It may only be Wednesday but this has been another classic week in the life of a Manchester United fan.

Before their remarkable 4-4 draw with Bournemouth on Monday, Ruben Amorim had taken aim at two of the club’s academy players in the form of Harry Amass and Chido Obi.

Why he did that is anyone’s guess, but it’s certainly not the way you get players and indeed supporters onside. There’s never a dull moment at Old Trafford right now, eh?

That 4-4 draw was all rather silly. From a positive point of view, United’s forward line looked as good as it has done in years. The defence, however, is a different story. It’s a mess.

Perhaps signing a midfielder or two in January could help smooth things over.

Man United targeting a host of Premier League midfielders

Reports in recent months have suggested that two of INEOS’ key targets for 2026 are Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson.

However, it’s likely United will have to pay a premium for their services and alternatives are being sought.

One of those alternatives is said to be Bournemouth’s Tyler Adams, according to reports. Adams was named in the starting lineup by Andoni Iraola on Monday evening but his audition lasted just a matter of minutes when he hobbled off with an injury.

His replacement on the night was 22-year-old Alex Scott, the latest target said to be in Man United’s crosshairs.

That’s via Samuel Luckhurst of The Sun who reported at the beginning of the week that Old Trafford chiefs are now weighing up a move for Scott.

The report notes that United are ‘monitoring’ the player and could look to bring him in if Kobbie Mainoo leaves the club. The hope is that the Red Devils would only lose Mainoo on a loan deal for now.

Why Scott could be another Mainoo for Man Utd

Of course, all of the talk in recent months has been about Anderson and Wharton. If Amorim and Co could bring one of England’s top midfielders to the club then Old Trafford would be euphoric.

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Scott doesn’t represent a bad alternative, though. Recently handed his first England call-up by Thomas Tuchel for the November international break, it speaks volumes about his progression and potential. He really does stand a chance of being at the World Cup next summer.

Why? Well, the young midfielder has been making waves ever since he was at Bristol City in the Championship. In the 2022/23 campaign, he was awarded the second tier’s Young Player of the Year Award.

A move to Bournemouth followed and he’s quickly established himself as one of the most promising young players in the Premier League too. As Como scout Ben Mattinson put it, he has made the step between divisions “seamlessly.”

While he has only scored three goals and registered four assists during his time at the Vitality Stadium, this is a player who oozes class and brings a lot of poise to the middle of the park.

Hailed as the “Guernsey Grealish” by some, one United media personality stated during the game with Bournemouth on Monday that he “looked like prime [Roy] Keane”.

Subscribe to our newsletter for Man Utd midfield insight Get deeper context on United’s midfield picture: subscribe to the newsletter for focused coverage of transfer targets, player metrics and scouting perspective. Data-driven analysis to help you parse moves like Scott vs Mainoo. Subscribe Subscribe to our newsletter for Man Utd midfield insight Get deeper context on United’s midfield picture: subscribe to the newsletter for focused coverage of transfer targets, player metrics and scouting perspective. Data-driven analysis to help you parse moves like Scott vs Mainoo.

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As he battled his way through proceedings at Old Trafford, he was particularly strong in the duel and was always on the front foot, trying to play forward. That’s something United could certainly benefit from, particularly if he’s going to replace the forward-thinking Mainoo.

Scott vs Man Utd

Minutes played

85

Touches

39

Accurate passes

19/26 (73%)

Shots

2

Successful dribbles

1/1

Defensive contributions

5

Ground duels won

3/4

Aerial duels won

2/3

Stats via Sofascore.

A midfielder with a wide skillset, Scott ranks highly for some important metrics, notably when it comes to progressing the ball.

According to FBRef data, he sits inside the top 14% of midfielders in the Premier League for progressive carries per 90 minutes with 2.01, while he also ranks among the best 9% for successful take-ons with 1.01. He’s particularly adept at drawing a foul too, ranking inside the best 11% of positionally similar players in the top-flight for that metric.

Scott is also more than happy to do the dirty work, making 1.34 interceptions per 90, a stat that places him within the best 14% of midfielders.

So, he’s cut from a similar cloth as Mainoo. They both possess dynamic skillsets and while they don’t score a lot of goals, their impact on progressing and breaking up play makes them valuable players.

