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Fiorentina have made an approach for Real Madrid defender David Alaba, with the Serie A side pushing to sign the Austrian after his injury setbacks.

Fiorentina open talks with Madrid for AlabaLos Blancos ready to let him leave on a free transferAustrian has struggled with injuries in recent seasonsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to , Madrid have received an approach from Fiorentina for Alaba, who has fallen out of favour at the Santiago Bernabeu after two injury-hit seasons. The 33-year-old Austrian defender has featured sparingly since suffering a serious knee injury, playing just 599 minutes in nearly 18 months. With Los Blancos well-stocked in defence thanks to Dean Huijsen Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao and Raul Asencio, the club are open to letting the veteran depart, even on a free transfer, to ease their wage bill.

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Alaba, once a key figure in Madrid’s defence after his move from Bayern Munich, has been hampered by repeated fitness problems. Earning €22.5 million (£19m/$26m) annually, his wages are a strain for the Whites, who are focusing on younger defensive options. Fiorentina are looking to strengthen their backline, particularly with Pietro Comuzzo expected to move to Saudi Arabia. The Serie A side see Alaba’s experience as crucial, though they are also linked with former Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof.

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Saudi Pro League clubs such as Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli have previously been linked with Alaba, but none made formal offers. According to reports, La Viola are putting together a two-year contract proposal, hoping to lure the defender with the promise of regular football something he craves ahead of next summer’s World Cup.

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AFPWHAT NEXT FOR ALABA?

Alaba’s entourage had maintained he would stay at Madrid, but Fiorentina’s concrete approach could change the situation quickly. If terms are agreed, the Serie A club will move fast to close the deal before the window shuts.

Emi Martinez has been dropped from the Aston Villa squad amid speculation linking him with Manchester United but Marc Guehi starts for Crystal Palace.

Martinez left out of squad for Palace clashHas been linked with a move to Man UtdGuehi in starting XI after Palace receive Liverpool offerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Aston Villa have announced their starting lineup for Sunday evening's clash against Palace at home, with Martinez dropped from the team and not even named among the substitutes amid growing speculation that he could join United this summer. Meanwhile, Guehi has retained his place in the Palace starting XI after the club received a fresh bid from Liverpool earlier this week.

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On Sunday, reports emerged claiming United and Villa are exploring the option to include Jadon Sancho in a swap deal involving Martinez. Per the Red Devils have already reached a personal agreement with the Argentine goalkeeper, despite keeping a keen eye on Senne Lammens. Interestingly, Villa have made a formal approach to Royal Antwerp for Lammens, who has a €25 million (£21.5m/$29m) price tag attached him.

Meanwhile, reported late on Saturday that Liverpool tabled a fresh £35m (€41m/$48m) bid for Guehi, who has just one year left on his contract at Selhurst Park. Although Palace boss Oliver Glasner has expressed his desire to retain the star defender this season, the Eagles are desperate to avoid losing Guehi on a free transfer next summer, which could prompt them to accept the Reds' bid.

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In response to Liverpool's interest in Guehi, English media reported that Palace are interested in signing Joe Gomez to fill the potential void in defence. A loan move is expected to be rejected swiftly, as Liverpool are keen on cashing in on Gomez. Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has also caught Palace's eye.

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Getty/GOALWHAT NEXT?

With the game between Villa and Palace set to be the final fixture before the international break, one can't help but wonder which colours Martinez and Guehi will don once club football resumes in a fortnight.

Frenkie de Jong has voiced his frustration after Netherlands surrendered a lead to draw 1-1 with Poland in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.

De Jong criticised Netherlands’ lack of energy vs PolandThe Dutch remain top of Group G despite dropping points at homeKoeman’s side face Iceland next in the World Cup qualifiersFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

De Jong has voiced his frustration after the Netherlands surrendered a lead to draw 1-1 with Poland in their World Cup qualifier in Rotterdam. The Dutch took a first-half lead through Denzel Dumfries but were pegged back by a late Matty Cash goal. Speaking to after the game, a disappointed De Jong slammed his team's second-half performance, stating that the "energy did wane a bit" and that they failed to put Poland under sustained pressure. 

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The dropped points are a significant blow to the Netherlands' campaign in a tightly contested Group G. While the result keeps them in first place on goal difference, they missed the chance to create a cushion at the top. They are now level on seven points with both Poland and Finland. The draw will be particularly frustrating given Ronald Koeman's team's statistical dominance, which included 74% possession and more than double the number of shots as their opponents.

