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Being heavily linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur back in the summer of 2018, Daniel Levy ultimately failed to pull his finger out for then-Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish.

Indeed, despite it being reported that the 26-year-old had identified Spurs as his preferred destination, as well as Villa demanding a fee in the region of just £40m in order to part with the England international, the Tottenham chairman did not manage to get a deal over the line for the versatile forward – with Grealish remaining a Villa player.

However, just three years later, Levy’s indecision concerning the Birmingham-born sensation was made to look extremely foolish, with Manchester City coughing up £100m in order to prise the attacking midfielder away from Aston Villa – breaking the British transfer record in doing so.

And, considering the form the £72m-rated forward had been in for the Midlands club in the season prior to his move, it is not difficult to understand why Pep Guardiola believed the 26-year-old would be worth his hefty price tag.

Indeed, over his 26 Premier League appearances in 2020/21, the £250k-per-week star scored six goals, provided ten assists and created 14 big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.9 shots and making a quite remarkable 3.2 key passes – the joint-most in the division, alongside Kevin De Bruyne – per game.

These returns saw the player who Aston Villa podcaster Steve Froggat dubbed a “world-class superstar” earn a breathtaking seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.54, not only ranking him as Villa’s best performer in the league but also as the fourth-best player in the top flight as a whole.

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As such, while hindsight is a wonderful thing, considering the world-beater Grealish has turned into since Tottenham’s failed attempts to sign the forward back in 2018, Levy’s inability to get a deal over the line for the playmaker has undoubtedly proven to be something of a nightmare for Spurs – as not only have the north London side missed out one of the most exciting players in world football but also a colossal payday.

AND in other news: David Ornstein drops huge behind the scenes Spurs claim, Conte will be buzzing

West Indies Under-19 entered the quarter-final of the World Cup in controversial and tense circumstances, as Keemo Paul effected a mankad to claim the last Zimbabwe Under-19 wicket – that of Richard Ngarava – with three runs needed off the final over. Paul ran through the bowling crease without entering his delivery stride and broke the stumps, catching the non-striker Ngarava with his bat on the line while he was standing a couple of steps out of his crease.The two on-field umpires conferred before asking West Indies if they wanted to uphold the appeal, and once it was confirmed that they did, the third umpire was called in and found the batsman just on the line, ending Zimbabwe’s campaign in a game they had to win to make the quarter-final. The dismissal was within the rules of the game.A visibly upset Zimbabwe captain Brandon Mavuta refused to comment on the mankad after the game “We got so close, no comment about it. I don’t have anything to say right now,” Mavuta said. “No comment.”The West Indies captain Shimron Hetmyer said he was comfortable with the decision to appeal for the wicket. “I would say yes, cricket is a game of uncertainties, we’ve seen it happen in cricket before, it’s not a big deal for us.””Probably not,” said Hetmyer, when he was asked if he thought if it was in the spirit of the game.The Zimbabwe manager Admire Marodza said the team was unhappy but there was little they could do but console the players because the dismissal was within the rules. “It is too early to comment but we are trying to get emotions under control in the dressing-room. Everyone is disappointed at the loss,” Marodza said. “Rules are rules. We can’t change them and we can’t change what happened. A run-out is a run-out. I don’t think it is anything to protest about. We are not happy about losing the game from such a good position. The way our boys competed, it is an achievement. We are happy how we played in this tournament.”The Zimbabwe coach Stephen Mangongo said he was “disappointed with the way the game ended.””I have debriefed the boys in the dressing room and they were all crying,” Mangongo said. “We have explained that technically the run-out is legal. We left it to the last man and we should not have done that. It was a hard lesson and they have learnt it the hard way.”I am proud of my boys. Restricting the West Indies for 226 on a batting-friendly wicket was a good performance and we were up for the chase. And like any other games, we lost quick wickets under pressure.West Indies coach Graeme West said he felt sorry for Zimbabwe after the game. “I can imagine what they must be going through now. I feel sorry for them because they got themselves into winning positions and then we pulled it back. I share their disappointment.”

Hyderabad’s Ravi Teja is in fine form with season © Cricinfo Ltd.

