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ScorecardAzharullah picked up three second-innings wickets as Kent succumbed inside three days•Getty Images

Northamptonshire dismissed Championship Division Two rivals Kent for 208 to wrap up an innings-and-23-runs victory with almost a day-and-a-half to spare at Canterbury.Hosts Kent seemingly had little desire for the fight as they lost nine wickets in less than two sessions to gift a 23-point win to Northants. That left Kent second from bottom and they went straight into the nets afterwards having banked only three points from this their seventh defeat in 12 Championship games.Resuming on 90 for 1 at the start of Thursday’s play, Kent lost four more wickets in the morning session of what transpired to be a one-sided clash.Once again, poor shot selection led to their demise with Joe Denly starting the rot with a meek clip off his hip straight into the hands of Josh Cobb at short midwicket. Captain Sam Northeast was pinned leg before when playing across a full length ball from Azharullah, as was Ben Harmison, whose painful 36-minute stay for 3 ended with a near identical stroke against Ben Sanderson.On 27 Rob Key had raised Kent’s 100 in fortunate circumstances with a top-edged hook against Azharullah that was palmed over the ropes for six by Maurice Chambers at long leg. But after adding another nine to his own score Key perished when another miscued pull against Sanderson sailed to Azharullah who safely pouched the opportunity to make it 121 for 5.The capitulation gathered pace after lunch when Darren Stevens was adjudged leg before for 15 to the excellent Olly Stone who, in tandem with Azharullah, sent down 53 of the 78 overs needed to skittle Kent.Stone then cleaned up Calum Haggett with the very next delivery for a golden duck and although James Tredwell survived the hat-trick ball, the end for Kent was nigh. Azharullah had Tredwell caught at long leg, one of three Kent players to be caught out on the hook, as was top-scorer Sam Billings (43) leaving Chambers to polish off the win by rearranging the stumps of Kent’s last man Matt Hunn.Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely said: “I’ve just said in our team meeting that I believe that to be the best collective bowling performance that I’ve ever witnessed by a Northants team. We barely bowled a bad ball throughout and really made life tough for a Kent batting line-up that is chock full of experienced players.”I’m very proud of that performance considering we were missing the two spearheads of our attack. Stone and Azharullah were magnificent and Ben Sanderson has again proved a real asset. We’ve also given ourselves a valuable day off ahead of our T20 quarter final.”Northeast said: “I thought Northamptonshire bowled really well on this pitch. There wasn’t much in it for our lads, but they got out of it what they could.”A couple of us made starts in this match but nobody went on to play a match-defining knock. We all have to stick our hands up and say that wasn’t good enough. We have four games to go in this competition now. We need to look at our practice and how we’re going about things because there’s no denying that we’re very inconsistent.”

Craig Hope has revealed that Dan Ashworth could now be made to wait until November before taking up the role of sporting director at Newcastle United.

The Lowdown: Waiting game

Brighton and Hove Albion confirmed in February that Ashworth would be leaving the Seagulls, and it is thought by reliable sources that he is jumping ship to St. James’ Park.

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However, he has not officially taken on the new role in the North East yet, suggesting that some talks over the deal have reached a stumbling block – Lee Ryder revealed earlier this year that the compensation talks with Brighton were proving difficult.

The Latest: Hope update

Taking to Twitter, The Daily Mail journalist Hope has revealed that Ashworth could now be made to wait until November before he can take up the sporting director position on Tyneside, adding that ‘no progress’ has been made in PIF’s ‘negotiations’ with the Seagulls:

“Dan Ashworth could be made to wait until November before taking up NUFC sporting director role.

“Negotiations with Brighton continue but no progress yet.

“Club relaxed if Howe/Nickson/Staveley oversee summer transfers, as was case in Jan.

“Scouting meetings this wk.”

He continued:

“Told that Ashworth has a nine-month notice period and, as it stands, will be made to see it out.

“Brighton not making it easy for him to join Newcastle, as is their right.”

The Verdict: Blow

As The Times journalist Martin Hardy puts it, this is a ‘blow’ for the Magpies’ transfer plans if they cannot get Ashworth in before the summer window opens.

