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Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is now on the verge of sealing his Reds exit this summer, according to a key update regarding his future.

Is Jordan Henderson leaving Liverpool?

The 33-year-old has enjoyed 12 unforgettable years at Anfield, overcoming a tough early spell at the club to become one of the best skippers in the club's history, having taken over from Steven Gerrard upon his departure back in 2015.

Henderson has won countless trophies during his time as a Liverpool player, most memorable lifting the Champions League in 2010 and the Premier League the following year – Micah Richards has hailed him as "world-class" – and his reputation as a Reds legend is now undeniable, having been such a strong servant for so many years.

Sadly, though, it looks as though the Englishman's time as a Liverpool player is coming to an end, with strong recent reports suggesting he is on the verge of joining Saudi Arabian side At Ettifaq, who are currently managed by Reds icon Gerrard.

While Henderson is currently in Germany with the rest of the squad on pre-season duty, a new claim suggests that he will be waving goodbye to his teammates very soon.

What's the latest on Jordan Henderson's Liverpool future?

According to Football Insider early on Monday morning, Henderson has been in further negotiations with Al Ettifaq over a move to the club in recent hours, with a medical now edging closer:

"Liverpool expect to follow the sale of Fabinho this week with that of skipper Jordan Henderson after negotiations progressed in the last 24 hours, sources have told Football Insider. The Anfield skipper, 33, has agreed a two-year contract with Al Ettifaq worth a staggering £700,000-a-week, while Fabinho has been given the green light by the club to finalise the terms of a £40million move to Al-Ittihad.

"The Saudi club are confident a medical and the formalities of the move will now be completed soon, putting an end to the England international’s glittering 12-year Anfield career."

This is such a say way for Henderson's Liverpool career to end, with the captain still seemingly considered a key squad player heading into the 2023/24 season. He still has plenty to offer, even if his best days are behind him, and his leadership on and off the pitch will be greatly missed, especially as former vice-captain James Milner also departed for Brighton earlier in the summer.

With Fabinho also expected to move on, too, this really is a summer of enormous change in Liverpool's midfield, with Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain exiting earlier in the window, and both Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszali coming in from Brighton and RB Leipzig respectively.

In truth, it needed to happen to some degree, considering how ageing and disjointed the Reds looked in the middle of the park last season, but Jurgen Klopp has a massive job on his hands ensuring that new faces fit in quickly, and that further signings come in to fill the imminent void left by Henderson and Fabinho, avoiding a season of transition in the process.

Mithali Raj and Veda Krishnamurthy powered India to 265 and their bowlers put in a clinical performance to take India into the semi-final

