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WICB president Dave Cameron talks about what he has done to turn things around for West Indies cricket, and the difficulties of getting everyone on the same page

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi06-Apr-2016A big shot in the arm for you and the WICB that the BCCI has gone ahead with the India tour?
We are delighted. The next step now is to ensure we have a competitive series.Did you expect this to happen?
We anticipated that the series would go on. We had it scheduled alongside the CPL, so we had made all the arrangements, including even the CPL draft, so that all the Test players would be available for the series.Were any conditions put forth by the BCCI?
I don’t necessarily want to go into the conditions. At the appropriate time we will announce exactly what the arrangements are.On March 27, 2013 you became president. You won the elections for a second time on March 7 last year. You are 47. You must feel proud to be elected twice to an important and influential position at a young age?
One needs to go back and reflect on how I have gotten here. At no time did I aspire to be president.I am actually the president of my club – Kensington Cricket Club – in Jamaica. Proud, proud president of that club. Going 16 years now. I was then asked to participate in the Jamaica Cricket Association, and I took up as a treasurer. Then I was asked to sit at the WICB, where I have been for the last 14 years. At the tender age of 32 I went to WICB. Through serving the game they asked me to lead the sport.

“My objective is to make West Indies cricket better. And that is why some of my decisions are a little unpopular, because it is about turning around our sport”

I want to bring a different mindset to the leadership of West Indies cricket, in that my objective is not to be the president but to make West Indies cricket better. And that is why some of my decisions are a little unpopular because it is about turning around our sport, something that means so much to the West Indies civilisation. We have been very bad for a very long time. If you know history, it always shows that somebody needs to take a firm grip, make some very dramatic changes and then we will start to see the changes from there.Unfortunately we have been putting band-aids on the issues over the years without really addressing them and restructuring the game. We have done that. That is my proudest moment. It has caused the issues in India [the team pulling out of the tour in 2014]. Very unfortunate, and we continue to be disappointed about the way that turned out, but again, the programme was all rolled out and agreed prior to [the India tour]. What we didn’t do, the step that we did not have covered, was to sit with our players and be able to explain exactly how it would been done. So we would have dispatched a team to come to India to sit with them, and that was scheduled for, I think, two days before the actual falling out of the events.That is the unfortunate bit. We are 16 islands, so it is not very easy to have everybody in one place for discussions, so we felt it was better to come on this side [India], where we would have had all the senior players and met them between the end of the ODI series and the beginning of the Tests. All the players could have gone through the new system, and so hopefully that would have been prevented.Be that as it may, we are here now, our new franchise system has been in place for the last two years. The first season, we did not really have a chance to prepare players. This year is our first proper season and we are starting to see a lot of young players coming through. Of course some of them are 27, 28, but they are mature enough to push for places in the Test team. I am happy that we have been able to do that. A little sad that it has taken the route it took.What have been your biggest achievements in the job so far?
Our entire domestic cricket is professional. In 2013 the CPL was introduced under my tenure. Our players moved from being paid US$5000 for the tournament to being paid $150,000, since, for the first time, we introduced contracts. Then we introduced the Professional Cricket League (PCL). We are playing more [domestic] cricket. For the first time we have started to create a cricket industry where youngsters can actually look on and say, I can be part of that. I don’t have to be in the elite 15, as it used to be, to be able to earn a living and to be competitive in the sport. And, of course, I can’t leave out winning the Under-19 World Cup. It was very, very special to us.What did the WICB contribute to that U-19 win?
We contributed everything. Because we have not been having issues with our players’ association for the first time in the last two years, we have been able to concentrate on cricket. Prior to 2013, when we took over, we were paying an average of over a million and a half dollars a year in legal fees. All we were doing was battling with our players’ association, arbitration, mediation. So we spent a lot of time just dealing with legal issues, and not focusing on the development of the sport. When we took over with the agreement we signed with WIPA, we were now able to focus on development and what our players needed to get better. For the first time the U-19 players played in our Super50 last year. We had a number of camps in between. We also had a high-performance team deployed to assist the U-19 squad. We also changed the format of U-19 cricket last year, to play more 50-over matches over three-day games.Cameron: “We are very, very proud of what we have achieved with the Under-19s. We now have a blueprint and we will be improving on that in the next tournaments. Get nervous”•International Cricket CouncilWe realised when our players got to U-19 tournaments, a lot of times they had only played four or five 50-over matches. So they lacked experience. Because of the professional set-up, players benefited from being a part of that. No longer do we have a semi-professional or amateur sport, we now have teams practising all year.Take the case of [Shimron] Hetmyer, who has been a part of the Guyana franchise system for the last two years. Keemo Paul and [Tevin] Imlach got scholarships from the Guyana Jaguars as well. Alzarri Joseph has been playing in the Leeward Islands set-up from last year. These were the standout guys in the U-19 World Cup. Hetmyer came back and scored a century in the PCL. We are very, very proud of what we have achieved with those U-19s. We now have a blueprint and we will be improving on that in the next tournaments. Get nervous.You are not a popular man in the Caribbean. Virtually everyone seems to disagree with you. Why is that?
() My approach may be a little bit different from what is customary. It has been said that I am little forthright. My objective is that everyone understands me once they get to sit down and talk to me. I am very straightforward. It is probably a Jamaican thing: we will tell you exactly how we feel. It is not personal. It is just that I would like to win. We have a very, very strong sense of winning, of doing well. We have just been doing bad for a very, very long time. I just don’t have ten years to take my time to turn around what is a very big ship. So changing the way we do things, have discussions about being more professional about the way we go sometimes rubs people the wrong way. And if I do, then I apologise, but the truth is, I just want to get better. I am tired of losing.We have had a win-loss record that is not something to smile about. The only way we are going to be able to turn that around is, we have to be more professional, our players and the management and the board of directors to step up and be better at what we do.Players are the most important asset for any board. How would you describe your relationship with them?
My relationship with the players is fine, as between any president and his players. Obviously I would have liked it to be a little bit different at this point in time. But again, coming out of what happened in India and the views expressed by some that they had lost money with the restructuring – again I need to explain for you because it has not been told in full…You are talking about the memorandum of understanding the players were meant to sign?
In 2013, round about March, we had an MoU with the WIPA that had been in place since 2004 or 2005. And the board kept wanting to renegotiate it. We took the matter to the court and the court ruled in our favour that the MoU was now null and void. It meant that when I took over in March 2013, I could have changed the entire payment structure there and then.I sat down with WIPA president Wavell Hinds and told him, we need to restructure everything. Allow me to review the entire system and show how we are going to make it better. When our director of cricket [Richard Pybus] came in, we sat down, we devised the system and I presented it to the WIPA, who then presented it to the players. That is how the system changed.

