Tottenham Hotspur may have hoped that they had finally found their next Mauricio Pochettino when they appointed Thomas Frank to replace Ange Postecoglou in the summer.

Pochettino spent five years in the dugout in North London, reaching a Champions League final in that time, and none of the club’s managers since he left have made it past two years in charge.

The likes of Ange Postecoglou, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, and Nuno Espirito Santo all tried and failed to follow in his footsteps, and Frank looks set to be the latest to try and fail.

Why Spurs should sack Thomas Frank

Despite only being four months into the season, ESPN recently reported that there is growing concern among the fanbase about the Dane’s future at the club, despite also reporting that Spurs are not set to cut ties with the head coach.

The former Brentford manager’s performance this season has left a lot to be desired, as the team’s displays in the Premier League, in particular, have been poor.

Frank’s style of play has been awkward to watch at times. Spurs struggle to consistently create chances, whilst playing attractive football, with the tactics and systems that he deploys.

Tottenham under Thomas Frank

25/26 Premier League

Spurs

PL rank

Points

22

11th

xPTS

18

15th

xG

15.2

17th

xGA

22.2

13th

Stats via FotMob

As you can see in the table above, only three teams in the Premier League have a lower xG tally than Spurs, whilst their actual position compared to their Expected Position suggests that they have been fortunate to pick up 22 points.

With this in mind, it currently looks unlikely that Frank is set to go on and be the new Pochettino who will enjoy a long spell in North London playing attacking, exciting, football.

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Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola has been linked with Spurs in the past, per TEAMtalk, and they should revive their interest in him by sacking Frank.

Why Spurs should swoop for Iraola

The Europa League champions should fire their current boss to make a move for the Cherries tactician because he has the potential to be their next Pochettino.

Tottenham, as evidenced in the earlier graphic, scored 559 goals in 293 matches for the Argentine manager, which shows that they were a prolific and exciting team to watch.

Given how poor Frank’s side have been at creating chances and playing good football this season, appointing a manager who plays attractive and effective football should be a priority for the Lilywhites.

Iraola’s Bournemouth side are certainly fun to watch, as evidenced by their 4-4 draw with Manchester United on Monday night, and their statistics in the Premier League back that up.

Since the start of the 2024/25 campaign, the Cherries have generated roughly 13 more xG than Tottenham have under Postecoglou and Frank combined, despite the fact that Spurs spent £65m to sign Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth in the summer of 2024.

Andoni Iraola’s attacking coaching

Stat

24/25

25/26

Bournemouth xG

64.0

22.7

Spurs xG

58.8

15.1

Bournemouth goals

58

25

Spurs goals

64

25

Stats via FBRef

Tottenham signed the England international in the hope that he would be able to bring the goalscoring prowess he showed for Bournemouth to North London, but he only scored nine Premier League goals last season, per Sofascore.

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Instead of looking at the output, as they did with Solanke and may do with their reported interest in Antoine Semenyo, they should look at the manager whose structure created an environment for Solanke and Semenyo to thrive at the top end of the pitch.

Frank, whose side sit in the bottom four for xG, has not created a structure that has allowed a player like Xavi Simons, for example, to thrive, because his team is not set up to consistently create high-quality chances.

Iraola, who was described as “one of the best in the (Premier) league” by Como scout Ben Mattinson and “one of the best in Europe” by one journalist, has proven that he can coach an exciting attacking set-up at Premier League level and that he can develop high-value talents, like Solanke and Semenyo.

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Therefore, the Spaniard could be the next Pochettino at Spurs as another manager who plays attacking, fearless, football that could get fans excited, making him a coach who has the potential to be a long-term appointment, rather than a pragmatic short-term hire.

Stoke City will continue their attempts to sign “top players” as they try to bring European football back to the club, the words of Stoke boss Mark Hughes.

The Potters of course failed in an ambitious attempt to sign Inter Milan winger Xherdan Shaqiri, but Hughes remains confident of adding stars of high quality to his squad as he looks to push for Europe.

