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Liverpool have now received a boost in their pursuit of Nicolo Barella, with it being reported that Inter Milan are now willing to sell him if they receive a bid worth over €80m (£69m), according to reports from Italy.

What's the latest Liverpool transfer news?

Fabinho has recently followed Jordan Henderson out the exit door, putting pen to paper on a three-year deal with Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad, meaning there is now a pressing need for Jurgen Klopp to bring in new reinforcements in central midfield.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has now confirmed that Southampton's Romeo Lavia is Klopp's "priority" target in midfield, with talks currently ongoing, however the deal is not straightforward, with the Saints looking to hold out for a package worth £50m.

Fluminense midfielder Andre also remains an option for the Reds, with the Brazilian club said to be holding out for a fee of €25m (£21m), while they have made contact over Eintracht Frankfurt star Jesper Lindstrom, who is also being targeted by Arsenal.

According to recent reports from Italy (via Sport Witness), Liverpool have also been handed a boost in their pursuit of Barella, as Inter would now consider selling the midfielder, if they were to receive an offer worth over €80m (£69m).

The Serie A side are now closing in on a deal for Udinese's Lazar Samardzic, which means they may no longer consider the Italian non-transferrable, in what would come as a real boost to his potential suitors.

In the Premier League, the Reds "in particular" are keen to sign the 26-year-old, with their interest mainly being driven by Klopp, who is believed to be a "great admirer", however Manchester City are also in the mix for his signature.

Read the latest Liverpool transfer news HERE…

How good is Nicolo Barella?

It is clear to see why Klopp is such a huge fan of the Italy international, as he is a real threat going forward, averaging 0.22 non-penalty goals per 90 over the course of the past year, which places him in the 92nd percentile compared to his positional peers.

The central midfielder averaged a 6.94 WhoScored match rating in the Serie A last season, the fourth-highest in the Inter squad, amassing a total of six goals and six assists, the joint-third highest number of goal contributions of any Inter player.

With an average of 1.6 key passes per game, the Cagliari-born maestro is clearly a very creative player, however he is also happy to pitch in with the defensive side of the game when needed, as indicated by the fact he averaged 1.4 tackles during that time period.

Lauded as "fantastic" by Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, the Inter Milan star has proven he could be a quality addition to Klopp's squad, however he is not a like-for-like replacement for Fabinho or Henderson, given that his main qualities are on the front foot.

As such, it is important the Reds get a deal for Lavia over the line first, but they should undoubtedly reignite their interest in Barella, should Inter Milan make it clear they are willing to sell him this summer.

The former captain suffered a grade one tear to his calf muscle during training

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2017Sri Lanka allrounder Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi later this month with a calf strain. He had sustained the injury during training on Tuesday, before undergoing scans on Wednesday.SLC cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha confirmed Mathews’ unavailability.This is the latest in a long history of leg injuries for Mathews – the last 12 months having been particularly problematic. He had suffered a torn hamstring during Sri Lanka’s tour of South Africa in January, and did not play international cricket again until June. He had also missed a tri-series in Zimbabwe late last year due to “multiple injuries” in his legs.Given the recurrence of these injuries, Mathews’ workload has been closely managed over the last few months. In fact, he was only required to deliver a few overs per game in the ODIs against India, and did not bowl at all in the Tests. Nevertheless, he finds himself unable to play again, just as Sri Lanka attempt to put the torrid series against India behind them. Mathews had been excellent during Sri Lanka’s last Test series the UAE, in 2013-14, hitting 412 runs at an average of 103.Sri Lanka’s two-Test series against Pakistan begins on September 28 in Abu Dhabi. The second match will be a day-night Test, in Dubai.

Journalist Mitch Fretton believes "very smart" new Tottenham Hotspur signing Ashley Phillips could come as the "perfect" replacement for Wales international Joe Rodon.

Who have Spurs signed?