A couple of weeks ago you wouldn’t have thought too much while picking Baroda to be the overwhelming favourites over Hyderabad. Nine players had been pouched by the Indian Cricket League, leaving Hyderabad with a gaping hole in the team sheet while Baroda had been in the final four last season where they threatened to gatecrash Mumbai’s party. You would still expect Baroda to come out top on the honours board here but they can expect a fight from the hosts.Young players are filling up the vacancy with merit. Vivek Jaisimha, Hyderabad’s coach, and Kanwaljit Singh, the bowling coach, are sighing in relief at the performance of the young team. Despite yielding the first-innings lead and in a precarious position in the second, following-on, they fought hard to hung on to a draw against Bengal in the first game. Everything clicked in the second game against Punjab, where they came away with a first-innings lead and three points.”This is a young team, full of players who won the Under-22 South Zone title this season. We are not putting any pressure on them and are very pleased by the way the boys are showing hunger to do well,” Jaisimha told Cricinfo. “The target is to finish in the top three of the group and if we get into final four this season it would be great. If the boys carry on the way they are performing we can do it.”The team does have some promising talent. There is Ravi Teja, the dashing opener who has five fifties and a hundred – in a draw against Punjab – from seven games, Anoop Pai and allrounder Amol Shinde. The bowling, especially the spin department, is pretty decent. Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner with India A experienced, will lead the attack. He has another promising left-arm spinner, Lalit Mohan, for company. Ashwin Yadav, SM Shoaib and Mohammad Khadar offer hope in the seam department. Daniel Manohar, who cracked a ton in the game against Punjab, offers the much-needed experience in the absence of VVS Laxman.Barada look a very settled side who have traversed the path to success. In Satyajit Parab and Connor Williams, who represented India in an unofficial Test against South Africa in 2001, they have a experienced opening combination. They have just thrashed Bengal by an innings and have the in-form Yusuf Pathan, who hit 183 and took ten wickets in that game, Rakesh Solanki, the top-scorer in the same, and Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner who picked 4 for 23 in the second innings. And then they have Irfan Pathan, a man who would have a point or two to prove after being not considered for the Tests despite the injuries to Sreesanth and RP Singh.But the pitch might thwart him and the rest of the bowlers. It looks loaded with runs and both Paras Mhambrey, Baroda’s coach, and Jaisimha reckon the match will be all about getting the first-innings lead. Both teams have had intensive nets session, spreading over three hours, for the last two days. Unless the pitch turns out to be a devil in saint’s clothes, expect a run-fest.

“There are highs and lows in everything, you have to be patient about things and cannot afford to be too emotional’ – Chappell © AFP

Greg Chappell, the India coach, has defended his coaching philosophy, calling for supporters of Indian cricket to be more patient as far as results are concerned.His comments come in the wake of Sourav Ganguly’s statements about fans expecting results too quickly, urging them to give Rahul Dravid more time to grow into the job. Speaking to the media in Durban ahead of the second ODI against South Africa, Chappell outlined the importance of having a proper structure, but cautioned that success cannot be achieved overnight, citing instances with England and Australia.”Countries everywhere, corporates, use a system,” said Chappell. “There are highs and lows in everything, you have to be patient about things and cannot afford to be too emotional, or it will lead you nowhere. In Australia, for instance, we started a process in the mid-eighties, and it took nearly nine years for things to come together. The England line-up that won them the Ashes last year was also the result of a process that took five years.”Chappell had also reacted to criticism from former players that his plans India hadn’t worked, given India’s current slump as a one-day side since the tour of West Indies. One of the main talking points has been the constant shuffling in the batting order and the persistence with certain youngsters who haven’t performed consistently enough. Chappell backed the strategy of persisting with youngsters, highlighting the importance of identifying players at the junior level.”If speaking the truth in India is a problem, then Indian cricket has a problem. Ideally, the junior cricket programme should go hand in hand with the plan for the seniors. If it doesn’t, then it is fraught with danger. A feeding process is necessary, because if there isn’t one, it would create a vacuum when senior cricketers leave in a bunch.”Following India’s defeat in a warm-up match against Rest of South Africa in Benoni, Chappell was not very perturbed about the performances of the fast bowlers, especially Munaf Patel and Sreesanth, who were guilty of leaking too many runs towards the end of the innings.”They were inexperienced at that and it showed but they can only gain experience by going out there and getting it. I also promise you Munaf will be good. We could not have won in the West Indies if we had gone with the same combination we went with in Pakistan.”

