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When Manchester United played Manchester City at Old Trafford a few weeks ago, seven of the starting XI were players who were at the club under Alex Ferguson, including all of the back four and goalkeeper.

This week, it has emerged that Manchester United could be one of the teams interested in taking Jonny Evans back to the club from West Brom, after speculation in the summer that he could join Manchester City.

United clearly do need new options this season, having seen their form slump dramatically because of injury – something that shouldn’t happen to such an extent. But going in for Evans again does seem to throw open one pertinent question: do United owe Alex Ferguson one big apology?

When the former United boss retired in 2013, he was clearly given the send-off of a legend and his unparallelled achievements were properly lauded and respected. But there was one criticism that’s been levelled at him ever since he retired: did he leave United in the lurch with a team which wasn’t fit for purpose, at least in the long term?

The argument has been advanced for the last four and a half years: Ferguson, in buying the likes of Robin van Persie, was looking for a short-term hit in order to allow his team to return to the top when he retired. In doing so, they say, he left his side woefully short of players who would be at the top of their game in the long term. But if it’s true that United are considering returning for Jonny Evans, it would appear as though Ferguson wasn’t to blame after all.

Or is it that United’s recruitment is simply continuing to fall short of the standards expected of such a big club?

It wasn’t just a widely-held belief that United’s squad was filled with deadwood when Ferguson left, it was the truth. It wasn’t an easy squad to sort out, but since getting rid of David Moyes, United have spent hundreds of millions of pounds to make it right.

Some signings have worked – Paul Pogba is now clearly of vital importance to his side, whilst Romelu Lukaku and Eric Bailly may well turn out to be top players for the club in the long term. But the majority of the signings since the departures of both Scots over the last few years have been wide of the mark.

And whilst it’s probably true that Ferguson left the club in a mess, it wasn’t unfixable. And it also wasn’t Ferguson’s fault that it wasn’t fixed: clearly United’s recruitment has been an even bigger mess for the last few years, and bringing in Jonny Evans would seem to be more than just a canny January signing – it would be yet another admission that United’s transfer policy has been wrong for four years.

So where does that leave the failings of Moyes and Louis van Gaal? Where does it leave the perception that Ferguson was partly to blame for the club’s decline? And where does it leave Ed Woodward and the United board who are the constants at the club’s executive level in the period between Ferguson’s departure and now?

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United’s position in the league table probably isn’t as bad as it could be. They have clearly made progress from where they have been over the last few seasons, and in other Premier League seasons they may well have been in the title hunt.

It was already clear that United’s recruitment since the end of the Ferguson era hasn’t been good enough. And in bringing up the possibility of going back for Evans, United probably owe Ferguson a big apology for the perception that it was partly his fault at all.

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As the nation continues to be gripped by relentless speculation linking Gareth Bale to Madrid, the future of a certain Liverpool favourite has remained largely in the background. With continued reports suggesting that Luis Suarez wants to leave Liverpool, is the £40m fee being mooted short of his value?

Sky Sports have already reported that an offer is on the table for around the £85m should Spurs wish to accept it. Contrast this to the £40,000,001 offer made for Suarez from Premier League rivals Arsenal. Is Suarez really worth less than half that of Gareth Bale?

It has subsequently emerged that the bid for Suarez was swiftly rejected after a misunderstanding over a potential release clause. An internal contract dispute between Suarez and club has ended with Liverpool standing firm over the non-existence of a release clause. The figure to capture the Uruguayan is now believed to be nearer the £55m mark, the value Liverpool has placed on the striker.

Still a £30m difference in value seems a huge gulf for two players who are arguably similar in terms of quality. I actually believe were it not for his on pitch behaviour, Luis Suarez would quite likely have claimed both the PFA and Football Writers gongs last term and as such eclipsed the achievements of Gareth Bale. Suarez is probably more integral to Liverpool’s hopes and ambitions than Gareth Bale is to Spurs’. As such the club should look to extract maximum value from any prospective sale.

[cat_link cat=”liverpool” type=”list”]

So why does the gulf in value exist?

Both players are reportedly intent on a move away if you are to believe Sky Sports understanding of the respective situations. Similarly both plays have a substantial amount of time to run on their current contracts. So would accepting a £50m bid be financially naïve from Liverpool?

