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An unbeaten 111 Robert Croft allowed Glamorgan to recover from 93-5 to 337-9 at theend of the first day of their County Championship match against Somerset at Cardiff.The Glamorgan captain added 223 for the seventh, eighth and ninth wickets with DarrenThomas, Michael Kasprowicz and Alex Wharf, with the stand of 104 for the ninth wicketbetwween Croft and Wharf being a record for Glamorgan against Somerset, eclipsing the99 added by John Derrick and Terry Davies at the same ground in 1986.By the close, Croft had also added a further 30 runs with number 11 David Harrison, and thepair will be eager to press on towards another batting point tomorrow morning. Such richeslooked a long way off in the first hour as Glamorgan slumped to 35-3 after having won thetoss and electing to bat first with a side containing two overseas players – Maher and Kasprowicz- for the first time in a Championship match since August 1981 when Javed Miandad and EzraMoseley were in the Glamorgan side.Jimmy Maher was one of three early victims for spinner Ian Blackwell, who claimed 3-4in 24 balls. For a while, it looked as if the former England international was goingto run through the Glamorgan side. But Croft had other ideas and with resolute supportfrom the lower order, Croft steadfastly rebuilt the innings, and reached his century from 190balls after over four hours at the crease.Somerset were subsequently handicapped by injuries to Simon Francis, who left the fieldwith a side strain after bowling just 35 balls, whilst Nixon McLean had a hamstring niggle.

Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore believes it will be hard for West Indies tocomeback in the second Test starting Wednesday having lost by ten wicketsdespite scoring 448 in their first innings.”I think it is going to be harder for a team like West Indies in Kandyalthough South Africa, England and India have reversed their form inrespective series against us,” hoped Whatmore after Sri Lanka had won thefirst Test rather comprehensively by ten wickets at Galle on Saturday.He admitted that Sri Lanka’s record in Kandy was poor, but believes the teamwill overcome their poor run if they concentrate on the cricket.”We have to acknowledge that our record in Kandy hasn’t been good,” he said.”But a cricket match is not won or lost by any hoodoo, voodoo or horoscopesor whatever. But it is won or lost by what you do out in the middle.”There have been a number of reasons for losing in Kandy, but the bottom lineis that during occasional sessions we haven’t done very well at all. Whilstyou can’t win a game in that hour or two, you can sure go a long way towardslosing it. That’s what we have been unfortunately been guilty of.”Whatmore was delighted by the character shown by the Sri Lankans who carriedon fighting throughout the Test despite facing a large first innings score.”In other games, we won pretty convincingly like today, but in a differentway,” he said. “We batted first and put the pressure on the opposition. Thewickets turned more and became unpredictable. This one here, I thought, wasa full effort everyday on a better pitch. It’s tremendous for the team toknow what they can overcome.”All the batsmen contributed quite nicely and there were one or two whoreally performed for us. Without those contributions you can’t come close to448. I was very pleased with the boys because chasing a target of 448 is noteasy, no matter what conditions, but they stuck to their task for over 200overs,” he said.”Mahela’s was a class innings although he was bitterly disappointed, likethe rest of us, that he missed out on a hundred. He really showed his class.Kumar Sangakkara is falling nicely into a pattern of getting a fifty or ahundred in every third innings. We haven’t seen the best of Kumar. He’s gota long way to go. Early indications are that he’s got every chance of beingone of the really good players for Sri Lankan cricket.”Tillakaratne is a veteran, but since getting a hundred against India thisyear, his confidence has risen as well. He is a pretty solid middle-orderplayer,” Whatmore said.Whatmore said that although Sri Lanka had won four out of their last fiveTests they had still a long way to go.”I think if you are realistic, you have to keep performing like this for anumber of years before we can really say that we have turned the corner.Another fact that is that Sri Lanka can be competitive at home, but notaway.”We are mindful of that, and that’s one of the reasons why we areexperimenting and playing with some new pace bowlers. The big one is againstEngland next year. In our group of touring players there will be five or sixtough medium-pace bowlers who can get out there and compete,” he said.

