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The immediate fate of Zimbabwe’s tour to Pakistan hangs in delicate balance following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, an incident that has sparked violence throughout the country.Zimbabwe are due to arrive in Pakistan on January 12 and are scheduled to play two warm-up matches as well as a series of five ODIs, beginning January 26. But that schedule was thrown into doubt following yesterday’s suicide attack which killed Bhutto shortly after an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi. Since then, the main urban centres of Pakistan – including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad – have witnessed heavy rioting and violence.Understandably, given the proximity of the incident, no decision has been taken yet. The nation is in official mourning for three days, a stance echoed by Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). “This is a huge national tragedy and a time of mourning for the whole country. I feel it is not appropriate to talk about cricket just now. We will look at the situation in 2-3 days,” Ashraf told Cricinfo.Another senior board official said the Zimbabwe board had not been in touch yet. “Nobody from the Zimbabwe board has yet got in touch with us about the situation,” the official told Cricinfo. When asked specifically whether the tour would go ahead, he said, “As of this immediate moment, it is on. But ultimately your guess is as good as mine.”Zimbabwe play their first ODI in Hyderabad, another city particularly badly hit by a night of rioting; they are also scheduled to spend considerable time in Karachi, before playing in Multan, Faisalabad and Sheikhupura.Clouding the matter further is the fate of the general elections, which were scheduled to be held on January 8, days before the tourists arrive. In the aftermath of the assassination, there are suggestions they may be postponed. In either case, however, reports are warning that further violence in coming days may be inevitable, extending a year of already tremendous political tumult in the country.Australia, who are due to tour Pakistan in March, have adopted a wait-and-see policy. They are due to send a security delegation to the country in February, after which they will decide on the tour.

No match, no fees © Eddie Norfolk

Kenya’s players met with board officials at Cricket Kenya’s headquarters on Thursday after expressing unhappiness at not receiving their match fees for the abandoned tri-series match against Canada at Mombasa last month.The game was called off after Canada informed match officials that they were unable to field a side because of illness in their squad. Under ICC regulations, that means the game was deemed never to have started and, as such, Cricket Kenya did not pay its players appearance fees of between $60 and $90 each. The players, however, believed that this money should have been forthcoming even though the game was scrapped the day before and they never even left their hotel. They still received their $30 daily allowance on the day concerned.”We were concerned about our allowances for the Canada match,” Thomas Odoyo, the Kenya allrounder, told Kenya’s , “but that matter has now been resolved. With that issue now behind us, we can now focus all our attention on training.”Cricinfo has learned that the board agreed to pay the fees as a one-off, on the understanding that this did not set a precedent.The news comes days after Cricket Kenya announced its players would each receive $5000 bonuses for their success in the World Cricket League last week.”We will pay them this appearance fee soon and they have agreed to resume training,” Tom Tikolo, Cricket Kenya’s chief executive said. “They are now settled and we don’t anticipate any more issues. They [the players] also expressed concern regarding the issue of World Cup bonuses and we assured them they would get paid on time.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out