Sadly I don’t think this is the case at all. The difference between Suarez and Bale is what they bring off the pitch rather than their contributions on it. Bale is a shy unassuming Welsh lad who appears to be incredibly marketable having developed something of a brand for himself already. Contrast this to a racist come cannibal who constantly brings shame upon the club that has placed so much faith in him.

When Real bid £85m for Bale they know that in footballing terms he is work a fraction of that sum. Big money deals in modern football are as much about the publicity and media attention as it is about the quality of the footballer. The same was true of the deal to take Ronaldo to the Bernabeu: an undoubted star of the game, but £80m for him? Really? The transfer was prudent from a Madrid perspective because of the furore that came with it. Shirt sales and media deals are now genuine considerations for a purchasing club.

Ramon Calderon, the ex Madrid President, spoke to TalkSport last night and was actually quite telling in this respect. Asked whether the deal to bring Neymar to the Camp Nou would have any impact on a potential deal for Bale and he definitively answered that it would. Real Madrid need to make a big name deal to assert their national authority, and purchasing Bale for an overinflated price will do exactly that. The extra baggage that comes with a deal for Suarez in the eyes of a prospective buyer makes a deal less palatable.

It would be short-sighted to believe his Premier League ban would enable clubs to knock £20m off his price tag, because it shouldn’t. However, the character of the Uruguayan and fears that reoccurrences of the past could occur make a big money bid for the striker unlikely.

For Liverpool going forward this means that they will always end up getting less than the players true footballing worth. I severely doubt Arsenal will stump up £55m for Suarez, I think an improvement on their current bid is pretty unlikely as well. Liverpool fans may see this as a positive, with FSG unlikely to entertain bids below the £40m mark, they could therefore hold onto their star man for another year yet. However, in a financial sense it is a great shame for Liverpool that purchasing clubs will always undervalue Suarez, even as a player of such exceptional talent. The question for Liverpool is whether to hold on to Suarez against his apparent will and prepare for more of his non-footballing antics, or to sell him below his actual value.

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For Liverpool this is the kind of decision that could well determine the way their near future plays out. Whilst £40m is a lot of money for any club, there will always be the nagging thought that he should be worth more.

Should Liverpool sell themselves short for £40m?

Join the debate below! 

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West Brom defender Liam Ridgewell wants to keep Dimitar Berbatov quiet tomorrow after watching the Bulgarian run riot the last time he lined up against him.

Berbatov scored a hat-trick for Manchester United when Ridgewell was forced to fill in at centre-back for Birmingham City just before they won the Carling Cup in 2011. Tomorrow he will have to be on top form if he is to thwart the 31-year-old striker, who looks certain to make his home debut for new club Fulham. The 28-year-old told the Birmingham Mail:

“He’s a new face but everyone knows about him and how good a player he is. It is sometimes worrying because you can get a bit laid-back, then suddenly he spurts into scoring a hat-trick. So you’ve got to keep your wits about you. They have got a lot of good players, though, and we will have to be on our game to make sure we stop them. We will definitely be up for the game, that’s for sure.”

Berbatov made his Cottagers debut from the bench in the 3-0 defeat to West Ham last time out but couldn’t affect the result. Albion will be hoping he fails to kick-start his career for a second game running but Ridgewell knows Fulham have plenty of other players who can cause damage if he does have a quiet day. He continued:

“Over the years they have always been good at home and they are a good side, whoever they’ve got in their team. “Fulham away is a tough game but we will be going down there with a lot of confidence and hopefully we will be able to come away with a positive result.”

West Brom face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

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Called in to replace the injured Sophie Molineux, Bekker dismissed Meg Lanning and gave away just nine runs in her four overs

