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ScorecardDominic Bess claimed figures of 6 for 28•Getty Images

Somerset offspinner Dom Bess marked his Specsavers County Championship debut with 6 for 28 as 21 wickets fell on the opening day of the match with Warwickshire at Taunton. The 19-year-old produced a memorable 16 overs, including the wickets of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell with successive deliveries, as the visitors were bowled out 123, Ian Westwood top-scoring with 34.That was after Somerset had been skittled for 95, having won the toss. Warwickshire’s pace bowlers did the damage, with Keith Barker claiming 4 for 33, Rikki Clarke 3 for 32 and Chris Wright 2 for 28.By the close of an extraordinary day the home side had made 41 for 1 in their second innings and led by 13. The pitch offered some assistance to spin and seam, without being in any way dangerous. Swing and poor shot selection also contributed to the carnage.Somerset named three spinners in their side, clearly expecting the ball to turn, but were undone by seam as they were bowled out in 30.1 overs before the end of an extended opening session. Barker bowled the first 14 overs of the day from the Somerset Pavilion End, sending back Chris Rogers, James Hildreth, Peter Trego and Roelof van der Merwe in an accurate spell that saw him swing the ball and nip it about off the seam.Wright had set the ball rolling by pinning Marcus Trescothick lbw, while Clarke sent back Lewis Gregory with his first delivery of the match and later accounted for Ryan Davies and Bess.With Somerset nine wickets down, Warwickshire claimed the extra half hour in the morning session and Jeetan Patel put the home side out of their misery by dismissing Jack Leach with his first ball after a last-wicket stand of 26 with Tim Groenewald, the best of the innings.Warwickshire reached 62 for 1 in reply before England U-19 player Bess had Trott caught at leg slip sweeping. The next ball saw Bell hit the ball into a pad and offer up a return catch which the teenager gleefully snaffled. Westwood fell to a good delivery from Bess that turned and lifted before Leach squeezed a ball between Matthew Lamb’s bat and pad to bowl him for a single.At tea Warwickshire were 81 for 5. Trescothick then produced a brilliant diving catch at second slip off Groenewald to dismiss Sam Hain for nine. Barker and Clarke fell to shots they will not want to remember as Bess, who bowled at just the right pace and trajectory to extract maximum turn, added to his tally.Patel was his sixth victim courtesy of another injudicious stroke and Leach wrapped up the innings by clean bowling Wright. Bess led his side off, showing the ball to all sides of the ground, as relieved home supporters gave him a warm ovation.There was still time for Tom Abell to fall lbw to Josh Poysden for 15 with Somerset’s second innings total on 31. The experienced duo of Trescothick and Rogers had five more overs to negotiate and did so thanks to Poysden dropping Rogers on 5 at fine leg off a top-edged pull, Barker being the unlucky bowler.

