first-class fifty – while Indrajith stayed unbeaten on 73 off 121 balls. Tripura used seven bowlers with only Joydeep Bhattacharjee and Gurinder Singh finding success. The hosts, ultimately, closed the day at 332 for 2, scoring at over four runs per over.Earlier, seamer K Vignesh’s 4 for 41 helped Tamil Nadu dismiss Tripura for 258 from an overnight 244 for 7. The visitors had lost their last seven wickets for just 55 runs. R Ashwin finished with figures of 25.1-6-64-2.Wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha completed his 21st first-class hundred – 180 off 410 balls – to propel Madhya Pradesh to 409 against a depleted Mumbai side in Indore. In reply, Mumbai ended the day at 130 for 1 with opener Jay Bista punching 89 of those in only 96 balls.Resuming from an overnight 250 for 5, MP lost Ankit Sharma early on the second day, but Ankit Kushwah and Mihir Hirwani made 34 and 31 respectively to assist Ojha and help take the total past 400. Debutant Akash Parkar was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai, finishing with 4 for 70.Kushwah then struck with the ball to have Akhil Herwadkar caught behind for 17, but Bista’s counterattack and Siddhesh Lad’s stickability helped Mumbai trim the deficit to 279.A 139-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Swapnil Singh and Atit Sheth lifted Baroda from 203 for 7 to an eventual score of 373 against Andhra in Vadodara. Andhra’s batting line-up, which had given Tamil Nadu a scare in the first round, mounted a strong reply with captain Hanuma Vihari and Ricky Bhui scoring unbeaten half-centuries. The two batsmen helped Andhra end the day at 190 for 2.Sheth followed his 70 not out with the wicket of opener Prasanth Kumar. Left-arm spinner Swapnil, who was the top-scorer for Baroda with 88, went wicketless in five overs.

Arsenal forward Beth Mead spoke about her ACL injury recovery process alongside her team-mate and partner Vivianne Miedema.

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Mead opens up on featuring in Arsenal documentary

Opens up on ACL injury and recovery process

Women's football plagued with ACL injuries WHAT HAPPENED?

The Arsenal duo recently battled their way back to fitness after sustaining ACL tears last year. They recently featured in a documentary released by the Gunners where the players share anecdotes from their experiences of suffering such a serious injury and how they recovered from the setback.

AdvertisementWHAT BETH MEAD SAID

Speaking to , Mead revealed that they felt important to spread awareness regarding ACL injuries, which is quite prevalent among women footballers.

The striker, sitting alongside her partner said, "We felt important to kind of share our journey, make everyone a little bit more aware of what that journey looks like. If we could kind of figure out a little more as to why it's happening or the factors that go towards it happening or is there anything that we can do within the game to present it? At least minimise the risk of ACL injuries.

"There's been quite a pandemic of this specific injury so we owed it to the next generation to try and figure out a better solution, a better plan that could minimise the risk of this nasty injury."

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According to a report from , women footballers are six times more likely to sustain ACL injuries compared to men. Female footballers are also 25 per cent less likely to fully recover and return from such injuries.

In recent times, women's football has been plagued with ACL injuries with several big names being ruled out of action due to knee problems.

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR BETH MEAD?

Since her return to action, the 28-year-old has made seven Women's Super League appearances where he scored thrice for her club. She will be next seen in action after the winter break when Arsenal face Watford in a FA WSL Cup clash on January 14.

A second ODI loss to Zimbabwe in the ongoing series, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews conceded, has put his captaincy under significant pressure, and he hinted that he is unsure if he will lead the side in the next World Cup