WHAT DE JONG SAID

De Jong said: “No, not necessarily [did I see the equaliser coming]. But in the second half, the energy did wane a bit. I didn’t feel like we were really pinning them down, creating opportunity after opportunity and really putting them under pressure. I think the second half was a bit less successful.

"I don’t know why things went better in the first half than in the second. Sometimes it has to do with positioning. And choices on the ball, and how you position yourself when you lose possession. But on the other hand, they weren’t really dangerous, except for that long-range shot that went in."

Asked if he was satisfied with the result, he said: "No, no, no. If you draw at home, you can never be satisfied. It doesn’t necessarily affect our self-confidence, but we simply have to win these kinds of matches at home. I think our self-confidence is still high."

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR NETHERLANDS?

The pressure now increases for the Oranje ahead of their next qualifying fixture against fourth-placed Lithuania on Sunday. De Jong's public criticism will serve as a demand for higher standards and a complete 90-minute performance from the squad. With the top of the group so congested, any further slip-ups, particularly in home matches, could jeopardise their chances of securing an automatic qualification spot and risk forcing them into the unpredictable play-off route.

The wicketkeeper-batter explains his decision to play for Lahore Qalandars rather than for England in Bangladesh

Umar Farooq07-Mar-20235:25

Billings: ‘I just want to play cricket consistently and not sit on the bench’

Sam Billings insists he has no regrets about his decision to miss ongoing England’s white-ball tour to Bangladesh in order to play for Lahore Qalandars in the PSL.Several England players without central contracts – including Alex Hales, Liam Dawson and Tymal Mills – opted to fulfil their more lucrative PSL deals rather than travelling to Bangladesh, and Billings made the same decision after guarantees that he would play for Qalandars, rather than running the drinks.Related

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Billings, Shafique and Rashid put Qalandars in the PSL play-offs

Key: 'Life-changing' franchise deals are hard for non-contracted players to turn down

Final countdown: How might England line up for their World Cup defence?

Billings averages 47.88 with a strike rate of 91.12 in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup, but has not been a regular member of England’s white-ball squads in the last year. At 31, and with the World Cup in India approaching later this year, he believes he needs to ensure he is playing as much cricket as possible rather than warming the bench.”It wasn’t that I made myself unavailable,” Billings told ESPNcricinfo. “I had a long chat with Rob Key [England’s managing director] and Jos Buttler, and I felt the stage of my career I’m at, I need to be playing cricket.”That England team is very hard to get into. I went to the ODIs in Australia, did OK, and over the last few years, I’ve averaged nearly 50 in ODI cricket at a strike rate of 91. So in terms of stacking up numbers over a period of time in that format, I feel like I’ve done that.”At my age, I just need to be playing cricket and enjoying my cricket. It’s such a complex situation because guys who aren’t contracted are severely losing out when it comes to the kind of playing in these tournaments, or not playing in this tournament.”So that was the decision I made. With Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, and Jonny Bairstow [to potentially return] there’s no guarantee that I’d be in that World Cup team. I feel like I’ve done enough to be in and around the mix and my game is suited to subcontinent conditions. The message that I got was: if you’re scoring runs, wherever it is, that’s what they’re going to have to select from anyway.”Sam Billings has pulled out of the upcoming IPL to focus on the County Championship•Getty ImagesEngland only have seven more ODIs scheduled before the 2023 World Cup, playing four against New Zealand and three against Ireland in September. They are likely to submit their provisional World Cup squad to the ICC before the start of the New Zealand series, and Billings believes he could still force his way into the squad with a strong home summer.”There’s a lot of cricket to be played,” he said. “If I go home, dominate county cricket, dominate the Hundred, it puts me in a really good place to be picked for the World Cup. That’s the way I’m looking at it.”I’m becoming a lot better at just dealing with what’s in front of me. Right now, I’m focusing purely on the PSL, on winning the PSL and doing everything I can to help the team to do that. Then I move on to Kent and [being] club captain at Kent; then I’m captain of the Oval Invincibles for the Hundred, so I’ve got a lot of cricket before.”The idea is, if I play well, if I’m playing in winning teams and contributing to winning teams, that gives me the best chance of being in the World Cup. I know my game suits the subcontinent in terms of playing spin, especially in 50-over cricket. A lot can change and it’s a long time until the World Cup.”When asked if he regretted missing the Bangladesh tour, Billings said: “No. Everyone wants to play for England, of course, they do. [But] I’m 31, I’ve run the drinks for eight years. I just want to play cricket, enjoy my cricket.

