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A look back at some of the uncapped Indian players who performed well in IPL 2013

Rachna Shetty27-May-2013Mohit Sharma
On the list of the most successful bowlers in IPL 2013 during the Powerplay overs, Mohit Sharma is second only to Mitchell Johnson (16), having taken 15 wickets at an economy rate of 6.36. Given their struggle to find consistent Indian pacers, Mohit proved to be a valuable pick for Chennai Super Kings. The Haryana pace bowler finished the tournament with 20 wickets, his quick pace, focused line and length, and deliveries like the back-of-the-hand slower ball, producing consistent breakthroughs at the start of the innings. His best performance came against Delhi Daredevils where he dismissed David Warner, Manprit Juneja and Virender Sehwag. Only once this season did he concede more than 10 runs per over, against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a rain-curtailed, eight-over-a-side match.Stuart Binny
Even as Shane Watson hogged the headlines as one of the best allrounders of the tournament, Stuart Binny went about his season with calm efficiency, pulling Rajasthan Royals out of some tricky chases. His unbeaten 41 against Super Kings, where he partnered Shane Watson at the end, put Royals in the playoffs. In their next match against Mumbai Indians, he turned the floundering innings around with an unbeaten 37, threatening Mumbai after they had reduced Royals to 28 for 4. His effective medium-pace only embellished his value to the team.Karan Sharma
In a line-up comprising Dale Steyn, Thisara Perera and Amit Mishra, young Karan Sharma was the bowler the opposition batsmen were expected to target. The 25-year-old legspinner, however, responded with a mature performance. His performance against Kings XI Punjab early on in the tournament was ample proof of his potential, as he beat the Kings XI batsmen with his spin. He fortified an already strong bowling attack with a decent economy rate and was a good foil to Mishra, the senior legspinner in the side. When given the chance, also contributed with the bat, scoring a stubborn unbeaten 39 when Sunrisers Hyderabad were staring at their first home defeat against Super Kings.Shahbaz Nadeem

One of the few bright spots in an otherwise forgettable campaign for Delhi Daredevils. Shahbaz Nadeem’s nine wickets in 12 matches defy the skill and heart he showed when bowling for Daredevils. Like Mohit, Nadeem, too, extended his domestic form into the IPL. In the 2012-13 Ranji season, he finished as the most successful spinner and the fourth-highest wicket-taker. The young left-arm spinner showed enough potential to lead a spin attack and was the most economical bowler in an otherwise feeble attack.Sanju Samson
In just his first season of the IPL, 18-year-old Kerala wicketkeeper garnered praise for his calm demeanour. His sure-footed 63 against Royal Challengers set up a close win for Royals and he showed the same quiet confidence against Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI. Against the bigger teams like Super Kings and Mumbai, and in crunch matches, Samson struggled to cope with the pressure. But he is still very young and can only improve, provided, of course, that he stays grounded.Honorable mentions

Hanuma Vihari

Two Man-of-the-Match awards for solid innings against Royal Challengers and Kings XI.Mandeep Singh

Showed promise in a brisk supporting act to David Miller against Pune Warriors.Dishant Yagnik

An audacious shot to mark some unorthodox innings. In the qualifier against Mumbai, he stood back in the crease, behind the stumps and whipped Lasith Malinga for four.Rishi Dhawan

A sharp catch in the field, good fast bowling and a scoop shot for four that took Mumbai closer to the final.Pravin Tambe

The 41-year-old Pravin Tambe was noticed on his debut for being the one of the oldest players in the IPL. On the field, he had a decent run with the ball, too.

