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If there are two specialist spinners in a 15-man squad with a pitch like the Oval, someone offering variety should be allowed to absorb some overs and take some pressure off the faster men

Kern De Freitas06-Apr-2008

Sri Lanka found the escape hatch against West Indies yesterday at the Queen’s Park Oval on a pitch that looked wonderful for shot-making, but still provided a bit of assistance for the bowlers.With two days left in this intriguing contest, Sri Lanka reached 268 before Muttiah Muralitharan offered a catch to Daren Powell off Jerome Taylor to bring the innings to a close and set the home team a tricky target of 253.Just after lunch, though, they were languishing at 99 for 6 when the dangerous Chamara Silva had departed. It was a 138-run partnership between Thilan Samaraweera and lower-order left-hand batsman Chaminda Vaas that kept the Sri Lankans in the game and frustrated West Indies for the better part of the day. Thus, the case of the missing spinner again resurfaced.With due respect to captain Chris Gayle – who, to prove my point, eventually separated the duo – he cannot be considered the answer to West Indies’ need for variety in their attack. In fact, this ‘one-track’ attack, though not lacking pace, looked a little bit flat at times, once the Sri Lankan pair had played themselves in.Gayle has not shown the propensity, or at least the desire, to bowl several overs on the trot as a specialist spinner would, like, say the ultra-successful Muralitharan. Murali accounts for a big chunk of Sri Lanka’s over rate on a constant basis, a huge part of the reason he recorded his 63rd five-wicket haul at the Oval yesterday.Suffice to say that the region cannot truthfully boast of a spinner of the calibre of Murali. With that being said, if there are two specialist spinners in a 15-man squad with a pitch like the Oval – which has something for batsman, fast bowler, and spinner – someone offering variety should be allowed to absorb some overs and take some pressure off the faster men.The closest a specialist spinner got to the West Indies team was 12th man Sulieman Benn, bringing his team-mates water. Why pick them if you won’t play them?Then there’s hometown hero Amit Jaggernauth, who put Trinidad and Tobago into the Carib Beer Challenge Final against Jamaica with simple figures of 10 for 79, only his personal-best figures in regional cricket, last weekend against Barbados.Perhaps they’re worth a shout, or even a look in. Otherwise, spin might just be the next creature on the endangered species list in the Caribbean.

Cricket in Jammu and Kashmir has struggled against the odds for decades, but with poster boy Abid Nabi ready to take the step up to the big league, things may be about to take a turn for the better

Nagraj Gollapudi05-Dec-2006

Abid Nabi is 20. He stands 6 feet 2 inches tall, has wide, strong shoulders, and wants to bowl fast. A year ago he caught Dennis Lillee’s attention at an MRF Pace foundation bowling camp. Lillee alerted Greg Chappell, and soon Nabi was bowling in the India nets.He is nippy, bowls with a smooth and clean action, and along with Punjab’s VRV Singh, who has already played for the country, he represents hope for Indian cricket in its quest for that ever-elusive species: the genuine fast bowler.But Nabi is not merely a fast-bowling prospect. He may not be aware of it, and may not want to contemplate the significance of it, but it is more than merely India’s fast-bowling hopes that are riding on his shoulders.Nabi is no ordinary cricketer. He represents Jammu and Kashmir, a state locked in a bloody conflict over identity, one where the concepts of patriotism and nationalism are shrouded in grey, and where overt allegiance to the Indian mainstream brings perils. For years Jammu and Kashmir has had only a token presence in the Ranji Trophy. No international match has been played in the state since 1986. Rains forced the abandonment of the fifth ODI of the India-New Zealand series in Jammu in 1988. No cricketer from the state has ever come close to being picked for India.Much depends on whether Nabi succeeds. It could potentially revive cricket in Kashmir. More importantly, he can be a bridge, a symbol. That cricket can heal was demonstrated by India’s historic tour to Pakistan in 2004. During that last international in Srinagar in 1986, the crowd cheered for the visiting side, Australia. Would they do the same if Nabi is part of the team?***Ghulam Nabi Ahanger, Nabi’s father, has always been a keen follower of cricket. In 1983, when international cricket came to Jammu and Kashmir for the first time, he bought a 50-rupee ticket to watch India play Clive Lloyd’s West Indies. But more than a decade later, when his son started showing a liking for the game, he tried to dissuade him.The Nabis, who come from fairly humble circumstances, felt there was no scope in taking sport seriously, especially in troubled times. “We thought then that education was the best option for our children,” Ahanger says over tea at the family’s three-storey house in Srinagar, which they share with three of Nabi’s maternal uncles and their families.In the beginning Nabi did not think of playing cricket for a living. But as encouragement came his way from his coach and senior team-mates, he began to dare to hope. “I became hopeful that I can become someone and get good things,” he says.In the limited opportunities he has found to play for his state, he has already made some strides. This season he narrowly missed out on a place in the Challenger Series teams and the North Zone Duleep Trophy squad.Bowling in the nets at Mohali, in the presence of his heroes, Nabi learned valuable lessons. “Every senior told me to look after my physical fitness, and that if I continued to work hard, I could get a chance anytime.”***Does Nabi’s ambition go against the grain of the local thinking in his state? Does it mark a departure from a way of life that is thought to be conditioned towards seeking azaadi from the Indian mainstream?

