Roughly 20 days after the women’s team won the T20 World Cup, and about a week after the men’s Test team completed a whitewash of India at home, New Zealand’s cricketers continue to do the near-impossible.On this occasion they defended 108 all out on a tricky – but far from unplayable – Dambulla surface. Lockie Ferguson bowled only two overs before having to leave the field because of a calf injury, but he claimed a hat-trick to rip out Sri Lanka’s top order, as he collected figures of 3 for 7.As has often been the case on this long South Asian sojourn, Glenn Phillips was vital to New Zealand’s victory too. He’d been out for 4 off 9, but took three wickets in the final over – which he had only had to bowl because of Ferguson’s absence. The most prized of those wickets was that of Pathum Nissanka, who had been Sri Lanka’s backbone, making 52 off 50, until he tried to smash Phillips over long-on, but could not clear the fielder.He was the last recognised batter to be dismissed, however. Zakary Foulkes, Mitchell Santner, and Michael Bracewell had all been effective in keeping Sri Lanka on a leash, as they squeezed wickets out of the batters’ frustrations. New Zealand have never defended a lower total in T20Is. Only twice have Full Members failed to finish off a chase of such modest proportions. (Zim vs Nam in 2023 and WI vs Zim in 2010)Sri Lanka would have thought themselves almost certain to win, when they earlier had the opposition 52 for 6 in the 11th over. But New Zealand cobbled together what looked an unimpressive total between Will Young’s 30, Santner’s 19, and Josh Clarkson’s 24. All of those innings came at less than a run-a-ball.This result ties the series 1-1, Sri Lanka having eased to victory on Saturday.

Ferguson takes out 3, 4, and 5

Although Ferguson only bowled half his overs (he’d only just recovered from a right hamstring complaint to make it into this XI), he essentially broke the game open in overs six and eight. Having allowed only three singles off his first five balls, he delivered a spectacular, swinging almost-yorker just on off stump, to take Kusal Perera’s outside edge, nicely caught by a diving Mitchell Hay.Next over, he nailed Kamindu Mendis in front of the stumps with a rapid yorker the batter was way to late on, and for his hat-trick wicket got a little luck. He pushed the ball – another attempted yorker – to Charith Asalanka a little far down leg. But Asalanka, in good form, got a little edge to that ball, which Hay received, low to the ground.Sri Lanka, suddenly were 34 for 4.Wanindu Hasaranga picked up four wickets while playing through an injury•AFP/Getty Images

Phillips puts in a death-bowling shift

With Ferguson unavailable through the back end of the innings, and Santner choosing to keep the pressure on Sri Lanka by bowling his frontliners relatively early, it fell to Phillips to bowl the big-pressure final over.Sri Lanka needed eight from it, which is not a huge amount when you have a top-order player batting on a half-century at the crease. Phillips found a way.When Nissanka got on strike for the second ball, he went down low and tried to slog-sweep it, only to find the long-on fielder. Next ball, Phillips slid a ball past the outside edge of Matheesha Pathirana, who stumbled forward, and was duly stumped.Sri Lanka could have still won – or at least tied – the game going into the final two deliveries. Maheesh Theekshana, who can occasionally produce boundaries, was on strike. But Phillips bowled bravely, slowing up a big offbreak outside off, with a little extra top spin. Theekshana swung, and only got a top edge, that Hay tracked down with his gloves to spark New Zealand jubilation.

Hasaranga bosses the first innings on one leg

It was clear there was big turn on this track from the outset. On top of which, Wanindu Hasaranga was in especially devastating touch. First ball, he bowled Phillips attempting what may have been a pre-meditated reverse slap. It was the googly that did that damage. Later in the over, he ripped a big legbreak, bowled slow through the air, beat Bracewell’s outside edge and took the top of his offstump – a classical legspinner’s dismissal.Hay was dismissed similarly next over, before getting Young overbalanced attempting a sweep, with Kusal Mendis collecting the ball down the leg side and flinging down the stumps while Young was out of the crease – an especially sharp piece of wicketkeeping after Mendis had been struck on the knee the previous over.That Wanindu did all this with a leg injury he’d picked up early in the game, made it even more impressive. He was hobbling through many of his deliveries.

A “terrific” Premier League player is “open to leaving” his current club to potentially join Newcastle United during the summer transfer window, according to former scout Mick Brown.

Newcastle targeting potential Isak replacements

The Alexander Isak saga continues to rumble on this summer, with Eddie Howe claiming that no club has come in and made an offer for him so far.

“He is still our player. He’s contracted to us. We, to a degree, control what is next for him. I would love to believe all possibilities are still available to us. My wish is that he stays, but that’s not in my full control. We have not received a formal offer for Alex, from any club.”