Rhodes had served as Bangladesh head coach for just over a year between 2018 and 2019

Mohammad Isam17-Jan-2022Comilla Victorians have appointed Steve Rhodes, the former Bangladesh men’s national team head coach, as their technical advisor for the 2022 Bangladesh Premier League. This will be Rhodes’ first assignment, in Bangladesh or elsewhere, after he was removed from the job in July 2019.”He is a very experienced coach. He was one of our most successful coaches in Bangladesh,” Victorians’ head coach Mohammad Salahuddin said. “We can definitely get a lot of inputs from him. I can certainly learn from him. He is a gentleman. He has been made clear of his role with the team. He has already given some good suggestions.”Related

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Rhodes started with Bangladesh in June 2018 and, after a rocky start, Bangladesh won home Test and ODI series against West Indies, as well as the tri-nation series in Ireland also involving West Indies.At the 2019 ODI World Cup, Bangladesh beat South Africa, West Indies and Afghanistan, but lost five matches in the first-round league to finish in eighth place among ten teams. Rhodes was removed from the job after the tournament.At the BPL this season, the eighth, Khulna Tigers have Lance Klusener as their head coach, Chattogram Challengers have Paul Nixon as head coach and Shaun Tait as bowling coach, and Sylhet Sunrisers have appointed Mervyn Dillon as their head coach. Khaled Mahmud (Khulna), Salahuddin and Mizanur Rahman (Minister Dhaka) are now the only local head coaches.The Victorians have won two BPL titles so far, first in 2015-16, when they beat Barisal Bulls in the final, and then again in 2018-19, when they beat Dhaka Dynamites in the final. Salahuddin has been their head coach from the first season, in 2012.

da bet sport： As if Everton’s start couldn’t get any more frustrating this season, the Toffees are now set to be without one of their star men against Leicester following a “strange” injury setback to an existing problem.

Everton injury news

da esoccer bet： After squandering a 2-0 lead either side of the international break to lose 3-2 against both Bournemouth and Aston Villa, Everton hosted Southampton in the Carabao Cup in search of a reprieve that never came. Instead, those at Goodison Park witnessed yet another defeat, with Sean Dyche’s side knocked out of the cup on penalties following a 1-1 draw with their fellow relegation contenders.

Related Fewer touches than Virginia: Dyche must immediately drop 5/10 Everton star

The Toffees fell to yet another defeat last night, with one player failing to impress.

Posts ByEthan Lamb Sep 18, 2024

Without a win in the Premier League after four games and now out of the cup, Everton’s next game up against Leicester suddenly feels increasingly important. Lose the relegation six-pointer and questions will likely begin to come over Dyche’s ability to turn things around, whilst victory would finally stop the rot for the Toffees.

In such a crucial game, Dyche could do with his strongest squad available, but will be forced to play without arguably his best player following another setback in his return. As quoted by Patrick Boyland of The Athletic, Dyche revealed that Jarrad Branthwaite is set to miss the Leicester game through a “strange” setback that is keeping his recovery back longer than expected.

Of course, if Branthwaite’s importance wasn’t highlighted enough as Everton survived another relegation scrap last season, then it’s been there for all to see with Everton without a single point in his absence so far in the current campaign.

Everton's glimpse at life without "imposing" Branthwaite

For the rest of the campaign after the Leicester game, Everton will hope to at least have Branthwaite back and ready to make the difference, but his absence has given them a stark reminder of what their reality could look like if he departs next summer. Having been linked with a move away in the summer, the rumours have already started over his future in 2025 and Everton may not be so fortunate to keep hold of his services next time big clubs come calling.

It’s an important year for Branthwaite in his second real season at the top level of English football and one that should result in a first England cap. Interim boss Lee Carsley is certainly a fan of the centre-back, having handed him the captain for the U21s and praised him highly in the past.

He said via the Liverpool Ehco last November: “There were a few players that could’ve worn the armband. It was a way of showing Jarrad how well we think he’s doing at present as well. I think it’s part of the game he can add to in terms of leadership.

“He leads by example, he’s not too loud, he’s quite a quiet guy but the way he plays, he’s very imposing. I thought he was excellent tonight and it’s something that he should be proud of to lead the team out.”

