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New CLEAR Black Caps coach Denis Aberhart will have no qualms about seeking expert advice to address any technical deficiencies among his players.Aberhart commented on criticisms of continuing technical faults among New Zealand players in recent years after his appointment today.”All players have technical things wrong at different times in their careers. All players have things they can improve, technically, mentally or physically.”My role is securing people who can help them do that.”No coach can know everything,” he said.Aberhart, who will take the New Zealand team to Pakistan for his first assignment, in September and October, will be quite happy to take a back seat in the public profile of the side.”I hope Stephen Fleming will do all the talking to the media and the like.”The game is about the players and I will assist the players to be the best they can be,” he said.Black Cap batsman Craig McMillan recalled that Aberhart was his first coach when he came into the Canterbury side at the start of his first-class career.He said there was a winning philosophy in the side at the time under Aberhart.”Losing wasn’t an option with the team and he will bring his special traits to the New Zealand team.”He’s a people person and while he is a coach who can be a hard taskmaster, he can also be your friend,” McMillan said.”That’s what I enjoyed most about him, he pushed you hard to reach the targets he had set. But you could also have some fun and talk about things other than cricket at the end of the day.”While McMillan said Aberhart would have something of a baptism of fire with Pakistan as his first tour, any tour was tough at the best of times.Aberhart will be a selector of the national side as well. He believed that a coach needed to have some say in the selection of the players he wanted to play the game the way it was best played, with the resources available.He is also keen to see the New Zealand team rid of its injury problems of last season because at full strength the side showed it had the ability to beat anyone.More consistency in both Test match and One-Day Internationals had to be a goal, and that had not been possible last year due to the injury concerns.”I’m looking forward to the challenge and doing my bit to lead the team forward,” Aberhart said.He said he was especially thankful for the support of his family, his employers at his school and to the Otago Volts for allowing him the chance to stay in the coaching frame last summer.

Crystal Palace have now joined the race to sign a “fantastic” £22m forward, who is pushing to leave his current club in the January transfer window.

Palace looking to sign Zaha-esque forward

No player has scored more Premier League goals for Palace than Wilfried Zaha, who found the back of the net 68 times in the top flight, prior to leaving to join Galatasaray back in 2023.

Since the winger moved on, the Eagles have been enjoying the most successful period in their history, winning their first-ever major trophy courtesy of a 1-0 FA Cup final victory against Manchester City last season, which means they are now in the midst of a maiden European campaign.

However, Oliver Glasner could arguably do with a player like Zaha, given that Jean-Philippe Mateta is way out in front at the top of the South Londoners’ goalscoring charts, having scored seven in the Premier League, with right-back Daniel Munoz and Ismaila Sarr tied in second place on just three.

Related Chelsea join Daniel Munoz race as Crystal Palace star reveals true "dream" move

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Last week, Crystal Palace made contact over a deal for Tottenham Hotspur forward Brennan Johnson, and another exciting British winger is now being targeted, according to a report from Caught Offside, which states they have now joined the race for Chelsea’s Tyrique George.

George is pushing to leave the Blues during the January transfer window, with the winger looking to ‘accelerate his development’ elsewhere, having been a sporadic member of Enzo Maresca’s starting XI’s this season.

Palace’s London rivals are said to be holding out for £22m for the 19-year-old, with a whole host of English clubs now queuing up to secure his signature, including Leeds United, Everton, Fulham and Southampton, while RB Leipzig and AS Roma headline the interest from abroad.

"Fantastic" George catching the eye in Europe

Although consistent game time has been limited, the Englishman has impressed when given the opportunity, with scout Jacek Kulig hailing him for scoring his first Champions League goal in Chelsea’s 5-1 victory against Ajax earlier this season.

Kulig has also praised the teenager for his pace, creativity and shooting abilities, while likening him to Zaha and Tottenham Hotspur legend Son Heung-min.