Ehsan Mirza, the treasurer at the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) doesn’t think so. Mirza’s family owns a successful carpet business, and Mirza also runs the popular Amateur Cricket Club (ACC), where Nabi, among others, plays. Mirza says that at this point in time he perceives no opposition to Nabi – or anyone else from the state – playing for India. “The state’s politics has never influenced JKCA matters,” he says.
Dar Yasin, who took the photographs that accompany this feature, quit playing cricket after a police encounter near where they were playing a Sunday match in the early 1990s left one dead. He thinks the common man is getting increasingly desperate to see a Kashmiri face in the Indian dressing room. “People have been complaining for a long time that nobody has been selected from Kashmir. There’ve been some good players, but they were rejected on the basis of being Kashmiri,” he says.Terrorism has ripped holes in the delicate fabric of Kashmir’s beauty. It has dried up investment and employment opportunities that may otherwise have come the state’s way. That India is taking its place as a global economic power is not lost on young Kashmiris, who are ready to take risks to better their lot.Samiullah Beigh, 20, a tall, upcoming fast bowler, and Nabi’s team-mate, thinks they can’t move forward by playing safe all the time. “If I want to be a great player, I have to sacrifice something.” Beigh is in his final year at engineering college, and aims to devote all his time to the game once he graduates.Mirza understands that if things don’t improve in the state’s cricket soon, youngsters will start looking elsewhere. “They are very ambitious and try to excel at everything they do,” he says. The Nabis are impatient too. They have gone through hardship, lived with fear – and continue to do so. Now there is hope, in the form of their son. They cherish dreams of the day when he finally plays for the country and makes Kashmir proud.Will Nabi live up to the expectations and turn into India’s next pace sensation? Only time will tell. For now, he is the poster boy of Jammu and Kashmir cricket and has become something of a benchmark.Nineteen-year-old Mohammed Mudasir, who started to take a serious interest in the game two years ago, and attended the MRF camp in 2006, says his parents are now asking him to work harder and follow Nabi’s example.Nabi understands the responsibilities of being a role model. Sitting on the grass at the picturesque Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, he talks of how happy he feels when young cricketers approach him for advice. He himself hardly had the benefit of such inputs when he was rising through the ranks.***For every Nabi who makes it to the verge of the big time, there are dozens who fall by the way. The lush environs of Jammu and Kashmir have produced abundant talent, but it has often withered away for want of nurture.Players such as Abdul Qayyum Bagoo and Surinder Singh Bagal – who Sourav Ganguly once said was the fastest bowler he had faced – may not have become household names, but they did make it to the fringes of national selection. They may have gone all the way had they had support. Who knows what such talent would have achieved with proper guidance?”We were sidelined because we came from a weaker state,” says Idrees Gundroo, a Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler of the 1980s. “Had we got these opportunities now, as the board is giving these days, we would’ve made it to a decent level.” It is only now that the likes of Nabi have Farooq Abdullah, the JKCA President, throwing their weight behind them.Still, being a cricketer in Kashmir is hardly easy. The years of conflict have taken their toll. The JKCA has been reduced to a two-room office after the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) took over the complex. Cricketers have to walk past hoops of barbed wire that cordon off the association’s premises. CRPF jawans stand guard outside, not letting even officials and players in without identity cards.

