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West Indies coach Stuart Law has revealed that Shai Hope was confident in victory at Headingley before the final day started

George Dobell at Lord's05-Sep-2017Shai Hope has the potential to be a “great” player, according to West Indies coach Stuart Law.Hope came into the series against England averaging just 19.57. But he played a huge role in the victory at Headingley with a century in each innings and has impressed Law both with his talent and temperament.While 23-year-old Hope had long been recognised as a talent within Caribbean cricket, there were a couple of moments at Headingley when Law was impressed by his composure under pressure and his hunger for further success.One of those came before play on the final day.”I remember sitting down next to him in the dressing room before the last day and said ‘Look, the plan is we’ll bat to tea, see where we are and if we’ve got wickets we’ll work out if we’re going to have a go or not’,” Law said.”He looked at me and I said ‘What’s wrong with that?’ He looked at me again, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders and I said ‘Okay, what’s your plan?'”‘We’re going to win’, he said. That’s God’s honest truth. And he went out and won the game.”He’s a rock. He’s a guy with a lot of talent who looks very good at the crease. We hadn’t seen that in international cricket, but Headingley showcased his talent.”The other moment that impressed Law came after victory was achieved. Instead of wild celebrations, Hope remained calm and controlled.”I think the fact he wasn’t over the top in his celebrations just means he’s hungry and he’s driven,” Law said. “He doesn’t want to stop where he’s at now; he wants to keep going. I think that’s a great sign.”The challenge for Shai is to stay fit and healthy. If he does that, with the drive he’s got and the mental toughness and will to work, that will just make him better and better. He’s pretty good now, but he’s got the potential to be great.”Law hoped the success of Hope and Kraigg Brathwaite would inspire their team-mates and suggested the side’s success might convince some of their detractors – not least Nasser Hussain, who wrote a newspaper column that underwhelmed the West Indies dressing room – to think again.”There’s probably a couple that doubted their ability to cope at this level,” Law said. “But I hope those doubts are now well and truly put to bed and they can start flourishing.”I thought guys like Chris Woakes, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled the house down at Headingley. And we had answers to them. It’s not the fact that they under-estimated us: we actually stood up and competed against some high-quality batting and bowling, so credit where credit’s due.”Nasser’s entitled to his opinion: people make assumptions all the time. But he doesn’t know the group of players. I think it was great we sent a big humble pie to go and chomp on in the commentary box.”Meanwhile West Indies captain Jason Holder reassured the people of the Caribbean they were “in our thoughts and prayers” as they prepare for Hurricane Irma.”Please take all necessary precautions as you prepare for this hurricane,” Holder said. “Our love and our wishes go to everybody in the Caribbean as you go through this tough time.”

Shahid Afridi has joined Karachi Kings as “president”, according to the franchise

Umar Farooq07-Apr-2017Shahid Afridi has joined Karachi Kings as “president”, according to the franchise. He is likely to feature for the team as a player, too, in the third edition of Pakistan Super League in 2018, though this is yet to be confirmed; the PSL’s trading window ahead of the next edition is yet to open. Last month Afridi had announced on Twitter that he had left Peshawar Zalmi after two years with the franchise.ESPNcricinfo understands that Afridi is likely to be traded between Peshawar and Karachi as part of the formalities later this year. For now, Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Afridi had joined his franchise as president.Afridi had tweeted on March 25 that he was “announcing my end of service as president & player of Peshawar Zalmi Team due to my personal reasons”. He said it was “time for another” team. Following his tweets, Peshawar’s owner, Javed Afridi, told ESPNcricinfo that he was “clueless” in the matter. Later, it was learnt that Afridi had parted ways from the franchise over disagreements with the owner.”There are things that I don’t want to bring in media but Javed’s vision has changed with the time,” Afridi said on a TV show on Geo News. “I don’t want to become a hindrance to Javed’s goal and vision, because I have my own foundation and a lot of other things. So I can not fullfil his commitments and want to focus on my things as well. I wanted to announce it after the PSL final, but I had couple of commitments with Zalmi, so I waited for the right time.”Afridi, who is based in Karachi but was born in Khyber Agency, had talked about the importance of Peshawar Zalmi to his local region, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a day before his Twitter announcment. “We have not created the Peshawar Zalmi team to play just a month’s cricket in the PSL and then sit at home,” Afridi had said. “Our work goes beyond the cricket field and we want to change the lives of the underprivileged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”Peshawar Zalmi won the PSL title in 2017, defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final held at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Afridi had missed the final with a finger injury that he picked up during the playoffs in the UAE. In all, in ten matches in PSL 2017, he had scored 177 runs at 25.28 with a strike rate of 173.52, and taken two wickets with an economy rate of 6.75. He had captained the franchise in the inaugural edition of the tournament, before handing over to Darren Sammy this year.