“I just want to be playing cricket consistently and not sit on the bench. I just want to get the most out of my career, the rest of my career.”Sam Billings

“It’s a different mindset when you don’t feel like you’re playing for your position every single game. This franchise [Lahore Qalandars] has put a huge amount of trust in me and said, ‘you’re going to bat and you’re going to keep wicket. You’re an integral part of the team.'”That mindset, knowing that you will get a full competition or a full run of games, you see so many players benefit from it and I think it’s a lot healthier headspace for me to be in: I can actually just go out and enjoy my cricket as opposed to feeling like I have to go score every single time I bat.”Billings has enjoyed more success in white-ball cricket than red-ball cricket, but won three Test caps last year as an understudy to Ben Foakes. He pulled out of the upcoming IPL, having played for Kolkata Knight Riders on an INR 2 crore (£200,000 approx.) deal in 2022. The IPL clashes with the start of the County Championship, and he opted to spend April and May playing for Kent, to give himself a chance of selection for the Ashes this summer.”It’s the modern-day player: you have to kind of manage these different things,” Billings said. “I’ve got a huge ambition to still play Test cricket. I’ve played three Tests, and loved every minute of it. It’s the most rewarding format of the game. For me, I felt with the home Ashes – again, if I go home, score some runs in the early season and really dominate county cricket, then that gives me the best chance of getting back in that Test team.”As an English player right now, everyone wants to be a part of that team. You see the enjoyment they’re playing with. You see the environment that’s being created and the cricket that they’re playing. There’s no bigger series than the Ashes for an English player and an Australian player, so it was just a case of giving myself the best chance again.”Last year, in the IPL, I played a bit, I didn’t play a bit. Again, I just want to be playing cricket consistently and not sit on the bench. I just want to get the most out of my career, the rest of my career, and I felt like that’s the best option for me.”

Nuno Espirito Santo could walk away from Nottingham Forest despite his team's incredible performances this season.

Article continues below

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Nuno helped Forest avoid relegation last termGuided them to top-seven finish this time aroundCould leave amid issues with club's ownerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Forest have secured a place in the top seven of the Premier League and are in with a chance of qualifying for the Champions League heading into the last game of the 2024-25 campaign.

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Despite their rise up the table – Forest finished 17th last season – the prospect of the Portuguese manager leaving is being talked about within the club, reports. Meanwhile, reports that Italian side Roma are interested in hiring him.

DID YOU KNOW?

Espirito Santo and club owner Evangelos Marinakis were involved in a heated confrontation on the field recently, though the latter denied there was a problem between the two in a furious statement. The former Wolves and Tottenham boss took charge of Forest in late-2023 and helped guide them to Premier League safety on the final game of last season. His current contract runs until 2026.

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR FOREST?

Forest finish the season with a home game against Chelsea, who are fourth in the table, and it remains to be seen if it will be the 51-year-old's last game at the helm.

Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube played key roles with the bat as CSK won by six wickets

Deivarayan Muthu22-Mar-20242:42

Will Mustafizur play a big role in games in Chennai?

Chennai Super Kings, under a brand-new captain, enjoyed a winning start to their defence of the IPL title in front of a raucous Chepauk crowd on Friday night. Mustafizur Rahman, who was among four debutants for CSK, took out four of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s top five in the space of ten balls to set up an eighth successive defeat for RCB in Chennai.Rachin Ravindra, who was playing his first IPL game, also played his part in the victory, with 37 off 15 balls at a strike rate of 246.66 on a pitch that slowed down later in the night. In his first game as CSK captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad started with a first-ball four, but RCB’s Impact Player Yash Dayal cut his innings short on 15 in CSK’s chase of 174.Cameron Green and Alzarri Joseph then briefly silenced the Chepauk crowd with their contrasting styles. While Green bowled slower cutters into the pitch, Joseph operated at high speeds and generated steep bounce, taking the pitch out of the equation.2:42

Do RCB have an overseas combination problem?

