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Richie Benaud will be farewelled at a small, private, family gathering this week after his wife Daphne phoned Canberra to inform the Prime Minister’s office that her husband had not wished to be the subject of a state funeral

Daniel Brettig12-Apr-2015Richie Benaud will be farewelled at a small, private, family gathering this week after his wife Daphne phoned Canberra to inform the Prime Minister’s office that her husband had not wished to be the subject of a state funeral.The Prime Minister Tony Abbott had publicly announced the offer on Friday as the world mourned the death of Benaud at 84. But Daphne indicated it had always been her husband’s preference to be sent off in an understated manner, in keeping with his preservation of privacy and restraint over a life of more than 60 years in the public eye.”I thought it was important that as a mark of the respect that we have long had for him that we should offer a state funeral,” Abbott told reporters on Sunday. “But my understanding is that Richie’s own wishes were for something very, very quiet, and something very, very private.”Having met through their work in newspapers and television – Daphne had been the secretary of the English cricket writer EW Swanton – the Benauds were steadfast companions over more than four decades. Richie paid special tribute to Daphne when he was inducted into Australian cricket’s hall of fame in 2007 and, on Sunday, Daphne spoke of their relationship.”Richie was a lot of fun,” she told the . “But there’s a better way of putting it. I was a cricket fan from way back and I first saw him play when I went to Headingley on the ’53 tour. I was still at school in England, I thought the English team were boring, but the Australian team had so much spark. I thought ‘gosh’.”By ’67 we were married and it was a partnership right from the very beginning. We were writing all the time, doing the journalistic thing and television.”What I loved about Richie right from the beginning was his dryness of wit. I didn’t fall hook, line and sinker, but our relationship grew gradually. We’d often sit there saying nothing, like when we went to the Bradmans to visit Don and Jessie, I never said a word. I’ve always been a better listener and that seemed to work well. We spent a lot of time in silence and we were both happy with that.”

An 18-ball 45 from Mandeep Singh made the difference in a high-scoring, rain-curtailed game in Bangalore, as Royal Challengers Bangalore gunned down 112 with two balls remaining against Kolkata Knight Riders

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy02-May-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:41

O’Brien: RCB timed their chase to perfection

The penultimate ball of the penultimate over of the match. Umesh Yadav had his fine leg inside the circle, and Mandeep Singh stepped across his stumps to scoop the ball over the fielder. Deep backward square leg sprinted desperately to his right to stop the ball, but he had no chance. It had rained, and the outfield was a little slow, but this ball landed on a practice pitch and raced into the boundary.Next ball, Mandeep skipped down the track and looked to swipe a length ball through mid-off. He ended up edging it to the third man boundary. In the space of two balls sprinkled with a fair measure of fortune, Royal Challengers Bangalore had gone from needing 20 to win from eight balls to needing 12 from six.Such things happen all the time in Twenty20, but this was a rain-shortened 10-overs-a-side match. Even Ravi Shastri, interviewing the losing captain at the post-match presentation, commiserated with him, calling it a “lottery”.Mandeep, though, played a massive hand in deciding the fate of the lottery. He walked when Royal Challengers had just lost Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers in the space of six balls, when they needed 62 from 32 balls, and produced a stunning, unbeaten 18-ball 45 to power his team home with two balls remaining.Mandeep’s composure under pressure was fully tested, with only three runs coming off the first two balls of the final over, leaving 10 to get from four balls. He made room to get under an almost blockhole-length delivery from Andre Russell and carved him for a six over backward point, and pulled the next ball over deep backward square leg to send the Chinnaswamy Stadium into raptures.Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had given Royal Challengers the perfect start to a chase of 112 in 10 overs, but when Mandeep walked in, their batting depth was under test. Kohli fell when 32 were required from 17, but before that he and Mandeep had taken 18 off a Piyush Chawla over to tilt the momentum their way.Rain pelted down almost immediately after Royal Challengers had chosen to bowl first, and delayed the start of play by two hours and 45 minutes. The reduction of overs meant this was now a contest between the power hitters from the two teams, but Kolkata Knight Riders didn’t make any immediate changes to their batting order.Gautam Gambhir put on 33 with Robin Uthappa at 8.60 an over, before slicing David Wiese in the air to point. Russell walked in, and immediately set to work, square-cutting Yuzvendra Chahal to the point boundary and smacking Varun Aaron for two sixes in the next over. Chahal dismissed Uthappa in the next over, but that was hardly noticeable in the midst of Russell’s clean striking.Two powerful straight hits off Wiese took Knight Riders to 86 for 2 at the end of the eighth over. Ryan ten Doeschate joined in the fun with a six and a four in the next over, off Harshal Patel, before a smart bit of thinking from Dinesh Karthik – who kept wickets without his right glove – brought about Russell’s wicket while the batsmen tried to sneak a bye.Russell had clouted 45 off 17, and maybe Knight Riders could have scored a few more had he been in the middle to face the final over. As it happened, Mitchell Starc gave away only nine runs – despite bowling a wide and a contentious no-ball – and 111 proved just within reach of Royal Challengers’ line-up.

