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Manchester City are fighting on all fronts and could now take an unexpected direction in their hunt for defensive reinforcements under Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City suffer Josko Gvardiol injury frustration

At an unfortunate stage in the campaign, the Citizens have been depleted by Josko Gvardiol’s recent injury, which is set to keep him out for a few weeks as they continue their Premier League title charge.

He said before his side took on Brighton & Hove Albion: “Josko and Ruben will be back soon and John as well and the players from Afcon will be back. We will survive this moment and period and go for the next one. I am so confident and positive that we will do it.”

Of course, Nathan Ake is someone who possibly won’t be able to play every game during a hefty fixture period, especially factoring in the return of Champions League football alongside the Citizens’ FA Cup exploits.

With than in mind, Manchester City have recalled Max Alleyne from his loan at Watford. Meanwhile, they could also step up their interest in Marc Guehi after Antoine Semenyo lands at the Etihad Stadium.

Snapping the England international up on a free transfer would be regarded as excellent business. Albeit, the Crystal Palace star has interest from plenty of rival clubs as he looks to take his excellent form into the World Cup.

Strengthening in defence definitely appears to be on Guardiola’s radar, and he could now be set to make a surprise move to add steel to his backline.

Man City could bring Callum Doyle back to the Etihad Stadium

According to reports in Spain, Manchester City are willing to bid £30 million to bring Callum Doyle back from Wrexham, potentially creating a scenario where he returns to compete for a starting slot under Guardiola.

Said to have impressed in Wales courtesy of his ability to progress play from deep, the 22-year-old has racked up 16 appearances this term and has previously been labelled a “class act” by former teammate Shane Duffy.

Related Man City now favourites to sign £75m+ attacking star alongside Semenyo

He’s already working on an exit.

Posts ByTom Cunningham

Wrexham hold leverage due to the fact Doyle is under contract until 2029. Regardless, Gvardiol’s injury and the fact Ake and John Stones are ageing proves there is room for a younger profile to push established stars already on the books.

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Manchester City know they can’t afford to slip up in the hunt for the Premier League title, hence why it may make sense to recruit across their rearguard to ensure there isn’t a major drop-off in quality when injuries and absences occur over the coming weeks and months.

The Madras High Court dismissed a petition from Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd challenging the Lodha Committee order to suspend IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings for two years.The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice PS Sivagnanam, who had reserved their order on the plea on December 14, dismissed it as not maintainable. The bench also dismissed a PIL filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy challenging the suspension of Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals on the same grounds.Both teams were barred from playing the next two editions of the IPL after a three-member panel appointed by the Supreme Court and headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha found top officials from both teams having engaged in illegal betting. Super Kings’ Gurunath Meiyappan and Royals co-owner Raj Kundra were banned for life from any match conducted by the board.Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd had sought a stay on the committee’s order issued in September last year, contending the order was against fundamental principles of natural justice and a fair hearing.Opposing the petition, the BCCI had argued that Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd was not a legal entity and hence could not file the case. Senior counsel AL Somayaji submitted that CSK Cricket Limited was only a brand name of the franchise owned by India Cements Limited. He submitted that the franchise agreement was between BCCI and India Cements and that the latter had no right to assign or delegate ownership and even if it did should be done so with prior permission from the BCCI.He had argued that CSK Cricket Limited was not the aggrieved party and hence the liberty given by the Supreme Court that the aggrieved could approach the appropriate forum for remedy would not entitle it to file the present petition.

Mark Ramprakash falls for 18 as wickets tumble at The Oval © Getty Images

Division One

Surrey edged the advantage on a wicket-filled first day against high-flying Durham at The Oval. Durham lost eight wickets before lunch as the top order was blown away with Matthew Nicholson claiming three scalps including Scott Styris for 1. However, the visitors fought hard to stay in the contest led by Phil Mustard’s counter-attacking 82-ball 70 that included confident reverse sweeps against the spinners. India’s Harbhajan Singh claimed three wickets as he started his stint with Surrey, but they found the early going tough with the bat. Steve Harmison struck in his first over and at 53 for 3 Durham were back in the match. Stewart Walters, in his first Championship game of the summer, steadied the reply with a composed half-century as Surrey moved into the lead but was trapped lbw to the final ball of the day for a career-best 70.Darren Maddy was quick to switch from Twenty20 mode back into Championship action as his century gave Warwickshire the advantage on the opening day against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. When bad light brought an early finish, Maddy had faced 263 balls in his second Championship ton of the season. Jonathan Trott, fresh from his time with England’s one-day squad, contributed 50 to a second-wicket stand of 119 and Jim Troughton (44) helped add 86 before he was removed by Chris Tremlett. Overall it was a tough day for the home attack as Shane Warne, who sent down 22 wicketless overs, used seven bowlers.The opening day of the Roses clash between Lancashire and Yorkshire at Old Trafford didn’t get started with the ground still saturated from the recent heavy rain. There was particular concern about areas at backward point and the run ups. The umpires made two inspections, but abandoned the day in mid-afternoon. The two captains, Mark Chilton and Darren Gough, had been keen to play but agreed conditions weren’t safe. Yorkshire currently lead the Championship with Lancashire fifth.Worcestershire had been hoping to work the impossible and play at New Road less than two weeks after the floods, but the opening day against Kent was unsurprisingly abandoned. There were still damp areas on the outfield, although the club are hopeful that there will be some play over the next three days.

