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Aston Villa haven’t always been blessed with the greatest of goalscorers but in the last decade, the frontline at Villa Park has somewhat improved as the years have gone by.

Christian Benteke had great success, even earning a big-money move to Liverpool as a result, before failing to suit Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal football system. Tammy Abraham is another who starred for Villa – albeit in the Championship – and now Ollie Watkins is leading the line, showing glimpses of bursting into life under Steven Gerrard.

Whether the Midlands club target another forward this summer remains to be seen. With Danny Ings and Watkins to call on, though, Gerrard has plenty of firepower already at his disposal.

Last season, both had spells of promise, but failed to enjoy campaigns of consistency. In Gerrard’s first full season in charge, they’ll both be desperate to establish themselves as the starting strikers.

Watkins, in particular, at 26, will have the pressure on him to perform as he enters his theoretical prime. He may even look to follow in the footsteps of some of the players listed below, as revealed by TransferMarkt.

12/13: Christian Benteke – 30

The big Belgian was unstoppable at his peak, scoring 23 goals and recording a further seven assists in the 2012/13 season as Villa survived the drop. It remains his best goal scoring season in English football.

13/14: Christian Benteke – 13

Even though Benteke’s 2013/14 season didn’t quite live up to the prior campaign’s total of 30 goal contributions, he still managed to rank top out of Villa’s squad, recording 13 contributions. His 11 goals and two assists were enough to help his side avoid relegation once more.

14/15: Christian Benteke – 18

If it wasn’t obvious before, Benteke more than enjoyed his time at Aston Villa. Just one season after topping the contributions rankings again, ‘Big Ben’ made it a hat-trick. And this time he managed to better the previous season.

With 15 goals and three assists, Benteke once again helped Villa survive. It must be said, however, that they cut it close – finishing 17th.

15/16: Rudy Gestede – 9

Having narrowly avoided relegation the season before with Benteke at the forefront, Aston Villa were not so lucky a year later, as their former striker jumped ship to Liverpool.

The responsibility to score goals fell on Benteke’s replacement, Rudy Gestede. The forward disappointed, however, with just six goals and three assists all season as Villa finished rock bottom.

16/17: Jonathan Kodja – 20

With the Gestede experiment failing, Villa turned to Bristol City’s Jonathan Kodja, who became an instant hit. The Ivory Coast forward managed 19 goals and one assist in his debut season, as Villa finished mid-table.

The underwhelming campaign was of no fault of Kodja’s, however, who had an excellent season producing numbers last seen by Benteke.

17/18: Albert Adomah – 22

With each Aston Villa season seemed to come new heroes when it came to goal contributions. And, in the 2017/18 campaign, the mantle was taken by Albert Adomah, whose contributions helped Villa reach the play-off final, where they suffered heartbreak at the hands of Fulham.

Adomah, much like Kodja in the previous season, had played his part, however, with 15 goals and seven assists.

18/19: Tammy Abraham – 29

Many have been full of praise for Tammy Abraham recently, having scored 27 goals and assisted five for Roma. But Aston Villa fans would have seen it coming as early as 2018 when the striker propelled the Midlands club back to the promised land of the Premier League.

His 26 goals and three assists were enough to book Villa’s place at Wembley, where they defeated Derby County 2-1 in the play-off final.

19/20: Jack Grealish – 18

Back in the Premier League, Jack Grealish stepped up to provide Villa’s goals. And that he did, with 10 goals and eight assists totalling 18 goal contributions.

Surviving on the final day, Jack Grealish’s goal earned his side a point against West Ham, before the celebrations regarding Villa’s safety got underway.

20/21: Ollie Watkins – 21

After surviving the season before, Villa took advantage of their top flight status to welcome Brentford striker Watkins to Villa Park. And he did not disappoint, scoring 16 goals and registering five assists in his debut season.

Watkins’ best moment from the 20/21 campaign will always be his hat-trick against Liverpool, as Aston Villa demolished the then-champions 7-2 at Villa Park.

21/22: Danny Ings & Ollie Watkins – 13

Much to Watkins’ credit, he didn’t rest on his laurels last season, even with the arrival of Ings to share the goals around. Instead, the England striker continued to kick on, scoring 11 goals and recording two assists.

Meanwhile, in his debut season, Ings managed to match Watkins’ goal contributions tally with seven goals and six assists.

The duo of Ings and Watkins will be looking to give Gerrard a major headache when it comes to choosing a preferred frontline next season. They’ve partnered each other at times, but Gerrard opted for a lone striker towards the end of the campaign.

If they can build a strong partnership, then Villa may unlock the door currently keeping them out of European football. That will be the goal next season, too, with Europa Conference League and Europa League positions highly competitive in the Premier League.

Wolves may have only finished 10th in the Premier League this season, but they managed to do so with a respectable defensive record.

Over 38 games, Bruno Lage’s side conceded 43 goals in total, which is fewer than the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, West Ham United and Leicester City, all of whom finished above them in the table.