Sri Lanka captain, Angelo Mathews, said Kusal Mendis’ batting and Rangana Herath’s “all-round” performances constituted the positives from the 2-0 Test series defeat against England. He was, however, non-committal on the struggling Lahiru Thirimanne’s continued place in the Test XI.Herath claimed seven wickets at an average of 43.28, and also hit 109 runs from No. 8 in the series. “Herath was superb,” Mathews said. “He is 38 and he has backed the team with his all-round ability. He is even throwing himself all over the field. It was good to see the oldest man diving around and stopping boundaries.”Mendis made the team’s lone half-century at Headingley, and hit 156 runs at an average of 31.20, with a strike rate of 65.27, through the series. Mathews said Mendis had earned a long run in the No. 3 position.”If we pick someone, we need to give him a fair opportunity and be patient with him. We don’t want to chop and change people. We need to find the best possible combination. When you identify a guy with skill and talent you need to persevere with him.”Thirimanne, meanwhile, had only hit one fifty in his previous 12 innings before the tour, but played all three Tests in England – perhaps on the strength of domestic performances, which have been consistently excellent. However, he mustered a highest score of 22 in five innings in England, and now averages 24.00 after 50 Test innings overall.Mathews had described him as the “best batsman” in the team before the tour, but said “we haven’t decided on certain positions” when asked about Thirimanne’s performance in the series.”This is a challenging tour for all the batsmen,” he said. “I don’t want to mention one particular player. We all have to take responsibility. Apart from Chandimal, no one was able to score a hundred here, and I don’t want to let anyone down. We have to be a close unit and we have to keep working hard. We haven’t made a decision on the No. 4 position.”Having folded for 91, 119 and 101 in the first three innings of the series, Mathews lauded the top order’s relative return to runs in the second innings at Chester-le-Street, and then at Lord’s. Sri Lanka’s highest score of the series was the 475 in the second innings of the second Test, and though they lost five wickets for 43 runs on the third day at Lord’s, managed totals of 288 and 78 for 1.”This was a good learning experience for all of us,” he said. “We are a young team and we don’t have much experience. The way the guys fought facing Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad in challenging conditions was good to see. The way they batted and they showed lot of guts – it was brilliant. If we play together as a unit we can improve further. We played pretty well in the second innings in Durham. At Lord’s, too, we were sitting pretty and then lost a heap of wickets on day three.”Mathews also echoed coach Graham Ford’s words on day four, and said Sri Lanka would have attempted to chase down the target of 362, had the weather allowed a full day’s play on Monday.

Fans without tickets were turned away from Scotland’s World T20 match against Zimbabwe at the VCA stadium in Nagpur today, as there are no ticketing facilities available at the ground.The tickets for the match are priced at 100 rupees for the East and West stands and 200 rupees for behind the bowler’s arm (approx £1.10 and £2.20 respectively). However, many supporters were obliged to travel back to the old VCA stadium in central Nagpur to purchase their tickets, meaning that that those that chose to do so were forced to miss much of the contest.The current stadium, which was inaugurated in 2008 and has a capacity of 45,000, lies 20km outside the city centre, a journey time of approximately 40 minutes by auto-rickshaw. However, the main ticketing system remains still situated at the old venue. A VCA official said it was not possible to have ticketing at both grounds.The BCCI, who declined to comment, are in overall charge of the ticketing policy for the tournament, but the arrangements for each match are at the discretion of the individual state associations. Dharamsala, the other venue that has so far hosted matches, has chosen to sell tickets for the qualifying rounds at the gate.The VCA spokesman added that advertisements for the ticketing policy had been placed in local papers but was unable to explain why the information had not been passed on to the BCCI or ICC, so they could warn fans who were travelling in from other grounds.The atmosphere inside the stadium, which came in for heavy criticism on the opening day of the tournament, was marginally improved for today’s contest, thanks to an influx of some 250 children from nearby schools. However, approximately 100 fans remained locked out of the ground at the start of Zimbabwe’s innings. The venue is too remote to support any local pubs or cafes in which to watch the contest, or to access the ICC’s online ticket-booking service that could have resolved the issue.”We love cricket, which is why we are here even in this heat to watch Scotland take on Zimbabwe,” one group of college students from Nagpur told ESPNcricinfo. “But we can’t book online because of the network and the ticket sales are going on at the other ground. There’s so few people in, why can’t they just let us in. We are even willing to pay at the gate.”One group of Scotland fans, who encountered similar problems during Tuesday’s opening round of fixtures, including Scotland’s defeat against Afghanistan, had been mistakenly informed that they could buy their tickets at their hotel.Privately ICC officials are frustrated that common sense has not been used, especially with the already low turn out for these matches.

Journalist Chris Waugh believes Newcastle United could very likely be without Anthony Gordon for several weeks.

The Lowdown: More injury woes for Eddie Howe

Newcastle’s one big splurge in January was on Gordon, who was desperately trying to force a winter exit, and the Magpies came calling despite the winger having scored just three goals in the Premier League this term.

