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Leeds United have tried a new approach led by their Italian chairman Massimo Cellino that mimics the bigger European clubs in terms of transfer policy and managerial responsibility.

If you look at the likes of Real Madrid who employ this style it seems to work wonders, the board choose who to buy and the manager picks his team and tactics. Everyone knows their roles and where they stand, like a kid in a sweet shop the manager has a spoil of all the best talent available to pick and everyone is happy with a system that clearly outlines everyone’s job.

Real Madrid are one thing, though, and Leeds United are entirely another. When David Hockaday got offered the job it was too good a job to turn down for the  manager, but he didn’t realise it was also an almost impossible job to do given the current set up at the club with Massimo Cellino and the Sporting Director Nicola Salerno making decisions on who would play, who they wanted to sign and pretty much every other aspect of running the club aside from coaching the players.

Hockaday had previously helped establish a football academy at Cirencester, as well as spending time as first team coach at Watford and as youth team coach at Southampton. He also spent four years as manager of Conference Premier side Forest Green Rovers, so coming into the Leeds hot seat was a big step in his career and a big ask in terms of how different the working environment is at the Championship club.

Most see the European style set up at Leeds as a strange way of running things, it is understood that the idea comes from Cellino’s experience owning Italian football club Cagliari where he is famous for sacking his managers. Despite this, the fans at Leeds saw him as some sort of saviour who would be able to propel the club back up to the Premiership big time and turn things around at the club which has struggled greatly since its relegation from the Premier League back in 2004, but the European style of running a club simply does not work at this sort of echelon of English football.

We have seen certain elements leaked into the English game with sporting director roles being created at the likes of Spurs and Newcastle with mixed results, mainly managers not being happy to relinquish control of the job description and clash of personality causing issues with transfers. 

Leeds to me are a massive club still and what they need is a bit of financial stability, some decent investment in quality English players and a decent manager to be given free reign to put his own stamp on the club and the squad so that he can build a base from which they can mount a serious promotion challenge and get back to the big time. In my opinion they had that with Brian McDermott and if you have a look at the amount of unknown players that have come in through the door this summer, the team looks a shambles and doomed to be in a relegation scrap.

The current business model simply does not work and they have tarnished the reputation of a very promising manager and are dragging the club further into trouble and possible relegation from the Championship, which is very heartbreaking to see and harsh on the United faithful who must have needed patience of a saint to follow their beloved team in the past decade. I hope that the Italian realises the job at hand and although he is passionate about his club he is doing things in the wrong manner.

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Leave the European style to the big boys who know how to do it and leave the English football club as it should be before it is too late and they sink further into trouble.

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To describe Chelsea and Liverpool’s start to the season as ‘turbulent’ would be an understatement. Both sides possess sizeable squads littered with talent and yet both have so far struggled to meet the fluctuating expectations placed at their feet.

At Liverpool, Luis Suarez provides the only genuinely reliable presence in an ever-evolving team, which is stark contrast to Chelsea, who have discovered their most valuable asset is in fact their weakest link. This begs the question, should both clubs risk ridicule and recall Andy Carroll and Romelu Lukaku to improve their ailing fortunes?

The modern loan transfer arrangement is a complex beast, complicated by the intricate financial details associated with each deal. However, despite the defiance of West Ham and the reluctance of West Brom, I can’t see how they could prevent the parent team from extracting their respective players in January, even if they had to dig deep into their wallets to do so.

Sir Alex Ferguson recently dubbed Brendan Rodgers naïve for allowing Carroll to depart without a confirmed replacement already on his way. While this was an obvious attempt to goad his favourite rivals, it’s difficult to contest his assessment.

Liverpool dithered over their valuation of Fulham star Clint Dempsey to such an extent that the Cottagers launched a complaint in protest of their transfer antics. As deadline day reached its climax, Tottenham swooped in the eleventh hour, highlighting how quickly a deal could and should have been done. In the meantime Andy Carroll had already signed on the dotted line with Sam Allardyce, leaving Brendan Rodgers to rue a series of bad judgement calls.

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Rodgers may have fallen foul of false promises concerning incoming reinforcements, but he only has himself to blame for the way he handled Andy Carroll. First he was a valued member of the squad, then a back up, before reverting to his original stance when respectable offers failed to flood his inbox.