Division Two

James Foster gave everyone a reminder of his batting talent with his first century of the season to steer Essex into a strong position against second-placed Nottinghamshire at Chelmsford. The early honours had been shared as Ravi Bopara’s 59 was weighted against regular wickets for Nottinghamshire. Graham Swann’s offspin was responsible for three, including Bopara, but Foster turned the day Essex’s way. He took 148 balls over his century while Andy Bichel offered fine support as the seventh-wicket added 180. Bichel ended nine short of a century after striking 12 fours and a six off 99 balls.Nineteen-year-old Ben Wright hit his maiden first-class century, but the rest of Glamorgan’s batsmen failed to follow suit as Paul Nixon’s reign as four-day captain of Leicestershire started promisingly at Grace Road. Wright came in at No. 4 after both openers had gone cheaply and the scoreboard read 2 for 2, but he responded with a 215-ball innings that included 13 boundaries and a six. He added 72 with Mark Wallace, but the home side maintained their advantage when David Masters removed Wright for 113. Masters and Garnett Kruger shared seven wickets and bad light meant 2.2 overs for the Leicestershire openers.The opening day at Southgate was keenly contested between Middlesex and Derbyshire, but the visitors will be disappointed with their final total of 340 after being 201 for 2. The Australian duo of Michael Dighton (68) and Simon Katich (80) built the strong position with a third-wicket stand of 166. However, Jamie Dalrymple broke through, on his way to three crucial middle-order wickets, as Derbyshire fell away to 247 for 7. Useful lower-order cameos from Ant Botha, Graham Wagg and Tom Lungley lifted the total over 300 before Murali Kartik picked up a brace.Steve Kirby took five wickets as Gloucestershire kept control against Northamptonshire at Northampton. The home side’s batsmen wasted a number of starts with three passing half-centuries but no one making more than Usman Afzaal’s 66. Afzaal and Stephen Peters added 122 for the second wicket and Afzaal was Kirby’s first victim. David Sales and Riki Wessels formed the other main stand – 99 for the fifth wicket – but Kirby ripped through the middle order as five wickets fell for 14. However, the innings was handed a late boost as the final-wicket pair of David Lucas and Jason Brown clubbed 56 and Northamptonshire’s day ended strongly with two early wickets.

Shoaib Akhtar: ready for international cricket © Getty Images

Shoaib Akhtar has said he is looking forward to playing his part in a “lethal” Pakistan one-day team during their forthcoming series against England. Shoaib marked his return to international cricket after a six-month absence with 1 for 31 as Pakistan, in their maiden Twenty20 international, beat England by five wickets at the Nevil Ground.”It was all right. After a six-month lay-off, to come back in a Twenty20 is never easy,” Shoaib told reporters when asked about his performance at Bristol. “Just finding my rhythm is more important and I need to do that as quickly as possible,” added Shoaib ahead of Pakistan’s five-match one-day series against England starting with Wednesday’s day-night clash at Cardiff.Shoaib, who’d been sidelined with a stress fracture of his left ankle, last played international cricket in February when Pakistan beat India by 341 runs for a series-clinching third Test victory at Karachi. Together with Rana Naved and Shoaib Malik, he missed the entire Test series against England which concluded with Pakistan’s dramatic fourth Test forfeiture at The Oval after they’d been penalised for ball-tampering.Shoaib insisted that the furore caused by events at The Oval had not deflected the tourists from their on-field targets. “We’re a happy bunch of lads. We love playing cricket, we love playing for our country and we enjoy the game. We’re here to win,” said Shoaib. “We’ve got a full, fresh side now. We’ve got our bowlers back, myself, [Mohammad] Asif and Rana. Our batsmen are getting runs and we’ve got people who can hit the ball really hard at the end. We are a very lethal one-day team right now and we would just like to continue winning.”England’s defeat – their seventh in as many shorter matches against Test match opponents this season after a Twenty20 and 5-0 one-day series loss against Sri Lanka – was made worse by the announcement that Stephen Harmison would miss the one-day series with a back problem. The consolation was the performances of Stuart Broad, who took two wickets off successive balls, and allrounder Michael Yardy, who scored 24 not out and took a wicket with his left-arm spin.Marcus Trescothick, who top-scored for England with 53, said his side’s lack of runs was compounded by Afridi’s whirlwind 28 off 10 balls which swung the match Pakistan’s way after Broad’s double-strike had reduced the visitors to 23 for 2 inside four overs. “We were probably 20 or 30 runs light,” Trescothick explained. “That innings from Afridi was quite crucial at the time. Afridi is a little bit hit and miss at times, with all due respect to him. But when he is good like that he is destructive and can take the game away from you very quickly.”Trescothick also had words of praise for Broad. “I think he’s a good prospect – and the way he approached it and the fashion he bowled in was encouraging. We talk about picking characters, and I think he definitely has something.” Trescothick defended the performance of Darren Gough as well, even though he went for 35 in 3.5 overs and failed to take a wicket. “In his first two overs he went for 17, I think, and didn’t even bowl a bad ball. They just got after him with the wind, and it just didn’t go his way.”