Related As bad as Shaw: Man Utd star had his worst game for the club vs Bournemouth

Manchester United drew again at Old Trafford in a frantic 4-4 draw with Bournemouth.

Posts 1 ByAngus Sinclair

It’s been a tough season for the red half of Liverpool so far, with poor results, injuries and a certain incident involving ‘you know who’. But if we delve past the surface of seventh place in the Premier League and race scandals it’s actually been a season where the positives outweigh the negatives at Anfield.

The days of boardroom disruptions are long gone, with the Fenway Sports Group showing that Americans can run a ‘soccer’ club and king Kenny establishing a feeling of gradual improvement. Although some signings have been underwhelming, the displays of a choice few have offered genuine hope for a sustained charge to the summit of the division over the next few years.

It may be too soon to say that a return to the glory days is just around the corner, but the foundations are being put in place for a bright future.

Click on Warror Sports to unveil the top 10 positives from Liverpool’s season so far

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What are your thoughts? Follow @Alex_Hams on Twitter to have your say

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If you have a spare 5 mins then why not watch the latest episode of ‘The Football Coffee Break’

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How much of a role Chris Cairns will play on New Zealand’s forthcoming tour of South Africa remains to be seen, but he did enough in the ICC KnockOut 2000 final against India at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club on Sunday to keep his shares up for some time to come.Cairns played through the pain of a dodgy right knee – he was only passed fit to play on Saturday – to produce a match-winning 102 not out and steer New Zealand to an heroic victory by four wickets in a nerve-jangling last overs scramble. This on top of an unbroken 10-over spell that put the brakes on India after Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar had given their side a flying start.”This is the greatest ever,” Cairns said afterwards. “I’ve been playing for a few years now – getting pretty old – and this is far and away the greatest moment of my New Zealand career. New Zealand’s never got to a final before, let alone won it, so this is just the best.”His knee will be scanned when New Zealand arrive in Johannesburg on Monday,after which a decision will be made on his immediate future, but if he numbed the pain on Sunday night with a few celebratory drinks, who could blame him.For the first 25 overs of each innings, India seemed to have taken the gameaway from New Zealand, but on both occasions the Kiwis dragged themselves back into the match.Ganguly and Tendulkar’s opening stand of 141 in 26.3 overs should have set up a total of around 300, but Cairns, Scott Styris and Nathan Astle slowed things up in the middle overs and India failed to kick on.Ganguly said that India had batted “stupidly” in the closing overs as his side reached 264 for six. But they had them on the board. New Zealand still had to get them.And although Zaheer Khan bowled erratically during his first three overs, which cost India 30 runs, Venkatesh Prasad nipped out Craig Spearman and Stephen Fleming in his opening burst to prise the door open for India.For the first 25 overs of their reply, New Zealand kept up with the run ratebut in the process, lost wickets and at the halfway stage they were 135 forfive. No one had been able to stay long enough to get a stand going, but Chris Harris joined Cairns and the foundations of an outstanding partnership were laid.They batted together for just over 25 overs and when Harris went for 46 withnine balls of the match remaining, they had put on 122 for the sixth wicket.They had seen the run rate go up to around eight an over, but neither batsman panicked, and it was the Indians who dropped their eyes first.Cairns was a colossus, picking and choosing his moments to hit. He reckonedthat with the Gymkhana Club’s short boundaries and another of Andy Atkinson’s perfect pitches, the target was always on. “I felt pretty comfortable after we’d bowled,” he said. “Two-sixty on a small ground, that’s 220 on a normal ground.”But someone had to stay there and get them and in the end it couldn’t have been much closer, Cairns getting the winning run with two balls to spare.For New Zealand, then, a memorable triumph and deserved success. They playeddetermined, gritty cricket throughout the tournament and the mark of the side is the number of times they have had to play catch-up cricket and always come through. This is a very handy one-day team with each member pulling for his team-mates.If Cairns had not been fit, Paul Wiseman would have played and Fleming gave him a vote of confidence too. “You’ve got to walk with people you believe in,” said Fleming.Ganguly was understandably disappointed, but he has a young team capable ofplaying scintillating cricket at times and with three or four world-classplayers as the backbone. More importantly, this team seems closer together,more of a unit than is often the case with Indian sides. If they are kepttogether, India could fast become one of the best teams in the world on aconsistent basis.

