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Kent equalled their highest one-day total and Surrey never got close to challenging them

ECB Reporters Network01-Jun-2018
ScorecardKent swept aside neighbours Surrey by 220 runs to land a fourth successive Royal London One-day Cup victory with almost 20 overs in hand on a flat pitch in Beckenham.Heino Kuhn’s century helped Kent post 384 for 8 – their best List A score against a first-class county – then Kent fielded tigerishly in support of Darren Stevens’ career-best 6 for 25 as Surrey succumbed for 164 inside 30.1 overs.Chasing at 7.7 an over, the visitors lost deposed England opener Mark Stoneman when he dabbled outside off against Matt Henry to be caught behind, then Sam Billings pouched another as Will Jacks nicked an ambitious back-foot force against Mitch Claydon.Though he needed treatment for a bruised right thumb early on, Jason Roy eased to a 39-ball 50, but might have gone run out for 52 when Sean Dickson missed with a direct hit from backward point.Left-arm spinner Imran Qayyum, on his season’s debut, teamed up with Calum Haggett to send down a string of tight overs that forced Roy to try and break the shackles only to chip to long-off and exit for 68.Qayyum struck again, holding a sharp overhead return catch to account for Ben Foakes then, with the run-rate edging past nine an over, Stevens clipped Ollie Pope’s off stump as the right-hander aimed to push-drive.Stevens snared Rikki Clarke leg before with an off-cutter, had Rory Burns held at mid-on for 42, rearranged Tom Curran’s stumps and trapped Jade Dernbach lbw for his third career List A five-for before taking his sixth wicket in 29 balls by having Gareth Batty caught in the deep.Batting first after losing the toss, Kent equalled their highest total in List A cricket and their best against Surrey, easily beating their 337 for 3 at Canterbury a decade ago.Openers Kuhn and Daniel Bell-Drummond laid the foundations in notching 55 in the 10-over Powerplay though Kuhn was dropped on 21 when Dernbach downed a low return chance.Bell-Drummond lifted the 3,000-strong crowd with the first six of the day, clearing the left leg to a Curran free-hit, he easily beat the ropes over long off as he and Kuhn added 93 before Bell-Drummond slashed at a Curran wide to be caught behind.Kuhn reached his second half-century of the campaign from 58-balls and, in the process went past the 4,000-run milestone in List A cricket as he and Joe Denly kept the board ticking at a run-a-ball.Denly broke loose with a flat, straight six off Batty to raise his 45-ball 50 as Kent reached 156 for 1 at the innings mid-point, but, with his score on 78 from 71 balls, Denly smashed a Curran long-hop to wide mid-on to end a second wicket stand of 138 inside 19 overs.Kuhn posted his maiden List A century for Kent from 91 balls with 10 fours and a six, yet soon lost skipper Billings when, in looking to glance, he gloved to the keeper and gifted Clarke a wicket.Alex Blake plundered four successive sixes off Batty to raise Kent’s 300 and his own 50 from 24 balls. In looking to clear the ropes again, Blake skied to Roy at long off to go for 59.Kuhn, who cramped up toward the end of his 193-minute stay, departed for 117 after top-edging a hook to long leg against countryman Morne Morkel, then Dickson, in attempting to reverse paddle, was bowled by Dernbach.Cameos from Stevens and Haggett helped Kent equal their List A record total against Berkshire at Finchampstead in 1994, while, of Surrey’s bowlers, only Curran with a flattering 4 for 75, will want to remember the day.

Seven games into the Premier League season, and it looks as though Liverpool have got things pretty spot on when it comes to their transfer business. The Reds revamped their midfield to great success, with the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch all getting off to flying starts under Jurgen Klopp.

Now that they have solved their problems in the middle of the park, however, Liverpool can turn their attention towards strengthening elsewhere, and it looks as though that's exactly what they're doing. Those at Anfield may have to bide their time for one particular target, though, with reports suggesting that they're eyeing one particular Bundesliga star.

What's the latest Liverpool transfer news?

During the summer transfer window, Liverpool spent a reported €172m (£149m) as they began to rebuild under Klopp. They may not be done there, either, with the January transfer window and next summer's window to come – both of which could feature further big moves from the Merseyside club.