One man who played a big part in Wolves’ impressive defence this season is Max Kilman.

Over 30 league matches, the Englishman won 33 tackles and made 52 blocks, 64 interceptions and 118 clearances.

To further highlight the defender’s talent and impact on the team, in the final six league games of the season that he missed through injury, Wolves did not keep one clean sheet, conceding 15 goals in the process.

Now that the season has ended and the summer transfer window is about to open, one man who has been linked with a move to Molineux and who could give Lage the chance to form a scary defensive duo alongside Kilman is Calvin Bassey.

Since joining Rangers two years ago, the defender has gone on to make 65 appearances for the Glasgow club across all competitions, chipping in with one goal and six assists.

In terms of his defensive capabilities, the 22-year-old made 20 interceptions and won 28 tackles in 29 Scottish Premiership games this season. Also, his performance in the Europa League final which saw Rangers lose on penalties against Eintracht Frankfurt was described as “astonishing” by BT Sport pundit Owen Hargreaves.

This shows just how capable the defender is of playing on the big stage and stepping up for his team when it matters most.

Regarding a potential move to Wolves this summer, the fact that the defender has been deployed as a centre-back and as a left-back through the 2021/22 season could make him a useful squad option for Lage.

Taking into account Kilman’s clear significance to the team, as was unfortunately highlighted during the final weeks of the campaign, having him at the back alongside Bassey could be a scary prospect for opposing teams next season.

With a reported price tag of £25m, luring the Rangers star away from Ibrox and to the Premier League is definitely something that Lage and the Wolves hierarchy should consider as the summer transfer window approaches.

In other news: Lage can seal Moutinho 2.0 as Wolves eye £18m-rated wizard who turned down Man City

A big update has emerged on Sunderland and their plans for the summer transfer window…

What’s the talk?

Craig Hope has revealed in an article for the Daily Mail that the club are attempting to snap up the brother of Borussia Dortmund talent Jude Bellingham.

The reporter tweeted: “Exclusive: Sunderland invited Jobe Bellingham & his family to Stadium of Light to watch recent home game as they explore ambitious move to sign Birmingham City teenager, younger brother of England star Jude.”

In the corresponding article, it is claimed that Kristian Speakman has a close relationship with the brothers’ parents and is said to have played a key role in Jude’s development as Birmingham’s academy manager before joining the Black Cats.

Sunderland will be hoping that his prior experience with the family will give them a boost in their pursuit of the 16-year-old gem.

Alex Neil will be delighted

Black Cats head coach Alex Neil will surely be delighted with this update, as it shows that the club are prepared to invest in the future.

It proves that Speakman is keen to develop the academy, and the potential for players to break through into the first-team, by improving the standards within the youth sides.

Sunderland are in the League One play-off final later this month, and a win would surely strengthen their chances of signing the youngster. They would be competing in the same division as Birmingham, which means that they could both offer him Championship football.

Bellingham has played in two Championship matches for Birmingham this season, coming off the bench against Preston and Blackburn. This illustrates the immense potential that he holds, as he has shown enough in training to prove that he is ready to compete at first-team level despite being in his GSCE year.

His 18-year-old brother Jude is valued at £67.5m by Transfermarkt and has been capped 12 times by England. If Jobe can follow in his sibling’s footsteps, then Sunderland could be about to land a masterstroke in the market…

Neil would love to have another talented prospect to work with in the years to come. Bellingham may not make an immediate impact on the senior squad, but he could be a player who develops over time and then breaks into the Scot’s XI in two or three seasons.

Therefore, the head coach will be buzzing with Speakman’s attempts to snap up the midfielder from Birmingham and will be hoping that a deal can be agreed ahead of the 2022/23 campaign, irrespective of the league in which his team will be competing.

AND in other news, Forget Roberts: Sunderland “warrior” with the “heart of a lion” was the real play-off hero…

Celtic’s hierarchy have been told to tie manager Ange Postecoglou down ‘for a long time’ amid interest from the Premier League. 

The lowdown

Postecoglou’s contract at Parkhead is currently due to expire at the end of the 2022/23 season.

The Australian, who took over in the summer of 2021, is thought to be on a rolling deal with the Hoops.

According to The Telegraph, Brighton have expressed an interest in Postecoglou following the departure of Graham Potter, but learned that the 57-year-old wants to stay put for now.

The latest

Reacting to the exit links in a chat with Football Insider, Alan Hutton told Celtic to push for a long-term agreement with Postecoglou in light of his ‘remarkable’ achievements at the club.

He has been highly impressed by the manner in which the boss has implemented his philosophy, and feels it’s inevitable more Premier League teams will be too.

“If I was the hierarchy at Celtic I’d want to tie him down for a long time,” Hutton, now a pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live, said.

“What he’s done since he’s come through the door at the club is quite remarkable to be quite honest.