The Report by Varun Shetty15-Jul-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Mithali Raj and Veda Krishnamurthy’s 108-run stand made the difference for India•Getty/ICCSuzie Bates’ decision to bowl first in a virtual quarter-final seemed to work out perfectly for the first hour. But Mithali Raj’s sixth ODI hundred – a decidedly positive innings, formed on the foundation of two century partnerships, with Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy – lifted India to 265. It was a total that became increasingly daunting with every passing over of New Zealand’s chase.They found themselves three-down in the 11th over and after a brief, ineffective resistance from Amy Satterthwaite and Sophie Devine, they unraveled quickly to lose by 186 runs. Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad, brought in to replace Ekta Bisht after warming the bench for six games, finished with a career-best 5 for 15.Raj admitted that she too would’ve bowled if the toss had gone her way. But when she came out to bat, though, it didn’t appear like the conditions played on her mind despite India losing Punam Raut and Smriti Mandhana early. The wickets were more to do with New Zealand’s discipline than prodigious movement either in the air or off the pitch. In fact, the first signs of swing came when Suzie Bates came on in the 11th over. And even those gentle awayswingers didn’t cause Raj any trouble.She creamed drives all day long, to the covers ring for a while, but eventually through them. Raj’s conscious effort to keep her strike rate in the vicinity of 80 shone through. Her fifty against Australia on Wednesday – 69 off 114 – was called out for lack of intent, and it was clear she wanted to put it to rest. So, she did. This didn’t necessarily mean India were any quicker. In fact, the run-rate hadn’t even crept past four-per-over at the end of the 30th.Raj was the aggressor, but at the other end was the promoted Harmanpreet whose longest innings of the tournament up until Saturday was a 23-ball knock against Pakistan. When she middled them, they sounded sweet, but she struggled to find the gaps. And so, once again, it looked like India were falling to the old trap of relying too much on boundaries. And the feeling was amplified when they lost two wickets in the first two overs of the batting Powerplay. Harmanpreet, who battled through injured left hand to make a half-century, chipped one back to Kasperek, Deepti Sharma fell to a stunning Rachel Priest catch, and 153 for 2 turned to 154 for 4 in the space of nine balls.India set themselves up for 250, but losing quick wickets left them with the possibility of finishing around 230 again. Raj dropped anchor and Veda Krishnamurthy looked awkward, poking and prodded to 11 off 16, before two dominant hits off Amelia Kerr in the 43rd over injected momentum. Satterthwaite dropped her on 32 at the start of the 46th, Lea Tahuhu’s chest-high full toss offered her a free-hit soon after, and by the end of the over, she had motored to 46. The first ball of the next over was drilled flat over long-on and New Zealand were now visibly anxious. Fielders ran in from the boundary and let balls bounce over them and different varieties of length balls were served in the buffet.Raj hit one boundary after the 39th over, and it came in the last over. By then, she had trotted through to her sixth ODI century. Both her and Krishnamurthy fell in that last over, but India had put up 265. Both their innings were the deflating kind – Krishnamurthy’s an ungrateful butchering, Raj’s a controlled suffocation.And Krishnamurthy was there again, during New Zealand’s chase. Bates, looking to flick Shikha Pandey’s first delivery, found the leading edge to first slip. New Zealand couldn’t find a way back – Priest hit one back to Jhulan Goswami in the next over, but the old cricketing cliche of “chasing pressure” was upon New Zealand before they could get their eye in. The ball was swinging now. And drifting, and dipping, and turning. Satterthwaite hung in, like her role demands, but No. 4 Katey Martin looked out of place all along; she’d seen one too many dot balls, and was promptly down the pitch to hit one to Kaur at midwicket.New Zealand’s hopes rested on Satterthwaite and Devine; they seemed to know this as they decided caution would be the best way forward. Raj, sensing this, unleashed her spinners on the pair. India rattled through 17 overs in an hour. The score was 51, the required rate 6.51. Gayakwad swooped in on Satterthwaite’s vulnerability and got one to spin away from her after she had stepped down. That was the start of New Zealand’s crash.The nail found the coffin in the 20th over. Gayakwad switched to over the wicket, tied Devine down to three dot balls, then pushed one wide. It was meant to turn away from the big slash through the off side, and that’s exactly what Devine did. It was too far away. She sliced it, teasingly behind Deepti at extra cover. It was India’s day, and this wasn’t getting away from the 19-year-old. She got under it, reached for it with a dive and held on. New Zealand had nothing further to offer against Gayakwad.

India captain Virat Kohli described Yuvraj Singh’s 32-ball 53 as a game-changing innings in what eventually became a comfortable 124-run win over Pakistan at the 2017 Champions Trophy