His constant stream of contradiction was epitomised when he revealed it ‘would take a special offer’ for him to allow his burly target man to depart on loan. In reality, all it required was a relatively measly £1m loan fee plus the bulk of his wages from the bank of Gold and Sullivan. Hardly an exceptional offer and one that Rodgers would certainly turn down looking back, but then again hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Rodgers only succeeded to reinforce the growing consensus that the striker has no future in Merseyside. In London however, Carroll has been treated like the £35m striker Liverpool once thought he was. He has thrived in a team that harbours no apprehension in resorting the direct style of football that will utilise his best assets. Alongside Kevin Nolan, his partner in crime, the Hammers have hustled and bustled their way up the league and currently sit three places above the Reds in the table.

Many devout Liverpool supporters have echoed Rodgers’ opinion that Carroll is incapable of conforming to his new passing philosophy. However I would argue that he doesn’t need to, it wouldn’t be in the teams or the player’s best interest. Carroll performs the unsightly aspects of football, the aerial duels, hold up play and set-piece defending, incredibly effectively. Just imagine how Luis Suarez or Raheem Sterling would benefit from the increased number of flick-ons or free-kicks that Carroll could manufacture.

Granted, Liverpool need a proven goalscorer in their ranks but while Carroll’s record this season is far from spectacular, he has never been prolific throughout his career. In the unlikely event that both parties agree to cancel their arrangement, I fear the bridge back to Merseyside may have already been burnt beyond repair.

Over at the Hawthorns, Steve Clarke has masterminded a remarkable start to the season, with the club sitting perilously close to the Champions League places. The former Chelsea assistant has managed to get the best from the diverse attacking trio of Shane Long, Peter Odemwingie and the on-loan Romelu Lukaku.

At just 19-years-old, the Belgium international has already been tipped for stardom and has flourished in his new, less demanding surroundings. The comparisons to Didier Drogba may be somewhat premature but they are not without merit. His robust, powerful presence is perhaps the only element lacking in the current Chelsea strikeforce.

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Interim-manager Rafael Benitez was quick to dismiss speculation of a potential recall and instead insisted that it was best if the player continued his development elsewhere. However, while this is completely understandable, there is the underlying feeling that the Spaniard has been bought in with the primary task of restoring the faltering Fernando Torres, and Lukaku’s return would certainly hinder that process.

With the club set to depart for the Club World Cup after their match against Sunderland, there will be real onus on Torres to rediscover his form against significantly inferior opponents. Failure to impress will surely force the club to consider their options, especially if Benitez refuses to remain contempt with this babysitting gig and instead wants to make a real go if it, for his sake as much as the clubs.

When the two sides met in November to contest a particularly uninspiring 1-1 draw, statistics showed that the average height of both starting line-ups didn’t exceed six foot. Carroll and Lukaku could provide the strong aerial presence both sides seem to require and while both clubs have been linked with unproven transfer targets from foreign shores, perhaps its time they took advantage of the players already at their disposal.

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Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Toronto, cities with significant South Asian communities, are on the shortlist

Tristan Lavalette20-Jan-2025Major League Cricket (MLC), the fledgling T20 tournament in the USA, is set to expand from six teams to eight by 2027, with a move into Canada being explored in developments that could have wider implications for the sport.Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Toronto, cities with significant South Asian communities, are on the shortlist with final decisions expected this year. Market potential and local government support in helping build stadium infrastructure will be among the determining factors.Expansion officials travelled to Chicago recently and were believed to be encouraged by the local support. Visits to the other cities are expected in the coming months.MLC co-founder Satyan Gajwani will launch one of the franchises, while fellow co-founders Vijay Srinivasan, the league’s chief executive until recently, and Sameer Mehta will helm the other. Investors are likely to partner up with them once the two cities have been selected.Three of the six teams in the MLC are owned by IPL team owners – Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings – while Seattle, the only small-market franchise in the league, have ties with Delhi Capitals. San Francisco and Washington don’t have any IPL attachments, but have partnerships with Cricket Victoria and Cricket NSW respectively.”We have options ahead of us. I don’t think we’re committed one way or the other right now,” Gajwani told ESPNcricinfo. “That’s realistically a decision we will take closer to launch.”Expansion will likely lead to more games and a longer duration of the competition. MLC power brokers do eventually want a home-and-away season – where the teams play each other twice – to underpin the tournament.Last year’s second season ran for 23 days in July and overlapped with the Hundred in the UK. This season’s scheduling has not been announced, but a lengthier tournament is expected, although it might start earlier in June.The well-heeled MLC’s emergence has become a major talking point in English cricket, heightened when Jason Roy opted out of his ECB contract to represent LA Knight Riders, who have the same owners as KKR.”There are many cities in America that have large populations of people who already love cricket. But the goal is to grow the game and that means expanding beyond that fan base,” Gajwani said. “America is the largest sports market in the world. It’s also very competitive, and continuing to be relevant will be a challenge.”But I think the economics of sport in America are pretty robust. The NBA and NFL are in 28 cities. We’re in six right now. We still have a lot of headroom for growth in the medium to long term.”The tournament’s first two seasons were entirely played at the 7200 capacity Grand Prairie Stadium, a redeveloped baseball ground, near Dallas and the more modest Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina.Existing franchises – other than Dallas-based Texas Super Kings – have faced challenges getting suitable infrastructure off the ground. But there is confidence that San Francisco Unicorns will start playing home games this season at the iconic Oakland Coliseum, which up until recently was the long-time home of the Athletics in the MLB. The new franchises hope to play at home grounds from the start.Jason Roy opted out of his ECB contract to represent LA Knight Riders at the MLC•MLC

