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CricInfo16-Dec-2020Virender Sehwag (IND) 37 runs to complete 2000 ODI runs
Dinesh Mongia (IND) needs 87 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Javagal Srinath (IND) needs 118 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Anil Kumble (IND) needs 158 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Mohammad Kaif (IND) needs 184 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Chris Cairns (NZ) needs 134 runs to complete 4000 ODI runs
Scott Styris (NZ) needs 35 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Mathew Sinclair (NZ) needs 194 runs to complete 1000 ODI runsZaheer Khan (IND) needs 3 wickets to join the 100 ODI-wicket club
Harbhajan Singh (IND) needs 10 wickets to join the 100 ODI-wicket club
Nathan Astle (NZ) needs 5 wickets to join the 100 ODI-wicket club
Chris Harris (NZ) needs 5 wickets to join the 200 ODI-wicket clubChris Harris (NZ) needs 86 runs to complete 500 World Cup runs
Nathan Astle (NZ) needs 97 runs to complete 500 World Cup runsJavagal Srinath (IND) needs 8 wickets to join the 50 World Cup wicket-club
Chris Cairns (NZ) needs 7 wickets to join the 25 World Cup wicket-club
Shane Bond (NZ) needs 10 wickets to join the 25 World Cup wicket-club

St James’ Park proved to be a fortress once more for Newcastle United on Saturday evening when Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City travelled to Tyneside.

This season so far in the Premier League, the Magpies are yet to win away from home, with three draws and defeats depressingly next to their name. At home, though, it’s a much different story, with four league wins collected with confidence, which now includes a 2-1 triumph over the Citizens.

Harvey Barnes was the difference maker on the day with two well-taken efforts under pressure, with this being the first time Newcastle have got the better of their opponents from Manchester since a slim 1-0 success in the EFL Cup back in 2023.

On that day, it was Alexander Isak who would break the deadlock, and while the sting of his departure to Liverpool was certainly felt in the immediate aftermath of his exit, Eddie Howe’s Toon aren’t dwelling too much on him no longer being around now, with the 47-year-old boss no doubt pleased with the attacking display on show from Barnes and many others.

How Newcastle downed Manchester City

Howe was beaming from ear to ear at the full-time whistle, as he finally got a career win over Guardiola in league action.

He would also be over the moon for the aforementioned Barnes, with the 27-year-old winger repaying his manager’s faith in him when being handed a fifth Premier League start of the season, as his first effort was stylishly placed home, before the vital second goal was somehow bundled into the back of the net.

Nick Woltemade would have felt aggrieved that he couldn’t get on the scoresheet, though, with four efforts passing him by. Still, with four Premier League efforts next to his name this season, away from drawing blanks up against Gianluigi Donnarumma, he has filled the void left behind by Isak expertly.

Both Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes also stood out during the 2-1 victory, as Guimaraes assisted Barnes’ first breakaway strike, while his Italian teammate won six duels and three tackles as a combative counterpart.

Yet, there was one star who stood out throughout who could now be labelled boldly as Howe’s next Isak, even with Woltemade at his disposal, for how influential he’s become in such a short space of time.

Howe's new Isak-esque figure

Of course, while the £125m sale is now struggling to settle at Anfield, he was a consistent top performer on Tyneside when he was still donning the famous black and white stripes.

Indeed, a deadly 62 strikes were tallied up by the lethal Scandinavian during his 102-game stay at St James’ Park, with Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher even hailing him as the “best striker in the Premier League” off the back of such potent form.

He immediately hit the ground running in England, too, with two goals from his first three league appearances for the Toon, with Malick Thiaw also making the transition from European football to English shores look easy, making him a strong candidate to be considered Howe’s next most influential player, much like Isak was.

With an 86% pass accuracy averaged across his eight Premier League games to date, and a commanding 4.6 duels won on average, some have even hailed the German as a “top five centre-back in the league this season”, with Isak also in the same esteemed conversations as a top five forward in the division.

Thiaw has only enhanced his reputation for being an influential member of Howe’s first team with his commanding showing against Guardiola’s visitors, with 14-goal hero Erling Haaland completely negated by the former AC Milan defender, who restricted him to just 23 touches of the ball and two shots on target.

NUFCBlog hailed the performance as “outstanding” against “the best striker on the planet” as Thiaw even impressively stood his ground one-on-one with the frightening Norwegian early in the second half, before a last-ditch intervention saw a chance go rarely astray for the number nine.