Nagraj Gollapudi at Edgbaston 04-Jun-2017

Yuvraj Singh’s “game-changing” innings is the reason India were able to numb Pakistan with a “clinical” performance. That was the conclusion arrived at by India captain Virat Kohli, who said Yuvraj transformed the match and his team-mates’ mindsets completely with his presence and his skills in a 124-run win over Pakistan in their 2017 Champions Trophy showdown on Sunday.Yuvraj’s 53 off 32 balls was full of eye-catching strokeplay and helped India break free from a sluggish phase towards the back end of their innings. After a stable but steady start provided by the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, India failed to press the accelerator, partly because of intermittent disruptions caused by the frequent rain at Edgbaston.Yuvraj, however, launched himself as soon as he arrived at the crease – an approach that lifted Kohli’s confidence.”The way Yuvi batted, it was the game-changing innings, to be honest,” Kohli said after the victory. “That gave all of us the confidence to start striking the ball well.”Despite playing an ODI in England for the first time since 2007, Yuvraj showed no signs of struggle. He had missed both the warm-up matches as he was recovering from a bout of viral fever which had laid him low as soon as he arrived from India. Kohli has been a firm backer of Yuvraj, who, he believes has the game suited for big occasions like Sunday.”The way he batted was the way only he can strike the ball,” Kohli said. “Hitting low full-tosses for fours and sixes, and even digging out yorkers for fours, was outstanding.”When Yuvraj joined Kohli in the 37th over, the Indian captain was on 29 off 37 balls having just been involved in the run-out of Rohit Sharma and struggling to find a rhythm. He had started off neatly, but then got stuck – partly as a consequence of a rain delay that stopped play in the 34th over – something not often seen with Kohli, even during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s rough campaign in IPL 2017. Kohli admitted that he was never fluent until he reached the half-century mark and that the rain breaks muddled his thought process.”I think till 40, I was easing into the game, taking my ones and twos like I always do,” Kohli said. “I could not go for the big ones because it was tricky. We went off about four times. And we came back in, and so as a player who likes to play the long innings till the end and usually plays like that for the team, it becomes very difficult to find momentum every time you come back and all you got to do is play yourself in again.”However, Yuvraj, who struck 150 against England on January 19 in the last ODI series India played, imposed himself on Pakistan quickly.”When Yuvi came in, we didn’t go back out again,” Kohli said. “So, he started striking from ball one and, as I said, that took pressure off me, and maybe I should have given him strike.”That really deflated the opposition and that gave me a bit of time to settle in from the other end. When he got out, I took over. But I think his innings was a difference in the game.”Kohli said that Yuvraj’s success always rubs off positively on the rest of the team.”If he plays like that you know the team is always in a good space because you can really rely on him to come in and just play a match-changing innings, more often than not,” Kohli said. “And he will end up doing it three out of five times. That’s why we back him at that spot.”Yuvraj departed 10 deliveries before India’s innings closed. Kohli and Hardik Pandya then stroked 34 runs off the remaining 10 balls to take India to a formidable total. Kohli said that by then he had found his mojo – he scored 36 runs off the last 11 balls of his innings – and Pandya’s big hitting came in handy towards the end.”I decided to stay still and just back the strokes that I have, and a few connected, and that’s what happens in this sport,” Kohli said. “Momentum comes your way, it goes away, but you’ve got to stay patient. And when it comes back, you’ve got to capitalise on it. So I believe in myself, I can get 30 of 10 balls as well in the end. And it was just showing a bit more composure.”

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has made it 'very clear' to Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount that he is a 'priority target' at Old Trafford this summer, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano.

What's the latest transfer news involving Mason Mount?

According to reports, United have already had two initial bids for the England international turned down by the Londoners.

However, another bid is expected to land shortly with the Red Devils are still considered as being the side that are in pole position to sign the £80k-a-week ace.

Nevertheless, Simon Jones, who is a journalist for the Daily Mail, has delivered another update in his Transfer Confidential that may worry Manchester United fans, revealing that their pursuit of Mount has now put them in a position where Ten Hag might need to choose between signing a high-profile striker or goalkeeper this summer, as their budget won't allow them to strengthen both positions.

Tottenham Hotspur talisman Harry Kane was also a target for the Red Devils previously; however, any move to bring in the 29-year-old now looks to be off the table.

Manchester United star Luke Shaw spoke about Mount when asked if they had been in contact in an interview cited by METRO while on international duty, stating:

"Yeah, obviously he’s not here [Mount was injured]. I think it’s all just a bit of banter really, obviously we have a joke and a laugh about it. I am not too sure what goes on behind the scenes; it’s to do with the club really.

"But of course when we’re here and together we have a joke about it but like I said I don’t know too much what’s going on."

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, renowned journalist Romano has signalled that Manchester United have communicated their vision to Mount at Old Trafford.

Romano stated: "They believe that this is kind of a strategy game, so let's see if Chelsea will change their position on the price in the next few weeks.

"Manchester United have sent very clear messages to the player in recent days, telling him they want him and that he is considered a priority target."

How did Mason Mount fare at Chelsea in 2022/23?

