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Another century from Mayank Agarwal set up India A’s match-winning 309 for 6, as the Lions lost for the first time in the tri-series

Jon Culley at Grace Road26-Jun-2018
ScorecardEngland Lions were beaten for the first time in the tri-series after India A, whom they had beaten comfortably at Derby last week, emphatically turned the tables in the wilting heat at Grace Road.Chasing a total that they would have fancied themselves to reach on what was essentially a good batting surface, the Lions made a miserable start by losing their top three batsmen in the first eight overs and never recovered.It means that they must beat West Indies A at Northampton on Thursday if they are to be sure of their place in the final at The Oval on Monday, although they would still qualify even if beaten, having won both their opening two matches, if India beat West Indies on Friday.’Enjoying batting here’ – Agarwal

India’s century-maker Mayank Agarwal said he had been troubled by a muscle strain in his lower right side, for which he needed treatment on the field, but did not expect it to rule him out of playing should India qualify for next Monday’s final.
“I had a little issue but it is okay,” he said. “I will be assessed by the team doctor but I don’t expect it to be a problem. I was very pleased with my innings, it’s good to get back-to-back hundreds. That’s three here now – I’ve enjoyed batting here.
“England outplayed us last week but we have been playing good cricket since we have been here, in the warm-up games too, and it is good to be rewarded with back-to-back wins because everybody is putting in the effort, putting in the performances at crucial times.”

Given that this talented India side has been in impressive form these last two days at Leicester, you would expect that to happen. They saw off the West Indians with almost 12 overs to spare here on Monday and defeated England by a comfortable margin, even after leaving out Deepak Chahar, who had taken five wickets in that game.They did not, however, leave out Mayank Agarwal, their other key man on Monday, and how wise they were. Despite needing treatment for a back injury during the innings and subsequently being unable to field, the opener made his second century in consecutive days.It was as impressive a performance by India A as it was a disappointing one by the Lions, who had left the field relatively pleased with themselves at the end of their opponents’ innings.India A had been 100 without loss after 15 overs, and may actually have felt they ought to have built more handsomely on such a start.The precociously talented Shubman Gill contributed 72 in an opening stand of 165 with Agarwal but the Lions fought back well, with Worcestershire’s Ed Barnard impressing on his senior representative debut, Matt Fisher taking his first Lions wickets and the spinners, Liam Dawson and Matt Parkinson, playing a key role in frustrating the India batsmen in the middle phase of the innings, even if neither took a wicket.Parkinson, the 21-year-old Lancashire legspinner, had shown impressive character, taking a mauling in his opening three-over spell, which cost 28 runs after both openers went after him, but conceding only 35 more in seven overs after Steven Mullaney brought him back in the 32nd over and stuck with him.Barnard, who was added to the squad after the opening two matches in the tri-series following an injury to Craig Overton, was the best of the four seamers used, producing probably the delivery of the innings, finding extra bounce to have Gill caught at short third man having shaped to cut.But England’s innings was never able to gather any momentum after a fine opening spell by Shardul Thakur had accounted for both openers and Sam Hain, whose unbeaten 145 at Derby was the foundation of the Lions’ win over West Indies A, was unable to get past 1 before having two stumps uprooted by Chahar’s replacement, Prasidh Krishna.The biggest source of frustration in the England dressing room will be that most of their batsmen played themselves in but that Dawson’s 38 was their highest score, and that the top three apart they were mostly the architects of their own demise.It had been good watching, though, especially for the schoolchildren, mainly wearing India replica shirts, who had a special day out. Gill, aged 18 and the leading batsman in India’s victorious Under-19 World Cup team, is not long out of school himself yet is clearly a top-class player in the making, while Agarwal’s frustrating wait for international recognition at the top level must surely end soon.The 27-year-old ended the Indian domestic season with 2,141 runs, a record aggregate for an individual batsman across all formats. His first-class average was 105.45 and his 723 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was the most by any Indian player in a List A tournament, topping Sachin Tendulkar’s 673 at the 2003 World Cup.