However, he’s been afforded just one start under Eddie Howe and now looks set to at least miss this week’s clash against Nottingham Forest due to an injury that was picked up after the defeat to Manchester City.

Reports have suggested that Gordon may not be seen again until after the international break – which will see the winger and his teammates jet off to Dubai – which would be an almighty blow for the Magpies, who are still yet to see why his former teammate James Tarkowski labelled him as ‘different class’.

The Latest: Gordon set for time on the sidelines

While speaking on Pod on the Tyne, Waugh has stated Gordon is likely to miss this week’s Premier League clash and may not even be seen for several weeks to come.

He said: “Obviously, Anthony Gordon – who picked up an ankle injury after the Man City game – isn’t going to be fit for Friday and might not be back immediately after the international break, either.

“So that’s a bit of a blow because we still haven’t seen him have a run of games for Newcastle, but thankfully, because others have sort of stepped up in that absence, Howe does still have some positive selection dilemmas.”

The Verdict: Newcastle have sufficient cover for Gordon’s absence

The fact that Allan Saint-Maximin appears to be back to full fitness having started four out of the last five games in the league for the Magpies and Miguel Almiron could be back to his best after netting on the weekend, Gordon’s absence may not be too hard to deal with.

However, from PIF’s point of view, they’ll be far from impressed by what they’ve seen from their £40m investment thus far, with just one start to Gordon’s name as well as zero goal contributions, so they’ll be keen for a big end to the season from the winger.

Gordon is indeed still very young and has a lot of time to prove his worth to Newcastle, but the longer he’s sidelined, the harder it becomes for him to nail down a starting spot in Howe’s side, especially now that even regular substitute Jacob Murphy is being gifted starts in his absence, but for Howe, it will be positive to look at the depth he now possesses out wide.

Chelsea are ‘refusing to budge’ regarding midfielder Mason Mount’s current contract offer.

The Lowdown: Mount’s future in doubt

The Englishman’s future has been a major talking point at Stamford Bridge of late, with his contract expiring in 2024 and talks currently at an impasse.

Mount has continued to be an important figure for both club and country this season, making 30 appearances for the Blues overall and also appearing four times for England at the 2022 World Cup.

Now, a new update has suggested that Mount could move on during the summer transfer window due to a reluctance from the club to shell out top level wages.

The Latest: New update emerges

According to Football Insider, Chelsea are ‘refusing to badge’ with their current contract offer for Mount, despite him wanting to be one of the highest-earning players at the club.

Both Liverpool and Juventus are believed to be keeping a close on the situation, with the pair having ‘genuine interest’ in signing the 24-year-old.

The Verdict: Surely he will extend?

This is clearly a worrying development from a Chelsea perspective, with Mount someone who has come through the youth system and excelled, being hailed as ‘unbelievable’ by Joe Cole.

He has often knitted the midfield and attack together beautifully, registering 70 goal contributions (33 goals and 37 assists) in 190 appearances, and losing him ahead of his peak years would be a blow.

It could be that Mount has to accept Chelsea’s lower offer if he really wants to stay put, however, so a lot may end up depending on how much he feels valued.

He should be viewed as a massive player moving forward under Graham Potter, though, and his performances justify an increase on his current £80,000-a-week wages.

Manchester City are considering a move to sign a new central talisman who has been made a top target by Pep Guardiola ahead of January, according to a fresh report.

Kalvin Phillips set to leave Man City

In the Premier League this season, Kalvin Phillips has made zero starts and just four substitute appearances (WhoScored – Phillips statistics), and as a result of being so far low down in the pecking order, there’s an expectation that he will be heading for the exit.

During his goal celebration in the Champions League 3-2 victory over Red Star Belgrade in midweek, Guardiola’s out of favour star looked very much like he was waving goodbye to supporters, and should he indeed leave in the coming weeks either on loan or permanently, the manager will have to enter the market to find a suitable replacement.