Adam Gilchrist hammered 88 off 66 balls as Australia thumped their way to 344 © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist generated a high-energy batting performance that gave Australia the ideal warm-up for the VB Series finals as they thrashed South Africa by 57 runs at Sydney. Gilchrist slammed 88 from 66 deliveries to guarantee a massive total and Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn and Michael Hussey cashed in to catapult the side to 6 for 344. Only occasionally were the visitors in sight of the huge target.South Africa must now win their final game against Sri Lanka on Tuesday to meet Australia in the best-of-three finals and they must hope Shaun Pollock recovers quickly from a bruised heel. While Pollock rested, his bowling team-mates collected serious bruises from the home side’s batsmen which must heal if they are to make a further impact on the tournament.Gilchrist starred in the first act of an incredible performance, Martyn and Hussey finished it off with an 81-run stand from 9.1 overs, and the bowlers made sure their opponents rarely travelled at more than five an over. Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs gave South Africa a chance of keeping pace with an escalating run-rate, but each time they closed in a serious disruption arrived and they had to start again.Needing more than seven an over from the outset, they lost Graeme Smith to a sensational one-handed, legside take from Gilchrist before Boeta Dippenaar (27) and Gibbs (46) departed after bright but ultimately inconsequential rallies. A one-day personal best of 76 drove Boucher and he clung on to the hope of a successful pursuit, but after launching two sixes in the same Brad Hogg over the pressure of having to find – or clear – the boundary told.His attempt at a third six fell about five metres short and was caught by James Hopes. As the match lost its impact despite the excitement of Johan van der Wath’s four sixes, spectators thronged to the exit, which was a turnaround from the opening ten overs as people raced to their seats.Gilchrist lit up the innings in an amazing example of power driving and was on target for a huge score – he admitted at the dinner break he thought about a double-century – until he miscued a pull from Charl Langeveldt in the 18th over. His one other moment of difficulty was an lbw shout on 65, but the rest of the time he charged at the South African attack with 14 boundaries.His fifty came in the eighth over from 29 deliveries as van der Wath and Monde Zondeki, who was subbed in the 14th over after giving up 42 from four, were punished. Driving, cutting and flicking, Gilchrist was unstoppable no matter how many men Graeme Smith placed on the offside.Smith delayed his second Powerplay after Australia were 121 from 15 overs and the ploy worked as Gilchrist went to the relief of the bowlers and the disappointment of a buoyant crowd. Ricky Ponting took Gilchrist’s lead and drove superbly as he collected eight boundaries in his 72 from 61 deliveries and it was such a powerful team display that it felt like Martyn was crawling, even though a fierce pull brought up his half-century from 55 balls.Hussey played his usual role of late-over storming to pound 47 from 33 and it seemed Australia could do nothing wrong as mis-hits and full-blooded strokes found the fence. In partnership with Martyn, who added a fine 79, Hussey dominated in muscular fashion and ended the innings with four fours and a six. It was an appropriate conclusion to a reign of terror begun by Gilchrist.The total lifted Australia, who were again missing Glenn McGrath after he ruled himself out due to his wife Jane’s cancer. He has also withdrawn from the finals to spend time with his family.South Africa had few moments of joy despite the early departures of Simon Katich and Andrew Symonds. van der Wath, who spilled 82 runs against Australia on Friday, was thrashed for 76 today while Andrew Hall gave up 69, and Smith and Johan Botha were pleased to go at the relatively quiet pace of five an over. The side has one game to set things right if they want a chance for finals revenge.

South AfricaGraeme Smith c Gilchrist b Lee 6 (1 for 7)
Boeta Dippenaar c Hussey b Clark 27 (2 for 52)
Herschelle Gibbs c Gilchrist b Symonds 46 (3 for 105)
Justin Kemp c Bracken b Hogg 28 (4 for 172)
Mark Boucher c Hopes b Symonds 76 (5 for 199)
Ashwell Prince run out 25 (6 for 236)
Australia
Simon Katich c Kemp b van der Wath 11 (1 for 65)
Adam Gilchrist c Boucher b Langeveldt 88 (2 for 138)
Andrew Symonds c Hall b Smith 7 (3 for 168)
Ricky Ponting c Gibbs b Botha 72 (4 for 203)
Michael Clarke c Rudolph b Hall 27 (5 for 263)
Damien Martyn run out 79 (6 for 344)

Shane Warne dropped a simple catch at Christchurch and also watched Michael Clarke spill one from his own bowling© Getty Images

Australia’s skills training is neglected on tour and is one of the reasons for a spate of dropped catches, according to the coach John Buchanan. The slips catching has declined since the days of Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh, and it has been so bad this season that 15 of the remarkably high 18 misses in the past five Tests have come from the cordon.Buchanan said the record was a worry but travel and lack of time reduced the emphasis placed on catching. “One of the difficulties for a side that’s been on tour since mid-August is that the skill training is neglected because we’re in competition all the time,” he told The Australian. “Things like slips catching, even though we do a fair amount of it, are limited in terms of the length of time we can do it. You can also notice that our hit ratio on the stumps probably peaks somewhere in the middle of the season and tails off towards the end.”Buchanan said a touring side didn’t have the luxury of spending two or three days in hard training before resting, and by the end of the season it was more of a problem. In the first Test against New Zealand last week Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Shane Warne dropped easy catches while Michael Clarke spilled a sharp rebounding effort at first slip off Warne. Australia’s cordon was rearranged to cope with Matthew Hayden’s injured right shoulder, but he should return to his usual position at gully for the second Test starting at Wellington on Friday.