“We will continue to look to bring in top players right up until the deadline at the end of August,

“If we have a good start to the season, we could well push for Europe.”

This has to be the aim now for the Potters, as since ‘Sparky’ took charge at the Britannia Stadium in 2013 he has guided the club to two consecutive ninth-placed Premier League finishes. That ninth place finish in his first season in charge was Stoke’s highest ever in the Premier League and was built on last season as Stoke got their record points total and finished just two wins short of the European places.

The Welshman will need to add some more quality to his squad, however, if they are going to close that gap on the Europa League places, and he has already been busy in the transfer window signing seven players – Moha El Ouriachi from Barcelona, Spanish striker Joselu, goalkeepers Shay Given and Jakob Haugaard, defenders Glen Johnson and Philipp Wollscheid and on-loan Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel.

Some more quality signings could go a long way to getting Stoke two to three places higher up the division, however, the challenge of pushing on is not underestimated by Hughes: “It’s a challenge because in the last two seasons we had two top-10 finishes and we would like to do better than that.”

It will be a challenge of course, but the job Hughes has done at Stoke has gone under the radar a bit and every challenge so far has been met. Even though Stoke enjoyed real success under Hughes, he does not get enough credit for the job he has done at the Britannia.

It is taken for granted a bit, as many expect Stoke to remain strong at home, always be tough to beat and never really get threatened by relegation.

But that does not just happen though, a lot of hard work has to go in to achieve that. Hughes did also have a hard act to follow on from in fellow Welshman Tony Pulis who of course did a fantastic job at the Potteries. But, so far he has bettered the achievements of Pulis.

Not only has Hughes pushed Stoke forward in both of his seasons in charge, he also has recruited superbly well, without breaking their transfer record fee of £10m spent on Peter Crouch in 2011. He has signed some very good players like Mame Biram Diouf, Bojan Krkic and nabbed some shrewd loan-signings along the way such as Victor Moses and Van Ginkel more recently. This has allowed Stoke to develop and improve as a team, while staying financially solid.

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He has transformed the way that they play football, too, improving their style and making the Potters an attractive team, while maintaining all that was good about Pulis’ side in terms of their ability to keep the ball out of their own net.

He has done a fantastic job at Stoke so far and, as Hughes has already eluded to himself, if they can bring in some more quality in the transfer window and start the season with a bang there is no reason they can’t challenge for European football.