At the Wanderers the Cape Cobras cruised to an easy six wicket win over the Lions thanks to a 70 from Andrew Puttick and a 64 not out from JP Duminy. Set a target of 271 the Cobras eased past it with the loss of four wickets. Earlier the Lions collapsed from an overnight 262 for 5 to be bowled out for 296, mainly due to the 6 for 39 from Alan Dawson who finished the match with 10 wickets.In Durban the Dolphins and the Titans played out a draw with the bad light denying the Titans a deserved win. The Dolphins was set a target of 322 after the Titans declared their innings at the overnight total of 246 for 5. The Titans looked to the left arm spin of Paul Harris to take them to the win, but he could only manage three wickets to go with the five he took in the first innings. For the Dolphins it was left to Doug Watson (59) and Dale Benkenstein (43 notout) to steer the team into the safety of the draw with them holding on at 231 for 8 when bad light ended the match.Rain and bad light allowed very little play to be played on the final day in Port Elizabeth with the game called off as a draw. The Eagles declared their second innings at 136 for 7 setting the Warriors a sporting target of 178. A game effort from the Warriors to bat on under some very poor light ended when the umpires eventually decided that it was too dark to continue. The Warriors had scored 70 for 2 when the game was called off.

Adam Gilchrist: time to recharge the batteries© Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist has escaped the pressures of captaincy, wicketkeeping and batting at No. 3 by taking a four-day holiday in Singapore. All 16 members of the Australian squad have been given a leave pass and Gilchrist, John Buchanan, Damien Martyn and Michael Clarke flew out of India after rains washed out the final day of the second Test at Chennai.”I’m really looking forward to this break,” Gilchrist said. That was hardly surprising, after he coped with the pressure of the first two Tests, along with the scorching heat at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. “We’ve got a few days off and we’ve all got the chance to have some time away from cricket. I’m actually going to have the chance to catch up with my family and I really can’t wait. It’s going to be a great energy boost for me.”Gilchrist, who was thrust into the captaincy role due to Ricky Ponting’s thumb injury, rejected criticism of his wicketkeeping that arose after he dropped three catches at Chennai – one of them from Sourav Ganguly off Michael Kasprowicz and a couple of half-chances off Shane Warne.”When all this initially came on, when Ricky was out, I remember thinking it was a bit of a worry,” he said. “I had an assessment of it and felt like I wanted to take it on and so far, so good. Personally, I’ve been pleased with the way it’s gone.”I’ve detected some criticism about my wicketkeeping but it’s funny, the difference between perception and what you believe in yourself. I feel like I’ve kept as well as I ever have. I missed a chance the other night off Ganguly and there have been a couple of little ones off the spinners that people have written up as missed chances. It’s a pretty tough call in these conditions to criticise a wicketkeeper to a spin bowler. I’m not sure how many of you have ever kept wicket but the ones off the spinners, believe me they’re either in or they’re out.”Most of the players will spend their break in the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, but the more adventurous ones are likely to travel a bit. Matthew Hayden will head for Goa, while some others were reportedly eyeing Fisherman’s Cove, near Chennai, as another possible location for a short holiday.The squad will reconvene at Mumbai by Saturday to begin preparations for the third Test at Nagpur, which starts on October 26.