On top of that moment of ice-cold maturity, Thiaw would also bow out from the 2-1 win with seven clearances and six ball recoveries amassed, as City found it very difficult all night long to break down the Toon’s resilient back line.

The hope will just be that Thiaw gets better with more time in the Premier League, like Isak, who transformed into a £125m-calibre beast.

Although this time around, Howe will also pray he doesn’t have to give up the 6-foot-4 defender to the likes of Liverpool or any other suitor, as Thiaw becomes the manager’s most crucial player.

Last season, that was reserved for Isak. This season, it’s reserved for their new towering centre-half.

9/10 Newcastle duo look even more important than Bruno G & Tonali

These two players stood out in Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Man City

By
Joe Nuttall

Nov 23, 2025

England’s new head coach might just have all tools he needs to make low-key success of highest profile role

Andrew Miller10-Oct-2019Chris Silverwood’s first reaction on hearing that he was England’s new head coach was a one-word exclamation: “Wow”. He was sitting in his lounge as Ashley Giles’ name flashed up on his phone, and recalls falling rather silent as the enormity of his new role washed over him. It was left to his wife Victoria to do the handstands on his behalf, after a silent fist-pump had conveyed everything she needed to know about the conversation – in the short term at least.”I was immensely proud, and very humbled to be given the opportunity, and very grateful that I will get to live the dream again in a coaching capacity,” said Silverwood. “But equally I am very, very, very excited about what can be achieved with two teams that can be very successful. For me to be able to play a part in that, and help guide that, is fantastic.”There is clearly a huge amount to like about Silverwood the man, let alone Silverwood the coach. As Giles pointed out in introducing him, he took an Essex team that had previously been a “rabble” and delivered not only promotion and the Championship in consecutive seasons in 2016 and 2017, but the framework for this season’s double as well.From stalwarts such as Alastair Cook to Ravi Bopara, to the young guns, Aaron Beard and Dan Lawrence, on whom the club’s future success will hinge, no-one at Essex has a bad word to say about “Spoons”, and the same is clearly true of an England camp that has just come through the most stringent acid test in recent memory. “He couldn’t have worked in a more pressurised environment this summer,” noted Giles, “whether as head coach or one of the assistant coaches.”All of which is hugely laudable. And yet, it’s not being unfair to suggest that the public reaction to Silverwood’s appointment has been somewhat underwhelming – more “meh” than “wow”, you might say, although, as any student of global politics would recognise in these troubled times, there is actually a blessed relief to be found in genuine, unequivocal indifference.Also read: Ashes win is top priority for SilverwoodSilverwood can therefore expect to be judged, for the time being, by what he is not. He is not a glamorous overseas appointment, with a proven international track record and a wealth of impressive contacts on speed-dial. He is not a man in high demand on the T20 franchise circuit and therefore constrained by availability (and affordability). He is, instead, a thoroughly good egg who can join a few dots between an England team which, as Giles admitted, has had a tendency to exist as an “island” in recent years, and the county system in which his career has been invested and upon whom England’s Test team will rely if it is to get back to the levels to which it aspires.”People are the centre of my coaching philosophy,” said Silverwood. “Seeing them do well with their dreams, and what they’re trying to do, makes me smile. That’s why I do it. I want to create self-thinking, self-sufficient cricketers that will be successful, and if we can do that, you know what, it’ll make me smile.”By any stretch of the imagination, Silverwood’s actual unveiling was an undeniably low-key event. For starters, it took place three days after the announcement itself, and in being staged in a cosy back-room at Lord’s, rather than the pavilion or one of the ground’s grander suites, it conveyed a sense of continuity rather than change. A desire to slip the new man into his role with as little splash as possible.Perhaps that’s understandable. After all, it’s not as if the structures that Trevor Bayliss put in place in his four-year tenure require purging – quite the opposite in fact. He delivered on his most fundamental promise in winning this summer’s World Cup and, in walking away with his stock as high as he could have hoped it to be, he is arguably the first England coach since the very first – Micky Stewart in 1992 – to leave the role on his own terms and at a time of his own choosing.But as Giles, England’s director of cricket, intimated in the final weeks of the interview process, there will be a necessary focus on Test cricket in the coming four-year cycle. For that is the format that suffered the most while England’s white-ball boy-racers were throwing caution to the wind in pursuit of their ultimate goal.And, now that an Ashes summer has ended, for the first time in 18 years, without the urn being retained or recaptured on home soil, that is the format that is going to matter above all others in the build-up to England’s return series in Australia in 2021-22. Therefore, in trusting the CV of a man with a brief, if proven, track record in first-class team-building, Giles is adamant he’s found his man for the moment, irrespective of whether the field of genuine contenders was restricted by the job’s specifications.New England Head Coach Chris Silverwood at Lord’s•Getty Images