The match against Sri Lanka before the final was important on two countsfor the Indians. One was to establish a psychological dominance and otherwas to try and sort out Muralitharan. Unfortunately they failed on boththose counts and the Sri Lankans demolished them with panache. Thedifference between the sides was the mental strength and also the commonsense displayed by Marvin Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene. The broke therecord for the third wicket partnership and in the process they exposed thelimitations of the Indian attack.It is sort of strange that Anil Kumble has been under scrutiny when oneconsiders that his absence yesterday showed what a big difference he makesto the side especially in the middle overs. Ajit Agarkar dismissedJayasurya and Kaluwitharana in successive overs after Zaheer Khan kept thempinned to the back foot with an aggressive opening spell. Agarkar looked abit like himself and he has to pick up wickets to make up for his ordinaryeconomy rate. The double strike by Agarkar brought Attapattu andJayawardene together and the way they controlled the major part of theinnings was as smooth as silk.They had to play themselves in initially almost like in a Test match andafter having done that they gradually took the game away from the Indiansin a clever and stealthy manner. The remarkable aspect of theAtapattu-Jayawardene partnership was that they orthodox cricket shots andmade batting look so easy. The pitch was firm to start off with but sloweddown considerably as the game progressed. Atapattu, the more experienced ofthe two, took on the role of a sheet anchor and he allowed Jayawardene toadopt his methods. Not that the youngster went berserk but he showed greatpoise and played some delectable shots all round the park. A couple of latecuts he played off Robin Singh were reminiscent of Gundappa Visvanath, theformer Indian legend.By the time the game reached the halfway stage, the Sri Lankans wereadroitly manipulating the Indians and the Indian skipper tried all thetricks up his sleeves but in vain. The left arm spinners Joshi, Sriram andYuvraj Singh were dealt with ease and even Joshi lost his way in the laterstages of the innings. Robin Singh looked rusty and the Sri Lankan pairworked him around comfortably for runs. Ganguly tried his hand as well butthe dominant third wicket pair helped themselves to runs at will.Jayawardene played what must go down as one of the best innings ever to beplayed at Sharjah. Arnold rubbed salt into the wounds of the Indians withsome quickfire batting and Atapattu reached his hundred just in time. TheLankans should be given the credit as they showed what batting out theopponents is all about.The Indian reply started off in the most unwanted fashion with Gangulydeparting early and Sriram following suit. The youngster might well rue hismode of dismissals as he may be dropped at least temporarily. It would be abit harsh if he were to be dropped as he has the talent to come good giventhe confidence. Tendulkar looked in good touch and it was a pleasure to seestrike the ball with the authority one expects of him. His rash shot to becaught off Muralitharan was brought about by his over enthusiasm to try andtake charge of the proceedings. If it took a pair to take away the gamefrom the Indians in the first half, Muralitharan drove the nails in thecoffin on his own when the Indians batted. It was almost that he had thebatsmen mesmerised as he ran through the side with an incredible spell. Theresistance from Dahiya and Badani was not enough for the side but it hasdone their reputation no harm at all.The Indians will start as underdogs in the final and it is good in a waythat there will no undue pressures on them. Moreover things may go wrongfor the Lankans on the day that matters. Still the Indians have to play outof their skins to put it across the Sri Lankans.