Bayern Munich’s defensive midfielder Joshua Kimmich has emerged as Thomas Tuchel’s second best-performing defensive player so far this season (WhoScored – Bayern Munich statistics), and his impressive performances appear to have brought him onto the radar of the hierarchy at the Etihad Stadium.

Back in October, TEAMtalk reported that the Sky Blues would be interested in a deal for the Germany international should he decide that he ever wants to leave the Allianz Arena, and if the following update is to be believed, they may have been given the perfect opportunity to land him.

Man City keen on Kimmich

According to Football Transfers, Man City are interested in Kimmich and have even made him their number one target to sign in January.

“Manchester City are looking to bring in Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich as Pep Guardiola has put the German international at the top of his list of targets, FootballTransfers sources reveal.

"We are told that the 28-year-old has fallen out with head coach Thomas Tuchel and his future at the Allianz Arena looks more uncertain – with the Citizens extremely hopeful of securing his services.”

Guardiola could land "passing master" in Kimmich

In the Bundesliga this season, Kimmich has won 16 out of his 22 tackles, which is the highest success rate throughout the whole of his squad, highlighting that he loves to get stuck into challenges to try and win back possession for his team (FBRef – Bayern Munich statistics).

The Rottweil native is also extremely calm and composed when he does have the ball at his feet, where he’s currently recording a 90.4% pass success rate in the league as it stands, and his ability to dictate the game from in front of the backline has previously seen him receive praise (WhoScored – Kimmich statistics).

According to football talent scout Jacek Kulig, Kimmich is a “passing master”, and having even scored once against Man City when having faced them in the past (Transfermarkt – Kimmich statistics), it comes as no surprise that Guardiola views him so highly and now wants him to become a member of the home side in the top-flight.

England’s head coach has hinted that the batting line-up is unlikely to change much for the series against Pakistan in May, despite few of the issues being resolved over the winter

Andrew McGlashan04-Apr-2018Head coach Trevor Bayliss has hinted that the England batting line-up is unlikely to change much for the series against Pakistan in May, despite few of the issues being resolved over the last five months, but he called on domestic players to show they are better than those currently in the team.Bayliss conceded that England ended their 2017-18 Test campaign with largely the same questions as they began with following five defeats and two draws having been foiled by New Zealand’s lower-order on the final day in Christchurch.Over the seven Tests against Australia and New Zealand, Dawid Malan was the one batsman to enhance his reputation. Mark Stoneman and James Vince showed moments of encouragement but the pair finished averaging 30.23 and 30.54 respectively across all the Tests. Vince missed the Auckland Test when the line-up was reshuffled due to Ben Stokes being unable to bowl and returned with 76 in the second innings in Christchurch while Stoneman scored half-centuries in each Test.Bayliss on…

Jack Leach “He’s the one who holds the position at this stage and I thought he had a good game for someone playing his first Test. He had good composure. Like anyone playing his first game or two, he’s still got a few things to learn at this level but I think he bowled a good line and didn’t give too much away which was a good thing.”
The batting order “We have tried Jonny up the list previously and I think he’s quite comfortable at No. 7 but he’s obviously a very good player. I think that will be revisited especially if some of the other guys don’t cement a spot and start averaging 45-plus for the batters.”
Catching “We’ve got to work harder. If what we’re doing is not working we’ve got to do it even more. We’ve tried to up the catching and fielding and at times we field and catch extremely well, as good as anyone, but it doesn’t mean you’re a good fielder if you’re inconsistent.”

