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Imran Tahir, playing for his seventh county at the age of 39, took four wickets in a T20 match in England for the first time

ECB Reporters Network06-Jul-2018
ScorecardThe irrepressible Imran Tahir turned the match on its head as Durham Jets claimed their first win of the Vitality T20 Blast season and Leicestershire Foxes suffered a first defeat.The Pakistan-born South African leg spinner, playing for his seventh county at the age of 39, took four wickets for 14 in his four overs, his best figures in England and the sixth time in his T20 career he has taken four wickets or more.He was the main architect of a Leicestershire collapse from 83 for 2 in the 12th over to be 120 all out in 18.3 overs, the turning point in the chase occurring when Tahir had Neil Dexter stumped at the second attempt by Stuart Poynter and bowled Colin Ackerman within the space of four deliveries.Having hung on to a stinging return catch earlier to remove Cameron Delport, Tahir claimed his fourth success when Mohammad Nabi hit him straight to long on.Tahir said: “”I always believe I will take wickets. Sometimes I go for a few but you have to gamble to get wickets and if you put people under pressure you will get wickets. This is my seventh county in England but everywhere I go I enjoy my cricket and I meet different people and I always want people to remember my cricket and remember my character.”The Foxes struggled to build any momentum on a very humid evening. They were 33 without loss after the Powerplay overs but neither Delport nor Dexter were timing their shots particularly well and quickly fell behind the required run rate.After slipping from 83 for 2 to 86 for 5 in the space of nine deliveries they were facing an uphill struggle and their attempts to up the scoring rate simply cost them more wickets as big hits found the fielders, James Weighell and Nathan Rimmington each picking up a couple of cheap wickets. Dexter top scored with 35.Download our T20 Blast Podcast

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Durham were 48 for 1 after the Powerplay overs, their return swelled by a 17-run over by the left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson, whose first three deliveries went for four-four-six off the bat of the visiting captain, Tom Latham. The only other maximum of the first six overs came from Paul Collingwood, who drove his first ball back over the head of Ben Raine and almost into the radio boxes on the top level of the Grace Road pavilion.Collingwood and Latham added 30 in 15 balls but Latham gave his wicket away somewhat by smacking a wide full toss from Zak Chappell straight to the fielder at backward point.Durham needed Collingwood to score heavily with Ben Stokes, who made an unbeaten 90 in a losing cause as he returned from injury in his side’s opening fixture against Yorkshire, not available this time.The 42-year-old former England man used all his experience with some nicely improvised shots but fell for 36, run out by a direct hit by wicketkeeper Lewis Hill as he tried to steal a run as Mohammad Abbas appealed for leg before.Abbas, the Pakistan pace man, was easily the pick of the Foxes attack, delivering a tantalising mix of yorkers and slower balls to concede only 15 runs in his four overs, just six of them at the death. He surrendered only one boundary and bowled 14 dot balls and deserved more than just the wicket of Weighell, whom he yorked with his next ball after Collingwood’s dismissal.Chappell took two wickets in five balls to reduce Durham to 62-4 in the ninth over, bowling Ryan Pringle with the help of the bottom edge of the bat and beating Will Smith’s head-back swing across the line.But Ryan Davies hit 22 off 14 balls on his Durham debut before becoming Afghanistan off-spinner Mohammad Nabi’s first victim as a Leicestershire bowler, and Poynter’s unbeaten 29 off 26 balls ensured Durham’s bowlers had something to defend.

Burnley co-owner JJ Watt has extended an invite to supporters to join him at Turf Moor for breakfast, where he's hoping for some extra baked beans.

Watt invites fans to Turf MoorOffers include a full English breakfastBurnley enduring tough season in Premier LeagueWHAT HAPPENED?

Watt is offering fans the chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to Burnley. The lucky winners of the competition will also get the chance to enjoy a full English breakfast with the NFL legend and wife Kealia at the Premier League side's Turf Moor stadium ahead of a match.

AdvertisementWHAT JJ WATT SAID

He wrote on X: "Kealia has breakfast with me everyday. She’s sick of me. Come join us for a Full English. If you don’t like the beans, I call dibs. All-expenses paid trip to Burnley to join us on The Turf for a match."

Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Burnley fans haven't had too much to cheer this season with Vincent Kompany's side looking destined for a prompt return to the Championship. The Clarets have won just three games all season in the English top flight and sit in 19th place in the table, level on points with Sheffield United and only off the bottom courtesy of goal difference.

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR BURNLEY

Burnley have just 10 games left this season and currently sit 10 points away from safety. The Clarets had looked set for a rare win last time out against West Ham but let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2. Burnley host Brentford next at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Chelsea transformed into a powerhouse when Roman Abramovich arrived at the club in 2003, flexing his deep pockets in the transfer window and bringing a whole host of stars to Stamford Bridge.

In the mid-2000s, his appointment of Jose Mourinho, famously known as the "Special One" was the catalyst to achieving success as the eccentric Portuguese delivered back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.

Backed by a spine of world-class talent, namely Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, that quartet helped deliver a glittering decade of success, including a Champions League triumph in 2012.

During that period, the club were relishing their tussles with Manchester United at the top of the table, prior to Manchester City forming a winning juggernaut that continues to flex their domestic and European dominance.

Chelsea can only dream of replicating that success now and although Todd Boehly has spent over £1bn since taking over the reins from Abramovich in May last year, Mauricio Pochettino's side are still no closer to challenging Man City for the title.

Overspending for the sake of isn't just an issue that has popped up since the club's ownership changed hands, it was prominent during the Russian's tenure, as the Blues made countless errors in the transfer window and one of those was the decision to sign Danny Drinkwater from Leicester City in 2017.

How much did Chelsea sign Danny Drinkwater for?

Danny Drinkwater and N'Golo Kante's indispensable partnership was crucial in landing Leicester their fairytale Premier League title in 2016.

Kante's ability to break up play and Drinkwater's exceptional passing range created the perfect blend and offered Claudio Ranieri's side a solid platform to build from.

The Frenchman, in particular, caught the eye with his monstrous ball-winning abilities as he ranked higher than anyone in the league that season for interceptions (156) and tackles (175), earning him a £30m transfer to Chelsea that summer.

Kante ended up proving to be instrumental in luring the Premier League title back to Stamford Bridge as Antonio Conte's first season in charge was a resounding success.

Following that triumph, the Italian was hungry for more silverware and spent a whopping £224m (€260m) on a whole host of talent, including a £35m deal to prise Drinkwater away from Leicester in the hopes of rekindling a title-winning partnership.

Instead, the Englishman's time at Stamford Bridge unravelled into a nightmare.

What happened to Danny Drinkwater at Chelsea?

Drinkwater rose to prominence as an excellent deep-lying maker during his time at Leicester. He exhumed calmness in possession and controlled the tempo of football matches with his brilliant passing range.

Chelsea thought the midfielder could become their conductor in midfield alongside Kante and bring his wealth of Premier League and Champions League experience to the party, however, the legacy he left behind in west London is one he'd want to forget.

In five years at the club, which included loan spells at Burnley, Aston Villa and Reading, the 32-year-old only made 23 appearances and bled the club dry in excess of £50m, when adding together his initial transfer fee and the amount of wages he earned, as per Capology.

Weekly wage: £98,000

Yearly wage: £5.1m

Total wage accrued: £15.3m (excluding time on loan)

Cost per game: £2.1m

Data via Capology

Going down as one of the worst signings in Premier League history is a tag nobody wants, but Drinkwater's time on the pitch spiralled into a nightmare time off it as he claimed to have wasted potentially some of the best years of his career and revealed how it impacted his mental health.

In an interview with Sky Sports, he commented: "When football is going well, everything else seems easier to deal with, but when this isn't going so well, everything seems so heavy. I definitely think that's the lowest I'd been."

Drinkwater's struggles at Chelsea are a timely reminder that footballers are only human and personal issues off the field can quickly get in the way of performances on it and unfortunately, the 6-foot flop fell victim to this narrative.