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The 51-year-old has received glowing reviews, as The Times’ Henry Winter has said that he will bring ‘relentless enthusiasm’, a ‘great work ethic’ and a lot of contacts to the Toon, once he takes up the role.

Newcastle World journalist Liam Kennedy has previously hailed the pending appointment as ‘seriously good’, claiming that NUFC are starting to make ‘big moves’.

However, it looks as if they will now have to operate in the window without his skills, meaning that some of their targets may not be as easy to get, and perhaps even putting their masterplans on hold until Ashworth arrives.

In other news, find out the latest on a potential NUFC move for Neymar here!

	Ricky Ponting hopes for better luck against India after a wash-out in the opening game in Brisbane © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting says Australia will carry their momentum into Sunday’s game against India in Melbourne after his side demolished Sri Lanka by 128 runs at the SCG. India are coming off two wash-outs in Brisbane, whereas Australia enjoyed using a two-paced pitch on Friday.With further low bounce expected at the MCG, Ponting hopes his men will have the edge. “We’ve got a full game of cricket and a really good, comprehensive win,” Ponting said after the Sydney success, which put them on top of the CB Series table.”We’re probably going to get similar types of conditions in Melbourne as well. The wicket all year down there hasn’t offered much pace and bounce either, so what we’ve got out of this game we can take down there and hopefully adapt to their attack and adapt to their batting line-up.”Nathan Bracken collected five wickets in Sydney, switching from a three-over new-ball spell of swing to useful cutters later in the innings. Ponting was especially pleased with the variety in his bowling arsenal with Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Brad Hogg all chipping in with important breakthroughs.”We’ve got a really good mix and balance with our bowling attack in both forms of the game right now,” he said. “Our one-day attack the last couple of years has been very solid.”India will be desperate to get a full match in at the MCG following their rain-affected Gabba clashes and Ponting said the visitors had shown glimpses of their potential. “They played pretty well up in Brisbane the other night with the bat,” he said of India’s effort in posting 267 against Sri Lanka.”But certainly our bowlers controlled them in Brisbane a few days before that. Hopefully we can just take a bit of momentum out of this game down to Melbourne on Sunday.”

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Brad Hodge bludgeoned his way to a maiden ODI hundred, hitting eight fours and seven sixes © AFP

The minnow-bashing was not as brutal as South Africa’s, but Australia motored along like a well-oiled machine and exploded during the final overs to bat The Netherlands out of the match with 358 for 5. After being stranded in the nineties twice this year, Brad Hodge reached his maiden one-day hundred during what was a perfectly paced innings. Defending 359 was always going to be a cake walk and Australia’s battery of fast bowlers was too hot for The Netherlands to handle and they were skittled for 129.The pitch was a belter and Ricky Ponting jumped at the chance of more batting practice. Adam Gilchrist provided the propulsion at the start, but once Australia lost him and Ponting with the score on 116, Michael Clarke and Hodge were impossible to contain during their partnership of 204.Hodge will be fighting for a spot in the XI once Andrew Symonds returns and he was impeccable today. Although both batsmen’s strike-rates were nearly identical when they reached their fifties off successive balls, Hodge soon left Clarke behind.Hodge finished with 123 off 89 balls with seven sixes, one short of equalling Ponting’s World Cup record. He had taken 61 deliveries to get to 50, but in his next 28 hammered 73. His favoured region was the arc between square-leg and long-on, though he sent several over the cover boundary as well. Only after Hodge was bowled by Peter Borren did Clarke step out of his shadow. He biffed three sixes off consecutive deliveries right at the death to make a sprint for his hundred, but with two balls left and eight to get, he took a single and had to settle for 93.