An intensely passionate spell of spin bowling from Murali Kartik sent Mumbai hurtling towards defeat in the Irani Trophy match at the Wankhede Stadium today. The home team’s batsmen simply could not fathom his wiles, failing to keep the ball down as they ventured hopefully forward to smother his spin and perishing to the close cordon that crouched around in predatory fashion.The left armer’s raw energy was apparent, bounding down the track after each delivery, jumping two feet in the air when the batsman was beaten, even locking eyeballs with the batsman in a withering glare when he had the temerity to strike a boundary. Kartik’s unchanged spell of 19 overs from the Tata end produced the standout figures of 5/58 as Mumbai closed the day on 145/5, just 16 runs ahead of Rest of India who were bowled out for 389 after lunch.Going into the second innings facing a deficit of 129, Mumbai openers Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane chiselled away at that figure with a productive opening stand of 89. Mane was eager to pull anything slightly short of a length, surviving despite two fielders being stationed on the fence backward of square on the onside. Jaffer played several exquisite strokes, in particular a couple of extra cover drives of Laxmi Ratan Shukla, as Mumbai looked like making a real fight of this contest.Murali Kartik was introduced in the 16th over and had Mane in some bother rightaway. The 18-year-old cut Kartik agonisingly wide of Ramesh at second slip to the boundary, the Tamil Nadu opener’s reflexes seeming too slow for him to be fielding close to the wicket. Jaffer however laid into Kartik for three boundaries in one over, an uppish slice through the vacant gully followed by two drives along the carpet square on the off side.At the other end Sharandeep Singh kept the pressure on with a skillfuly controlled display of off spin. Ramesh blotted his copybook further by dropping Mane as the batsman turned Sharandeep into his midriff at leg slip. Finally Kartik lured him into stepping to the pitch of the ball and driving aerially through midon but Sharandeep covered quick ground to his left and brought off a fine catch just inches off the ground.As in the first innings, Mane simply did not have the patience to stick around longer, but he’ll probably learn not to throw away his wicket as he gets more experience. Considering this is first class debut, the Shardashram teenager could have been forgiven. The manner of Jaffer’s dismissal was much less easy to stomach. Just after posting his second half century of the match, Jaffer charged Kartik wildly, trying to waft the ball over mid on and getting a leading edge to Nehra at midoff.After an unsteady beginning, Kiran Powar played several productive strokes, cover driving both spinners powerfully off the backfoot. Kartik was not to be denied however, having him caught by Kaif at forward short leg for 24 as the batsman played forward with bat and pad close together. Kartik made it four out of four in his next over when lefthander Nishit Shetty lobbed a simple catch to Jacob Martin at silly point for a five ball duck to leave Mumbai at 123/4. Soon after, Samir Dighe became his fifth victim, the ball ballooning up this time to Laxman at first slip.Sharandeep Singh was an able accomplice at the pavilion end, bowling nine testing overs for just eleven runs until Laxman bafflingly replaced him with pace to give Mumbai some breathing space. Majumdar (21) and Paras Mhambrey (2) weathered the next six overs until stumps intervened to separate Kartik’s pincer grip over the Mumbai batsmen.Earlier Rest’s hopes of taking a sizable lead over their opponents vanished in a trice when VVS Laxman departed for 167 in the sixth over of the morning. The Hyderabadi is a notoriously tentative starter early in the day or in the innings and Santosh Saxena elicited an edge to Majumdar at second slip as Laxman drove well away from his body outside off stump.Martin, who offered two sharp chances last evening, continued his charmed life, edging the luckless Mhambrey low between first and second slips for a boundary. He reached his fifty off 107 balls but soon after, played on to Saxena, his middle stump knocked clean out of the ground for 57.Saxena was bowling with fire, beating the bat often, especially that of Ratra who didn’t distinguish himself in a 48 ball outing in the middle, producing seven runs, before giving Majumdar a simple slip catch off Rajesh Pawar. Without any addition to the score of 349, Laxmi Ratan Shukla joined his partner in the dressing room.Shukla had earlier heaved a well pitched up delivery from Kulkarni over long on for six, the first of the innings, with his feet glued to the crease. Now, having made 12, he decided to step down the track and despatch the same bowler into the deeper recesses of the onside, and the leading edge was snaffled by Pawar running in from backward point. It was Kulkarni’s first wicket in his 37th over after a long and arduous toil.Sharandeep Singh gives the impression of being very workmanlike at the crease, always looking to get a move on with the score by pushing the ball into the gaps. His best shot was the cut off the backfoot square of the wicket on the off side, which he twice unleashed for boundaries to point, either side of lunch.In the second over after the interval, he was caught at slip by Jaffer off Kulkarni for 26 (36 balls, 4 fours) and two balls later the bowler polished off the innings, having Nehra caught splendidly off a top edge by Mane, running backwards from short leg, for a duck. The Rest innings terminated in the 134th over, Kulkarni and Saxena finishing with three scalps apiece.