So far, new manager Ange Postecoglou has watched a quartet of new arrivals officially come through the door this summer, namely goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, midfielder James Maddison, winger Manor Solomon and Phillips.

The latter player is very highly-rated and could well work his way into becoming a top Spurs player for years to come, with Phillips putting pen to paper on a five-year deal.

He could also soon be joined by both Micky van de Ven of Wolfsburg and Rosario Central striker Alejo Veliz, as reliable transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has given his famous "here we go" to both moves.

Postecoglou, who has his eyes on two senior central defensive additions this summer, could yet add the likes of Bayer Leverkusen star Edmond Tapsoba before September 1.

Reliable outlets like The Evening Standard have backed this up most recently, but it will largely depend on outgoings, with Rodon being one of the Spurs players who have been told they can leave.

Read the latest Tottenham transfer news HERE…

"Signing two senior centre-backs this summer has not been ruled out by Spurs," wrote journalist Dan Kilpatrick in The Standard.

"Although they are still to offload the likes of Davinson Sanchez and Joe Rodon, who are among the squad players to be have been told they can find a new club."

Rodon spent the 2022/23 season on loan at French side Rennes, and it looks like he may well depart Tottenham after three years in north London. Former boss Jose Mourinho signed him from Swansea City in 2020.

Fretton, who writes for WhoScored and contributes as a member of the media team for Colchester United, believes Tottenham have a ready-made replacement for the Welshman in Phillips.

The journalist wrote on social media:

"Levy may have waited to save a few million quid, but Ashley Phillips is a very smart signing and a player with a high ceiling. The perfect Rodon replacement but hopefully he will be much better than what he was."

How good is Ashley Phillips?

The 18-year-old, after joining Blackburn from National League North side Curzon Ashton, quickly progressed through the club's youth academy – eventually managing 14 senior appearances for Rovers last term.

Former Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray, now in charge of Sunderland, once heaped praise on Phillips for his physicality and potential to be a world-class player.

“He’s an amazing footballer and he is going to be a mega footballer I’m pretty sure, but he’s a very young boy," exclaimed Mowbray in 2021.

“He’s a 6’3, 6’4 magnificent cut of a guy, fast as lightning, composed with the ball, aggressive. I think this football club have a footballer on their hands, and we have to manage his introduction into our team as best we can. I just brought him to give him some experience.”

The England Under-19 international comes with plenty of pedigree as an exciting youth player and supporters will be hoping he can evolve into a mainstay.

Hasan Ali, the new No. 1 in bowler in ODIs, led the way with a three-wicket haul as Pakistan condemned Sri Lanka to their 11th successive loss in the format