“Not just the turnaround in playing staff but the playing style and everybody has bought into that. Some of the football they have played is incredible.

“Not just the Old Firm game but against Real Madrid, the European champions, they played the exact same way and they were unlucky they just ran out of a bit of steam.

“If it was me, I would definitely want to tie him down. I can understand why teams like Brighton are looking at him because he’s done a remarkable job since he’s come in to Celtic.”

The verdict

Celtic need to be wary. Postecoglou’s name will surely pop up in connection with other managerial vacancies south of the border.

Leicester City, for instance, are struggling badly, with just one point on the board after six games. If they decide to sack Brendan Rodgers, then might they turn to Postecoglou?

With one Scottish Premiership title under already his belt, and another potentially in the offing after Celtic opened up an early five-point advantage, he deserves better than a one-year rolling deal.

The New Zealander, who admits to not always being able to pick the turn off the left-arm wristspinner’s hands, has brought in an innovative tactic and executed it to good effect

Deivarayan Muthu17-Sep-2019During the inaugural season of the Afghanistan Premier League in 2018, when Colin Munro won the title with Balkh Legends, he admitted to a weakness against wristspin, particularly of the left-arm variety.In his first match of CPL 2019, for defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders, he was up against Jamaica Tallawahs’ 20-year-old left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan at Sabina Park. Before this CPL game, Zahir had dismissed Munro twice in 19 balls in T20s while conceding 24 runs. However, Munro had a plan this time. In order to deal with the wrong’un – even if he doesn’t pick it off the hand – and negate the lbw, he stood outside off and then jumped further across, unleashing reverse-swats to throw Zahir off his lines and lengths.Such a stance was fraught with the risk of exposing the leg stump and reverse-hits can go boom or bust. Munro, though, backed his plan and his incredible hand-eye coordination, which stems from playing hockey during his school days in South Africa. He also plays golf right-handed, which perhaps explains why he is among the finest players of the reverse-hit or the switch-hit.

Colin Munro takes the crown for play of the day for this magnificent shot in todays match! #CPL19 #PlayOfTheDay #CricketPlayedLouder #BiggestPartyInSport pic.twitter.com/BhiaMIam4d

— CPL T20 (@CPL) September 14, 2019

The first ball from Zahir to Munro was a short, stock ball that broke away outside off from over the wicket. Munro shuffled further across the stumps and flayed it away between point and the covers for a tone-setting four. Zahir responded with a fizzing googly that turned in and bounced. Munro didn’t read the variation, but, having got outside the line, he managed to fend it away to the leg side via a deflection off the glove. Zahir attempted another wrong’un, but this slid on off the pitch, and Munro stretched out and reverse-swatted it into oblivion. Boom!Zahir v Munro Round 2 began with the spinner beating the outside edge with his stock ball. But when Zahir slipped in the straighter one, Munro used his new stance and swept him flat and hard to the left of short fine-leg for four.Just like that, Munro defanged Zahir and put him out of the attack. Later, when Zahir returned to the attack in the 14th over, Munro was zipping towards a half-century. Despite Tallawahs posting a man on the backward-point boundary, Munro cleared him and rumbled to the landmark with a rasping switch-hit. Rinse. Repeat. Another switch-hit six.With Munro at the peak of his ball-striking ability, Tallawahs held back Zahir, who ended with 3-0-42-1. Munro alone hit 27 off 12 balls from him at a strike rate of 225. The New Zealander pressed on to hit 96 off 50 balls that formed the centrepiece of Knight Riders’ 267 for 2 – the highest total in franchise T20 cricket.”It wasn’t bad; I was coming off some low scores on international duty in Sri Lanka,” Munro told the host broadcaster after winning the match award. Against the spinners, I don’t know which way it’s going, but I just turned out and tried to swat it. Lucky to get a few out of the middle with the reverse-sweep.”When asked of his new stance, Munro said, “I’ve been out to him [Zahir] a few times and I can’t pick him. For me, it was about taking that lbw and bowled out of play and then if he did get on the stumps, I could sweep him. But, yeah, he has got me out three times before and it was his first game tonight [in the CPL]. So, I knew he would be under pressure.”It was my first game as well and I just tried to put a little bit more pressure on him. Polly [Kieron Pollard] even said it was great for me to not score runs for New Zealand and come over here and put on a show like this .”This wasn’t the first time in recent months that Munro had got outside the line of the stumps to reduce the threat posed by a left-arm wristspinner. Even in the Hamilton T20I against India earlier this year, Munro had often moved across off stump and slog-swept Kuldeep Yadav to the leg side.”No, I didn’t read him [Kuldeep]. I had a season at Kolkata [Knight Riders] there and he was all over me at the nets,” Munro had said. “When he came on, luckily I had a bit of score under my name. He bowled a little bit flatter today than he did in the one-dayers and he’s a class act. I look more at length [while hitting square of the wicket] and try to get outside the line; if I don’t read the wrong’un then it’s outside the line.”Munro was the top run-getter in CPL 2018, with 567 runs in 13 innings at an average of 51.54 and strike rate of 140.34 – all of this despite shelving his turbo-aggression and reverse-swats. These are still fairly early days in CPL 2019, but the old Munro is back. And this is not just happy news for Knight Riders, but also for New Zealand, who have missed their old Munro for a while.

Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal is building a reputation as a batsman who can make Test hundreds to rescue his team

Shiva Jayaraman29-Sep-2017Dinesh Chandimal led Sri Lanka’s effort with a hard-fought century in Abu Dhabi, his ninth in Tests and his first against Pakistan. It came under duress: Sri Lanka were in a bit of a bother at three wickets down for just 61 runs when Chandimal came in. Given the fragile Sri Lankan batting order of late, Chandimal has walked into bat under pressure quite a few times. But he seems to enjoy such situations: his previous two Test hundreds too had come with wickets falling around him. Against Bangladesh in Colombo earlier this year, he had walked in at a score of 24 for 2 only to see the Sri Lankan innings slip further to 70 for 4 and then 136 for 5. He rallied with the lower middle-order on that occasion to help Sri Lanka post a decent first-innings total of 338.Sri Lanka had been worse off against Australia in August last year when he came in at a score of 24 for 4 – that quickly became 26 for 5 – and he made 132 runs in a 356-ball innings, the longest he had batted in his Test career before the current match. But Chandimal’s last three hundreds have not been the only ones he has made with his team being in trouble. His best, perhaps, was the unbeaten 162 in the second innings of the Galle Test against India in 2015. On that occasion, besides coming in at 92 for 4 there was also the pressure of trailing India by 100 runs on a tricky pitch.In fact, in as many as six of his nine century innings, Chandimal has walked in to bat at No. 4 or lower with Sri Lanka not having crossed 100 runs. In the last five years in Test cricket, among those who’ve batted at No. 4 or lower, only three other batsmen have made more hundreds from such situations. Not surprisingly, Younis Khan leads this list with 11 such centuries from 56 innings in the same period. Virat Kohli and Joe Root are the other batsmen who’ve had more such innings than Chandimal.

Most Test centuries from <100 for 3, at No. 4 or lower, last 5 years

Batsman Runs Inns Ave 100s Younis Khan 2811 56 54.05 11 Virat Kohli 2453 48 55.75 10 Joe Root 2710 52 55.30 7 Dinesh Chandimal 1498 35 46.81 6When it comes to batting under pressure, numbers suggest that Chandimal might be among the best that Sri Lanka has produced in Tests. Among batsmen who have scored at least 1000 runs at No. 4 or lower and arriving at the crease to bat with the team total not yet 100, Chandimal’s batting average of 45.76 ranks second only to Mahela Jayawardene. Jayawardene made 6785 runs in such innings at an average of 46.16.

Highest averages at No. 4 or lower, from 100<3, SL batsmen (min 1000 runs)

Batsman Runs Inns Ave 100s Mahela Jayawardene 6785 155 46.16 21 Dinesh Chandimal 1556 37 45.76 6 Aravinda de Silva 4278 110 41.94 11 Thilan Samaraweera 2120 57 41.56 6 Hashan Tillakaratne 1945 37 41.06 3The first innings in Abu Dhabi is his 37th innings in such a match situation and he has made six hundreds in those innings. That’s a conversion of one hundred in about six innings. No Sri Lanka batsmen having batted at lower than No. 3 in Tests has matched Chandimal’s conversion.

Stats highlights from the second day’s play of the first Test between Australia and New Zealand in Wellington, which was dominated by Adam Voges and Usman Khawaja