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Jul-2017Angelo Mathews is unsure whether he will be Sri Lanka’s captain at the 2019 World Cup, after leading his side to a second loss against Zimbabwe in the ongoing five-match series. The defeat, Mathews conceded, put his captaincy under significant pressure. His comments came after Zimbabwe chased down a revised target of 219 – deduced via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method – in the fourth ODI, after Sri Lanka had made 300.”There’s a lot of pressure on all of us, and as a captain there is a lot of pressure on me as well,” Mathews said after the loss in Hambantota. “In these games, where our batsmen have done well, our bowlers didn’t perform well – both in this match, and in the first one we lost. Our fielding also hasn’t been good at times. Against Zimbabwe, we need to play better than this. If we score 300 and still lose here, there is a big shortcoming.”Mathews’ record as ODI captain since the last World Cup isn’t exactly awful: the team has won 12 matches to the 15 they have lost under his watch. However, during that time, their only series wins under Mathews have been against West Indies at home, and Ireland, away. They have lost one away series apiece to England and New Zealand, and one home series to Australia and Pakistan each. Besides, there is now a risk of losing a home series to 11th-ranked Zimbabwe, who have tied the ongoing series 2-2.”I don’t know if I will be going to the 2019 World Cup as captain,” Mathews said. “Our batsmen are doing well, but sometimes there’s no consistency in our fielding – we don’t do well sometimes. But with the players that we have, we can win these matches. We lost these matches because our bowling wasn’t good. We have to solve this problem quickly.”If Sri Lanka perform poorly in the forthcoming ODIs against India (in August and September), there is also the chance of the team not being able to gain automatic entry for the 2019 World Cup. At present, Sri Lanka are on the eighth position, with 92 rating points. They must stay ahead of West Indies, who are currently on 78 rating points, in order to avoid going through a separate qualification procedure for the next World Cup.Considering this was the second instance in the series when Sri Lanka failed to defend 300 or more, Mathews was forthright in stating his discontent over the lack of sting in the performance of the bowlers.”After scoring 300, how many times can you lose a game?” You know, we had enough runs on the board. [It’s] unfortunate the rain had to intervene, but still, we had the bowling attack to defend it. The first ten overs we gave away a lot of runs, also the rain intervened and the last ten overs we didn’t bowl that well.”We actually didn’t know the rain might come in, but the wicket was extremely dry this morning. So we all thought it’s going to start slowing more and more once the day goes on. We saw in the last game also that the ball started turning after the first 20 overs, in the second half especially. So, I thought if we bat first and bat well, we have the spinners to defend it.”Mathews also made the point that Sri Lanka’s attack was a diminished one. Nuwan Pradeep, who has recently been the best bowler in the side, picked up a niggle in the third ODI, and is being rested in order to ensure he can be fit for the four Test matches over the next eight weeks. Suranga Lakmal was also made unavailable by illness.”In our bowling we are facing problems – Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal are injured,” Mathews said. “We have to manage our bowlers’ workloads as well. We’ve got a lot of cricket coming up. We have to balance managing workloads and winning the matches in front of us.”

Evergreen seamer Darren Stevens exposed Leicestershire’s hapless first-innings batting until the last pair summoned an impressive response

ECB Reporters Network28-Aug-2017Darren Stevens claimed seven wickets•Getty Images

Last-wicket partners Lewis Hill and Callum Parkinson hit half-centuries to scrub a little lustre off Darren Stevens’ seven-wicket haul on a fascinating opening to Kent’s Specsavers County Championship clash with Leicestershire.On an ideal batting day in Canterbury, the visitors were in danger of underperforming as they slid to 174 for eight – with Stevens bagging their first seven. But the Foxes’ tail wagged and, as the host attack tired, their last pair counter-punched to add an unbroken 98 that sent their side in at stumps sitting pretty on 326 for 9.The opening two sessions had belonged to Kent with Stevens making his first breakthrough in the 10th over, nipping one through the defensive push of left-hander Harry Dearden to hit the back pad and secure the first of three successful lbw appeals.Kent’s three other seamers; Adam Milne, Matt Coles and Mitch Claydon, toiled manfully in the heat but without ever matching the sustained accuracy or continued threat posed by Stevens’ ‘dibbly-dobbly’.Stevens struck again by trapping Michael Carberry lbw. The former Kent opening batsman jumped back across his stumps when aiming to work to leg only to miss an in-ducker and become Stevens’ 400th first-class victim.Four balls later Colin Ackerman, the tall South Africa right-hander, pushed outside the line of a leg-stump away-swinger that thudded into his pad and left umpire Russell Warren with little option but to raise his trigger finger once again.Stevens struck for a fourth time in his second over after lunch when Mark Cosgrove, having smashed nine fours in a counter-attacking 40, flicked airily in the region of mid-wicket only to hole out to long-on via a leading edge.Stevens nipped one back off the seam and through the gate of Ned Eckersley’s drive to hit the top of off stump and secure his sixth five-wicket haul of the season and the 18th of a prolific all-roundcareer.Neil Dexter, a crowd favourite during his time with Kent, joined forces with Lewis Hill to add 67 inside 25 overs for the sixth wicket. But, after a short rest, Stevens returned to end Dexter’s 86-ball stay for 40 with a beauty that pitched on middle and grazed the top of off.Stevens bagged seven for the second time in his career when Ben Raine jabbed down late on an in-swinger and edged low to Coles at second slip. Raine, stood his ground, believing he had played the ball into the ground, but the umpires conferred before upholding the appeal.Any hope of a Stevens clean sweep ended just before tea when Matt Pillans swung lustily and edged one from Milne through to the keeper Sam Billings.After tea, Leicestershire’s ninth-wicket partners Hill and Clint McKay opted to throw the kitchen sink at anything pitched up to them, a ploy that seemingly bemused the Kent attack.Stevens’ figures took a relative battering as the pair went aerial, clubbing fours to all parts in taking their side past 200 for a first batting bonus point. The little and large pairing added 54 before McKay, on 32, sliced a lofted drive against Qayyum into the hands of Milne at deep extra cover.Hill’s impish approach took him to a deserved 129-ball half-century, his first of the season and Leicestershire’s sole first innings 50 in their last five championship matches.Foxes’ last man Callum Parkinson joined in the fun by clubbing one from Stevens into the top tier of the Frank Woolley stand to secure a third batting bonus point as the home attack ran out of steam.Parkinson reached his maiden first-class 50 from 48 balls, with four fours and a six as he and Hill beat Leicestershire’s previous best 10th wicket stand against Kent of 96, set by George Geary and AlexSkelding at the Aylestone Road Ground, Leicester, in 1925.