The Report by Danyal Rasool20-Oct-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAFPIf the purpose of a series is to find out which of two teams is the superior one, then this ODI felt nothing more than a rhetorical question. To have to play it at all was the equivalent of insisting upon an answer to the aforementioned rhetorical question. The problem with that is the answer is hardly ever surprising. That was emphatically the case with the fourth ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Sharjah, which Sarfraz Ahmed’s men won by seven wickets with 11 overs to spare. Four down, one to go.This time Sri Lanka, who won the toss and batted, turned up the most abject performance of the series, losing seven wickets for 99 before recovering slightly to finish with 173. That was thanks to Lahiru Thirimanne, the visitors’ only batsman, apart from the captain, who emerges from this series with any credit. He made 62 off 94 balls, including four fours. The target was far too comfortable for Pakistan, despite early hiccups that had left them at 58 for 3, with half-centuries from Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik guiding them home.No matter what they try, it doesn’t seem to work for Sri Lanka. They made three changes to their XI and batted with an unmistakable air of freedom, having already conceded the series. Yet they careened to 173 all out in 43.4 overs. Pakistan’s bowlers put in an excellent collective performance – three of them took at least two wickets each – to establish the hosts’ dominance at the half-way mark.It began when captain Upul Tharanga was bowled for a duck, debutant Usman Khan producing a wonder ball that ripped through the gap between bat and pad. Niroshan Dickwella then began to attack the opening bowlers, carting Usman for consecutive fours and hitting Junaid Khan for six over fine leg. The wicketkeeper-batsman was taking risks, though, and he pushed it a bit too far when he tried to go over the infield on the off side, cover point taking a simple catch.Inevitably, the run rate began to slow down with Dinesh Chandimal and Thirimanne at the crease; the two batsmen have the lowest and fifth lowest ODI strike rates respectively this year. It was – unforgivably – a run out that broke the partnership, Chandimal the casualty. That brought the highly-regarded debutant Sadeera Samarawickmara to the crease, but he only lasted two balls, Imad Wasim beating him with the angle as the ball broke the stumps.Shadab Khan soon joined the party, removing Seekkuge Prasanna and Thisara Perera off successive balls to leave Sri Lanka seven down before they had reached three figures. Akila Dananjaya, who has been stoic in the lower order, hung around with Thirimanne as they attempted to reach what might be a competitive score. The last three wickets did add 74, but in the end, it merely saved Sri Lanka some extra embarrassment rather than having any impact on the scoreline.Chasing a smaller target than they had done in the third ODI, Pakistan might have felt comfortable with the straightforward task at hand. However, they were nowhere near as assured to start off on Friday, although the Sri Lankan bowlers were partly responsible for that. Fast bowler Lahiru Gamage was successful coming round the wicket to Imam-ul-Haq, trapping last game’s centurion plumb in front in the second over.Zaman’s dismissal was more disappointing. He got yet another start before falling in exactly the same fashion as he had in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. He charged at the spinner – Dananjaya this time – and failed to get anywhere near the pitch of the ball, and was utterly beaten by the spin. Dickwella completed a simple stumping.Seekkuge Prasanna removed Hafeez shortly after, though it was more down to a poor shot by the batsman. He failed to control a sweep shot off a wrong’un, the ball ballooning straight to deep square leg. Pakistan were 58 for 3, the match still salvageable for Upul Tharanga’s men.From thereon, it could have turned into one of those awkward low-scoring thrillers that chasing sides find so horrible, but the combination of youth and experience got Pakistan out of a hole. Apart from a dropped catch that gave Shoaib Malik a reprieve, the veteran added an unbroken 119 with Babar that carried the side home. After a lengthy spell where they consolidated, they swatted the bowlers away towards the end, the last 26 runs coming off two overs. It was far too comfortable, as much of this series has been for Sarfraz’s men.

A report has revealed how West Ham United could still make a move for Man United midfielder Scott McTominay despite James Ward-Prowse's signing.

Who will West Ham sign?

The Hammers finally sealed their first major signing of the summer window earlier this week with a move for Mexico international midfielder Edson Alvarez, who was given the number 19 shirt.

His move from Ajax marked the true beginning of West Ham's transfer window as manager David Moyes, technical chief Tim Steidten and sporting director Mark Noble were made to wait.

This could've been down to the delay in Declan Rice's £105 million switch to Arsenal, and with Gianluca Scamacca departing as well, West Ham now have a sizeable transfer kitty.

Moyes, speaking to the press on Friday, admitted West Ham were closing in on deals for both Man United defender Harry Magure and Ward-Prowse.

"James Ward-Prowse is having a medical just now," said the Scotsman.

"We've agreed a fee but it's not right I speak about him as he's not yet our player.

"We've had a bid accepted from Manchester United [for Maguire], but while he's not our player I'm not in a position to discuss him really."

Read the latest West Ham transfer news HERE…

Meanwhile, West Ham's manager also admitted that midfield star Lucas Paqueta has been subject to a bid from English champions Man City, but it is nowhere near their valuation.

He said: "We've had an offer from Manchester City [for Paqueta] but at the moment it's not anywhere near meeting our valuation."