While Sri Lanka Cricket is in government-imposed limbo, the national selection committee has lobbied the government to appoint Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva and Roshan Mahanama as cricket consultants for the board.Jayawardene, though, has already announced he is uninterested, citing the ineffectiveness of previous official committees he has been a part of. The others have not yet responded to the request.*The selectors’ request was deftly timed; generally, Sangakkara and Jayawardene are kept at arm’s length by the board – the pair constantly critical of the self-interest they believe is rampant in Sri Lanka’s cricket administration. But with the board temporarily defunct, and with the government now essentially running cricket in the country, the selectors have seen an opening to get them involved in officially shaping the nation’s cricket. Mahanama and de Silva, who also have at times had a strained relationship with SLC’s elected officials, have in the past voiced ideas on how cricket in Sri Lanka might be improved as well.In addition to getting those four on board as general consultants, the selectors have also requested that Muttiah Muralitharan be brought on board as a spin-bowling consultant.Jayawardene’s objection to being part of a consulting committee was down to negative experiences. He tweeted:Previously, Jayawardene had also devised a provincial domestic cricket structure focused on long-term growth, only for that plan to be scrapped when the board headed by Thilanga Sumathipala was voted in.Moreover, there is a question as to whether there is enough time for these proposed consultants to make any tangible impact. Board elections may be held sometime over the next few months, after which – depending on who is voted in – the likes of Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Mahanama may be unwelcome once more. The “special advisory committee” Jayawardene referred to, had submitted official reports to the sports ministry with recommendations on how SLC must be restructured. Little, however, has come of that work.Sports minister Faiszer Mustapha, who was officially informed of the selectors’ requests on Wednesday, initially appeared amenable to the idea of appointing these players in the roles the selectors have suggested. He also said that he would like to see the SLC constitution changed, but had not offered anything concrete on how it should change, or when.*The story was updated with Jayawardene’s response.

The two spinners took six wickets between them to fashion Afghanistan’s first T20I series win over Bangladesh

The Report by Mohammad Isam05-Jun-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRaton Gomes/BCB

After teaming up with Rashid Khan to limit Bangladesh to 134 for 8, Mohammad Nabi smashed an unbeaten 31 off 15 balls to guide Afghanistan to their first T20I series win over a Test side other than Zimbabwe. Seventeen-year-old mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman also contributed to the win with 15 dots in a four-over spell.Rashid, Nabi and Mujeeb claimed combined figures of 6 for 46 in 12 overs to run through Bangladesh’s batting line-up. Rashid did the bulk of the damage, taking 4 for 12, including the vital wickets of Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mosaddek Hossain in one over, the 16th of the innings. Nabi, meanwhile, dismissed Sabbir Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim.Bangladesh, though, had a positive start, moving to 81 for 3 in 10 overs, with opener Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah setting up for a late burst. However, two overs later, Karim Janat removed Mahmudullah to set Bangladesh up for a collapse.Rashid first had Shakib holing out to long-on before getting Tamim and Mosaddek off successive deliveries. In his next over, Rashid had Soumya Sarkar holing out to cap an outstanding spell. Abu Hider then launched some late blows with Nazmul Islam in a 26-run partnership for the ninth wicket off 13 balls to boost the total. Bangladesh’s highest stand was 45 between Tamim and Mushfiq but the pair could not find a tempo high enough to hurt Afghanistan.Afghanistan also started slowly in their chase and lost Mohammad Shahzad inside the Powerplay, but Samiullah Shenwari repaired the innings with 49 off 41 balls and took his side to within 20 runs of a series victory. With Afghanistan needing 20 off the last two overs, Nabi clobbered four boundaries in five balls off fast bowler Rubel Hossain to seal it in style.Bangladesh might rue not holding onto their chances. When Shahzad was scoreless in the first over, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur dropped a thick edge to reprieve him. The opener went onto hit four fours and a six in his 18-ball 24 to set the tone for the chase. Following Shahzad’s dismissal, Afghanistan went 30 balls without a boundary before Shenwari disdainfully pulled Rubel to the midwicket fence in the 11th over. He then hammered three sixes off spinners Mahmudullah and Mosaddek.Mosaddek bowled Shenwari in the 18th over to give Bangladesh hope but Nabi dashed it with a breathtaking late assault that ticked off another landmark for Afghanistan.