Bharath Seervi13-Feb-20160:34

Adam Voges’ record-breaking run

497 The previous record for most runs between two dismissals for a batsman in Tests, held by Sachin Tendulkar with scores of 241*, 60*, 194* and 2 in 2004. Adam Voges went past this record in Wellington: since he was last dismissed against New Zealand in Adelaide, he scored 269 not out against West Indies in Hobart, an unbeaten 106 in Melbourne, and 176 not out here. That’s a grand total of 551 runs – and counting – between dismissals.100.33 Voges’ batting average in Tests, at stumps on day two. His average is the highest among all batsmen who have played more than one Test innings.326 Australia’s highest first-innings lead in a Test in New Zealand, also in Wellington in 2005. Their current lead of 280 in this Test is their fourth-highest, but the three higher ones have all come when they have batted first and bowled New Zealand out cheaply. This is their highest in Tests while batting second in New Zealand. The last time Australia had a higher lead when batting second in an overseas Test was at Headingley in 2009, when they finished with a lead of 343.5 Centuries for Voges in Tests, the most by any player making his debut after 35. Dave Houghton had scored four centuries after his debut at the age of 35 years and 117 days. In his previous four centuries, Voges has been dismissed only once.2 Number of batsmen who have scored three consecutive centuries, with first two being unbeaten ones. Geoff Boycott scored 119*, 121* and 112 in 1971. Voges made 269* and 106* in his last two innings. If he remains unbeaten until the end of Australia’s innings, he will become the first batsman to score three consecutive unbeaten centuries.4 Centuries for Usman Khawaja in his last six innings. He scored 174, 9*, 121, 144 and 56 in five innings in 2015 at an average of 126 before adding 140 in this innings. He had scored 377 runs in his first 17 innings with only two half-centuries at an average of 25.13. In his last six innings, he has amassed 644 runs at 128.80.168 Partnership between Khawaja and Voges for the fourth-wicket – it is Australia’s second-highest stand for that wicket against New Zealand. Only the 184-run partnership between Justin Langer and Darren Lehmann at the Adelaide Oval in 2004 is higher.4 Instances of two Australia batsmen scoring 125 or more in a Test innings in New Zealand. The last such instance before the current match was in 2005 also in Wellington – Damien Martyn made 165 and Adam Gilchrist 162.2 Scores of 175 or more for Voges in Tests after the age of 35. Among Australia batsmen only Don Bradman has more (4), while Ricky Ponting also has two such scores after turning 35.

Josh Hazlewood has been on Australian cricket’s radar since he was a teenager. The player that made a Test debut at the Gabba was a much-improved version of the tearaway from 2010

Brydon Coverdale at the Gabba18-Dec-20142:27

Match Point – ‘Hazlewood looked dangerous from ball one’

Nathan Lyon did it in Sri Lanka, Pat Cummins in South Africa, James Pattinson at the Gabba and now Josh Hazlewood also in Brisbane. A five-wicket haul on Test debut. Lyon has just turned 27, the fast men are all 24 or younger. The thought of those four bowlers forming Australia’s Test attack in the years to come is an enticing one.Hazlewood is the latest addition to the list but could have made his Test debut before the other three, who all debuted in 2011. So highly rated has Hazlewood been since he emerged as a state cricketer that in 2010, at the age of 19, he was picked in Australia’s Test squad to tour India. At the time, he had played only six first-class games for 17 wickets at 26.29. His best bowling was 3 for 94.But he had made his ODI debut in England earlier in the year and his pace and bounce was exciting coaches and selectors. A stress fracture of the back prevented him touring India and it might have been a blessing in disguise; Peter George found on that trip that debuting as a fast bowler in India is tough work.

‘Never experienced cramps like that before’

Josh Hazlewood has said he had never experienced the kind of whole-body cramps that forced him from the field late on the first day at the Gabba. Hazlewood was one of a number of Australians who required medical attention in the very hot conditions in Brisbane, but after plenty of fluid intake on Wednesday night he was ready to complete a five-wicket haul on debut on Thursday.
“The physio room was a bit of a casualty ward last night,” Hazlewood said. “We all did what we needed to do recovery-wise to perform today.
“I’d never experienced cramps like that before. [Physio Alex Kountouris] thought maybe a bit of tension in the morning being nervous contributed to that. It was pretty painful at the time but got out there today and got through it. To come out the other side, pretty happy.”
The Australians had an interrupted preparation for the series due to the death of Phillip Hughes, but Hazlewood did not believe a lack of bowling time had contributed to the problems on day one, when he, Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Marsh all had fitness worries.
“The workload was very good before that but we had a week and a half with not much cricket,” he said. “I did a fair bit of bowling in Adelaide when I was 12th man so that helped. I felt like the ball is coming out beautifully and the rhythm and everything is there. The confidence is sky high.”
Asked if new captain Steven Smith had given the bowlers a spray after day one, Hazlewood said: “No, just encouragement. He was very good.”