Shivam Dube, who was working his way back from injury, replaced Mustafizur as an Impact Player for CSK and laboured to 7 off 13 balls. But he then turned up the tempo to usher CSK home with an unbeaten 34 off 28 balls along with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored an unbeaten 25 off 17. MS Dhoni didn’t get to bat in the chase, but perhaps this is what he had hoped for when he handed over the keys of the CSK kingdom to Gaikwad.RCB’s Jekyll-and-Hyde powerplayAfter opting to bat in what was his first IPL game as an opposition player in Chennai, Faf du Plessis dashed out of the blocks, hitting seven fours in the first three overs. He latched on to any width that Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande offered, repeatedly pumping them over the off-side infield. Gaikwad got into the act and pushed extra cover back to deep cover and, on cue, Mustafizur had du Plessis holing out to Rachin Ravindra there for 35 off 21 balls. Three balls later, Mustafizur found a bit of extra bounce to have Rajat Patidar nicking off for a duck. Then, in the final over of the powerplay, Chahar had Glenn Maxwell guiding one straight into Dhoni’s gloves, also for a duck.After being on 37 for no loss in the first four overs, RCB lost three wickets for five runs in the next two.1:26

Moody: ‘RCB were predictable with short-ball plan’

Mustafizur goes bang-bang once againMustafizur then returned in the 12th over and dismissed Virat Kohli and Green in the space of three balls. While Kohli dragged a pull off a seam-up delivery to deep midwicket for 21 off 20 balls, Green was bowled by a whippy cutter for 18 off 22 balls. It was Mustafizur’s second double-wicket over.Mustafizur might not even have played had CSK’s death-overs specialist Matheesha Pathirana been fit. He ended up with figures of 4-0-29-4 on a night where the other two seamers in his team – Chahar and Deshpande – went at well over nine an over. When Pathirana returns to action, CSK will have a happy selection headache.Rawat and Karthik prop up RCBThat RCB finished with 173 for 6 was down to a counterattacking 95-run partnership for the sixth wicket off just 50 balls that ended off the last ball of the innings courtesy a Dhoni direct hit.At one stage, RCB went 28 balls without a boundary, but Rawat then hit two in six balls to set RCB up for the end overs. He then walloped Deshpande for 6,6, 4 in a 25-run 18th over. At the other end, Karthik looked rusty to start with, but mixed power with inventiveness to give RCB’s innings more impetus.Dube gets the job done for CSKAfter CSK lost Gaikwad in the powerplay, Ravindra lined up RCB’s quicks with pulls and pick-up shots. He even whacked Karn Sharma over midwicket for six, but when he went for another six, he holed out to deep square-leg.Ajinkya Rahane (27 off 19 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (22 off 18) made cameos to take the chase deep in typical CSK style. But when Green snagged Mitchell, CSK still needed 64 off 45 balls. The two-bouncer rule empowered Joseph to run in hard and hit the deck even harder. Dube, however, just about passed the short-ball test and sealed the chase with six wickets and eight balls to spare.

Alex Iwobi has been banned by Fulham from posting behind-the-scenes videos on social media, with the Nigeria international threatened with a fine.

Nigeria international likes to have funLifted the lid on life in the dressing roomForced to stop on advice of the CottagersFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Ex-Arsenal and Everton midfielder Iwobi has been giving fans exclusive access to life in the dressing room since his days at Goodison Park. He has been on the books at Craven Cottage since 2023.

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The 29-year-old tries to play with a smile and does his best to keep morale high in training. During pre-season camps, Iwobi has often treated supporters to Snapchat videos that see him mingling with club colleagues.

DID YOU KNOW?

He has captured himself singing with former team-mate Dominic Calvert-Lewin, while sharing clips of Adama Traore and Calvin Bassey wrestling at Fulham, but Iwobi is having to put the camera down for now.

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WHAT IWOBI SAID

Iwobi said in a Snapchat post: "For those that are wondering why I haven't been snapping BTS in the changing room, one person in the media team has been saying I haven't been catching the right stuff.

"So, there's no more BTS. They also said I might get fined if I continue to do so, they're trying to ban snap in our changing room. That's why I ain't been snapping BTS, it's a shame, I know you guys enjoy seeing what my team-mates are like behind the scenes. But, I have to respect the rules."