Nathan Bracken triggered the collaspe when he induced an edge from Darron Reekers © Getty Images

The Netherlands did themselves no favours by dropping both Gilchrist, on 34, and Ponting, who continued where he had left off against Scotland. Fortunately for them Gilchrist holed out on 57 and Ponting (23) was caught and bowled splendidly by Ryan ten Doeschate. If The Netherlands had hopes of an Ireland-esque performance after those quick wickets, Hodge and Clarke gave them a bitter reality check.The Netherlands openers showed stomach for a fight when Bas Zuiderent and Darron Reekers managed 36 for the first wicket at nearly six an over. But when Nathan Bracken deceived Reekers with a slower ball and trapped Alexei Kervezee leg before two balls later, The Netherlands began sliding swiftly towards defeat.They were struggling at 36 for 3 when Glenn McGrath was brought on at first change. Two balls later he nailed Luuk van Troost before making Daan van Bunge his 50th World Cup wicket.All the Australian bowlers used got wickets and Shane Watson didn’t even get an over. There were encouraging signs for Brad Hogg, who used his googlies and quicker balls to bamboozle the clueless Dutch tailenders. He picked up 4 for 27 as The Netherlands folded with 23.1 overs to spare.

A report in the Zimbabwe Independent claims that the clubs who earlier this week disaffiliated from the Matabeleland Cricket Association are planning to combine with rebel clubs from Mashonaland to form a new national cricket league.The action by the Matabeleland clubs was a direct challenge to the way that Peter Chingoka has run Zimbabwe Cricket and was aimed to coincide with him attending the ICC executive meeting in Dubai.Mashonaland’s dispute dates back to last year when six leading sides were expelled from the provincial association. Five of those clubs – Old Hararians, Harare Sports Club, Alexandra, Old Georgians and Universals – have said they will join the breakaway league, and they are joined by four more from Matabeleland – Queens, Bulawayo Sports Club, Bulawayo Athletics Club and Crescent. The Mashonaland and Matabeleland Country Districts sides and Midlands’ Kwekwe Sports Club have also thrown in their lot with the rebels.The league aim to draw up a new structure in the coming days, and the article reported that the organisers were confident of landing a sponsor.”We are no longer in a position to negotiate with them (ZC),” one club official was quoted as saying. “We’ve made our stand. As for the ICC, they have not made a decision which will improve our situation. They have showed they do not care about Zimbabwe.” A dossier sent to Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, on behalf of the provincial chairman ahead of the meeting has yet to be answered.This development leaves Zimbabwe Cricket without any credible domestic structure. The Faithwear Cup, the one-day tournament which took place in February, was dogged by substandard performances, and the Logan Cup, the first-class competition, has been indefinitely postponed.Alhough the bulk of the country’s rank-and-file players have defected, those will national ambitions will need to switch to one of the clubs still loyal to ZC. But the standard in those will, aside from the top players, be woefully poor – as evidenced by the Mashonaland team in the Faithwear Cup – and it will make official domestic tournaments almost impossible to stage with any degree of credibility.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball
The second day of the Intercontinental Cup tie at Kampala ended with Namibia in a strong position after they grabbed five Ugandan wickets in the final session of a day which had been evenly balanced until tea.Uganda started the day well, reducing Namibia to 66 for 6 before JB Burger led the recovery with a patient 59. Despite that, Uganda were in the box seat until Sarel Burger and Ian van Zyl combined to put on 52 for the last wicket and in doing so limit the first innings lead to 30.When Uganda batted again, the two Burgers then combined to rip through the top order, and by the close they led by only 91 runs.

There was a stark contrast between the shot selection of Damien Martyn as opposed to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. This can partly be attributed to the sea of difference between the bowling of the two sides – one woefully profligate and the other manfully disciplined. The slowness of the pitch as the match wore on was also one of the factors, but the contrast was definitely glaring.Damien Martyn scored 31% of his runs (31 off 100) in the V between long-on and long-off, while Tendulkar and Dravid hardly drove down the ground with the full face of the bat. Tendulkar scored only 14.7% of his runs (10 off 68) in this region while the corresponding figure for Dravid was 13.6% (8 off 59). The figures become even more baffling when one considers that the Australian seamers hardly pitched it short and stuck to a straight line throughout their spells. Tendulkar exhibited some artistic touch with some delectable glides and swipes, but this ultimately led to his dismissal.