There are still a few weeks left of this transfer window and anything can happen, with reports suggesting Paqueta is very keen on a switch to Eastlands.

As a result, West Ham may need to sign a replacement in the event of his departure.

According to 6 foot 2.com, despite Ward-Prowse's signing, the Irons could still make a move for United ace McTominay – especially if Paqueta were to leave for Manchester.

However, the sticking point is his price tag, as Erik ten Hag's side apparently value him at around £45 million.

There is also a question as to whether McTominay would agree personal terms.

What's been said about Scott McTominay?

The Scotland international made 26 league appearances for United last term, with ten Hag deploying him fairly regularly in the Red Devils midfield.

McTominay has dazzled at international level for under manager Steve Clarke as well, perhaps most notably scoring a brace against Spain earlier this year.

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone, commenting on the 26-year-old's former partnership with Paul Pogba at United, called both players some of the best midfielders in the world.

"They [Manchester United] have an incredible midfield," explained Simeone.

"I am incredibly impressed with the work rate. Pogba and McTominay are two of the best midfielders in the world with a great balance."

Meanwhile, former Belgium manager Roberto Martinez showered McTominay with praise as an "all action" midfielder.

"He is all action," said Martinez on Amazon (via The Metro).

"He makes the front four better. It’s important when you have creative players that you have other players who are willing to work."

Andrew Strauss has said he would continue to back England’s players after the Jonny Bairstow incident and does not believe an alcohol ban is necessary on tour

George Dobell in Brisbane27-Nov-20171:33

It’s come up on Australia’s first good day in the field – Root

Andrew Strauss has said England’s cricketers are “not thugs” but need to be smarter if they are to improve the perception the public currently have of them. Strauss, the director of England cricket, insisted he would back his players and did not believe an alcohol ban was necessary, but suggested “a bit of naivety” was damaging their image at present.He was talking as details of the incident involving Jonny Bairstow and Cameron Bancroft came to light. While Strauss said he accepted Bairstow’s explanation of events – repeating there was “no malice, no intent and no aggression in what he did” – he did call on the players to use their intelligence in the wake of the Ben Stokes affair and ensure they do not “put themselves in a position to be targeted”.As a result, he addressed the entire squad in Brisbane on Monday night to make clear the rules regarding England’s attitude to alcohol and nights out. While that will not involve an absolute ban on drinking, it does seem likely the rules will be tightened and clarified – with the possibility of a midnight curfew being imposed for the rest of the tour.But Strauss also made the point that the players had to be aware that, during an Ashes tour, there would be people looking to catch them out (on and off the pitch) and that, as the game sought to appeal to a new generation of supporters, they had to understand the changing nature of their responsibilities.”Jonny told me he bumped Cameron Bancroft,” Strauss said. “It’s a greeting thing he does with his mates.”Although I’m slightly surprised he would choose to do such a thing, I’m taking him at his word. As such, I don’t think it would appropriate for us to be launching disciplinary proceedings against him.”There was no curfew on that night. He’d had a couple of drinks but I don’t think he was inebriated. Nothing untoward happened at any time. Our security were very comfortable with their behaviour and that is the reason it has been a complete non-event up until now. No one knew about it because they didn’t do anything wrong and this situation has somewhat surprised all of us.”But what might have been acceptable in the old days is no longer acceptable. We, as an England cricket team and I suppose cricket as a sport, need to move along with that. So no one is underplaying this.”Something that was very innocent and kind of banter in a way, given the context and environment we’re operating in at the moment, can be construed as something completely different. And if that is not clear to the players right now, I don’t know when it will be.”All I’m saying is that the world has moved on. Certainly, in light of the Ben Stokes situation, there is attention on us that there wasn’t previously and we need to move with that. I think the guys do understand: it is very crystal clear to them now that if you put yourself in a position to have a go at you, they probably will do that now. This is an incident of our own making.”These guys are not thugs. These are good, honest, hard-working cricketers who sacrifice a lot to play for England. They’ve done some great things in an England shirt and I will back them on that to the hilt because I know them.Dawid Malan chats with England director of cricket Andrew Strauss•Getty Images”But the perception of them and the reality is different at the moment and we’ve got to take steps to make sure that reality is what people perceive of the England cricket team, not something different. The last thing any of us want is to be in the news for the wrong reasons and I will clearly be reminding the players of their obligations.”I think the players needs to be smarter. That’s the reality, they are adults, intelligent adults, and at times they are not using that intelligence in the right way.”That will not mean an absolute ban on alcohol or nights out. Strauss knows, from his own experience, the need for players to escape the bubble of cricket and have a release for the sometimes intense life of a touring professional. But, with the ECB reeling from the fallout of the Stokes incident and trying hard to market an image of a wholesome sport that it suitable for the entire family, any semblance of scandal is best avoided. It is, as he admits, a tough balancing act.”I think it is unrealistic to say to someone ‘you’re going on a five-month tour and you can’t have a drop of alcohol’,” Straus said. “I think there are times in the build-up to a match and when you’re in a match when alcohol is inappropriate from a performance point of view but I don’t think that [an absolute ban] is appropriate.”It is impossible to stay in a hotel room for five months and keep your sanity. I know that for a fact. So people have to be allowed a degree of freedom to go out. And it would be one of the great shames of anyone’s career to go on a tour and not go out the hotel.”But there is no way that you can or should be putting yourself or the team or the ECB or the game of cricket in a position where people are making judgements about the sport on the back of what you’re doing on a night out. And that’s what the players need to understand.”