Sui Gas fast bowler Wasim Khan claimed a match haul of 14-97 to guide his unfancied team to an innings and 59 run victory over Habib Bank in the second round of the Inter-Department Qualifying Tournament at Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot on Sunday.
Wasim, who took 8-41 in HBL’s first innings score of 97, captured 6-56 in the second innings as Habib Bank, resuming at 145-4, were bundled out for 193. Sui Gas, in their only innings, had scored 349-5 from 83 overs.Pakistan pacer Umar Gul was also in devastating form with a match haul of 10-111 to inspire PIA to an innings and 17 run victory over Pak PWD at the Quaid-e-Azam Park in Karachi. Umar, who took 5-51 in the first innings, snapped up 5-60 in the second as Pak PWD, starting the day at 49-5, were dismissed for 166.Naved-ul-Hasan (6-25) and Aqeel Ahmed (4-7) routed Pakistan Army for a modest 68 to earn Wapda victory by an innings and 127 runs at the Pindi Stadium.Azam Hussain picked up 7-38 runs to bowl DHA to a 10-wicket victory over KESC at the UBL Sports Complex.Scores in brief (day 3 of 3):Pool A:
At Quaid-e-Azam Park, Pak PWD 144 in 52 overs (Zeeshan Pervaiz 33, Umar Gul 5-51, Fazle Akbar 3-32, Nadeem Khan 2-31) and 166 (Ahmer Saeed 57, Umar Gul 5-60, Nadeem Khan 3-39) vs PIA 327-5 in 83 overs (Kamran Sajid 124, Yasir Hameed 127, Bazid Khan 31). PIA won by an innings and 17 runs.
At PCB Academy, Pakistan Navy 86 in 37.4 overs (Junaid Zia 6-19, Imran Ali 3-29) and 279 (Mohammad Ali 50, Kamran Ahmed 47, Rashid Ali 82*, Shahid Mahmood 5-49, Imran Ali 4-47) vs Customs 312 (Kashif Siddique 76, Azhar Shafiq 65, Junaid Zia 47, Bilal Khilji 33, Farman Shah 3-88) and 54-0. Customs won by 10 wickets.
At UBL Sports Complex, KESC 156 in 58 overs (Javed Mansoor [3×4, 108b, Kamran B. Mansoor 42 [5×4, 106b], Azam Hussain 7-38) and 127 (Daniyal Ehsan 30, Azam Hussain 6-38) vs DHA 196-9 in 83 overs (Aamir Iqbal 97 [4×6, 78b], Wajid Ali 36, Saeed Khan 3-61) and 88-2 (Asif Zakir 59 not out). DHA won by eight wickets.Pool B:
At KRL Stadium, KRL 213 in 80.5 overs (Saeed bin Nasir 89 [13×4, 181b], Yasir Arafat 41 [6×4, 2×6, 38b], Mohammad Khalil 4-51, Mohammad Hussain 4-85) and 154 (Saeed Anwar Jnr 54, Ali Naqvi 42, Mohammad Hussain 6-35) vs PTCL 112 in 50.5 overs (Yasir Arafat 3-22, Ali Naqvi 3-23, Mohammad Asif 3-25) and 156-6 (Shahzad Malik 59 not out, Mohammad Idrees 36 not out). Match drawn.
At Army Cricket Ground, Pakistan Army 160 (Zubair Watoo 44, Farooq Iqbal 3-7) and 68 (Naved-ul-Hasan 6-25, Aqeel Ahmed 4-7) vs Wapda 355 in 71.5 overs (Mohammad Zaman 76, Tariq Aziz 62, Atiq-ur-Rehman 47, Hasan Adnan 47, Nabeel 3-36, Zubair Watoo 3-74). Wapda won by an innings and 127 runs.
At Shalimar Ground, POF 260-8 in 83 overs (Ahsan Masood 90, Mohammad Usman Tahir 62, Imran Ali 41, Naseer Ahmed 4-83) and 57-0 vs PTV 185 (Khalid Latif 46, Fayyaz Ahmed 35, Suleman Khan 31, Rashid Latif 3-29, Jamil Ahmed 3-40). Match drawn.Pool C:
At Railway Stadium, Railway 295 in 83 overs (Afzal Shah 75 [9×4, 146b], Asif Butt 50 [5×6, 30b], Khalid Bashir 40, Fahad-ul-Haq 40 [4×4, 68b], Mohammad Shoaib 3-33, Atif Ijaz 2-50, Shoaib Maqsood 2-78) and 288 (Javed Iqbal 106*, Shakeel Ahmed 70, Fahad-ul-Haq 37, Shoaib Maqsood 4-88) vs HEC 265 in 83 overs (Amjad Ali 61, Atif Ijaz 43, Khalid Bashir 6-54). Match drawn.
At Country Club Muridke, ZTBL 282 in 77.1 overs (Zeeshan Mohsin 46, Zahoor Elahi 42, Javed Hayat 40, Faisal Naveed 37, Imran Abbas 30, Aleem Moosa 3-85, Mohammad Javed 3-56) and 279-4 (Naved Qureshi 188, Imran Abbas 108*) vs NBP 325-3 in 83 overs (Salman Butt 190, Naumanullah 76, Akhtar Sarfraz 39 not out). Match drawn.
At Gymkhana Ground Okara, PAF 302-9 in 83 overs (Shakeel Sharif 118, Naseer-ud-Din 45, Nadeem Farooqi 33, Rizwan Ahmed 4-67) and 251-4 (Rashid Butt 105, Tufail Ahmed 56) vs Service Industries 300 in 83 overs (Asif Iqbal 137, Kashif Nizami 46, Tahir Masood 33, Mohammad Asif 32, Naseer-ud-din 4-107, Asif Khan 3-89). Match drawn.Pool D:
At Jinnah Stadium Sialkot, HBL 97 in 22.3 overs (Wasim Khan 8-41) and 193 (Saleem Elahi 65, extras 43, Wasim Khan 6-56) vs Sui Gas 349-5 in 83 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 152, Misbah-ul-Haq 79, Ali Hussain 40, Sohail Idrees 32, Abdul Rehman 3-100). Sui Gas won by an innings and 59 runs.
At Saga Ground, PEB 52 in 16.3 overs (Abdul Rauf 5-36, Tanvir Ahmed 4-15) and 128 (Shahid Pervez Abbasi 67, Tahir Mughal 3-20, Abdul Rauf 2-40, Tanvir Ahmed 2-20) vs ABL 252-2 in 42 overs declared (Wajahatullah Wasti 107*, Farhan Adil 65, Ijaz Ahmed Jnr 35 not out). Allied Bank won by an innings and 72 runs.
At Jinnah Stadium Gujranwala, Saga 292 in 74.5 overs (Ashraf Ali 107, Kamran Younis 42, Shaiman Butt 39, Mustafa Bashir 4-83, Usman Nabi 3-69) and 31-1 vs LEO International 111 in 32 overs (Umair Khan 4-19, Tauqeer Hussain 4-44) and 190 (Safdar Niazi 50, Hasnain Abbas 37, Fahad Liaquat 31, Tauqeer Hussain 6-61). Saga won by nine wickets.

