Despite a fifty at the top of the order from Richard Montgomerie, his second of the season, Sussex’s disappointing form with the bat continued today when they were dismissed for 218 on the first day against Lancashire at Liverpool. Chris Adams (30), Matt Prior (37) and Luke Wright (28) all got starts, but failed to capitalise as Glenn Chapple (4 for 35) rocked the top order. Gary Keedy and Dominic Cork wrapped up the tail, after Mushtaq Ahmed had clobbered 22 useful runs at a run-a-ball. Sussex struck back with the ball though, leaving Lancashire 133 for 4 at stumps, trailing by 85. Mushtaq, inevitably, was to the fore again and ended the day with impressive figures of 3 for 29.
Division Two
Steve Stubbings fell two short of his second hundred of the season as Derbyshire battled to 279 for 6 on the first day against Glamorgan at Derby. Stubbings lost his opening partner, Michael Di Venuto, for 18 – and when Travis Birt (16) fell, Derbyshire were in danger of stumbling at 131 for 3. Stubbings was resolute, however, receiving good support from Hassan Adnan (52). Robert Croft bowled tidily, and for most of the afternoon, picking up 2 for 52 from 31 overs.
In and out: Simon Katich listens to the advice of Stuart MacGill, who is out of the second Test against Zimbabwe
Stuart MacGill will miss Australia’s second Test against Zimbabwe with a calf injury. It is the latest in a line of injuries for the Australians, who have been forced to make three changes to the previous side which walloped Zimbabwe by an innings and 175 runs in Perth.MacGill aggravated his calf while bowling in the first Test but had hoped to be fit in time for the Test at Sydney, starting on Friday (October 17). However, he failed to pass a fitness Test and Brad Hogg steps in to take his place.Meanwhile, Brad Williams makes his debut in place of the injured Jason Gillespie, while Simon Katich, set to play only his second Test after a two-year gap, replaces Darren Lehmann.
Muttiah Muralitharan has completed five of the most important overs of his life, strapped with reflective markers and watched by 12 high-speed cameras. The fate of Muralitharan’s controversial doosra now rests upon the conclusions of a computer.Muralitharan wasted no time in undertaking the tests, for the second time in his career, at the University of Western Australia in Perth, after his doosra was labelled suspect by Chris Broad, the ICC match referee for last week’s third Test against Australia in Colombo. The analysis was carried out on Wednesday night, and the results are expected shortly.Professor Bruce Elliott, an ICC-approved human-movement specialist employed to undertake the tests, was confident that the assessments would produce a clear conclusion: “We put reflective markers on Murali, which are captured by the cameras and computers. The computer then does the calculation and gives us the answer.”Elliott said that Muralitharan fervently believed his doosra was legitimate. “His comment is that he uses far more wrist in his top-spin delivery to create his doosra. We will see if there is any truth in that. He has such rotational ability with his wrist, his strange elbow and in his shoulder that is quite possible that it is an optical illusion.”Bruce Yardley, the former Australian offspinner who has also coached Sri Lanka, watched every ball of the tests to ensure that Muralitharan used the same energy and action that had brought him 513 Test victims. Yardley was satisfied that Murali’s bowling was the same as when he bowled competitively.The footage will now be analysed by Elliott and Daryl Foster, the former Western Australia coach and bowling advisor to the Sri Lankan team. The report will then be handed over to the Sri Lankan cricket board, which will file a report to the ICC within six weeks. The results – especially if they clear Muralitharan – are likely to be made public long before that deadline.
Nasser Hussain has reiterated his determination to continue as England’s Test captain as the World Cup team arrived back at Heathrow this morning.Hussain wants to captain England this summer, and will be available to tour Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the West Indies next winter, whether or not he keeps his job as skipper.Hussain spoke to reporters after emerging from flight SA226 from Johannesburg, and was greeted with applause and a couple of shouts of `Good old Nasser’ from supporters.Hussain faced the cameras and microphones, saying he was “just wanting to get home after five months away.” He insisted he had no regrets about his decision to quit as one-day captain after England’s elimination from the first stage of the World Cup.”I had to play in both forms of cricket and captain both forms,” he said. “I had five months away from home and you just can’t do everything. A lot of that went into my decision.”I don’t like giving away any side, but one-day cricket and me haven’t got onvery well recently. The reason I did it was to carry on as captain in the Test match arena. I made my decision throughout the winter.”He refused to be drawn on the issue of who should succeed him as one-day captain. “It’s nothing to do with me. It’s up to the selectors to decide.”But he repeated that he hopes to continue as Test captain. “I would like to carry on for a long while yet. I’ve got some unfinished business,” he added.”My form has been very good. I want to get the Test side back to where it wasin the past and my captaincy record speaks for itself. I would like to play 100 Tests, it’s been an ambition of mine. Whether this is as captain or not is up to the selectors.”Describing England’s World Cup campaign as “frustrating”, Hussain nonetheless wished Zimbabwe well for the rest of the competition and hoped their Test team would still come to England during the summer.”I hope they have a good run in the World Cup. I wish them well for the rest of the tournament and I hope they come over here,” he added.”They have got Test matches at Durham and Lord’s and I hope they come, I’m sure they will. We always play good Test matches against them and we get on well with their players. I hope we can continue our friendly rivalry against them.”