Paul Terry, the newly-appointed director of coaching at BCB’s National Cricket Academy, has said his primary goal is to make the High Performance unit a long-term programme

Mohammad Isam14-May-2015Paul Terry, the newly-appointed director of coaching at BCB’s National Cricket Academy, has said his primary goal will be to make the High Performance unit, a so far successful but discontinued training programme for elite cricketers, a long-term agenda. Terry came to Dhaka last week to finalise his deal with the BCB and will be in charge of overall coaching at the academy.”We are hoping that this [High Performance] is going to be a sustainable programme,” Terry said. “It is here to stay. We need to get results from it with people eventually going on to play for Bangladesh. The idea is to give the young guys, possibly coming out of the Under-19s programme, a pathway to the next level. Our idea is to put a plan, structure and training programme to give them the opportunity to do that. If we do that, this will be very sustainable.”In a bid to rejig Bangladesh cricket’s development programme, the BCB has decided to go back to forming the High Performance unit to fuel a players’ pipeline to feed the senior team. The HP unit, set to begin in the first week of June with a head coach to be named sometime next week, is a training programme first established in 2004 under Richard McInnes. Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shahriar Nafees and Mehrab Hossain Jr were in the first batch, but over the last decade the BCB has been unable to restart the programme.The National Cricket Academy, a residential training camp, was formed and run in a separate building and training ground within the premises of the Shere Bangla National Stadium but it has been operational only during the off season with mainly the Under-23 players. The HP unit, under the NCA, will be divided into three parts. The first group will have a group of 22, mostly young cricketers who will train for four months, but it is likely that domestic performers who are older will be included in this group.The second group will be fringe cricketers of the senior team who will be training around the year when they are not picked in a certain format or series. Here the coaches will work according to the instructions of the national team’s coaching staff. Sarwar Imran will work with the pace bowlers, Wahidul Gani with the spinners and Zafrul Ehsan with the batsmen. A few local coaches and foreign specialist coaches will accompany them from time to time. The HP’s overall goal would be to reduce the gap between the national players and the next batch.The third group will be featuring 16-17 pace bowlers, including Mashrafe Mortaza and Taskin Ahmed, as well as domestic performers and raw talents like Nahid Hasan, who is currently in Bangladesh’s Under-17 side but was also tried out for the Under-19s against South Africa in the recent Youth ODI series at home.The Under-19s, however, will be taken out of the HP or academy programmes. They will now be permanently based at the BKSP in Savar.Terry said he would work towards building relations with coaches and players, and not try a certain way of coaching that would be alien to cricket development in Bangladesh.”It will be stupid of me to say we will do it the England or Australian way,” he said. “My role is to build good relationships with the coaches and also the players. There’s obviously a lot of very good things happening in Bangladesh cricket at the moment. So I would be stupid to say I will do it my way because my way may not necessarily work.”I will be obviously blending in and know them very well. Hopefully the combination of different thoughts will improve Bangladesh cricket. A little similar to how the support staff is: a Sri Lankan head coach, a Zimbabwean bowler and English fielding coach plus Bangladeshi staff as well.”

Glamorgan took a strong grip over Derbyshire at Chesterfield despite another four wicket haul from England fast bowling hopeful Mark Footitt