India will be without opener M Vijay, their most consistent and prolific batsman over the last year, as they begin a three-Test series against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday. A hamstring injury sustained in Zimbabwe, said team director Ravi Shastri at the media briefing this afternoon, had not healed enough. “He is still under recovery, not fully recovered, and we don’t want to take a chance with weather like this and slippery outfield.”Vijay will be replaced by KL Rahul, who produced two 40-plus scores in the Indian team’s tour opener in Colombo against the Board President’s XI. Shastri said Vijay’s omission would be a “big blow” as he was the “in-form player who has had a fabulous run in Test cricket.”Prior to India’s departure for Sri Lanka, there had been reports that Vijay had some injury concerns but captain Virat Kohli said he expected Vijay to be “match fit” even before the start of the only tour game, on August 6. “No, I don’t see any issues with Vijay’s fitness,” Kohli said. “As far as I know, Vijay is almost 100% straightaway and I am sure he will be match fit even before the warm-up game.”Vijay did not bat in the tour game, but that was expected as India looked to decide on who would partner him at the top of the order: Rahul or Shikhar Dhawan.Vijay turned up at the India nets this afternoon, batting only against the spinners and testing out his ability to stretch forward. While visible movement appeared not to be a problem against the spinners, Vijay was seen shaking his right leg between deliveries, and it is this doubt over the internal injury that has led the Indians to sit Vijay out of the first Test. Shastri said Vijay’s experience and his “ability to play the long innings” would be missed in a batting line up that will bat wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha at No. 6 in their drive to play five bowlers in every Test match and push for wins.In his last 10 Tests for India, from June 2014 onwards, Vijay has scored over 1000 runs in 19 innings with three centuries and six fifties at an average of 54.42. His solidity at the top of the Indian order, whether batting alongside Shikhar Dhawan or Gautam Gambhir in England and Dhawan or KL Rahul in Australia, gave India the platform that led to a far better batting performance in 2014-15, than on India’s previous tours to both countries in 2011-12.

Dejan Kulusevski delivered a big statement to Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte with something of a dream display at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

A 95th-minute strike from Harry Kane sealed a dramatic and late victory over table-topping Manchester City.

The home outfit thought they had snagged a point just moments earlier when Riyad Mahrez converted a spot-kick after Cristian Romero was adjudged to have handled inside the area by VAR.

But it was the Sweden international who kept composure to serve the ball on a plate to the 28-year-old to head home a stunning winner. And earlier in the match, Kuluseveski had found the net himself, opening the scoring in the fourth minute.

Heung-min Son beat the offside trap to square the ball to the deadline day signing to slot home with aplomb.

He’d go on to have a major influence throughout the whole game to help Spurs end their run of three successive league defeats with an impressive victory over the defending champions.

‘Worked very hard up and down the pitch and showed what a talent he can be. His cross for Kane’s winner at the end was perfect,’ described football.london reporter Alasdair Gold in his post-match ratings column.

Indeed, the 23-year-old dynamo was a force at either end of the pitch – as per SofaScore, he also registered two tackles, two clearances and one interception, on top of his two direct goal contributions.

It was a display that Conte would have absolutely loved to witness as it was the ideal mix of hunger, desire and quality he demands from his players, and it poses a question over whether or not he should replace Lucas Moura in the starting XI for the long run.

‘Son and Kane were the match-winners but Spurs’ were more fluid with the Swede in the side than they have been with Lucas,’ claimed the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick, who also waxed lyrical about the calmness of his play in high-pressure situations.

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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Moura’s form over the last few games has been disappointing, so it could be an easy switch for the Italian head coach to make. It’ll certainly be a hard task in dropping the £27m-rated attacker after such an outstanding outing – his first start for the club, too.

Kulusevski, dubbed “explosive” by ex-Sweden and Villa star Marcus Allback, should definitely be in the starting XI going forward.

AND in other news, Conte could sign his new Vidal at Spurs with “exceptional” £25m monster, Guardiola loves him…

‘My position is that, if crowds want to turn up and watch Twenty20 cricket, it’s incumbent on us – as an administration – to invest in the product and serve it up hot’ © Getty Images

Justin Vaughan, New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive, has said that the success of the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa could prompt the ICC to change its policy on the game and allow cricket boards to organise more such games in a year. Concerns over player burnout had forced the ICC to restrict teams from playing more than three Twenty20 games in a season and seven in a year.”I dare say that, after the success of this present tournament and the promotion of the game over the past few months, those restrictions may well change,” Vaughan told the . “We’re already seeing proof that Twenty20’s not only more exciting for the fans, but also that it’s less arduous on the players – so I can see no reason why we shouldn’t start talking about staging more games and maybe including features such as double-headers.”Speaking on his return from South Africa, Vaughan said he was impressed with how financially viable Twenty20 is and that the demand for more such games would only increase.”I believe we have to be mindful of what the customer wants, rather than trying to prescribe to people what form of cricket they should be watching,” he said. “My position is that, if crowds want to turn up and watch Twenty20 cricket, it’s incumbent on us – as an administration – to invest in the product and serve it up hot.”On promoting the game on the domestic front, Vaughan said it was important to continue talks with Cricket Australia in launching a proposed Trans-Tasman Twenty20 competition where the top two qualifying teams will compete with teams from the Indian, African and European leagues for the Champions Twenty20 tournament.Stephen Fleming, who recently quit the New Zealand captaincy, has signed up for the Indian Premier League (IPL) an officially-sanctioned domestic Twenty20 competition to be held in India in April 2008 featuring franchised teams. Vaughan said it wouldn’t affect his availability for the tour of England in May.

