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Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has criticised the decision of Younis Khan to announce his retirement from one-day internationals, only one match into his recall to the team.Younis, 37, made the shock announcement on the morning of the first ODI against England at Abu Dhabi, having previously been outspoken in his criticism of the selectors for dropping him in the wake of Pakistan’s World Cup exit in March.He was dismissed for 9 in his 265th and final appearance during Pakistan’s run-chase at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, bringing to an end a 15-year career in the format that had begun against Sri Lanka at Karachi in March 2000.However, Shaharyar was unimpressed by Younis’s actions. “I am disappointed at not only his decision to retire from ODIs but also the timing of his decision,” he was quoted as saying by .”Younis has been doing well and that is why the selectors felt he should be played again in the one-day matches. For me it is surprising he announced his retirement today.”Shaharyar did, however, confirm that the PCB would arrange a suitable send-off for a man who has scored 7249 runs in the format at 31.24, with seven centuries, albeit just the one since 2008.Haroon Rashid, Pakistan’s chief selector, also expressed his confusion at Younis’s actions.”When I went to Sharjah to meet with the team management and I also talked to Younis, he gave me no indication he was planning to retire from ODIs after the first match of the series,” Haroon said.”We picked him keeping in mind that we needed an experienced batsman in the middle order to stabilise the batting. We picked him keeping in mind our future assignments. He never discussed this retirement thing with us.””The team will remain balanced but at no stage did Younis convey any desire to us he wanted to retire,” he added.Mohsin Khan, the former coach, speculated that Waqar Younis’s reluctance to have Younis back in the one-day squad may have played its part.”It makes no sense that after being picked for the full series in the one-day squad after such a big gap he should decide to retire after playing the first match. Definitely I think something has happened in the last 48 or 24 hours to have upset Younis who is very sensitive and a self-respecting individual,” Mohsin told Geo Super channel.”I think the job of the captain, manager and coach is to not only motivate the players but also make them feel comfortable and wanted. I think in Younis’s case this didn’t happen and no one tried to speak to him to find out his feelings.”

Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford should be back in action against Aston Villa on Thursday. 

The lowdown

The 28-year-old hasn’t played for the Whites since the 2-2 draw with Brentford on 5 December. In fact, he has only made six Premier League appearances (totalling 459 minutes) this season owing to ankle and hamstring injuries.

He was back on the bench for Jesse Marsch’s first game in charge on Saturday afternoon against Leicester City, but the American decided against bringing him on even with his team 1-0 down.

The Villa game at Elland Road looks crucial for Leeds, who are hovering only two points above the relegation zone and have played a game more than 18th-placed Burnley.

The latest

The Athletic’s Leeds correspondent Phil Hay relayed an update from Marsch’s post-match press conference on Twitter.

As per the journalist’s update, the manager apparently ‘expects Bamford to be involved against Villa on Thursday’.

The verdict

This is an almighty boost for Marsch and Leeds.

Bamford demonstrated his value to the team last season, top-scoring for the Whites with 17 goals and also contributing eight assists.

In his absence, you could argue that Leeds are short of match-winners. Indeed, even though he has played so little football, only three players in the squad – Raphinha, Jack Harrison and Dan James – have racked up more goal involvements in 2021/22 (via BBC Sport).

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Therefore, it’s little wonder that the 28-year-old has been labelled a ‘massive’ player by former Elland Road goalkeeper Paul Robinson; and with Kalvin Phillips potentially returning next weekend, the fitness outlook may now be getting brighter for Leeds – and in good time, too.

In other news, read this injury expert’s claim on Liam Cooper

Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath farewelled Test cricket together but they could be reunited in the Indian Cricket League © Getty Images

Shane Warne will join Brian Lara in the Indian Cricket League if his conditions are met, however Warne’s manager conceded that such an agreement was still a long way off. Glenn McGrath has not ruled out his involvement and his manager said negotiations could progress in the next week.The ICL on Monday announced Lara as its first big signing, two months after his name was initially linked with the group. Warne’s manager James Erskine said he had been in talks with ICL officials including Tony Greig.”They haven’t offered what we have asked for, so negotiations are proceeding,” Erskine told the . “Provided the terms and conditions are right, Shane Warne will play, but it’s a long way off before we get the contract signed.” The paper reported that Warne’s proposed pay package was worth up to $2 million.McGrath’s manager, Warren Craig, said he had met with ICL officials some time ago and although there had been few developments since then, this week’s events were likely to speed the process up. “We certainly haven’t ruled it out,” Craig said.”Now Lara has signed, things might start to hot up a bit. Things could start to move over the next week or so.” However, Craig said the ICL had given no indication what salary it would offer to lure McGrath out of retirement six months after his final ODI appearance. The league wants to run its first Twenty20 tournament this October and November with six teams, each of which would ideally feature four international players and two Indian stars, with the rest made up of younger players.