Iain Sutcliffe scored a career best 203 to put Leicestershire in awinning position at the halfway point of their CricInfoChampionship clash against Glamorgan at Cardiff.Leicestershire were eventually dismissed for 588 in their first inningsbut not before the top three batsmen had reached three figures withSutcliffe top scoring with his first three-figure score for fourseasons.It was the highest total by a visiting side to Sophia Gardens, beatingthe 584 amassed by Middlesex eight seasons ago.The daunting total left Glamorgan needing 439 to avoid the follow-on andthey started badly when Phil DeFreitas dismissed opener Ian Thomas inthe sixth over to leave the home side 8-1.But by the close Steve James and Matthew Maynard had guided their sideto 52-1, leaving them a further 383 to make Leicestershire bat again.Sutcliffe, started the day on 86, took an hour to reach three figureswhich he did from 182 balls with 13 boundaries. He went to his centurywith a fine square cut for four off Darren Thomas.The Leicestershire left-hander was eventually dismissed aftersix hours in the middle when he was bowled by Steve Watkin, who claimedfour wickets in all as Glamorgan managed two bowling points despitetheir attack coming out second best.Abtab Habib also chipped in with a quickfire half-century but there wasdisappointment for Shahid Afridi who was dismissed for just two on hisChampionship debut.
With fixtures against bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers and newly-promoted Leeds United forthcoming in the Premier League for Liverpool, Arne Slot’s side have a stellar chance to end 2025 on a high.
It’s been an immensely challenging season for the champions, who have struggled for form after a difficult summer.
However, Slot’s side are unbeaten in six and are tentatively making headway. Results are improving, but performance levels still leave plenty to be desired.
It’s clear that the Anfield side are tactically imbalanced, and with the January transfer window looming large, sporting director Richard Hughes is getting ready to chase down targets across a number of different positions.
Liverpool looking at Premier League midfielder
Defensively, Liverpool have been shambolic this season. There have also been clear weaknesses across the final third, with the decision against directly replacing Luis Diaz after his summer sale to Bayern Munich one which has taken a chunk from the Reds’ offensive sharpness and dynamism.
Antoine Semenyo, Bournemouth star, had been identified as the perfect successor, but it has now been confirmed he is advancing in discussions with Manchester City.
Liverpool cooled their interest after holding calls in November; perhaps this boils down to FSG and Slot’s desire to strengthen elsewhere?
And at the top of the list is Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, though suitors will have to play to the tune of £100m if they wish to prise him away from the City Ground in 2026.
TEAMtalk have revealed that Anderson is on FSG’s radar, but the England international is also being linked with moves to Manchester United and Newcastle United, so it’s unclear which way the saga is leaning at this stage.
How Anderson compares to Mac Allister
It’s been quite the journey for Anderson since being discarded by Newcastle in 2024, with the 23-year-old now a fully-fledged England international and regarded as one of the best midfielders in English football.
He has played every minute of Nottingham Forest’s Premier League campaign, bringing a matchless blend of energy and physicality and technical sharpness to Sean Dyche’s system as it looks to reclaim the old form of Nuno Espirito Santo, whose bad-blooded departure sent the project in a spin.
Anderson, however, has invariably impressed, and it’s no surprise that so many of the Premier League’s top outfits are keen on lifting him to the next level in his promising career. Liverpool are no different, especially when the likes of Alexis Mac Allister have been so horribly out of sorts.
Mac Allister, 26, has been one of Liverpool’s leading men since joining from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2023, still jubiliant from his important part in winning the 2022 World Cup with Argentina.
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But the all-action midfielder seems a shadow of himself, stiff and lacking the substance and style that have been staples of his rich time on Merseyside.