“In the ideal case, we firm up on the city, lock up a land deal and then build a stadium – whether retrofitted or building from zero,” Gajwani said. “The ideal outcome is that we play at home for our first game in 2027.”There is this balance of wanting to build something that’s right for where the market is, but have the flexibility to grow with the market. Every city will have its own dynamics.”The cities in the running may be further incentivised by the prospect of potentially hosting cricket matches at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Cricket will end a 128-year Olympic drought but venues have yet to be determined, with the men’s and women’s competitions possibly extending beyond Los Angeles.”There’s the added element that a fully-fledged cricket venue up and running by 2027 could possibly host matches at the Olympics,” Gajwani said. “The IOC or the LA Organising Committees will make that decision. But they openly said they’re looking for infrastructure that can host Olympic matches. It’s definitely a factor that we’re all thinking about.”The league also announced Johnny Grave as its new CEO, replacing Srinivasan. Grave is a prominent figure in cricket administration, having most recently served as CEO at CWI for seven years. He was previously the commercial director at the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) in England.”I am honored to lead the league at this transformative time,” Grave said in a statement. “Cricket is beloved globally and I am thrilled to see its fan base growing rapidly in the United States. I look forward to working with the MLC team to help elevate the league, engage with fans, and build a thriving, sustainable future for cricket in America.”

Melbourne Stars fell victim to the WBBL’s lack of umpire technology for selected matches after they were beaten in the final over by Adelaide Strikers

AAP24-Oct-2023The inconsistencies in Cricket Australia’s use of technology in the WBBL have been highlighted after a bizarre stumping cost Melbourne Stars in their tight final-over loss to Adelaide Strikers at Junction Oval.In a tense finish, Adelaide chased down Melbourne’s 133 for 6 with two balls and four wickets in hand. But the match was not without drama.During Stars innings earlier in the day, batter Rhys McKenna was given out stumped for 14 when a ball from Megan Schutt thudded into wicketkeeper Bridget Patterson’s pads and rebounded on to the stumps.McKenna was clearly in her ground at the time the ball hit the stumps before the right-hander briefly took off for a run afterwards. Despite this, McKenna was given out stumped by the square-leg umpire on the field and there was TV referral available.The WBBL introduced third umpires and the decision review system last season for the first time. However, it is only in place for the 24 matches televised on free-to-air. Tuesday afternoon’s match was a streamed fixture and therefore had no video replay technology in place, despite replays clearly showing McKenna should not have been out.Big Bash officials currently have plans in place for an additional 10 games to have video technology in place next year, with a goal of increasing that number further in the future.McKenna’s wicket came at a crucial time with the score at 91 for 4 in the 15th over, after she had hit 14 off five balls and threatened to rebuild Stars’ innings from an early collapse.English allrounder Alice Capsey was out stumped in similar fashion off Patterson’s pads for 25 in the over prior to McKenna’s dismissal, only this time she was out of her crease.Maia Bouchier also helped keep Stars’ innings together with 48, before being bowled by Schutt in the 19th over. Schutt finished with 2 for 27.In reply, Katie Mack made 48 from 39 balls, before the Strikers survived a late wobble to take the victory.Strikers’ win is their second over the Stars in five days after they bowled out Stars for 29 last Friday in Adelaide.

