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The name Keith Barker is familiar to a certain generation ofBarbadians. It is likely to become far more widely known inthe coming years.Keith Barker was one of those outstanding all-roundsportsmen who were so plentiful prior to the recent age ofspecialisation.The youngest of his four sons, Keith junior, has alreadymade his mark as both cricketer and footballer inLancashire, England, where his father has lived since takingup a professional league cricket contract with the Enfieldclub in 1965.A fast bowler and effective lower order batsmen, Keithsenior was a stalwart in the BCL team in the annual matchagainst the BCA and good enough to play for Guyana while aprofessional with the Georgetown Cricket Club there. He alsorepresented Barbados in basketball and was a useful waterpolo player.There was never any doubt the sport the elder Barker wouldpursue. As with so many of his contemporaries, like SirGarry Sobers, Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith, cricket was theonly one that offered a career opportunity.In contrast, Keith junior, a student at Manchester’sMoorhead High School who turns 15 in a few days time, willeventually have to make the choice between cricket andfootball.A left-handed batsman, with 12 hundreds already in the book,and left-arm fast bowler, he was in the England under-15cricket team last season and turned out for Enfield, hisfather’s first Lancashire League club.As a left-side striker, he has been on the books of PremierLeague football club, Blackburn Rovers, since he was nine.He signed a new two-year contract at the club’s academy lastsummer.Keith senior, now 65, retired him his job with theLancashire county council and recently back in Barbados onholiday, was naturally enthusiastic about his son’sprospects. But he was careful not to overstate the case.He noted that his close friend, former West Indies captainand Lancashire player Clive Lloyd was Keith junior’sgodfather but he had deliberately not made much of theyoungster’s sporting prowess to him.”When Clive first saw him play last season, he wanted toknow why I hadn’t let him know he had a godson with suchpotential,” the elder Barker said.John Heaton, secretary of the Lancashire Schools CricketAssociation, is not inhibited by such paternal reticence.”Keith’s rather special,” he told the press last season.”It’s remarkable that a lad so young could have scored somany fifties and hundreds. You look back to the MikeAthertons, Andrew Flintoffs and Phil Nevilles and he looksbetter than all of them.”Atherton, Flintoff and Neville were all high-scoring batsmenwho came through the Lancashire school system.Atherton and Flintoff went on to play Test cricket forEngland. Neville, like his brother Gary, was also a topfootballer and he chose to join the better known club at OldTrafford, Manchester United, rather than the neighbouringLancashire County Cricket Club.It is a decision young Barker is likely to have to makeeventually. At the moment, his father said, he just wants tokeep on enjoying both sports.The inevitable question, of course, is which team will hechoose if he does realise the promise he now shows andbecomes a top cricketer. England, the country of his birth,or Barbados and the West Indies, the countries of hisheritage?”We kid about it sometimes and he has a real feeling for theWest Indies and West Indies cricket,” Keith senior said. “Nodoubt about it, I’d like him to play for the West Indies ifever the chance came around but that’s only hypotheticalright now.”