The statistics, moreover, are not in his favour, especially when collated with Anderson’s performances in the Premier League this season.
Premier League 25/26 – Mac Allister vs Anderson
Stats (*per game)
Mac Allister
Anderson
Matches (starts)
16 (14)
17 (17)
Goals
0
1
Assists
2
1
Touches*
47.4
92.2
Accurate passes*
31.2 (86%)
58.9 (86%)
Chances created*
0.6
1.6
Succ. dribbles*
0.3 (31%)
1.2 (53%)
Ball recoveries*
2.9
8.3
Tackles + interceptions*
1.5
3.5
Duels (won)*
2.8 (45%)
7.4 (54%)
Data via Sofascore
Hailed as a “do-it-all midfield warrior” by Como scout Ben Mattinson, there’s no question that Anderson would add flair and flavour to Liverpool’s flagging midfield.
He would rekindle the fire in the engine room, and while Slot and FSG and all of a Liverpool persuasion will be confident that Mac Allister will return to form again, Liverpool are looking to sign a new midfielder, and there are few better than Anderson right now.
Slot's best move yet: Liverpool want to sign PL "monster" alongside Semenyo
Liverpool are prepared for another flurry of activity in the January transfer market.
Ahmed Amla, the Dolphins captain and elder brother of Hashim Amla, will captain a 14-man South Africa Emerging Players squad for the 2008 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia.Vince van der Bijl, Cricket South Africa’s High Performance general manager, was confident his side would defend the title which they have won twice in succession. “We have won this competition in the last two years, beating Australia and New Zealand in the final. This is a tough competition and the experience gained by our players is invaluable for the later international tours”, Bijl said.At 28, Amla and Henry Davids, the Cape Cobras batsman are the oldest players in the squad, and Bijl said the focus was on giving exposure to younger players. “This year we are taking a younger side and have intentionally put in two old hands as it were, Ahmed Amla and Henry Davids, as we believe having a few old heads is worth great deal in developing the younger players on tour.”We have won the last two tournaments and players such as Johan Botha, Vernon Philander and JP Duminy have come out of this experience and done well [for South Africa].”The squad also includes Wayne Parnell, the captain of the South Africa Under-19 team which reached the final of the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia, as well was offspinner Thandi Tshabalala, who is the only player in the squad to have represented South Africa in ODIs.Squad Ahmed Amla (capt), Yusuf Abdullah, Werner Coetzee, Henry Davids, CJ de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Imraan Khan, Rory Kleinveldt, Wayne Parnell, Daryn Smit (wk), Blake Snijman, Thandi Tshabalala, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Vaughan van Jaarsveld.
West Indies defied expectation to stretch the fourth Test at Old Trafford into the final day with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, offered a life on 18, making his second half-century of the match in nearly five hours at the crease. He was supported by gutsy displays from Runako Morton and Dwayne Bravo, although Monty Panesar’s three wickets kept England on course to claim the series with only a flimsy tail to follow.The standard of cricket certainly went up a notch after the sights of the previous two days. Tossed-up freebies from part-time spinners, senior pace bowlers unable to hit the cut strip and top-order batsmen having headless swishes were replaced with the probing Panesar, a fired-up Steve Harmison and the rearguard efforts of West Indies’ top order.Most predictions at the start of the day were that the series would be done and dusted by the close. But West Indies put a previously unseen value on their wickets – the always gritty Chanderpaul excepted – and each time England broke through, and a collapse appeared imminent, another battling partnership was formed. Chanderpaul has become used to fighting in seemingly lost causes for West Indies – only his old colleague Brian Lara has scored more runs in defeat – but Runako Morton showed a hidden restraint in a stand of 75 during the afternoon session, then Chanderpaul was joined by Bravo in a more aggressive partnership of 88.The irony is that England bowled far better in innings. Harmison’s opening eight-over burst was his best of the summer – the number of leg-side deliveries could be counted on one hand – and he roughed up Chris Gayle before having him well caught at second slip by Paul Collingwood. It was Harmison’s 500th first-class wicket, 50th Test wicket against West Indies, carrying him to 199 in his Test career; he was frustrated in his search for No. 200 and could have had it when Panesar dropped Chanderpaul at mid-on. The chance came low off a leading edge, but should have been taken and Chanderpaul didn’t offer another opportunity.Panesar, though, remained chirpy and threatening without being quite at his best. When he removed Devon Smith in the first session, another compact innings ending with a glove to short-leg, the scene was set for him to run through West Indies as he did against Pakistan last year. But his other two scalps for the day took plenty of work and plenty of appealing.