“We were paying an average of over a million and a half dollars a year in legal fees. All we were doing was battling with our players’ association, arbitration, mediation”

So without an MoU, without a contract, we continued paying players at the same rate between March 2013 and September 2014, when the new contracts came in. A lot has been said about how players left our shores without contracts etc, but they were playing under no contracts before. The WICB honoured all of the commitments. That is very significant and one needs to understand that we said in good faith that we would honour the commitments and that we wanted to make the system better.In the past you have said trust is something that is missing between WICB and the players.
There is trust between myself and the WIPA, because everything I have said to the players’ association, that I am going to deliver, I have delivered. So if you speak to Mr Hinds or if you speak to the executive of the WIPA, there is a lot of trust. And it is emotions. In ten years’ time, when they have all “grown up” and they have seen what we have done in this era, they will recgonise what had to be done in order to move West Indies cricket forward. While there is that feeling now of ill will towards myself, the board, the management, we will get through it. My objective right now is to find ways to ensure that our former players see their value in West Indies cricket. That is my next goal to work on. I want to be able to demonstrate to them that you still have value, having played for West Indies for years.So you want to integrate them?
Absolutely. If you have seen we have integrated a lot of the former players into what they are doing now. Most of them are coaches, mentors at various levels.You say that you will only deal with the WIPA. But the players say they don’t subscribe to the WIPA. How then does one reach out to the other?
And that is fine. I am aware of that. That’ll take time.How do you bridge that gap? The players don’t want to trust the middle man [Hinds]?
And they don’t have to trust the top man either.One of the things we did in the last two years is have player retreats. The first one was in Miami and last year it was in Barbados. That was my way to say to them, we are serving you and cricket. That was my way of saying to them, let me explain to you what we are trying to do. We had the coaches, the territorial boards, the franchises, the CEOs, selectors, team management and the players.Were all the players there?
Not all of them were there since it was in May and a few were playing the IPL. The Test players were there and few from this World T20 squad were there.One of the recommendations of the task force we had set up was to have a mediation done with the players, and we did that. We had Ian Smith from FICA [Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations], Ian Higgins from the ICC, and another gentleman from Jamaica. We sat with WIPA and the WICB and we went through the new MoU and we made some changes.Cameron: “Who created the CPL? [Sammy] is making $160,000 from the CPL this year, so can you say that you are not making a lot of money from the WICB?”•Getty ImagesWe did a comprehensive document that speaks about all the payments for the next four years. At that same meeting that document was presented to all the players present. That is why Wavell again says he does not understand why just before this WT20, players are now saying they did not know what they are getting paid. All of those payments, a schedule was done, and it was sent to all players, not just the retained ones, as to what their financial payments for the next four years would be. Some of the players were not there, but that is no excuse. Last year they were all on retainers, so they would have all received it.Darren Sammy told us recently that the match fee offered for playing in the World T20 was not enough. “We are being offered now just $6900 per match across the board, irrespective of experience. Players are being asked to start providing services from nearly four weeks ahead of the World Cup and be guaranteed just $27,600 if they play all the guaranteed matches, which is a staggering reduction,” Sammy said. How do you respond?
Even if I give them a million dollars they will still say it is not fair. One has to be reasonable. We have always respected WIPA as the players’ representative. We negotiate only with WIPA, so whatever the terms are with WIPA, we recognise them. However, we recognise that our players are important and again in trying to build trust and try and move forward, the CEO [Michael Muirhead] had some discussions between WIPA and Darren Sammy [before the World T20]. But all of those payments were disclosed from last year. They all had those payments in front of them.You are only a player when you are selected. Darren Sammy last year would not have been playing T20 cricket, and he was not selected yet as a captain, and therefore he may not have looked at the rates. Now that the team is selected and he has had a look at the rates, he says, I don’t agree with it. The issue is, we have to stop looking at it in isolation. He says he does not get any great remuneration from the WICB. Who created the CPL? He is making $160,000 from the CPL this year, so can you say that you are not making a lot of money from the WICB? And how can you then decide that you want to go and play every league around the world, play two T20 matches for the WICB, but still be retained? Come on, it does not make sense.There needs to be an equitable distribution…
Equitable is not necessarily the word. We need to compromise. We need to have a discussion. That is what I have been saying to them: “Let us sit down and let me explain to you where we are at.” We have given up the two best months of our year for cricket – April and May. We are not playing any cricket because we have allowed them to come over to India and play in the IPL. Some of them are making $500,000, a million, a million and a half. Great. We have sacrificed those two months for you. We only have 52 weeks in a year. If you want to play Big Bash, Ram Slam and all those T20 tournaments, then we also need you to bring back the information and the experience to our players back home. And also our sponsors, who are sponsoring our tournaments, want to have our stars back home. You can’t want to play everywhere, the WICB has to call on your services either domestic or international, but then you want the WICB to pay you a nice, big retainer.Sammy reckons T20 is the format West Indies are best at and he and other T20I players merit a contract. Do you agree?
All right, so let us have a chat about how many T20I matches are being played in a year. Why would I retain you to play three, four matches a year? What are you doing for the WICB outside of playing two, three T20Is a year? That is why I am saying, if you are willing to come back and give back to our four-day system… Let us say you don’t want to play Test matches anymore, but we need your services, we need your expertise to get the next set of players. We have to have some kind of consciousness about that.Unfortunately, the truth is, I have reached out to the players. I have reached out to them individually. I have reached them through Jason [Holder]. I have said, let us sit down and talk about West Indies cricket and how we want to move it forward. They haven’t been forthcoming. It is interesting that Darren Sammy has these views, and rightly so since it affects him personally, but we are running the sport. We can’t focus on any one player. And that is part of the mistakes we have been making for a very, very long time. We have to focus on the sport. We have to give people opportunities. We have to make it tough and competitive for everybody to be part of the sport. We believe what we are doing is providing opportunities. If you want to play here, we are happy to have you and we are going to compensate you as best as possible, and we are going to make it as competitive as possible.Read part two of the interview here