City effectively turned their youth system into a money-printing machine but they could sure do with some of the talented players they sold

"Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money." So goes an old Native American proverb. In a footballing context, Johan Cruyff struck a similar note when he said: "I've never seen a bag of money score a goal."

The two analogies apply perfectly to Manchester City right now. City’s considerable wealth, coupled with having the best coach in the world for almost a decade, industry-leading recruitment and shrewd moves off the pitch, has undoubtedly made them one of the best teams in the world. But right now their wealth is not exactly showing, as they contemplate a run of seven defeats and just one victory in their last 10 matches following their latest defeat by Juventus.

City have the highest wage bill and revenue in England, and the third highest in Europe, but their financial might cannot help them out of their current mess, at least not until the January transfer window opens. Indeed, the club seem to be paying a heavy price for not spending more in the last transfer window, when they brought in just Savinho and Ilkay Gundogan despite making a fortune from selling Julian Alvarez.

Just a few months after winning a historic fourth consecutive Premier League title, Pep Guardiola's serial-winning squad appears to have gone stale. Five of the 11 players who started against Juventus have been at the club since 2017, while five are over the age of 30, with Kevin De Bruyne 33 and Kyle Walker and Gundogan both 34.

City are crying out for some squad renewal. And the most frustrating thing for the club must be the sense that they had a homegrown group of players in the club's academy who were deemed not good enough to push into the first team but who have thrived elsewhere. While the likes of Phil Foden, Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb have made successful transitions from the youth system into Guardiola's side, City have tended to view their academy more as a money-earner than a breeding ground for future first-team stars. And that is now looking like a huge mistake.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Palmer killing it amid City slump

  City have made an astonishing £176m in the last three years ($223m) on selling academy players, contributing to the club making record revenues for consecutive years and continuing to make handsome profits. The majority of those players had never even made it into Guardiola's matchday squad. Some of them had never even spent any significant time in Manchester, such as Yan Couto and Pedro Porro, who were loaned to Girona before being sold on, while others had practically grown up at the club.

  It has long been the case at most Premier League clubs that the majority of academy players will not develop into first-team regulars, with Foden and Lewis being the two rare exceptions to that trend at City. But it really should have been three.

  With every attacking player, aside from Erling Haaland, being starved of goals, it has been particularly frustrating from a City point of view to see how Cole Palmer has blossomed into one of the best players in the world at Chelsea. While Foden is still waiting to score his first Premier League goal this season, Palmer has scored five times in his last three games.

  The forward has 11 league goals for this campaign – two behind leaders Haaland and Mohamed Salah – while also boasting six assists. It follows an astonishing debut campaign with the Blues in which he scored 22 league goals and set up a further 11. As a result, it's left Guardiola and sporting director Txiki Begiristain looking extremely short-sighted for sanctioning his sale.

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Chelsea's gain

  Palmer was first called into a matchday squad by Guardiola to face Chelsea in June 2020 but within the next three years he was only given 12 competitive starts. The England forward had bags of confidence to go with his talent and after scoring in an FA Cup tie against Swindon, in a typically hilarious demeanour which has become a staple of his post-match interviews, he promised 'Prem come soon'. It never did.

  He made only three Premier League starts for the club, never scoring. Given his scant experience, accepting a £42.5m ($54m) offer from Chelsea seemed like a no-brainer at the time, both the latest example of City's shrewd negotiating and Chelsea's hubris. How wrong that assessment would prove to be.

  Palmer is now the Premier League's poster boy and looks set to dominate the next decade unless he is ever tempted to follow the path of Jude Bellingham and move to one of the top clubs on the continent. He would certainly fit right in at Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. And he really should have fit into City.

  Guardiola knew he was a great player and has said he would have liked to have kept him for another year, but Palmer pushed to leave as he was determined to get more playing opportunities. Ultimately, Palmer had more belief in himself than Guardiola did. Chelsea's gain has been City's loss.