Rory Hamilton-Brown would love to get a chance to play for England. But for the time being nothing can distract him from his club’s fortunes

Alan Gardner26-Apr-2012Controlling the controllables is one of the mantras of the modern sportsman. In this respect, Rory Hamilton-Brown is very much like his peers – he would love to play for England but is happy for his form to do the talking; winning the Championship would be “a dream come true”, though he will make sure his Surrey side takes things one game at a time. But there is one aspect that is more difficult to govern, even for a talented young cricketer, and that is what people think about you.Having been brought back to Surrey, where he came through the youth system, after a high-profile pursuit by the coach, Chris Adams, to become club captain at just 22 years of age – the youngest in 138 years – Hamilton-Brown, perhaps naturally, made headlines. Not all of them were favourable, with questions raised about his age and inexperience, as well as assumptions about his background. He hasn’t been seen with a newspaper since; he jokes that if he had read everything that was written about him, he might have “ended up on Beachy Head or something”.”I made a promise to myself,” he says of his decision to ignore the write-ups. “To start with, there was a lot of negative stuff. It hurts you a bit because I hadn’t really done anything; I hadn’t shown to be good enough, I hadn’t shown not to be good enough. Obviously with a double-barrelled surname, the media were very interested in that… Because there was a lot of negative, I just felt if I confide with people that care about me within the dressing room – Adams, Ian Salisbury, my father, my mother – and those people are telling me whether I’m doing well or not, I think that’s all you can ask for.”Two years on, Hamilton-Brown is still the youngest captain on the county circuit, though his credentials are no longer in doubt. Leading Surrey back into Division One and securing the county’s first trophy since 2003 has seen to that, and it is for his batting that he now wishes to spark discussion. Following a first season of what he calls “survival”, balancing the captaincy with his role in the side as a batsman, in 2011, Hamilton-Brown scored more than 1000 Championship runs, the first time he had passed the batting benchmark. As the likes of James Taylor, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler entered the reckoning for England, Hamilton-Brown admits to disappointment at being overlooked by the selectors.”As the captaincy’s gone on, a lot of the stuff has become a little bit easier, you can do a few things on autopilot,” he says. “I knew that I wouldn’t reap initial rewards. I thought that it might put my England ambitions back a year or so, but it was a dream of mine to captain the club I’ve grown up playing for, and it’s always been a dream to play for England. I felt that with having the pressures of captaincy, if I could come through that and turn into the cricketer I wanted to be, coupled with being a good leader, that would help me ultimately.”I was disappointed not to be involved at the end of last year. The first year, quite rightly, I had a very good one-day year but my four-day cricket wasn’t quite up to scratch, but then last year I felt, on top of being captain, gaining promotion, winning a trophy and my performances with the bat, I thought it may have been recognised – but it wasn’t. That’s when I go back to keeping my performances on the board for Surrey, and hopefully at some point it’ll get picked up.

“Last year I felt, on top of being captain, gaining promotion, winning a trophy and my performances with the bat, I thought it may have been recognised – but it wasn’t. That’s when I go back to keeping my performances on the board for Surrey”Hamilton-Brown on being ignored by England’s selectors