Everton have spent the lion's share of the past few weeks negotiating with Leeds United for the transfer of Italy international Wilfried Gnonto following the Whites' relegation from the Premier League.

According to Sky Sports, the 19-year-old has been subject to four formal transfer offers, with the latest totalling £25m, but the Elland Road side obstinately reject his potential departure, despite the forward's refusal to play as he attempts to force a move.

Well, despite the best efforts of Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell, the pursuit might wind up fruitless, and as such, Sean Dyche's side appear to be focusing on another precocious talent in PSV Eindhoven's Johan Bakayoko.

What's the latest on Johan Bakayoko to Everton?

According to Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri, the Toffees are in talks for the exciting 20-year-old wide man and are believed to be preparing an official transfer bid.

Read the latest Everton transfer news HERE…

Merseyside rivals Liverpool are also interested in the highly-sought Belgium international, but Dyche will hope that the promise of regular minutes can convince the player to join the fold at Goodison Park.

How good is Johan Bakayoko?

The talented winger – who has already earned four caps for his nation, scoring once – enjoyed a tremendous breakthrough campaign with the Boeren last year, posting seven goals and five assists across all competitions, leaving talent scout Jacek Kulig hailing him as an "electric player."

Also said to be "performing at super level" by Fabrizio Romano, Bakayoko boasts the pace, power and prowess to flourish on the major stage, already boasting superlative creativity and progressive presence on the pitch.

Indeed, the rising star ranks among the top 8% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Men's Next Eight divisions for assists, the top 10% for shot-creating actions, the top 1% for progressive carries and the top 4% for successful take-ons per 90, as per FBref.

One thing is certain, if Bakayoko joins the ranks at Everton, he will open up a whole new channel up and down the flanks, providing the kind of 'electric' dynamism that Dyche will covet to eradicate the club's lack of attacking impetus, having finished the 2022/23 league edition as the second-lowest scorers.

He would also manage to bring the best out of the club's star talisman Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is a "monster" of a striker – as he was once called by Kulig – but has been detrimentally plagued by injuries over the past few campaigns, having missed 46 matches since the summer of 2021.