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  Better than Doku & Nunes

  Palmer looked like a ready-made replacement for Riyad Mahrez when the Algerian left City just after the treble triumph in 2023, especially when he cut in from the right wing to score in the Community Shield against Arsenal and the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla.

  But City agreed to let him leave, only to sign Jeremy Doku for £55 million ($69m), £12m more than they had taken from Chelsea to part with their homegrown forward. That move was even harder to understand as Doku predominantly plays off the left wing. The Belgian can be a terrifying winger on his day but his end product – four goals and 12 assists in all competitions – pales in comparison to Palmer's.

  City also signed Matheus Nunes after selling Palmer, splashing out £53m ($67m) on the player who Guardiola had once hailed as among the best midfielders in the world. The Portugal international has contributed very little in his time at the club, in which he has only started 12 Premier League games and has failed to score in the league. Nunes is more of a defensive midfielder but has been increasingly used on the wing by Guardiola. And he is a shadow of the player Palmer has proved to be, despite costing £10m more.

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  Should have taken over from De Bruyne

  Palmer has proven to be much more than just a winger at Chelsea, though. He is the leader of their attack, able to play across the front three and as a No.10. And looking how he has developed, it is tempting to conclude that he would have been the perfect successor at City to Kevin De Bruyne.

  The Belgian has played very little this campaign as he battles a sports hernia injury but in the last two games he has looked like City's best creative hope. Given his age, and the fact he tore his hamstring twice last year, it is remarkable that a club of City's resources is still looking to De Bruyne to inspire them.

  The former Chelsea midfielder is expected to depart at the end of the season when his contract runs out and it will cost a lot to find a suitable replacement, with Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen looking like the best candidate out there and likely to be priced at £100m ($126m). It's a crying shame that Guardiola couldn't find a bigger role for Palmer in the team and have him learn from De Bruyne before eventually taking the baton from him.

It has been an incredibly quiet transfer window for Arsenal this summer, especially compared to the last two years.

So far, the only genuine addition to the first team has been Riccardo Calafiori, and while Mikel Merino's move to the club is supposedly getting closer, it has felt 'close' for almost a month now.

What makes this more of a problem is that fans can see other teams strengthening, be it Tottenham Hotspur's capture of Dominic Solanke, Liverpool's move for Martin Zubimendi, or even Chelsea's surprise move to sign Pedro Neto, who was touted for a move to the Emirates several times over the last few months.

Now, while missing out on Neto is far from ideal, fans can take some solace in the fact that the club already has a player better than him in that position, and he is worth millions more.

The latest on Pedro Neto

Yes, on Friday afternoon, The Athletic's David Ornstein confirmed that Chelsea had reached an agreement with Wolverhampton Wanderers for their star winger Neto.

According to Ornstein, the Blues will pay the Old Gold a fee of €60m plus €3m of add-ons, which converts to a total package of around £54m, which was later confirmed by Sky Sports News and BBC Sport.

It's an undeniably sizable fee for a player who has missed 100 games over the last three campaigns, but in the 24 appearances he did make last season, he scored three goals and provided 11 assists, so the talent is obviously there.

It's a surprising move, though, as, over the last few weeks, the two clubs most heavily linked with the Portuguese international have been Arsenal and their North London rivals, Spurs.

There is sure to be some level of disappointment among Arsenal fans who were excited by Neto's quality, but this is one transfer they shouldn't worry too much about missing out on, as they already have a far more valuable option in that area of the pitch.

Bukayo Saka's valuation in 2024

Yes, the player in question is Hale End superstar Bukayo Saka, who, according to Transfermarkt, is worth a whopping €140m, which is about £120m, or a massive £66m more than Neto.

Having a player worth this much is brilliant for a club regardless of how much they spent to sign them, but considering the Englishman came up through the academy and hasn't cost the club a penny in terms of a transfer fee, it's astounding.