AAP09-Nov-2024Local replacement player Charis Bekker went from the pub to centre stage as Melbourne Renegades posted a 15-run WBBL win over arch-rivals Melbourne Stars.Bekker was playing just her second WBBL game after being called into the squad to replace injured spinner Sophie Molineux (knee). The 20-year-old didn’t let the big stage of a Melbourne derby faze her, returning the miserly figures of 1 for 9 from her four overs to be named player of the match.”It’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” Bekker said. “I was at the pub a couple of days ago with my mates, and then got the call [to join the squad]. I played against the Scorchers which was really cool. And then hopped on a flight. It’s been really rushed.”Bekker’s maiden WBBL wicket was none other than superstar batter Meg Lanning.”Everyone was cheering me on, I was just trying to bowl my best ball, and it happened to be Meg Lanning, which was kind of awesome,” Bekker said.Deepti Sharma top-scored for Stars with 23. Georgia Wareham claimed the key wicket of captain Annabel Sutherland for 16. The result improved Renegades’ record to 3-3, while the Stars are now 2-3.Earlier, Renegades were struggling at 87 for 5 before Naomi Stalenberg (26 not out off 17 balls) and Nicole Faltum (29 off 23) added some handy runs to lift the total to 146 for 6.The Renegades were 54 for 2 after 10 overs when they took the power surge. Although Deandra Dottin fell for 7 shortly after, Renegades cracked 29 runs off the two overs. Alice Capsey and Wareham fell in quick succession before Stalenberg and Faltum steadied the ship with a 55-run stand.Stars’ run chase started slowly with the scoreboard reading 16 for 1 after five overs. Bhatia was lucky to still be there after being dropped by wicketkeeper Faltum in the first over when she was yet to score. The opener scored 22 off 26 balls, but the rest of her team-mates struggled for fluency as the required run rate ballooned out.Jemimah Rodrigues top-scored for Brisbane Heat•Getty Images

India starJemimah Rodrigues posted an impressive half-century as Brisbane Heat piled more misery on defending champions Adelaide Strikers in an eight-run win at the Gabba.Rodrigues anchored the Heat’s innings with 61 from 40 balls, belting seven fours and a six in her player-of-the-match performance. Opener Grace Harris (33 from 22) and captain Jess Jonassen (32 from 21) also provided handy knocks.In reply, Strikers were reduced to 16 for 3 in the fourth over before Bridget Patterson and Madeline Penna threatened to pull off a remarkable fightback. The unbeaten pair put on a 113-run stand for the fifth wicket – from just 62 balls – but weren’t quite able to drag their side over the line. It was the second-highest fifth-wicket stand in WBBL history.Strikers remain last on the table with a 1-4 record, while Heat (3-3) are right in the finals mix.

Former Test opener believes Smith should stay at the top against India after requesting the role last summer

Yash Jha08-Oct-2024Who will open for Australia? Who should open for Australia? Should Steven Smith continue at the top of the order or shift back to number four? These questions have surrounded the Australian Test set-up for a while, and are only gaining traction ahead of India’s visit to Australia next month.”Steve Smith made the call to be able to go and open, and I think he should stay there”. That’s the verdict from Shane Watson as the clock ticks down to the year-end Border-Gavaskar Trophy.”Obviously the safety blanket for him would be moving back to No. 4, but I would love to see him continue to take on the opening spot because he’s got the skill to be able to do it,” Watson said at the sidelines of the launch of the International Masters League in Mumbai on Tuesday.Related

• Watson: I think Pant is going to have a big series in Australia

• Australia sweat on Green as selection for India becomes complicated

• If not Steven Smith, then who? Australia's opening debate

• Is this the end for the Gabba?

Smith’s move up the order following David Warner’s retirement after the New Year’s Test against Sydney has been a subject of widespread debate, with no clear winner. Watson himself had backed Cameron Green to succeed as Test opener before Smith’s promotion, but has been convinced otherwise by Green’s performances – headlined by a career-best match-winning 174 not out against New Zealand in Wellington.”Cameron Green came in and batted at No. 4 and did a brilliant job,” Watson said. “His hundred that he got in New Zealand was something very special and he’s the perfect No. 4 candidate now with the future, moving forward.”As if not tricky enough already, Australia’s situation has been further complicated as they sweat on Green’s availability for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts in Perth on November 22. The 25-year-old allrounder was flown home from the UK following the third ODI against England after complaining of soreness in his lower back. He has had four previous stress fractures prior to his Test debut in 2020 but the exact nature of his current injury has yet to be confirmed. Cricket Australia’s medical team have been carefully assessing scans over the past two weeks to map out a plan for his recovery with an announcement on his availability for the India series expected to come this week.Smith’s four-Test stint as opener so far has yielded 171 runs – over half of which came in one innings against West Indies – at an average of 28.50, but Watson thinks it’s not a problem caused by his batting position.”I believe the reason why he didn’t do so well over the previous couple of Test matches is just [that] he was a little bit off with his technique,” Watson said. “You see [saw] him getting out a couple of ways which I’ve never really seen him get out before.”I know he would’ve had time just to go away, make some little technical adjustments, and if he opens and he makes those little adjustments, he can be incredibly successful as an opening batter knowing the incredible skill that he’s got.”