After failing to achieve Champions League qualification last season, the Reds look more determined than ever to avoid back-to-back failures by planning ahead for the future, perhaps making up for their midfield panic during the previous campaign in other positions. And that's where RB Leipzig forward Lois Openda could come in.

According to Christian Falk, who provided an Openda transfer update on Fabrizio Romano's Daily Briefing, Liverpool are likely one of the clubs keeping an eye on the forward. Falk wrote: "Leipzig are a little relaxed at the moment, as next summer there's no active release clause for Lois Openda. It begins in 2025 and I heard it's a bit higher than the €80m [£69m] that has been reported elsewhere.

"I'm sure that clubs like Liverpool will be keeping an eye on him. You've already seen with Dominik Szoboszlai that they've had a mostly positive experience with RB Leipzig players. It's also worth noting the similarity in style between the two clubs, which is obviously of benefit to Liverpool."

How has Lois Openda performed this season?

After scoring 21 goals in Ligue 1 last season for RC Lens, Openda more than deserved his move to RB Leipzig. And he hasn't looked back ever since, hitting the ground running in the Bundesliga – finding the back of the net five times in 11 games for the German club so far this season. Statistically speaking, too, he would certainly give Klopp plenty to think about when compared with Darwin Nunez in league action prior to this weekend, via FBref.

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Openda has earned plenty of praise during his career, including from current VfL Bochum boss Thomas Letsch, who said, via the official Bundesliga website: "It was important for him to have rhythm. He got playing time and got his confidence back. In his development, he also accepted certain things. I put a lot of emphasis on his work off the ball and he took that on board. It's thanks to that he improved the speed of his play in transition. He has constantly improved. He's gone from being a talented player to a very good player."

From dropped catches to blinders, from 2 for 2 to completing a record chase; Pakistan were at their most mercurial, but they had a match-winner with an appetite for the big occasion