Newcastle continue to be linked with possible replacements, with former Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic mentioned as a surprise option who could return to Tyneside following a string of rejections from their top targets this summer.

RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and Brentford’s Yoane Wissa are also leading options to move to the Magpies, but the former may be left to choose between St James’ Park and Old Trafford amid interest from Manchester United.

Watkins "open to leaving" Aston Villa

Speaking to Football Insider, Brown, a long-time scout for Villa before retiring for punditry, claimed that Newcastle target striker Ollie Watkins is “open to leaving” Aston Villa this summer, possibly paving the way for a move to St James’ Park.

“Man United have been looking at him as well, and now Newcastle are interested. I’m told it’s something Villa are going to be open to, and I think Watkins is open to leaving too. If clubs come in for him, he’s going to want to explore his options. Newcastle are preparing to lose Isak, so they’ve been looking at a lot of different players who could potentially come in and plug the gap he’s going to leave.

“Watkins is certainly on that list because he’s a top player and would be great for Newcastle. I was really pushing for Villa to sign him when I was there because he was the best option available to us, and eventually they went and got it done. Now he’s got Premier League and international experience, which make him ideal for Newcastle. It’s difficult to say what they’re going to do because they’ve missed out on so many players, but he is certainly one of the ones they’ve looked at.”

At 29, the £130,000-a-week Watkins isn’t getting any younger, but if Newcastle could sign both him and a younger option like Sesko, it could be great replacement business for Isak.

The Villa ace has now proven himself at the top level for a long time, scoring 75 goals in 184 Premier League appearances, as well as being lauded by Danny Murphy.

Ollie Watkins’ key career stats

Appearances

Goals

Assists

Aston Villa

223

87

42

Brentford

143

49

15

Exeter City

78

26

17

The fact that Watkins is happy to leave Villa is a big boost for Newcastle, and there should be no issues with him coming straight in and hitting the ground running at St James’.

Cummins says Australia hierarchy are “not beholden to stats” when it comes to appraising the lean run returns of Khawaja, McSweeney and Labuschagne

Alex Malcolm18-Dec-2024Australia captain Pat Cummins has defended the output of his top-three batters – particularly makeshift opener Nathan McSweeney – in difficult batting conditions, as Australia’s selectors mull their options for the final two Tests of the series.Australia’s selectors are due to meet on Thursday morning to select the sides for Melbourne and Sydney after a rain-affected draw in Brisbane left the Border-Gavaskar Trophy poised on a knife’s edge at 1-1.Top of the selectors’ agenda will be extra bowling cover for the injured Josh Hazlewood with Scott Boland the obvious man to come back into the XI. But it would be hard for them not to at least discuss the top three, and in particular their openers, after another difficult week in Brisbane.Related

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Usman Khawaja, who turned 38 on Wednesday, was undone by Jasprit Bumrah for the second time in the Test match and the fourth time in the series. His partner, McSweeney, escaped Bumrah’s clutches for the first time in the series but instead nicked a wide delivery from Akash Deep. Marnus Labuschagne nicked one of Bumrah’s most innocuous deliveries of the series for just 1 as Australia slumped to 16 for 3 on their way to a bizarre third innings of 89 for 7 declared as they tried fruitlessly to set up a result before rain ended the game.Labuschagne averages 16.40 across five innings in the series, with 64 of his 82 runs coming in one hit in Adelaide. McSweeney averages 14.40 with a highest score of 39. Khawaja is averaging just 12.60, having been arguably Australia’s most reliable batter in 2022 and 2023.It appears unlikely that any change will be made despite the lean returns.Calls from the public for 19-year-old phenom Sam Konstas are growing louder following his stunning 20-ball half-century on BBL debut for Sydney Thunder on Tuesday night. That followed his century against an India attack that featured all of the Test bowlers bar Bumrah.But Cummins defended the contributions of his top three in the context of Travis Head’s two magical centuries in Adelaide and Brisbane, which according to the skipper were set up by the top three ensuring he didn’t walk out to face the new ball.”Everyone’s always hoping to score more runs,” Cummins said after rain ended the third Test. “I think the trend in world cricket pretty much all around the world is the top three is a really hard place to bat at the moment. Particularly here in Australia, the wickets are tough. I think there’s little snippets that have been important. Again, that first innings, Trav walks in 35 overs into the game, I think that makes a big difference, the same in Adelaide. Obviously they [the top three] would be hoping to score more runs, we’d like them to score more runs, but I think they have made some important contributions that others have benefited from.”Usman Khawaja has been cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah four times this series•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesBy that measure, Australia’s top three are doing their jobs given Head’s two centuries, plus Steven Smith’s century and Alex Carey’s 70 in Brisbane put Australia in commanding positions in both games. It is clear that Australia are content, given the quality of Bumrah and the difficulty of new-ball batting, to simply ask their top three to absorb pressure and buy Head time to come in and play the way he does.”The trend is, it seems like, five, six, seven is sometimes where a bulk of the runs are scored in Test cricket all around the world,” Cummins said. “I spoke ahead of this summer when there was all the talk about batting orders, we didn’t really want to move our five, six, seven – they’ve been so important to many of our wins over the last couple of years. We’re not beholden to stats, we know there are certain roles, there are easier times to bat, harder times to bat, just like bowlers, so you are always looking at the best seven batters who will function as a unit and place them as best you can.”McSweeney and Khawaja’s numbers look extremely lean compared to that of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who are averaging 47 and 38.60 respectively in the same conditions against Australia’s attack. But Rahul’s 84 in Brisbane could have been 30 had Smith held a straightforward chance at slip on day four, while Jaiswal has made just 32 runs in five innings outside of his match-winning 161 in Perth.Cummins was particularly supportive of the job McSweeney has done in his first three Tests, having been asked to debut as an opener with no prior experience at Sheffield Shield level and just two brief innings in the role for Australia A.”It’s been really hard for the opening batters for both sides really,” Cummins said. “I’ve been really impressed with the way he’s gone about it. Even today, someone starting out his career still being selfless enough to go out there and try to play shots rather than try and preserve and get a score. Really impressed with him, again probably hasn’t scored the runs he would have liked, but he has played some important knocks that have set up a win in Adelaide and a really good result here.”