Moreover, it's a totally justified valuation as well, as for years now, the "incredible" winger, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has been the star of the show at the Emirates.

Appearances

226

Minutes

17401'

Goals

58

Assists

53

Goal Involvements per Match

0.49

Minutes per Goal Involvement

156'

For example, despite still being just 22 years old, he has made 226 senior appearances for the North Londoners, in which he's scored 58 goals and provided 53 assists, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 2.03 games.

However, he took another step forward last season, as in just 47 matches for Arteta's side, he scored 20 goals and provided 14 assists, meaning he produced a goal involvement on average every 1.38 games, which is significantly more impressive than Neto's average of one every 1.71 games last season.

Moreover, unlike the new Chelsea man, the Ealing-born talisman has a relatively clean bill of health, having only missed 15 games for club and country across his entire career, compared to a staggering 126 for the Portuguese international.

Ultimately, Arsenal do need to sign a quality backup for Saka this summer, but given the price and his horrific injury record, they probably made the right call by not going for Neto.

Arsenal can finally axe Zinchenko by signing the "best LB in the world"

The incredible talent would be a game-changer for the Gunners.

4 ByJack Salveson Holmes Aug 9, 2024

Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins feels he is as fresh as he has ever felt coming into a Test series, but says he would be surprised if the side persists with the same four-man attack through all five Ashes Tests, something they did against India last summer.Cummins returned to Australia and into hotel quarantine on the Gold Coast on Tuesday with the majority of the triumphant World Cup-winning squad to begin their Ashes preparation.He hasn’t played a first-class match since February. Cummins has also only featured in seven T20s since April having opted out of the limited-overs tours to the Caribbean and Bangladesh during Australia’s winter. He also missed the second half of the IPL prior to the World Cup to be home for the birth of his son.Australia will only have one three-day intra-squad match to prepare for the first Ashes Test starting December 8 but Cummins has no concerns about his personal preparation.”My body feels as good as it has in a couple of years. There’s no niggles,” Cummins said. “I think the first, I guess, benefit of the short spells is we’re all feeling really fresh. I always feel like it’s better to be underdone than overdone coming into a big Test series.”For now it’s just trying to work back from that day one, get a few good bowls in, I think. We’ve got access to quite a few centre wickets. So we’ll have three, four, five centre wickets where we try and have relatively big days, you know, bowl a couple of spells on those days. And we’ll be ready to go. And we had a similar prep last year and all felt really good going into that Adelaide first Test.”Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc played all four Tests against India last year, but the plan backfired as the trio tired on the final days in Sydney and Brisbane and were unable to bowl out India in either game as the visitors produced a famous come-from-behind series win.Australia rotated their bowlers heavily in the 2019 Ashes series using Peter Siddle and James Pattinson as specialists in those conditions. Cummins was the only one of the five Australian fast bowlers used in that series to play all five Tests and he expects that there will be some rotation again this summer.”When someone’s I guess rested it is normally more to it than just purely workload,” Cummins said. “There’s always niggles and small little injuries that we’re dealing with, basically after every single Test match.”The great thing is we’ve got a huge stable of fast bowlers. So yeah, I don’t think it’ll be a huge issue if someone’s not able to get up for a Test or someone’s just red-lining a little bit. Someone else can slot in.”I’d be surprised if the same four bowlers were used for all five Tests. That’s pretty rare, especially the five-Test match summer. But I certainly won’t be putting my hand up to be rested unless I’ve got something going wrong.”Pat Cummins hasn’t played a first-class match since February 2021•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Jhye Richardson is firming as a certainty to play a part in this Ashes series having not played a Test match since 2019 when he dislocated his shoulder in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup and Ashes tour.Michael Neser has also been a constant presence in Australia’s Test squads in recent years and could also make his Test debut this summer despite coming off a hamstring injury.”I think both can slot in really well,” Cummins said. “It might be like-for-like maybe in some regards. I’d say probably Jhye, especially last week, I only saw a little bit but apparently, he bowled beautifully up here at the Gabba.”It’s really great to see him back around the squad. He was on the verge of a World Cup and an Ashes series a couple of years ago before having a shoulder injury, so it’s great to see him get back and bowling well, fully fit, and hopefully he kind of starts off where he left off against Sri Lanka a few years ago.”Chairman of selectors George Bailey confirmed Australia would have a squad mentality after announcing the 15-man Ashes squad for the first two Tests as well as an Australia A squad on Wednesday. Bailey was also impressed by Richardson’s form leading into the Ashes series following his Player of the Match performance for Western Australia against Queensland at the Gabba last week where he took eight wickets including 5 for 23 from 22.2 overs in the second innings.”Getting pretty excited by Jhye,” Bailey said. “One physically, I think he looks as strong as I’ve seen ever seen him.”He’s had a couple of niggles, and he’s worked his way back from those so he’s starting to build some resilience into his body, still a young body.”I think he’s worked his way into the last three shield games quite nicely, but one particular spell I think it was the morning of day [three], a really impressive spell early on, I think he ended up ended up getting the wickets of Marnus [Labuschagne] and Joe Burns, who both commented that it was it was impressive quality.”