Worcestershire had recovered from 36 for 4 through debut List A hundred from Kashif Ali

ECB Reporters Network02-Aug-2022Double century-maker Ollie Robinson hit Kent’s highest individual score in List A cricket as they chased down a 352 target with 5.1 overs to spare in their opening Royal London Cup encounter with Worcestershire at New Road.Robinson seized upon the opportunity presented by Kent captain Sam Billings and Jordan Cox’s inclusion for the Hundred after spending the 2022 Vitality Blast on loan to Durham, surpassing the previous best Kent performance in 50 over cricket of 150 not out by Joe Denly against Glamorgan at Canterbury four years ago.A lofted cover drive for four against Josh Baker took Robinson to his double ton from 130 balls and was the cue for a standing ovation all around the ground and he ended on 206 not out.Former Kent Academy player Kashif Ali had scored an impressive 114 on his List A debut for Worcestershire who recovered from 36 for 4 to post what looked like a formidable total. But Robinson received superb support from Ben Compton during a stand of 204, Kent’s highest second wicket partnership against any County in this format of the game.It was a reversal of what happened in last summer’s corresponding fixture when Worcestershire chased down a 323 target.Former Worcestershire pace bowler Matt Henry, in his only match in the competition before linking up with New Zealand, struck a treble blow as the home side slumped to 36 for 4 after opting to bat.Ed Pollock edged the first ball of the innings to second slip, captain Brett D’Oliveira picked out square leg and Jake Libby was taken at short extra cover in an opening spell by Henry of 6-20-3.With Azhar Ali lbw working to leg off Grant Stewart, Kent were very much in the ascendancy before Kashif and Barnard began their rescue act. Runs flowed at a rapid rate once Henry had been removed from the attack and it is testament to Kashif’s rapid elevation that he looks completely at home at this level.He completed a 49-ball half-century and then a regal back foot drive square of the wicket off Hamid Qadri took Barnard to that milestone from 56 deliveries.No one was able to stem the stream of boundaries and the fifth wicket pair had plundered 175 from 28 overs when Barnard, on 79, fell to a head high catch at mid-off against Matt Quinn. It surpassed Worcestershire’s previous best fifth wicket List A partnership of 169 by Ben Cox and George Rhodes against Yorkshire at New Road in 2019.Kashif went onto complete his century with a clip through midwicket in the same over and had moved onto 114 from 99 balls when he drilled Qadri to mid-off where Quinn took a fine low catch.But there was no let-up for Kent with Ben Cox, on his return to action after taking a break for mental health reasons, and Joe Leach adding 74 in just 7.5 overs. Leach had made 48 off just 28 deliveries when he lofted Quinn to deep midwicket but Cox went onto a 43-ball half-century with two sixes and three fours in a vintage knock.When Kent batted, left arm seamer, Ben Gibbon, struck an early blow when Joey Evison turned the ball off his hips straight to fine leg. But then the dominance of bat over ball then resumed after Robinson and Compton came together.Robinson was in particularly destructive form against seam or spin and he reached three figures when lofting D’Oliveira for his 13th four in addition to striking three sixes.The partnership of 204 in 28 overs ended when Compton, on 75, pulled D’Oliveira down Barnard’s throat at deep midwicket.Alex Blake was strangled down the leg side off Dillon Pennington but there was no let-up from Robinson. He reached his double-hundred with a lofted off drive against Baker from just 130 balls with six sixes and 26 fours.

In excellent conditions for batting, South Africa’s captain felt his team had finished “about 10 runs short”