Apart from the pitch at the Sher-i-Kashmir, which was once fast and is now flat, the entire Kashmir region doesn’t have a single turf wicket. Back in 1996, when after a seven-year lull some senior cricketers and JKCA officials came together to get cricket going at the stadium again, they found it difficult to locate the playing square under the grass, which had grown two-feet tall.Sher-i-Kashmir continues to languish: the wicket lies barren; the stands are the ones that were installed for the first time in 1983; the scoreboard is lost among the branches of the beautiful Chinar trees that circle the ground; there are no toilets or drainage facilities, no dressing room for the players, no showers. The B ground adjacent to the main one has two practice wickets, but both of cement.The JKCA says its hands are tied since nothing can be done without the army’s permission, even if it is the association that owns the land. Mirza says the JKCA has been asking the security forces to vacate the premises for the last six years in vain.As an alternative arrangement, Mirza has signed a contract with Kashmir University (KU) under which the JKCA will maintain and use the university’s two grounds for the next three years. A new turf wicket and two practice wickets have already been constructed at the KU grounds for the use of the ACC.It may be too little too late, though. Their patience wearing thin, the likes of Nabi and Beigh are now looking to play outside the state as much as possible. Nabi made his Times Shield debut this year in Mumbai. He thinks playing outside the state more “will fast-forward my development”.Says Beigh, “Earlier we used to play just for the sake of pride and honour and it was a big thing to play one match for the state. Now, after being at the MRF for four months, I am more hungry to prove myself on the national front. I never felt the other bowlers [at MRF] were any special.”If Nabi does eventually make it to the Indian side, he could be the harbinger of a new chapter in the history of Jammu and Kashmir cricket. “If we get one break – Nabi – then there will be a stream of players following him,” Mirza says. Abdul Majid Kakroo, the former India football captain, who played between 1981 and 1989, and once was on a terrorist hitlist, says sport can only help unite. “If Nabi goes on to play for India, it will silence the skeptics who feel that India treats Kashmir as an outsider.”As for Nabi himself, he only wants to take his state forward. Kashmir is the rabbit of Indian domestic cricket and Nabi aims to change that. “I want Jammu and Kashmir to move forward. Aage ka toh pata nahin (I don’t about what will happen in the future).”

And what’s the lowest score a batter has a Player-of-the-Match award for?

Steven Lynch14-Jun-2022I spotted that Mustafizur Rahman took 28 wickets in his first ten ODIs. Was this a record? And what’s the most by anyone in any spell of ten ODIs? asked Khaled Hossain from Bangladesh

Mustafizur Rahman’s tally of 28 wickets in his first ten one-day internationals for Bangladesh – starting with 5 for 50 and 6 for 43 against India in June 2015 – has been bettered only by another left-arm seamer, New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenaghan, who managed 29; the West Indian Ottis Gibson also took 28.The purplest ten-match patch at any stage in ODIs belongs to Pakistan’s Waqar Younis, who claimed 35 wickets in ten games between April and November 1990, a run that included five five-fors, three of them in succession, and even one wicketless match. Ajantha Mendis once took 34 wickets in ten ODIs for Sri Lanka, while Rashid Khan of Afghanistan and Oman’s Bilal Khan (earlier this year) have both managed 32.All nine Bengal players who batted reached 50 in their recent match against Jharkhand – is this a record? asked Peter Dayson-Smith from England, among others