Where Martyn got his runs	Runs	Runs off boundaries
Behind wicket – off side	6	4
Square of wicket – off side	13	8
Cover – off side	18	8
Front of wicket – off side	10	4
Front of wicket – on side	21	14
Midwicket – on side	13	4
Square of wicket – on side	11	0
Behind wicket – on side	8	4

Zaheer Khan’s early spell reminded one of the World Cup final, when he was dismantled by a rampaging unit. He bowled 45 balls out which of 15 drifted down leg side. On a pitch that demanded a stump-to-stump spell he should learn a few lessons from young Nathan Bracken, whose swing and control left most batsmen clueless. In a spell of 4 for 29 Bracken bowled only 3 balls on the middle and leg stump and of his 61 balls, 44 zeroed in outside the off stump. His length too was immaculate and 52 out of his 61 balls were pitched on a good length, 7 were pitched up and only 1 was short – a statistic that would have made Glenn Mcgrath proud.

Nathan Bracken
Length	Balls	Line	Balls
Full	7	Outside off	52
Good length	52	On the stumps	5
short	1	outside leg	3

Zaheer Khan
Length	Balls	Line	Balls
Full	18	Outside off	21
Good length	25	On the stumps	9
short	2	outside leg	15

Whitewashing visiting cricket sides is becoming quite a common feature withSri Lankan national teams and Sri Lanka A are looking for a three-nil cleansweep when they take on Kenya in the final unofficial Test at Dambulla onThursday.Jayasuriya and Co. completed 3-0 whitewashes against West Indies andZimbabwe in recently concluded series. Chandana’s boys have taken astranglehold in the series against Kenya with two convincing wins in thefirst two Tests which has given them an unassailable 2-0 lead.”I think it is very important for us that we win against Kenya here,” saidSri Lanka ‘A’ senior coach and manager Roshan Mahanama.”Kenya are a better one-day side and if we can thrash them like we did inthe first two Tests it will boost our morale and give us a psychologicaladvantage over them for the one-day series,” he said.The disappointing aspect from Kenya’s viewpoint is that there is nocontinuity in their batting line up which has seen only one individualperform in each innnings.In the first Test, it was Ravindu Shah’s knock of 94 that held their firstinnings together, while Steve Tikolo stood out in the second innings makinga bright 65.The story was very much the same at Matara, where Shah once again top scoredin the first innings with 106, and Tikolo followed in the second inningswith 117.None of the other recognised batsmen have been able to build bigpartnerships with Shah and Tikolo.To get down to the cold statistics, Kenya’s highest partnership in theseries so far is 59 for the fourth wicket between Shah and Hitesh Modi inthe first innings of the first ‘Test’.In contrast, Sri Lanka ‘A’s success has largely been on their ability tobuild on big partnerships which has seen them run up totals of 414 and 574-6declared.The other factor, which weighs heavily against Kenya is the inability shownby their batsmen to cope with spin on surfaces, which encourage turn. Elevenwickets fell to spin at the Sara Stadium and 17 at Matara.To add to their woes Kenya are leaving their options of picking their finalsquad until the morning of the match because of injuries to key playersThomas Odoyo, an all-rounder of repute and Mohammad Sheikh, their left-armorthodox slow bowler.Odoyo is still recovering from a right hamstring injury, which prevented himfrom batting in both innings at Matara. Indications are that he may berested for this ‘Test’ in order to have him fully fit for the three-matchone-day series starting on February 20.Sheikh dislocated a finger in his left-hand at fielding practice on Tuesdayand is receiving treatment for it.Kenya’s manager said that because of the injuries the team will not befinalised until the morning and that all 16 players in the squad wereavailable for selection.Sri Lanka ‘A’ on the other hand have less worries with hard-hitting openerAvishka Gunawardana having recovered from the ‘flu that laid him low atMatara and likely to play here.Upekha Fernando who stepped in for Gunawardana and scored an impressive 86off 98 balls is expected to open with Gunawardana relegating Ian Daniel tothe reserves.The selectors have brought in fast bowler Dulip Liyanage to replace PrabathNissanka in the 14 for Dambulla, but the final choice of whether to go withseam or spin will only be decided on the morning because of the pitchgetting damp due to some rain falling over in the past two days.Ruchira Perera and Pulasthi Gunaratne are likely to be the two in therunning for the seamer’s berth and skipper Chandana and left-armer RanganaHerath for the spinners.Liyanage and off-spinner Muthumudalige Pushpakumara will have to await theirfate until the morning of the match.SRI LANKA ‘A’ (from):Upul Chandana (captain), Avishka Gunawardana, Upekha Fernando, MichaelVandort, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Prasanna Jayawardene,Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Ruchira Perera, Rangana Herath, PulasthiGunaratne, Dulip Liyanage, Ian Daniel, Gayan Wijekoon.KENYA (from):Maurice Odumbe (captain), Kennedy Otieno, Ravindu Shah, Steve Tikolo, HiteshModi, Otieno Suji, Collins Obuya, Lamech Onyango, Martin Suji, Brijal Patel,Joseph Angara, Josephat Sorengo, David Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Mohammad Sheikh.UMPIRES:Gamini Silva and D.A.S. Dissanayake, Match Referee : RanjithMadurasinghe.

Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia, with an unbeaten 330-run partnership forthe fourth wicket put Punjab in a position of considerable strength atclose of play on the second day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy leaguematch against Jammu & Kashmir at the Burlton Park in Jullundur on Monday.After being 36 for three in reply to J&K’s first innings total of 168,Punjab at stumps were 366 for three.Medium pacer Surendra Singh rocked Punjab by taking the wickets of RavneetRicky (6), skipper Vikram Rathour (23) and Manish Sharma (3) in his firstseven overs and suddenly the J&K first innings total looked veryimpressive. However over the next 76.5 overs, Dharmani and Mongia changedthe scenario dramatically. They did pretty much what they liked with thebowling. Eight bowlers were tried but to no avail as the fourth wicket pairscored at will. Mongia was slightly the more aggressive of the two and byclose he had hit 176 in 296 minutes. He faced 253 balls and hit eight foursand five sixes. The experienced Dharmani was no less impressive in hisstokeplay and his 148 took him 306 minutes to compile. He faced 210 ballsand hit eleven fours and three sixes. Surendra Singh by stumps had threefor 52 off 16 overs but the rest of the bowling was harshly dealt with.

Rangers have had a fairly eventful season at Ibrox so far having said goodbye to one manager and replacing him with their current boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst who has been trying to regain the title for the Gers.

At this stage of the campaign, Rangers are currently in the quarter-finals of the Europa League too and will be neck and neck with Celtic if they manage to beat them in the upcoming Old Firm Derby once the latest international break draws to a close.

In terms of their individual players and which of them have stood out from the crowd to push the team towards reaching their goals, one figure that deserves praise and recognition is midfielder Joe Aribo, who has been described as “dynamic” in the past by Van Bronckhorst.

Since arriving from Charlton Athletic back in the 2019 summer window on a free transfer, the Nigerian has made a total of 136 appearances across all competitions, scoring 24 goals and providing 23 assists along the way.

This season has highlighted just how crucial the midfielder is to the team by appearing in the vast majority of their domestic and European games, finding the back of the net seven times with eight assists provided in the process.

In the league, only defenders James Tavernier and Connor Goldson have played more minutes than Aribo, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £14k-per-week according to Salary Sport, showing that he is wholeheartedly Rangers’ first-choice midfielder.

The dynamic Nigerian has also been superb for his country, being described as a “beautiful footballer” and “unplayable” by journalists Josh Bunting and Oluwashina Okeleji during AFCON.

In terms of what he offers Van Bronckhorst’s side on the pitch aside from his very useful goals and assists, which is what could help fire the Gers to the league title, on the ball, the midfielder has racked up an average of 1.8 key passes per game, the joint-third highest of any player in the squad as well as 1.8 shots per game.

Off the ball, the 25-year-old has not shirked away from his defensive responsibilities when his side doesn’t have the ball, which isn’t very often with Van Bronckhorst’s men boasting an average possession percentage of 64%, with an average of  1.6 tackles per game, the third-highest of any Rangers player to start more than three league games.

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While Alfredo Morelos may be the Gers’ main man in terms of scoring goals on a regular basis, it’s arguably Aribo that could fire Van Bronckhorst to the title if he can keep adding to his tally in that respect, but could also be seen as a more important player for the team given his work on and off the ball around the pitch.

In other news: Wilson disaster: Rangers dropped the ball over “unbelievable” £2.2m-rated “class act”