The Gabba is a friendlier surface on which to debut against India. And four years later, Hazlewood is stronger, faster and much more experienced. Nobody who has watched his development was surprised to see him raise the ball to the crowd to acknowledge a five-wicket haul when he had MS Dhoni caught behind.Lately when Hazlewood bowls, wickets tumble. Six-for in last summer’s Sheffield Shield final. Seven-for in his opening one-day game for New South Wales this season. Five-for in an ODI against South Africa at the WACA last month. Now five-for on Test debut. A lanky young man from near Tamworth in the heart of country music land, Hazlewood is becoming Australian cricket’s Slim Trusty.On the second day at the Gabba, Dhoni and R Ashwin were frustrating the Australians with a seventh-wicket stand that threatened to bat them out of the game. Mitchell Starc especially was struggling. In one over he banged in two bouncers that went so high over Ashwin’s head that they were called wides, the second of which had captain Steven Smith shaking his head at slip.It was no surprise that Smith turned to the reliable Hazlewood for the next over from Starc’s end. In his second over, Hazlewood broke the 57-run partnership with a beautiful ball that angled in and swung away just enough to catch Ashwin’s edge through to slip, the perfect length to draw him in. In his next over he added Dhoni to his tally.Earlier, Hazlewood had given Australia the perfect start after their disappointing first day. In the third over of the morning he got rid of Ajinkya Rahane with a lovely delivery that moved away a fraction and touched the edge on the way through to Brad Haddin. Four times in the innings Indian batsmen walked off with c Haddin b Hazlewood next to their names.On the first day, Hazlewood’s wickets had come with shorter balls, a valuable weapon for a man who stands 196 centimetres. But bowling coach Craig McDermott has over the past couple of years helped Hazlewood realise that more wickets will be derived from a fuller length, and so it proved today. Catch the batsman on the crease, and use the bouncer as a change-up to push him back. It’s textbook stuff.The 2010 version of Hazlewood was yet to find that right balance. But he was closely watched by selectors over the coming years, just as he had been since before adulthood. He debuted for New South Wales at 17, but even before that the then Queensland coach Trevor Barsby had tried to lure Hazlewood north to join the Bulls, such was his promise.It wouldn’t surprise too many people that Josh Hazlewood began his Test career with a five-wicket haul•Getty ImagesThis was a boy who was strong enough as a kid to be a national junior star in throwing the javelin, discus and shot put. Take those projectiles out of his hand and stick a cricket ball there in their place and it’s no surprise he has had batsmen jumping since his teenage years.Selectors and coaches were not the only ones who felt Hazlewood was destined for big things. When Hazlewood was 15, a group of his dad’s mates each placed $100 bets with British bookmakers that Hazlewood would play Test cricket by the age of 30. The odds they were given were 500-1. That makes a cool $50,000 pay-off for each punter now.They must have thought their pay-day had come in when he was named in that squad in 2010. Or again when he was called up in the Test series against South Africa in 2012. Perhaps Hazlewood still wasn’t ready then – he had 41 first-class wickets at 31.51 – but in years to come people might look back in bemusement at the fact that John Hastings played a WACA Test ahead of Hazlewood.By 2014, Hazlewood had beefed up and added to his already impressive strength. That in turn helped his pace. At 23 he is still at heart a country boy from the tiny town of Bendemeer. Hazlewood eschews Twitter, unlike many of his team-mates. He looks and acts like a throwback to the 80s or 90s. But he could be a key man for Australia in the 2010s and beyond.On the eve of his debut, Hazlewood said he was looking forward to playing with the likes of Smith and David Warner. Hopefully they could all play a lot of Test cricket together in the coming years, he said.As the team walked off at the end of India’s innings, led by Hazlewood raising the ball to the crowd, followed by captain Smith, it seemed a tantalising prospect. Add Cummins and Pattinson to the mix along with Hazlewood and Lyon, and Australia’s bowling future looks bright. If only the same could be said of the batting.

A slogging Sheffield Shield final cannot be allowed to encourage thoughts of its removal from the domestic schedule

Alex Malcolm27-Mar-2013There isn’t an element of Australian cricket that hasn’t escaped the spotlight in the wake of the submission in the subcontinent. The early finish in Delhi diverted eyes to the Sheffield Shield final in Hobart.Unfortunately for those hopeful souls at Cricket Australia, this final was not the spectacular showpiece of domestic cricket that it is often hyped as.The first 92 overs of this final yielded just 176 runs and two wickets. The Bellerive surface, a seamer’s delight for many seasons, was a fast bowler’s graveyard over these five days.The ball stayed low, slips were made redundant, scoring was difficult throughout the match, and save for a chaotic half hour on the fourth morning, the game crawled along to an uneventful draw.Again mutterings of ‘why are we here?’ drifted from the broadcasters’ commentary box. Should the trophy just go to the team at the top of the table at the end of the season, they asked? Do we need a neutral curator? Should it be a timeless game to avoid the home side playing for a draw?Each argument lacks as much thought as the next.If you think the trophy should go to the team that tops the table, then how can you complain about the significant advantages they gain in the final? Although only five teams have won away from home in Shield finals, it’s five more than would have won if no final were played at all. Test cricket doesn’t feature neutral curators, or timeless matches, so why should the competition that prepares players for test cricket do so? Teams play for draws in Test cricket when they fall behind early, as Australia’s next opponents England did in Auckland. They also do it to protect as series lead, as England did to India before Christmas.The reality is the Shield final is the most important match of the summer not featuring the national team. When the players were asked what they should give up for an extended Big Bash they did not hesitate in dropping two regular season one-day matches in order to preserve the finals of both competitions.Shield finals come in all shapes and sizes. There are the low scoring arm-wrestles in seam friendly conditions, like last year’s decider. There are the monstrous bat-a-thons, like when Queensland posted 900 against Victoria. And then there are the matches of attrition, slow scoring draws like this decider. Test matches come in all shapes and sizes too, on wickets and in conditions that vary widely.But whatever the style of cricket that is played, it is a final, and it tests the character and temperament of every cricketer involved. The fact that it is televised adds extra pressure as all National selectors can view the match, as well as the cricketing public.Stories were written about the fact that no selector was sent to this year’s final. Yet the two panellists who weren’t in India could watch every ball, which is more than the usual one that is posted to the ground during the season.But most importantly it is a chance for players to shine when everything is on the line. It is easy to get soft Shield runs on flat wickets in January, or cheap wickets on green seamers in October, correction, September. But doing it March, when your state is playing for the title, should do more to prove your Test match credentials than any other performance during the season.Justin Langer made 149 in the 1992 Shield final. He played the first of 105 Tests less than 12 months later. The Waugh brothers shared a 204-run partnership in the same WACA decider. Each made hundreds, before combining for 48 Test centuries thereafter. Adam Gilchrist made 189 in the 1996 Shield decider. He debuted in international cricket in the same year and went on to become arguably the greatest wicket-keeper batsman of all time.