This was reasonably fresh in the memory, as a few weeks ago I answered a similar question after seven Surrey players reached 50 in an innings against Kent. And so it’s easy to confirm that Bengal’s nine half-centuries against Jharkhand in Bengaluru last week is a record for any first-class innings, beating eight by the Australian tourists in their match against Oxford and Cambridge University Past and Present in Portsmouth in 1893. There have been 26 instances of seven scores of 50 or more in an innings, including Surrey’s total of 671 in that match in Beckenham in May, which remains the highest in first-class cricket without an individual century.In the same round of Ranji Trophy quarter-finals, in Alur, Mumbai thrashed Uttarakhand by 725 runs, another first-class record: the previous-heaviest defeat by a runs margin was 685, by New South Wales against Queensland in Sydney in 1929-30, in the match in which Don Bradman made 452 not out, the highest score in first-class cricket at the time. There have been heavier innings defeats, the grand-daddy of them all being Pakistan Railways’ victory over Dera Ismail Khan in Lahore in 1964-65, by the little matter of an innings and 851.What’s the lowest all-out Test total that included a 200-run partnership? asked Vipul Shah from India

There have so far been four completed innings in Tests which were less than 300 but nonetheless featured a partnership of 200 or more. Lowest of all is Australia’s 284 against West Indies in Brisbane in 1968-69, which included a stand of 217 between Bill Lawry and Ian Chappell (no one else made more than 17).When Pakistan made 288 against West Indies in Georgetown in 1999-2000, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Abdul Razzaq put on 206, quite a recovery from 39 for 5. India’s 293 against England at Headingley in 1952 included a partnership of 222 by Vijay Hazare and Vijay Manjrekar, while South Africa made 296 vs India in Kolkata in 2009-10, with a stand of 209 between Alviro Petersen (who was making his debut) and Hashim Amla. New Zealand’s 283 against West Indies in Kingston in 1984-85 included a stand of 210 between Geoff Howarth and Jeff Crowe – but only nine wickets fell in that one as Jeremy Coney had broken his arm and was unable to bat.If we look at innings which were not all-out, Pakistan’s 230 for 3 to beat New Zealand in Hyderabad in 1984-85 included a partnership of 212 between Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad.Asif Ali faced only seven balls and made 25 runs in his Player-of-the-Match performance against Afghanistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup•ICC via GettyI noticed that Aiden Markram has played 31 Tests, and has not yet taken part in a draw – is this a record? asked Keith McKenzie from South Africa

You’re right that the South African batter Aiden Markram has so far taken part in 19 Test victories and 12 defeats – and no draws yet. This is indeed a record: Jason Gillespie took part in 26 Tests before playing in a draw, while his Australian team-mates Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden had 22 and 21 respectively; the 19th-century England allrounder Johnny Briggs played 20 Tests before his first draw.Markram currently has the most Tests in a complete career without a draw, although he might yet lose that distinction. George Lohmann, another 19th-century Englishman, played 18 Tests without ever featuring in a draw; next comes Alok Kapali, who played 17 Tests for Bangladesh and lost them all. Keaton Jennings has so far appeared in 17 Tests for England, all of which ended in definite results, while Shimron Hetmyer has played 16 for West Indies.In the second match in Sri Lanka, Matthew Wade was Man of the Match for his 26 not out from 26 balls; he didn’t bowl, or make any catches or run-outs. Has anyone won the award after scoring fewer than this as their only formal contribution to a T20 international? asked Rohan Kennedy from Australia