Derby County have been handed a boost after learning that one of their first-team stars is set to return to action for tomorrow night’s game vs Blackpool in League One.

How have Derby started the season?

At Pride Park, Paul Warne’s side have had a mixed start to the new campaign having secured four wins, two draws and suffered three defeats from their opening nine matches, so having taken 14 points from a possible 27, they find themselves 12th in the table, as displayed by Sky Sports.

The Rams manager currently has Liam Thompson, Joe Ward and Elliot Embleton all on the sidelines through injury, with the latter having returned to his parent club Sunderland to undergo his recovery, and he’s also since confirmed that Callum Elder will be out for two to three weeks having had keyhole surgery on his hernia.

The Midlands outfit have additionally been without the services of Conor Hourihane in recent weeks having sustained a hamstring problem during the 1-1 encounter against Portsmouth last month, but the boss has now delivered a positive update on the fitness of the central midfielder from the Republic of Ireland.

Is Conor Hourihane injured?

Speaking after Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Cambridge United, Warne confirmed that Hourihane should be available vs Blackpool having stepped up his training. As quoted by The Derby Telegraph, he said:

“He should be fit. He's trained today (Saturday) and Friday. He's ticked all of the boxes and I am told he is going to train with the group on Monday. But as it is with Birdy and everybody else who has had an injury, they have to try to get back into the team.

"It will be nice to have him back and his set-piece delivery as well. We go into two away games that we have got to go and try to grab points in.”

How old is Conor Hourihane?

Despite Hourihane being 32 years of age, he’s firmly established himself as Warne’s overall best-performing player so far this season with a WhoScored match rating of 7.31, therefore, it will be a huge boost that he is available once again for Derby.

The Bandon native, who pockets £12k-per-week, has posted four involvements (two goals and the same number of assists) in seven third-tier outings this term, and his prolific form in the final third isn’t the only positive attribute that he brings to the starting line-up.

The Momentum Sports Management client is a versatile operator having been deployed in seven different positions since the start of his career, including everywhere across the midfield, at left-back and even out wide on the left wing, which allows the manager to be a lot more flexible in his formation and team selection.

According to journalist Josh Bunting, Hourihane is a “quality” veteran, and of course being the club’s captain, the excellent leadership that he brings to the centre of the field is another reason why his return to the pitch will be a major lift at Pride Park.

Just two balls into his Test comeback, Keaton Jennings was being warned by the umpires for walking on the pitch

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jun-2018It is not uncommon to see bowlers get a talking-to from the umpires for running on the protected area of the pitch… but batsmen? Less so.That is what Keaton Jennings was warned about as he resumed his Test career, against Pakistan at Headingley. After two balls from Mohammad Abbas, umpires Rod Tucker and Bruce Oxenford came over to discuss where Jennings was taking guard. It seems that, having set up outside his crease, his stride was taking him too far down the pitch.This comes from last year’s update to the Laws, which now take into account batsmen encroaching on the protected area down the middle of the pitch, beginning 5ft/1.52m from the popping crease. Law 41, covering Fair Play, includes the following provision:

Law 41.15.1 The striker shall not adopt a stance in the protected area or so close to it that frequent encroachment is inevitable.The striker may mark a guard on the pitch provided that no mark is unreasonably close to the protected area.

The batsman is entitled to one warning, after which the umpires can choose to call dead ball, and even award five penalty runs to the fielding side.After re-marking his guard (still outside the crease), Jennings was seen checking with Tucker, at square leg, a couple of balls later, and was apparently within acceptable limits. Despite having another thing to worry about on his return to the Test side, he was able to retain focus and help England put on their best opening stand of 2018.

Everton triumphantly claimed their first Premier League victory of the season yesterday, as they travelled to Brentford and came away with a well-earned three points.

Given the hosts' home record last season saw them lose only twice, few predicted anything other than a routine victory for Thomas Frank's men, against the beleaguered visitors who were yet to win a game in the league.

However, with the Bees starting slowly, Sean Dyche sought to capitalise. Abdoulaye Doucoure's goal set the tone with a sweet half-volleyed finish before James Tarkowski nodded in from a corner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin wrapped up the points with his late goal.