Liam Brickhill08-Jul-2018″Muscled” is a term that might be applied quite liberally to Australia’s approach to T20 batting. They huff and puff and heave and swing at the ball as if they mean to rip the leather clean off it. Slightly built and a shade under six feet tall, Fakhar Zaman doesn’t have the hardware to follow the same method. Pakistan’s free-wheeling opener’s game instead marries hand and eye and has made him the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket this year, with 516 runs in 13 innings capped by a career-best 91 when it really mattered against Australia in the tri-series final.”I think nowadays he’s in the best form of his life,” reckoned Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed. “The way he’s batted throughout the series has been good for us and good for his career. If he keeps playing like this, he’s only going up and up.”It’s not just how Fakhar’s been scoring his runs, but also when. His century in the Champions Trophy final last year is an obvious case in point for big match temperament, and his innings in the tri-series final will only enhance that reputation.”Yes, he’s definitely [a big-match player],” said Sarfraz. “He performs in big games, consistently. Like the Champions Trophy, in the final, he got that hundred. In New Zealand, he scored a fifty and then a 40-odd (in successive T20Is, to help Pakistan come from 1-0 down to win the three-match series). He’s a big-game player and he’s getting better day by day.”His innings against Australia was all the more remarkable considering the early strife Pakistan were in. Flummoxed by Glenn Maxwell in the first over, they were 2 for 2 needing almost 10 an over pretty much as soon as their innings began. That’s a position most other teams would be unable to rise from, but an hour later Pakistan’s fans at the ground (and a few hundred turned up to support them) were singing “” and “” as their team improbably, inexplicably romped home. Pakistan can drop Aaron Finch first ball, concede 10 an over for the first 10 overs and then surge back into the game with eight wickets in the next 10. They can be 2 for 2, and then complete a record run chase with five balls to spare. It’s become an obvious cliche, but Pakistan remain an absorbingly mercurial team.”We know they’re an emotional team, and they’re a highly skilled team,” Australia captain Finch said. “When they’re on, they’re incredibly good. We let them back into the game with bat and ball today. We had a chance to get up around that 200 mark and almost put the game to bed after that start with the ball. To chase 10 or 11 an over for 18 or 19 overs is incredibly hard. So if we’d had a few more runs, if we’d squeezed a little more with the ball early on and made them take risks. They didn’t have to take too many risks to get boundaries early on.”Fakhar’s batting wasn’t entirely risk free, but his aggressive strokes came in a calculated manner. In that regard, he’s not entirely dissimilar to his current batting coach Grant Flower, who came close to mastering the delicate risk/reward balance with his own batting, particularly towards the end of his career. Flower and Fakhar have certainly spent enough time together in the nets. Flower has been Pakistan’s batting coach for four years now, which is enough time for the famously committed former Zimbabwe batsman to have sent down tens of thousands of throwdowns.”He works really hard with the boys,” Sarfraz said of Flower. “He’s worked very hard for the last four years. He’s always in the nets.” Whatever he’s doing, it’s working for Fakhar, who has also looked to learn from the old heads around him in the playing XI.”In the start in T20 cricket I was hitting every ball in my striking zone, and after playing eight to 10 games I sat with some senior players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, and spoke about my gameplans with them,” Fakhar had said after Pakistan’s previous match. “I realised that I could play proper cricket shots and be successful, and that’s what I’ve been doing recently.”Fakhar has certainly made an impression on the Australians. Finch called him “a thorn in our side” earlier this week, today adding: “We’ve all seen the form that Fakhar has been in. We saw with Shoaib Malik there, towards the end, if you have a batter who’s in, they can control the game, they control the strike.”Capped by Fakhar’s career-best 91 and Malik’s masterclass, Pakistan had veered between ordinary to extraordinary all morning. Shadab Khan dropped a sitter at point and then pulled off a one-handed blinder at mid-off. Hasan Ali’s massive, ballooning no-ball didn’t even bounce before it landed in Sarfraz’ gloves, leaving Pakistan’s captain – finally – lost for words. Two balls later, Hasan shattered Ashton Agar’s stumps, brilliance and farce bookending the over.Whether it’s letting the opposition sprint to 95 for 0, or slipping to 2 for 2 at the start of a record chase, Pakistan are the sort of team who get themselves into these situations. But they’re also the sort of team that can get themselves out of them. “You can’t take anything for granted against the number one team in the world,” said Finch. “Or any international team.” But especially if that team is Pakistan.

Liverpool have reportedly been boosted in their efforts to sign a hugely exciting Premier League player, with a new update now emerging in the saga.

Latest Liverpool transfer news…

The Reds saw their squad significantly change during the summer transfer window, with the midfield the sole era that Jurgen Klopp focused on revamping completely. Out went Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, while Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch all arrived at Anfield, adding youth and dynamism in the middle of the park that has already stood out this season.

The time will eventually come when other areas of the pitch need addressing, however, with Virgil van Dijk now 32 years of age and Mohamed Salah only a year younger, for example. The latter has already been strongly linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, with Al-Ittihad seeing a £150m approach turned down for Salah, and a 2024 exit isn't out of the question. Should that happen, Liverpool may look to sign a replacement, and one player who has emerged as a potential target is Wolves ace Pedro Neto.

The 23-year-old is being backed to join various Premier League clubs, and while he is contracted with Wanderers until the summer of 2027, that doesn't appear to be putting off potential suitors.

Do Liverpool want to sign Pedro Neto?

According to TEAMtalk, Liverpool could be handed a boost in their quest to snap up Wolves star Neto, with the Midlands club now "ready to cash in on him while his stock is high". The report goes on to add that the Reds are "firmly in the mix" to sign the 23-year-old, but "they are not alone as interest also stems from Tottenham, Newcastle United and Aston Villa", as well as Arsenal.

Superb dribbler

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Lacking in aerial duels

Can play on either flank

Finishing can be erratic

This is a clear boost for Liverpool, who may well be having one eye on life without Salah at some point in the near future, even if his time at Anfield doesn't come to an end next summer. The 31-year-old is almost an irreplaceable figure, considering he has been one of the best players in the world over the past five years or so, but in Neto, the Reds could have a fantastic option.