Shoaib Malik brought up his 1000th Test run with a six © AFP

Change of action
The third day Karachi pitch was hardly favourable for fluent batting, but Andre Nel’s change of actions in the fourth over would have made things a tad more difficult for the batsmen. He strode in with a normal delivery but then followed one up forming a semi-circle in the air from halfway through his run-up to the wicket. Ending up as a mix between Wasim Akram and Curtly Ambrose, Nel was cut away past point for four. He then tried a Waqar Younis; shielding the ball from the batsmen’s searching eyes as he leapt into his bowling stride with both hands together.Significant sixShoaib Malik was embedded in a spirited rearguard, inching his side towards the follow-on target. He brought his fifty up with a checked straight drive, celebrated it by driving the following ball through extra cover and in the next Paul Harris over, he jigged down the pitch to swat him for a huge straight six. The ball went missing temporarily but a nice way, nonetheless, to bring up your 1000th Test run, in your first Test as captain.Pierce this, Salman
With a four-man pace attack, South Africa started the innings with a half-umbrella field – a tactic often seen on bouncy pitches across the world. However, as Kallis strode in to bowl the 76th over of the innings, with the ball scuffed up by a dry outfield and a dusty pitch, Salman Butt was honoured with an 8-1 offside field; a slip, a fly slip, backward point, two short covers, short extra-cover, a normal cover and a mid-off. Spare some pity for the lone mid-on in the heat as Kallis duly responded with a wide outside off stump.Stumped
Mark Boucher doesn’t often get a chance to stump a batsman. Before this innings, he had only 16 from 102 Tests. But today he pulled off two in an innings: Malik and Umar Gul st Boucher b Harris. Stumping 17 brought him level with Ian Healy’s record for most dismissals and the next took him past it.Is that you Gordon?
Danish Kaneria is apparently working hard on his batting and to prove it he even managed his first first-class fifty this season, 65 for Essex in the County Championship. Many in Pakistan might not have seen that innings, so Kaneria decided to show everyone just what he was capable of in a little cameo at the end of Pakistan’s innings. First he stepped back and with a Caribbean flourish, flayed Andre Nel past point. But his best came soon after, when a short ball from Dale Steyn was pulled, while swivelling round and pivoting on one foot. Somewhere, Gordon Greenidge would’ve nodded his approval.

New Zealand Cricket’s six major associations have added a 15th member each to their squad of contracted players for 2015-16. The six players to benefit are Brett Randell (Auckland), Ken McClure (Canterbury), Dean Robinson (Central Districts), Tony Goodin (Northern Districts), Samuel Blakely (Otago) and Jamie Gibson (Wellington).The six associations had named 14 contracted players each last month, for the period running from September 2015 to April 2016.Full squadsAuckland Michael Bates, Brad Cachopa, Colin De Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Donovan Grobbelaar, Michael Guptill-Bunce, Shawn Hicks, Colin Munro, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Robert O’Donnell, Glenn Phillips, Matt Quinn, Jeet Raval, Brett Randell
Canterbury Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Leo Carter, Andrew Ellis, Cameron Fletcher, Peter Fulton, Roneel Hira, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Johnston, Cole McConchie, Ryan McCone, Henry Nicholls, Edward Nuttall, Logan van Beek, Ken McClure
Central Districts Tom Bruce, Dane Cleaver, Greg Hay, Marty Kain, Andrew Mathieson, Ajaz Patel, Seth Rance, Jesse Ryder, Bevan Small, Ben Smith, Kruger van Wyk, Ben Wheeler, George Worker, Will Young, Dean Robinson
Northern Districts Cody Andrews, James Baker, Jono Boult, Dean Brownlie, Joe Carter, Anton Devcich, Daniel Flynn, Brett Hampton, Jono Hickey, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Bharat Popli, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tony Goodin
Otago Warren Barnes, Nicholas Beard, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Derek de Boorder, Jacob Duffy, Ryan Duffy, Josh Finnie, Anaru Kitchen, Michael Rae, Hamish Rutherford, Craig Smith, Sam Wells, Brad Wilson, Samuel Blakely
Wellington Brent Arnel, Brady Barnett, Tom Blundell, Alecz Day, Dane Hutchinson, Matt McEwan, Stephen Murdoch, Ollie Newton, Michael Papps, Jeetan Patel, Michael Pollard, Matt Taylor, Anurag Verma, Luke Woodcock, Jamie Gibson