India have retained 15 of the 17 players who formed the Test squad for the tour of West Indies, for the upcoming three-Test series at home against New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-20163:22

Agarkar: Rahul and Vijay should open

India have retained 15 of the 17 players who formed the Test squad for the tour of West Indies, for the upcoming three-Test series at home against New Zealand. The players to miss out were allrounder Stuart Binny and seamer Shardul Thakur.Binny and Thakur played only one game in the Caribbean – the tour match against the WICB President’s XI. Binny was later included in the T20I squad for the matches against West Indies in the USA, while Thakur joined the India A team on their tour of Australia.Rohit Sharma is part of the Mumbai squad for a tour match against the New Zealanders in Delhi from September 16. When asked if Rohit would play, a Mumbai team official said they were waiting for confirmation from the BCCI about his availability.”Rohit is a fabulous player, immense talent he has got, but he hasn’t got a longer run in Test cricket,” chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said after the selection meeting in Mumbai. “What we have seen with Rohit Sharma is, he has been picked for one Test and then rested an entire season and again picked. So the selection committee, along with coach and captain, have decided that whoever is be picked will be given a fair amount of chances.”Perhaps the biggest question ahead of the selection of India’s XI for the first Test is about who will open. M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan opened in the first Test on the tour of West Indies, but Vijay was injured for the second Test and KL Rahul took his chance and made 158 in Jamaica. Vijay was then left out of the third Test while Rahul and Dhawan opened, but returned for the final match in Trinidad, where he was slotted to open with Rahul before rain ruined the game.Cheteshwar Pujara, who was replaced by Rohit in the third Test against West Indies because India were playing five bowlers, and then did not bat in the fourth Test, returned to form by scoring 166 and 256 at No. 3 in the ongoing Duleep Trophy in Greater Noida.The squad contains three spinners – R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra – and four seamers – Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – giving India the option of several combinations should they choose to play five bowlers.The series against New Zealand is the beginning of a home season in which India will play 13 Tests until March next year. The first match against New Zealand will be played in Kanpur from September 22, while the second and third Tests will be held in Kolkata and Indore.India are currently ranked No. 2 on the ICC Test rankings, only a point behind Pakistan, while New Zealand are placed seventh. India had briefly occupied the No. 1 ranking during the Test series against West Indies, following Australia’s 3-0 defeat to Sri Lanka. They had a chance to consolidate their top spot with a win in the fourth Test in Port of Spain but the match was drawn because of rain and a wet outfield, and Pakistan climbed to No. 1 having drawn their series against England 2-2.Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, M Vijay, Umesh Yadav

The Real Madrid star dominated the midfield against Scotland as well as setting up two goals and scoring the other himself

England were already a pretty good team before Jude Bellingham forced his way into the starting XI. Now, with the Real Madrid man looking like one of the best players in the world, they are not only candidates to win Euro 2024 – they should be the favourites.

After scoring five goals in his first four matches for Los Blancos, Bellingham turned on the style for his country in a convincing 3-1 win over Scotland. Bellingham carved Steve Clarke's side open to help set up Phil Foden's deadlock-breaking strike and then started and finished the move for the second goal.

A nightmare own goal by Harry Maguire gave Scotland belief and shook England for a bit but Bellingham steadied the ship, saving his best moment 'till last. A sumptuous piece of skill and pass set up Harry Kane, who finished superbly to put the result beyond doubt.

GOAL rates England's players from Hampden Park…

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  Goalkeeper & Defence

  Aaron Ramsdale (6/10):

  Comfortable on the ball despite huge pressure from Scotland. Understandably flummoxed by Maguire diverting Robertson's cross past him as he had it covered.

  Kyle Walker (8/10):

  Magnificent going forward. Led wave after wave of attack and set up Foden's goal with a cross-shot. Nearly got another assist with a fine pass for Eberechi Eze.

  Lewis Dunk (6/10):

  A solid second appearance for his country.

  Marc Guehi (6/10):

  Composed on the ball and anticipated well. Scotland appealed for a penalty when the ball touched his hand but VAR sided with him.