“I have a belief that if I get my game right, I’ll be good enough. I want to play when I’m ready, if and when I’m good enough. There’s no rush. The rush for me is to put in performances so that people start talking about it.”With his broad shoulders and quasi-mullet of blond hair, as well as the beginnings of a fair beard, there is something leonine about Hamilton-Brown, even beyond his first name. Far from roaring into the room, however, his first words are to apologise for being late, having caught the train in from his mum’s, where he had been to see his younger brother and sister.The sense of family is not far away at The Oval, either, with Hamilton-Brown praising the influence of first-team coach Salisbury, and describing Adams as being “like a father figure”. They were team-mates at Sussex, where Hamilton-Brown spent two seasons rebuilding his career after asking to be released by Surrey in 2007. And Adams was dogged in his pursuit of a player he described at the time as having a “super tactical brain”.Hamilton-Brown says he thinks “very deeply” about the game, to the point where some of his decisions catch even Adams by surprise. He has also shown a willingness to put the team before his own cause, with his move to open the batting – in only his second full season in four-day cricket – prompted by a lack of a natural alternative in the squad.Though he has now returned to the middle order, he believes the experiment did him good in the long run. “I just feel more adept at either situation now, coming in at 120 for 3 or 20 for 3. I feel comfortable, that’s where I’ve done it for a long period of time and had success doing it. It’s just that inner belief that you can do it. But also, it’s nice to walk in at 120 for 3 and the shine’s gone off.”In three Championship matches so far, Hamilton-Brown has 284 runs at 47.33, despite the early season difficulties bemoaned by his team-mate Mark Ramprakash (Hamilton-Brown, for his part, says he prefers results pitches to dead tracks). With questions over the make-up of England’s middle order, his time may not be long in coming, five years after he captained his country at Under-19 level. His response, however, is immediate when asked if he would prefer an England call-up or a Championship winner’s medal with Surrey.”Championship title, no doubt. It would be a dream come true to have a Championship title, but that’s a long way off. It means so much. There’s been so much put in by everyone in this group, Chris Adams, Ian Salisbury, those sorts of guys to start with. There’s been a lot of time and effort. There’s also been a lot of heartache for the last few years at the club, a lot of tough days – so it would be absolutely unbelievable if something like that happened.”Hamilton-Brown led Surrey to the 40-over title in 2011•Getty ImagesHamilton-Brown spent the winter playing cricket in Zimbabwe and New Zealand, where he worked on his offspin – he is keen to maintain his reputation as an allrounder, particularly in one-day cricket, to enhance his international prospects – but he currently has no desire to broaden his horizons further by seeking involvement in the IPL.”It’s not an ambition of mine at the minute because I want to be playing for England and I feel that the runs you score in the first six or seven weeks of the season can sometimes be the most important, because it’s the toughest time,” he says. “For me the ambition is to play for England. I got asked to go into the auction the last couple of years but I’ve not got any interest in it.”Despite being born just down the road from Lord’s, for the time being it is England’s other London ground that is his focus. “Surrey is the bubble I’m involved in. I’m not involved in an England bubble. This club is something that’s very close to my heart and I feel like we’ve been given the opportunity to take a top club from the bottom and potentially make it a successful side for a long period of time. And that’s very exciting.”

Liverpool suffered two worrying injuries to key players in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City, and journalist James Pearce has provided an update on the influential pair.

Liverpool's injuries vs Man City

The Reds picked up an impressive result in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, battling their way to an excellent point away to the reigning champions.

Prior to the game, City had won all 23 home matches they have played in all competitions in 2023, but Jurgen Klopp's men proved to be a match for them at the Etihad, showing off their title credentials in the process.

Latest Liverpool transfer news: Alisson heir identified; £85m ace on radar

Liverpool have a huge summer ahead of them following the arrival of Arne Slot – here are all the latest transfer rumours from Anfield this summer.

ByAngus Sinclair Jul 11, 2024

Erling Haaland opened the scoring before half-time, making the most of some questionable defending to fire past Alisson, and it looked as though Liverpool could be on their way to a damaging defeat in Manchester. Thankfully, Trent Alexander-Arnold equalised with an inch-perfect finish with time running out, however, earning his side a hard-fought draw at the home of last season's Champions League winners.

There were two negatives to take from the game, though, with Diogo Jota leaving the field with an injury in the second half, and Alisson then going down in the dying seconds, with both looking like they may have potentially suffered hamstring issues. It is a big concern ahead of the festive fixtures, with Klopp needing as many of his key figures available as possible.

James Pearce drops Liverpool injury update

Taking to X after the game, Pearce confirmed that Liverpool pair Alisson and Jota are both "set for scans" on the injuries they picked up at City.

This is clearly concerning news for Liverpool, and the fact that scans are needed to determine the severity of the injuries does suggest that neither simply suffered cramp in a high-intensity encounter.

The idea of the Reds losing Alisson for a sustained period doesn't even bear thinking, considering the Brazilian is seen by many as the best goalkeeper in the world, and his influence has possibly been unrivalled at Anfield this season.

Even against City, on a day when he was far from his best, he still made a crucial save to deny Haaland just seconds before Liverpool went up the other end and equalised through Alexander-Arnold, and he is a colossal presence between the sticks.

Meanwhile, Jota would be another big miss, with the Reds forward scoring eight goals overall this season, and he is someone who does seem to pick up injuries on a frustratingly regular basis.