There was an almost apologetic look on Misbah-ul-Haq’s face when he won his second toss of the series. As if to say, ‘sorry, Alastair, but you know what’s coming’. And there certainly was a case of déjà vu.The close-of-play score – 282 for 4 – was remarkably similar to last week’s at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium when Pakistan finished on 286 for 4, and there was even a sense of having seen it all before in the way Misbah disdainfully raced to his hundred in the final over.There is an expectation that this surface will deteriorate more rapidly than Abu Dhabi, which offered virtually nothing until the penultimate session of the match, so having first use was seen as a major coup, especially with Yasir Shah back in Pakistan’s ranks. Yet, despite Misbah’s hundred, England reached the close knowing they remain firmly in the contest after the bowling attack strained every sinew.An opening stand of 51 was countered by two pieces of sharp work at short leg from Jonny Bairstow. Then Shan Masood’s elegant fifty was snuffed out straight after lunch – both he and Mohammad Hafeez fell to that notorious helping hand, the break in play – and Younis Khan was extracted before his partnership with Misbah could swell to vast proportions. The final hour swung the day, but not the match.As on the first day in Abu Dhabi, there was a stark contrast between pace and spin: the four quicks compiled 57-16-138-3 and the two spinners 33-4-142-1. The value of having six frontline bowlers was again on display from Alastair Cook. He did not have to over-expose Adil Rashid or over-burden any of his quicks.The heaviest workload of the day went to Moeen Ali with 20 overs. He was introduced in just the eighth over and was also the man to feel the force of Misbah in the last, while the tireless James Anderson was the hardest-worked of the quicks, with 16 overs stretched across four spells. However, it was the effort of Mark Wood that was most notable – with a worthy nod to Ben Stokes who was still recovering from the effects of a stomach bug – even though his wicket tally remains limited.”It’s three or four overs as a bowler and then you are off and then the next guy has to back that up,” Wood said. “It’s no good, say, Jimmy putting in a great three overs and I come on and let the pressure off. I think that’s why we all look out for each other and are quite a close unit. You sort of have that badge of honour in these conditions, you know you’ve put a hard shift in and done it for the team.Mark Wood grabbed the key wicket of Younis Khan in a fine spell after tea•Getty Images

“I think the pitch is a little more skiddy than [Abu Dhabi], this comes onto the bat a little bit better. As a seam group I think we did our job, we set traps and tried different things. They attacked the spinners but I don’t think they bowled badly.”In Wood’s case, how his body reacts to back-to-back Tests is always the focus of attention. Against New Zealand, at Headingley, he laboured after his debut the week before; against Australia at Lord’s he struggled after impressing in Cardiff – and those matches were not in 35-degree heat. In Abu Dhabi he sent down 29 overs in the match, comparable to the other quicks but not a huge workload.Still, the strain needs to be carefully monitored; if he plays all three Tests in this series that will be above expectation. Wood does not hide his concerns, he has been happy to talk about them in the past, conceding surgery made be needed on his ankle eventually. Still, as a player deemed worthy of selection Wood can’t then expect special protection. Besides, it’s not in his nature to hold anything back.Each spell was full of hostility. In his first burst he attempted to unsettle Masood, who had not played the short ball at all well during his brief pair of innings in Abu Dhabi; then in his second spell, Wood twice stuck Misbah on the shoulder and the back of the helmet as the Pakistan captain turned his head away from short deliveries.What must go through the mind of a fast bowler, on these pitches, when the captain asks for a spell of bouncers? There was, however, a modicum of extra carry compared to last week and Wood threw his all into trying to make the most of it.”I tried to make more aggressive use of the short ball,” Wood said. “With my height, in these conditions, it tends not to go over them very much, it’s always at them, so I can use that to my advantage. But they played it pretty well, I know I hit Misbah a couple of times but he’s still out there and has a hundred so I’ll have to try again tomorrow.”After tea Wood produced an outstanding spell of 4-2-3-1; between him and Moeen the first 17 balls of the final session were dots, the 18th brought the wicket of Younis who was set solid on 56. A leg-side catch it may have been, but it is worth noting the build-up in the over – the third ball, a short delivery, made Younis flinch out of the line and the next he was beaten playing a flat-footed drive. Younis, a batsman enjoying the prime of his career late on, had been unsettled on a flat pitch.Next over, Wood gave Asad Shafiq a testing time, zipping one past the outside edge and then creating a nick which landed short of gully. In the fourth over of his spell he pummelled Misbah’s gloves with a rising delivery and nipped another past the outside edge. On another day, Wood could easily have had more reward. But although both batsmen survived, he had left nothing in the shed, or should that be the stable. Wood’s own horse may be imaginary, but England’s most certainly has not bolted.

Eddie Howe is now flying as Newcastle United boss as he is unbeaten in six Premier League matches and has guided the team outside of the bottom three in the table. 

Fans may be starting to take to the former Bournemouth man in a way that they have not done since Rafa Benitez was at the club prior to Steve Bruce’s spell in charge.