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With Chelsea signing the likes of Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho in the summer, it would make sense for the left-winger, who is also capable of playing at centre-forward, to move on in January.

£22m seems like a fair fee for George, given the level of some of his performances this season, and Selhurst Park may be an attractive destination, with Palace currently fighting for Europe.

England will have a review reinstated after the supplier of Snicko technology admitted an operator error may have cost them the wicket of Alex Carey on the opening day of the Adelaide Test.ESPNcricinfo understands that Brendon McCullum and Wayne Bentley, England’s head coach and team manager respectively, held talks with Jeff Crowe, the match referee, after the close of play to air their grievances. The ECB will also encourage the ICC to review their systems to improve their decision-making processes in future.TV umpire Chris Gaffaney upheld Ahsan Raza’s on-field “not out” decision after Carey, on 72, flashed at a ball from Josh Tongue outside off stump. There was a clear spike shown on the Real-Time Snickometer (RTS) several frames before the ball had passed the bat. “There’s a clear gap, no spike,” Gaffaney said.But Carey, who went on to score 106, admitted after play that he thought he had hit the ball, saying he had “a bit of luck” and was “clearly not” a walker. BBG Sports, the supplier of RTS, later suggested that an operator had “selected the incorrect stump mic for audio processing” and took “full responsibility for the error”.David Saker, England’s bowling coach, said on Wednesday night that the dressing room has harboured concerns about the reliability of RTS all series. “We shouldn’t be talking about this after a day’s play, it should just be better than that,” Saker said. “In this day and age, you’d think the technology is good enough to pick things up like that.”The ICC’s playing conditions allow player reviews to be reinstated at the match referee’s discretion if a player review “could not properly be concluded due to a failure of the technology”. There is precedent for the decision from England’s tour to India in early 2021, when Ajinkya Rahane was incorrectly given not out in the second Test in Chennai.Related

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• Snicko supplier takes 'full responsibility' for Carey error

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• Carey and Khawaja stand out on juvenile batting day for Australia

• Carey keeps Australia afloat as Ashes refuses to find slower gear

Crowe’s decision means that England will have two reviews available to them on the second day in Adelaide, with Australia set to resume their innings of 326 for 8. It may be scant consolation to them given Carey was able to bat on and score a further 34 runs after being incorrectly given not out.The ICC has two approved “sound-based edge detection technology” suppliers: RTS, which is used in Australia, and UltraEdge, which is used in the rest of the world. Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, said on Thursday morning that umpires “can’t trust” RTS and suggested that UltraEdge is superior.”This technology that we are using here is simply not as good as technology that’s used in other countries,” Ponting said while commentating on Channel 7. “You talk to the umpires, they’ll tell you the same thing. They can’t trust it.”They’ve got a third umpire sitting up in there that’s got to make decisions based on what he’s seeing that the technology is providing, and sometimes they have a gut feel that it’s not right. “That can’t happen. You’ve got to be able to trust the technology that’s in place.”The ICC did not respond to a request for comment.

Caught between the devil and the deep water: Indian players are torn by conflicting claims of the Indian board and private sponsors on the matter of endorsements © Getty Images

Global sports good manufacturer Adidas today said the Indian board has no rights over personal endorsement contracts of a player, countering rival Nike’s claim that it derived rights from the board to use Sachin Tendulkar’s name and image for advertising purposes.In their ongoing battle over Tendulkar at the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC), Adidas contended that the board would have to enter into a separate agreement with them in a case-to-case basis, which players can even refuse.”What is the authority of BCCI [Board of Control of Cricket in India] for granting such rights of Tendulkar’s [to Nike],” the Adidas counsel said, commenting on Nike’s reply in which the sportswear firm has contended that “it believed it had derived rights from BCCI” to use Tendulkar’s name and image, both still and motion picture. “They can use the BCCI name and logo but not use individual’s name,” the Adidas counsel said.The counsel also claimed that Nike was not an official sponsor of the Indian cricket team. “As per the documents, Sahara India Airlines is the official sponsor of the cricket team … It does not mention Nike as a sponsor.”Following the commission’s direction, Adidas submitted its contract with Tendulkar but without Clause 3 of the agreement. Clause 3 deals with the amount it paid to the cricketer for endorsements.The BCCI also submitted its contract with the players. The MRTPC bench headed by Justice OP Dwivedi directed Nike to produce a copy of its agreement with BCCI and has listed the matter for the second week of August.