Australia’s Matthew Wade won the match award in the second T20 international against Sri Lanka in Colombo last week for his run-a-ball 26, which came after he entered at a tricky time – 80 for 5 in the ninth over, chasing only 125. You’re right that he didn’t otherwise feature on the scorecard, although that wouldn’t show, for example, any particularly good pieces of fielding; Wade did keep wicket through a Sri Lankan innings that included no extras.However, Wade’s 26 balls is a long way from the smallest involvement by a player who ended up with the match award in a T20 international. Playing for Pakistan against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup in Dubai in October 2021, Asif Ali was given the award after having an active involvement in only seven deliveries, from which he hammered 25 not out. Brad Hodge (21 not out) faced eight balls for Australia against South Africa in Durban in 2013-14, as did Dinesh Karthik (29 not out) for India vs Bangladesh in the Nidahas Trophy final in Colombo in 2017-18 (he did also complete a run-out while keeping wicket). Against England at The Oval in 2009, Ramnaresh Sarwan won the award for his nine-ball 19 not out as West Indies chased a rain-reduced target.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Manchester United have been linked with a shock swoop to sign Ross Barkley from Luton this summer, in a pursuit spearheaded by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

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• Barkley signed by Ratcliffe at Nice
• In fine form for relegation-threatened Luton
• United need midfield reinforcements

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Barkley has been linked with a shock move to United by The Sun, having previously impressed new owner Ratcliffe during his time at Nice. When he was with the French club, reports suggested that Ratcliffe actually pushed manager Lucien Favre to play him more often for the Ligue 1 club.

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• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The report suggests that United are looking to reinforce their midfield as they are willing to sell Casemiro and send Sofyan Amrabat back to Fiorentina. Barkley would not be a prohibitively expensive target, as Luton may well need to sell if they are relegated.

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  DID YOU KNOW?

  Barkley has made 20 appearances in the Premier League this season, scoring three goals and registering three assists. He is spearheading Luton's attempt to avoid relegation, with the club currently 18th, one point behind Everton, although another points deduction would dramatically alter the complexion of the survival race.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR BARKLEY?

  Luton play Manchester City in the fifth round of the FA Cup in midweek. They will return to Premier League action next weekend against Aston Villa.

adidas are reportedly set to make a signature boot for Jude Bellingham, with the midfielder's trademark celebration a template for the logo.

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• Bellingham to get boots with own branding
• Already has a relationship with adidas
• Starred in advert for new Predator boot

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Bellingham has become one of the most recognisable faces in world football after starring for Los Blancos this season. He is set to be rewarded for his fame, with his outfitter adidas reportedly preparing a signature boot for the star midfielder, according to .

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  WHAT JUDE BELLINGHAM SAID

  Bellingham is the star of adidas' ongoing promotional campaign for the new Predator boots, which are a throwback to some of the classic silhouettes of the iconic design from years gone by. He most recently teased the new model in an Instagram story with a wry comment: "The tongue is back.”

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The Predator 24 has made a splash in the footballing world, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jose Mourinho and Xabi Alonso all pictured wearing the boots. There is no release date scheduled for Bellingham's supposed special edition pair.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR BELLINGHAM?

  The midfielder figures to be in the Madrid XI for the foreseeable future. Los Blancos take on Girona in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday, before facing RB Leipzig in the Champions League last 16 next week.

Tottenham fans are tonight calling on the club to sack Thomas Frank following another shambolic display in Sunday's 3-0 loss at Nottingham Forest. The defeat leaves the north London side in the bottom half of the table with supporters angry after yet another sub-par display that means Spurs have now won only one of their last seven league matches to leave their top-four hopes in tatters.

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  Forest ease past sorry Spurs

  Spurs fell behind midway through the first half at the City Ground as Ibrahim Sangare capitalised upon a mixup between Archie Gray and Guglielmo Vicario to ultimately present Callum Hudson-Odoi with an easy finish. And Forest were two goals to the good shortly after the restart as the duo linked up once more, with Hudson-Odoi getting the better of Vicario, whose performance was widely criticised by fans, with a cross-cum-shot.

  The roles were reversed for Forest's third as Hudson-Odoi turned provider for Sangare to compound a miserable afternoon for Spurs. Frank's side had enjoyed a mini-revival in recent outings, following up a 2-2 draw at Newcastle with successive home wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague in the Premier League and Champions League, respectively.

  However, Spurs reverted to type in the Midlands on Sunday afternoon with a number of supporters now calling for Frank to be shown the exit just six months after he succeeded Ange Postecoglou at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium helm.