However, it was not all sunshine and rainbows for the recently-axed Everton head coach as he made his share of errors with the Magpies.

Disasterclass

One player the Spaniard played a disasterclass with was central defender Chancel Mbemba. The DR Congo international played 59 times for the Magpies in three seasons, with Benitez joining midway through his first campaign at the club.

He averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.95 in 2015/16 as he produced top performances on a consistent basis in the Premier League. This showed that he had the potential to be a useful asset for the club in the top-tier moving forward, but it did not work out between him and his manager.

Former Porto player Steven Defour claimed that Benitez’s management of the defender resulted in his eventual departure, saying:

“Mbemba is a tough defender in the individual marking, he is a fast player who has passing quality and who risks going out to play from the defence, he has a good aerial game, he has talent and qualities to impose on FC Porto.

“I think he just could not stay at Newcastle, because they made him play right-back, a position that is not his. It was a shame.”

Five of his nine Premier League appearances in his final year at the club came at full-back, with Defour believing that his positioning caused him to want a transfer away from St. James’ Park. This shows that Benitez’s handling of the defender was directly responsible for the situation.

He sealed a move to Porto in the summer of 2018 for a fee in the region of £7.1m. Since making that switch, he has played 120 matches for the Portuguese side and his market value has skyrocketed from £5.4m to £13.5m – as per Transfermarkt.

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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This shows that he has been able to kick on since leaving the club, with Benitez unable to extract the best out of him after a promising first year.

His use of the DR Congo machine was seemingly to blame and his soaring value since his exit suggests that the ex-Liverpool boss endured a howler with him during his time at St. James’ Park, as Newcastle have potentially missed out on keeping a quality player with a high resale value.

AND in other news,  Fewer passes than Dubravka: Newcastle lightweight who made 0 tackles blew his chance…

Darren Lehmann is ready for his first outings for South Australia since giving up the captaincy © Getty Images

Darren Lehmann will bolster South Australia’s fragile batting line-up when he returns to the side this weekend after recovering from a torn hamstring. Lehmann is one of four inclusions for the Pura Cup match against Tasmania starting on Monday at Bellerive Oval following the Redbacks’ 270-run humiliation at the hands of Victoria in their season opener.Cullen Bailey’s hopes of a national call-up this summer suffered a setback as he lost his place in the side following match figures of 1 for 103 against the Bushrangers. Jason Borgas, Cameron Borgas and Daniel Harris were also axed to make way for Shane Deitz, Shaun Tait and Andy Delmont.Deitz, who kept wicket last season and was one of South Australia’s most consistent run-scorers, might play as a specialist batsman as Graham Manou has been retained in the 12-man group. Delmont made his FR Cup debut in the middle order last week and could follow it with his first-class debut, while Tait’s successful return in the one-day match against Victoria has led to his inclusion for his first four-day game after elbow surgery.The Redbacks will also take on Tasmania in an FR Cup match in Hobart on Saturday and their limited-overs squad is more settled. The only change is the return of Lehmann at the expense of Cameron Borgas, who made 0 in the last game and a pair in the Pura Cup match. The Hobart games will be Lehmann’s first outings for South Australia since quitting the state captaincy at the end of last season.Tasmania have regained Ben Hilfenhaus for the one-day clash after his trip to India with the Australia squad, while Luke Butterworth also returns from injury. Ricky Ponting will miss the FR Cup game due to cortisone injections but is expected to be available for the Pura Cup match.South Australia FR Cup squad Matthew Elliott, Daniel Harris, Mark Cosgrove, Nathan Adcock (capt), Darren Lehmann, Andy Delmont, Graham Manou (wk), Ryan Harris, Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Shaun Tait.South Australia Pura Cup squad Matthew Elliott, Shane Deitz, Mark Cosgrove, Nathan Adcock (capt), Darren Lehmann, Andy Delmont, Graham Manou (wk), Ryan Harris, Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Shaun Tait.Tasmania FR Cup squad Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, Michael Di Venuto, Daniel Marsh (capt), George Bailey, Tim Paine (wk), Luke Butterworth, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Ben Hilfenhaus, Adam Griffith.