Burnley have somewhat faded into the background this summer compared to Sunderland and Leeds United’s more manic spending habits.

Some standout additions so far have seen the Clarets welcome in the likes of Kyle Walker and Martin Dubravka on free transfers, who both know the challenges of the Premier League well, on top of just sealing a deal worth around the £20m mark for Chelsea striker Armando Broja.

The worry will be, however, if Broja can settle into life at Turf Moor from the get-go, having experienced a turbulent few seasons in and out of Stamford Bridge.

Broja's up-and-down form in the PL

The Albanian centre-forward is just fresh off an extremely difficult spell at Everton last season.

Indeed, the hit-and-miss 23-year-old would only line up for 11 contests with the Toffees in total, as getting into his goalscoring groove was consistently derailed by missing 155 days of action through recurring injuries.

In the end, Broja would fail to break his Goodison Park duck, with his goal tally in the Premier League in total coming in at a meagre eight strikes from 76 outings.

If he were to wrestle free of these lingering injury demons, though, Burnley could be in luck, with a stint on loan at Southampton across the 2021/22 season seeing him bag a reasonable nine strikes, having only missed two top-flight clashes all campaign.

Three senior strikes also came his way for the Blues – which included this well-taken goal being hammered home against Wolverhampton Wanderers – with Burnley just praying now that the £20m gamble to land the 23-year-old pays off.

Scott Parker might not be overflowing with confidence that Broja can stay fit and firing across the 38-game marathon to come, however, which could well lead the top-flight newcomers down the path of trying to secure a late deal for this clinical EFL marksman.

The £21m target who's an instant upgrade on Broja

Away from Broja, the Clarets aren’t exactly blessed with an abundance of quality up top.

Parker will hope the likes of Lyle Foster, Michael Obafemi, and Zian Flemming can step it up a notch in the Premier League, but he won’t be banking on them to be the difference-makers week in week out, considering both Flemming and Foster only managed 13 Championship goals between them last season, while Obafemi was loaned out.

This is where the heroics of Josh Sargent could come to the rescue deep into the chaotic transfer window, with TEAMTalk speculating earlier this week that both Daniel Farke’s Leeds and the Clarets were locked into a tussle to try and snap up the Canaries goal machine.

The report did state that Burnley were still keen on securing the potent American’s services despite just confirming a move for Broja to come to Lancashire, with Sargent reportedly costing around the £21m mark to obtain, as per a bid that recently came Norwich’s way from Wolfsburg.

Amazingly, Sargent is already off the mark this season in the Championship for Liam Manning’s men, with his quick thinking on the opening day of the tricky division resulting in an equalising goal being slotted home, away from also helping himself to another against Portsmouth.

Norwich will be doing everything in their power to try and convince their “complete” striker – as he was lauded by ex-Norwich boss David Wagner – to stay put at Carrow Road past the summer, but if Burnley want to win themselves an instant Broja upgrade, they should go all out to try and snap up the Norwich number nine before the window slams shut.