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• 'Dyche ball shi**ing all over Frank'

  Spurs fans took to social media following the 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest to demand that the club call time on Frank's disappointing spell in charge of the Europa League champions.

  "Football and subs awful, embarrassing again. The Frank saga will probably drag out longer than necessary because of our woeful record of hiring and firing managers the last 6 yrs but everyone can see he’s not the answer," @gemben82 posted on X.

  "Time is up for me. Frank out. I don’t know how we come back from a loss like this, and we seriously show no signs of improvement. Move on," @HeardFromSpurs added.

  Another fan account,@Spurs_Zone, commented that the Dane has failed to sort the club's defensive issues, stating: "Unfortunately, the experiment has gone wrong. Sorry it didn’t work out but it’s time for Frank to leave. Attacking isn’t a problem, Ange proved it last season, scoring was never an issue. The defending was, and Frank just completely failed in diagnosing the problem."

  "It’s safe to say we’ve made a massive mistake in hiring this fool. Frank has served up some of the worst football I’ve ever seen. This can’t continue. Its over. He’s done," @SeanOR7 wrote.

  @_iamchrisf went a little more in depth with his reasoning, posting: "Get Frank out!!! I said on Tuesday: 'The next 3 league games will give us a clearer picture and perhaps my belief and optimism reinstalled in Frank again but let’s see' And today’s performance/result has shown why I still have my doubts. For me he’s failing to get the bare minimum out of this team and that’s unacceptable. Forest only had 4 wins in the league before this game. Dyche ball shi**ing all over Frank"

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  Frank bemoans 'bad performance' at City Ground

  After Sunday's game, Frank was asked whether the result and performance was a real disappointment, to which he replied: "Yeah, it was. It’s hugely disappointing. That was a bad performance, especially first half. I think overall, especially after the 1-0 goal, we looked disjointed.

  "Also after the second goal, it looked disjointed after that; didn’t win enough duels; and we couldn’t hit each other – it seems like we gave the ball away every single time we won it back throughout the game. That doesn’t help to win a football match.

  "On paper, black and white, we lose 3-0 here. That is disappointing. The better team won today. When things go against us, we have to keep doing the right thing and keep our cool heads."

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• Spurs are 'not a quick fix'

  Frank may be under a lot of scrutiny for the performance levels his Spurs side are producing, but the Danish coach remains bullish that he is the right man for the job and believes he can turn the mounting tide of hapless displays. Asked whether he will be given time to improve recent results, Frank claimed he did not see any reason why he would face the sack.

  "I think it's pretty evident that if no one gets the time, no one can turn this around. This is not a quick fix," he said. "I'm very honest about where we are as well. I was also very honest, today was a very bad performance, no two ways about that.

  "But I also know that to change this will take some time. No one will want to hear about that. It's just reality.

  "I think the ones who have followed the club and the team, I think it's fair to say there's been a few not too consistent performances and that's the thing. We are working very hard."