Royals’ show equalled the record for the highest successful chase in IPL history, which they had held since 2020

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Apr-20242:53

Bishop: ‘Buttler definitely among the great white-ball players of our generation’

Jos Buttler started slightly slow as Rajasthan Royals (RR) aimed to travel at more than 11 an over, making only 25 off his first 18 balls. He was at the crease during what seemed like a debilitating mid-innings slowdown, in which Royals scored only 30 from six overs, and lost three wickets in that time.But although clearly still struggling with the injury that kept him out of the last RR game, and although rapidly running out of batting partners, Buttler stayed the course. He was there turning down singles in the 18th over, after Rovman Powell got out following a decent cameo. He was there to clobber two sixes and a four off the penultimate over, to get the equation down to nine off the final six balls.Related

Smart Stats – Buttler's 107* tops batting performances list, allrounder Narine the MVP so far

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And despite Varun Chakravarthy having bowled three dots in that final over, Buttler was there to heroically hit the winning run off the final ball of the match. Off the first ball of that over, he had also bashed a six down the ground that made RR the clear favourites to get over the line, and in the course of that completed his second century this IPL, to follow the 100 not out he had struck against Royal Challengers Bengaluru only ten days ago.Buttler’s feat meant that Sunil Narine’s century, a staggering accomplishment in itself, was overshadowed. As were his figures of 2 for 30 off four overs.Rovman Powell’s 13-ball 26 put the Royals chase back on track•AFP/Getty ImagesThe 17th over of the chase
After 16 overs of Royals’ innings, they needed 62 runs off 24 balls, six of which were to be bowled by Narine, who had not conceded a boundary up till then.But Rovman Powell then walloped two sixes and a four off the first three balls of the 17th over, which Narine bowled, and suddenly Royals’ challenge didn’t seem so sharp. Narine, however, would nail Powell lbw with the fifth ball of that over.Shreyas Iyer fined for slow over-rate

Shreyas Iyer, the Kolkata Knight Riders captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate against Rajasthan Royals in their last-ball defeat at Eden Gardens on Tuesday. As it was KKR’s first offence of the season – in six games – Iyer was fined INR 12 lakh.

The last three overs
With Powell gone, and no batter he could trust to hand the strike over to, this is where Buttler really shone. He smashed a six down the ground first ball of Starc’s last over, before swivel-pulling him around the corner for four later in the over. Starc did not help himself by bowling five wides soon after, either.Then, with 28 required off 12, Buttler clobbered three sixes and a four off the next seven balls, never losing strike. With the requirement down to three off five, he bided his time. He collected two off the penultimate ball, then pierced a packed infield with a leg-side clip last ball to see RR to their sixth win this season, and arguably their most hard-earned one.3:16

Narine had told me a decade back that he would get a hundred – Bishop

The Narine show
As good as Buttler was, though, Narine was the game’s MVP – he just had less support from his team-mates. Though known as a powerplay aggressor, he let Phil Salt and Angkrish Raghuvanshi take the lead early on, before blooming in the middle overs against the spinners. He smacked R Aswhin for two sixes, and Yuzvendra Chahal for three, as both those bowlerse conceded in excess of 12 an over.It was Narine’s fours, though, that truly powered his innings. He hit 13 of them, all but four of them on the off side.Although Narine had been impressive through the middle overs, he also accelerated towards the death. He hit 35 runs off the last 14 balls he faced. Most impressively, he motored from 79 to KKR’s third IPL hundred in the space of one Chahal over, in which he crashed two sixes and two fours.Rinku Singh provided some closing fireworks to the KKR innings, but Narine’s best stand had been the 85-run second-wicket partnership with Raghuvanshi, who made only 30 of those runs. Such was Narine’s early dominance.