The Wolves man, who shares the same agency as Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota, has made a fantastic start to this season, chipping in with four assists in just seven Premier League appearances, one of which came in his side's 3-1 defeat at home to Liverpool, when he gave Joe Gomez a torrid time. At 23, he is still a young player who should only get better, and while injuries have dogged him in the past, the hope is that he has overcome the worst of them.

Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has lauded Neto as a "huge talent" in the past, and he is one of the most impressive wide players in the league at the moment. His directness, pace and end product are all attributes that are similar to Salah's, and that could well appeal to Klopp, making this one to watch.

Manchester United have reportedly decided that Mason Greenwood will not form part of their squad that takes in a pre-season tour of the United States.

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Forward taking in Spanish loan spellWill be due back at Old Trafford in the summerBig call to be made on long-term futureWHAT HAPPENED?

The Red Devils will be heading back to America in the summer of 2024. Friendly fixtures against Premier League rivals Liverpool and Arsenal have already been lined up, with there set to be plenty of interest in those contests as United head to Los Angeles, North Carolina and San Diego.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

According to the , Greenwood will not form part of collective plans for that trip. The 22-year-old forward is currently on loan at La Liga side Getafe and will be due back at Old Trafford when the current campaign comes to a close.

DID YOU KNOW?

A call on his long-term future will then be made, with the expectation being that a permanent transfer will be sanctioned. He is tied to a contract through to 2025, which includes a 12-month extension option, but a clean break is set to be put in place.

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR GREENWOOD?

That means Greenwood will not head to the States, even if no move has materialised by that point, with United eager to avoid any distractions. The Red Devils are keen to ensure that no divides are formed with club sponsors and commercial partners, with a definitive decision on Greenwood ready to be made at the start of the summer.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has now personally identified a £70 million forward as his signing preference over Brentford star Ivan Toney.

Will Arsenal sign anyone in January?

The Premier League title hopefuls, according to various reports in the last two months, have a few transfer targets in mind for the January transfer window and 2024 in general. Lesser-known names like Royal Antwerp sensation Arthur Vermeeren and Club Brugge star Andreas Skov Olsen have been linked in the past week, but Toney is a name absolutely dominating the headlines where Arsenal are concerned.

The Englishman, who scored 20 league goals prior to his gambling ban last season, looks set to be one of next year's hottest transfer commodities. Toney has been linked with moves to Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham in the past few weeks alone, with pundits like Arsenal legend Ray Parlour believing a new striker like Toney is desperately needed at the Emirates.

“I do believe that is the position that Arsenal needs to strengthen," said Parlour live on talkSPORT.

"But, it ultimately depends on player availability and financial negotiations to ensure it’s the right deal for Arsenal. Ivan Toney would be a great acquisition. Let’s wait and see how things develop.”

As well as Toney, Wolves forward Pedro Neto is another player attracting Arteta's interest, with Football Transfers now having some news on both of Arsenal's transfer targets.

Pedro Neto transfer update

Sharing a Neto transfer update, the outlet claims that Gary O'Neill's star man is actually now a preferred target of Arteta's. Indeed, it is believed that the Spaniard actually wants Arsenal to sign Neto more than Toney after being informed by club hierarchy of a limited budget. There is said to be confidence that their current crop of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah can do the job up front, with Arteta being a long-time admirer of Neto as he looks to ease the burden on Bukayo Saka out-wide.

The 23-year-old won't come cheap, though, as the report goes on to state that Wolves will demand close to around £70 million for him. While Arsenal believe they can do it for £40 million, that doesn't appear likely. Neto has already grabbed five assists and a goal over his first eight league games this season, rediscovering his past form after coming back from a serious injury.

Journalist Charles Watts, commenting on the links to Neto recently, claimed he would be an excellent signing for Arteta – going on to call him "electric".

“Pedro Neto is a player we know Arsenal like," said Watts on Inside Arsenal.

"They’ve followed him before. Wolves have been very adamant when Arsenal have gone knocking for Neto, they were having none of it. These stories are emerging again. He looks electric, he’s scoring goals, his pace looks spot on. He really surprised me, he looks so sharp, so quick. He’s the perfect age for Arsenal, all the talent in the world. Would I take Neto? Absolutely, he also grew up watching Arsenal, maybe that will help."