Sind won their second Faysal Bank Pentangular Cup match in as many games, thumping Baluchistan by an innings and 114 runs in Karachi. Baluchistan began the third day facing a mammoth first-innings deficit – 323. As in the first innings, only one of their batsmen could go past 50, and with scant support even he could not push on for a big score. This time it was opener Zain Abbas who made 85, and only two other batsmen could get into double figures as Baluchistan succumbed for 209. The Sind bowlers shared the wickets around, but the most damage was done by new-ball Tabish Khan – he knocked over Baluchistan’s top four.Punjab piled up a significant first-innings lead against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPP) on day two of the match in Lahore. After KPP made 210 on the opening day, Punjab had resumed on 95 for 1. They captain, Shoaib Malik, who was unbeaten on 29 overnight went on to complete a century as Punjab pushed on to 325 for 9. No. 6 batsman Usman Salahuddin also chipped in, scoring an unbeaten 72 as his team went to stumps with a lead of 115. Left-arm spinner Khalid Usman was the most successful of the KPP bowlers, taking 4 for 69 while conceding less than two runs an over.

Mark Wood has spent the last week trying to soak up the experience of being the bowler who took the Ashes-winning wicket for England when he dismissed Nathan Lyon at Trent Bridge. However, on the horizon are the less palatable realities that he may miss out on the final Investec Test at The Oval due to the congestion among England’s quicks and could also require surgery on the ankle problem that has plagued him throughout his short career.It is almost impossible to wipe the smile off Wood’s face, and the memory of that moment when Lyon’s stumps were splattered will stay with him forever, but he has conceded, having sought specialist advice, that the pain management that currently goes into keeping him serviceable – “it doesn’t hurt as much when I take the pills the doctor gives us” – may not be the long-term solution.”I’ve had that many injuries so far in my short career that I never want to be thrown out of the team,” he said. “Long term, the ankle problem may need some work done to it – whether that’s time off or maybe an operation. That might be the case. It’s about fitting it in at the right time.”In the shorter term, Wood’s place for the final Test of the season will come under scrutiny should James Anderson recover from the side strain that kept him out of the fourth Test. Anderson bowled on an adjacent pitch before having a stint in the nets themselves, having also bowled yesterday.”Jimmy has 400 Test wickets, he’s England’s leading bowler – he had a bowl yesterday and seemed fine – but I’m going to prepare as I have every other game. I’m sure everyone would want Jimmy in the side so if he’s fit he probably gets the nod.”Wood has emerged in all three formats during the season, beginning with his ODI debut against Ireland before his first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s and he also played in the T20 side. It would seem unlikely that will remain a viable workload if he is to enjoy more than a fleeting international career.Mark Wood might require surgery on his long-standing ankle ailment•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

His problem stems from ankle impingements, a common complaint for fast bowlers, which have caused significant inflammation and led to him requiring a cortisone injection earlier this series in order to be fit for Trent Bridge where he returned in place of the injured Anderson.Wood admitted he had started to struggle during the Lord’s Test as back-to-back fixtures at the start of the series took their toll, but he was able to sustain his pace at Trent Bridge when he was handed the new ball, even if Australia’s woeful batting meant his workload was limited.”So far I’ve managed my ankle well in this series and that’s been okay. You saw at Lord’s that I struggled a bit, so it might be the case that I’ll have to miss games or have that operation. But there’s a big game on Thursday which I want to be a part of then a heavy schedule coming up after that. I don’t want to miss games, but it might have to be done to make sure I can perform at my best and not let the team down.”As Wood alluded to, such is the packed nature of England’s schedule that missing matches would be inevitable if surgery was required. Shortly after the one-day series against Australia is finished next month – one that is shaping as a series for Wood to miss – the squad fly to the UAE for three Tests against Pakistan followed by four ODIs and three T20s. Then it is almost straight to South Africa for a full tour including four Tests and hot on the heels of that is the World T20 in India leading right into the start of the next English season.For Wood, the conflict is wanting to savour every moment of his young England career but also being wise enough – with the aid of the input from the medical team – to do what is best to ensure those England days have longevity.”If I did get this done it might mean I don’t have to take as many pills and get my ankle taped,” he said. “There are positive and negatives on both sides so just have to weigh it up as to when is the right time in the schedule that I can get away with it if I do need it do. But I may not need it at all. Jimmy Anderson has had an ankle problem for years that the management have told me about so if I can do what he’s done then I would prefer that.The potential for tweaking his action has not been completely discounted, either, although Wood said his current approach – a sprinter’s kick at the start with an explosive delivery stride – is all he has ever used, but he is aware of the thoughts of former fast bowlers who worry about the impact it has on his body.”I have spoken to a couple of guys about injuries. My style of bowling off a short run and explosive at the crease probably doesn’t help my body at times. I heard Glenn McGrath mention that my short run puts more pressure on, but I don’t know any different to be honest. Maybe that’s something I can look at and discuss with the team.”There should be caution, however, about changes to a bowling action. The man who may force him onto the sidelines for this Test – Anderson – almost had his career ruined by a desire to try and remodel his action while Steven Finn’s career was severely disrupted when his run-up was tinkered with.