Ian Bell has been recalled following his 74 for England A against Pakistan © Getty Images

Ian Bell, the Warwickshire batsman, has earned a recall to the England squad for the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s on Thursday. Steve Harmison has also been named in a 13-man squad announced this morning which includes five fast bowlers and one spinner, Monty Panesar.”We have included five pace bowlers in the squad, because we need cover for Matthew Hoggard following the hand injury he sustained while with England A yesterday,” David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, told BBC Radio Five Live.”Matthew’s injury will be reassessed by our medical staff on Tuesday, and we will give him the maximum time he needs to prove his fitness because he is the most experienced member of our attack,” he added.There was no place for Jamie Dalrymple, however. Dalrymple was the sole bright light for England during their calamitous one-day 5-0 whitewash in the one-day series against Sri Lanka and was their second highest run-scorer. He further enhanced his credentials with a slick performance for England A yesterday where he took 4 for 61 to help dismiss Pakistan for 242, but the selectors have instead opted to attack Pakistan with pace.Bell last played for England against India at Mumbai. Although he was arguably England’s most solid batsmen in the preceding tour of Pakistan, he struggled in India with just one fifty in six innings.Regardless of Hoggard’s availability, there is added pressure on Harmison to return to something resembling his best. He missed the third and final Test against India in the winter, and the Test series against Sri Lanka this summer. Though he returned for the one-day series, his radar was sadly lacking and a worrying 24 wides were sent down.”Yes, without [Andrew Flintoff], there’s a great responsibility on our bowlers,” Graveney said, “so the likes of Harmison and Hoggard, if available, [have a lot of responsibility]. We had a difficult time against Sri Lanka, but we’re looking to change that for Thursday.”England squad:
Andrew Strauss (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Geraint Jones (wk), Liam Plunkett, Matthew Hoggard, Sajid Mahmood, Steve Harmison, Jon Lewis, Monty Panesar.

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Scorecard

Asim Kamal – what would he have given for just one run more? (c) AFP

Despite the best efforts of Asim Kamal, who became only the third player to be dismissed for 99 on his Test debut, Pakistan’s batting crumbled in the second session of play on the third day, allowing South Africa to reach 99 for 1 by stumps and regain the lead.Pakistan had a splendid chance to build a substantial lead that, given their spin-fortified attack on a fourthand fifth-day track, might have ensured that they only needed to bat once. But after Kamal was dismissed, Paul Adams broke through the lower order to finish with 7 for 128, his best Test analysis.Shoaib Malik and Kamal, when they began the day, seemed grimly determined to make sure that Pakistan got past South Africa’s first-innings total. The runs, consequently, came slowly and stodgily, and the only excitement for much of the morning session lay in a close shave for Malik after an lbw shout. But he did not last much longer after that; once Pakistan got past 320 and into the lead, Malik played inside the line to Adams and had his off stump uprooted (322 for 5).Kamal, the 27-year-old Karachi left-hander, seemed certain to become the tenth Pakistani to make a century on his Test debut. Instead, he achieved a more exclusive but more unwanted record shortly after lunch, becoming only the third player – after Robert Christiani and Arthur Chipperfield – to be out for 99 in his first Test.Kamal went to 98 by tonking a full-toss from Adams back over his head to long-off, but then had to sweat for a few overs on 99. The stroke that was meant to fetch him the crucial single, therefore, was perhaps a bit loose; trying to cut a ball that was too close for the stroke, Kamal edged it into his stumps and departed in an understandably blue mood (363 for 6). It was a sad end to what had been a neat, responsible innings, with nudged singles and occasional fluid cover-drives.While Kamal battled away, Moin Khan batted as if he had never been out of the Test side. He ran hard, placed the ball well, and struck Adams for six over long-off with the same misleading ease that he has brought to his game ever since the 1992 World Cup. At the other end, however, Adams struck twice in an over, first luring Shoaib Akhtar out of his crease to get him stumped (366 for 7), and then pushing one through to induce Mohammad Sami to chop the ball on (366 for 8).Adams bowled well all day, tossing the ball up and varying his pace well while remaining uncompromisingly accurate. He took the final two wickets as well, trapping Moin lbw for 38 (401 for 9), and then persuading Danish Kaneria to offer a tame catch to extra cover.South Africa started their second innings as rollickingly as the first, with Herschelle Gibbs top-edging a pull off Akhtar over fine leg for six. Although Gibbs’s knock put South Africa back on top by the close of play, it was not one of his best. Early on he collected a lot of his runs from edges, and only after the spinners came on did he start to settle down.Akhtar got rid of Smith early on, when a swift delivery rose off a good length to take the shoulder of the bat and fly to slip (43 for 1). But after that Gibbs and Boeta Dippenaar dropped anchor, shrugged off some absolute jaffas from Akhtar and Sami, and refused to be worried by the sharp break that Pakistan’s spinners extracted from the pitch.Gibbs might have departed, but Moin put down the thinnest of edges off Akhtar just before tea. He was a picture of despair after grassing the chance – symbolic of the manner in which Pakistan threw away a perfectly good position in a little less than two sessions of play.