A selection of Cricinfo’s writers recall their favourite players

Cricinfo staff28-Jul-2005As the 2005 Ashes prepare for their second chapter, Cricinfo asks a selection of its writers and senior staff to recall their most memorable Ashes moments – good, bad or downright ugly. Last week, it was lows. Now it’s the favourite players

Jeff Thomson: a great example for impressionable teenagers © Getty Images
David Gower. Had to be; I am a sucker for romance. Even today, I can watch him in the mind’s eye, his bat wafting like gentle breeze, softly persuading the ball to its destination. He didn’t brutalise bowlers, he charmed them. I suspect even the bowlers found it tough to take offence while being taken apart by him. I switched off English cricket for years after he was cast aside callously. Sambit BalDarren Gough played in four Ashes series without getting close to winning, but he always gave his all and was accorded a rare honour by the Australians when they said he would make their side – as 12th man. Gough raised his game when he saw a baggy green and his efforts at Sydney in 1994 even earned the respect of the harsh local crowds. Andrew McGlashanDavid Gower. Jack Hobbs is the only English batsman to score more heavily against Australia but I bet he didn’t do it as stylishly. Gower scored runs in all conditions [he made hundreds at eight of the 11 grounds where he faced Australia] and in all circumstances. He regained the Ashes as captain [and lost them too] but faced triumph and disaster with equanimity. And then there’s the Tiger Moth incident and the theatre date that brought an early end to a press conference. You gotta love him. John SternJeff Thomson. Written off as a beach bum, the sight of him slinging England into oblivion on the highlights in the winter of 1974-75 sent shivers down my spine as I huddled in front of the fire; in the flesh the following summer, he was even more awesome. That spring, the nets at my school were full of 13-year-olds aping Thomson’s unique action, arching their backs and propelling balls in every direction except the right one, leading to the headmaster banning future impersonators. Add into the equation his hard-drinking, no-nonsense approach, and he was the ideal role model for impressionable teenagers. Martin WilliamsonRicky Ponting – you couldn’t fit that much flair into a warning signal. Edward CraigSteve Waugh. Four tours, four trophies, seven hundreds and the defining memory of three series – baggy-green wearing run-machine in ’89, Old Trafford scrapper in ’97 and 2001’s hobbling hero. Peter EnglishGlenn McGrath. Has there ever been a more relentless bowler? Michael Atherton might be the first to say nay. If Geoffrey Boycott invented the phrase, “corridor of uncertainty”, it was McGrath that constructed it, ball after ball, over after over, wicket after wicket. Since he came on the scene, England haven’t had a sniff, so much so that you fear for what will happen once he departs. Dileep PremachandranAngus Fraser. Lumbering, red-faced and knackered. Perpetually knackered. Fraser was the very antithesis of an athlete, which was why I rejoiced in his heroics all the more. With a run-up memorably described by Mike Selvey as “a man trampling through a nettle-bed pursued by a swarm of bees”, he produced one of the great futile performances in Ashes history – 6 for 82 at Melbourne in 1990-91, from 39 hip-jarring overs – before limping out of the game, seemingly for good. Two years later he returned with eight triumphant wickets at The Oval, and against all expectations, he was still hanging in there six winters later. Andrew Miller

Cricinfo looks at the stats highlights of the second day’s play

Kanishkaa Balachandran27-Dec-2006

Ashwell Prince needs another 95 to aggregate 1000 runs in Tests in 2006 © AFP
4 – The number of first-ball ducks in Virender Sehwag’s Test career. The first was against Australia at the Gabba in 2003. Today’s was the second such instance of him being dismissed in the slips.46* – Sachin Tendulkar’s highest Test score this year, going past his previous highest of 44 in the first Test at Johannesburg. Since the euphoria of beating Sunil Gavaskar’s record of 34 Test centuries last year, he has gone 13 innings without a fifty, and he would be looking to avoid a repeat of his run drought of 1991, the last time he went through a calendar year without a half-century.50.27 – Ashwell Prince’s Test average so far in 2006, a leap compared to his career average of 39.28. Prince’s purple patch this year includes three centuries and an aggregate of 905 runs in 11 matches. With his batting form in this series, the figure of 1000 shouldn’t be too tough to get.32 – The last wicket partnership between Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini. This is the second highest for the last wicket by South Africa against India, the highest being 74 between Brian McMillan and Allan Donald, coincidentally in the same venue, ten years ago.37 – Runs scored on the off side by Tendulkar. This included eight glorious boundaries.45 – Number of runs Prince scored off Sreesanth in 62 balls. Prince was particularly harsh on him, picking up eight boundaries.73 – Number of balls not scored off by India, out of 232 balls. Just like at the Wanderers, the South Africans didn’t make the batsmen play as much and allowed them to shoulder arms regularly.21 – Runs scored on the off side by Morne Morkel. All three boundaries were on the off side, indications that the Indian bowlers were guilty of giving him too much room to play his strokes.