Sajid Mahmood is available for Lancashire before joining up with the England one-day squad © Getty Images

Welcome back to the C&G Trophy. The premier domestic one-day tournament has reached its final stage with Lancashire and Sussex ready to continue a hard-fought rivalry. However, this was known two months ago when the final group game were played, but thanks to the ECB fixtures department there has been an entire Twenty20 competition and half of the 40-over league before the showpiece final of the summer.Still, if the two team remember which length of game they are playing (it is to their advantage that all one-day cricket is now played in coloured clothing) this final has the potential for some outstanding cricket. Lancashire and Sussex have been the two form teams of the season, not only are they contesting the final but hold the top two positions in the Championship. Whatever the result on Saturday, it won’t be the end of their contest.For Lancashire this final marks a return to a ground that used to be their second home during the 1990s as they made regular appearances in one-day finals. But they haven’t made it since 1998 – when they beat Derbyshire – and have had to endure a raft of semi-final defeats. Sussex’s absence has been even longer, stretching back 13 years to possibly the greatest domestic final when they were beaten by an Asif Din-inspired Warwickshire in the 1993 Natwest final.Already thus season these two sides have played each other on three occasions; twice in the Championship and once in the Pro40. Lancashire took the honours with in the Championship with an impressive win at Liverpool before holding on for a battling draw at Hove, but Sussex claimed the Pro40 match thanks to stunning century from Chris Adams.There is a history of hard-fought contests and Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s captain, is expecting nothing less this time around. “Any team that has Grizzly [Chris] Adams in charge is going to provide a tough challenge. We have had some good contests with them and they are a side fill of talented players.”You can see through our one-day form – in the C&G early in the season – as well as our championship form, we are two teams who deserve to be challenging for two big prizes.”Michael Yardy, one of the new faces in England’s one-day squad, forms part of a powerful Sussex batting order which also includes Adams, Murray Goodwin, Matt Prior and Richard Montgomerie. While Yardy can look forward to his first taste of international cricket, Prior will want to use the final to remind the selectors of his talents after missing out on all England’s squads this summer.Lancashire, too, have players with points to prove. Sajid Mahmood is available before joining up with the England squad and has yet to convince in the limited overs game while Mal Loye, who has been on the verge of national honours this season, has a major stage to show England what they are missing.Murali Kartik, who arrived in Manchester on Tuesday, has been named in Lancashire’s 14-man squad and could be selected in favour of Gary Keedy, who has struggled in recent weeks. Their seam attack is strong with Mahmood, Glen Chapple, Dominic Cork and Tom Smith providing a powerful armoury.If Kartik makes the final XI, it will throw up a head-to-head with Mushtaq Ahmed, who has so often been Sussex’s trump card in major matches. Mushtaq is top of the Championship wicket-taking list despite suffering a variety of injuries and is the vital cog in the Sussex attack. Yasir Arafat, the Pakistan allrounder who replaced Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, is dangerous with the new and old ball so Pakistani cricketers are unlikely to be far from the action for the second weekend running.Lancashire (probable) Mark Chilton (capt), Mal Loye, Stuart Law, Nathan Astle, Luke Sutton (wk), Glen Chapple, Dominic Cork, Kyle Hogg, Tom Smith, Sajid Mahmood, Murali Kartik.Sussex (probable) Richard Montgomerie, Matt Prior (wk), Murray Goodwin, Chris Adams (capt), Michael Yardy, Carl Hopkinson, Robin Martin-Jenkins, Yasir Arafat, Luke Wright, Mushtaq Ahmed, James Kirtley