Martin Williamson05-Dec-2005

A&C Black, 319pp rrp £22.50

I recently heard someone dismiss the C&G Cricket Year, now in its 24th year, as a poor man’s Wisden. That is has survived so long and continues to flourish should be an indication that it deserves respect in its own right. But aside from its English bias – coverage not writing – the similarities are few.I must confess that I was an avid reader of the book when it first came out – then it was under the sponsorship of Benson & Hedges – and the first ten or so issues were a perennial Christmas must-have. But then I drifted onto other things, and so I was interested to know what had become of the publication.What I enjoyed in the original was that it complemented Wisden. While the Almanack provided a mass of statistics and scorecards, the B&H put flesh on those bones. It reported in some depth on overseas matches – domestic games from the Caribbean to Pakistan and Australia warranted potted reports and an abundance of pictures. Armed with Wisden and the B&H, someone who wanted to know what had happened across the world just about had it all at his fingertips.A decade and a bit later, the world has moved on. The internet means that scores from the extremities are now almost instantly available, and even Wisden has taken the plunge and uses pictures liberally. But that very progress appears to have led to the C&G withdrawing back to its core audience. It is now unashamedly aimed at the UK market, with little more than passing coverage from elsewhere. Take Australia. Their whole year is given 12 pages, five of which are text, five scorecards of Tests, and VB Series potted scores so brief as to be, frankly, useless. It’s the same elsewhere.But the UK coverage is good. It presents a review of the English summer in a more colourful and less wordy format that the Almanack, and in time for the lucrative Christmas market – no mean feat given that that now almost drags on into October. The format of the book means that the layout is user friendly – the font can be read by people with anything other than hawk-like vision for one thing – and the lavish use of colour pictures really enhances the written word.But therein lies the other major gripe. Wisden does offer a high standard of writing, and its reputation means that it can attract the cream of the crop. The C&G, under the editorship of Jonathan Agnew, is far more limited, in terms of space and, I assume, budget. Agnew himself, aided by Mark Baldwin, contributes large swathes of the England pages, and does so effectively. But although there are some good essays dotted here and there – Charlie Austin (who is Cricinfo’s man in Sri Lanka) writes with first-hand experience of the effect of the tsunami – they are too few and far between to really satisfy those looking for something more than a quick ten-minute flick. Major issues which dominated English cricket – the Zimbabwe tour and the BSkyB TV deal, to name two – are given no more than a few lines in Agnew’s editorial.I was left with a feeling of not really knowing who this book is aimed at. When I first bought it, I remember thinking that I need it and Wisden to cover all the bases. I still need Wisden; the C&G is now no more than a welcome addition … but not a vital one. Times have moved on, and there is a suspicion that the C&G has not quite kept up.

Neymar took time out of his rehabilitation to pay a visit to his former team Santos, where he watched the Brazilian side beat rivals Corinthians.

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• Neymar paid visit to Santos
• Watched former team in action
• Star out with serious injury

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Neymar turned up at the Estadio Urbano Caldeira on Wednesday night wearing a T-shirt with the Santos logo on it. The Al-Hilal attacker looked on as Joao Schmidt fired the Alvinegro to a 1-0 win, lifting them to the top of the Paulista after six matches – though Sao Paulo could overtake them with a win on Thursday.

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  WHAT SANTOS SAID

  Neymar's appearance at Santos sparked suggestions that he could return to his boyhood club in the near future. Asked about the prospect of signing him, coach Fabio Carille said: "It would be great [to have Neymar]. We know it's difficult, a different player who can solve it… It's a distant dream, but let's dream."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Santos will likely have to wait until next year if they want to bring the 32-year-old back to the Brazilian league. He has a contract with the club until 2025, having joined from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer transfer window. The ex-Barcelona star managed just five games for Al-Hilal before he suffered a cruciate ligament injury and was ruled out for months.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR NEYMAR?

  The attacker will continue his recovery and was initially expected back before the end of the season. However, Brazil's team doctor has ruled him out until the start of next season, meaning the star will likely miss the Copa America this summer.

A slow surface that makes strokeplay difficult and large outfields in Nagpur can be turned into Afghanistan’s favour