<Should Brisbane have been the venue for the first Test instead of Perth?

The Gabba will not host the first Test this summer•Getty Images

Watson also voiced his dissatisfaction with the decision to keep Perth as the venue for the opening game of the five-Test series and not Brisbane, traditionally the starting point of Australian Test summers.”I’m a traditionalist at heart. Growing up, the Gabba was always the first Test match and that’s the Test match I used to go to,” the former Australia allrounder said before highlighting the challenge Gabba poses to visiting sides.”The Gabba is a more challenging place to play for the foreign teams because there’s bounce, there’s seam, there’s swing, and it’s hot and humid. So it just provides a few more challenges, whereas Perth, for example, it’s not humid, the ball doesn’t swing as much, doesn’t necessarily seam as much as well.”I always just love the Gabba as being the place for the touring team to be able to come in and have to try and just take on the Australian conditions at their most challenging.”The ‘Gabbatoir’ had been an Australian stronghold for decades, with Australia boasting a 16-2 win-loss record in Tests in Brisbane in the last 20 years. But the fortress has been breached of late. West Indies claimed an upset 8-run win in January, while India famously clinched the 2020-21 series by handing Australia their first Test defeat at the Gabba in 32 years. The ground is also coming towards the end of its use for life with CA only signing a two-year agreement to play Test matches there with doubts over the Gabba’s viability beyond that as Brisbane requires upgraded infrastructure to host the 2032 Olympic games.

This process is seen as the final steps in their road back from injury to the Indian team; Asia Cup squad likely to be out by August 20

Shashank Kishore14-Aug-2023As the final steps in their road back from injury to the Indian team, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are now taking part in match simulations at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. This process will culminate in a couple of practice games for them, as they make their way back from a thigh (Rahul) and back (Iyer) injury.Rahul and Iyer are expected to take part in this training all through this week, which will give the national selectors clarity on how they are shaping up in a match environment before they sit down to pick India’s Asia Cup squad, which is expected to be out by August 20.”We have a few guys coming back from injuries in any case,” head coach Rahul Dravid had said in Florida after the fifth and final T20I against West Indies on Sunday. “We are going to have to give them opportunities to play [in the Asia Cup]. I haven’t really thought about the Asia Cup at this stage. We have a one-week camp in Bengaluru from August 23. We’ll be assembling there as a one-day team. We will take it as it comes.”Late last month, the BCCI issued a media statement confirming Iyer and Rahul’s return to batting in the nets and fitness drills. ESPNcricinfo understands the delay in Asia Cup squad announcement is to give selectors more of a chance to assess the duo, and give them the best chance to feature in the tournament which in many ways is a dry run for the World Cup in October-November.India’s Asia Cup contingent and reserves will undergo a week-long conditioning camp in Bengaluru from August 23-29 prior to leaving for Sri Lanka for the tournament, where India will open their campaign on September 2 against Pakistan.

Asia Cup squad = World Cup squad?

The selectors are keen on the Asia Cup being an unofficial hard stop as far as team selection for the World Cup goes, but it’s likely there could be an exception or two made, given India also play Australia in three ODIs prior to the World Cup campaign. As things stand, the BCCI must announce a preliminary World Cup squad by September 5, but can make changes to the squad as late as September 27, the day of the third and final ODI against Australia.Rahul and Iyer are among four players who are in line for comebacks. The other two, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna, are part of the Ireland tour party for the three T20Is from August 18-23.If fully fit, Rahul is India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in ODIs and will likely slot into the middle order along with Iyer, who has a formidable record at No. 4. In Iyer’s absence, the selectors have experimented with a number of options, including Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson and Axar Patel during the recently concluded ODI series in the Caribbean.Iyer hasn’t played any competitive cricket since the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test against Australia this March. He underwent a back surgery in London subsequently, which forced him to miss the entire IPL season. He was in line to return for the Ireland T20Is, but this had been pushed back after the NCA staff felt he needed a longer rehabilitation window.Rahul, meanwhile, pulled up towards the end stages of IPL 2023, when he tore a tendon in his right thigh while fielding. Like Iyer, Rahul too underwent surgery in the UK and has been in rehab at the NCA for the past two months.

Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah all set for Ireland gig

Prasidh and Bumrah had been had been put through similar match simulation exercises by the NCA staff late last month as their final lap of preparation before the squad selection for Ireland. On Sunday, Prasidh played for Mysuru Warriors in the Maharaja T20 Cup, his first top-level game in almost a year.Both players have now linked up with the squad leaving for Ireland.

Virat Kohli scored his first fifty since the Cape town Test at the start of last year

Sidharth Monga11-Mar-20232:01

Tait: Shubman Gill has a huge future ahead of him

Second week into the third month, Shubman Gill scored his fifth international century of the year to lead India’s response to Australia’s 480. For long periods, Australia did well to keep a lid on the scoring rate, but Gill was not to be denied for too long: his 128 off 235 was a contrast to the 152 the others managed off 361 balls between them.India ended the third day 191 behind with seven wickets in hand. Virat Kohli scored his first fifty since the Cape town Test at the start of last year, and ended the day with the promise of a hundred.There was a little more turn and misbehaviour available from the pitch, but it was not nearly enough to make survival difficult. So Australia did the next best thing possible: bowl to one side of the pitch and wait for mistakes. The batters discovered that while there might not have been great threat to their wicket, scoring wasn’t the easiest either.This Test has been the opposite of the other three in many ways. One of them was a return to the old Indian trend of batting being easier against the new ball. India’s early assault on Mitchell Starc meant the first 15 overs of three of the four new balls used in this match had gone for 193 runs and no wicket. Perplexingly, Starc bowled predominantly around the wicket, failing to create rough for his two offspinners.Once Australia went to spin at both ends, the runs dried up, and a loose stroke arrived. Rohit Sharma punched an innocuous-looking delivery from Matt Kuhnemann straight to short extra cover. The six overs leading up to the wicket had brought just 10 runs.The start to the partnership between Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara wasn’t quite swift, but once Australia went back to pace, the tap opened again. The second ball of Starc’s new spell was cover-driven to bring up Gill’s fifty. In Starc’s next, Gill played the short-arm punch through midwicket for four more. Leading up to lunch, Pujara, too, got a move on.Although a couple of deliveries had disturbed the surface in the first session, there wasn’t anything dramatic. Australia came back with more focused plans. It often involved seven-two leg-side fields with everything turning in. After the two initial boundaries off Cameron Green, India spent 16 overs in the middle session without a boundary.2:05

How Steven Smith’s batting helps his captaincy

All through the period, though, neither Pujara nor Gill looked at any discomfort. Eventually pace provided Gill an opening. He marked it with two lovely cover drives off Green: on the up first, and then to the fuller ball. In his 90s, Gill danced down to Lyon to pop him over his head, and then played the sweep over leg slip to bring up his second Test century.Just before tea, Pujara, too, seemed to make an unforced error, playing down the wrong line of a Todd Murphy offbreak from around the wicket. Even as Pujara reviewed the lbw decision in vain, the crowd cheered on for the arrival of Kohli. In the one over before tea, Kohli edged one wide of short leg, one short of slip and was beaten on the outside edge once.After tea, Gill and Kohli were much more efficient, running hard, not taking any risks. As Gill began to cramp, Kohli took up his scoring, contributing 32 to the 58-run stand. Having made just nine false responses in such a long innings, Gill finally made the fatal error: going back to a quick full offbreak from Nathan Lyon, getting trapped right in front.If there was any designs on dominating the bowling, India shelved those plans and batted sedately. The new ball was eight balls away, but Australia waited for the last 20 minutes to claim it.The offspinners kept trying to test both edges of Kohli as he lunged forward in defence, but the one time that the inside edge was taken, they didn’t have a short leg in place, which can happen when bowling at 250 for 3. Other than the odd half error, Kohli looked in absolute control.The one thing Australia managed by continuing with the old ball was the run-rate. Just 26 came in the first 15.2 overs of the fourth-wicket stand between Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja. As soon as the new ball was taken, Jadeja hit a six off Kuhnemann having been 6 off 42.Largely, though, the final exchanges remained a period of cease fire from both sides. Australia had few catchers, India took fewer risks. With only 13 wickets falling in three days, the Test was left needing something dramatic for an outright result.