A perfect afternoon for the travelling Toffees, who bore witness to a huge victory which is now set to kickstart their campaign.

Whilst there were numerous outstanding performers for a side who rained down 18 shots despite only enjoying 43% of the ball, one man shone yet again despite his continued presence in an unfamiliar role.

However, should James Garner continue to play like that from the right wing, there is little chance that he might return to his favoured central midfield.

How did James Garner play vs Brentford?

As the only change from the side that whimpered to a 1-0 home defeat against Arsenal a week ago, the 22-year-old general was employed to replace the attack-minded Arnaut Danjuma, with Dyche clearly seeking to unleash a game plan.

Seeking to pack out the midfield whilst also ensuring they retained a keen defensive impetus on both flanks, Garner marked a fine option to fulfil such a role.

Having shone for England U21s at right-back in their recent European Championship success, already his ability to star from the right was renowned. However, the former Burnley boss endeavoured not to stifle the creativity that the Manchester United academy graduate clearly boasts, by deploying him just in front of Ashley Young.

This quickly turned into a masterstroke, as the hosts remained frustrated with the lack of options they were presented with from teammates. Having a host of intelligent pressers, all of whom have the rigid defensive structure locked down, was bound to be imperative, and Garner was just one of a perfectly drilled system of players willing to fight for the win.

It did help that the midfielder enjoyed one of his outstanding games in royal blue, as a consistent creative threat despite his reliable solidity.

He would maintain an impressive 92% pass accuracy throughout the clash, yet blended such an economical display with a whopping four key passes, via Sofascore. Relentless until the final whistle, his work in dispossessing Nathan Collins showcased his defensive know-how, before he allowed that quality to shine through by slipping in his compatriot to score the third.

The game was over with that goal, forged almost solely by the endeavour and excellence of Garner.

However, as aforementioned, the former Nottingham Forest loanee was not to shirk his defensive responsibilities, still chipping in with three tackles and one clearance to justify his 8.0 rating, the second-highest of any player on the pitch, via Sofascore.

This aligned well with the Liverpool Echo's post-match player ratings, who offered the following summation of this display which merited an 8/10 rating in their eyes: "Repaid his manager’s faith in him to deploy him out wide early on as his cross from the left wing picked out Tarkowski for his flick-on to Doucoure for the opener and then hustled and harried to win the ball back before picking out substitute Calvert-Lewin for the third."

Having joined for just £15m in 2022, it finally seems like the Toffees are set to enjoy the best of Garner, who has seemingly shaken off his injury troubles to become a mainstay in the side, no matter where he is played.

Who could James Garner replace?

With Dyche clearly favouring a more workmanlike midfield, given the trio of Amadou Onana, Idrissa Gana Gueye and Doucoure is seldom altered, Garner could perhaps be a victim of his own technical prowess and versatility.

The former all share a relentless work ethic and a focus on solidity, and whilst it often negates the opposition's attack, it also blunts their own due to a lack of creativity from midfield.

It is well known the quality that the 6 foot 1 Garner boasts, but he has still had to battle for any first-team involvement since joining. The £30k-per-week wizard even admitted his desperation for minutes by noting: “Wherever I am wanted, I’ll play.”

This came years after the "special" talent, as branded by Statman Dave, gave his own verdict on his favoured role: "Personally, I’m not too fussed if I play as a 6 or 8. Throughout the academy I played as a deeper lying 6. People maybe questioned whether could I score and create but when I got to the 21s I showed I could also play box to box."

Such adaptability and a willingness to sacrifice himself for the team makes the midfielder far more likely to be used to plug gaps, even though it could be argued that his creativity outranks most of the aforementioned three.

After all, whilst Onana might boast 0.8 key passes per game, his youth leads to him slipping in and out of games, often unable to dominate for a full 90. Then, whilst Doucoure has shown up with some big goals across the last 12 months, even he can go missing, despite remaining one of the side's biggest threats.

However, if anyone was to lose their place in the side it would surely be Gueye, given the obvious drop-off that the 33-year-old has suffered even if he remains a tireless enforcer.