ScorecardCharlotte Edwards congratulates Sarah Taylor on a matchwinning fifty•Stephen Pond/Getty Images

A fresh – if familiar – format, some new colours, a couple of new faces and a return to a favourite old venue was all it took to freshen England up and keep the Ashes alive.After a torrid Test match that saw little go right for England, there was still the chance of winning the Ashes overall in a series where they are decided by virtue of points gained in all three formats.Charlotte Edwards’ side ticked boxes aplenty: their fielding – with three sharp run outs, a series of fine dives in the deep, and some excellent catching – returned to the spectacular level achieved in the series opener at Taunton, Edwards was more tactically astute, and, crucially, Sarah Taylor – fresh from a pair in the Test match at Canterbury – enjoyed a timely return to form with the bat, that characteristic insouciance and those rubbery wrists back as she notched a nonchalant half-century.Even the promotion of the brutalist Katherine Brunt to No 5 worked, as she boshed 12 from Ellyse Perry’s final over to help England home with 15 balls to spare; her 21 from 10 balls was just her third double-figure score in twenty T20I innings.This bumptious Australian side – whose run of 16 consecutive T20I victories comes to an end with this defeat – seldom seem cowed. But with a partisan packed house cheering the hosts on, they were unable to recover from a sluggish start having been inserted.Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole were immediately into their groove, and England were particularly lively in the field, with both Danielles – Wyatt and Hazell – making impressive early contributions. But Australia were passive in the opening powerplay, which included 22 dot balls for the loss of Elyse Villani, whose leading edge off Shrubsole’s fifth ball – a slower one – fell simply back to the bowler.Australia’s start was slow, but their two strongest batsmen, Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning, were set. As if to demonstrate that point, Lanning swept Jenny Gunn’s first delivery – the first after the powerplay – for six. The introduction of Hazell, however, tied the pair down. Her first over went for one, before Lanning drove straight and hit Hazell square on the leg, and two dot balls later she slogged a rank full toss to deep square-leg, where Lydia Greenway took a sharp catch.Gunn failed to pick up a Perry miscue off Hazell’s next over and shelled the catch, but the drop was worth just a slogged four to cow and a single, as Nat Sciver’s first ball saw Perry bowled off the pad by a full one.Wickets fell steadily from that point. Canterbury hero Jess Jonassen was deceived by Sciver’s slower ball, and then, as Australia took on risky singles, the run outs began. Youngster Grace Harris was dismissed by a direct hit when backing up, Alyssa Healy by a fired up Brunt, and Erin Osborne by sharp work from Greenway. Between times, Alex Blackwell lofted Gunn’s first ball back to cover, and tight bowling meant runs were hard to come by.A target of 123 was underpar, but with a dewy outfield, a quality attack, and an English order prone to indecision, was eminently defendable. But Australia – particularly in the middle overs – bowled an ugly set of half-trackers and full tosses, and dropped both Edwards and Taylor, who shared 77 after Perry had Lauren Winfield caught at mid-on in her second over.The pair bristled with intent in the powerplay, as Megan Schutt once again made the ball talk. Taylor unleashed her ramp to Perry and used her feet to Sarah Coyte’s seam, while Edwards showed off that classical cover drive and flick to midwicket out, too. Australia had their chances, with Villani dropping Edwards on 19 at mid-off, and Coyte shelling a low caught and bowled off Taylor on 34.Both batsmen were eventually stumped by Healy, Edwards sharply and Taylor easily, but by then the damage was done, as hard-hitting cameos from Sciver and Brunt ensured victory. England must do this twice more, of course, and if the Ashes are to be retained, they will have to do it away from their happy hunting ground, where they have now won six from six.