England appear no nearer to finding a long-term partner for Alastair Cook but this was always likely to be a tough series for openers and, given the endless merry-go-round, it could be worth investing more time in Alex Hales

George Dobell in Centurion23-Jan-2016It is one of the oddities of England’s cricket of late that, despite having a template for something approaching the perfect opening batsman in Alastair Cook, they persist with the theory that his opening partner should be completely different.Cook’s virtues – his patience, his compact technique – were in evidence here. In circumstances in which England sorely needed the solidity he offers, he provided a masterclass in opening the batting: he left well; he retained concentration and, if the bowler dropped short or over pitched, he punished them. He will resume on Sunday requiring 50 more runs to become the first England player to reach 10,000 in Tests.But England continue to search for the right partner for him. Alex Hales, the eighth man to try since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, is now averaging 19.28 in this series. His dismissal here, half forward and slicing a drive to point, was worryingly familiar: it is now five times in seven Test innings that he has lost his wicket pushing at a ball outside off stump. It is a mode of dismissal that speaks of poor footwork and fragility out off stump. Those are serious issues for a Test opener.Hales, though, has been encouraged to be positive. Like Adam Lyth before him, he is a naturally aggressive player who has built his reputation largely upon his strokeplay. They might be termed England’s answer to David Warner or Virender Sehwag.Only they aren’t as good. So they have to learn to play within their limitations which means learning, like Cook, to leave the ball outside off stump with far greater confidence. To see Hales dismissed twice in the warm-up games leaving straight balls was to see a man who was not secure in the location of his off stump. And if that is the case, it is almost impossible to make it as a Test opener.Like all who preceded him in the role of Cook’s partner, Hales is a fine player. He has, in recent times, scored big centuries against arguably the two best attacks (Yorkshire and Warwickshire) in county cricket and he has already recorded centuries for England in T20 and ODI cricket. Whatever happens here, he has a future in the white-ball game.It is true, too, that if England persist with him for long enough, he will score runs. The issue is whether he will score runs consistently enough to make a success of the role of opening batsman. Only once in his seven innings has he batted for two hours – the length of a normal session – and that came on flat pitch at Cape Town on which both sides made more than 600.That should not surprise us hugely. Sixty percent of his first-class innings in 2015 were ended before he reached 25. That compares to 45% for Nick Compton and 38% for Michael Carberry. He is a dangerous, elegant cricketer. But he has always been hit or miss and asking him to step up to a higher level and discover consistency is unrealistic.That does not mean he should necessarily be dropped. England have tried so many options at the top of the order and, until either Tom Abell or Daniel Bell-Drummond are ready, there are no obvious options that have not already been tried.Two of a kind? England seem intent on a more attacking opener alongside Alastair Cook, but the results have not been good•Getty ImagesLyth and Sam Robson – both of whom could return – were given seven Tests each to make the role their own. The difference with them was that they scored centuries in their second Tests; Robson against Sri Lanka and Lyth against New Zealand. Perfectly reasonably, that brought them an extended run in the side.Hales made the admirable decision to forgo a chance of IPL riches to give himself the best chance of making a success of the role of Test opener. He will, therefore, play for Nottinghamshire in the opening weeks of the season – and opening at Trent Bridge in April is desperately tough – rather than entering into the IPL auction. If he does well, there is no reason England will not select him for the first Test against Sri Lanka.He has not looked completely out of his depth, by any means. Even in this innings, he followed a pleasing cut with a beautiful drive off the back foot and his defence on off stump has looked good. It’s just he keeps being drawn into those pushes outside off stump. If he can improve that, he may yet have a future at this level.It says something for England’s plight in this regard that only three opening batsmen have had a lower average in a completed series (with a minimum of six innings) for England since 2000 than Hales. All of them – Moeen Ali, Jonathan Trott and Adam Lyth – played in 2015 and were Hales’ immediate predecessors. Clearly, county cricket is not producing the quality of opening batsmen it once did. The likes of Martin Moxon, Bill Athey, Chris Broad or Kim Barnett – men who enjoyed only brief international careers – might be considered an automatic selection had they been playing now.England’s opening issue is not their only trouble. By the end of the South Africa innings, Jonny Bairstow had the unwelcome distinction of having missed chances