Virender Sehwag: would have done well to play Chaminda Vaas with caution © AFP

India could be the worst fielding side in the world at present. They allowed extra runs in the field and lost a few while running between the wickets during the final of the Indian Oil Cup against Sri Lanka. Add them all up and you have the difference between winning and losing.There were two regulation chances in the slips which were dropped off Sanath Jayasuriya. It was the surest way to invite disaster. Virender Sehwag has dropped quite a few catches in this tournament. In a way, it was ironic that a bit of smart fielding ejected Jayasuriya from the middle. India must count themselves lucky for Jayasuriya had set himself up for an innings of 150 or 160 runs. He was in his groove and was bisecting the field with his customary precision.Along with Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, Jayasuriya was one of the three senior-most cricketers who mattered for Sri Lanka in the final. These three are of timeless quality, the rocks who have braved the onslaught of faster, fitter and stronger one-day cricket from one decade to another. India should have been alert to these formidable men. Instead, we had a Virender Sehwag who wanted to take on Chaminda Vaas. Sehwag needed to differentiate between a Lokuhettige and a Vaas. He had the Sri Lankan attack on their knees. Another 10 overs at the crease and he would have been the toast of India. In the end, what did he achieve? – Just a glimmer of hope, when India could have basked in his glory.India just did not plan well enough. If you give four to five wickets to the duo of Vaas and Murali, that’s a blow to the guts. India needed to target and create more Lokuhettiges among the Sri Lankans. The best way to do it was in the middle overs for Vaas and Murali would have given nothing away at the death. Dravid and Yuvraj had a good partnership but I would have preferred Irfan Pathan ahead of Mohammad Kaif at that critical juncture.Not that Sri Lanka were without fault. I feel they were off to a really bad start. The promotion of Lokuhettige made no sense. The hosts had more experienced pinch-hitters like Vaas, Upul Chandana, Tilakeratne Dilshan and Farveez Mahroof and yet opted for a rookie on a stage as special as a final. Mahela Jayawardene was sensible and Russel Arnold is back to where he belongs but again they made a hash of things in the final overs.Sri Lanka also went with a bad mix in the finals. To me, there were only three proper bowlers in Sri Lanka team: Chaminda Vaas, Muthiah Muralitharan and Farvez Mahroof. The rest were all fill-in bowlers. The best and the barest combination in one-day cricket is at least four frontline bowlers. I would have never dropped Nuwan Zoysa from the line-up. He is a tough cookie and always brings wickets upfront. When Sehwag was skinning the likes of Mahroof and Lokuhettige to the bones, Zoysa was missed badly.Somehow I remain skeptical about the five frontline bowlers theory. Do we have an example in world cricket where five specialist bowlers have mattered in one-day context? Even Australia restricts itself to four quality bowlers. India looked for thoroughbreds when multidimensional cricketers are the call of one-day cricket. The likes of Arnold and Dilshan, Brad Hogg and Ashley Giles, Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi are able to don different hats as required in the fluid world of one-day cricket. Remember: single dimensional talents are easy to mark and sometimes a solitary arrow is enough to bring them down to earth. But if you are a chameleon, you can sneak in and move ahead with the furtiveness required in one-day cricket. One keeps hearing that this Indian team needs more time to turn around the corner. They would surely not be able to do so if the legs and spirits are as tardy as that of the present lot.