There are obvious advantages to having a single head coach to oversee all three formats – ones that Giles himself knows only too well from his short and frustrating stint as one-day coach in 2012-14 – but as Bayliss demonstrated with his lackadaisical approach to the rigours of the Test role, the pitfalls are also plain.On that note, however, Silverwood will begin his active role in just over a week’s time when England set off for New Zealand for the T20 leg of their winter, with few expectations. He will, however, travel with an abundance of goodwill, and with a captain, Eoin Morgan, whose desire to carry on after nailing his ultimate achievement was influenced, in no small part, by his recognition of the need for continuity.He can expect, therefore, to have his hand held for the early weeks of his reign – which is no bad thing, given the apparent desire to use Silverwood’s insider status, both within the England squad and the wider England game, to foster links within the system.Tellingly, Giles suggested that “winning” was not even the most important aspect of his appointment. Of far greater importance, and in keeping with the tone of the ECB’s recent strategy document, “Inspiring Generations” was the need to create “the most respected team in the world”.What does that even look like? Silverwood had a stab at an answer: “Ultimately, you want to be successful, but it’s how you are successful as well,” he said. “So it’s winning in the right spirit of the game. Winning with a little bit of class, and respecting your opposition as well.”Respect is a big word. It’s very easy to talk about, but we’re going to make sure that we respect everything around us, everybody around us, and the game, and make sure that we carry that through with us.”It’s a huge task. And it’s a daunting one, not least given the fate of the last Englishman to coach England across all formats. Peter Moores, like Silverwood, was declared to be the “outstanding candidate” when he was pitched into the role (on the first occasion) in 2007 at the end of Duncan Fletcher’s historic but over-long tenure.The significant difference, however, was one of expectation. Moores was, to all intents and purposes, the only man for the job on that occasion, as the ECB felt obliged to reward the star graduate of their own fledgling academy. With Silverwood it is reassuringly different. He is a perfectly good candidate, without being held up as some sort of messiah. That in-built wriggle room, not to mention his existing relationships, may be exactly what he requires to make a low-key success of the highest profile role.

The allrounder had hurt his back while fielding in the second T20I on Tuesday

Deivarayan Muthu08-Jan-2020Sri Lanka allrounder Isuru Udana has been sidelined from the team’s must-win third T20I against India in Pune on Friday with a back injury. The 31-year had injured himself during India’s chase in the second T20I on Tuesday night, while attempting to stop the ball at short third man. Udana immediately hobbled off the field and did not return to take the ball.Udana’s injury depleted Sri Lanka’s attack although Dasun Shanaka stepped in and bowled four tidy overs, giving up 26 runs. India eventually chased down the target of 143 with seven wickets and 15 balls to spare, handing Sri Lanka their fourth successive defeat in the format. India are now 1-0 up in the three-match series, with the first T20I in Guwahati having been abandoned without a ball being bowled.After the loss in Indore, Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur said that Udana had hurt his back and was in “hell a lot of pain.” Despite being ruled out, Udana will work with the physio and stay back with the squad in Pune.

Emi Martinez faces possible punishment from FIFA after slapping a camera operator to the floor at the end of Argentina’s defeat to Colombia.

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• Albiceleste suffered rare setback
• Emotion running high at final whistle
• FIFA being urged to take action

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Aston Villa goalkeeper was in a foul mood after seeing the Albiceleste – who remain without talismanic captain Lionel Messi following his injury in the 2024 Copa America final – slip to a rare defeat in 2026 World Cup qualifying. Ex-Real Madrid star James Rodriguez netted the decisive goal from the penalty spot.

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  As Argentina’s players were jeered by home supporters at the final whistle, Martinez took issue with a cameraman getting in his face. He slapped the recording equipment out of his path, knocking operator Jhonny Jackson to the turf.