off all three centurions. If a Test wicketkeeper has ever done that before, it is unlikely they played the next game.None of the chances were especially simple. But one of the characteristics of the best players is that they make the tricky appear straightforward. Bairstow has the opposite characteristic in his keeping. His footwork is so far off the pace that he makes most catches appear harder than they might.”We’ll look back on this game and realise we let them off the hook massively,” Ben Stokes said at the end of the second day. “We were the ones that let them get to the big score.”You can’t give a player like Amla chances. He really made us pay for the fact that we dropped a catch. We’ve got to take those chances. Good players make you pay and they certainly have in this innings.”Bairstow’s batting has been excellent; his hard work and good intentions cannot be doubted. But he is, right now, some way below the standard required for this level and judging by the reaction of some of his team-mates during the day’s play, the level of frustration is growing. The place for learning these skills is county cricket; not a Test series against a side that began the series as world No. 1.”It’s just a case putting it behind you and making sure you take the next one,” Stokes said. “But unfortunately this innings Jonny didn’t manage to take the chances. But on another day he could possibly and it would be a completely different ball game.”There’s no grudges held but at the same time there’s no going up and saying ‘catch the next one’ because that’s just a cliché thing to say.”It may be that the solution to both England’s most pressing issues – their keeping and their top-order batting – can be combined. If Compton, who was dismissed here by a ball that kept impossibly low, were to be promoted to open the batting and Bairstow were promoted to No.5, there could yet be room for a more assured keeper.Ben Foakes, who has the ability to develop into a decent batsman, might be the long-term option but Surrey really need to be persuaded to do the right thing by England cricket and hand him the gloves as much as possible as soon as possible. It is worth noting that, in the five innings in which he kept in the County Championship last year, he completed three stumpings. Gary Wilson, who kept in 23 innings, completed one.

Having snapped up the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Casemiro in recent years, it looks as if Manchester United could be plotting to sign another high-profile, experienced figure this summer, amid current speculation regarding the club's interest in Antoine Griezmann.

According to reports in Spain last week, the Red Devils are said to be among a raft of elite European sides who are interested in prising the 32-year-old from Atletico Madrid ahead of next season, with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan also showing an interest in the playmaking forward.

The suggestion is that the former Barcelona man has a release clause worth in the region of just €25m (£21) in his current deal with the La Liga side, ensuring that the Old Trafford outfit could well be able to snap up the 121-cap maestro on the cheap in their quest to bolster their attacking ranks.

It is not the first time that United have seemingly shown an interest in signing the one-time Real Sociedad man in recent times, with Sky Sports journalist Melissa Reddy having suggested that Erik ten Hag and co had enquired about the prospect of signing the World Cup-winning Frenchman last summer.

With Ten Hag seemingly keen to strengthen his forward line and midfield ranks over the coming months, the Dutchman could perhaps kill two birds with one stone by snapping up the versatile sensation…

Should Man United sign Griezmann?

The £206k-per-week asset could well follow in the footsteps of his compatriot, Varane and last year's summer arrival, Casemiro, in making the move from the Spanish capital to the Theatre of Dreams, with the hope being that Griezmann can replicate the success of the latter man, in particular.

The Brazilian has made a "huge difference" since his arrival from Real Madrid on a £70m deal back in August – according to club legend Gary Neville – having proven himself to be a truly "great football player", in the words of his manager, after chipping in with seven goals and six assists in 51 games across all fronts last season.

Much like there may be with Griezmann, there were initial doubts about the 31-year-old midfielder joining towards the latter stages of his career – with pundit Graeme Souness describing the fee as "too much money" at the time – although the experienced machine has seemingly firmly quashed any such concerns.

The aim then will be for Casemiro's old Madrid adversary to also make a smooth transition to life in the Premier League if he is to make the move this summer, with the 5 foot 9 magician having the ability to showcase to those in England just why he is a "super talent", according to Alan Shearer.

Having arguably been his nation's "key player" after taking on a surprise deep-lying midfield role at the World Cup in Qatar – as per ex-United man Diego Forlan – Griezmann continued that impact at club level in Diego Simeone's side, having operated behind the striker for much of the 2022/23 campaign.