Phil Parkinson admits it was “very frustrating” to see Wrexham only hit the target with four of the 25 shots that they fired in against Tranmere.

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Red Dragons dominated against TranmereUnable to hit the back of the netPrecious points dropped in promotion bidWHAT HAPPENED?

Despite dominating proceedings against local rivals at SToK Racecourse, the Red Dragons found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline. Struggles in the final third contributed to that disappointing defeat, with the likes of Paul Mullin, Steven Fletcher, Sam Dalby and Ollie Palmer unable to hit the back of the net.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesWHAT PARKINSON SAID

Parkinson said afterwards of seeing his side draw a blank in back-to-back games, with a 0-0 draw with Harrogate played out in midweek: “If you look around the country and the results, and to have 25 attempts on goal, I don't think many teams would have had that but only four on target is not enough for the quality we have got. We needed to work the goalkeeper more. We have had some great moments, as we know football is all about taking them and we weren't able to do that. It was very frustrating for us. The lads have given their all again, I don't think there is any doubt about that, but we just couldn't quite find the moment.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Luke Norris’ eighth-minute effort proved to be the difference against Tranmere, with Parkinson adding on a performance from his side that lacked any kind of cutting edge: “It is very frustrating. We dominated the first half in particular and one moment has cost us. It was a quick free-kick and we ended up one-v-one at the back and we got punished for that. But we still had so much play in the first-half to have got back in the game. The balance between playing at an intensity and speeding the game up, at times we were a bit frantic in our decision making and the clarity in those decisions in the final third wasn't where it needed to be to make the most of our dominance. We practically pinned them in for the whole 45 minutes but couldn't get the goal back. Second half, they changed their shape and we changed ours to a back-four and it became too open; the game became like they could score on the counter, and we still had some great moments where we needed to do better. We didn't have the control in the second half like we had in the first period, and we have got to look that.”

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Getty/GOALWHAT NEXT FOR WREXHAM?

Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney will be as frustrated as anybody at seeing Wrexham drop more points at a crucial stage of the season, but they remain inside the League Two automatic promotion places and have eight games left in which to wrap up a top-three finish.

India A took a commanding 165-run lead on day two, with Agarwal still batting on 220