Firdose Moonda14-Apr-2021He may not have wanted it but Heinrich Klaasen can recognise he had a front-row seat to one of the smoothest T20I innings the game has seen, as Babar Azam notched up his first century in the format, and added 197 for the first wicket with Mohammad Rizwan, to ease Pakistan through their highest successful chase.”It was something [to see] from behind [the stumps],” Klaasen said. “We tried a lot of things. We tried to go death [bowling] early to them because they were hitting the ball nicely. They made a lot of good balls that were well-executed look bad by very good placement and strokeplay.”Klaasen introduced Lizaad Williams, whom he has previously identified as one of his end-of-innings bowlers, in the fifth over, and with some success. Williams conceded just four runs after the new-ball pair of George Linde and Beuran Hendricks had given away 42 in the first four overs. That blazing start included what may be the classiest shot Azam has played on this tour so far, off Hendricks, when he opened the face of the bat at the last millisecond to run the ball wide of short third man.Despite that, Hendricks was given another over which began with Azam breaking his bat off the same ball he hit for six, and ended up costing 18 runs, in an early sign that South Africa would run out of ideas. “It was difficult from a captaincy point of view to try a lot of things because on a wicket like that you don’t want to try too many things,” Klaasen said.One of the things South Africa didn’t try was using another of their death-bowling specialists, Andile Phehlukwayo, who has only bowled two overs in the series to date. “His confidence is a little bit low but he is picking it up and I had no need for him,” Klaasen said. “We’ve got specialist guys in the positions.”But the specialist guys were not able to pull off their specialities, such as Tabraiz Shamsi, whose task is to take wickets in the middle overs. Though he didn’t concede a boundary in his first over, Shamsi did not threaten at all, and by his third, Azam was ready to take him on. He pulled a long-hop for six before driving a tossed-up ball through the covers to bring up a century off 49 balls. “Babar has a special manner,” Klaasen said. “When a guy like that comes off, it’s very difficult to defend on this ground.”Aiden Markram scored his third successive fifty of the series•AFP/Getty Images

Maybe the best method of defence was attack and the only way for South Africa to win the game was to dent Pakistan’s chase with dismissals but, as Klaasen put it, “the question is how do you take wickets on pitches like this? There’s no turn, the wicket is skidding on, the slower balls are not gripping, and the ball travels [through the air] at the Highveld. It’s difficult to strike. So the way you get your wickets is to be defensive and make sure they can’t bat easily at 10 an over like they did tonight.”Or to get the batsman to make a mistake in reaching for a wide delivery, like Hendricks did against Mohammad Rizwan, who did not get enough bat on it and sent a chance to Pite van Biljon at backward point. Van Biljon put it down. “We have were very poor in the field as well tonight,” Klaasen acknowledged.Overall, South Africa have been no worse than Pakistan, who dropped five catches in the ODIs and four in the T20Is so far. South Africa have spilled four in each format, but as an outfit that prides itself on this discipline, that simply isn’t good enough. “We try not to be so bad in the field and at training we are brilliant. It’s guys maybe trying too hard and not being calm enough in the field,” Klaasen said. “It’s been a trend that we have to get rid of.”So is their record in defending big totals. Three of the four highest successful T20 chases have come against South Africa, while Pakistan have reached the highest and second-highest T20I targets in this series. Although Klaasen has not played in all of those matches, he was part of the team that England chased 223 against at the same venue last year. The conditions may have something to do with why South Africa have struggled even when they put big totals on the board, but Klaasen was careful not to blame the surfaces and rather pointed the finger at the South African line-up. “We were about 10 runs short,” he said, perhaps a conservative estimate since Pakistan won with two overs to spare. “It’s a very good wicket and we had both openers going past 50. We are guilty in that not one of the guys over the last three games, the guys that scored runs went on to be there at the back end like the Pakistani batters.”Aiden Markram racked up his third successive fifty in this format, Janneman Malan recorded a career-best 55, and the pair shared an opening stand of 108, but were both dismissed in the third quarter of South Africa’s innings. In the end, their milestones will lurk in the shadows of a much bigger achievement: Azam’s first T20I ton and Pakistan ensuring they have one hand on the trophy. As Klaasen put it: “Tonight it was just a case of some brilliant batting from their side.”