MatériaMais Notícias

da fazobetai： O São Paulo consultou a situação do atacante David Neres, que está atualmente no Shaktar Donetsk, da Ucrânia, país sob ataque da Rússia. Quem revelou a conversa foi o próprio diretor de futebol do Tricolor, Carlos Belmonte, em entrevista a ‘Central do Mercado’, do ‘GE’.

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da casino： – Hoje mesmo, tem esses jogadores que estão na Ucrânia e provavelmente não vão ficar lá. A gente conversou com o David Neres. Uma consulta para entender o momento. A coisa ainda está muito crua, a informação é de uma venda. Se tiver intenção de que o Neres saia por uma temporada pagando parte do salário, a gente pode conversar. A gente não tem recursos pra contratar um jogador como ele, mas se for o desejo de colocar ele aqui por um tempo, estamos de portas abertas – disse Belmonte.

David Neres é um dos jogadores brasileiros que estão isolados no país europeu por conta dos conflitos. Nesta quinta-feira, o jogador repostou um vídeo em seu Instagram pedindo ajuda ao governo brasileiro.

Vale lembrar que o São Paulo enviou nesta quinta-feira (24), um ofício ao Itamaraty, direcionado ao ministro das relações exteriores, Carlos França, pedindo ajuda aos jogadores brasileiros que estão na Ucrânia, país assolado pela guerra com a Rússia.

A century stand between Josh Philippe and Hilton Cartwright had continued WA’s batting dominance

Andrew McGlashan25-Sep-2021

Jake Carder marked his South Australia debut with a half-century against his former team-mates while Travis Head made a steady start to an important personal season as the home side put together a solid response to a hefty Western Australia total.On a surface that offered precious little to the quicks and only a modicum of gentle turn, Carder and Head took their third wicket stand to 96 by the close to give South Australia a good chance of avoiding the follow-on having been a little unsteady on 2 for 65.Left-armer Joel Paris had pinned Jake Weatherald lbw and Henry Hunt gloved a pull down the leg side having looked set for a significant score.Carder, given the No. 3 role after his winter move to Redbacks, was composed throughout while Head, who is probably the frontrunner for the No. 5 spot in the Test team, appeared in good touch although had been a little fortunate when an edge off Cameron Green flew wide of the lone slip.Green and Lance Morris had some issues with the frontline during their spells with 10 no-balls between them while Morris also twice conceded five wides in a wayward display.Western Australia had resumed on 4 for 324 after the opening-day centuries from Shaun Marsh and Green. They progressed at a good tempo as the Redbacks’ bowlers again struggled to make much of an impression on a docile surface.Josh Philippe led the way with a half-century off 76 balls which be brought up with consecutive straight sixes in Sam Kerber’s first over the day to follow his hundred in the Marsh Cup game. There was a century for the taking here, too, but in his eagerness to keep the innings moving he top-edged Lloyd Pope high to midwicket.Hilton Cartwright, part of a fifth-wicket stand of 109, took a leaf out of Philippe’s book by also reaching his fifty with the first of two back-to-back sixes off Pope and was annoyed when he missed another by picking out deep midwicket shortly before lunch.Pope, who was barely used by Head on the first day, took his haul to four wickets, the last of them bringing the declaration, although they were all largely donated by Western Australia’s push to score quickly.