Despite his woes (Calvert-Lewin scored only twice last term as a result of his injuries), the £100k-per-week gem still ranks among the top 8% of forwards across Europe's top five leagues for aerial wins per 90, highlighting an imposing dominance in the box, something that Bakayoko can channel his creativity towards, as a focal point.

If the Englishman can finally put his troubles behind him and complete a sustained period of fitness, then Bakayoko could be the perfect offensive force to supplement his game, and Thelwell would be wise to throw the kitchen sink at PSV to secure a true prodigy for the Toffees.

Manchester United are still in the race for Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, with a recent report from Spain now revealing he could be set to turn down a move to one of Europe's top clubs…

Is Kylian Mbappe leaving PSG this summer?

After scoring against Toulouse on Saturday, Mbappe said "I am staying here", putting an end to the speculation about him leaving PSG this summer, however he does not want to remain at the Parc des Princes beyond this season.

The French club do not want to lose their star player on a free transfer next summer, with just one year remaining on his contract, but he has so far been unwilling to commit to an extension, potentially opening up the door for a move elsewhere.

Since the beginning of the summer transfer window, the France international has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid, with PSG of the belief he has already agreed to sign for the Spanish club in 2024, but there may be another option on the table.

According to reports from Spain (via TEAMtalk), the 24-year-old could move to Old Trafford in the January transfer window, after continuing with PSG in the meantime, with the player and his mother seriously weighing up his future in France.

The former AS Monaco man is well aware he can continue to make a lot of money if he stays with the French club, but he could also pack his bags to join Man United, and become the club's new "franchise star" as they try to dethrone Manchester City.

Those are the two options on the table for the forward at the moment, as he feels let down by Real Madrid not coming forward with a strong enough proposal to sign him, despite president Florentino Perez's long-term goal of taking him to the Bernabeu.

Read The Latest Man United Transfer News HERE

How many goals has Kylian Mbappe scored?

Despite still being relatively young, the Paris-born striker has already racked up an incredible number of goals for both club and country, netting a total of 240 goals across 321 games for PSG and AS Monaco.

The former AS Monaco man has also been prolific for his national side, netting 40 goals in 70 appearances for France, leading them to their triumph in the 2018 World Cup, while also playing a big part in them reaching the 2022 final.

Lauded as "world-class" by former teammate Neymar, the France captain would evidently be a good signing for any top European club, but they will need to be willing to fork out an astronomical amount on wages.

Mbappe is currently tied down to a £1.2m-per-week contract at the Parc des Princes, which is nearly quadruple the amount of any player in the Man United squad, so it does not seem likely he will be on his way to Old Trafford in January.

Having been reintegrated into the first team, the France star is seemingly happy to stay at PSG for the time being, before completing his dream move to Real Madrid next summer.

Trevor Bayliss struggled to propose solutions to England’s perennial shortage of truly fast bowlers

George Dobell in Perth18-Dec-20171:33

Will there be an England post-Ashes clearout?