It is easy to get soft Shield runs on flat wickets in January, or cheap wickets on green seamers in October, correction, September. But doing it March, when your state is playing for the title, should do more to prove your Test match credentials than any other performance during the season.

Shane Watson made 201 in the 2006 decider and Mitchell Johnson bagged 10 wickets in the same game. Phillip Hughes made hundreds in two separate Shield finals before the age of 23; one on an abrasive, slow, surface in Sydney, the other on a greener strip in Hobart. Peter Siddle took nine wickets on that grass-less surface at the SCG and debuted for Australia months later. Ed Cowan ground out a century on the same seamer at Bellerive, facing brilliant spells from Pat Cummins throughout. Cummins’ next first-class fixture was a test match against South Africa in Johannesburg and he was named man-of-the-match. Cowan has subsequently made a Test century against the world number one South Africans.In this final, a 20-year-old, Jordan Silk, announced himself by batting for more than seven hours for 108. At a time when Australian batsmen are struggling to reach three-figures, Silk joined the names of Hughes, Ricky Ponting, Chris Rogers, Brad Haddin, and Queensland’s Joe Burns as the only players with multiple centuries in this Sheffield Shield season.Likewise, 22-year-old James Faulkner scored 46, 89, and took four wickets as the Australian selectors pine for a quality all-rounder. Ryan Harris took 4 for 10 in a six over spell, including two Australian captains, on a wicket where his team had earlier failed to collect four wickets in a day.If you axe the Sheffield Shield final, you lose these performances and these players don’t get their chance to shine in the only domestic match that replicates test match conditions.If you give up on that then the spotlight on Australian cricket won’t intensify. It will simply extinguish.

Until 2006-07 batsmen managed scores of 300 once every four Ranji seasons. Since then all hell has broken loose