Amol Muzumdar, the 32-year-old middle-order batsman, has been named captain of the Mumbai team for the forthcoming Ranji Trophy season. Muzumdar replaces Nilesh Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner, who led the side last season.Explaining the decision, Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, said: “The selectors wanted Nilesh to concentrate on his bowling. He is our main strike bowler and captaincy was affecting his bowling.” also quoted Vengsarkar as saying that the four-member selection committee – which also included Sanjay Patil, Milind Rege and Abey Kuruvilla – unanimously decided to opt for Muzumdar. Pravin Amre, the Mumbai coach, supported the decision as well, saying that batsmen usually made better captains than bowlers.Muzumdar had been in contention for captaincy last season as well, after Sairaj Bahutule left for Maharashtra, but Kulkarni was handed the job instead. Reacting to the decision, Muzumdar said he was “thrilled and excited”, and hoped to pass on his experience to the younger players. “I would like to display whatever I have learnt over the past 13 seasons in my stint. Guiding the youngsters will be my primary task.”Muzumdar has played 113 first-class matches and averages 51.23, with 20 centuries. He was especially prolific in the Ranji Trophy last season, finishing sixth in the averages list in the eight matches he played.

England are likely to face a demanding schedule when they tour Australia to defend the Ashes in 12 months time.The tour will be sandwiched between the ICC Champions Trophy, to be held in India in November, and the World Cup in the West Indies in March. Despite the time constraints, five Tests will be squeezed together in just six weeks.The ECB and Cricket Australia are still in negotiations but, as reported in the schedule would mean England playing 25 days of Test cricket in just 45 days. Only between the second and third Tests are the players afforded a significant break of nine days.”I’m afraid I can’t comment on the itinerary because it has not been finalised, “John Carr, the ECB’s director of cricket operations, told .”There are one or two points that are under discussion. As soon as it has been agreed, we will release it because there are a lot of people who want to know the dates so that they can make their plans.”But it is going to be a very busy winter because of the Champions Trophy and the World Cup. The intention is to let the players have a couple of weeks between the Champions Trophy and the start of the Ashes tour, and a break after the Ashes series and the start of the World Cup, which will benefit both teams.”

Chris Adams: one year on© Getty Images

This time 12 months ago Sussex were poised to secure their first County Championship title. A year later and things at Hove are a little different with a top-three finish the best the county are likely to achieve after a poor start to the summer.But the enthusiasm of Chris Adams, in his eighth year as Sussex captain, remains undiminished, and he has ended speculation that he was about to stand down by telling the local newspaper that he is keen to continue – if he is wanted.”Last year took a lot out of me,” he told the Sussex-based Argus newspaper. “I did seriously think about going out on a high. But that wouldn’t have been fair on the players or the club who have backed me and deserved some loyalty in return.”I have said to the club that I see myself doing the job as long as they want me to,” Adams continued. “If someone else stepped forward then I’d happily stand down, but at the moment I’d be delighted to carry on next year and maybe beyond. Who knows?”As there is nobody at Sussex who stands out as a rival, and budgetary restrictions rule out a big-name signing from another county, Adams’s position seems secure.”It can be very stressful at times, but it’s also hugely rewarding,” Adams added. “I love doing it and would be delighted to carry on. Obviously, in a year’s time if someone stood out we’d have to take a look at it again.”