Chris Read – surplus to England’s requirements© Getty Images

Chris Read has been dropped from England’s one-day squad to make way for Geraint Jones, while there is a first call-up for Lancashire’s fast bowler Sajid Mahmood, who impressed on the England A tour to India and Malaysia earlier this year.Robert Key, the Kent opener who was the first batsman to pass 1000 runs this season, has also been recalled to the fray, although Gareth Batty and James Kirtley have both been omitted from the squad that toured the Caribbean earlier this year.It is a particularly cruel blow for Read, whose glovework this winter was of the highest order, and whose ability to take the long handle to the bowling at the end of an innings had been in evidence in England’s victory over West Indies in Guyana. David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, has admitted that the decision had been one of the toughest he had faced.”I will be speaking to Chris to ensure that he fully understands the reasons for his omission,” said Graveney. “Ultimately, we had to make a very fine judgment as to who we thought was the best person for the job. Geraint has the ability to bat in a number of different positions and this was an important factor.”Simon Jones did not come into consideration because of his foot injury, although Anthony McGrath – the forgotten man of England’s winter campaign – has been retained in the squad ahead of his fellow allrounder Rikki Clarke, who had failed to cement a role in the side. Despite popular belief that he would soon be eased out of the picture, Darren Gough has kept his place in the squad.England squad Michael Vaughan (capt), James Anderson, Ian Blackwell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, Geraint Jones (wk), Robert Key, Sajid Mahmood, Anthony McGrath, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick.

Pace duo Shane Harwood and Michael Lewis have returned to the Bushrangers line-up to take on the Western Warriors in Friday’s ING Cup match at the WACA. Brett Harrop, who debuted in the Bushrangers win over the NSW Blues on Sunday, was the player to make way.Harwood and Lewis missed Sunday’s match at the MCG, after both reported general soreness at the completion of the Pura Cup match against the Blues. David Hookes said there would be no risk taking when it came to selecting players. “Both Shane and Mick reported soreness after the Pura match and we felt it unnecessary to take any risks with them. Our squad depth is very good and it gave young Brett Harrop a taste of cricket at the next level, something he will no doubt benefit from in the future”.Hookes added the match in Perth would be taken very seriously irrespective of the fact the Bushrangers were unable to make the ING Cup final. “You can’t pick and choose which games you take seriously and which you don’t. Every game is very important as we strive to build a successful culture within Victorian cricket”.The match details are as follows:Western Warriors v Victorian Bushrangers
ING Cup
Friday, February 14
Hours of play: 2.30pm – 6.00pm / 6.45pm – 10.15pmBUSHRANGERS
Darren Berry (c), Rob Cassell, Shane Harwood, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Mathew Inness, Nick Jewell, Brendan Joseland, Michael Klinger, Michael Lewis, Andrew McDonald, Jon Moss, Cameron White (one to be omitted)