Mount endured an inconsistent campaign for Chelsea, in all honesty, though he still showed flashes of quality in a collectively underwhelming time of things at Stamford Bridge.

As per Transfermarkt, the 24-year-old made 35 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea, registering three goals and six assists in the process.

WhoScored detail that Mount had no problem trying to force the issue for Chelsea and showed bravery when on the ball, completing 1.3 key passes on average per match in the Premier League.

According to FBRef, Mount was a handy presence in the engine room with regard to chance provision and successfully mastered 83 shot-creating actions over the course of the term.

Being handed a fresh opportunity somewhere else to show his capabilities may be the best option for the Portsmouth-born ace's career moving forward and Ten Hag could potentially take him to the next level at Old Trafford.

Glasgow Rangers supporters of a certain vintage will remember the marauding Croatian striker Dado Prso as he bulldozed his way through opposition defences with ease, while also showcasing a clinical nature in front of goal.

Indeed, across his three seasons with the Ibrox side, Prso managed to score 36 goals in 124 matches, which on the surface, doesn’t sound like the best of ratios, however, it was more the manner which he scored them, with vital strikes coming against Celtic and in the Champions League during his spell in Glasgow.

With the Gers on the lookout for a new striker ahead of next season due to Alfredo Morelos’ departure after six years with the Glasgow giants, they have been linked with a move for young forward Matija Frigan according to Football Insider and he could cost the club £5.2m.

Could the 20-year-old perhaps be the next Prso to grace the club and follow in the footsteps of fellow Croatian strikers such as Nikica Jelavic and Antonio Colak.

Could Matija Frigan join Rangers?

There is no doubt that Michael Beale wants to add another one or two strikers to his first-team squad following the capture of Sam Lammers recently, and Frigan would be a wise investment.

The youngster managed to score 15 goals across just 31 games last season for Croatian outfit HNK Rijeka, showing his ruthlessness in front of goal, while he was praised by Jacek Kulig as “another extremely interesting youngster from Croatia” and Beale could certainly do with a player of his talent chipping in with goals.

Like Prso, Frigan doesn’t just rely on goals to get by as a centre-forward, having created three big chances and averaging 0.6 key passes per game while also making 0.5 successful dribbles per game last term and it proves that his skills could be utilised as either an out and out number nine or a deep-lying forward, looking like he could adapt to both extremely well.

Frigan also has gained three caps for the Croatian U21 side as he is clearly impressing enough to be achieving international recognition and if he continues his current scoring rate, it might not be long until a bow for the senior side is made.

Prso – who was hailed as "awesome" and "like a beacon" by former boss Alex McLeish – was a cult figure at Ibrox due to his unorthodox nature and knack for scoring vital goals. Frigan might be a slightly more clinical player, however, Kulig also described him as a “complete forward” and this could suggest the starlet could be very much like Prso should he join the Gers.

Cricket Australia’s CEO James Sutherland has outlined plans for league structures in ODIs and T20 internationals, which would reduce the amount of cricket played by major nations