Angelo Mathews conceded he did not really think Sri Lanka could win at lunch on day three, but suggested the dire match situation unlocked the fearless attitude that won his team the Galle Test. Sri Lanka had been 108 for 5 – still 84 runs adrift of India – when the first session ended on day three. However, a rousing Dinesh Chandimal counterattack and a sublime unbroken fourth-day spell from Rangana Herath sent Sri Lanka hurtling to a 63-run victory.”We were down and out for the first three and a half days,” Mathews said. “With Chandi’s innings – it gave us some sort of life to come back into the game. I think sometimes individually and as a team, when we have nothing to lose, you go out and give it your best shot. That’s what happened here for us as well. We had to go out there and get 192 runs to draw level with India, but not think about it too much – not think about a big lead. We just wanted a 100-150 lead to give our bowlers a chance at least.”Sri Lanka’s second-innings surge had followed an abject batting performance in the first two sessions of the match, when they collapsed to 183 all out. In the first innings, Mathews and Chandimal had played their shots to collect half-centuries. Both second-innings top-scorers – Chandimal and Jehan Mubarak – also had strike rates in excess of 80.”After the first innings the batters got together and talked it out,” Mathews said. “We said we’ve got no other choice than being positive. We can’t play forward defence all the time, because more often than not it goes to silly point or short leg. We had to use our sweeps, reverse sweeps and be positive. That’s the approach we wanted to carry because there was no point just trying to hang in their way. We couldn’t have hung in there for three days to be honest. Chandimal made a real difference and the rest of the batters contributed however they could.”In the first innings – we had played poorly. We were not positive enough. We kept losing wickets. We didn’t use our feet. When it came to the second innings we had nothing to lose.”Herath had been miserly but wicketless in the first innings, sending down 33 overs for 67 runs, but yet was instrumental to the victory, claiming 7 for 48 in the final innings. It was a comeback match for Herath of sorts, having been dropped for the final Test against Pakistan in Pallekele, having not taken more than one wicket in each of the two previous Tests.”Rangana has worked extremely hard in the past few weeks,” Mathews said. “He’s the bowler he is. It’s just that you can have on and off days in Test matches. You can have rough patches as batsmen or bowlers. All you can do is work really hard and come back. He has done exactly that. He’s been absolutely brilliant for us over the past few years. Unfortunately we had to leave him out against Pakistan but he showed his character once again. He was absolutely brilliant once again. He’s our premier bowler and he’s carried us through this whole match.”Mathews, who has now presided over two victories in which Sri Lanka have overcome first-innings deficits of more than 100, said this win would raise belief in his young side: “We’ve got a couple of seniors in Rangana Herath and Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara is leaving after the next game. It is a transitional period for us, but I thought it was a great team effort. It gives us the morale boost to go forward in this tournament. We will definitely go for the kill in the next game.”