Still an intelligent footballer, the Senegal international is prone to some truly uncomfortable moments, playing blind passes and dawdling in possession in dangerous areas.

One such example was showcased in their 4-0 away loss to Arsenal last season, where he was lambasted for gifting the hosts their second by talkSPORT pundit Dean Ashton on commentary: "That was just really poor, slow play from Idrissa Gana Gueye.

6

2

1.7

7.12

6

0

0.8

7.17

6

0

0.8

6.98

5

1

1.5

7.17

"You cannot switch off the way Idrissa Gana Gueye has done there. It is a massive, massive error."

To replace that kind of unreliability with the ever-improving Garner, and not only would they retain high effort levels, but that injection of creativity could prove integral in providing even more chances for the forwards.

After yesterday's display against Brentford, where the Englishman dominated, surely Dyche must be considering shifting him across to allow him to shine in his favoured role.

Pakistan finally broke the back of Northamptonshire’s resistance as Shadab Khan completed a 10-wicket haul and Mohammad Abbas also impressed

Alex Winter at Wantage Road07-May-2018
ScorecardPakistan will head to Ireland for the first Test of their tour with a hard-fought win behind them after finally seeing off a game Northamptonshire on the fourth-afternoon at Wantage Road with a simple chase of 133.As tour matches go, this was a very worthwhile exercise for both sides and a template for preparation before a Test tour. Only on the final afternoon when Pakistan’s chase became a formality did the game lose intensity. Therefore, Shadab Khan’s 10 for 157 in the match, Asad Shafiq’s unbeaten 186, and Haris Sohail’s two half-centuries was solid form to take to Malahide.Whether conditions in Ireland in any way resemble this slow wicket under unbroken sunshine on Friday is another matter and Pakistan showed vulnerability for the brief time the ball did swing at the start of their first innings and had Shafiq been caught on 13, Northants may have run them closer.But Pakistan travel over the Irish Sea with success and some selection decisions made clearer. Shadab is surely now worthy of inclusion even if the wicket turns out as emerald green as the Pakistan caps. The way he bamboozled Northants on the first afternoon was an indication of what a good legspinner can do and Ireland’s batsman have little pedigree playing legspin either.It is also a huge threat to tailenders and Shadab duly took the final two wickets of the Northants second innings, Brett Hutton and Gareth Wade lbw, to complete a maiden 10-wicket match haul.Far less of a threat was Mohammad Amir. After taking 1 for 45 against Kent, he was somewhat wayward here and lacked the zip that has produced 95 wickets in 30 Tests – he went wicketless in 27 overs. Perhaps he was saving himself for William Porterfield and Co.It was the far-less heralded Mohammad Abbas that opened Pakistan’s route to victory. Abbas, fairly short for a fast bowler but skiddy and likely to be effective in conditions that could prevail in Malahide, has played in Pakistan’s last five Tests after making his debut in the West Indies a year ago. Having been unlucky not to take a wicket in the first innings, regularly beating the bat, he took two with the old ball on the fourth morning, breaking through in the 14th over of the day.Full deliveries slid into Rob Newton and Steven Crook to win lbw decisions before extracting two of Rob Keogh’s stumps when the new ball was taken. Newton’s wicket was key. After making a battling century on the third afternoon, he needed to lead Northants well after lunch to try and save the game. But he could only add 16 to his overnight score before being beaten by one that kept low – the first of five morning wickets for 61 runs.It left a simple target and the chance for Azhar Ali to find some form after 15 against Kent and just 9 in the first innings here. But trying to take a leg-bye running from the non-striker’s end he collided mid-pitch with his opening partner Imam-ul-Haq and was beaten by Ricardo Vasconcelos’ throw. That the nephew of Inzamam was involved in a comedy run-out was not lost on the Twitterati.So it was left to Imam and Haris to continue their earlier form, which they did with the most fluent run-scoring of the game to reach their target in 27 overs. Haris resumed in good touch from his first-innings 79 and steered a boundary through backward point off Hutton, flicked another through square leg off Wade and drove the same bowler fluently through extra-cover en route to a 66-ball half-century, his second of the game.Imam, who could be set for a Test debut in Malahide after playing in both tour matches with Sami Aslam left out here, was the only Pakistan batsman to make a significant score against Kent and here warmed to his task having scratched around for 11 from 60 balls in the first innings. He slammed Rob Keogh’s offspin back over his head for his first boundary, passed fifty in 72 balls before pulling the winning boundary to send Pakistan to Dublin with victory.