Delhi Daredevils travel to Hyderabad to try and return to winnings way, but the Sunrisers are yet to lose a game at home this season

The Preview by Varun Shetty18-Apr-2017Match factsSunrisers Hyderabad v Delhi Daredevils
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Start time 2000 IST (1430 GMT)
3:18

Hogg: Daredevils among the best bowling attacks in IPL

Head to headLast season: Delhi Daredevils beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in both matches they played last season. They were the only team Sunrisers didn’t beat during their title campaign.
Overall: Sunrisers lead 5-3 on wins overall against Daredevils. At this venue, the teams have both beaten each other once.
Recent form

Sunrisers: (third) beat Kings XI by five runs, lost to Knight Riders by 17 runs, lost to Mumbai Indians by four wickets

Daredevils: (fourth) lost to Knight Riders by four wickets, beat Kings XI by 51 runs, beat Rising Pune by 97 runs

In the newsCorey Anderson made way for Angelo Mathews in the last match because he was unwell. The New Zealand allrounder had won the Man-of-the-Match award in Daredevils’ previous win against Kings XI Punjab. He is understood to have recovered and is available for the game. We might see a reverse-swap from the Daredevils.Likely XIsSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 David Warner (capt), 3 Moises Henriques/Kane Williamson, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Mohammad Nabi/Bipul Sharma, 8 Siddarth Kaul, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Rashid Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra/ B Sran/ Mustafizur Rahman
Delhi Daredevils: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Sam Billings, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Angelo Mathews/Corey Anderson, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Zaheer Khan (capt), 11 Mohammed Shami/Shahbaz Nadeem
Strategy punt- Sanju Samson has scored 125 runs against pace at a strike-rate of 176.05 this season. In contrast, he has scored only 48 runs off 47 balls against spinners. Sunrisers legspinner Rashid Khan has taken eight of his nine wickets this season in the first half of the innings. Four of those are inside the Powerplay. We could see him bowl early in the match as Sunrisers look to stop Samson’s destructive form in the Powerplay.- Daredevils might perform another reverse-swap in their XI to bring back Shahbaz Nadeem in place of Mohammed Shami. He will better suit the conditions in Hyderabad.Stats that matter Sunrisers (39) and Daredevils (33) are among the top teams on the table for most wickets taken this season. Daredevils’ position is especially impressive considering they have played only four games so far this season Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s ‘worst’ spell this season has been 2 for 27 in the first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Since then, he has conceded fewer than 21 runs in all matches. For further context on his impact – 19 out of his 20 overs this season have been bowled inside the Powerplays or in the slog overs Shikhar Dhawan has the lowest strike-rate among openers to have faced fifty balls this season – 112.50. The next lowest is Parthiv Patel’s 121.33 Daredevils have been the most effective bowling side this season – 20 of the 26 wickets they’ve taken are top-order wickets, at an average of 17.50 and an economy of 7.31 Dhawan has managed only 43 runs off 42 balls against Zaheer Khan across IPL seasons, and has been dismissed by him on four occasions The match against Kings XI on Monday was the first occasion in this season when Rashid Khan did not get a wicket off his first over of a spell Sunrisers have not lost a single game at home this season

The USMNT “cannot count on Tyler Adams for 2026” as they continue with their preparations for a home World Cup, says Alexi Lalas.