New Zealander set to play final game for Wellington before joining up with England in South Africa

George Dobell03-Dec-2019Jeetan Patel has been appointed as England’s spin-bowling consultant for the tours of South Africa and Sri Lanka. Patel, who performed a similar role during the T20I leg of England’s tour of New Zealand, will join the England squad on December 24 ahead of the first Test in Centurion on Boxing Day.As a result, Patel will end his long and illustrious career with Wellington later this month. His final match will be in the Super Smash encounter against Central Stags at the Basin Reserve on December 18. He made his debut for Wellington, the city of his birth, in 2000. He remains committed to playing one final season for Warwickshire, the club he has represented since 2009, in 2020. He will be 40 in May.Patel has enjoyed a remarkable playing career with experiences the England management believe will be transferable as a coach. Most pertinently, he all but reinvented himself as a cricketer at an age when others are considering retirement. In particular, he added a yard of pace to his offspin and developed into a far more consistent, though still aggressive, lower-order batsman.Hugely respected around the county game, Patel has claimed 473 first-class wickets for Warwickshire – he has 892 all together and looks set to fall just short of the 1000 mark – at an average of 26.11 when other spinners have struggled to maintain a place in the game. He became, most observers believe, a far better all-round cricket long after the bulk of his international career was complete, though he did make a brief reappearance in the New Zealand side in 2016 and 2017.Patel would appear to be in prime position to gain a permanent coaching role with England in the coming months. He got to know the England men’s team director, Ashley Giles, from their time together at Warwickshire – Giles was coach and then director of cricket, while Patel was overseas player and then captain – with the pair sharing many of the same qualities. Feisty and competitive on the pitch, Patel gained a reputation as a positive, nurturing captain at Warwickshire.The South Africa tour consists of four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is. The Sri Lanka tour, starting in March, consists of two Tests.

At 20 years and 257 days, he became the eighth youngest to hit a double-hundred in the Sheffield Shield

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2018
Will Pucovski raises his bat after bringing up his hundred•Getty Images

Twenty-year-old Victoria batsman Will Pucovski announced his arrival in Australian domestic cricket with a stunning double-century to punish Western Australia at the WACA ground.Pucovski’s 243 from 311 balls was his second Sheffield Shield century, having scored 188 against Queensland at the end of last summer. Noted statistician Lawrie Colliver pointed out that he joined some elite company among the youngest players in history to score a double-century in the Sheffield Shield.At 20 years and 257 days, he became the eighth youngest to achieve the mark, just 106 days older than Sir Donald Bradman and behind Clem Hill, Doug Walters, Darren Lehmann, Ricky Ponting, Paul Sheahan and Ian Chappell, all of whom went on to make Test hundreds for Australia.Pucovski got good support from Matthew Short who made 80 in a 159-run stand for the fifth wicket. He was the second last man out with the score at 9 for 503.WA allrounder Marcus Stoinis took 4 for 73 to follow up his 80 with the bat in the first innings.Chris Tremain continued his wicket-taking form from last season, bagging two early scalps late in the afternoon as WA’s top order crumbled for the second straight day. Stoinis and Josh Philippe survived to stumps but the Warriors will do well just to make Victoria back again.

West Indies’ batsmen looked in good order and Kieran Powell struck a century as a less-than-testing warm-up against a weakened Derbyshire side ended in a tame draw

ECB Reporters Network13-Aug-2017West Indians 427 for 3 dec (Chase 110*, S Hope 107*) and 327 for 6 dec ( Powell 100 ret hurt, Chase 60*) drew with Derbyshire 181 (Brodrick 52, Holder 3-48) and 51 for 0
Kieron Powell led an untroubled West Indies batting display [file picture]•AFP

The form of Shannon Gabriel was again a worry for the West Indians as the day/night floodlit game against Derbyshire at Derby ended in a tame draw.With the First Test at Edgbaston four days away, the tourists main strike bowler rarely threatened during a four over burst in which he bowled four no balls and conceded 24 runs .Gabriel’s problems will be a concern but at least the batsmen are in good form with opener Kieran Powell scoring a century and all-rounder Roston Chase making an unbeaten 60 to add to his first innings hundred.Skipper Jason Holder did not declare until tea at 327 for 6, a lead of 573, and Derbyshire reached from 51 without loss from 14 overs before the teams shook hands at 8pm.Powell, who was named man of the match, said: “We’ve had valuable match time in the middle and all the batters have had an opportunity to see what the pink ball does and how it operates in these conditions.”It’s going to be different to the Caribbean so it’s valuable experience. It was interesting , in the first innings the ball didn’t swing and in the second innings it did a bit so I guess at different points in the game you can expect the ball to react differently.”I’m not sure how much to read into that if the conditions at Edgbaston are similar to here so I guess it’s just something for us to have in the back of our minds that these things could happen but we still have to go in with an open mind.”The tourists went into the final day with a lead of 306 and they batted through the first two sessions with Powell and Chase taking the opportunity to further boost their confidence ahead of this week’s opening day/night Test.Powell had missed out on a hundred by eight runs in the first innings but the 27-year-old left hander became the fourth West Indian in the match to score a century before he retired hurt with cramp.He drove and pulled Tom Taylor for three consecutive fours as he accelerated to three figures off only 102 balls after Jermaine Blackwood had been well caught at extra cover for 29.Jason Holder fell to left-arm spinner Matt Sonczak just before lunch and Derbyshire took three wickets in four overs before Chase asserted himself to pass 50 for the fourth consecutive innings.Shane Dowrich edged a drive at Sonczak and Shai Hope failed to clear wide mid on before Kyle was caught at slip two balls later.But that was Derbyshire’s last success as Chase and Kemar Roach shared an unbroken stand of 104 in 29 overs before Holder gave his bowlers a work-out under the floodlights.After his problems on the second day when he bowled 20 no balls in nine overs, all eyes were on Gabriel who needed a decent spell ahead of the Test.But the big Trinidadian again struggled for rhythm, overstepping three times in his fourth over when he was also hit for two fours by Ben Slater and the tourists had turned to spin from both ends by the time the match petered out in stalemate.