Arsenal could secure a very astute striking option at an affordable rate in the summer transfer window, with manager Mikel Arteta in clear need of a new centre-forward for next season.

Arsenal targeting new striker this summer

The north Londoners have their preferred options behind-the-scenes when it comes to striker targets, and their shortlist is said to include some very interesting names.

Arsenal told new Alexander Isak price tag in boost for Mikel Arteta

He’s a reported top target for the Gunners.

ByEmilio Galantini Feb 18, 2025

Chief among them is Newcastle United superstar Alexander Isak, who has marked himself out as the Premier League’s arguable best marksman in terms of form right now.

However, while some reports suggest that Eddie Howe’s side have placed a price tag in excess of £83 million on his head, reliable journalist David Ornstein has said that RB Leipzig starlet Benjamin Sesko is a more realistic potential signing.

“There’s no doubt that he is the player that Mikel Arteta has at the top of his list,” said Ornstein on the Sky Sports Back Pages podcast recently.

“If he was to sign a striker, he’s seen as perfect for Arsenal’s system and everything he offers. They’ve [Newcastle] got no intention of seeing him go anywhere. They want him to sign a new contract. If they don’t qualify for the Champions League, maybe there’s a consideration, but the price will be phenomenally high.

West Ham (home)

February 22nd

Nottingham Forest (away)

February 26th

Man United (away)

March 9th

Chelsea (home)

March 16th

Fulham (home)

April 1st

“Really, clubs like Arsenal should be looking for the next Alexander Isak, not the one who’s on the market if he was to come on the market. And also, we don’t even know that Isak would want to join Arsenal. I think it’s more realistic that Arsenal need to look for other targets, such as a Benjamin Sesko or whoever else is on the market.”

Arsenal are apparently prepared to bid for Sesko again, following their rejected proposal to the Slovenia international last summer, while it is believed that Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres is another target for Arteta.

All the aforementioned stars would come at a premium, which is to be expected given their prowess in front of goal, but an equally prolific striker who may well be available at an attainable fee is Fiorentina’s Moise Kean.

Arsenal can sign Moise Kean for just £43m in July

According to Italian journalist Niccolo Ceccarini, in a piece for TUTTOmercatoWEB, Arteta’s side are indeed interested in the former Everton and PSG forward amid a phenomenal breakout campaign at La Viola.

The 24-year-old has netted nearly 20 goals in all competitions so far, attracting attention from a host of top sides, with Arsenal among the teams targeting Kean ahead of a potential summer move.

Ceccarini writes that Kean’s contract includes a release clause, set at around £43 million, which will become active from July.

While the Italy international had a failed stint at Goodison Park in the Premier League, he appears to have really discovered his best in Serie A, and there is no reason to suggest he wouldn’t thrive with the service of Arsenal’s world-class current attacking players.

If you watched video footage of this match a dozen times you would struggle to understand what on earth was going on