  Kieran Trippier (5/10):

  Not as comfortable on his weaker left side and struggled defensively.

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  Midfield

  Kalvin Phillips (6/10):

  Hit and miss. Played a couple of sloppy passes that led to England surrendering possession but also looked to split Scotland's defence open.

  Declan Rice (6/10):

  Kept England's play ticking over without pulling up any trees.

  Jude Bellingham (10/10):

  Simply outstanding. Dictated the play and drove England forward, setting up almost every dangerous move. His assist for Kane was sublime while he played his part in Foden's strike and took his own goal with aplomb.

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  Attack

  Phil Foden (7/10):

  Stretched Scotland in the first half. Made amends for a bad miss by giving England the lead.

  Harry Kane (6/10):

  Had a relatively quiet game and left most of the creating to Bellingham. But when he needed to finish he did so expertly to make sure of the victory.

  Marcus Rashford (6/10):

  Ran Scotland ragged in the first half but couldn't finish off many moves. Did play his part in the opening goal.

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  Subs & Manager

  Harry Maguire (2/10):

  His shocking own goal gave Scotland hope and put England on edge.

  Bukayo Saka (6/10):

  Didn't do loads in his 19 minutes on the pitch.

  Eberechi Eze (6/10):

  Lovely control to set up a chance but should have done better against Gunn.

  Callum Wilson (N/A):

  Only came on in the 84th minute.

  Conor Gallagher (N/A):

  Handed a very short cameo.

  Gareth Southgate (6/10):

  Made six changes from the Ukraine game and slipped the shackles off slightly. His biggest mistake was bringing on Maguire.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-2018Mark Wood has been released by Chennai Super Kings after playing just one match in this season’s IPL, and will return to Durham to prepare for the Test series against Pakistan, which gets underway at Lord’s on May 24.Wood, who was picked up by CSK for GBP166,000 in the IPL auction, made his debut against Mumbai Indians in this year’s tournament opener at the Wankhede Stadium, but didn’t pick up a wicket in conceding 49 runs.He is now set to be made available to Durham in their Specsavers County Championship match against Derbyshire this week, as he looks to cement the Test place that he reclaimed during the recent tour of New Zealand.”The decision has been made for me to return home to England to prepare for the English summer,” Wood wrote in a post on Instagram. “Having worked so hard to get back into the test team, and because I’m not currently not in the CSK side, I am coming home to play for Durham to hopefully put my name in the hat for Test match selection.”Ben Stokes, who is playing for Rajasthan Royals, and the Bangalore Royal Challengers duo of Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali are also set to return to England in the coming days to prepare for the Pakistan Test series.

The bowler revealed his disappointment at Yorkshire’s decision to drop him during the Royal London Cup and will talk to other counties with his deal expiring this year

Melinda Farrell15-Jun-20181:16

England looking for a complete performance – Plunkett

Liam Plunkett has revealed his disappointment at Yorkshire’s decision to drop him during the Royal London Cup, shortly after his return from the IPL, and indicated he is open to moving to another county when his current deal expires. The comments follow on from David Willey’s revelation that Yorkshire threatened to tear up his contract when he signed with the Chennai Super Kings.Plunkett, in the final year of his county contract, made seven IPL appearances for Delhi Daredevils but following his return from India he told he was dropped by Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, for the 50-over fixture against Northamptonshire after he took 1 for 76 from eight overs against Lancashire earlier this month. Speaking ahead of England’s second ODI against Australia in Cardiff, Plunkett said he disagreed with Yorkshire’s assessment that he was “undercooked”.”Yes, I was disappointed,” Plunkett said. “I’d played the previous games and felt I went all right. We won the previous game, so I felt in a good place – but I had one bad performance, and if they want to drop me on that … They said I wasn’t ready, that I looked undercooked.”In what might seem an unusual sequence of events, days after being dropped for a domestic fixture Plunkett was selected in England’s playing XI to face Scotland in the same format. Yorkshire and then-coach Jason Gillespie were given credit for helping Plunkett resurrect his international career after leaving Durham in 2012, but he now appears set to move on.”I just felt I was getting back into it,” Plunkett said. “That was the decision they took … I feel I was coming into a good place and I feel I can help win games for Yorkshire so obviously I was disappointed and I let them know on that.”It’s my last year and I went in for a chat with Martyn Moxon, and obviously as you get a little bit older you maybe think about your base salary coming down and you’re playing for incentives and stuff but I didn’t really get offered anything. They just said we’ll look into it in the next month or so but it gives me a right to speak to other counties and it gives me that option and I’m looking to do that.”Plunkett, along with the rest of the England attack, was hammered by Scotland’s batsmen at The Grange, where he took 2 for 85, but after making changes to his run up he felt his rhythm return at The Oval.”I think in the IPL I came a little bit wider and tried to angle the ball in a little bit and skid it on to the batters,” he said. “But I think my strength is to be on top of the ball, use my bounce and bowl that hard length. I think when I came in I was trying to angle it in a little bit and I was bowling a few wides down the leg side.Liam Plunkett could be leaving Yorkshire when his contract expires•Getty Images