Jason Gillespie spent most of his time on the boundary line at Old Trafford © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, has said that Jason Gillespie’s place in the team will be closely scrutinised before the fourth Test against England gets underway at Trent Bridge on August 25. Gillespie has been in poor bowling form since the tour of England started in June.Ponting, whose vital 156 was instrumental in securing a draw at Old Trafford, said that Gillespie’s performance during the match did not live up to expectations. “He only bowled four overs in the second innings of the game and it was a pretty crucial time for us,” said Ponting according to an report. “We needed guys to be able to bowl, and bowl well for us there, to slow the scoring down. Unfortunately Jason couldn’t do that in the second innings, but that’s one of the things that we’ve got to look at.”Trevor Hohns, the chariman of selectors, said Gillespie’s bad run was a mystery since he had ample oppurtunity to find his form. “He’s obviously not doing what he’d like to be doing,” Hohns said in . “Why? Who knows? He’s played nearly every game on tour including the one-dayers. Everyone was hoping his form would return but unfortunately it doesn’t look as though it has done.”The problem caused by Gillespie’s poor bowling is magnified because Australia play just four specialist bowlers. He had match figures of 1 for 137 off 23 overs at Old Trafford. He struggled in the first two Tests at Lord’s and Edgbaston and in this series has bowled 67 overs, conceded 300 runs and taken just three wickets at an average of 100.The poor form of the Australian top order is another cause for concern. “We haven’t made many runs either,” Ponting said. “We’ve had a chance to bat on a couple of very good wickets and have just managed to get to 300 twice. The reason we did that here [Old Trafford] was because of our tailenders in the first innings. So we’ve got to start scoring some more runs and that’ll take some pressure off some of our bowlers.”

A Pakistani masseur who accompanied the Indian team during the Asia Cup has been ordered to stay away by the BCCI, who had not authorised his appointment. SK Nair, the secretary of the Indian board, was furious with Sohail Abbas Khan for wearing the team T-shirt and travelling on the same bus with the side. Nair rebuked Sohail for his behaviour, and also cautioned MN Dorairajan, the team manager for the Asia Cup, for not dealing with the situation earlier.Nair, speaking to Wisden Cricinfo immediately after his return to Trivandrum after the Asia Cup, said: “He [the masseur] got acquainted with some of our players during the Pakistan tour and was doing some personal attendance for some of our players. He was there in Sri Lanka also. Somehow he managed to get one Indian practice T-shirt. Probably one of our players might have given it to him earlier.”When asked why he was only removed just before the final, Nair said, “His presence in Sri Lanka came to our notice very late and the manager was told to take care of this problem and see that he was not allowed in the dressing-room. When I reached there the day before the tournament and saw him I personally cautioned him that he was not supposed to be in the dressing-room. I told him that he was not to go with the team during the time of the match or practice sessions.”We have a physio and trainer and all that and this man is not a part of the support staff. I told the manager he should exercise control over the matter and if anything further happens it is his responsibility. I also asked him not to wear the Indian uniform which is meant only for the Indian team and their support staff.”Nair clarified that the board had not appointed Sohail in any capacity. “He is not a part of the Indian team or the staff, but he is acquainted with the players. I understand he is acquainted with players of many teams, not just India, and when they visit Pakistan he goes to the hotel room and does massage. He has friends in many teams. He came to Sri Lanka on his own and I understand he was staying with some former player. Officially he cannot wear the uniform or travel in the team bus. These are against the board’s policy and since I saw this personally I stepped in.”When asked how Sohail gained access to the dressing-room without proper accreditation, Nair proffered, “Probably the security people could not apprehend him because he was wearing the official uniform.”