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur26-Mar-2016They worried Sri Lanka with a rousing batting recovery, startled South Africa with a barnstorming start in a big chase, and left England gasping with their spin bowling. Three Super 10 matches against three Full Members, and Afghanistan created chances of winning each of them. They eventually fell short all three times, but the displays have only strengthened their belief that beating top opposition is not a distant prospect.On Sunday, Afghanistan will end their World T20 with a meeting against West Indies, who top their group with three wins in three matches. Afghanistan will be up against, perhaps, the most power-packed batting line-up they have faced in the tournament.But in Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari and Hamza Hotak, Afghanistan have enough depth in the spin department to make life difficult for batsmen reliant on big shots on a slow pitch and one of the bigger outfields in Indian cricket. Afghanistan have played three matches at the VCA Stadium before, in the first round, and though they faced far weaker opposition at that stage of the tournament, they know the conditions.”Definitely, their batting is very [strong], but we have a very good spin department,” Asghar Stanikzai, Afghanistan’s captain, said on the eve of the match. “So where we can restrict them is, we will try to depend more on spinners, since the boundaries over here are longer and hitting the spinners will not be that easy. They are good strikers of the ball but we play good cricket, and are not just trying to give them a tough time but we are here to go back with at least one win [from the Super 10 stage].”Afghanistan have made massive strides since their first appearance at a world event in 2010, and Stanikzai said they were no longer content simply with pushing big teams hard. He was particularly disappointed that they had let strong positions slip against Sri Lanka and England, and said Afghanistan were close to being a “serious team” that would win matches regularly.”When we first appeared in that [2010 World T20] in West Indies, we were only thinking that we are playing with big names and most of us were very impressed with the players around,” Stanikzai said. “This time we are not only participating in this tournament but we were serious about it.”If you see our last three matches, especially against Sri Lanka and England, we have played very good cricket. To be honest, we could have won those games because we knew the strength of our team, but somehow we made mistakes and that’s why we couldn’t finish on a winning note. If you compare between 2010 and 2016, there is a lot of difference in the Afghanistan team, and in the next one or two years we will be a serious team and beat these Full Members very easily, as we have potential.”West Indies are already through to the semi-finals, but their coach Phil Simmons knows they cannot take Afghanistan lightly.”They’ve played well in all the games,” he said. “They’ve batted really well, [especially when] they were chasing a big score against South Africa, who we played yesterday. So they’ve been playing well and I know them from before [Simmons was Ireland’s coach from 2007 to 2015], so I know that they’re going to come to try and win. So we’ve got to just play properly.”While Afghanistan are clearly a team on an upward curve, there are fears that West Indies are heading in the opposite direction. They have failed to qualify for the ODI Champions Trophy in 2017, and have struggled in Test cricket for a number of years. They have been among the best T20 sides in the world, as their displays in this tournament have suggested, but some of their biggest stars in the format, including Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy, are in their 30s and could possibly be playing at their last ICC event.Simmons disagreed with the pessimistic view of the future, pointing to the fact that Bravo and Sammy are only in their early 30s, the fact that the current squad has performed so well while missing Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons and Sunil Narine, and the fact that West Indies have just won the Under-19 World Cup.”I’m not too sure how you write off guys at 30, 32 and 33,” Simmons said. “But to answer your question, yes, you can see it in the amount of players we have missing here. You see it in the young players coming up. You saw it in the Under-19 squad and you see it in the CPL at home, so it’s going to keep coming for a long time to come.”

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka has been spotted posing for photos with rapper Central Cee and actor Barry Keoghan at London Fashion Week.

• London Fashion Week in full swing
• Arsenal's Bukayo Saka in attendance
• Martin Odegaard joins his team-mate

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Saka has been enjoying some rare time away from the football pitch at London Fashion Week in Victoria Park. The Arsenal star was been hanging out with rapper Central Cee and actor Barry Keoghan, who has shot to fame with roles in 'The Banshees of Inisherin' and 'Saltburn'. Saka swapped his usual red and white Arsenal shirt for a chunky sheepskin coat to deal with the London chill.

  Central Cee Instagram

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• THE GOSSIP

  Saka wasn't the only footballer to be spotted at the event. Team-mate Martin Odegaard was also in attendance along with Tottenham's Hueng-min Son, Dele Alli, Ben Chilwell and former Real Madrid ace Gareth Bale. The players mixed with a host of celebrities including supermodel Naomi Campbell, actor Olivia Coleman and rap star Dizzee Rascal.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Saka is a brand ambassador for Burberry but told GQ several of his team-mates would also be keen on the job. He said: "There are a lot of fashionable players. I don't want to say too many and end up missing people out. At Arsenal, Reiss Nelson for sure, and Julien Timber. Me and Martin are coming tonight, but there are a lot more players that have an interest and good style."

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  WHAT NEXT FOR SAKA

  Saka will be back in his Arsenal kit on Wednesday in the Champions League. The Gunners take on Porto in the first leg of their last 16 tie.