Daniel Brettig27-Oct-20163:34

Brettig: Bowlers playing IPL a worry for Cricket Australia

Less will be more under the structures currently being proposed for the future of international cricket, which would for the first time place limits on how many matches and series could be scheduled by any one nation.Speaking at the Cricket Australia AGM, which underlined the game’s financial reliance on bilateral tours, the chief executive James Sutherland outlined plans currently under discussion for league structures in ODIs and Twenty20 matches, plus a mooted “conference” format for Test matches.These structures, Sutherland said, would mean that the game’s financial powerhouses like Australia, India and England would play less international cricket than they presently do, while raising the volume of cricket played by other nations. This would be possible due to the increased context and meaning given to each match by league formats that gave players, fans, broadcasters and sponsors a clear idea why each match was being played.”If you bring in some structure around international cricket and you create formats that are a league type arrangement you put limits around that, and any other cricket that’s played outside of that is even more meaningless than other cricket that is played at the moment,” Sutherland said. “From that perspective it would put some really significant structure and limits around the amount of cricket that’s played.”With one day cricket and Twenty20 cricket we are contemplating a 13-team league where everyone plays each other, home and away over a three-match series over the course of a three-year period. That means you play six one day matches away, six at home every year. There doesn’t seem any point playing any more than that because those are the matches that count.”Similar structure for T20 cricket and I think that’s something that’ll be really beneficial for world cricket. Not just in terms of putting those limits in place, but also creating third party interest, making sure there’s real relevance and context to every single match.”The limited-overs league structures would mean each nation in the 13-team competition would play each other in one series, either home or away, over three years leading into each World Cup year, with the home team for that series then playing away in the next cycle to follow. Similarly, the conference structure for Tests would grow out of an ICC event-style draw, with seeded teams and others drawn to play them. A 12-team structure has the added bonus of bringing the likes of Ireland or Afghanistan into the fold.”I think things need to change absolutely and we certainly believe that additional structure moving towards a Test Championship of one form or another, probably on some sort of a two-year cycle would be a real positive,” Sutherland said. “We’re betwixt and between a little bit original suggestions about two divisions, then looking at perhaps a system where people play against each other and we used ranking points to decide who the champions are.”But the one that’s floating around at the moment is two conferences and perhaps matches being played inside of conferences with a little bit of cross-conference activity as well inside that two-year period and then having a champion team in each conference play off in a two-year cycle. I think there’s some real merit in that, I don’t think it significantly undermines some of the traditional series that are played and all in all very positive where every match would count, every series would count and I think it’d be very keenly sought after, the right to play in that final.James Sutherland: “I think things need to change absolutely and we certainly believe that additional structure moving towards a Test Championship … would be a real positive”•Getty Images”It also really exposes performances as well and the opportunity to bring a couple of countries into Test cricket would be a real positive as well.”Sutherland admitted that in the current environment, it was impossible to apply equal priority to every international series, as shown by the recent tour of South Africa or the near convergence next year of the Test tour to India with the T20 home series against Sri Lanka. The IPL, of course, blocks out more than a month of the year for most nations.”We make decisions from time to time in the best interests of a player, to make sure they’re available at the times that we see as the most important for them to be available,” he said. “There’s absolutely no doubt that at times we have to prioritise certain events, series, matches ahead of others.”Certainly for the bowlers it’s just not possible for them to play all of the time. If you include IPL in there as well there are prioritisation discussions that need to be held all the time. they can be long-term planning discussions but they also need to be short-term planning according to how the player is dealing with injuries, niggles and also mental health.”However Sutherland pushed the vital importance of making sure international cricket remained the top priority for the game ahead of domestic Twenty20, a point he has pressed home at successive ICC chief executives committee meetings in recent times. The example he can point to is the Big Bash League, devised to run alongside the international season and succeed without Australia’s best Test players.”I’m not sure my point of view is seen to be agreed to by everyone in international cricket, but our perspective here is that IPL is unique and then there’s all the other domestic T20 competitions around the world. As far as I’m concerned international cricket comes first, and is the absolute priority. We’ve been true to that word in the way we’ve scheduled the BBL. People said the BBL couldn’t be a success without Australian players playing in it.”The facts of the matter are that it’s a great success, and it’s scheduled during the middle peak time of our Australian summer. International cricket needs to be the priority and you cannot schedule international cricket around domestic T20 competitions as far as I’m concerned, and that will be one of the things we need to work through. Some countries may try to massage the program in such a way that they can do that, that’s up to them. But first and foremost we need to be fully committed to international cricket for it to be sustainable.”The proposed changes to the international game are due to be discussed in further detail at the next round of ICC meetings in February, and Sutherland said the hope was for a fully rejuvenated model to kick in beyond the 2019 World Cup in England.”I would say certainly within five years,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a lead time because of preexisting contracts and things like that, but certainly the planning is very heavily focused on a line in the sand around the World Cup in 2019. We see that post-that there’s an opportunity to roll into a new structure for the three formats.”

Liverpool are considering making a summer approach to sign Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Ruben Neves, according to reports.

What's the latest on Neves to Liverpool?

The Old Gold captain first arrived in the Premier League back in 2017 and has since gone on to make 250 appearances at Molineux, but his future heading into the upcoming window is in the air.