Morton’s third Test fifty took 130 balls, and he added only four more before padding up once too often to Panesar . The umpires had been wary of the bounce Panesar extracted from the pitch, so Morton can consider himself slightly unfortunate. Chanderpaul used his pad well to combat Panesar, but the difficulties faced were highlighted when one delivery rolled along the pitch out of the footmarks, while others spat off a length. Although wickets didn’t come in a rush, Michael Vaughan never lost control and tinkered with his field and bowling combinations at regular intervals. It won’t show from the scorecard, but Ryan Sidebottom was again impressive, particularly in the afternoon and evening, as he swung both the old and new ball.The most fascinating duel arrived after tea when Bravo took the attacking route. England thought they had him in Liam Plunkett’s first over of the final session when Bravo cut hard and low to Collingwood at gully. But Bravo stood as Aleem Dar and Billy Bowden conferred then decided without the use of the third umpire that the catch hadn’t been taken cleanly. Replays supported the call, another impressive decision on a testing day for the two umpires.Panesar mixed up his line, switching from over and round the wicket, but was occasionally sucked into bowling too flat. However, he continued to cause problems from the footmarks and, the ball after pulling a long-hop to the boundary, Bravo lunged forward and inside-edged to Alastair Cook at short-leg.Still England couldn’t shift Chanderpaul who formed a third consecutive half-century stand. This time it was with Denesh Ramdin, who was dropped down the leg side by Matt Prior on 4, and a wayward late spell from Plunkett ticked a few more off the target. There isn’t much to follow the two at the crease, but here’s a thought West Indies can take to bed with them tonight. They hold the record for the highest chase in Test cricket – 418 for 7 against Australia at St Johns in 2002-03 – and Chanderpaul hit a century. From being down and out they are still fighting.
The man who successfully co-ordinated South Africa’s staging of the World Cup three years ago has every confidence that the West Indies can pull off a grand event next year. “I’m sure everyone in the Caribbean will like it to be a great success which I’m sure it will be,” Dr Ali Bacher said.And he fully emphasised that the region stood to benefit tremendously from hosting the third-largest sporting event in the world. “The biggest legacy for me is going to be the cricket grounds that are going to be refurbished, rebuilt or new ones built for the World Cup,” he said. “Over the years, despite ordinary or below ordinary facilities, the Caribbean has produced so many great players, some of the greatest the world has ever seen. It has staggered me.”This will be the legacy, whether it be Barbados, Jamaica or St Lucia, you will leave behind outstanding cricket grounds which your players and your spectators deserve.”Development of other infrastructure, including roads and ports would also lead to the improvement of the tourism industry. The exposure, by way of television coverage, was another medium that would have a big impact. “The Caribbean is basically about tourism. You’ve got an opportunity to grow that market by the people who will come here and go back and say that St Lucia is unbelievable,” Bacher said.”In South Africa, in every match – if there was a match in Port Elizabeth, about four minutes before there was a video clip about the beauty of Port Elizabeth or the game parks – I’m sure the same will happen here.”You’ve got hundreds of millions of people around the world seeing the beauty of St Lucia or Barbados or Antigua. That industry can thrive and become even stronger. The World Cup in South Africa helped our tourism industry enormously.”
India’s recruitment of Greg Chappell as their new coach leaves Sri Lanka poised to sign up his fellow Australian Tom Moody. A deal is expected to be finalised early next week after a formal interview on Monday or Tuesday.Sri Lanka had been forced to put their own recruitment process on hold because of India’s interest in both Moody and Chappell, the two favourites to take the Sri Lanka job after several weeks of discussions with a range of possible candidates.Moody was considered Sri Lanka’s first-choice candidate anyway, because Chappell’s other work commitments might have affected his availability between tours, and board sources have privately expressed their delight that Moody is now available.”We hope to have an interview with Tom early next week, probably on Monday and Tuesday,” Jayantha Dharmadasa, the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket, told Cricinfo on Friday. Moody is expected to travel to Colombo over the weekend.Sri Lanka have already had preliminary discussions regarding possible terms, and the interview is expected to be a mere formality. The contract will probably be for two years up until the 2007 World Cup.Moody, who played eight Tests and 76 one-day internationals for Australia, is currently the director of cricket at Worcestershire. He has been linked to several coaching jobs in recent months, including the England post during speculation earlier in the year that Duncan Fletcher might call it quits at the end of the summer.