Sargent’s career goal record vs Broja’s

Stat

Sargent

Broja

Games played

231

184

Goals scored

73

44

Assists

23

12

Hat-tricks

1x

1x

Sourced by Transfermarkt

The table above further reinforces why Burnley should be going full steam ahead for a late deal to win Sargent’s red-hot services, with the 25-year-old now up to 73 goals and counting across 230 career appearances. Broja is some way off reaching this same level of clinical performance, with only 44 strikes next to his name subsequently.

Of course, there is a risk attached to Sargent joining, too, with his own injury troubles seeing him miss a colossal 44 clashes for club and country over the last two seasons, as per Transfermarkt.

Moreover, he isn’t that well-versed in what it takes to be a success at the elite level of the Premier League, having mustered up just two strikes here previously.

Yet, having been recently dubbed as the “top man” in the Championship by second-tier pundit Sam Parkin, the time feels right for him to cause a storm at the punishing level, which could come at Broja’s expense.

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Posts ByBrett Worthington Jul 25, 2025

They might not be partaking in pre-season at the moment, but it would be fair to say that the mood around Chelsea at the moment is a positive one.

While the fans are still basking in Enzo Maresca’s side’s Club World Cup triumph, the board continue to make moves in the transfer window.

The Blues have already welcomed in a host of talented attacking players like Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap and Joao Pedro.

Yet, there is still seemingly more work to do, with Jorrel Hato the next player to come through the doors at Stamford Bridge, although if reports are to be believed, the club could risk spoiling some of their good work by making a Jadon Sancho-esque signing.

Chelsea target Sancho repeat

As things stand, it’s looking almost certain that the next player to join Chelsea will be Hato.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The young Ajax defender is one of the most highly-rated youngsters in world football, with 111 appearances to his name already.

His transfer has already been given the “here we go” treatment by Farbrizio Romano, who has also revealed that the final fee for him is around €40m, which is about £35m.

When it’s finally announced, it’ll be a massively exciting move, but there could be another transfer just on the horizon that doesn’t go down quite as well with fans.

At least that is according to journalist Alex Crook, who confirmed that Chelsea are still incredibly interested in Alejandro Garnacho.

In fact, he has revealed that the Blues are now “pushing for” the Manchester United ace this summer.

In terms of how much the Argentinian could end up costing the West Londoners, plenty of reports from earlier this summer have claimed that an offer of around £40m could be enough to get this deal done.

Garnacho might be a talented player, but this feels like a deal Chelsea do not need to do, especially as it could be another Sancho situation.

Why Garnacho could be another Sancho

Now then, it has to be said that Garnacho is clearly a talented prospect, as, even with United in their current state, a player doesn’t make 58 appearances in a season without having something about them.

However, before moving to Old Trafford, there was even more reason to think Sancho was going to be one of the future stars of English football, as in his final campaign with Borussia Dortmund, he racked up a sensational tally of 16 goals and 20 assists in just 38 games for the German giants.

Flash forward to today, and the former wonderkid has a pretty dire tally of 12 goals and six assists in 83 games for the Red Devils and a slightly better, but still poor, record of five goals and ten assists in 41 games for the Blues from last season.

Moreover, it’s not just that the 25-year-old underperformed on the pitch, but he also caused trouble off of it, getting into a public spat with former boss Erik ten Hag at the start of the 23/24 season, which ultimately saw him frozen out of the team for some time.

We’ve already seen that Garnacho has the same ability to cause trouble off the pitch as well, falling out in a rather spectacular way with Ruben Amorim at the end of last season, so much so that reports came out suggesting the manager told him he’d have to pray another side came in for him.

Now, on the rare occasion, a club might put up with someone who could disrupt the dressing room if they can have a massive impact on the pitch, but for all the talent the “electric” ace has, as dubbed by Statman Dave, he’s not got enough of it to be worth the trouble.

For example, in his 58 appearances last season, the Madrid-born dynamo only scored 11 goals and provided ten assists, which comes out to a rather underwhelming average of a goal involvement every 2.76 games.

That’s certainly not a bad rate of return, but it’s not a game-changing one either, nor is it one that would make up for the potentially destabilising behaviour that might come with it.

Ultimately, Garnacho is a good player, but that is about as much as we can say at the moment, and therefore, Chelsea should avoid bringing him to Stamford Bridge this summer, as he wouldn’t be worth the fee that could end up being a Sancho repeat.