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• Midfielder filled armband at Qatar 2022
• Has struggled at club level since then
• Stuck on the treatment table at present

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Adams captained his country at the 2022 finals in Qatar and was expected to play a leading role for the United States heading towards FIFA’s next flagship event – which will be co-hosted by the U.S. alongside neighbours Canada and Mexico.

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  All-action midfielder Adams has, however, been enduring a tough time in England. He suffered relegation out of the Premier League with Leeds last season, with an injury picked up there taken with him to Bournemouth when completing a summer transfer. The 24-year-old has seen just 20 minutes of Carabao Cup football since then – with another fitness setback being suffered – and Lalas fears the USMNT cannot draw up long-term plans where Adams is concerned.

• WHAT THEY SAID

  Lalas has told his podcast: “From a practical perspective, this kind of kicks the can down the road, hopefully, for Gregg Berhalter in terms of making that ultimate decision as to who to play in that three in the midfield, because there is an odd man out. Now, it opens up another space there. But again, we had feared or talked about it with a caveat, that this is a hamstring that went through a massive type of injury. And if immediately he gets back and he's already in trouble right now, it sucks. And now he's got to get back from a whole other injury and who knows when we are going to see him again.

  “But I think Greg Berhalter and company now have to start thinking about not just the immediate in the next window, but going into 2026, having backup plans. And it sucks because he is, so far, irreplaceable. But if all that talent and all that depth is to be believed, whether we've recognised or it's just coming to fruition now, somebody has to step up and somebody has to take the place of a Tyler Adams in terms of what he does on the field and the leadership that he brings to this team. Because right now you cannot count on Tyler Adams in the short term. And it has to be said, you cannot count on Tyler Adams for 2026 right now. If it happens, fine, that's great, and I want it to happen. But this is again another serious injury and who knows when he's going to be back to 100%, his club or his country.”

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  WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

  Adams has been ruled out for “some time” by Bournemouth, preventing him from being selected in the latest USMNT squad, and he will face serious competition for his place when returning to action as Berhalter has the likes of Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna, Luca de la Torre, Malik Tillman and Brenden Aaronson at his disposal.

Ben Foster has attempted to recruit former Manchester United star Nani for Wrexham with the winger potentially open to a move.

What happened between Ben Foster and Nani?

The club goalkeeper emerged as a key figure for the Red Dragons over the course of their promotion-winning season, after joining the club midway through the campaign.

Indeed, Foster saved a late penalty against Notts County to help seal a win in what turned out to be one of the club's most important matches under owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Unsurprisingly, the 40-year-old has since been rewarded with a new one-year contract and it looks as though he's already working hard to improve the team for the following campaign.

Indeed, over the past weekend he was playing for England in the charity football match Soccer Aid. Also taking part at Old Trafford, was former Red Devil Nani.

The Portuguese winger is currently without a club after leaving A-League side Melbourne Victory at the end of the season, and Foster was happy to take advantage of that.

Indeed, while talking on his YouTube channel – Ben Foster – The Cycling GK – the shot-stopper could be heard saying: “Nani hasn’t got a club everybody, I think he should come to Wrexham…

"Do you want to come to Wrexham?"

To which, Nani then replied: “You never know…"

Foster then laughed and said: "Liar!"

How many times did Nani play for Man United?

Of course, it was only a joke and not an official proposition but seeing as Nani is potentially looking for a team and Wrexham have the sort of reputation to bring in some big names of the past, perhaps this could be something to keep an eye out for – after all, it's not as if the 36-year-old dismissed the idea out of hand.

The former Man United star netted 41 goals and provided 71 assists in a 230-game spell at Old Trafford between 2007 to 2015. This means his path would have crossed with Foster – who was at the club from 2005-2010 – but played just 23 times.

Foster has shown a great attitude to playing for the club, admitting that he asked for "peanuts" in his new deal just to remain part of the story.

Indeed, he said: “To be honest, I don’t really need much anyway so the negotiations honestly took about five minutes. It was the easiest conversation in the world.

“With regards to wages and kind of stuff. It’s a short-term deal, a six-week deal. Wages wise it’s literally peanuts. I said I don’t want much.

And if Nani is just keen to find a club where he'll get plenty of media attention at this late stage in his career, perhaps he'll be the next big name to arrive at Wrexham.