Frizzell County Championship Division OneDay 4 ReportSussex 385 and 383 for 7 dec. beat Lancashire by 377 and 139 by 252 runs
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He left it late, but Mushtaq Ahmed spun Sussex to another victory which puts them five points behind the leaders Surrey. Mushtaq took eleven wickets in the match as Lancashire crashed to 139 in just over 73 overs. Chris Adams declared on 383 for 7 twenty minutes before lunch after making 190. Billy Taylor was only playing because James Kirtley and Jason Lewry were not available, but he made his mark in style. He took the first four wickets, including Stuart Law (7) and Carl Hooper (1), as Lancashire spluttered to 64 for 4. Then the more well-known figure of Mushtaq added to his galaxy of wickets this season. Chris Schofield (18) and Warren Hegg (25) held up Sussex’s charge, but Mushtaq twirled away the last four wickets for 11 runs with the last man, Hegg, falling with only ten balls remaining in the day.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoSomerset 476 and 292 for 4 drew with Northamptonshire 681 for 5
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Somerset cruised to 292 for 4 on a lifeless pitch at Taunton as their game with Northants petered out to a bore draw. Only 19 wickets fell in all four days of the match, and Northants used ten bowlers, including Toby Bailey, the wicketkeeper, in Somerset’s second innings. Matthew Wood scored 100, Jamie Cox 64 before he retired hurt, and Ian Blackwell smacked 38 from 35 balls.Yesterday’s matchesFrizzell County Championship Division One Kent 477 and 96 for 2 beat Middlesex 407 and 165 by eight wickets at Lord’s
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Muttiah Muralitharan spun Middlesex to their first defeat of the season, by picking three of their last four wickets to complete match figures of 9 for 141. Middlesex, who had resumed on 141 for 6, were bundled out for 165, with Jamie Dalrymple and Simon Cook falling in successive deliveries to the sweep shot. Kent needed just 96 in their second innings, and though David Fulton and Michael Carberry fell cheaply, Robert Key and Andrew Symonds breezed to victory inside 25 overs.Warwickshire 277 and 267 for 2 beat Leicestershire 346 and 195 by eight wickets
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Nick Knight led Warwickshire to an emphatic eight-wicket win against Leicestershire at Edgbaston. He belted 20 boundaries in his 122 not out, and shared put on 140 with Jim Troughton, who smashed an unbeaten 55 off 44 balls, as Warwickshire cruised past their potentially tricky target of 265. Mark Wagh also chipped in with 58, and that was after he had wrapped up the Leicestershire tail to finish with 4 for 20. Resuming on 121 for 6, Leicestershire added 74 more runs, thanks mainly to a sensible 37 from Philip DeFreitas. Waqar Younis was also in the wickets, taking 4 for 37, to help set up Warwickshire’s second win of the season.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoGlamorgan 444 and 86 for 2 beat Durham 355 and 174 by eight wickets at Cardiff
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Glamorgan needed just 2.1 overs on the fourth morning to wrap up an eight-wicket win over Durham. Mike Kasprowicz had flagellated Durham’s batsmen on the third afternoon with career-best figures of 9 for 36, and Glamorgan trailed by a mere 12 runs at stumps. It had been an even contest until Kasprowicz had embarked on his second spell on Friday afternoon. Bowling fast and full, he skittled Durham’s last nine wickets for the addition of 55 runs, with all but two bowled or lbw.Other matchEngland U19 229 v South Africa U19 48 for 1 at Chelmsford
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Francois du Plessis scored 177 and put South Africa firmly in control against England at Chelmsford. He hit 26 fours and three sixes and added 138 with East Springer, who scored 77. Daryn Smit (52) and Heinrich Le Roux (49) weighed in with some more runs down the order as South Africa finished a good day’s work on 463 for 8 with a lead of 234 runs.

West Indies’ captain, Carl Hooper, has warned his players to focus on thecricket and not on safety concerns as the West Indies begin their first tourto the island for eight years.Hooper had voiced safety concerns prior to the teams departure beforereassurances were given by the Sri Lankan board, but expects his team to beable to focus on the cricket despite predicted election violence over thecoming weeks.”As professionals, we have to focus straight on the cricket,” he said. “Ifwe start worrying (about) what is going to happen off the field with thepolitics in Sri Lanka, then it will be a wrong note to start the tour on.Hooper admitted the Sri Lanka posed his stiffest challenge yet overseas ascaptain: “Obviously this tour is going to be a sterner test than theZimbabwean tour but I think we’ve got the players to deal with it,” he said.Team manager, Ricky Skerritt, who visited Sri Lanka recently to check on tour arrangements and met with top officials in the Ministry of National Security, was convinced that security was not a big issue for the team."What they tell me in Sri Lanka is that this is very local – political party versus political party – and it gets heated up close to the election," he said."We don’t expect to experience any of it – or very little of it. "If we find that the security arrangements are not to our satisfaction, we are going to try to get it improved and if we can’t get it improved, we’ll have to take other steps."Meanwhile, coach Roger Harper has brushed aside concerns that the team wouldbe adversely affected by injuries to star batsman Brain Lara andwicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs saying that he expected both players to play afull part in the tour.The team’s preparations have been marred by injuries. Key middle orderbatsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was forced to pullout with back problems,whilst Lara (hamstring) and Jacobs (finger) were included despite not havingfully recovered from their respective injuries.Chanderpaul’s replacement, Jamaican left-hander Wavell Hinds, was thenforced to stay back for surgery to his nose after being hit by a shortdelivery from former West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner in a festival matchon Sunday. He is, however, expected to re-join the squad shortly.Jacobs, who was originally injured in a domestic one-day match, attended apre-tour training camp in Jamaica but was not able to participate fully innet sessions.Harper was unconcerned: “We’ve seen Ridley in the past operating withinjuries and it hasn’t affected his game one iota. He is the sort ofcharacter that once he has committed himself to going on tour, he will givehis all and I expect nothing less of him on this tour.”Lara’s injury is longstanding, stretching back over a year to the WestIndies tour of England. He played through series against Australia and SouthAfrica whilst suffering from the injury and was finally forced to pullout ofthe Zimbabwe tour in July.”Brian has had an injury which has plagued him for a while,” Harperadmitted, but added, “The doctors feel that it is an injury that can bemanaged and should not really inhibit him providing he follows the propermanagement and rehabilitation programme set out for him. We expect thathe’ll be able to perform very close to his best on this tour.”The West Indies arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday morning where they are dueto play three Test matches and a tri-series also involving Zimbabwe. SriLanka have only played three Test matches against West Indies in their 111Test match history.Full West Indies squad:Carl Hooper (captain), Ridley Jacobs (vice-captain), Chris Gayle, DarenGanga, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds, LeonGarrick, Neil McGarrell, Dinanath Ramnarine, Colin Stuart, Mervyn Dillon,Marlon Black, Reon King, Pedro Collins. Ricky Skerritt (manager), RogerHarper (coach), Ronald Rogers (sports therapist).