Hampshire slumped to their second Frizzell Championship defeat of the season, when they went down to Northamptonshire at Wantage Road within three days.Northamptonshire added 77 runs for the last wicket, just three runs short of their all time record against Hampshire for the 10th wicket. Shaun Udal finally dismissed the persevering Brown giving the home side a vital advantage of 93 runs.Again Hampshire’s batsmen could not contend fully with the conditions, and after losing both openers for 19 runs, were always against the pace. Simon Katich and Robin Smith stayed for a while, and a patient 36 from John Francis held up the inevitable, but again a middle to late order collapse reeked disaster.Dimitri MAscarenhas the hero with the ball in Northamptonshire’s first innings wealded some lusty blows and with Shaun Udal gathered a few extra runs, but with 3 wickets apiece from Damian Wright and Mike Cawdron, the target set the home side was just 87.James Tomlinson took three wickets in bowling not too disimilar to Twenty20 cricket, as Northants claimed the extra half hour.Hampshire Hawks meet the Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Sunday in a vital National League match at Wantage Road, and they have recalled James Hamblin, Lawrence Prittipaul, Ed Giddins and Wasim Akram (subject to a fitness test).

Longevity was the key word when it comes to Alf Gover, who has died at theage of 93.Born in 1908 on February 29th near Epsom in Surrey, he was the oldest Testcricketer. He worked for most of his life, had a long and distinguished career with Surrey and only a short Test career, but his four matches were spread over a period of 10 years, interrupted by the Second World War.Gover became the world’s oldest surviving Test cricketer when R.E.S. Wyatt, whowas born only a few miles away from him in Surrey, died in April 1995. Themantle now passes to Lindsay Weir of New Zealand, who was also born in 1908,while Norman Mitchell-Innes, born in 1914, is now the oldest English Testcricketer.Gover’s first-class career lasted all of 20 years. He made his debut in 1928and in the subsequent 362 matches this tall man for the time (6 foot 2½ inches) with an enthusiastic action would charge in, often on totally unresponsive Oval pitches.These conditions did not stop him taking 1,555 wickets during his career at a cost of only 23.63 apiece, and on eight occasions he took 100 wickets in a season. In 1936 he became the first fast bowler since Tom Richardson in 1897 to take 200 wickets in a season, and he repeated the achievement the following year.Gover’s performance in 1936 failed to gain him selection for the tour to Australia the following winter, even though he had made his Test debut that summer. He went wicketless at Old Trafford against India, despite the fact that two catches were dropped in the slips off his bowling in the first session ofplay. He did, however, strike seven times the following summer in his two Tests against New Zealand at Lord’s and The Oval.With another 200 wickets to his credit that summer, he did make the touringparty to India in 1937-38. It was on that tour, at Indore, that Alf Gover became the focus of one of the classical humorous stories in which cricketdelights.Dysentery was rife in the area and the tourists were not immune. As Goverbegan his characteristic run up to the wicket at the start of an over, hecontinued past the umpire, through the crease, accelerated past a somewhatbemused batsman waiting to take strike, through the slip cordon who turnedas one to see the bowler disappear into the pavilion in desperate search fora lavatory.Unfortunately, in his predicament, he had forgotten to leave the ball on thefield of play and fine leg was despatched to retrieve it. It is reported that fine leg then emerged from the pavilion clutching his prize, suggesting thatit would be judicious to secure the services of a substitute fielder withoutdelay.While Gover recovered from that discomfort, his knee let him down and he appeared in none of the Tests on that tour. After the war, however, he returned to England colours in 1946 at the Oval for what turned out to be his final Test.He continued to play effectively for Surrey until the age of 40, when he retired from first-class cricket. He moved into journalism and, moresignificantly, into coaching. In unglamorous surroundings at the back of agarage in Wandsworth in south London, he ran an indoor cricket school at atime when such establishments were rare.He was still coaching in whites well into his seventies. It was at his indoor school that I had the pleasure of meeting him in person for the only time. As a promising fast bowler in club cricket, I was sent there to refine my technique.I remember a kind, venerable figure in an England sweater, ramrod straightin stature. I remember the tatty net area and the overpowering smell of rubber from the matting on the floor and behind the stumps. I regret that I remember nothing of what the great man had to tell me. Perhaps he thought I was a lost cause and decided not to waste his precious knowledge on a hopeless case. I doubt that and suspect that the fault was all mine.Many more deserving cases benefitted from his tutelage, and a veritable Who’s Who of world cricket passed through those unprepossessing doors to emerge as better cricketers. And to show that it was not only bowlers he could improve, both Viv Richards and Andy Roberts were sent to Wandsworth on their arrival in England as budding overseas professionals.It was where the great Surrey side of the fifties learned their cricket,including Tony Lock, the left-arm spinner who was thought to have developedhis unlawful action by trying to keep the ball below the top netting in theGover indoor school.It was not until 1998 that Gover received recognition for his services tocricket in the form of an MBE. No doubt that great Surrey supporter and former prime minister, John Major, felt that the time was then right for someone as renowned for his longevity as Alf Gover to be rewarded for a lifetime of contributions to the game.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsUmesh Yadav dismissed Angelo Mathews with the first ball of the day•Associated Press