Merv Hughes: ‘I reckon the Poms could miss Tresco almost as much as we missed McGrath last year’ © Getty Images

Merv Hughes, the Australia selector, believes England’s loss of Marcus Trescothick is as big as Glenn McGrath missing two Tests in last year’s series. McGrath was injured and withdrew from both defeats in England while Trescothick will not take part in the entire series after flying home due to his stress-related illness on Tuesday.”Now England are in the position of having to cope with the absence of someone who was essential to their plans,” Hughes was reported in the . “And they’re going to find out just how much that hurts.”I reckon the Poms could miss Tresco almost as much as we missed McGrath last year. Glenn bowled us to victory in the first Test but had to sit it out while England built up a 2-1 series lead.”Hughes said Trescothick, who has played 15 Tests against Australia, was an experienced batsman who could not be replaced easily. “He is an unorthodox player, someone with a fantastic eye rather than a classic technique,” he said. “And he just loves to take the fight back to the bowlers. OK, the guy who takes his place, Alastair Cook or whoever, could prosper against the new ball. But an Ashes series is not where you want to test that theory out.”

Nathan Bracken offers the selectors more options on a pitch expected to seam © Getty Images

Nathan Bracken’s left-arm swing bowling has earned him a recall after he replaced Brad Hodge in the 12-man squad for the first Test against West Indies at Brisbane. Bracken, who played the last of his three Tests for Australia in 2004, was picked ahead of state rival Stuart Clark as Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, insisted on more options for a wicket that traditionally suits the fast men.”We felt it was prudent to introduce another paceman to the squad in place of an extra batsman,” Hohns said. Stuart MacGill was retained and the decision means Shane Watson will almost certainly be given a short-term run at sealing the allrounder’s spot.Hohns said a decision on whether MacGill and Shane Warne would again be used in tandem depended on the pitch and weather conditions in the lead-up to the start on Thursday. “Since the end of the Super Test in Sydney there has been a lot of speculation about the option of playing the two spinners,” he said. “With both Shane and Stuart in the squad we still have that option.”The announcement was another setback for Hodge, who has been the reserve batsman on the tours to India, New Zealand and England without playing a match, and was 12th man for the Super Test. “It’s disappointing to miss out on a place, but following our solid start to the season I’m looking forward to playing for Victoria,” he said. “Hopefully I can put together some solid performances and put my name up before the selectors again.”Australia squad 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Shane Watson, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Glenn McGrath, 12 Stuart MacGill.

Zee Network, which was awarded the four-year telecast rights for international matches in India, will decide by September 14 whether it will submit fresh bids. The Mumbai High Court subsequently adjourned its hearing of the case till September 16.The court had earlier suggested that ESPN-Star Sports (ESS) and Zee Network submit fresh bids. The rights, which will concern international matches played in India between October 2004 and September 2008, were granted to Zee by the BCCI. ESS had gone to court as a result, asserting that Zee was not eligible to bid in the process, as per the conditions outlined in the tender.The court’s suggestion came after BCCI argued that ESS and Zee were equally eligible to take part in the bidding process. Zee’s counsel asked if he could be allowed to respond in the afternoon session of the court, after a lunch break.The two contentious issues are: whether or not Zee is eligible to bid; and whether the BCCI acted unfairly towards ESS by not allowing them to match the amount negotiated with Zee. The court’s move towards making the sides bid again may resolve the second of these problems, but it has yet to rule on the first.

New Zealand Cricket has called a press conference for 9am tomorrow in which to announce their coach and manager for the next two years.Since incumbent coach Denis Aberhart withdrew from the selection process earlier this week speculation has been that former New Zealand off-spinner John Bracewell, who has a coaching position with Gloucestershire, would be the choice.The position of manager was foreshadowed more than a week ago when Auckland Cricket chief executive Lindsay Crocker resigned his position. It is anticipated he will take over from Jeff Crowe, who was unavailable.The national selectors are to be announced at a later date.

Sri Lanka are likely to start their third match in tri-series in Sharjahwithout fast bowling spearhead Dilhara Fernando who is suffering from a soreback.Fernando was forced to leave the field for treatment on Saturday night aftera three-wicket burst in seven overs that sent the Pakistan innings into atailspin. He did not return to the field afterwards.Team manager Ajit Jayasekera told reporters Monday that Fernando’s injurywas not serious but confirmed that he has been advised to take three daysrest before his next game.Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya will be desperately keen for Fernandoto play against Pakistan on Friday and he is not expected to take theunnecessary risk of playing him today.Fernando’s injury may provide a welcome opportunity for Dulip Liyanage, 29,who has been patiently waiting since being brought into the one-day squad inJuly.Newcomer Prabath Nissanka is expected to be replaced by Charitha BuddikaFernando as the management continues with their rotation plan for the rookiepacemen.With the Zimabwean batsmen noticeably uncomfortable against spin, KumarDharmasena is also likely to play, probably in place of a batsman.