Trevor Bayliss admitted he “didn’t have the answer” to England’s Ashes struggles, but insisted he was still the man to take the team forward.Bayliss, England coach since 2015, accepted England had been “outplayed” and that senior players “hadn’t done as well as they would have liked.”But while he accepted England had struggled overseas – they have no lost their last seven away Tests and their last eight in Australia – he pointed to England’s success at home as proof of the progress the team has been making.”We’ve played extremely well during the English summer,” Bayliss said. “But in conditions away from home that don’t necessarily suit us, we need to be better and we need to get more experience. We’ve just got to get better, whether it’s with the bat or the ball, especially in foreign conditions.”I think I’m the right man to lead the team forward. I think our performances have been pretty good over the last couple of years. We won every series during the English summer.”But it’s for people above my pay grade to make the decision about my future, so we’ll leave it up to them.”Accepting that senior players had underperformed – Alastair Cook is averaging 13.83 with the bat in the series and Stuart Broad 61.80 with the ball; Moeen Ali is averaging 19.33 with the bat and 105.33 with the ball – Bayliss suggested there will be few changes before the end of the series.”I haven’t given any thought whatsoever to making changes,” he said. “We’ll have to see how these last couple of games in the series go.”There are a few guys disappointed with how they have gone and guys who haven’t done as well as they would have liked. As for Alastair Cook… he has played the game for long enough and will know when it’s time to go.”I wish I knew why they have underperformed. But they know the consequences of not playing well. They are all extremely good international cricketers and I expect them to come back from this. But you need to have guys putting their name up in lights to take over.”A key point of difference between the teams was, Bayliss felt, the pace of the Australian attack. While they were able to extract steep bounce form each surface, the England attack sought lateral movement that they could rarely find. As a result, they had few weapons with which to make inroads into the Australian batting.Trevor Bayliss and Joe Root gained temporary respite from the rain•Getty Images”The Australian bowling attack has been fantastic,” Bayliss said. “With a little bit of extra pace you have a few more things up your sleeve, especially on wickets that haven’t got a lot of sideways movement in them. All credit to them, they’ve played well and deserved a win.”That extra pace helped, but you’ve also got to be skilful with it. You have to put the ball in the right areas and get the ball to move. They’ve been able to do that as well.”As for us… if you haven’t got those sort of fast bowlers, you haven’t got them. You’ve got to go with the best players you have. And the guys we do have are world-class in batting and bowling.The challenge for us has been in these conditions. There’s a little bit of extra bounce and a little less sideways movement.”Why don’t we have fast bowlers? I haven’t got the answers. Maybe it is because conditions in England don’t suit fast bowling. If the wickets are responsive to fast bowling, it gives encouragement to young bowlers to bowl fast. If they’re not, it’s probably the opposite, and discourages young bowlers. The English boys play a lot of cricket, too.”There are some good young fast bowlers, so how do we encourage them to keep bowling fast and getting better without the wickets being conducive to fast bowling? Do they play too much? Can we keep them fresher? They are questions we have to answer.”One area Bayliss is keen to improve is the exposure young players get to foreign conditions. But while he expects Australia to limit the opportunities of England players to appear in Shield cricket (the first-class competition in Australia), he suggested the ECB might look at making it equally difficult for Australian players to gain experience of English conditions by signing for one of the first-class counties. It might be noted, however, that Mason Crane, the leg-spinner in the England squad, played for New South Wakes at the end of the previous Shield season.”Cricket Australia won’t let our players come and play Shield cricket, that’s for sure,” Bayliss said. “So maybe we should look at it the other way, and stop a few Aussie boys going over there to get that experience?””A lot of the young batters – the likes of Joe Clarke, Dan Lawrence, Keaton Jennings and Liam Livingstone as well as Haseeb Hameed at home – played well here for the Lions squad. They’re the best young players coming through in England at the moment, so we’ve got to try and get them as much experience in foreign conditions as we can if we want to be successful away from home.”

The West Indies captain was fined 60% of his match fee, and his team-mates were fined 30% for maintaining a slow over rate during their innings defeat to New Zealand in the first Test in Wellington

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2017West Indies captain Jason Holder has been suspended for one Test and fined 60% of his match fee, and his team-mates have been fined 30% of their match fees, for maintaining a slow over rate during their innings defeat to New Zealand in the first Test in Wellington.Holder had previously been found guilty of a minor over-rate offence during the first Test against Pakistan in April earlier this year. The offence for the Wellington Test amounted to his second minor-rate offence in a Test within a 12-month period and resulted in his suspension.West Indies were found to be three overs short of their target after time allowances were taken into consideration. Players are fined 10% of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time and the captain is fined double the amount.The charge was laid by on-field umpires Ian Gould and Rod Tucker, third umpire Bruce Oxenford and reserve umpire Wayne Knights. Match referee Chris Broad then imposed the suspension on Holder.The second and last Test of the series begins from December 9 in Hamilton.