After five months of toil, during which relegation has been on the agenda virtually every time their attention has turned to the Championship, Hampshire transformed their outlook in little more than an hour on a chilly, sunlit September’s day at Trent Bridge.Their improvement has come over weeks, if not months, but the anticipation that it might actually bring rewards with the retention of their Division One status descended suddenly as seven Nottinghamshire wickets disappeared for 34 on the third afternoon, and they found themselves looking at a run chase of 200 when at one time 300 had seemed nearer the mark.The architect of Hampshire’s escape act was Fidel Edwards, whose four wickets brought him 10 for 145 in the match and 45 for the season at 20.88. Swinging the ball at pace, overflowing with attacking intent, he was again a joy to watch. His reward is a new one-year contract – quite whgat division still to be confirmed.So buoyed were they by the transformation that they scooted to 89 without loss by the close of the third day. You could sense the happiness as Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams struck the boundary boards. Only 112 more needed. They would have to play poorly to lose it from here. Did we carelessly observe on these pages two days ago that it was a “hopeless cause”? Yes we sort of did, accidentally. There may have to be retractions.Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said: “It’s been a brilliant day really. You look back over the course of it and everyone has contributed. It’s been a brilliant team effort and it’s put us in a strong position. It’s been nip and tuck all the way through. It’s been a real battle, we’ve shown discipline and courage and it’s worked out that we’re in the box seat now but obviously we’ve got to finish the job.”Fidel has been fantastic for us this year – he’s bowled with a lot of pace and know-how in varying conditions and we’re delighted to have him with us again next season."But there is still Sussex, lurking 80 miles north. They have not yet abandoned hope at Headingley. Since Yorkshire won their second successive title, their authority has lessened and Sussex might yet escape defeat. If they do, Hampshire will go down, however thumping their victory at Trent Bridge. All they can do is dispense with Nottinghamshire and wait. They will probably be back home before their fate is known.Hampshire’s four-strong seam attack has its limitations. All four bowlers are in their first season with the club, patched together for a return to Division One. But they have held together stoutly. Their display brought signs of unrest from Nottinghamshire supporters, etched in dark overcoats – arms folded, brows folded yet tighter – against the gleaming white of the Trent Bridge stands, who had expected to watch their county secure runners-up spot."You’re not playing for England now Broady," bawled one spectator as Stuart Broad’s three overs in response with the new ball disappeared for 26. Hampshire would be relieved about that. The last time he played for England here, Broad took 8 for 15 and bowled out Australia by lunch on the first day.As shouts of discontent go, this one lacked a certain historical accuracy. Why, they even made a t-shirt to celebrate it, a glorious collection of dots and wickets. Hampshire might make a Great Escape t-shirt if they pull this one off, if only so the chairman and benefactor, Rod Bransgrove, can wear it, along with headband, when his band plays in the celebratory gig.At 127 for 2, with Brendon Taylor and Samit Patel together, Nottinghamshire had a platform for victory. Hampshire doubts gathered. Patel looked bent upon a long match-winning innings to mark his England call-up. But Gareth Berg breached his defences, also bowled Wessels and finished with a highly respectable season, a retort to Middlesex’s decision to release him in the belief that his full recovery from shoulder surgery was unlikely.Then came Edwards. He removed Chris Read, Billy Root and Broad within the space of seven deliveries as he reversed the old ball, laying to waste the good work of Brendon Taylor, whose 90 from 151 balls represented more than half the runs scored off the bat, took him past 1000 Championship runs in his final innings and re-established his dominant form of early season.Taylor had threatened to break Liam Dawson’s holding operation, lifting the spinner for a mighty straight six to start the afternoon, and cover driving Edwards to distraction before deliberately knocking him over the slips to reach his half-century. But his innings came to grief when he tried to drive Dawson inside-out over mid-off and failed to clear James Vince. There was lots of self-recrimination afterwards, but remove the consequencec – the fact that it opened up the innings for Edwards – and the shot itself looked acceptable enough.

Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket, was in New York when he read headlines about Adil Rashid’s record-breaking first-innings drought in Abu Dhabi. By the time he had flown back over the Atlantic, Rashid had made history of a far more positive kind and Moxon always believed he would have the character to bounce back.When Rashid claimed 5 for 64 in Pakistan’s second innings – leaving England a target of 99 in 19 overs which they were only unable to reach due to fading light – it was the first five-wicket haul by an English legpsinner in more than half a century since Tommy Greenhough against India in 1959. In a remarkable tale, it followed the most expensive figures for a Test debutant of 0 for 163 over the first two days as Pakistan made 523 for 8.”When I woke up in New York and saw the headlines ‘worst-ever debut figures’ you felt for the lad,” Moxon, who returned home to news of the five-wicket haul, told ESPNcricinfo. “But it showed what he’s about to get a five-for in his second innings. I’m delighted for him.”Pakistan winning the toss on what, for four and a half days was an exceedingly docile pitch, combined to give Rashid the toughest of starts. However, Yorkshire, led by the backroom set-up of Moxon and head coach Jason Gillespie, have invested a lot of time in building Rashid’s confidence and even before he broke his duck with the wicket of Younis Khan there were signs of him finding his feet as he came within millimetres from finding Mohammad Hafeez’s edge.Adil Rashid had a taxing first innings in Abu Dhabi but came back strongly•Getty Images