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu in Bengaluru05-Aug-2018
Mayank Agarwal celebrates his double-hundred•PTI The questions over India’s top order remain unanswered even after the gripping Edgbaston Test. Shikhar Dhawan was one of the two batsmen that batting coach Sanjay Bangar, without naming, said had “thrown” their wickets away in the first Test. KL Rahul was the other one. And Cheteshwar Pujara’s overseas form continues to be a mystery. Eighteen-year-old Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal, who were more successful in England for the India A team, applied further pressure on the senior side’s top order and chief selector MSK Prasad, who was in attendance at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, by peeling off effortless centuries in a double-century opening stand against South Africa A on day two.While Shaw was dismissed for 136 off 196 balls, Agarwal progressed to his second 200-plus score in the past year. He had hit an unbeaten 304 against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy last November.More recently, Shaw had struck three hundreds in England, including one off 74 balls that headlined a remarkable comeback from India A against West Indies A at the Kent County Cricket Ground. Shaw marked his return to home comforts with an authoritative knock, studded with punchy drives in the arc between backward point and mid-off. That the sloppy South African attack kept feeding him width without generating much movement also helped Shaw. They bowled either too full or too short, before being battered into submission.In the morning, fast bowler Mohammed Siraj needed just three balls to nip out the remaining two South African wickets and bowl the side out for their overnight 246, giving him a second five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. South Africa, in contrast, needed 353 balls to find their first breakthrough on day two.It was Agarwal who had set the early pace: his first four scoring shots were all crisp fours. At the other end, Shaw was initially jittery, wafting and missing outside off, before tightening his footwork to regularly pierce the packed off-side infield. He raised the fifty partnership in the 11th over, when he nonchalantly flat-batted seamer Malusi Siboto through cover point. The next ball was punched through extra cover and mid-off with similar nonchalance. All told, Shaw took eight fours off Siboto in the morning session.Spin was introduced in the form of Shaun von Berg in the 15th over, but the openers continued to drill down the deficit. Von Berg’s third ball was a low full toss that was slog swept by Shaw for a one-bounce four. In the legspinner’s next over, Agarwal ran down the track and carted a six over mid-off. Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy wasn’t spared either. At lunch, the deficit was down to 124.Agarwal was the first to bring up a century after the break when he jabbed one to mid-off off his 102nd ball. He leapt twice and punched his fist before Shaw wrapped him up in a hug. Soon after, Shaw brought up a hundred of his own, off 116 balls, with a full-blooded slap to the right of slip. They ticked off the milestones and wiped out the deficit 20 minutes before tea.The ball became softer, the field was spread out, and the bowlers were tiring. Shaw and Agarwal sat back and tipped the ball into the gaps, before offspinner Dane Piedt snuck an offbreak through the gate to bowl Shaw in the 59th over.There was no stopping Agarwal, though. He moved to 150 off 172 balls with a violent loft over mid-off. His Karnataka team-mate and school-mate R Samarth then kept him good company in a 118-run stand for the second wicket. While every boundary from the local boys elicited cheers from a small Sunday crowd, the South Africans dug deep into their reserves.They employed twin short midwickets and a leg gully against Agarwal and targetted the batsman’s body with a volley of short balls. Even as Duanne Olivier hit the pitch harder, Agarwal rode the bounce and countered him. He reached a double-hundred when he firmly whipped Siboto to the midwicket boundary in the 76th over.The second new ball then provided the visitors some respite as Olivier had Samarth reaching out for an outswinger with hard hands and edging behind for 37. Agarwal and captain Shreyas Iyer saw out the day and ratcheted the lead up to 165 at stumps.While South Africa’s senior team piled on the runs in an ODI in Kandy, the A team found itself at the wrong end of a seamless assault. All six bowlers used by them went at four or more runs an over.

Sri Lanka pulled the series scoreline to 3-2 with a 178-run win in the fifth and final ODI