The Portuguese international will be out of contract at the end of the next season and reports have claimed that he is ready to quit and embark on a new challenge, so with this set to be the final chance for Julen Lopetegui’s side to cash in, potential suitors are already circling, including the Reds.

Journalist Fabrizio Romano revealed in April that Jurgen Klopp does have the 26-year-old on his list of midfield targets but that a move was not “imminent”, though a fresh update has now emerged which suggests otherwise.

According to Spanish outlet Sport (via TEAMtalk), Liverpool, alongside top-flight rivals Arsenal and Manchester United, are all “strongly considering” making an official approach for Neves. The Wolves skipper is “keen” on a move to Barcelona, who are also name-checked as admirers, but it’s the trio that are the ones “in the race” to secure his services. The Midlands outfit have set a price tag “in the region” of £40m for their prized asset, though there’s a chance that could be increased given the calibre of clubs chasing him.

Would Neves be a good signing for Liverpool?

Liverpool have clearly been long-term admirers of Neves and it’s no surprise that he’s attracting interest being Wolves’ overall top-performing player this season with a WhoScored match rating of 6.99, so he would certainly be a fantastic acquisition for FSG and Klopp.

The Nike-sponsored star, called "incredible" by his teammates, is naturally a defensive midfielder who sits just in front of the backline, which is proven by him ranking in the 98th percentile for clearances amongst midfielders, but he’s also capable of contributing to efforts in the final third.

The World Cup and Europa League participant has recorded a total of 72 shot-creating actions and 62 shots since the start of the current term which is higher than any other member of his squad, as per FBRef, not to mention that he’s got seven goal involvements to his name as a reward.

Finally, Neves has been dubbed a “beast” by the United States’ former professional Jimmy Conrad, so for all of the valuable qualities that he would add to the squad, he could be the perfect Fabinho successor.

Eoin Morgan wants his England one-day team to keep pushing themselves to new heights and believes there is a confidence in the squad that anything is possible

Andrew McGlashan17-Aug-2016Eoin Morgan wants his England one-day team to keep pushing themselves to new heights and believes there is a confidence in the squad that anything is possible.England’s focus now returns to white-ball cricket with Morgan back in charge for the five ODIs against Pakistan followed by a one-off T20 which finishes the international season.The importance given to 50-over cricket is reinforced by there being no rotation in the one-day squad for this series as eyes remain firmly fixed on the Champions Trophy next June.Since the beginning of the last home season, England’s reinvigorated one-day side has ticked up an impressive list of batting feats: a first total over 400, another total of 399, chasing down 350 with six overs to spare, a ten-wicket win chasing 255 and, individually, a record 46-ball century from Jos Buttler plus Jason Roy’s 162.Since May 1, 2015 they have scored their runs faster than any other team and hit more sixes.”The key phrase is pushing the side. Over the last 12-18 months we’ve seen the progression of everyone and the skill levels,” Morgan told ESPNcricinfo at a NatWest Cricket grassroots event. “There’s a huge amount of belief. It’s almost as though there are no restrictions to anything we can do.”However, Morgan wants more consistency from the side – series win against New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been tempered by losses to Australia and South Africa since the last World Cup – and a climb from their current position of No. 5 in the rankings. Within the next year, the period which includes the Champions Trophy, he wants England within the top three.”Realistically, if we want to be favourites going into the Champions Trophy or the World Cup then we need to work our way up the rankings which means showing more consistency in all three facets. We want to be in the top three three years before the World Cup. You still need to deliver in the tournament itself, but getting the results to move up the rankings builds confidence.”Morgan believes that one of England’s most significant results of late has been the tie they earned in the opening ODI against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge when Liam Plunkett launched the final ball for six following a stand of 138 between Buttler and Chris Woakes to revive the chase.”We were down and out,” Morgan said. “It’s about building the belief that no matter how far behind the game you are there is an escape route.”‘I had my first hit two days and didn’t walk out of the net thinking I’m that far behind’•NatWestMorgan said he sees “17 or 18 players” that the Champions Trophy squad will come from next year in England. But he added that the squads for the tours to Bangladesh (security permitting) and India will be selected with those specific conditions in mind. He indicated four spinners could be the picked for those trips, something England have edged towards with Liam Dawson’s call-up against Pakistan.Morgan explained that, in a perfect world, he would be able to call on a left-arm quick who can bowl 90mph – that is now available in T20 with Tymal Mills, but he is not an option for 50-over cricket. However, Morgan has been delighted by the battering-ram role played by Plunkett and is excited to have Mark Wood’s pace back.”We probably have three guys who can do it [bowl at 90mph] at the moment and you want to have one in the side that can hurry up the batsmen when the ball is offering nothing else. That’s important in the 50-over game where it can stand still for periods.”From a personal point of view, this series will be Morgan’s return to action having been out for almost a month with a chipped bone in his finger. He led from the front in 2015 home season with prolific series against New Zealand and Australia, but has been the most underwhelming of a dazzling top order since.He hasn’t hit an international half-century in 23 innings but made an unbeaten 47 off 39 balls in the T20 against Sri Lanka, and was frustrated that the injury struck when he was finding form having made a century for Middlesex in late July.”The finger doesn’t look great but it’s functioning better than it looks,” he said. “I had my first hit two days ago and didn’t walk out of the net thinking I’m that far behind. That was quite nice because I actually broke it when I was finding a bit of form which was a bit of a pain. I’ve had breaks away before, then come into series without having scored many runs, so am very relaxed and feel quite refreshed”Eoin Morgan was speaking at the NatWest U13 Club Championships Final. NatWest are proud partners of grassroots cricket. To find out more visit natwest.com/cricket