The hope is that the scans reveal that both Alisson and Jota have only suffered minor issues, potentially not even missing a Premier League game, but that could be wishful thinking, and it is easy to envisage Klopp having to make do without both for a chunk of action.

Not having Alisson available for a lengthy spell would be particularly galling for Liverpool supporters, with Caoimhin Kelleher a solid backup option but not someone a title-chasing team wants in their starting lineup every week, but the Reds do at least have Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo to call upon in attack without Jota around.

England have honed a reputation as one of the most big-hitting ODI sides around, but they are prepared to play a more measured game in Sri Lanka if conditions dictate

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2018England have honed a reputation over recent years as one of the most big-hitting ODI sides around, but they are prepared to play a more measured game in Sri Lanka if conditions dictate, according to opener Jonny Bairstow.The five-match ODI series, which pits top-ranked England against No. 8 Sri Lanka, starts next week, with pressure on the hosts after a failed Asia Cup campaign that led to the controversial dropping of captain Angelo Mathews. It is a far cry from four years ago, when England went to Sri Lanka to fine tune for the World Cup, were beaten 5-2 and sacked Alastair Cook.SL XI to play England

Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrema, Kamidu Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Shehan Madushanka, Asitha Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Nishan Peiris

Since that 2014 encounter, Sri Lanka have only won two bilateral ODI series – against West Indies and Ireland. Their last outing at home, against South Africa in July, resulted in a 3-2 defeat, although the series was lost by the time Sri Lanka managed to win a game.England, by contrast, have won eight series in a row (excluding a one-off defeat to Scotland), and broke their own record for the highest ODI team score in the summer, racking up 481 for 6 against Australia at Trent Bridge. However, Bairstow said England are ready to “grit it out” against Sri Lanka if the surfaces don’t prove so friendly.”If you look at the pitches for South Africa they looked like good cricket pitches,” Bairstow told reporters in Colombo. “Whether they change their tactics and produce pitches that are slightly different for us… so be it.”We’ve got to prepare like that’s the case. Yes, we’d like to play on good pitches and yes, we’d like to have high-scoring games but we’re prepared to guts it out and grit it out if needed.”Both teams have to bat and bowl on them, whether it’s batting first or bowling first, under lights or through the day. We’ve experienced these challenges before in India and Bangladesh and come out on top, so we’re confident going into the series. We like to think the majority of our players have experienced conditions around the world.”Jonny Bairstow bats in the nets•Getty ImagesWhile England have developed an attacking outlook rivalled by few other one-day sides, they have been prone to occasional spectacular collapses, and Bairstow’s comments reflect a recognition that they must be prepared for a variety of challenges ahead of next year’s World Cup on home soil.They will begin their tour proper on Friday, when they take on a Sri Lankan XI in Colombo with a largely settled side. Bairstow has become a default pick at opener – Jason Roy and Alex Hales are the options to partner him – scoring all six of his ODI hundreds over the last 18 months, but he was not even part of the squad four years ago.”It’s great that it’s gone so well but you want to keep it going in the right direction,” Bairstow said. “I’m happy with my game, but you want to keep improving, moving forward, pushing yourself. This is a great opportunity to do that.”