It is not wrong to suggest that the Macon native perhaps even outperformed Bruno Fernandes in his playmaking role having contributed 15 goals and 16 assists in 38 La Liga games last season, while the Portugal international, by contrast, registered eight goals and eight assists in 37 Premier League games.

That haul of 31 goal involvements ensured that Griezmann was able to record a standout average match rating of 7.74 – as per Sofascore – with that again putting him ahead of Fernandes (7.56), showcasing just what an astute addition he could be for Ten Hag.

Whether the fleet-footed ace is to operate as an option through the middle or in an advanced midfield role, such a quality recruit could potentially be able to emulate Casemiro's influence on the Red Devils.

Lockie Ferguson took two wickets off his first two balls in T20Is and helped restrict Bangladesh to 141. Williamson took over thereafter to seal a six-wicket win

The Report by Mohammad Isam03-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:49

Isam: de Grandhomme’s assault changed the game

Kane Williamson timed his unbeaten 73 beautifully to help New Zealand to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first T20 in Napier. Along with Colin de Grandhomme, he rode out a early wobble as Bangladesh took three wickets in seven overs while defending 141.Williamson struck five fours and two sixes in his 55-ball knock, surviving two chances on the boundary that were down to errors in judgment by Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes who stood too far inside the rope at deep midwicket and long-off respectively.Until 10.1 overs, Bangladesh were threatening New Zealand with a heist. Shakib Al Hasan had taken a stunning catch running from deep square leg to midwicket in the third over to get rid of Neil Broom. Mustafizur Rahman removed Colin Munro for a duck in the next over and Shakib had Corey Anderson caught at long-off. When Sarkar and Mashrafe Mortaza combined to run the debutant Tom Bruce out at the start of the 11th over, the visitors might have felt on top.But de Grandhomme slammed a big six over midwicket in the same Mashrafe over before Williamson struck Shakib for a four – the result of Sarkar standing too far inside – and six. He reached his sixth fifty in T20Is before de Grandhomme thumped two more sixes, the last one over cover to seal the game with 12 balls to spare. The pair added 81 runs for the fifth wicket with de Grandhomme unbeaten on 41 off 22 balls.Earlier Mashrafe believed he was giving his batsmen the best use of the flat McLean Park pitch but apart from Mahmudullah, who reached his third T20 fifty, the rest responded poorly.Kayes edged Matt Henry in the second over and things didn’t get much better after that as Bangladesh lost three wickets in five balls towards the end of the Powerplay.Tamim Iqbal was the first to go, giving debutants Ben Wheeler and Tom Bruce their first wicket and catch respectively. Then Lockie Ferguson became only the second bowler ever to take wickets off his first two balls in T20Is. Sabbir Rahman popped a full toss to mid-on rather tamely but Sarkar was undone by a sharp outswinger that took the edge to gully. The hat-trick ball was a yorker but Mahmudullah jammed down bat just in time.After the worst ODI series of his career with scores of 0 1 and 3, Mahmudullah bounced back with 52 off 47 balls that included three fours and three sixes over midwicket, long-on and long-off. He added 37 and 32 for the fifth and sixth wicket partnerships with Shakib Al Hasan and Mosaddek Hossain, who struck two sixes in his 17-ball 20. New Zealand had to wait until the final over to get rid of Mahmudullah. Ferguson was the successful bowler again, finishing with 3 for 32.Left-arm quick Wheeler also made an impressive debut with his two wickets while de Grandhomme, Santner and Henry picked up one each.

Aston Villa have experienced a season of major highs and major lows so far, having beaten the likes of Bayern Munich 1-0 in the Champions League, whilst also then losing their way in the Premier League with zero victories collected in November.

Unai Emery will pray his team are out the other side of this slump in form now having collected a convincing 3-1 win over Brentford last match, especially when you look at how congested the Villans’ calendar looks this month with fixtures all over the shop.

Various Villa first-teamers looked full to the brim with confidence again versus the Bees, with Morgan Rogers standing out amongst many other key faces for Emery’s side.

Top Villa performers vs Brentford

Rogers would sport a new bleach blonde hairdo for the game against Thomas Frank’s men, but his football still managed to do the majority of the talking on the night.

The Villa number 27 would open the scoring to set the tone for the contest, with the recently capped England international firing home this stunning curled effort after 21 minutes on the clock that Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken was never going to get a glove on.

Away from Emery’s men clicking in attack, Villa also managed to restrict the visitors to just one big chance during the relatively straightforward affair, as the likes of Lucas Digne starred at the back with three interceptions and two tackles registered, alongside also mustering up four key passes from the left channel.

It was, however, the display of Ollie Watkins that stood out the most across the entire XI fielded, with the Villa sharpshooter more than justifying his recent nomination as one of the best attackers in 2024 at the FIFA awards with a goal and an assist in the dominant win.

Watkins' continued brilliance for Villa

There were some groans amongst the Villa fanbase at how many big chances their star-man had been missing of late, having missed an alarming 14 in Premier League action this season, but it’s undeniable how frightening the 28-year-old can be in front of goal at the top of his game.

Even with all those big chances going astray haunting the Villa number 11, he still has a respectable goal tally of seven next to his name from 14 top-flight contests, with Watkins on course for another exceptional goal return across the entire length of the 38-game marathon.