It had been more than a year since India last won a Test match, at Lord’s in 2014, but the final lap of their long wait zipped past quicker than anyone would have expected. Seven balls after lunch on the fifth day, Dushmantha Chameera padded up to an Amit Mishra googly. Mishra spun around in appeal; Rod Tucker’s finger went up immediately.With that, the series was level. Sri Lanka had lost their last eight wickets for 62 runs. Worryingly, for a side that is losing perhaps its greatest-ever batsman to retirement, the collapse only continued a trend: they had lost their last seven wickets for 65 runs in the first innings.If there were any furrows on Virat Kohli’s brow while he chased his first win as India’s Test captain, they weren’t caused by a Sri Lankan batsman. If they appeared at all, they did so only when rain fell with the last pair at the crease to bring the covers onto the field and hasten the lunch break by 10 minutes.For the second time in the match, India’s attack refused to release the pressure on the batsmen. R Ashwin, who had taken the first two Sri Lankan wickets on the fourth evening, picked up his 12th five-for in Test cricket, but the other three specialist bowlers contributed significantly as well.Angelo Mathews, first-innings centurion and 23 overnight, loomed as the biggest obstacle in India’s path to victory, but they saw his back at the earliest possible moment. Umesh Yadav had troubled him right through the first innings, opening him up constantly with his away movement from a good length. But while he had survived those deliveries by playing inside the line, his hands followed the ball this time, and KL Rahul dived to his right to pouch him behind the stumps.Amit Mishra was the next bowler to get on the scorecard. Dinesh Chandimal had made 15 in his usual manner, which spans the spectrum from busy to edgy, before the legspinner’s drift undid him. Shaping to sweep, he ended up playing down the wrong line as the ball swerved down the leg side and turned sharply to hit leg and middle stumps.Lahiru Thirimanne had looked entirely at sea against Ashwin. In the 12th over of the morning, he beat him twice with his offbreak – once when the batsman was on the back foot, with a slow, loopy delivery; once on the front foot with a quicker, flatter ball that turned just as much – and nearly had him lbw when he played back to his arm ball. He wouldn’t be denied for too much longer. In his next over, Thirimanne stepped out to Ashwin, didn’t get to the pitch of the ball, closed his face too early, and popped a catch to silly point.Ishant Sharma was the next Indian bowler on the scorecard. He had jagged one back four overs ago to hit Dimuth Karunaratne’s pad – height saved the batsman – and that may have prompted Jehan Mubarak to poke nervously at a ball angling away from him. Virat Kohli, standing a couple of steps closer than normal at second slip, took a good low catch.Karunaratne had struggled against Ashwin all through the fourth evening, but having survived that spell was looking likely to carry his bat – particularly when Dhammika Prasad, the most capable of the tailenders, holed out slogging at Ashwin. That didn’t materialise, however, as he went back to another of Ashwin’s arm balls, misreading the length of it. It hurried through and bowled him off the pad.The end looked near when Mishra had Tharindu Kaushal – who had been bruised on the glove by an Umesh bouncer in the previous over – lbw with a googly. It could have been all over next ball, when Dushmantha Chameera prodded forward uncertainly to another wrong ‘un, but this time umpire Rod Tucker judged that the ball may have missed leg stump.A drizzle had already begun, and intensified rapidly over the first three balls of the next over. Off went the players, and on came the covers. India would have to wait just a little longer.