“I think what they’ve all shown over this winter is that they are good players and they’ve scored some runs against quality opposition bowlers,” Bayliss said. “But what we need from them is to be doing it more often. They’re averaging high 20s, we need them to get that up and hopefully put another 20 on that.”Probably the same questions are still there but Malan for example played pretty well against the pace in Australia and the other two guys at different times stood up. Vince made a couple of good scores. Stoneman under a fair bit of pressure and a barrage of short-pitched bowling handled himself reasonably well but again to be an international batter we need to be doing better than that.”And the other side of that is who do we replace them with? We need guys and I guess this is a call-out to the guys in county cricket, the first five or six matches of the county season are very important. We’ve got Liam Livingstone here and the other one I’ll add in who’s impressed in the nets is Ben Foakes. He’s batting very well also. So there’s a couple of guys in this squad who can hopefully score runs and put a bit of pressure on and make the selectors job difficult which is what we all want.”The batting was not helped by Alastair Cook’s lean time, other than his double-century in Melbourne, which was compounded by a miserable series in New Zealand where he made 23 runs in four innings. Cook has reiterated to Bayliss that he has the desire to continue to add to his 154-cap career and after a couple of weeks off he will look to recuperate in the County Championship for Essex.”It’s dangerous to write off someone with 12,000 Test runs. He’s desperately disappointed he hasn’t contributed more but speaking to him in the sheds, he’s still got a hunger for the game and he’s still wants to do well and thinks he’s got a role to play,” Bayliss said. “Going forward I think having someone with that experience we will need, so hopefully it’s not too long before he gets back into the groove.”Then there is the captain. Root is England’s best batsman but can’t break his run of unconverted half-centuries, which now stands at nine, with two more in New Zealand added to the five in Australia (although retiring ill in Sydney can’t be held against him). Having come off a distinct second best to Steven Smith in the Ashes it was a slightly closer tussle with Kane Williamson as the New Zealand captain followed his Auckland century with a lean Test in Christchurch. Coming up for Root later this year is the head-to-head with Virat Kohli.Bayliss remains largely phlegmatic about Root’s conversion rate and would like to see the rest of the batting order take some pressure off the captain. There were just four centuries scored across the seven Tests in Australia and New Zealand, two by Jonny Bairstow and one apiece for Cook and Malan.”I’m sure he would have liked a few more runs himself but there’s a fair bit of pressure on him to be the one who scores the runs and we need a few more runs from some of the other guys,” Bayliss said. “I think that would take a little bit of the pressure off Joe. But he’s a guy who sets himself very high standards so I’m sure he’d be a little bit disappointed he hasn’t turned some of the starts into big hundreds.”

Not only is David Warner intent on captaining Australia at every opportunity, the opening batsman has also flagged the possibility of a career in politics once he retires.Warner has been known to interact a little more often with political leaders than most members of the Australian side, famously fronting then Prime Minister Tony Abbott to commit federal government funding for the redevelopment of Heffron Park, near his childhood home in public housing in Matraville.Now, following his influential public role in the 2017 pay dispute between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association, Warner has said he is interested in looking towards making a difference in politics following his playing days.”After cricket, I wouldn’t mind doing something,” Warner told . “One thing that has been embedded in me since a young age is that I grew up in a housing commission. As a kid, I had to do everything at home with my brother just because my parents worked all the time. So whether it was dishes, ironing – all the normal things you do at home. Once I was able to go and work, I went and worked because we needed that money coming in to pay the bills. Me and my brother both paid a bit of rent when we were younger and I just liked looking out for anyone who was close to me.”During the dispute, it was a tough situation, you had your employers who were going up against our union and the players. So, I thought I needed to have a stance somewhere because at the end of the day, I want to play cricket for my country but for us to get a result or something in the middle – a happy medium – we had to fight for that. I am a believer in what I believe in. So, that was our belief, to get what we wanted. I sit back now and go, ‘I probably regret how the situation was played out in the media.’ And we do as players.”But, if you believe in something you are going to have to fight for it and I wasn’t going to stand down because we needed someone out there to speak about it. You can sit back and do what you like but you don’t get anywhere unless someone speaks up and does something.”Warner’s brand of cricketing leadership was on display during the recent T20 triangular series won by Australia over New Zealand and England. He said that his desire to lead the national team wherever possible would fuel him to take part in every T20 series when the full-time captain, Steven Smith, is rested.”I just like having responsibility and if there is anything that I can do to help anyone, whether it is here at the cricket or even if it is down at the beach or something,” Warner said. “If it is something that I can help with and someone needs help, then it is something I’ll be hand up for. That’s just the person that I am. And obviously standing in for Steve there are big shoes to fill. He needs his rest.”Playing all three forms for Steve is like playing six or seven different forms with having the responsibility of being captain of all three forms. So, he definitely needs his break from time to time and I am obviously going to put my hand up as a senior player to do that role.”I feel it is important we do have a senior player playing in all three formats, or one of us staying back and playing the T20 format, because you need to keep your core team values and how we are as an Australian unit. You need to have that experience there too for the guys who are coming through.”