Season

Games played

Goals scored

24/25

19

7

23/24

53

27

22/23

40

16

21/22

36

11

20/21

40

16

Watkins is yet to experience a season at Villa Park where he doesn’t hit double figures for goals, with last campaign even seeing him bag a stunning 27 times from 53 games. He very much lived up to his “nightmare” billing by Leicester City defender Conor Coady, who stated that the striker’s ability to constantly be “on the move” makes him such a tricky talent to contain.

Coady even claimed that this ease with which he twists and turns defenders separated him from the likes of other poachers such as Haaland, who is funnily enough nominated alongside Watkins for this FIFA award, alongside other grand names such as Real Madrid ace Kylian Mbappe.

After all, even with his dips in form, the 28-year-old is only one goal shy of Mbappe’s eight strikes in La Liga, whilst Haaland is only five goals in front of the Englishman himself in the Premier League, after failing to find the back of the net in his last three league outings.

Whilst there have been audible cries for Watkins to improve at points this campaign too, everyone at Villa Park will be hoping his spot-kick goal against Brentford now kickstarts a golden patch of form.

Costing a then club-record fee of £33m to get him in through the door in 2020, the signing of Watkins has proven to be money very well spent, with the sharp-shooter now onto 77 goals overall and counting for Emery’s men.

3 key passes: 8/10 Aston Villa ace just proved he could be the new Grealish

Aston Villa picked up their first win in eight games by convincingly beating Brentford 3-1.

ByKelan Sarson Dec 5, 2024

The pair’s 196-run stand set up the game; England agonisingly short despite Sciver’s fighting 109*

Valkerie Baynes05-Mar-2022Meg Lanning had wanted to do departed Australian greats Shane Warne and Rod Marsh proud. She had also spoken of Rachael Haynes’ importance to her side’s World Cup campaign in the build-up to their opening match against England.Both talking points were apt as Australia held on for a tense 12-run victory on the back of Haynes’ hyper intelligent century as England fell just shy of their hefty 311 target in a high quality, high-scoring affair in Hamilton.A plucky second-wicket partnership between Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight worth 92 was no match for the 196 runs put on by Haynes and Lanning. Nat Sciver then made a late dash to make a gutsy 109 not out off 85 balls, but it wasn’t enough for England. Leg-spinning allrounder Alana King – who tweeted earlier in the day of her sadness at the loss of her “inspiration” Warne – took three wickets and Jess Jonassen took two in the final over to seal the win.At the halfway point of the Australian innings, Haynes had faced 60 deliveries for her 39 not out, but she reached a career-best ODI score of 130 off 131 after she and Lanning read the game to perfection. Their stand became Australia’s second-highest for any wicket at a Women’s World Cup. Lanning posted an excellent 86 off 110 in a contest that began as an arm-wrestle on a tacky pitch which made scoring difficult through the early stages.Knight won the toss and opted to bowl first and, despite boasting a vastly experienced attack in Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole, Kate Cross, Sciver and spinner Sophie Ecclestone, their failure to take wickets proved costly.Amy Jones kept up to the stumps from the third over onwards, and the plan nearly paid off in the sixth when Alyssa Healy was nearly stumped. She punished anything short or overpitched, and managed to overturn an lbw decision on Sciver’s third delivery, with ball-tracking showing it narrowly missed leg stump. Sciver struck three balls later, however, as Healy tried to clear midwicket and picked out Brunt, who took a straightforward catch.Rachael Haynes and Meg Lanning put on 196 for the second wicket•Getty ImagesAt the end of the power play, Australia were 37 for 1 and, after 15 overs, their run rate was 3.86. At the end of the 16th, there had been just 31 scoring shots. But, with nine wickets in hand and 19 overs remaining, Haynes and Lanning were free to up the tempo and they did so without being rash.Haynes swivelled and pulled Brunt for four behind square to bring up Australia’s 200 and Lanning struck a powerful six off Brunt over deep midwicket. But Lanning finally fell when she slapped Brunt to Beaumont at point.Beth Mooney arrived as Haynes brought up her century off 115 balls, turning a single off Cross towards midwicket. Mooney and Haynes took their partnership past fifty in just 29 deliveries as they set about carrying Australia towards the 300-mark and beyond.Sciver put in a magnificent dive running in from midwicket which would have had Haynes out for 117, and, as if to rub it in, Haynes pulled Sciver for just the second six of the match in the next over. Haynes’ knock finally came to an end two balls later when Sciver had her caught by Danni Wyatt at deep midwicket.England’s chase began terribly with struggling opener Lauren Winfield-Hill falling for a four-ball duck. Beaumont and Knight rebuilt with the ball coming onto the bat much more than it had during Australia’s innings. Knight brought up their fifty stand by advancing down the pitch to Jonassen’s first ball and lofting it over the rope at long-off.After the power play England were 53 for 1 and tracking ahead of the curve. Beaumont raised her fifty off just 54 balls and she passed 3000 career ODI runs, becoming the fifth England Women’s player to do so – and the fastest – reaching the mark in 78 innings compared to Sarah Taylor’s 87.Tahlia McGrath and Lanning combined to make a crucial breakthrough to dismiss Knight, who fell for 40 when she picked out the Austtralian skipper at cover.Alana King tweeted of her sadness at the loss of her “inspiration” Shane Warne•Getty ImagesKing entered the attack in the 26th over and struck a short time later to remove Beaumont. Having made her international debut during the recent Ashes, King deceived Beaumont with a flighted gem that pitched outside leg stump and found the Healy’s gloves outside off before she whipped of the bails for the stumping. As Beaumont trudged off, King roared and slapped the twin black armbands she wore in honour of Warne, and Marsh.When King removed Jones and Wyatt cheaply, England had it all to do. They needed 88 off the last 10 overs as Sciver and Sophia Dunkley put on another fifty partnership to give England hope. But, no sooner had King worn a hard-hit straight drive from Dunkley on the ankle in her follow through, she bowled Dunkley round her legs with the very next ball.Sciver and Brunt didn’t let up though, and with three overs remaining, they needed 36 runs with Sciver reading the ball beautifully and batting with her trademark cool head.The tension mounted as Sciver was put down at mid off in the penultimate over but, entrusted with bowling the last over, Jonassen’s lightning reflexes kicked in to remove Brunt with the sharpest of return catches, thrusting her left hand out above her head, a deadpan look of shock on her face before breaking into a disbelieving smile. Jonassen then had Ecclestone caught off the final ball as England fell short.