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Jul 31, 2025

أعلن نادي أتلتيكو مدريد الإسباني أنه سيخوض مباراة ودية ضد خصمه إنتر ميلان الإيطالي، خلال فترة التوقف الدولي لشهر أكتوبر الحالي، لعام 2025، وذلك في إحدى الدول العربية.

وسيستغل أتلتيكو مدريد فترة التوقف الدولي لخوض مباراة ودية ضمن كأس إعادة الإعمار، وذلك ضد نظيره إنتر ميلان، في دولة ليبيا.

وسيستضيف ملعب “بنغازي الدولي” مباراة أتلتيكو مدريد وإنتر ميلان يوم الجمعة 10 أكتوبر، في تمام الساعة السابعة مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة والسعودية.

اقرأ أيضًا | ثورة جديدة مرتقبة في دوري أبطال أوروبا.. مباريات نارية ومنصة مجانية

وقال أتلتيكو مدريد: “ستتيح هذه المباراة للاعبين غير المنضمين لمنتخباتهم الوطنية الحفاظ على إيقاعهم ومواصلة استعداداتهم للمباريات التنافسية القادمة”.

وسبق أن تواجه الفريقان مرتين في الموسم قبل الماضي، ضمن منافسات دوري أبطال أوروبا في دور الـ16، حيث فاز إنتر ميلان في الذهاب، بينما انتصر أتلتيكو مدريد بفضل ركلات الترجيح في العودة.

كذلك سيواجه أتلتيكو مدريد خصمه إنتر ميلان مجددًا في دوري أبطال أوروبا ذلك الموسم في مرحلة الدوري.

Still looking to spend big this summer, Everton have now reportedly made contact to sign a Champions League-winning star for David Moyes.

Everton announce Aznou arrival

Resuming their summer business for the first time since welcoming Mark Travers from Bournemouth, Everton officially announced the arrival of young left-back Adam Aznou earlier this week. The former Bayern Munich gem has arrived in a deal reportedly worth around €12m (£10m) with add-ons included and represents an impressive coup by all involved at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Speaking for the first time since putting pen to paper, the 19-year-old told Everton’s official website: “I’m so happy to be here. I’m so proud to be part of this team.

“The project they gave me is really good. The Premier League is the best league in the world so I’m really excited to start. The stadium is really nice. It gives you a good feeling and it’s good for our fans to support us. It’s perfect for us. I just have to say I’m really thankful to be here. I’m really proud so I will give everything in every training session and every game.

“[Moyes] talked with me, he spoke with me about the team and how he wants me. So I decided directly when I spoke with him. I decided really quickly because of the words he gave me. He gave me confidence, so I decided to sign.”

Even after the Bayern Munich youngster, however, Everton are not done there on the transfer front. The Friedkin Group still have money to spend and have reportedly set their sights on welcoming their most impressive addition yet as a result.

Everton hold concrete talks to sign Grealish

As reported by AreaNapoli and relayed by Sport Witness, Everton have now made a serious first approach to sign Jack Grealish from Manchester City this summer after identifying the Champions League winner as a key target.

The England international has looked destined to leave Manchester City for at least a year now and it became clearer than ever that his future lies elsewhere when Pep Guardiola left him out of his Club World Cup squad earlier this summer.

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City’s trash could quickly become one of Everton’s most prized assets, however. At his best, Grealish played a pivotal part in City’s historic treble win in the 2022/23 campaign and remains a talented serial winner despite recent struggles at the Etihad.

On top of that experience, the £16m-a-year star, who is represented by the same agent as Jordan Pickford, is also a player who starred at international level under Gareth Southgate.

The former England boss told reporters in 2020 after defeat against Belgium: “I thought Jack Grealish had an absolutely outstanding game. Losing Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford, we lose a lot of speed. But I can’t fault the attacking play until the last chance.

“I saw what I knew I would see from Jack, someone with the bravery to play. He took the ball in tight areas, his technique was good, we knew he would buy a lot of free-kicks.”

Legspinner Lloyd Pope earned redemption and late inclusion D’Arcy Short starred as Adelaide Strikers beat early-season strugglers Melbourne Stars by 15 runs at Adelaide Oval.Short wasn’t scheduled to play but was called up on Friday after a calf niggle sidelined Chris Lynn. The only meaningful support for Short came from Alex Ross as Strikers made 165 for 6 in their first home match of the campaign.Opener Sam Harper kept Stars in the game, but Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell produced cameos rather than a major innings.Strikers’ spin trio took four of the first five wickets and six all up, with Pope spearheading their attack. Pope showed great resilience after suffering the indignity of leaking 31 runs in a match-tilting over in Strikers’ first-game loss to Sydney Thunder in Canberra on Tuesday.