ECB/PA07-Jul-2015
ScorecardMark Footitt picked up three wickets on day two•PA PhotosGlamorgan took a strong grip over Derbyshire at Chesterfield despite another four wicket haul from England fast bowling hopeful Mark Footitt. National Selector James Whitaker was at Queen’s Park for the second day running to watch the left-arm paceman but it was Glamorgan’s batsmen who caught the eye as they scored more than 66% of their 410 for 9 declared in boundaries with former Derbyshire allrounder Graham Wagg making 62 from 64 balls.Wagg was one of four Glamorgan batsmen to pass 50 but Derbyshire responded well to reach 122 for 2 at the close, 288 runs behind with Billy Godleman unbeaten on 49 from 119 balls.Derbyshire needed a response after bowling poorly on the first evening but Colin Ingram was the only wicket to fall in a morning session reduced to 45 minutes by rain. The South African looked set for his maiden Championship century for Glamorgan until he tried to cut Footitt for his 20th boundary but carved the ball into the hands of deep-backward point.Craig Meschede passed 50 in the Championship for the fourth time this season and Derbyshire added to their problems when they dropped catches off consecutive balls. Shiv Thakor spilled a return chance when Meschede was on 60 and Godleman failed to hold on when Wagg edged Footitt to third slip when he had scored only 7.Dropping a player who had scored a double century and 94 in his previous two Championship games was always likely to prove costly and Wagg duly enjoyed himself again, driving Wes Durston’s offspin for successive sixes to reach 50 from 62 balls. Tom Taylor defeated another drive to uproot his off stump but Wagg and Lloyd had put on 87 in only 14 overs and Glamorgan continued to prosper from too many “four” balls to the extent that maximum batting points arrived in the 78th over.The declaration came nine balls after tea leaving Derbyshire with 40 overs to negotiate before the close and Godleman and Hamish Rutherford looked comfortable until a run out lifted Glamorgan. Godleman turned the ball into the leg side and called Rutherford through for a single but Ruaidhri Smith swooped on the ball in his follow through and hit the stumps with the New Zealander short of his ground.When Chesney Hughes played across one in Smith’s next over, Derbyshire were wobbling but skipper Wayne Madsen survived a dropped catch on 17 to help steer his side to within 139 runs of the follow-on target of 261 although Glamorgan are well placed to push for what would be a record fifth consecutive championship victory.”I think we are still on top, unfortunately we put down a chance tonight and there is a lot of work to be done,” Wagg said. “But there’s a lot still in the wicket so if we put the ball in the right areas we should pick up some wickets in the morning.”Rutherford added: “The first hour is key tomorrow and if we can get through the first 30 overs and only lose one that would be ideal to get back into it the game.”

R Ashwin has said that India’s previous tour of Australia in 2014-15 was a “coming of age” series for him as a spinner

Gaurav Kalra and Arun Venugopal16-Jul-20154:56

I will soon start winning games abroad – Ashwin

R Ashwin has said that India’s previous tour of Australia in 2014-15 was a “coming of age” series for him as a spinner. Although Ashwin’s 12 wickets in the three Tests he played in the four-match series cost him 48.66 runs apiece, he told ESPNcricinfo in Chennai that he was satisifed with how he bowled in conditions that provided little assistance to spinners.”To say it [performance overseas] will get better by the time I’m done, is not how I look at this game,” Ashwin said. “I think I came of age when I played in Australia this time. More than anything else, I think I created a lot of wicket-taking opportunities and put a lot of pressure on the batsman.”To bowl 30 overs in a day in Australia is a really commendable effort for a spinner in my knowledge. Over the last year, my bowling has come a long way. If you asked me, would you take 25 wickets more or how you are bowling right now, I would say I will take how I am bowling right now because I know the wickets are round the corner.”Since his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin’s record in the sub-continent has been far superior to his performances overseas. While he has 100 wickets from 16 Tests in Asia at an average of 23.87, his returns of 24 wickets in nine games outside Asia at 56.58 is considerably less impressive. Ashwin isn’t too perturbed by the numbers, insisting that consistently good bowling on foreign surfaces will translate into better figures eventually.”I might end up getting six wickets in Australia one day and I might say that is where I wanted to be,” he said. “I played a Test match in South Africa and played a couple in England. If I play a test in India, I might end up picking five wickets immediately but it might happen in the third or fourth test in England or South Africa. It hasn’t happened but might happen soon.”Ashwin said he wanted to take more responsibility for the team’s performance overseas. He spoke of the period after the Wanderers Test in 2013 where he went wicketless in South Africa’s second innings as one that was necessary for his development.”Maybe that is what was needed for me to become a better bowler. I firmly believe that was fate because until then I had played 18 Test matches without a lot of bad games.”I hadn’t gone wicketless in any game before that except once in Sydney [in 2012]. Immediately after that, I got dropped for a Test match. So when these things happen, I don’t look back at it and say I was unlucky. I keep telling everybody, including my wife, that take the harder option because you never have to question yourself later on.”When you go abroad, if everybody plays [their] role to perfection, the role of a spinner is much easier. Having said that, I should take greater responsibility on myself. I want to emulate a lot of things that the past greats have done. I’d be happier if I had won more games for India.”Ashwin was described as “priceless” by India’s new Test captain Virat Kohli after the recent Test in Bangladesh where he claimed 5 for 87 in the first-innings of a rain-affected game. Ashwin was equally appreciative of Kohli, saying there were parallels in their approach to the game.”Whichever team I’ve turned up for, I’ve always wanted to contribute and be the prime performer. To a degree, Virat is very similar and I love that character of his because we both go about our business in a very different manner.”He is very aggressive, upfront and on the face. I don’t quite do that but I still want to take the centrestage. If he is the batsman doing it for India, I want to be the bowler that does it for India. The one driving factor that is common to us is that we want to keep improving and we don’t want to sit on laurels. I really admire that aspect of his which I don’t think is very common.”Ashwin was philosophical, and even fatalistic, while speaking of his flair for leadership. Asked if he would like to captain the national side in the future he said, “If you would have asked me two or three years ago, I would have said yes like any vibrant youngster. There are a lot of occupational hazards. I wouldn’t say that’s a priority because it is not in my hands. Somebody has to identify something in me to hand over such a big responsibility. I led Tamil Nadu when I was 20. That really put me on the map when it came to playing for India.”I was really confident of myself as a leader but I think that leadership is something that needs to be identified and I need to be entrusted with it. As of now, I’m only getting better as a player and a person every day. If it has to happen, it will happen. I think it is a matter of fate.”Ashwin’s next assignment will be India’s forthcoming series in Sri Lanka in August. He doesn’t expect the pitches to be as spin-friendly as many do but on the back of encouraging recent form, he isn’t too concerned.”The wickets are much truer and have something for the fast bowlers. It is not easy but we have to go there and acclimatise and play some good cricket as Sri Lanka is going to be a very tricky destination.”The way I bowled in Bangladesh is where I would like to be all through my career, however long I continue to play. If I can replicate what I did in Bangladesh, it should not matter a great deal.”