The Report by Firdose Moonda12-Aug-2018Akila Dananjaya lets out a roar•Associated PressA dominant all-round performance from Sri Lanka took them to a second consolation win in the series against a South African side whose depth proved shallower than comfortable. Angelo Mathews’ run-a-ball 97 propelled Sri Lanka to 299 on a slow surface before Akila Dananjaya’s career-best figures of 6 for 29 had South Africa’s line-up in a spin, again. They were dismissed inside 25 overs for their lowest total in, and against, Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka’s innings had its foundation rooted in four fifty partnerships and its fireworks in the last ten overs. Mathews, with help from Thisara Perera and Dasun Shanaka, ensured Sri Lanka plundered 93 runs between overs 40 and 50 to ask South Africa to pull off the highest successful chase at the Premadasa Stadium and they did not even get close. Quinton de Kock’s second half-century of the series saved some blushes but no other batsman made more than 20.At the other end, South Africa’s bowling effort was an unusual mix of attack and leak with Keshav Maharaj their standout performer. Maharaj put in the most economical performance of his short ODI career as he found turn and proved difficult to get away. Kagiso Rabada, brought into the XI in place of the leading wicket-taker in the series Lungi Ngidi, was the best of the quicks while Junior Dala, Wiaan Mulder and Andile Phehlukwayo shared five wickets between them. Their inexperience, however, reflected in their inconsistency.Rabada and Dala started with five boundary-free overs to put early pressure on the hosts. As though to make up for lost opportunity, Niroshan Dickwella took three fours off Dala’s third over as he lost his lengths. Dala did have something to celebrate in his second ODI. He claimed his maiden wicket in the format when he held his length back and Upul Tharanga edged to de Kock. The short ball also brought Mulder a wicket, when Kusal Perera slashed at one and sent a catch to cover.Still, the wickets did not slow the runs and Sri Lanka’s 100 was scored in 99 balls. It was up to Maharaj to pull things back and he did. He was introduced in the 18th over and treated with respect from Mathews, who knew runs would come at the other end. Mathews drove a Phehlukwayo slower ball through mid-on, a Rabada length ball through mid-off and another in the ‘v,’ to establish his authority.Maharaj was rewarded for his persistence when he drew Kusal Mendis forward to play away from his body and found the edge. The fall of that wicket sent Mathews into a shell and another five boundary-free overs were bowled. Sri Lanka scored 48 runs in the 11 overs between 26 and 37 while Maharaj bowled out, conceding his only boundary when Dhananjaya de Silva pulled a long-hop over midwicket. But once Maharaj completed his quota, Sri Lanka could free their arms.De Silva was too hasty and tried to smack a Mulder slower ball down the ground, and gave Reeza Hendricks at mid-off a high catch but Mathews finished the over by flat-batting Mulder for four to make it clear who was controlling the proceedings.At the end of the 40th over, Mathews brought up his fifty with a single off 66 balls. His next 47 runs came in 31 balls and included delights such as a sweep for six off Duminy, a cut off Phehlukwayo, and an array of pull shots as the young quicks over-relied on the short ball. Thisara Perera didn’t really get going and sliced a cut to Hashim Amla at backward point but Dasun Shanaka’s 15-ball 21 came in handy. Shanaka was dismissed in the final over, when Mathews needed six runs for a century but only managed three singles, finishing three runs short of a first hundred in Sri Lanka and against South Africa. He won’t mind too much because his bowlers skittled out the opposition in half the time they had at their disposal.South Africa’s chase started on the back foot when Amla was bowled for a duck. A beauty from Suranga Lakmal pitched on middle and seamed away to remove the off-stump bail.Aiden Markram, who was included after missing the last two matches, looked determined to better his record on this tour. He took three successive boundaries off Lakmal before failing to read an Akila googly and popping up a simple return catch. Hendricks was bowled the next ball, by another googly. In the next over, Heinrich Klaasen, too, didn’t pick the Akila wrong’un and was struck below the knee roll in front of middle, leaving South Africa 39 for 4.De Kock and JP Duminy’s partnership was South Africa’s best chance of staying in the game, and they put on 46 together before Duminy danced down to a de Silva length ball and only got a leading edge to offer a return catch. De Kock brought up 50 off 53 balls in the same over but would have known it was only a matter of time.Mulder was out lbw to Lahiru Kumara and, in the next over, de Kock was bowled by an Akila ball that turned past his outside edge. Akila’s fifth came with a stroke of mastery. He pushed Phehlukwayo back with a quicker one and then drew him forward with a slower one and took the edge. His sixth was Maharaj, who threw his bat at a legbreak and was caught at mid-off which allowed Akila to leapfrog Lungi Ngidi as the leading wicket-taker in the series.The 3-2 series scoreline will suggest it was a tight contest. It wasn’t. The result of this match is a more accurate reflection of the tour as a whole. It was one-sided but for the fourth ODI and only showed both sides there is plenty to be done before the 2019 World Cup.

Kylian Mbappe has explained why he will not sign for Arsenal next season after a young fan asked him to join the Gunners.

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Mbappe revealed why he won't join ArsenalYoung fan asks him to join the GunnersMbappe set to sign for Real Madrid next season(C)Getty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?

The French attacker, who is all set to leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season to sign for Real Madrid, explained to the youngster the exact reason why he will not be signing for the Premier League giants instead of heading to La Liga.

AdvertisementWHAT MBAPPE SAID ABOUT JOINING ARSENAL

In a video posted on social media, the young fan confronts the 25-year-old and says to him: "Come to Arsenal!"

Mbappe replied, while laughing: "There's no way, there's no way."

The fan then quizzed the Frenchman on why he wouldn't come to the Emirates to which the PSG superstar responded: "It's too cold there!"

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THE BIGGER PICTURE

The lengthy transfer saga surrounding the France captain came to an end last month when he formally informed the club and his colleagues that he would be joining Los Blancos ahead of the 2024-25 season. Since then, the club have started looking for options to replace their talisman. Several top attackers across Europe are on their shortlist including players like Rafael Leao, Luis Diaz and Victor Osimhen.