Everton are expected to make wholesale changes to their starting line-up tonight, as they take on National League side Boreham Wood in the fifth round of the FA Cup, giving boss Frank Lampard the opportunity to take a closer look at some of his new signings and fringe players.

Lampard said in his pre-match press conference: “I don’t want to sound as if I’m approaching this game like it’s a friendly of any sorts or an opportunity to give them minutes, because it’s not. We have to approach it well and to try and win.”

He also confirmed that youngsters Isaac Price and Reece Welch are in the matchday squad, as well as exciting striker Lewis Dobbin – though there was no indication whether or not they would be playing from the start, or take part at all.

With that said, here is our predicted line-up for the match tonight…

In goal, we expect 34-year-old Asmir Begovic to step in and allow Jordan Pickford a day-off, while in defence, Lampard has already confirmed Ukrainian Vitaliy Mykolenko will start, explaining:

“It is a football decision, regardless of the situation outside. We will have to see about the gesture of offering him the captaincy.”

Nathan Patterson is expected to make his debut for the club at right-back following his £16m move from Rangers in January, with youngster Jarrad Branthwaite and 25-year-old Mason Holgate completing the defence, with Jonjoe Kenny, Michael Keane and Seamus Coleman dropping out.

In midfield, Andre Gomes will likely replace Allan, while Dele Alli could make his first start in place of Donny van de Beek, with Abdoulaye Doucoure retaining his place in the starting XI from Saturday.

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Up front, we think Dobbin will get the nod ahead of Salomon Rondon in what will a debut start with Richarlison dropping out, while Alex Iwobi and Anthony Gordon will be replaced by Demarai Gray and Andros Townsend.

In other news: Sold for £2m, now worth 305% more: Everton had a howler on £16k-p/w “hell of a player”

Tottenham have put their poor March Premier League form behind them, and recorded a 3-1 win over Swansea at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

The north London side were under pressure to get a result after results of late, but went into the lead early on through a Rafael van der Vaart strike.

Gylfi Sigurdsson levelled things up after the break, before a brace from Emmanuel Adebayor ensured the three points went the way of the home side.

Harry Redknapp praised his team after the victory, especially Gareth Bale, and was pleased with his team’s performance.

“He’s (Bale) just an amazing talent. He’s an amazing player,” the head coach told Sky Sports.

“He’s got the ability to run all day, to beat people, to dribble, to shoot, to head it – he can do everything. He’s a unique player really, he’s a special talent.

“But everybody was on their game today. I thought we defended well. We got good blocks in, the two centre halves. I thought the midfield people all closed down and pressed well.

“Obviously Manny (Adebayor) getting two goals as well was great for him.

“I thought we were fantastic. (In the) first half we did everything that we asked of them; we pressed them, closed them, had all the chances.

“They started well for the first maybe eight, nine, 10 minutes then we really got after them all over the park and broke their game up.

“They’re a good side, they play fantastic football, but I don’t think we ever let them play in that first half. They came back into it and got the goal but then we came back strong again,” he concluded.

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The win takes Spurs equal on points with Arsenal, after the Gunners were beaten 2-1 by QPR on Saturday.

By Gareth McKnight

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