Bournemouth are shaping up for a long overdue challenge in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League after dominating neighbours Bashley (Rydal) in the last of the initial batch of 50-over matches.A 50-run victory brought Bournemouth a third successive win – and, when the nine-week stint of all-day matches begin next Saturday, the confidence to interrupt the Havant-BAT Sports monopoly of Premier League affairs for the past three seasons.With twice-champions Havant losing by three wickets at South Wilts, Bournemouth and BAT are now the only unbeaten Division 1 clubs. "I think we’re up for it this season," says skipper Matt Swarbrick."This is the best side we’ve had since we won the old Southern League championship back in 1996 and I fancy we’ll be challenging."We’ve got a nice blend : plenty of experience – a top ex-pro in Richard Scott and a quality overseas player in Adam Voges. And plenty of others who can play a bit as well."Bashley, in contrast, have started badly – a third defeat in four suggesting that they are going to have to get their heads down to avert a struggle for ECB survival.The margin of Bournemouth’s victory at the BCG was more emphatic than the 50-run statistic suggests.The game was in the balance for 20 overs or so, but once Geoff Warrington and Richard Scott had steadied an uncertain 73-3, Bournemouth gained command and went on to post an unassailable 252-9 off 50 oversBournemouth owed much to their fourth-wicket pair, whose 126-run partnership effectively put Bashley out of the reckoning.Bournemouth lost Matt Swarbrick second ball and teenager Nick Park at 58-2, but were buoyed by the class of Western Australia’s Adam Voges.The former Australia Under-19 all-rounder survived a missed run-out and a spill at mid-on, but caught the eye with several imperious shots.He got off the mark with a blistering on-boundary drive and soon afterwards sent a venomous hook for six so far over the square-leg boundary that play was delayed for almost ten minutes while spectators searched to retrieve the ball !To Bashley’s relief, Voges tried one ambitious shot too many and was trapped leg before attempting to whip a Matt King delivery off his pads.Bournemouth lost the momentum for a while – King frequently beating the outside of Warrington’s bat – but once the fourth-wicket duo played themselves in, the runs began to flow.Scott, in particular, was timing the ball sweetly; Warrington hitting straight and hard – frequently to the boundary.Bashley rotated their bowlers – seven in all – but were unable to stem the tide – Scott piercing the ropes with a six and seven fours, and Warrington hammering three sixes and ten boundaries.It took an outstanding one-handed catch by Kevin Nash six overs before tea to remove Scott for a splendid 62.But Warrington plundered on, cracking a league best 91 before King rearranged his stumps at 237-8.Nash picked up 4-40 as late wickets tumbled, while Joe Wilson scored his first league runs since August 2001 as Bournemouth closed at a formidable 252-9.With a player of Luke Ronchi’s quality in their armoury, Bashley might have been optimistic of challenging the Bournemouth total.But with the Western Australian starlet wintering at the famous Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in Adelaide and his overseas replacement Brad Thompson nursing a badly broken finger, they had neither the depth – nor any real confidence in their batting – to muster anything significant.They began well enough through Chris Sketchley (27), but wickets fell all too easily – Dorset left-armers David Kidner and Martin Mixer taking two each as Bashley lurched to 72-5.Stephen Phelps, who played County Championship cricket for Glamorgan in the mid-1990s, hit 23 before perishing leg before at 93-6.As Bournemouth relaxed their grip, so Neil Taylor (43) and Shaun Lilley (26) used their experience to add an air of respectability to the run chase.Although they added 58, the outcome was inevitable – Scott (3-34), the former Hampshire and Gloucestershire all-rounder, completing a good day’s work with the last two wickets as Bashley were dismissed for 202.

With the annual Academy Cricket Week just around the corner,the Lennons EP Cricket Academy is busy with their final preparations toleave on Sunday, 9 September, to Bloemfontein to participate in this year’sAcademy Cricket Week.The Free State Cricket Union will host the week this year,from the 10-14 September and matches will be played at Goodyear Park,the University of the Free State and the Free State Technikon.According to Russell Domingo, Lennons EP Cricket Academycoach, this week provides the perfect opportunity for the various localAcademies to match their skills against one another after three months ofhard work during the winter months.”The EP Lennons Academy have been engaged in various three-dayfixtures and this week will provide the players the opportunity of testingtheir one-day skills against quality players from other provinces,” he said.”The EP Cricket Academy will play against FreeState, Border, Gauteng, Northern Cape and Northens. The week is sure toprovide some high quality cricket, and players who are still eligible forthe under-19 World Cup team that will be taking place in New Zealand in February2002 will be keen to impress the national selectors who will be inattendance.”The Academy Team is: B Kops, S McGillewie, U Nquma, L Brown, E Potgieter, A Mazina, L Dipha, J Stander, C Birch, H Keeton, G le Roux, M Antoni, G Steenkamp, W van der Westhuizen, L Meyer, G AndersonIssued by newzwise on behalf of EP CricketFor more information pleas contact Ronel Dawson of newzwise on 041-5817083 or 0824960773