AB de Villiers has identified the last 10 to 12 overs of South Africa’s innings as the period of play that cost his side the match in their tri-series opener against hosts West Indies in Guyana.South Africa had made 130 for 2 in 30 overs, before de Villiers got out off the first ball of the 31st. Thereafter, the innings fell apart, with the last five wickets falling for 16 runs to leave South Africa 188 all out.”It’s a disappointing loss tonight,” de Villiers said. “Definitely, in the last 10 to 12 overs with the bat in hand we lost our way a bit. I thought we set it up exceptionally well and the communication was that 220-plus would be a winning score. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get there. I had a nice partnership going with Riley [Rossouw], [but] I got out and after that there were no partnerships and we just lost our way. Like I said, 30 or 40 runs more would have been a very competitive total, probably a winning score.”Despite the defeat, de Villiers was happy with the team’s assessment of the conditions in Providence.”The positive out of that is that our assessment [of the pitch] was good. Unfortunately the execution wasn’t spot on in the last 10 overs with the bat in hand. We knew that it would be a turning track, very slow. That’s why we played the extra spinner. Our [team] balance was the same as that of the West Indies team. So we got all of that right.”De Villiers was also full of praise for his spin duo and for the bowling effort as a whole. Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso took 5 for 81 in 20 overs between them as South Africa fought hard to defend a low total.”I thought Imran Tahir and [Aaron] Phangiso had a great partnership going there, so I was proud of the way they performed. Unfortunately, one or two just went over the boundary. That could have changed the game a little bit, but those are the small margins of this beautiful game we play.”There’s nothing more the bowlers could have done. Maybe one or two half-chances could have gone our way, but, as I said, it is with the bat in hand that we cost ourselves tonight.”

Sam Robson equalled the Middlesex record for most runs in a match and showed a discipline that will reawaken the interest of England’s selectors

George Dobell at Lord's20-Apr-2016
ScorecardSam Robson: a quiet man making a big impression again•Getty Images