Glasgow Rangers officially confirmed last month that Nils Koppen has been appointed as the club’s new technical director, following his spell as head of recruitment.

The Belgian chief will continue to work with head coach Philippe Clement to form the transfer strategy at Ibrox, whilst also taking on other responsibilities on the football side of the business.

They may now be preparing their plans for the upcoming January transfer window, which opens for business next month, with potential business in and out of the club.

One player who must finally be sold by the Scottish giants is a signing that was met with excitement by former Rangers head coach Michael Beale.

The Rangers signing that excited Michael Beale

In the summer of 2023, the Light Blues swooped to sign attacking midfielder Kieran Dowell on a free transfer from English Championship side Norwich City.

Beale hailed it as a “fantastic” piece of business and stated that he was “excited” to see what the former Everton man could accomplish during his time at Ibrox.

The left-footed whiz arrived in Glasgow off the back of a return of 12 goals and six assists in 75 appearances for Norwich in all competitions, including one goal in 19 Premier League matches.

Dowell, however, has, unfortunately, suffered with injury and form issues throughout his time with the Light Blues so far, and must now finally be sold by Clement.

Why Kieran Dowell must be sold

The 27-year-old flop’s contract does not expire until the summer of 2026 and this means that the club cannot wait until the end of the season for his deal to expire.

First Impressions

What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast's 'First Impressions' series has everything you need.

They need to find a team to take him off them in the January transfer window next month, to save Rangers £16k-per-week in wages – £832k-per-season, although it remains to be seen whether or not there are any teams who would be willing to snap him up.

He, quite simply, has not offered enough to the team in his 18 months or so at Ibrox so far, as he has yet to prove himself to be a reliable option for the club, with two goals and two assists in 20 Scottish Premiership outings.

Games played

16

11

Games started

6

2

Unused substitute

7

11

Games missed through injury

36

1

As you can see in the table above, Dowell has only made 27 appearances for Rangers since the start of last season, with 37 matches missed through injury.

The most concerning part of that is that he has been an unused substitute on 18 occasions by Clement and Beale combined, which shows that there have been several points where the midfielder has not been deemed good enough to even come on as a substitute.

With this in mind, Clement must finally bin the Gers flop when the January transfer window opens for business, because Dowell has not done enough on the pitch to prove his worth to the club.

Potentially raking in a fee for the former Norwich man and getting rid of his £16k-per-week wages could, then, open the door for Koppen to bring in a fresh recruit to bolster the group ahead of the second half of the season.

Rangers signed their own Kante before he left after one forgettable year

Glasgow Rangers thought they had their own version of N’Golo Kante, then he flopped.

ByDan Emery Nov 25, 2024

Lauren Winfield-Hill will open batting despite indifferent form, confirms England’s Australian coach

Valkerie Baynes03-Mar-2022Lisa Keightley is more than happy for Australia to carry the “extra pressure” of being favourites into the World Cup as her side prepares to defend their title, starting against their arch rivals on Saturday.Keightley, England’s head coach, was part of the Australian teams which won the trophy in 1997 and 2005 and was Player of the Series when New Zealand triumphed on home soil in 2000. She believes that England have what it takes to win the World Cup five years on from defeating India in the final at Lord’s, despite their comprehensive defeat in the Ashes.A day after opener Tammy Beaumont said that England had been “written off” unfairly before the tournament, Keightley cited New Zealand’s nine-wicket warm-up win over Australia as a chance for a team to build momentum at the right time.”I’m happy to be where we are and Australia be favourites, that’s for sure,” Keightley said. “I think that becomes an extra pressure. If Australia look at it that way, I’m not too sure, but we know they’ve played pretty consistent cricket over the last two years. So, to be honest, they probably are favourites. They mightn’t say it but I think we all know that they probably are favourites.”In saying that, I think there’s a number of teams that, if you play well on your day and you take your chances, you can win a game of cricket. If that’s against Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, we’ve got to be playing good cricket, I do know that much for sure, and sometimes you’ve just got to get over the line and get the points.”Related