Nathan Astle’s blazing innings dominated Canterbury’s eight-wicket humiliation of Central Districts in their State Shield match at Jade Stadium today.Canterbury were replying to CD’s disappointing 147 and any thought that there must have been something wrong, with a pitch that admittedly was being used for the third time, were allayed with the attacking approach employed by Astle and his partner in arms, Shanan Stewart.It is a long way from the bowling standards of the State Shield to that to be experienced against Australia and South Africa, but for the sheer manner in which he was hitting the ball there had to be great encouragement for the form that he will take to Adelaide at the weekend.Put baldly his statistics were: 50 off 55 balls (five fours and three sixes), 100 off 78 balls (15 fours and four sixes). An opening stand of 130 with Stewart off 135 balls.Stewart was out for 45 in the penultimate over of the innings.With his century, Astle became the scorer of most centuries in domestic one-day cricket. It was his seventh century and took him past Roger Twose on the all-time list.It was the fourth fastest domestic one-day century in New Zealand. Aravinda de Silva hit one off 65 balls for Auckland while others were Llorne Howell (72 balls), Craig McMillan (77) and Astle (78).Astle said the innings was good for his confidence.”The selectors have been consistent in their policy about proving fitness after some problems in the past and that is fair enough.”I haven’t picked up a bat since I broke my hand, apart from 30-40 minutes on a bowling machine at Lincoln on Friday,” he said after his innings today.He scored 35 off 34 balls against Auckland on Sunday.Astle said he had been mainly running and doing gym work to keep fit while recovering from his injury and had not even been able to play golf.”I really tried to watch the ball today and my hand felt fine.”Central Districts were a good test for me, especially [Michael] Mason and [Brent] Hefford, as they do try to bounce the ball. It was a shame that the pitch was not a little quicker before going to Australia.”I’m looking forward to getting over there. The guys are playing outstandingly but there are four tough games to go and we have still got a little work to do,” he said.Astle leaves for Adelaide on Thursday morning.He gave all of the bowlers the sword with trademark cut shots, lofted off drives and one superb six over the midwicket boundary for a six to the longest boundary on the ground.He did give a life at 58 but Mason on the deep square leg boundary made a hash of it, a factor made worse when the ball trickled over the boundary to take Astle to 62.Earlier, the CD innings was a continuation of the batting woes that have afflicted the side this summer, and the only merit in it all was the 71 not out scored by Mathew Sinclair.He started his innings slowly, but coming in at No 5 with the score 17/3, he knew he had plenty of time to build a big innings. Unfortunately, the opportunity to blaze through the last couple of overs to lift his score even higher was denied him when the support ran out during the 48th over.Sinclair’s 50 took 89 balls and included only one four and one six, a measure of the care he took.The top order proved especially susceptible to the bowling of Chris Martin. The Canterbury international had been hammered by the Auckland attack on Sunday, but he came back today and had three wickets all caught in the slips for for 19 runs.Astle set up a good day by taking three wickets for 28 runs off nine overs.