Dan Norcross at Chelmsford04-May-20181:46

BIzarre day at Chelmsford as bowlers dominate

ScorecardThere’s a scene in Where Eagles Dare in which Richard Burton with solid support from Clint Eastwood reveals the identity of the Nazi double agent contained within a notebook. The notebook, perplexingly, is empty. The agent is both revealed within its covers and yet simultaneously not there. Shroedinger’s double-agent if you will. Burton delivers every line with mesmeric and gravelly perfection, but after watching that film at least a dozen times, I defy anyone to make sense of what the hell is going on.For Burton and Eastwood read Sam Cook and Peter Siddle. Given the opportunity to bowl first on a brownish pitch under cloudless skies after Yorkshire elected for and won the toss, they delivered their lines and lengths with irreproachable professionalism and no little flair, but Yorkshire’s batsmen were in no mood to match them.To call the Yorkshire innings a procession would be to do a grave disservice to processions in modest churches up and down the land. It more resembled an unseemly stampede to the bar by smokers in a pub garden on hearing the bell for last orders. The upshot was their lowest first-class score since 1973.Cook made the initial breakthrough in his first over when Harry Brook poked hesitantly at a ball just outside his off stump and guided the ball into Harmer’s enormous mitts at second slip, but this merely brought Che Pujara to the wicket. Yorkshire had also “strengthened” their batting with the inclusion of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, granted leave by the ECB to get some much needed middle practice before the Test series against Pakistan begins in three weeks time, so the visitors boasted five recent and current front line international batsmen in their top six.None presented a problem for Cook. In his second over he induced a thin edge from Lyth through to the evergreen Foster which brought forth Joe Root, shuffling and sidewinding into the middle for his first innings since April 1st. A bumper crowd got to see the familiar guard, the couple of paces to square-leg, the look round the field and one firm push at a ball beautifully landed on an off-stump line that travelled gently into the gleeful hands of his former captain Alastair Cook at first slip.Then 9 for 3 swiftly became 11 for 4 when Pujara was trapped lbw by Jamie Porter. Pujara was less than gruntled at the decision, but he wouldn’t be the last man to be undone by moderately low bounce from the Hayes Close End.Cook was not yet done with wrecking England’s Test match preparations. Next to go was Bairstow, bowled by the ball of the day; a beauty that held its line and thudded into off-stump. By the time he had Bresnan trapped in front it truly was a Wonderful Life for Cook as he registered his third five wicket haul in just his sixth championship appearance.Joe Root returns to the pavilion after a first-baller•Getty ImagesHis 5 for 28 was notable for great control. He was willing to pitch the ball up and make the most of what movement there was off a helpful but far from capricious pitch, was supported by superb close fielding and was aided by a truly abysmal display by Yorkshire with the bat.By the time Siddle had wrapped up the tail with a spell of 4 for 7 in 22 balls, Yorkshire had been obliterated in just 18.4 overs before lunch for 50, coincidentally exactly the same length of time it took for Australia to be famously dismissed at Trent Bridge in 2015.Sages shook their heads in bewilderment but resembled teenage headbangers by the time Alastair Cook wafted a catch to Bairstow – the second England captain to make a duck in a couple of hours – and Tom Westley played a shot uglier than a Communist-era Bucharest tower block, hurling an injudicious bat at an away swinger from Brooks and dragging back on to his middle stump to depart first ball.The opening session had yielded 61 runs for the loss of 12 wickets. By this stage, four of England’s regular top seven last summer had been dismissed for seven runs between them.The afternoon session produced no let-up in the mayhem. Ben Coad and Tim Bresnan, showing due deference to the eternal verities of line of length but at no great pace, made the ball do “just enough”, and Bresnan in particular exploited the tendency of the ball to keep slightly (but really only slightly) lower from the Hayes Close End and was rewarded with a couple of lbws for his troubles.Dan Lawrence tried the novel tactic (up to this point) of going hell for leather and for a while looked to have cracked the code with a 77 ball 48, up to that point by far the most authoritative, if still somehow skittish innings of the day. But aside from a late flurry from Simon Harmer (36) who briefly cover drove with the elegance of Wally Hammond, left the ball with the acuity of Steve Smith and marshalled what was left of the tail better than Angelo Mathews, Essex’s innings offered little more sense of permanence than the Mayfly effort that had preceded it.Three wickets apiece for Bresnan, Coad and Brooks had done the damage and tea was taken with Essex bowled out and in possession of a more than handy 92 run lead.Record books were dusted down. When was the last time a match was completed in one day (1960 Kent v Worcestershire since you ask)? Might Essex be in a position to take claim the extra half hour? Would this day ever end?Yorkshire decided to counter attack themselves. Bairstow replaced Brook at the top of the order and went after the new ball. His 44-ball 50 was full of familiar punch drives and lofted shots over the infield. Siddle managed to get the ball changed, immediately bowled Bairstow and had Lyth nibbling to second slip. At 96 for 2, Yorkshire were just in front but a late flurry of wickets would send them back to square one.Enter Brook. The press box in Chelmsford was full of the great and the good, all come to watch Root, Cook, Bairstow, Pujara, maybe Ballance and Lawrence. Instead it was the 19-year-old Brook who provided the innings of the day. Entirely untroubled, possessed of a sound technique and keen to rotate the strike, his was the only performance that will have excited the selectors.Marshalling Yorkshire, in tandem with Pujara to 161 for 2 at the close, and a more than useful lead of 65, he has the opportunity tomorrow truly to overshadow his more illustrious colleagues. Root, however, may yet have a say in that.The pitch did ease as the day went on. Wise locals will tell you that it’s hardest to bat on day one, but I defy anyone to watch today’s play 12 times and explain to me what the hell was going on.