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• WHAT THE CAMERAMAN SAID

  Jackson told of his experience: “They blew the final whistle and as a camera operator and steadycam operator I always go looking for reactions. I simply enter the field, I look for reactions. I see Dibu, I see him shaking hands with a substitute goalkeeper, I think, and I approach him. And out of nowhere Dibu knocked me down. It made me angry, very angry, because I am working, just like he was doing, him saving and me operating my camera, I wasn't even playing soccer with him. But I didn't say anything to him.”

  Jackson did go on to send a message to Martinez, adding: “I wanted to tell you to stay calm, brother. In life, at any time, everyone has lost a game, and suddenly that defeat meant a lot to you. But keep going, Dibu.”

Tottenham Hotspur showed why, under Ange Postecoglou, that at their best they are a force to be reckoned with on Sunday afternoon.

Spurs have flattered to deceive at points this term, notably losing to a winless Crystal Palace a week ago, but since then have shown why teams should be scared of them, beating Manchester City in the cup and then smacking four past Aston Villa in a 4-1 victory.

No team in the Premier League up to this point have scored more than their 22 goals. They are full of life and can outscore pretty much any team they face.

Dominic Solanke – who scored twice at the weekend – will no doubt take the plaudits but another face was just as good, if not better, than the striker. It was a display that had shades of a certain Mousa Dembele.

Why Mousa Dembele was so loved at Spurs

“Dembele was probably the best player I’ve ever seen play football,” remarked Kyle Walker many moons ago. He was “a freak of nature” in the words of Eric Dier.

Gain such fine praise from your pears and it’s hardly a surprise that he was so loved at White Hart Lane.

Dembele had the poise and grace of the finest footballers in the game but he combined that with a steely physical nature. In essence, he had it all. He could score goals, he could tackle ruthlessly and he could pick a pass.

One of his finest campaigns on English shores came in 2015/16 and to give credence to the claims we’ve just offered, he was involved in four goals, registered 2.9 successful dribbles per game and won 3.6 tackles per match. Yeah, he was everywhere, he did it all.

So, when the Belgian decided to leave for China in 2019, it was a sad day for Spurs supporters. Arguably since that day, they have struggled to find a player with similar qualities. That’s perhaps until the win over Aston Villa.

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Football FanCast's Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Tottenham's new Mousa Dembele

There were a number of key performers in that win over Unai Emery’s team on Sunday, not least Solanke who was the scorer of two goals.

However, Pape Matar Sarr deserves an equal amount of praise for a display that Football.London felt obliged to hand a 9/10 rating.

In the words of GOAL’s Mitch Fretton, the Senegalese was a “monster” in the middle of the park and although he perhaps didn’t show the same level of drive with the ball, failing to attempt a single dribble, he was very much Dembele-esque in a lot of the work he got through.

In the process of winning three duels, completing a supremely impressive 92% of his passes and boasting more touches (80) than anyone on the field, his finest action came when helping Spurs score their third goal of the game.

If the fact he had more touches than anyone else didn’t give you Dembele vibes then the way he broke up the play for Solanke’s second of the day should.

Sarr pounced on Pau Torres’ loose ball before darting forward with his great lengthy strides and sending it through to Richarlison who laid it on a plate for the £65m signing to score from. It was one of two interceptions from the young 22-year-old who should now be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

He drives his team forward, breaks up the play brilliantly and covers so much ground for his team. All of a sudden he is vital to the way Postecoglou wants his team to play.

Spurs thought they'd signed the new Mousa Dembele, then he left for free

The promising star couldn’t make it work at Spurs.

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By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Nov 2, 2024

After going unsold at the auction last year, he will now replace Tom Abell at Sunrisers Eastern Cape

Firdose Moonda02-Feb-2023Temba Bavuma’s performances in South Africa’s 2-1 ODI series win over England have landed him an SA20 deal after he was snubbed at the auction last year. Bavuma will replace Tom Abell at Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Bavuma’s big-hitting impressed the franchise to call him in for Abell, who will be joining England Lions.Bavuma was South Africa’s leading run-scorer in the series, with 180 runs from three matches, which was his most successful as an ODI batter. He struck a match-winning century in the second ODI, which also sealed the series, and maintained a strike rate of over 100 throughout the three matches. Having previously been criticised for his lack of big-hitting, Bavuma hit 23 fours and three sixes on two of the biggest grounds in South Africa in Bloemfontein and Kimberley, and also led the South African side well.