The Bengal-Assam Cooch Behar Trophy Under 19 encounter ended on thesecond day itself after Bengal thrashed minnows Assam by an inningsand 140 runs. On winning the toss at the world famous Eden Gardenscricket ground at Calcutta, Assam put Bengal into bat. Apart fromlosing the toss, Bengal could do nothing wrong.Opener Arindam Das with a solid 133 (209 balls, 10 fours) gave Bengalexactly the kind of start they needed. Although his partner andskipper AP Chakraborty managed just 29, Arindam Das found an ablepartner in Subhamoy Das. Coming in at the fall of the first wicket,Subhamoy Das helped himself to 103 (141 balls, 10 fours, 1 six) andshared a partnership of 240 runs for the second wicket. Goodcontributions following the demise of the centurions saw Bengal reach336/4 in just 73 overs. Having declared at this stage, Bengal ruinedAssam’s chances by reducing them to 21/5. The first three batsmenfailed to score for Assam.On the second day, the misery continued for Assam as they slipped to42/8. A quick 35 from B Baruah at number nine enabled Assam to reach92 before being all out. Sabir Ali, who opened the bowling for Bengalreturned figures of 5/28 from his 12 overs. Having failed to make thecut, Assam were asked to follow on.In their second stint at the crease, the visiting side did onlymarginally better. They were shot out for 104, with all batsmenfailing once more. On this occasion it was Gourav Sharma who rippedthrough the batsmen, picking up 6/36 off 17 overs. What Sharma failedto do, Tanweer Hyder Khan finished, claiming the remaining wickets andbagging 4/22. In the end, Bengal had immense reason to celebrate,having registered a thumping win by an innings and 140 runs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMatthew Wade hit nine fours and seven sixes for his 130•K Sivaraman