Kevin Pietersen, skippering St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League while the Investec Ashes takes place without him, is exploring opportunities as a freelance batting consultant

Peter Miller10-Jul-2015As the Ashes takes shape in Cardiff, Kevin Pietersen is 4500 miles away playing for the St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League. While his thoughts on all things English cricket are well worn enough to be known by every fan of the sport worldwide, it is rare to hear Pietersen talk about his experiences as a travelling T20 batsman, how the format is evolving and where the shortest format sits in relation to the Test game.By Pietersen’s own admission he can live without fielding, but the art of batsmanship still excites him. As he reaches the end of his playing career – he celebrated his 35th birthday last month – he says is duty bound to pass on what he has learned.”Your responsibility when you finish is to hand over your knowledge and that is what I have been doing a hell of a lot,” he said. “I did it at Big Bash, I’ve done it at the IPL and I am doing it here at the CPL and it is just amazing.Pietersen takes pleasure when he hears his Zouks team-mate, Andre Fletcher, and others like him, describe him as a role model.”I had a wonderful opportunity working with him last year and adding a hundred and whatever stand the other day against Barbados Tridents batting together. It is just so cool that you can spend time with youngsters like that and grow people’s games and make people feel a lot more confident about the job that they are doing.”When Pietersen does call time on his career he says he is attracted to the role of batting consultant. He says discussions are under way although he would not be drawn on with whom. What he is very clear about is that when he does give up playing he is not interested in a coaching role in the year-round slog that is international cricket.”There are so many other things going on with business and my life that I can never, ever commit to being on the road 24/7 as a coach of an international team. There is no chance: that is not something that I am interested in. But I would be interested in speaking – and I have been speaking to some set-ups – about doing consultancy work which brings me in for a few weeks at a time and helps out with young batters.”Despite having played 127 Twenty20 matches all over the world, Pietersen says he is still learning, and that the process of information-sharing with young batsmen teaches him as much about his game as it does them about theirs.

“You can spend a day on a boat, you can go play golf. You can go and party. You can spend a lot of time with friends. You’ve got the freedom to be yourself”