“I played against Lancs and struggled coming off it. So I just looked at a bit of video footage and in the last couple of games – especially the last game – I felt a lot better, I felt my timing came back and my lengths were getting better.”Even if Plunkett bowls well for the rest of the summer, he will relinquish his place in the ODI side for at least two of England’s matches in Sri Lanka in October, when he will marry his partner, Emeleah Erb. The couple set the wedding date before England’s tour dates were finalised.”We planned because originally it was a Test series that was there and I didn’t think I’d be around the Test squad,” Plunkett said. “It’s been eleven years, it’s been long enough so I thought I’d better get married.”We did look at schedules and the best time to do it. There were flights booked from America and a lot of guests coming over and everything was booked, so it was so hard to change it then.”I’m really excited to get married but I am going to miss part of that series. All I can do is try and do well for England this summer and be a part of that team and [make them] think well, he might miss a few games, can we get him for the rest of that Sri Lanka series and keep me in mind going forward.””I’m so excited and can’t wait for the day that I’m not going to change and ruin everything for her.”

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola refuses to believe Manchester United will be easy opponents in Sunday's derby at the Etihad Stadium.

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• Guardiola not underestimating United
• 'They have the biggest quality'
• Red Devils reeling after defeat by Fulham

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  United are four places and 15 points behind City in the Premier League and sunk to a disheartening home defeat by Fulham last week. They also are missing key players including Rasmus Hojlund, Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire. However, the Catalan pointed out that United had previously been unbeaten in the new year and insisted he was expecting City's rivals to be a threat.

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• WHAT GUARDIOLA SAID

  "They went to Luton and beat them, Wolves and beat them, Aston Villa to go and win a few weeks ago. They have the biggest quality," Guardiola told a press conference. "From one action they create something special with set pieces, transitions. Always have been demanding, when they play good, they will win. In 2024 they lost just one game, the consistency is there. [We will] prepare tactically, what we have to do to get three points."

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  New United minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe has vowed to 'knock City and Liverpool off their perch' and targeted another league title within the next three years. Guardiola refused to comment on Ratcliffe's ambitions but acknowledged how tough it has been for United to reassert themselves at the top since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013. "Big clubs, you have to win. Not easy for United, an incredible period with Sir Alex. It's not easy," Guardiola added. "The big clubs used to have more patience, now there is a lot of pressure. I don't know the reason why, I'm not there."

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• DID YOU KNOW?

  Guardiola has won 11 of his 20 Manchester derbies, drawing twice and losing seven times, giving him the best record of any City manager against United. He has also turned the Cityzens into the dominant force in English football.

Fleming also put forward the name of Daniel Vettori – who also works in the T20 format – but made clear he remained impressed by Mike Hesson’s achievements