The sun duly set on Sri Lanka’s tour of England, but the literal setting on a sunkissed day in Hampshire proved infinitely more impressive than the figurative version

The Report by Andrew Miller in Southampton05-Jul-2016England 144 for 2 (Buttler 73*, Morgan 47*) beat Sri Lanka 140 (Dawson 3-27, Jordan 3-29) by eight wickets

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJos Buttler opened England’s innings and ended unbeaten on 73•Getty Images

The sun duly set on Sri Lanka’s tour of England, but the literal setting on a sunkissed day in Hampshire proved infinitely more impressive than the figurative version. As a packed house at the Ageas Bowl revelled in another show of force from an increasingly impressive England white-ball team, the visitors prepared to exit stage left – trampled underfoot at the end of a long and arduous tour from which the positives will only be visible if their talented young players can learn from the experience and turn it to their country’s advantage in the future.For today, however, it was all about England’s here and now. Liam Dawson pleased his Hampshire home fans by starring on debut with figures of 3 for 27 in four overs, before Jos Buttler – offered an unexpected opportunity to open the batting – eased England to a clean sweep of all three formats (and a resounding 20 points to four victory in the inaugural Super Series) with 73 not out from 49 balls, including three fours and four emphatic sixes.

Morgan faces X-ray after dislocation

Eoin Morgan will undergo an X-ray on his left ring finger tomorrow after suffering a dislocation while taking a catch in the covers off Dinesh Chandimal.
“It bent right back, it was dislocated,” Morgan said. “I got it put back in and injected, so I can’t really feel it at the moment. I’ll have an X-ray on it tomorrow afternoon and see what it’s like.”
The incident did not hamper his batting in the short term, as he finished unbeaten on 47 from 39 balls, the most runs he has scored in his last 22 innings for England.
“It’s nice to get some runs,” he said. “I’ve struggled to string an innings together but everyone in the team has dovetailed around that, which has been awesome.
“As a captain you want to lead from the front and, when you’re not doing that, it can leave a bit to be desired. I enjoy scoring runs in a successful team.”