Matthew Wade had the weight of four centuries in a year when he was first called up to the Australian team in 2011. The year 2015 has been similarly kind: he scored his third ton in seven months and has made it back to international cricket. His stroke-filled 130 off 106 balls set up a 108-run victory over South Africa A and ensured Australia A maintained a perfect record going into the final of the A-team tri-series in Chennai. The defeat meant that South Africa A were still not on the board after three matches, and they now need to secure a bonus-point win against India A tomorrow to stand any chance of qualifying for the final.Wade had been named captain in place of the rested Usman Khawaja. He called correctly at the toss, chose to bat and had to come out at No. 3 in the very first over. His first scoring shot was a six, helped of course by the fact that it was a free hit. His second and third hits were fours, and he was on his way. Wade’s bottom-handed strength was on show, the sweep shot being utilised frequently and effectively.Wade hit seven sixes and nine fours – 78 of his 130 runs – and that meant South Africa A muting the rest of the top five amounted to very little. He had 50 off 45 balls; his team had 78 on the board. His hundred came off 90 balls; his team had 158 on the board. The numbers give a clear indication of how the rest of the top-five fared: Chris Lynn’s 29 was the next best contribution.So long as Wade was at the crease, South Africa A were never allowed the upper hand. He was gracious enough to pop a catch to square leg on 26, but Beuran Hendricks had overstepped and the cost of that mistake kept growing.The game held little consequence for Australia A. Seven of their numbers will take the field in Chennai on Friday morning for the tri-series final, and then leave for London later at night no matter what had happened today. So giving Wade some batting practice considering he is the only specialist wicketkeeper chosen in the Australian ODI team was sensible: His scores on this tour before today had been 5, 34*, 11 and 2.”We had a chat with selectors, Trevor Hohns is here, and the coaches had a chat before,” Wade said. “They let me know I was going to captain and they wanted me to just go up and have a hit. We’d already qualified for the final so that’ll go back to normal, I’m guessing. Usman will come out and bat at the top and I’ll probably slip down to No. 6.”The impact of having a set batsman at the crease became clear in South Africa A’s chase. Only Dean Elgar with 64 off 85 balls and Khaya Zondo with 47 not out off 49 offered any resistance. The rest of the batsmen struggled for timing, and were outclassed by the Australian bowlers, as five single-digit scores would suggest.Nathan Coulter-Nile, who is among those headed to England, produced a brilliant spell of 7-1-8-2. The only runs scored off him were singles and the wickets he took were off back-to-back deliveries: He bounced Cameron Delport out on a slow pitch and sent Theunis de Bryun’s stumps crashing with an indipper. The hat-trick ball took Elgar’s edge, but it fell short of the slips. Technically, it can be said that he’d created four chances in four balls: the one prior to Delport’s wicket took Reeza Hendricks’ outside edge but was shelled at second slip by a diving Lynn.The new ball left South Africa A at 37 for 3 and as it got older, spinners Ashton Agar and Cameron Boyce took control. They shared six wickets between them as the score slumped from 142 for 4 to 148 for 8. Defeat came not long after.There is an argument that South Africa A have not been able to put their best XI on the park. Quinton de Kock and Wayne Parnell were still recuperating from the stomach bug that had “ravaged” the team a few days ago. Lonwabo Tsotsobe, at the post-match press conference, would not confirm the source of the illness but did mention that de Kock and Parnell had been advised rest by the doctors.”We had food at the Hard Rock and then we had food at the hotel. So you can’t really say which one it was,” Tsotsobe said. “Those were the orders from the doctor and you can’t do anything if the doctor tells you to rest. But like I said earlier, it’s [picking the XI] up to the coaches and we’ll see tomorrow.”

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has now dropped his verdict on the rumours linking Newcastle United with a shock move for PSG superstar Neymar.

The Lowdown: Neymar reports

As per reports from Spain, the St. James’ Park faithful are one of three clubs who want to sign Neymar in the summer, along with both Manchester City and FC Barcelona.

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PSG are reportedly open to letting him go, following their exit from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid, and there are very few clubs who could handle the financial burden of such a move.