England have bolstered their specialist coaching staff for the Test and limited-overs series against Pakistan and the World T20, with the appointments of Mahela Jayawardene and Paul Collingwood.Jayawardene, who ESPNcricinfo revealed had been in discussions with the ECB during this season, will work with the Test side during the warm-up period in the UAE and the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi which starts on October 13. He will resume his close ties with England head coach Trevor Bayliss and assistant Paul Farbrace after their days together with Sri Lanka.Collingwood, the former England limited-overs captain, who played 197 ODIs and 35 T20s alongside his 68 Tests, will then work with the limited-overs set-up during the one-day and T20 series against Pakistan, and then at the World T20 in India next year.One of Jayawardene’s tasks will be to pass on his knowledge of playing spin after the problems England had during the 2012 series against Pakistan in the UAE. England only crossed 300 once in six innings and were bowled out for 72 in Abu Dhabi chasing 145.Even away from subcontinental-type conditions, England have often struggled against spin. In the recent Ashes, Nathan Lyon collected 16 wickets at 28.25 while they also floundered against New Zealand at Headingley, where Mark Craig and Kane Williamson shared six second-innings wickets, and against West Indies in Barbados.In 2012, England’s struggles came against Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman – the pair sharing 43 wickets in the three Tests – but they are no longer part of the Pakistan Test side and instead the challenges will be posed by legspinner Yasir Shah, who has 61 wickets in 10 Tests and was the fastest Pakistan bowler to 50 Test wickets, and left-armer Zulfiqar Babar.Andrew Strauss, the England director of cricket, said: “We are delighted that Mahela and Paul will be joining the England management team, supporting our existing specialist coaches in this area. Both will bring a vast wealth of cricketing knowledge and expertise to the team, and in Mahela’s case, extensive experience of batting in the sub-continent which will be invaluable as part of our wider preparations for the UAE tour.”In 2014, Collingwood was the assistant coach for the limited-overs tour of West Indies. Collingwood also worked alongside Ashley Giles during the World T20 in Bangladesh, but Giles soon lost his job after a defeat in the tournament to Netherlands.Collingwood was then assistant coach with Scotland during the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. Shortly after Strauss was named director of England cricket, Collingwood said it would be very difficult to turn down an offer to work with the team.”I love England, England is my passion. The experience of playing for England for so many years, that’s where you feel you belong, in that dressing room wearing the three lions,” he said. “You’re never guaranteed a job when you come out of cricket but if there was a role they wanted us to play somewhere it would be hard to turn down.”But Collingwood will continue to combine coaching with his playing career for at least another year after he recently signed a one-year extension with Durham.”I’ve always said I want to carry on playing as long as I possibly can while I am still enjoying it and worthy of a place in the team,” he told the . “I’m absolutely delighted to have signed another contract and I want to carry on improving this wonderful club on the pitch. I feel I have still got a lot to offer and I’m going to do all I can to keep playing as long as possible.”

Karun Nair has already been a part of the India Test squad. He has had a taste of the international circuit by spending time in the Indian dressing room after being picked for the third Test in Sri Lanka as M Vijay’s replacement, less than two months ago.Nair had been picked on the back of an unbeaten first-class century against South Africa A and a stellar 2014-15 season. Nair didn’t get an international debut and he is back to where he belonged – the Karnataka dressing room – to score more runs, more centuries, and register more wins for his side. His sixth first-class hundred and his third fifty-plus score in four first-class matches, including a 71 against Bangladesh A recently, placed Karnataka on top after two well-fought days against Bengal.”I wanted to start the season well and once you get starts…I got a start in the first game, I scored 30-odd and then couldn’t convert well. So it’s a relief of starting the season well and making it big,” Nair said.

Bhavane fit to bat on third day

Karnataka manager B Siddaramu said at the end of the second day’s play that No. 3 Shishir Bhavane, who had retired hurt on 32, was fit to bat on the third day as scans revealed there was no injury.
“He’s ok, he went to the hospital and he took an X-ray and CT scan. It’s only the impact when he got hit, no swelling, no fracture, he’s fit and ready to bat,” Siddaramu said. “He would have batted today but it’s good these two [Karun Nair and Shreyas Gopal] batted well and he’ll get one more day extra [to rest] and it will be slightly easier to bat.”
Bhavane was facing Ashok Dinda in the 27th over when a short ball climbed and hit him on the right wrist in the last over before lunch before Bhavane could drop his hands. Karnataka physio Sharavan came out and assessed Bhavane’s wrist before they walked off and the umpires ended the session there with only four balls left in the over.