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Keightley confirmed that Lauren Winfield-Hill would join Beaumont at the top of the order after her half-century in England’s first warm-up match with Bangladesh. Winfield-Hill hasn’t scored an ODI fifty since November 2016, well before she and Beaumont opened together in England’s last fifty-over World Cup campaign.”It’s definitely going to be Lauren and Tammy,” Keightley said. “As an opening combination, they’ve got a lot of experience. They really enjoy batting together. Lauren, in the last 12 matches, is averaging 28 and I expect her to improve that and dominate. The thing that they’ve done really well throughout the time they’ve got back together opening is how we start.”Usually they give us a pretty good foundation and it’s up to, as an opening bat for both players, to get big runs for us and extend a partnership as big as they can. I think in our group at the minute we’ve prepped for them to open for this World Cup, and we’re backing both girls in to get us off to good starts and cash in when they can.”Keightley said England’s entire batting line-up was “going in the right direction” following the disappointment of the Ashes, in which they were bowled out three times for modest totals as Australia swept the one-day leg of the series 3-0.”We’ve seen over the last 18 months that our batters can score runs against good bowling attacks, which has given us confidence, and then we saw in the Ashes, moments of our batters taking it to the Australian bowlers and putting them under pressure.”A couple of times throughout that Ashes we were in positions to win and that’s what you need to do. “The disappointing thing that we all had was we didn’t take those moments. It was tough in the last two games.”Lisa Keightley looks on during England’s final warm-up match•ICC/Getty ImagesKeightley also said Tash Farrant had recovered from a bout of food poisoning which forced her from the field mid-over during the Bangladesh match and it was hoped she could regain her strength sufficiently to be available for selection ahead of Saturday’s match in Hamilton.Fellow seam bowlers Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole are “in a good place”, Keightley added, with the veteran pair continuing to have their workloads managed, as was the case through the Ashes. Pitches and conditions will dictate whether Charlie Dean, who made her international debut in the home series against New Zealand last year, joins Sophie Ecclestone as a second spinner.Christchurch is expected to throw up a fast, seam-friendly surface for England’s sixth match, against Pakistan on March 24, which could see Dean left out, but Keightley looked forward to the possibility of Brunt and Shrubsole bowling in tandem. Brunt was the leading wicket-taker in the Ashes with 11 from four matches at an average of 13.45 while Shrubsole took three wickets from four matches.”They both know their bodies really well,” Keightley said. “We’ll obviously look to see how they’re travelling throughout the tournament because we definitely want them at the back end.”We don’t want to show all our cards but we know if they’re opening together, our powerplay is usually pretty good, so if we’re fully fit and play our strongest side, there’s definitely that combination that we like to get together as much as we can. But we’ll wait and see on match-ups and pitches and we’ll go from there.”

Mbaye, who just turned age 16, will immediately join the youth setup of the Rossoneri

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AC Milan sign USYNT defender Mbaye16-year-old joins ranks of rising American stars in ItalyTeen is highly-rated defenderFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

AC Milan have reportedly signed U.S. youth international Astin Mbaye from the New York Red Bulls academy.

The 16-year-old has an EU passport, allowing him to leave at that age for the Italian. Several other teams in Europe were chasing his signature, while RBNY was in talks over a pro contract, but the have secured his services. Current U.S. internationals Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah both play for the Italian club.

Fabrizio Romano first reported the deal, while confirmed it with additional details.

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The RBNY academy has excelled in recent years, highlighted by the development of USMNT captain and Bournemouth star Tyler Adams, along with U.S. fullback John Tolkin, who plays for Bundesliga side Holstein Kiel.

The Eastern Conference MLS side also boast one of the most talented teenagers in all of MLS in Julian Hall, who is attracting interest from some of Europe's top teams at age 16.

Mbaye, meanwhile, has been a mainstay with the U15 youth national team, representing his nation six times at the U15 level, including at the December 2023 UEFA Developmental Tournament, where he bagged a goal against Scotland. He recently earned his first call-up to the U16 national team.

DID YOU KNOW?

The last American defender to play for the senior team of AC Milan was Oguchi Onyewu, who played for the from 2009-2011.

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AFPWHAT NEXT FOR MILAN?

The senior team returns to the pitch on Saturday in Serie A action to take on Lecce. Sergio Conceicao's men sit ninth in the league standings.

Liverpool are planning to offer Conor Bradley a new contract as they see the young defender as long-term replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold.

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Bradley set to sign new contractSlot considers youngster as Trent's replacementFull-back's current contract valid until 2027 Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The Northern Irish defender penned a new contract only 15 months back, which is valid until the summer of 2027, but the Reds want to offer a fresh long-term deal to tie down the youngster at least until 2030, according to . The Liverpool academy graduate is reportedly ready to commit his future at Anfield, and his new contract will see a significant rise in his wages. The full-back currently earns £10,000 per week, but the figure will increase to £75,000 under the terms of the new deal.

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Arne Slot is known to be an admirer of Bradley and the Dutchman sees him as a potential long-term replacement for another academy graduate, Trent Alexander-Arnold. The England international is in the final few months of his contract and is tipped to join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer.

DID YOU KNOW?

While the Reds have virtually given up on Alexander-Arnold, they remain hopeful of retaining the services of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who are nearing the end of their respective deals.

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL?

Arne Slot's side will be next seen in action on Wednesday as they take on Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 fixture in the French capital.