The two four-day matches and three one-dayers will be played at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia

Mohammad Isam15-Jul-2022A number of international Bangladesh players will tour the Caribbean with the A squads next month. Four players from the current senior team’s tour – Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Khaled Ahmed, Rejaur Rahman Raja and Anamul Haque – will return to the West Indies on July 31 to play the two four-day and three one-day matches.Khaled returns to the scene of his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests, as the A team tour will be played entirely at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia. Anamul and Mahmudul too, played that Test, while Raja was also in the Test squad.

Bangladesh A tour of West Indies itinerary

• August 4-7: First four-day match

• August 10-13: Second four-day match

• August 16: 1st one-day match

• August 18: 2nd one-day match

• August 20: 3rd one-day match

The selectors have also picked several uncapped players in both the squads, including the impressive batters Shahadat Hossain and Jaker Ali (also a wicketkeeper), apart from left-arm spinners Tanvir Islam and Rakibul Hasan, and fast bowlers Raja, Mukidul Islam and the left-arm quick Mrittunjoy Chowdhury.An interesting name in the one-day squad is Sabbir Rahman, who was off the boil since his last ODI in July 2019. But a decent Dhaka Premier League last season revived his career.This is also a good opportunity for the likes of Saif Hassan, Shadman Islam, Mohammad Mithun and Soumya Sarkar after they got dropped from the senior side in the last 12 months.Bangladesh A will arrive in St Lucia on July 31, before playing the first four-day match from August 4 and the second from August 10. The one-dayers will be played on August 16, 18 and 20.Bangladesh A (four-day squad): Shadman Islam, Saif Hassan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Mohammad Mithun, Fazle Mahmud, Shahadat Hossain Dipu, Jaker Ali, Naeem Hasan, Tanvir Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Mukidul Islam, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Anamul HaqueBangladesh A (one-day squad): Soumya Sarkar, Saif Hassan, Mohammad Naim, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shahadat Hossain Dipu, Jaker Ali, Sabbir Rahman, Naeem Hasan, Rakibul Hasan, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Khaled Ahmed, Mukidul Islam, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury

The top brass at the PCB are not supportive of the discussions surrounding making all Test cricket four days long

Umar Farooq10-Jan-2020Pakistan are not fans of the idea of four-day Test cricket, with the current leaders of the coaching staff, head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis both opposing reducing Test cricket to four days. They join a growing chorus of coaches and former players, including former Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur, as well as India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, Mahela Jayawardene and Chris Gayle, who do not wish to see four-day Test cricket.ESPNcricinfo understands the Pakistan Cricket Board shares the opposition to four-day Test cricket, believing it would pose a logistical challenge to hosting cricket in Pakistan, with fewer daylight hours during the cricket season. Going by history, that would not be especially surprising, given Pakistan often struggled to get 90 overs in a day of Test cricket in the ten years leading up to 2009, prompting the then-PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan to propose six-day Test matches to the ICC in a bid to get around the problem, with former ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed saying they would “seriously consider it”.ALSO READ: ‘Don’t mess with Tests’“First of all, there is no clarity at this point about how it will be taken forward,” Misbah said. “Will it be 90 overs a day? 96? Maybe 110 overs to compensate for the fifth day? If you look at the conditions in Asia, especially in Pakistan, we barely manage to get 90 overs a day because the cricket season here is mostly during the winter. We don’t get long days in winter, or enough to complete even 90 overs. We lose 10-15 overs a day routinely. If you lose those across a four-day Test, with 360 overs, the match effectively becomes a three-and-a-half-day affair.”If that’s the case, a lot of teams will become negative – if they fall even slightly behind in a match, they’ll go straight for the draw. The results ratio is already pretty low, that will worsen and people’s interest in Tests will dip. They want results. In a five-day match, even if there’s rain in the middle, there’s still enough time to try and force a result.”Waqar Younis at a media interaction during a training camp•PCB