Washout in Trinidad© Getty Images

The heavy rain throughout the Caribbean which has decimated the one-day series with England has left the West Indies board facing considerable losses. Three of the four matches to date have been abandoned, and the forecast for this weekend’s double-header in St Lucia is grim.The losses to date – full refunds are already owed to everyone who bought tickets for the last three games – total over US$ 1m, and these grow with every subsequent abandonment. The board are partially covered by insurance, but its real concern is that as a result premiums for the 2007 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place at the same time of year, will be increased massively.Unlike other regions where the gate receipts are dwarfed by income from television, in the Caribbean it’s the paying punters who still account for the bulk of the board’s income. “We can never compete for money with the likes of England who negotiated a television deal of £147m last time, Darren Millien, the board’s chief commercial officer,” told The Independent. “We don’t know what is to happen yet but this is a huge missed opportunity because England is easily our biggest tour.”Calls have already started for the World Cup to be rescheduled – the ICC is expected to discuss the idea of bringing the tournament forward by a few weeks this weekend when it assembles in St Lucia – but locals stress that this weather is unseasonal. For the bulk of the region, the rains do not usually start until late May or early June, and April-May should be dry and hot.But try telling that to those with little else to do but sit and watch the rain fall.

Tamil Nadu hold a slight advantage going into the third day of their five-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group semi-final against hosts Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The visitors, who made 327 in their first innings, had reduced Delhi to 127 for 4 when play ended on Saturday.Tamil Nadu, who resumed the second day on 252/ 5, added a further 75 runs before being dismissed a short while after lunch. Overnight not out batsmen, Hemang Badani (63, 9X4) and Vasanth Saravanan (39) put on 55 runs for the sixth wicket before being separated (299 for 6).The lower-order batsmen, who followed, though, could not make similar headway against the Delhi bowlers and the final four wickets fell for the addition of just 28 runs. For Delhi, medium-pacer Amit Bhandari and left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi claimed three wickets each.The Delhi reply got off to a decent start with openers Akash Chopra (30) and Gautam Gambhir (31) putting on 58 runs for the first wicket. But the dismissal of Virender Sehwag, castled by medium-pacer MR Shrinivas for a duck, saw Tamil Nadu fighting their way back into the game. At stumps on the second day, Mithun Manhas (20*) and skipper Vijay Dahiya (19*) were holding fort with the hosts needing another 201 runs to earn the all-important first-innings lead.