Victory was duly sealed by eight wickets and with 15 balls left unused, thanks to an unbroken third-wicket stand of 114 in 79 deliveries between Buttler and Eoin Morgan, who rose above the dislocation of his left ring finger while taking a catch in the covers to produce his best innings of the year to date, an unbeaten 47 from 39 balls which included a firm swipe for six over wide long-on to cue the fireworks and wrap up England’s first white-ball campaign of the summer.Dawson, who was an unused member of England’s World T20 squad, demonstrated his aptitude for the international stage by striking in each of his first three overs. In a composed and mature performance, he used his local knowledge to gauge the pace of the surface from the outset and cramp Sri Lanka’s ambitions as they sought in vain to accelerate through the middle overs. On his watch, they collapsed from 58 for 1 to 82 for 5, including a crass first-ball run-out for Dasun Shanaka, their ambitions of a defendable total over there and then.Dawson’s fellow England debutant, Tymal Mills, was no less impressive even though his maiden international wicket will have to wait for another day. In two bursts of two overs, at the front- and back-end of the innings, he returned figures of none for 22, conceding a solitary boundary in each spell as Sri Lanka struggled to align his fierce pace with a cunningly disguised slower ball.According to the speedgun, Mills’ fastest ball was also his first – a 92.5mph loosener on a good length outside off stump, and that line rarely strayed at any stage of his performance, allowing Morgan to trust him implicitly at either end of the innings. It is early days in an England career that could have been over before it had begun when Mills was diagnosed with a degenerative back condition two years ago, but the early impressions were exciting in the extreme.Then again, Sri Lanka’s batting was as haphazard as you might expect from a side that has been through the wringer in all formats during their two-month tour of England. Despite Angelo Mathews’ insistence, after winning the toss, that this contest was their opportunity to “end the tour on a high”, many of the dismissals suggested that the only height that mattered any more was the cruising altitude of tomorrow’s flight to Colombo.”That has been the case for us right throughout the summer, we didn’t get enough runs on the board,” Mathews admitted afterwards. “We knew it would be a tough challenge but we just had to compete and give ourselves the best chance to win. Unfortunately either batting, bowling or fielding has let us down in every single game…140 was a very average score.”On a pitch that had been shown, by England’s women during their hard-earned victory over Pakistan earlier in the afternoon, to be somewhat slower than might have been anticipated, Sri Lanka succumbed to a diet of half-formed mows and drives that they might have got away with, had the ball been coming onto the bat.Instead, as Mathews conceded, it was “stopping and turning” a bit off the surface, and, as a consequence, their attempts at acceleration took on, at first, an air of desperation and then, latterly, resignation. Chris Jordan, in particular, took command at the death, returning from a minor mauling in the Powerplay to claim three wickets for six runs in his final two overs of the innings.Liam Plunkett’s heavy artillery accounted for the dangerous duo of Kusal Perera and Seekkuge Prasanna before either could fully cut loose, while Adil Rashid’s wrist-spin was typically slippery and varied, and included a T20 collector’s item – the first maiden of his 20-over career. Ramith Rambukwella, an offspinning allrounder whose only previous match had come against New Zealand at Pallekele three years ago, was tormented as he attempted to swing his way through the square boundaries. Though he eventually connected in Rashid’s next over for one of only three sixes in the innings, he soon departed for 19 from 16 thanks to a direct hit at the non-striker’s end from James Vince at point.In reply, England’s innings stuttered at the outset as Jason Roy – flushed with understandable confidence after his recent glut of ODI runs – stepped across his stumps in Mathews’ first over to be bowled round his legs for a duck, before Vince made it 30 for 2 in the fifth over when he lost sight of a deflection off his pads and was stumped by Dinesh Chandimal as he strayed out of his crease in search of an non-existent bye.By that stage, however, Sri Lanka believed they ought to have had the big one. On 5, Buttler appeared to graze a thin nick through to Chandimal behind the stumps but the umpire was unmoved. Snicko soon revealed a large spike as the ball passed the edge, but with no DRS on offer for the T20 leg of the tour, Sri Lanka had no recourse.”Chandimal was pretty convinced he nicked it, but unfortunately it’s one of those things, it happens,” said Mathews afterwards. “T20 is a fast game and you want it to be fast. It was one of those days when you think you might need that one DRS. But it was human error once again and we couldn’t do anything about it.”The same could broadly be said of England’s run-chase, as Morgan appeared on schedule at No. 4, his finger numbed with painkillers and his timing and placement seemingly restored as a consequence. But it was Buttler’s brilliance that ripped the game away. His promotion may only be a temporary measure, with Alex Hales rested for this game, but such was the clarity of his strokeplay and the inevitability with which he swept England to the spoils, you have to wonder if it may prove to be a longer-term plan.”Certainly it’s something we would consider again,” said Morgan. “It’s about getting the best of this fellow, because you don’t know what his limits are – he’s that good. His potential is as good as anyone’s around the world. It’s up to himself, me, TB [Trevor Bayliss] and Farby [Paul Farbrace] to be as open and honest about where his best position is to bat. But watching him crunch it is pretty awesome.”Where the white-ball game is concerned, however, such thoughts can be shelved until September. For now, England’s attention turns back to Test cricket and the rapidly approaching Lord’s Test against Pakistan. For Sri Lanka, a long flight home awaits. It’s been a bruising visit.