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2018Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming would be keen to work with the national T20 side if there was a push to restructure the coaching set-up to reduce Mike Hesson’s workload.Fleming, who coaches in the IPL and Big Bash League, also put forward the name of Daniel Vettori – another who now works in the T20 format – but made clear he remained impressed by Hesson’s achievements. However, he believes that the packed international schedule will eventually lead to more specialised coach appointments.Simon Doull, the former New Zealand paceman, recently suggested that Hesson – and captain Kane Williamson – should move aside from the T20 international game, while England coach Trevor Bayliss said he would not have a problem if the coaching roles in his team were split.”It’s based on my passion and love for New Zealand cricket,” Fleming told . “I’ve got a very good relationship with Craig McMillan [the current batting coach] and spend a lot of time talking to him about where the game is going and what he sees. So I enjoy passing on that knowledge and it comes back to wanting the New Zealand team to be strong.”I enjoy going away and having a strong New Zealand team performing well around the world, it helps my job and I enjoy getting the New Zealand players in the sides that I’ve got.”At some stage, who knows and I think Daniel would be the same. I’d love to help, but I certainly appreciate and admire the work Mike has done.”At the conclusion of the England series in early April, Hesson will be able to have some downtime as New Zealand do not play again until a series against Pakistan in October, but Fleming still thinks that being in charge of all three formats could become too great a task for one man.”You’ve got to think for a modern day coach these days, to be spending 250-300 days away, or involved in the job, travelling and hotels and being away from the family, that’s unsustainable,” he said.”So Simon [Doull] makes some good points there about looking after your coaches and maybe T20 is one form of the game where there’s an opportunity for the head coach to have some time off.”Whether you develop a Craig McMillan or another young coach coming forward, or you get an old dog in and maybe Vettori or myself come in to spend a bit of time there?”It’s whether it keeps Mike Hesson fresh, it’s whether it falls into line with what Mike wants. But I think it’s worth discussing going forward as the schedule gets more cluttered. What I’ve heard from NZ Cricket and Mike right now is that the balance is pretty good, so he’s pretty happy to continue what he’s doing. But it needs to be explored.”New Zealand’s T20 form took a dive after a strong start earlier in the season. Pakistan came from 1-0 down to take the three-match series in January, when New Zealand conceded their No. 1 ranking, then they managed just a single victory – against England in Wellington – during the T20 tri-series. The next World T20 will take place in Australia in 2020.”If you’re bouncing from each form, sometimes you can miss the subtleties of the game that are developing behind closed doors, because you’re so focused on a Test or one-day series,” Fleming said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re relevant in all forms and have got the selectors, coaches and personnel looking at the right things.”

The ICC said no evidence had been found of Salgaoncar “actually having been engaged in corruption”, but he has been penalised for for failing to report an approach

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2018Pandurang Salgaoncar, who was suspended from his role of curator by the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) in October, has also been handed a suspension by the ICC for “failing to report an approach to engage in corrupt conduct”. The issue had emerged ahead of the second ODI between India and New Zealand on October 25, following a sting operation by India Today TV; footage showed the curator telling undercover reporters that the pitch will be full of runs.However, the ICC said, no evidence had been found of Salgaoncar “actually having been engaged in corruption.”Alex Marshall, the ICC’s general manager, anti-corruption, said: “We have carried out an extensive investigation based on the allegations made by India Today and the material they shared with us. I am satisfied that Mr Salgaonkar has no case to answer on the broad allegations of corruption made by India Today.”However, as he is bound by the ICC Anti-Corruption Code as a participant of the sport, he has been charged with breaching section 2.4.4 of the Code for his failure to report an approach to engage in corrupt conduct. Mr Salgaonkar has accepted that he has committed the offence and has received a six-month suspension.”The ICC’s suspension will be backdated to October 25, 2017 – the day he was suspended by the MCA – meaning he can return to work on April 24, 2018.India Today TV had said its reporters shot the video with Salgaoncar over two days (October 23 and 24) leading up to the New Zealand ODI, alleging corrupt activity on his part. In the video, Salgaoncar is seen telling the reporters: “It [the pitch] is very good. It will garner 337 runs. And 337 will be chaseable.” New Zealand made 230 in the match, and India chased down the target four overs to spare on a slowing track.

The Portland Timbers are in pursuit of Monterrey's superstar forward Germán Berterame.

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• Portland Timbers bid for Germán Berterame
• Argentine valued at $15m
• MLS side pushing for club-record deal

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Athletic reports that $15m rated Germán Berterame would be tied for the second-highest MLS transfer of all time, alongside Ezequiel Barco and Gonzalo Martinez – both formerly of Atlanta United. The Timbers have an open DP slot, and Phil Neville is looking to bolster his squad with a marquee signing.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The Timbers are in need of a goal-scoring striker, and it appears that they have honed in on their man. However, they do have a backup plan, with the same report sharing that they are a potential suitor for Club America's Jonathan Rodriguez.

  Berterame has 23 goals and nine assists in 61 appearances for Neville appears to believe that the Argentine can produce even better numbers in MLS and is ready to work with the Timbers to splash the cash if the two clubs can come to an agreement over the transfer.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  The Five Stripes also own the most expensive incoming transfer in World Cup winner Thiago Almada, as well.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR BERTERAME AND THE TIMBERS?

  Monterrey take on Pumas Sunday evening in Liga MX action, and with a win, they could move atop the league standings. Portland, meanwhile, takes on D.C. United late Saturday night.