And has anyone else made a fourth-innings hundred on the second day of a Test as Travis Head did?

Steven Lynch25-Nov-2025Mitchell Starc improved his best bowling figures in his 100th Test, against West Indies, and improved them in his 101st Test at Perth. Has anyone done this later in a Test career? asked Ekambaram Raveendran from India
Australia’s Mitchell Starc took 6 for 9 – his best figures at the time – as West Indies were skittled for 27 in Kingston in July. That was his 100th Test – and in the first innings of his 101st, against England in Perth, Starc took seven wickets in a Test innings for the first time, finishing with 7 for 58.Unsurprisingly, this is easily the latest stage of a career at which a player improved his best Test figures in successive matches. Two Pakistanis come next: Wasim Akram had best figures of 6 for 62 after 50 Tests, but took 6 for 43 against New Zealand in his 51st, and improved that to 7 for 119 in his 52nd, in February 1994. Abdul Qadir started his 48th Test with a best return of 7 for 142, but took 7 for 96 against England at The Oval in August 1987, and improved that with 9 for 56 in his 49th, against England in Lahore in November 1987.The latest a batter has improved his highest score in successive Tests was by Australia’s Ricky Ponting in December 2003. After 72 Tests his highest score was 206, but he scored 242 against India in Adelaide in his 73rd, and improved that with 257 against them in Melbourne in his 74th match. His successor as captain, Michael Clarke, improved his previous-best of 151 with 166 in his 58th Test, against Pakistan in January 2010, then made 168 in his 59th, against New Zealand in Wellington two months later.Travis Head scored a century on the second (last!) day in Perth. Has anyone else ever made a fourth-innings century before the end of the second day of a Test before? asked Martin Bennett from Australia
That stunning innings by Travis Head, which decisively wrenched the first Ashes Test Australia’s way in Perth, was indeed the first time anyone had made a century in the fourth innings of a Test by the end of the second day. The only other time a team has reached 100 in the fourth innings on the second day of a Test was at Headingley in 1912, when South Africa made 105 for 7 against England – but the highest individual score was Louis Tancred’s 38 not out (he was out for 39 next morning).Head reached his century in just 69 balls, the fastest in the Ashes apart from Adam Gilchrist’s 57-ball hundred at the WACA in Perth in December 2006. The only other faster century for Australia in a Test was in 67 balls, by Jack Gregory against South Africa in Johannesburg in November 1921. David Warner also reached three figures in 69 balls against India at the WACA in January 2012.England faced only 67.3 overs in both innings in Perth. Have they ever been bowled out twice more quickly? asked Jon Morrison from England
England were bowled out twice in 67.3 overs – 405 balls – in the first Test in Perth. They have only been bowled out twice more quickly in Tests they lost on two occasions, the most recent of which was in March 1904, when they faced just 54.1 overs (325 deliveries) in being dismissed for 61 and 101 by Australia in Melbourne. Before that England were bowled out for 53 and 62 in 388 balls (97 four-ball overs) by Australia at Lord’s in July 1888.The fewest balls to be bowled out twice and lose by any side in a Test is 248 (49.3 five-ball overs) by South Africa (93 and 30) against England in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in February 1896.With his 109 not out against New Zealand, Shai Hope now has hundreds against every Test-playing nation, albeit across formats•AFP/Getty ImagesShai Hope has scored international centuries against all 11 possible Test-playing opponents. Has anyone else done this? asked Marlon Hoyte from Barbados