Despite Pakistan overcoming Zimbabwe to secure their place in the tri-series final, their captain Sarfraz Ahmed was vocal in the criticism of his bowling attack. “The bowling was not up to the mark,” he said shortly after guiding his side to a seven-wicket win. “They have to work hard.”Sarfraz had been a loud and, at times, stroppy presence behind the stumps during Zimbabwe’s innings. The very first ball of the day seemed to set the tone, as Sarfraz let rip with a fearful ear-bashing at Fakhar Zaman when he was slow off the mark from midwicket, allowing Zimbabwe opener Cephas Zhuwao to get off the mark. There wasn’t much let up thereafter.But Zaman shrugged off Sarfraz’s histrionics, suggesting that the team are comfortable under their captain and that, perhaps, a bit of sound and fury was what was needed to sharpen them up on a particularly cold winter’s day in Harare. “Yeah, he’s the kind of person who does that sometimes,” said Zaman. “But he’s very good at getting us up on the field. We’re used to it and he’s our captain. And well, it works for us and it worked today.”Sarfraz also had some fiery words for his bowlers, ticking Shadab Khan off during an over when Solomon Mire hit him for two big sixes. Mire took the attack to Pakistan’s bowlers, and Zaman admitted that Zimbabwe had scored 20 to 30 more runs than they thought was par on this pitch.”We were expecting 130 to 140 on this pitch, but Mire played a very good innings,” Zaman said. “We knew that we have a very deep batting lineup – we have Shadab at no. 9 – so we were confident we could chase it.”As it turned out, Pakistan’s lower order wasn’t needed as Zaman and Hussain Talat cracked forties before Sarfraz finished things off with an ice-cold, unbeaten 38. While his tongue-lashing geed them up, Sarfraz’s batting was the picture of limited-overs sangfroid and provided a different sort of a lesson to his team. Zaman said that spending time under Sarfraz had helped him improve his own game, particularly in T20 cricket.”In the start in T20 I was hitting every ball in my striking zone, and after playing eight to 10 games I sat with some senior players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, and spoke about my gameplans with them,” Zaman said. “I realised that I could play proper cricket shots and be successful, and that’s what I’ve been doing recently.”Pakistan’s win means they are assured of a place in Sunday’s final, though they have a dead rubber against Australia tomorrow. Bucking their recent trend in short-format cricket, Australia have won two in two in this tournament and they were buoyed by an opening victory against Pakistan which included Billy Stanlake’s 4 for 8.”We’ll just keep it very simple [against Australia],” Zaman said. “[Stanlake] bowled really well in the last match but every day is a new day. We’ll play him well.”

Erik ten Hag will look to bolster his attacking options at Manchester United by acquiring a £36m-rated ex-Chelsea forward in January.

As per reporter Florian Plettenberg, the Red Devils have enquired about 27-year-old, Timo Werner, however negotiations are yet to take place.

The likelihood is that Werner will remain at his current club until the summer, but the move could develop over the next few weeks.

Why Man United want Werner

Following an impressive debut campaign as manager of Manchester United, Ten Hag has been dealt an unfair hand this season, due to the sheer number of players that have been unavailable, with the current list tallying up to ten.

This was on show at Goodison Park at the weekend, with the only attackers on the Red Devils bench being Facundo Pellistri and youngster, Joe Hugill.

Rasmus Hojlund was one of the players who endured time out, which left an injury-prone Anthony Martial as the main striker versus Everton. Unreliable is the most appropriate term to describe the French attacker and Ten Hag will want to ensure that his side isn’t without a true number nine like last season.

Availability is key and Werner’s injury record whilst he was at Chelsea wasn’t an issue, only missing nine matches throughout his time in London due to injury.

The RB Leipzig forward is known for his electric pace, movement beyond the opponent and being a natural goal scorer, who is lethal when confidence is high. Werner also recognises himself as a player who can perform in numerous roles and four years ago, he stated “I’ve become more versatile”.

Buying individuals who can cover a handful of positions will be beneficial to United, especially going into the second half of the campaign. Werner can feature off Hojlund, as a lone striker or as a left-sided forward, but Rafael van der Vaart isn’t convinced by the attacker, labelling him as a "blind horse".

The Bundesliga transfer curse

Manchester United have signed a handful of players from the Bundesliga in the past, with the majority of those individuals failing to live up to the high standards set by the United faithful.

Jadon Sancho, Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all made the switch from Borussia Dortmund, yet despite having small spells of quality, a lack of consistency has been the driving force behind a shortened career at Old Trafford.

Sancho has been the notable Bundesliga nightmare, now alienated from the squad by Ten Hag after some less-than-favourable numbers. Indeed, the former Dortmund man has only registered 12 goals in 82 outings for the Red Devils.

Unlike the three aforementioned, Werner has played in the English top-flight prior and Premier League fans are more informed of his ability. During his first campaign at Chelsea, Werner played an important role in the UEFA Champions League triumph, whilst also scoring 12 goals and accumulating 15 assists in 52 appearances across all competitions.

However, the signing of Romelu Lukaku in the 2021/22 season affected the German and he later claimed that he “didn’t feel honoured enough”.

It is reasonable to presume that if Ten Hag had his full squad available, including Werner, then the rapid forward would not make it into his best starting XI ahead of Marcus Rashford or Hojlund.