Nair’s century today can be split into two parts – the supporing role and the lead role. The risk-free nature of his strokes did not change through the day but his partner and approach did. His first rescuing act was with Manish Pandey in a brisk partnership of 98 runs in 21 overs after the score was effectively 76 for 3, since Shishir Bhavane retired hurt, and Pandey dominated the stand with as many as nine fours. Nair said it was Pandey’s attacking approach that helped him bat without pressure.”Manish batted really well, he came out and batted very positively and that helped me also,” Nair said. “I got a lot of loose balls because of him playing positively. It was disappointing that he got out on 50-odd, still we are in a good position right now and we’d like to capitalise tomorrow.”There was no plan as to how to go about our partnership. Manish played his natural game, he scored off good balls and in between he received loose balls as well. The only plan was to bat throughout the day… Bat tight and straight.”Nair hopped into the driver’s seat once he saw Pandey and CM Gautam fall within half an hour. Karnataka were now 209 for 4 and unaware if Bhavane was going to bat again or not since he was sent to a hospital for scans after being hit on the wrist by a Ashok Dinda short ball. That did not perturb Nair and he marshaled Shreyas Gopal in the third session that went wicketless. In those two hours, Nair faced plenty of deliveries from spinners Pragyan Ojha and Manoj Tiwary, who pitched several ones outside the leg stump, only to see Nair play the ball late, use his feet to go back and forth, and find boundaries regularly.”I think I’ve been naturally like that [against the spinners],” Nair said. “I play spin naturally and haven’t done any special preparation as such, just the normal net sessions. It is one of my strengths but I think all-round I play quite well.”I was patient throughout, I didn’t play any rash shots, I was waiting for the loose balls and it all worked out well.”What also worked out well was that Karnataka got a lead by the end of the day with six wickets in hand as Bhavane was declared fit. Nair said they would look to bat the whole day on Saturday and the pitch had developed some cracks which could get worse by the end of the third day.”We should bat the whole day [tomorrow], we shouldn’t think about the runs, bat out the day and take whatever comes.”Pitch is right now good only. Outside the leg stump obviously the footmarks will be there but generally the pitch is good, the cracks are coming a little bit. Maybe tomorrow end of day it might become difficult to bat on, maybe till lunch or till tea it will still remain the same.”

Fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza has been named captain of the BCB XI that will play against the touring Zimbabweans in a one-day game on November 5. Four other members of the current ODI squad – Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman and Jubair Hossain – will also play in the warm-up game at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium, two days ahead of the first ODI.This will be Mashrafe’s first competitive game since July 15 after his planned return in the National Cricket League – Bangladesh’s first-class competition – had to be cancelled last month after he was hospitalised with dengue fever. He started training with the squad on October 29 but the team management is carefully managing his recovery from the illness.Das, Mushfiqur, Sabbir and Jubair will feature in the practice game in a move focused on giving them batting and bowling practice ahead of their first international encounter in nearly four months, a period in which these four players have played domestic first-class cricket.The selectors also included Shahriar Nafees after he finished as the highest scorer in this season’s National Cricket League with 715 runs at an average of 79.44 in six matches for Barisal Division. In the last match, he struck 168 and 174 not out.The uncapped members of the 13-member squad are Mehedi Maruf and Sunzamul Islam, and pace bowlers Delwar Hossain and Tawhidul Islam. Maruf, Sunzamul and Tawhidul have been impressive performers in this year’s first-class tournaments but Delwar’s inclusion came as a surprise given that he has only played a single first-class game so far in the 2015-16 season.BCB XI: Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque, Liton Das, Shahriar Nafees, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Mehedi Maruf, Jubair Hossain, Sunzamul Islam, Delwar Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Tawhidul Islam.