West Indies’ arrival in the country last Thursday was completely overshadowed by the hype surrounding the Second Test between Zimbabwe and India that started at Harare Sports Club the following day.The West Indies are in Zimbabwe for their first ever tour since Zimbabwe attained Test status in 1992 and it will be only their second Test series after Zimbabwe’s tour of West Indies in March last year. West Indies won the series with a two-nil whitewash.Their brief stay in the country was rather marred by an irresponsible report on both the national television and radio on Saturday evening, which alleged that someone from the Zimbabwe Cricket Union had warned the Windies players against walking in the streets of the capital. Both ZCU and West Indies team have since dismissed the report as baseless.”We categorically refute the allegations that they represent the view of ZCU. It is our position that the streets of Zimbabwe are among the safest in the world and that Zimbabwe remains the safest of all havens for visitors. This is the message that we always propagate to all our visiting teams and the approach was no different as regards our current touring teams,” said ZCU vice-president Dave Everington in a statement.”We have not received any information about Zimbabwe that we can interpret as negative. There has been no attempt by anyone whatsoever to paint any negative picture about this country to us. We are settling in here and we are quite comfortable here in the capital. We expect to enjoy the tour,” said West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt.Skerritt said that they were looking forward to a competitive series against Zimbabwe. “We expect it to be a tight series. Zimbabwe is a very competitive team and they have been doing very well at home. We have a young team so it will be good experience for us and we are looking forward to it.”The triangular one-day series is also going to be very tough. India is one the highly rated one-day teams and we have not had a very good record in one-day cricket of late. Zimbabwe are known to be a very competitive one-day team and this leaves us as underdogs. So for us to get into the final will be a great achievement.”We lost more games than we won in the last one-day series. In Australia we got into the final but we struggled to do that. We beat Zimbabwe but again it was not easy. We then had a home series against South Africa and again we did not do well. They beat us 5-2 in the seven-match one-day series after we won the first match.”But it was valuable experience for us. We have a lot of young players who have not had a lot of one-day matches. Our bowling attack is the worst affected as it is very inexperienced. And for the guys to handle pressure against sides like India and Zimbabwe will be a very good test.”Zimbabwe’s Test record has not been that impressive. They are, after Bangladesh, the newest Test-playing nation and the victory over India on Monday was a very good win for Zimbabwe and they have had a very good run at home this season. They are getting better, producing more players, and producing a more competitive Test team. We are through a rebuilding phase and they have just come out with a very good win against India in the last Test and our series against Zimbabwe will be very competitive.”I wouldn’t want to single out any players for special mention. Obviously the more senior players have established themselves, the captain and the Flower brothers. Zimbabwe has a well-balanced team, improving all the time so we will take them as a team and not as individuals.”Captain Carl Hooper also spoke about the series against Zimbabwe. “It’s going to be a very good series with Zimbabwe playing some good cricket at the moment. They have just beaten India in the Test to draw series. The tri-series will be close too and I think Zimbabwe are a very good one day-side as well as India. We expect to give a good account of ourselves.”The series against South Africa was a good one for us. They (South Africa) are second only to Australia in the world. We are rebuilding the side and we don’t feel under any pressure at all to win here in Zimbabwe. We have a young side and it will take a while for them to come through.”We are here to play Zimbabwe as a team and we are not going to single out any individual players for special attention. We are just going to play some good cricket over the next couple of weeks.”

Celtic have cashed in on a number of players over the past few years such as Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer, Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney, to name but a few.

One other player that the Hoops sold in recent memory but they may now be regretting is full-back Jeremie Frimpong, who moved to Bayer Leverkusen in January 2021 in a deal worth a reported £11.5m.

After joining from Manchester City’s youth ranks in 2019, the defender went on to make 51 appearances for the Hoops across all competitions, scoring three goals and providing eight assists along the way.

Since moving to Germany, the 21-year-old – who is currently picking up £25k-per-week according to Salary Sport – has racked up 47 appearances for Leverkusen in total, finding the back of the net twice and delivering nine assists in the process.

With 25 Bundesliga appearances under his belt this season, the right-back has scored one goal and set up another six, earning himself an overall performance rating of 6.88/10 from WhoScored. That makes him Leverkusen’s sixth-highest rated outfield player, showing how important a figure he is for his current club.

To highlight just how much of an attacking threat he has been this term, no other Leverkusen defender has made more key passes per game (1.2) than the former Hoops youngster, who also has his team’s joint-second highest number of dribbles per game (1.9).

In January 2021, shortly before calling an end to his Celtic career, Transfermarkt had Frimpong’s market value listed as £3.6m. It now stands at a massive £18m, highlighting a significant increase of 400%, which shows just how much of a boost his career has enjoyed since waving goodbye to the Parkhead club.

This current value would comfortably make him Celtic’s most valuable player, eclipsing Callum McGregor’s current value of £6.75m at the top of the tree. Taking all this into account, it’s safe to say that the Hoops lost a valuable asset when they sold Frimpong.

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However, with the player reportedly adamant that he wanted to leave the club, perhaps they should have done more to try and convince him to stay where he was, even if they still managed to accrue a decent transfer fee for him.

In other news: Ange can axe “infectious” ace as Celtic become “serious contenders” for “massive” deal