Sam Robson’s second century of the match secured a draw for Middlesex and provided another reminder of his skills for the England selectors.Robson, who followed his first innings of 231 with a second innings of 106, set a new record for the most runs in a first-class game by a Middlesex batsman (overtaking Jack Robertson, who made 331 in one innings against Worcestershire at New Road in 1949, and Paul Weekes who scored 171* and 160 against Somerset at Uxbridge in 2009) and became the first Middlesex played to make centuries in each innings since Neil Dexter, who did so in 2009 against Kent.The manner in which this match ended – with all 11 members of the Warwickshire side having a bowl and Jonathan Trott keeping wicket – might suggest Robson’s second innings runs were somewhat soft, but it is not so. For the majority of his innings, Warwickshire retained hopes of forcing a win. Had he failed, they may have been successful.It remains true, though, that batting is a more comfortable business at Lord’s when the sun comes out. On this slow wicket, Warwickshire were unable to gain much lateral movement and what variable bounce there was from the indentations made on the first day was expertly negotiated by Robson.Robson really isn’t the type to roar “pick me” at the selectors. Either vocally or with his actions. He described this achievement as “nice” and looked slightly embarrassed by the fuss. Instead, he reasoned that he was better off “focussing on scoring runs for Middlesex” and allowing selection to “be a product of that”. Besides, he knows he will be opening the batting in Durham within a few days and what a great leveller this game can be.But scoring 337 runs in a match tends to catch the eye. And, from a situation a week or so ago where he was some way down the list of those vying for selection, Robson will have forced his name into contention.It has been some time since there has been so little certainty over the identity of England’s top five in Test cricket and it seems fair to suggest that, alongside Alex Hales, Adam Lyth and Nick Compton, Robson is now a realistic candidate to accompany Alastair Cook to the middle when England play the first Test of the summer at Leeds. It may be relevant that Paul Farbrace, the England assistant coach, was among those at Lord’s to see Robson’s second innings.”It’s been a special few days,” Robson said afterwards. “I’m very proud. “I’ve played enough cricket to know there aren’t many days like this.”There has been a sense in recent months – not least from Trevor Bayliss – that England would, in an ideal world, prefer a dynamic opening partner for Alastair Cook. But if they conclude they do not have a player of similar style to David Warner, the likes of Robson and Compton offer an admirably solid alternative. It remains perplexing that, with Cook offering a pretty decent template for the role of opening batsman – he has scored more runs than any Test batsman ever to represent England, after all – that the team management seem to want his opening partner to play in such a different manner.Robson’s qualities are not so different from Cook’s. He has an apparently insatiable appetite for runs, he has excellent powers of concentration and he knows his limitations and works within them. He was, along with Trott, the only man to bat with comfort against frontline bowlers in the match – both Keith Barker and Adam Voges profited from prolonged spells of support bowling – and showed a solidity on off stump that used to be seen as the hallmark of Test-quality opening batsmen. Tests, particularly those in England in early summer, still require such skills.With Robson’s innate modesty to the fore, it was left to the two captains in this match to praise his contribution. Ian Bell described him as “a fantastic player” while Adam Voges suggested Robson would “knock the door down” if he maintained such form in the run-up to the first Test. “He’s made history,” Voges said. “That’s one of the best innings I’ve seen from a teammate.”Warwickshire rarely threatened on the final day. With Barker unable to gain much swing, Rikki Clarke offered the most trouble. He dismissed Compton, falling slightly to the off side as he played across one, with a full delivery and John Simpson missed one from Jeetan Patel but by then the match was all but safe and Warwickshire were reluctant to flog their top bowlers.While the thought of watching Bell and Trott in tandem was an appetising prospect for Warwickshire supporters ahead of this season, few can have thought they would see them share a new ball spell. By the time Tim Ambrose gave up his wicket-keeping gloves and claimed the first wicket of his 16-year first-class career – Voges caught on the mid-wicket boundary attempting to slog a long-hop somewhere towards Baker Street – this game was begging to be put out of its misery. Middlesex took 12 points; Warwickshire 11.Warwickshire leave with spirits boosted, however. Not only can they take renewed confidence in the presence of Trott in their side – he briefly captained the side on the final day and will stand in officially if Bell and the vice-captain Chris Woakes are absent – but they believe both Boyd Rankin and Chris Woakes will have recovered sufficiently to be available for their next game, the Championship match against Yorkshire starting at Edgbaston on Sunday.Middlesex, meanwhile, know they must wrestle with their team selection before their game in Durham. The presence of four seamers – two of whom have unusually long run-ups – puts them under pressure as regards over-rates at all times and may, arguably have cost them a chance to win this game.The spell of 60-minutes when they utilised part-time bowlers on day three released the last bit of pressure they had exerted on Warwickshire. The position of James Franklin, a fifth seamer and No. 7 batsman, looks most precarious.