Given the quote just mentioned and the fact that the boss doesn’t rotate often, dressing room unrest may occur like at Chelsea, which raises question marks on whether this would be a smart signing.

West Ham United are admirers of an exciting young coach should they decide to sack David Moyes, according to a reliable journalist.

West Ham's up and down season continues

The Irons have made an extremely mixed start to the new campaign having won five, drawn two and lost five of their opening 12 games, meaning that they currently find themselves ninth in the top-flight table heading into the international break.

Following Sunday’s 3-2 Premier League victory over Nottingham Forest, which just about epitomised their campaign, Moyes’ side will have gained some confidence that they are able to go on a positive run of form upon their return to domestic action, but regardless, there have been some questions asked about the manager’s position in the dugout.

According to 90min, David Sullivan is happy for the Scotsman to see out his contract until the end of the season unless a candidate that fits the profile of what he’s looking for was to become available between now and then, but it’s not the first time that chiefs have assessed their options in the market.

The London Stadium outfit have previously been credited with an interest in Feyenoord’s Arne Slot and Lille’s Paulo Fonseca, as per the same report, and they have now set their sights on an alternative who has experience playing in the Premier League.

West Ham chiefs considering Michael Carrick

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Dean Jones revealed that Michael Carrick is of interest to West Ham and admitted that he has the attributes to match what the board are searching for.

“My expectation would be that they look to be forward-thinking. Unless West Ham suddenly find themselves in crisis and need crisis management, that's the only time I could see them going for somebody with huge experience as their next appointment.

“I would expect them though to go for somebody who's younger, more forward-thinking and is more in tune with the way that the game is heading in the next 10 years, rather than how it's been for the last 10 years. That's what I would be thinking. Carrick is a really interesting one, but we have to see which direction his career goes in right now. But he's definitely somebody who is on West Ham's radar.”

Michael Carrick's record at Middlesbrough

Since being appointed at Middlesbrough, Carrick has won 29, drawn eight and lost 16 of his 53 games in charge, taking a total of 95 points from a possible 159 whilst averaging 1.79 points per match (Transfermarkt – Carrick statistics), so he’s really settled into life at the helm at the Riverside Stadium.

The Wallsend-born coach, who is 42 years of age, was also named last week’s Championship Manager of the Week for successfully beating Leicester City, so he’s proven that he’s capable of overcoming a squad of mostly Premier League players.

Furthermore, Carrick, who is “perfect” at bringing out the best in his stars and developing younger talents, according to journalist Josh Bunting, led the northeast outfit to the second tier playoffs at the end of last season, so for a manager who already knows what it takes to compete and be successful under big pressure, he could be the ideal candidate for West Ham.

Arjun Tendulkar, the son of Sachin Tendulkar, has been picked in the India Under-19 squad for two four-day matches in Sri Lanka in July.A left-arm quick, Arjun, had been picked in the Mumbai Under-19 one-day side for the JY Lele invitational tournament in September last year. He also bowled in the nets in the lead-up to the Lord’s Test between England and South Africa in 2017, sending Jonny Bairstow off with an injury scare when he struck him on the toe with a yorker. Arjun also bowled in the India nets during the home series against New Zealand last year.However, he did not find a place in the one-day squad that will play five games against Sri Lanka. The four-day squad will be captained by 18-year-old Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat, who had scored two half-centuries, including one on debut, in as many matches for Delhi during the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy.”We are happy on Arjun being selected in Indian under-19 team. It is an important milestone in his cricketing life. Anjali and I will always support Arjun in his choices and pray for his success,” Sachin told The one-day squad will be led by 16-year-old Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Aryan Juyal, who had played two matches in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year and was part of the Under-19 World Cup winning team in January.Seventeen-year old left-arm spinner from Gujarat Siddharth Desai was picked in both squads. He also made his first-class debut in the 2017-18 season and was named the Man of the Match in his first two matches, taking nine and eight wickets against Kerala and Haryana respectively. He currently has 29 wickets from five first-class matches and three scalps from as many one-day matches.Atharwa Taide, also picked in both squads, was the captain of the Vidarbha Under-19 team that won the Cooch Behar Trophy earlier this year. He led them to their maiden title with a marathon knock of 320 off 483 balls in the final against Madhya Pradesh.