Gloucestershire had to suffer an anxious wait before they secured an inningsand 120-run victory over Nottinghamshire in the CricInfo ChampionshipDivision Two match at Bristol.Needing just one wicket to secure their fourth win of the campaign, itlooked as Gloucestershire might have to settle for a draw as rain fellsteadily throughout the morning.Umpires Allan Donald and David Constant made a 2pm inspection and, despite avery damp outfield, decided that the pitch was dry enough to make a 2.20pmstart.That was put back 15 minutes by more rain, and there was further frustrationfor Gloucestershire when the wet weather returned after 3.3 overs from JamesAveris and Alastair Bressington.Play did not resume until 4.40pm and Gloucestershire had a maximum of 14.3overs in which to remove the last wicket pair of Steve Randall and NadeemMalik.They needed five of them before Averis dug in a short-pitched delivery toRandall, who popped up a catch to Dominic Hewson at short leg.It was Gloucestershire’s second successive maximum points victory and MarkAlleyne’s side must now be regarded as serious promotion challengers.They miss out on the next round of Championship games before ending theirseason with a home match against Derbyshire and a trip to leaders Sussex inSeptember.Nottinghamshire now look destined to finish in the lower half of the tableafter registering just two wins from 14 games.

Leeds United have been credited with an interest in Paulo Fonseca as a possible replacement for Marcelo Bielsa, according to Gianluigi Longari.

The Lowdown: Fonseca profiled

Fonseca has been without a club since last summer after leaving Roma. He has been linked with moves to Crystal Palace and Tottenham during that time, with the 48-year-old described as ‘similar’ to Thomas Tuchel by Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The Portuguese coach likes to use a 3-4-2-1 system and has won nine major honours during his career with Braga, FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Latest: Leeds links

Longari took to Twitter late on Wednesday night following Leeds’ heavy 6-0 defeat to Liverpool. The journalist described Bielsa’s position at Elland Road as ‘complicated’ and name-checked Fonseca as a possible target for Andrea Radrizzani and co, stating:

“The position of Bielsa at Leeds is complicated after the hard knockout against Liverpool. Among the names evaluated if things precipitate there is also Fonseca.”

The Verdict: Stick with Bielsa

Bielsa knows this Leeds squad like the back of his hand, so making a change in the dugout with just 13 games left in the season could be extremely risky.

Their recent run of marches was always going to be tricky, and looking at Bielsa’s squad, you could say that he is actually doing a good job with the resources available to him. However, making Leeds harder to break down appears to be a necessity as we enter the crunch stage of the season.

He has been without captain Liam Cooper, star midfielder Kalvin Phillips and last season’s top scorer Patrick Bamford in recent months, and getting those three back fit may well be crucial to the club’s hopes of top-flight survival.

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March looks set to be a key month for the Whites and there’s no guarantee that Fonseca would turn things around straight away, so we believe the board should stick with Bielsa until the end of the season at least.

In other news: ‘Exciting’ Leeds attacker now set for March return after months out as reporter relays news

ScorecardEleven days before the first Test against England, New Zealand’s middle-order struggled against Essex on the third day at Chelmsford, though an unbeaten 53 from Kyle Mills lifted the tourists’ to 195 to set the home side a challenging 293 with a day to spare.New Zealand lost their first four wickets before lunch, and it was only Mills’ intervention at No. 9 – together with a seventh-wicket stand of 58 with Aaron Redmond – that has given their bowlers somewhat of a cushion. Jamie How and James Marshall, elevated to No. 2 following Redmond’s hand injury yesterday, both fell within half-an-hour to Tony Palladino and Alex Tudor respectively, and all eyes were then on Brendon McCullum. He didn’t disappoint, smashing 35 from 29 balls with seven muscular fours, but fell to Ravi Bopara’s outswingers to put Essex well on top at 63 for 4.Redmond should have opened the batting but injured his hand during warm-ups yesterday, so out he strode at the fall of McCullum’s wicket. However, the umpires sent him back as not enough time had elapsed since the injury, prompting Jacob Oram into a desperate scramble to find some pads. After an excellent spell with the new ball Palladino pulled off a fine catch at mid-on to dismiss Oram, diving to his right off Bopara.New Zealand were slipping fast at 92 for 6, but Redmond and Mills finally showed some application in a solid stand. Redmond spent 106 balls for his 30, and Mills – who cracked five fours and two sixes – was left not-out on 53, also from 106 balls. Maurice Chambers was again impressive, returning 3 for 37 from 12.4 overs.Set 293 to win, Essex’s openers, Alastair Cook and Jason Gallian, set off at a canter and cracked 39 from nine overs, though Cook should have been held by Ross Taylor at slip when on nought. Shortly before the close Iain O’Brien made up for the clattering he received earlier to remove Gallian, but an intriguing final day is in prospect with Essex requiring a further 248.