Arsenal ensured they stay just three points behind Women's Super League leaders Chelsea after they ran out 2-0 winners against Liverpool on Sunday.

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• Arsenal dominant throughout WSL clash
• Miedema scored first goal in over a year
• Foord killed game off with second

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  TELL ME MORE

  Arsenal dominated possession and were the more imposing team in attack for most of the game as they managed to work the ball into the Liverpool box. The visitors were not able to find the breakthrough until the 60th minute when Vivianne Miedema took on a pass from Emily Fox in the middle of Liverpool's half and sent it sailing into the net from outside the box. It is Miedema's first goal for Arsenal since December 2022.

  Arsenal looked a bit braver following the opening goal and came close again when Caitlin Foord hit a shot from a tight angle but Rachael Laws managed to keep it out. It felt like a second goal was on the way and it was Foord who delivered it when Alessia Russo got onto the end of a Fox pass, squared to the winger and she tucked it in to kill the game off.

  Arsenal looked set to score a third when a nice high ball fell in behind the Liverpool defence for substitute Stina Blackstenius, but her effort went over the bar. The Swede had another great chance when it fell to her in the box, but Laws pulled off the save.

  Liverpool had their best chance to pull a goal back deep into stoppage time as the ball was headed on to Mia Enderby who raced towards the Arsenal goal, but Manuela Zinsberger did well to deny her. At the other end, Blackstenius came close yet again only to see her shot hit the post.

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  THE MVP

  There will be a lot of praise for Miedema and Foord for getting the goals, but Fox's excellent work in both goals should not be overlooked. She squeezed through three Liverpool players and down the wing before squaring to Miedema for the opener, then her perfectly weighted pass found Russo to create the second goal.

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  THE BIG LOSER

  Liverpool centre-back Gemma Bonner will feel she should have closed down Miedema and attempted to block the Netherlands star's shot rather than simply tracking back and leaving the space for her to tee it up and unleash the shot.

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• WHAT COMES NEXT?

  Arsenal will fancy their chances of keeping the pressure on WSL leaders Chelsea when they take on struggling West Ham in their next game on February 4. That same day, Liverpool will host another north London team as they face Tottenham.

Chloe Kelly is celebrating her 26th birthday, with the Lionesses star poking “glow up” fun at herself after being presented with an old England photo.

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• Euro 2022 winner now a household name
• Remains a key part of international set-up
• Looking to land more silverware in 2024

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Manchester City forward has become a household name on the back of her dramatic extra-time goal in the 2022 European Championship final. She also starred for her country during a run to the 2023 Women’s World Cup final.

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• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Kelly has had plenty to celebrate on the pitch of late, and that is now the case off the field as she welcomes in another birthday. Team-mates from club and country have been quick to pass on their best wishes, including England defender Millie Bright and City colleague Bunny Shaw.

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• WHAT KELLY SAID

  Manchester United defender Gabby George has also wished her Lionesses team-mate well, with Kelly responding to a collection of images posted on social media – which included one from her younger days in the international fold – by saying: “The glow up is real. Love always.”

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  WHAT NEXT FOR KELLY?

  Kelly is now up to 38 senior caps for England, with seven goals recorded along the way. She will be hoping to land more major silverware in 2024, with City still in the mix for WSL title glory and a FA Women’s Cup triumph.