The day was simply divided into two parts. Everything that happened upto tea, and the post tea session. In another light, the period duringwhich Hyderabad harboured hopes of a miraculous victory and the periodafter they decided it was a lost cause. Whichever way one looks at it,Mumbai were moving in for the kill at the end of the day in the RanjiTrophy final at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday. Hyderabad havenothing to play for from their position of 251/7.Hyderabad batted with determination. That’s the bottom line. Thoughthere has been ample talk about how they have absolutely no hopewhatsoever in this game and that they don’t have the big guns in theirbatting line up. That might very well be true. However, what must begranted is that they went through to lunch losing just one wicket.Nandakishore was the only casualty when he was undone by a wellpitched delivery from Ajit Agarkar. Bowling with good pace, Agarkarmanaged to trap the opener in just the fourth over of the day. Hisopening spell of 5-2-7-1 had the crowd roaring in anticipation of aHyderabad collapse.However, Daniel Manohar and VVS Laxman refused to be cowed down. AbeyKuruvilla opening the bowling in his last match did his jobefficiently. He took the ball for a longer spell than most expected,finishing with 9-1-24-0. Daniel Manohar was circumspect to start with,leaving the ball well. He knew exactly where his off stump was andforced the bowlers to bring the ball closer to the stumps.Laxman was in a rich vein of form. Though he chose to be more carefulthan usual, Laxman played some exquisite strokes in his stay at thecrease. When the ball was short he was in position quickly, neverafraid to take the aerial route while pulling. His drives through theoff side lit up the eyes of the Hyderabad dressing room and put atleast a sliver of uncertainty in the minds of the Mumbai team.When Laxman edged a ball from Kuruvilla straight to Sachin Tendulkarat slip he had just six runs to his name. The ball came to Tendulkarat a comfortable height, went straight to his hands and poppedout. For someone who is usually a safe catcher at first slip it was abad miss.After lunch, more good batting by Hyderabad saw them solidify theirposition. Laxman and Manohar seemed to have understood the situationrather well. Manohar made a brilliant century on debut againstKarnataka three years ago and since has failed to impress. Though helooks good out in the middle he simply does not have the scores toback him up.Laxman made most of the runs in the partnership, being the more fluentof the two batsmen. The Hyderabad dressing room was on its feet whenhe brought up his century off 161 balls. His knock included two bigsixes against spinner Rajesh Pawar in addition to 12 boundaries. Bothsixes were effortlessly struck from the crease, all timing.Keeping to mediumpacers all day Samir Dighe took a fair thumping. Inthe 46th over of the day, Ajit Agarkar’s 11th, Dighe was struckparticularly hard and winced in pain. From the confines of the pressbox, it appeared as though Dighe had split the webbing on his lefthand. Vinod Kambli who had fielded exceptionally well all day, donnedthe gloves.At tea, Hyderabad were proceeding steadily on with 194/1 on theboard. Manohar was on a patient unbeaten 66 while Laxman had 111 tohis name. After tea however, Hyderabad lost their waycompletely. Hampered by the fact that Mohammed Azharuddin could batonly after five wickets had fallen, Hyderabad succumbed meekly. Azharwas off the field most of yesterday with an injury to his thigh andthis meant that he could only come in late in the order.Laxman, resuming on his tea score of 111, skied a catch to substitutefielder Amit Dani. Nelson had struck again. There was little hope forHyderabad after Laxman was dismissed and this showed in their approachto batting. Laxman had been positive while being guarded and this gavethe batsmen some confidence. His demise brought Vanka Pratap to thecrease.Manohar, who had battled hard for over 300 minutes, fell to the spinof Rajesh Pawar. The left armer bowled Manohar when he was on 71. Atthis stage, Hyderabad were 202/3 and still relatively wellplaced. However, the batsmen who followed showed no convictionwhatsoever. This reflected clearly on the scorecard as Hyderabadslipped to 240/7.Even the experienced Azharuddin could do precious little. Playing aforward defensive stroke to Pawar, Azhar ended up ballooning a catchto the fielder under the helmet at silly mid off.At the end of the day, Hyderabad were tottering and there is verylittle left for Mumbai to do but drive the nails into the Hyderabadcoffin.