The Latest: O’Rourke reveal

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, journalist O’Rourke has revealed that Neymar would consider a move to the North East club, but only once the project ‘gets off the ground’:

“Neymar, it’s a bit of a pipe dream that one.

“I don’t think Newcastle will be looking to do that one, or that Neymar would be considering wanting to join Newcastle.

“He’d wait on the project to get off the ground really [before considering it].”

The Verdict: Exciting

The fact that the Tyneside outfit are even being linked with a player like Neymar is exciting in itself.

Yes, it may take a few years before the long-term project starts to really kick in, but the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still performing well into their 30s, and there is no reason why the Brazilian superstar cannot do the same.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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He has already had such a decorated career, and may now want to test himself in the Premier League, should the Champions League trophy ultimately desert him in France.

Nonetheless, even if not this summer, this is a deal that the ambitious new owners could one day have in the pipeline.

In other news, find out which ‘explosive’ 6 ft 4 ‘phenomenon’ NUFC now ‘would like’ to sign here!

Yuvraj Singh: “I am delighted that Sourav [Ganguly] and I hauled the team out of a tough situation, from 61 for 4” © AFP

When Yuvraj Singh cracked a sensational 358 in the final of the Cooch Behar Trophy – an under-19 tournament – in 1999-2000, his father is supposed to have admonished him for not going on to make a quadruple century. He expected another call today, talking about a double-hundred, but one which came with heartfelt congratulations as well.”One hundred and sixty-nine is a lot of runs,” said Yuvraj, talking about his third Test hundred, all of which have come against Pakistan. “I should have got 200, and I am disappointed from a personal point of view that I did not. But I am delighted that Sourav and I hauled the team out of a tough situation, from 61 for 4. What is most important for me is that the team is in a good position.”It’s been nearly 18 months since Yuvraj last played in a Test and he admitted to the frustrations during the intervening period. He was also aware that he could miss out when India walk out to the park in Melbourne to take on Australia on Boxing Day. “It feels bad to sit out, but you must see how many great players we have in the middle order,” he said. “Rahul, Sachin, Laxman and Sourav all have very good Test records. Going out to bat today, I wasn’t worried about the Australia tour and whether I can secure my place in the XI. I wanted to play for the team, to help the team win the Test.”Was he hurt at being left out for so long, despite staking his claim so emphatically in the one-day arena? “I had a very bad Test series in the West Indies, and after that, the rest of the batsmen all played well,” he said. “I have myself to blame. I stayed motivated, worked hard on my game, and was determined to take my chance when it came my way again. I always knew that I could do well in Test cricket. You have time to settle down and play yourself in. To me, Test cricket is the main thing.”

Yuvraj might have hogged the headlines today but [Yasir] Arafat’s chance will come. With a name like that, headline writers will struggle to control the urge

Yuvraj walked in with India in a pickle. Yasir Arafat, the debutant medium-pacer, had made a mess of the top order by surprising a few with zip off the pitch. The pitch assisted him, as Arafat himself admitted, but it still required a good spell to remove three prized scalps. Hailing from Rawalpindi, he doesn’t possess the furious pace of his city-mate Shoaib Akhtar but makes up with accuracy. In fact one Pakistan newspaper recently referred to him as the [in contrast with the more speedy ].Arafat had to first come to terms with making his debut. By the first session, he was enjoying a fairytale start. “I was playing domestic cricket in Pakistan and I didn’t think I will be called up,” he said. “People consider me as an allrounder suited to one-dayers. I was surprised I got a call up. I didn’t think much about Tests. But I got a chance because of injuries. And now I’ve made a debut. The pitch was supporting the fast bowlers early on. I wanted to bowl on and outside off and got wickets because of that. But I didn’t think I’ll get such important wickets so early.”The rest of the day wasn’t as rosy. “After lunch it became a good wicket. It was playing very easy, like a good batting track. It was very frustrating for me and the team. But again, they played well. But credit to the batsmen. Yuvraj is a very talented cricketer and his innings was tremendous today.” Yuvraj might have hogged the headlines today but Arafat’s chance will come. With a name like that, headline writers will struggle to control the urge.