Sidharth Monga13-Nov-2011On Boxing Day five years ago, former India and Orissa batsman SS Das scored a triple-century. It took him 500 balls and close to 12 hours. It featured gradual acceleration. He scored 126 on the first day, and got to the triple on the second, leaving enough time to spare for his side to have a brief go at the Jammu & Kashmir batsmen. It was a tiring effort, as triple-centuries should be. Das didn’t bat in the second innings, an inconsequential affair once Orissa decided to not enforce the follow-on. His state association awarded him Rs 30,000.Not that Das is the reason for what has followed, but his innings – the first triple-century in the Ranji Trophy in more than six years – is to Ranji triples what the birth of Jesus Christ is to time: Before Das and After Das is a neat division. Before Das only 18 triples had been scored in more than 70 seasons; Ravindra Jadeja’s 314 last week was the ninth After Das, in less than five seasons, a development that alarms some and encourages others.Eleven of the 18 triples before Das’ were scored batting second; all nine after it have come batting first. The template earlier was to bowl the opposition out cheaply, secure first-innings points and then allow yourself long enough to bat to score those triple-centuries. Of the seven before-Das triples when batting first, two were scored in five-day games, which gave the batsmen plenty of time; only one of the nine corresponding triples after Das’ has come in a five-day match. Further, three of the pre-Das triples came in the late-eighties, when batting and bowling fetched teams a different set of points, which meant you didn’t necessary need to bowl sides out to win points. On the real flat tracks, teams hardly bothered at times.These statistics may not explain much but they are indicative of the change in attitude that has come about with the advent of one-day and later Twenty20 cricket. Batsmen are scoring runs quicker than ever, and can thus hit triples within such time as to allow their sides a decent go at first-innings points, if not an outright win, although Jadeja’s effort didn’t quite fir that pattern: the Cuttack track was so flat that Saurashtra couldn’t bowl Orissa out in 199 overs.Wasim Jaffer is the only batsman to have scored a triple-century each before and after Das’. He agrees there has been a change. Unlike his first, the second triple-century was scored batting first and took about 50 balls and 40 minutes fewer. “In the first one, I stayed on the field throughout the game,” Jaffer remembers. “I fielded two and a quarter days, and the rest of the time I batted. I was only 18 or 19, so physically it was not that challenging. Now probably if I had to do it again, I’ll have to push myself. It will test my stamina and fitness.” So now he scores quicker.Scoring fast cannot be done in a vacuum. There is a deeper disturbing trend three triple-centurions point to. “When I started there were quality spinners all around,” Jaffer says. “Murali Kartik at his best. We [Mumbai] had Nilesh Kulkarni, Sairaj Bahutule, Ramesh Powar came in. Sunil Subramaniam, Rahul Sanghvi, Sarandeep Singh. Harbhajan [Singh] was young then. Almost every team had a decent spinner, and they never gave away easy runs. To score 300 you have to bat against a lot of spin. I personally feel the quality of spin bowling in India is going down.”Sanjay Manjrekar, who scored his 377 against Venkatapathy Raju, Arshad Ayub and Kanwaljit Singh, has a similar tale to tell. “When I made my debut, against Haryana, there was Rajinder Goel, who had 750 wickets,” he says. “There was Sarkar Talwar, who had 350-400 wickets. Then I played Raghuram Bhat at that level. I played Gopal Sharma. They didn’t bowl a bad ball. That’s what stands out with these people. Gopal Sharma is the best offspinner I have faced, and Maninder Singh the best left-arm spinner. There was one match I played against Rajesh Chauhan. He bowled about 50 overs but didn’t give me one short ball. Not one short ball in that big hundred I got.”Aakash Chopra, who scored his triple for Rajasthan, is surprised because he noticed a different set of trends just before the triples started coming. “For two-three years fast bowlers did well because of SG Test balls,” he says. “Also, after T20 happened, I felt teams weren’t scoring that many runs, or at least the teams weren’t lasting that many overs.”He is convinced now that that change was temporary, and that spinners have become even more important. “The pitches haven’t changed much at all. On these pitches, beyond a point fast bowlers can’t do much. It’s up to the spinners to come out and take wickets. To entice you, to beat you in the flight. Especially when a batsman is in an aggressive mood and is going after the bowling – you get more chances of mishits.” The change of balls cannot be blamed because the pronounced seam on the SG ball remains a spinner’s friend, as Harbhajan Singh has often said.Then again it’s not a phenomenon restricted to the Ranji Trophy. More and faster triple-centuries are being scored in Test cricket too. It is a natural trickle-down from the highest levels, where the batsmen have lost all fear and bowlers have failed to catch up. As Manjrekar points out, “Sehwag and Gayle are scoring triples, not Dravid.” Sehwag and Gayle don’t score triples waiting for the bad balls – which the the spinners of old didn’t provide.”During our time 300 was all about patience,” Manjrekar says. “Now it is about scoring runs. During our time it was all about playing time. You needed the patience to grind. I could have played quicker, and scored whatever I did quicker, but that wasn’t the trend then.”Chopra, who himself scored an old-fashioned triple that went into the third day, is left marvelling. “Surprisingly, they are able to sustain that kind of strike rate for longer durations,” he says. “For a short while you can go and smash at 70-80-90 strike rate, but to do it over a day, a day and a half, I am sure that is difficult.”Peter Roebuck, the columnist and former Somerset captain, described a Test triple as being the work of a lifetime expressed in a single innings. It’s just that nowadays such voluminous work can be expressed in 322 balls, as Rohit Sharma did at the Brabourne Stadium in 2009-10. He once lasted just 294 balls in a whole Ranji season. In about a day now, he had faced more balls and scored nearly twice as many runs. Now the work of a lifetime doesn’t necessarily involve seeing off tough spells and pacing an innings by sessions and new balls.Wasim Jaffer: the only batsman to have scored a triple-century each before and after Das’•ESPNcricinfo LtdChopra wants more balance on this front. Despite all the respect he says he has for the sustenance of high strike rates over such long periods, he wants to see the bowlers strike back. The first round of this year’s Ranji Trophy has produced only one result out of 13 matches. That one result was made possible by Rohit’s quick 175.Mumbai’s captain, Jaffer, looks at the positives of quick scoring. “The younger generation is looking to score quickly, which is good for the game,” he says. “There are fewer dull draws. The game is going in the right direction, as long as you score runs quickly and give your bowlers time to take 20 wickets.”Jadeja’s triple, though, was eventually worthless for his team because it didn’t fetch them any points. It has earned him respect, though. “It’s great to see that they want to get the 300s in the era of T20,” Manjrekar says. “You can say quality of attack and all that, but you have got to admire the batsmen who have grown up in this T20 atmosphere but are still scoring big. My respect for Jadeja has grown. You can’t scoff at a 300. It is a special innings.”But “special” is a word that might need revisiting some time in the future. Three hundred used to be a special total in ODIs once upon a time. Now it’s merely par for the course. The Ranji triple-century hasn’t yet reached that level of abuse, and might never do. As with ODIs, though, should we brace ourselves for a quadruple, something the Ranji Trophy last saw in 1948-49?