It's starting to get a bit repetitive, but that was another real Jekyll-and-Hyde performance from Liverpool.

The Reds extended their opening unbeaten run to the season with victory over LASK in Austria, with Jurgen Klopp's side starting their Europa League campaign off triumphantly, but another slow start allowed midfielder Florian Flecker to score a scintillating goal from the edge of the box.

While a disjointed Liverpool fell flat before the break, they emerged revitalised in the second half, with the devastating offence wreaking havoc once more, and The Athletic's James Pearce heralding the "powers of recovery."

How did Wataru Endo perform vs LASK?

Having produced a similar result of first-half misfortune against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League last week, Klopp fielded a much-changed XI in Linz, and it's perhaps understandable that an unfamiliar crop took a little time to click into gear.

Regardless, reporter Neil Jones lamented the English outfit's "sloppiness" and while Nunez and Luis Diaz's swift double turned the tide, with substitute Mohamed Salah scoring late on (of course he did), the club's German manager will rue the failure to take control in the early stages once again.

Such was largely compounded by the midfield's inability to produce composed and cohesive patterns of play, with £16m summer signing Wataru Endo failing to craft a commanding performance despite flashes of dogged defending.

The Japan captain wasn't horrific, per say, but did fail to take his moment to dazzle and misplaced some simple passes while winning just one ground duel all night, also dribbled past once and making just one tackle.

The Liverpool Echo's Ian Doyle perhaps put it best in his post-match player ratings, stating: "Appeared half-a-yard short in the opening exchanges and too often gave the ball away. A difficult night."

That said, he wasn't the only underperformer on Thursday evening.

How good was Kostas Tsimikas vs LASK?

While Endo's overall quality was at times laid awkwardly bare, it was left-back Kostas Tsimikas who endured the most substandard of showings for Klopp's side, with Paul Gorst remarking that he didn't have his "finest hour" down the left channel.

The Greek ace has played second fiddle to Andy Robertson ever since joining from Olympiakos for around £12m in 2020, and while he is a creative player with a wand of a left foot, producing 12 assists from just 63 appearances, he would be fortunate to have avoided a scolding.

Indeed, the 27-year-old did play the full 90 minutes, making three interceptions and one tackle, but failed to contribute with a single key pass and actually succeeded with only four of his 14 ranged passes, conjuring up nothing of note.

There was one moment, late into the first half, when Liverpool had defended a set piece and were presented with a glorious chance to counter.

The ball fell fortuitously to the defender, who barrelled forward and had apt time to unleash a through ball to either Ben Doak or Darwin Nunez – forwards of equally electric measure – but instead proved indecisive and got tangled up in the centre of the pitch, squandering possession.

That just so happened to be one of 25 times that he gave the ball away, a mind-blowingly high number and worrying indeed.

One LFC podcaster even went as far as to brand the 86-touch dud as “abysmal, and while this may be a tad harsh, it's fair to say that Tsimikas did not enjoy a match to hold in memory.

Also failing to make a single successful dribble, it was a pretty dire showing from the £50k-per-week left-back, who has done little to convince Klopp of his worth and will count his lucky stars that Liverpool's incisive attack salvaged three points to kick off the European journey.