“In the last couple of years he’s matured massively as a person and as a cricketer, he’s got to know his own game and what works for him,” Moxon said. “A big part of the last two years with myself and Jason, what we’ve been trying to drum into him is trust what he knows works for him and encouraging him to spin the ball. As long as he’s doing that he’ll be in the game.”It’s as simple as we’ve tried to keep it with him. It’s got to that point where he does trust that now and hopefully that showed yesterday.”Rashid first played for England in 2009, earning five ODI caps and five T20 outings, before falling by the wayside, which was followed by three seasons from 2011-2013 where his first-class bowling average was in the low-to-mid-40s. However, Moxon always trusted that, in the long run, Rashid’s natural talent would shine through and his revival came to the fore in 2014 when he claimed 49 first-class wickets at 24.81.That propelled him into the squad for the tour of West Indies earlier this year although he did not play any of the three Tests following a difficult warm-up match. His one-day comeback was against Ireland, at a damp Dublin in May where he did not bowl before the rain came, but he played all 10 matches against New Zealand and Australia. He went wicketless in the first two-day warm-up match on this tour, but chipped in with three in the second to ensure there were no last-minute wobbles from the selectors this time.”We’d seen enough, and he’s seen enough in himself even during the years when the consistency wasn’t there, that there was the ability to take wickets and produce a matchwinning performance,” Moxon said. “It’s never been a case that ‘it’s a waste of time’ because the ability has always been there.”One by-product of Rashid’s success is that Yorkshire are having to plan for the likelihood that they won’t see much of him next year. He was part of England’s Ashes squads throughout the summer without playing, which restricted him to seven Championship matches, and Yorkshire signed offpsinner James Middlebrook to help fill the void. However, Moxon hopes a longer-term solution will come from a youngster within the county’s impressive youth system.”We’ve seen this coming since he was picked against West Indies even though he didn’t play there,” he said. “We are planning not to see much of him going forward. We hope to fill that from within so it’s an important winter for our young spinners and hopefully they can step up.”

Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, who was recently appointed ombudsman by the BCCI to look into matters of conflict of interest in the board, has said that an issue like conflict of interest “cannot have a straitjacket definition” and, in the case of the BCCI, must be understood in the context of the organisation. Shah said that the BCCI seems to have acknowledged that it faces “structural problems” and saw his appointment as an opportunity to support the reforms.”Generally, conflict of interest is a situation where someone has multiple interests, which could potentially clash with each other, and which could possibly affect how you operate in specific circumstances,” Shah told ESPNcricinfo. “However, the context will change the colour of the definition. You cannot have a straitjacket definition for all circumstances.”BCCI’s challenges as a large sports organisation are unique, and conflict of interest must be understood in its unique context. This is not an answer that is easy or which can be obtained immediately.”Shah’s appointment as the BCCI’s first-ever ombudsman is part of president Shashank Manohar’s reformatory agenda to have an independent authority look into problems relating to conflicts of interest among the BCCI’s administrators and employees, as well as current and former players on its payroll.”In a large sports body like the BCCI, there are several challenges of management and organisation,” Shah said. “The BCCI itself seems to have acknowledged that it has structural problems. My role is to help them to avoid such issues in the future. Reforms are being introduced, and the Supreme Court has also intervened. This is a welcome step. The appointment is an opportunity for me to support the reforms.”Shah also highlighted that the effectiveness of the ombudsman will depend on how an organisation uses the role. He suggested that using an ombudsman in the right way could help the BCCI preempt many of the issues it faces today.”The idea of having an ombudsman to address complaints in an organisation is not new,” he said. “Ombudsmen already exist for various sectors, in both government and the private sector. In India, for instance, you have ombudsmen for the banking and insurance sectors.”How an organisaton is likely to benefit depends on how they use the ombudsman, what kind of complaints the ombudsman receives, and what actions that ombudsman can take. Used in the right way, an ombudsman can help a large organisation like the BCCI preempt many of the problems it faces today.”Shah, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, admitted that he is a keen follower of the game and his decision to accept the BCCI’s appointment stemmed from his desire to contribute towards maintaining “the purity of the game”.”I am a keen follower of the game, but not an expert. I try not to miss a single one-day international, and even watch Tests if I get the time,” he said. “I accepted the appointment because I thought this was one way in which I could contribute to maintain the purity of the game.”