Shai Hope’s 109 not out in an ODI against New Zealand in Napier last week completed this particular full set: he’s scored individual international centuries (in Tests, ODIs or T20Is) against his 11 possible Test-playing opponents. Hope has scored four against England and India, three against Bangladesh, two against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and one against Afghanistan, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Only three of his hundreds have come in Tests: two against England at Headingley in August 2017, and one against India in Delhi in October.Seven players have scored international centuries against ten of their 11 possible Test-playing opponents: Hashim Amla (no hundreds against Afghanistan), Shikhar Dhawan (none against England), Martin Guptill (missing Afghanistan), Mahela Jayawardene (Ireland), Virat Kohli (Ireland), Rohit Sharma (Ireland) and Marcus Trescothick (never played against Afghanistan).How many times in Tests have a team won the toss, decided to bat first, been bowled out on the first day, have a deficit on the first innings but gone on to win the Test against the host nation, as South Africa did in the first Test in India? asked Andre Terblanche from South Africa
That’s probably the most specific question I’ve ever received! South Africa did do all this in the first Test against India in Kolkata earlier this month, but actually it was the third time it had happened this year – Australia did it against West Indies in Bridgetown in June, and Ireland did it to beat Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in February. This particular set of circumstances appears to have happened 32 times in all in Tests now. The first time was in August 1882, when Australia beat England at The Oval in the match that spawned the Ashes legend.There’s also an update from a question a couple of weeks ago:
In this column I answered a question about the players with the best averages in their last 25 Tests. In calculating the answer we considered only players who had won at least 50 caps – but actually that probably wasn’t the right way to do it. Two or three readers pointed out that the great England bowler Sydney Barnes took 170 wickets at 16.49 in his last 25 Tests – but he hadn’t shown up in our searches as he played only 27 matches in all.And so… we widened the search to include everyone’s last 25 Tests, even if they only played 26 (or 27 like Barnes). The efforts of Jasprit Bumrah in the first Test against South Africa actually gave him a better average than Barnes ahead of the second match of the current series – 125 wickets at 16.38 – but that may change: and in any case there’s someone who beats both of them, as the England offspinner Jim Laker took 120 wickets at 15.93 in the last 25 of his 46 Tests. Alec Bedser (136 at 18.68) and Curtly Ambrose (99 at 18.78) are fourth and fifth.Among batters Don Bradman remains way out on top (3468 runs at 105.09), but the West Indian Clyde Walcott comes in second, with 2651 at 67.97 in the last 25 of his 44 Tests, ahead of Kane Williamson (currently 66.67), Kumar Sangakkara (64.05) and Andy Flower (63.83).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

Former Arsenal youth star Chido Obi-Martin scored yet another goal as Manchester United Under-18s beat Everton 3-0.

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Obi-Martin in fiery formScored his four United goal against EvertonRed Devils maintain winning streak against Toffees Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The 16-year-old wonderkid scored his fourth goal in as many appearances for the Manchester United U-18 side on Saturday as the Red Devils outclassed Everton 3-0. Obi-Martin opened the scoring for the club in the sixth minute with a clinical finish before Jim Alex Joseph Thwaites doubled the team's lead. Bendito Mantato then scored the third and final goal in the dying minutes to make sure his team walked away with full points.

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The former Gunners youth player has been in red-hot form since completing his transfer from north London to Manchester this summer. The forward netted a hat-trick in just his second appearance for the club against Nottingham Forest last month followed by an assist in the club's thumping 8-0 win over Leeds last weekend.

WHAT NEXT?

The United youth team currently enjoy a seven-point lead over rivals Manchester City at the top of the U-18 Premier League table and will next be seen in action against Leeds on November 23.