Misbah also highlighted the workload that might come with this change, especially its impact on the fast bowlers. “Another important thing – if you force the workload of five-day cricket into four days, with an increase in overs, then it is very difficult,” he said. “You still get only 11 players in the team. Most teams play with four bowlers. But even if they have five, the workload of 16-17 overs a day on your fast bowlers, or at the most 20, will become even more. So their injury risks will rise. And the quality of their bowling – if you raise the load of a 145-150kph bowler from 18 overs to 25-26, then what will happen? Their quality will be compromised.”The ICC is likely to formally consider four-day Test cricket later in 2020 in order to free up calendar space, which is increasingly saturated with T20 leagues and bilateral commitments. The concept of regular four-day Test cricket has drawn contrasting views in the past week, with England captain Joe Root tepidly endorsing it, saying it was “worth trialling”, before reiterating his preference for five-day cricket after a thrilling finish at Cape Town. Meanwhile the likes of Virat Kohli, Nathan Lyon and Glenn McGrath, are all against further fiddling with the longest format.”I don’t like to see any change to the length of this format at all,” Waqar told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s beautiful this way and when you trim it down to four days, you are going to compromise the standard of it. Hypothetically, one lengthy first innings can suck the fun out of the Test and the probability of drawn games will be too high. Every day in five-day Tests has its own intrigue and importance and the fifth day is the one that offers the most thrill.”I know there have been several three or four day finishes as well but that is because of the pitches. Five-day Test cricket is special and it should be preserved the way it is. You already experimented with ODI cricket a lot and it’s still fine but Test cricket we should leave as it is.ALSO READ: Strauss cautious on case for shortening Tests“The temperament and patience level is set for five days and it is meant to gauge a player’s composure, fitness and his ability. Four-day cricket is going to add extra workload on bowlers because they’ll have to bowl a lot more and there’ll be no respite for them. Are you reducing the days simply for commercial value? For that, go ahead and try day-night cricket.”Misbah also spoke about the importance of a fifth-day pitch. “The wear and tear of a pitch in five-day matches is different from that in four-day cricket. In the subcontinent, or even a place like Australia, the fifth-day pitch has a unique quality. Look at the England and South Africa Test – it went to the fifth day and was decided right at the end. Even the West Indies Test, the last Test Younis Khan and I played, went right to the end. The closer you get to the end of the fifth day, the more thrilling Test cricket becomes. The audience’s interest grows gradually. So I think all these things should be kept in mind and then we should make a decision.”

The board is still grappling with the logistical challenges of its biggest-ever season, and that has forced some women’s and age-group matches to be pushed back

Sidharth Monga31-Oct-2018On the eve of the start of the Ranji Trophy, the state units have received a letter from the BCCI asking them to adjust the logistics and travel arrangements of their teams in three different events because of the unavailability of umpires and match officials for those days.In a press conference in August, called to apprise the media of the BCCI’s readiness to stage India’s biggest-ever domestic season, Saba Karim, the GM of cricket operations, had said the BCCI was still recruiting more umpires keeping in mind the increased number of matches this season, but he had also promised the quality of the personnel would not be compromised.With newer teams entering the fray in accordance with the Lodha Committee’s recommendations – there are 37 teams in the Ranji Trophy this season, up from 28 last season – Karim said the BCCI was going from organising 900 matches a year to over 2000. As on August 31, the BCCI still needed about 15 more umpires and 12 match referees, not to mention more scorers and video analysts.Karim told ESPNcricinfo that the BCCI had filled up those vacancies but during the heaviest part of the season it didn’t find the right permutations and combinations. “Once we drew out the fixtures, we asked the umpires and match officials for their availability,” Karim said. “It just so happened that the officials we have available don’t fulfil the neutrality qualification or they are not the right grade. We have sufficient umpires and match officials to conduct the whole season now after these adjustments.”The third round and the knockouts of the Cooch Behar Trophy and the Under-19 four-day competition have been pushed back by almost a month each. The knockouts of the senior women’s one-day tournament have been postponed by two days.”In view of the unavailability of umpires during the month of December 2018, matches have been rescheduled as per the schedule below.” Karim wrote in a letter to all the state units, the office bearers, the CoA, the CEO and the CFO of the BCCI. “You are requested to make logistic arrangements accordingly.”