“Absolutely, you never, ever stop learning. And it is amazing that when you go and spend time with a youngster it just brings back memories of how you played and it also brings back simple techniques that you may have forgotten about and you think ‘I can actually do that now’. I have started doing some of the drills that I have taught others to do.”It is amazing that you think you know everything but that is when you come unstuck in our great game. The stuff that you might have forgotten and you take for granted when you are teaching somebody younger than you and learning the ropes, it brings back brilliant memories and simple basic techniques that you need to perform.”Pietersen is wary of comparing the different franchise tournaments that have popped up around the world, but it is interesting to hear how the events in Australia and the West Indies differ from the IPL. But it seems that the CPL’s reputation for freedom is well earned.”I don’t like comparing the competitions because they all bring positives to the domestic structure, but, yes, there is a lot more freedom at the CPL. It is similar to the Big Bash where you do whatever you want.”You can go out, you can spend a day on a boat, you can go play golf. You can go and party. You can spend a lot of time with friends. You’ve got the freedom to be yourself. Obviously in the IPL it is a lot more strict. I wasn’t there this year but it seems from all reports that it was pretty much ring-fenced and sort of closed off which players don’t like.”Speaking of the Big Bash, Pietersen says that playing in Australia when it isn’t an Ashes contest could not be more different.”Of course, it is hugely different. My relationship with the Australian public now is an amazing one because I am part of the Australian family in terms of the Melbourne Stars, the commentary stints that I did there, and just being about to play as a local in their local league, growing their league, growing their franchises and being attached to something that the Australians take to over a great period of the year.”I have always loved Australia, but obviously in the heat of an Ashes battle it is quite different, but being part of a franchise and having a home in Australia it is totally different.”I had such a positive reception whenever I walked out to bat, if I was commentating, if I was on the boundary, It was totally, totally different. I don’t think they saw me as just a pom, I think they saw me as someone who was there to entertain, somebody who was there to encourage the franchise system, somebody who was there to positively influence the game in Australia.”Pietersen has recently been made captain of his CPL side with the news that Darren Sammy will miss the rest of the tournament with a fractured hand. His association with T20 cricket and the franchises it has spawned grows year on year. Despite this he says Test cricket should remain the way that players are judged.”I think in terms of the not too distant future you will see guys definitely picking T20 ahead of 50-over cricket. I think that the guys that play Test cricket and have great careers in Test cricket are duty bound to talk positively about Test cricket because no one cares about your numbers in T20 cricket, no one cares about your numbers in one-day cricket.”People do care and your true test of character and your judgement amongst your peers is on your Test cricketing ability, not how you whack a little spinner or medium pacer in a franchise tournament.”It is how you deal with Test conditions. That is when you get tested – in Test match cricket – and that is where you are ranked by your peers. When you walk around the breakfast room of a hotel you don’t get judged on your T20 numbers you get judged on your Test numbers.”

After his match-winning 55 against Pakistan in Kolkata, Virat Kohli spoke of the disappointment of the failed chase against New Zealand, the importance of playing proper shots, and his emotional celebration

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Mar-20162:55

Dravid: Kohli was the difference between the teams

India were 12 for 3 on a turning pitch in the opening game of the World T20 against New Zealand in Nagpur, and slumped to a 47-run defeat after Virat Kohli was dismissed for 23. Five days later, India were 23 for 3 on another difficult batting surface against Pakistan in Kolkata, chasing 118 in 18 overs. A second defeat would have crippled their campaign, but Kohli orchestrated a successful chase by scoring an unbeaten 55 off 37 balls.”I was really disappointed after that loss. I went back to the room and thought about what needs to be done,” Kohli told the BCCI website. “Tonight, we were in a similar situation in this game. But such games and situations just improve you as a cricketer and I look forward to challenges like these.”The ball turned prodigiously on a pitch that had been under covers for most of the day because of bad weather, and when the fast bowlers bowled cutters it gripped the pitch and did not come on to the bat. Shot-making was difficult and after Pakistan had laboured to 118, India’s top order crumbled around Kohli.”I told myself in the change room that I am going to back myself to play good cricketing shots,” Kohli said. “I was confident that I needed to play with a straight bat so that the strike keeps rotating. I remain pretty calm. Luckily my heart rate was low when we lost three wickets, it could have shot up as it was a big game and a full stadium at Eden Gardens. I am just grateful I was able to do it.”It is very important to assess the field and understand how much the ball is turning and gripping from the surface. Accordingly you pick out bowlers, where they are trying to bowl at you and try to get into the head of the bowler and make him bowl where you want him to bowl. That is the key. That is where intent counts.”On a pitch that had troubled the other batsmen, Kohli was in control of more than 90% of the deliveries he faced, using the depth of the crease and moving laterally to manoeuvre balls into gaps. While he steered, cut, flicked and drove through cover for boundaries, his only six came off a slog-sweep, a shot he doesn’t usually play.”People who have seen me closely know that I don’t sweep the ball much unless the pitch is turning square,” he told Star Sports after the game. “But when the need of the hour is to play the sweep you have to be good enough at this level to play any shot. If you can’t then people are going to try and target you there, and you go down as a batsman. To be ahead of the bowlers you need to be able to play every shot.”Like he had done in the Asia Cup match against Pakistan, Kohli had a valuable partnership with Yuvraj Singh. They added 61 runs for the fourth wicket to all but decide the game before Yuvraj was dismissed for 24. “I told him that we had to build a partnership. It doesn’t matter if we go at six runs an over till ten overs, it’s fine,” Kohli said. “As long as you stay in they will be under pressure because you can hit a six any time. I’m very happy that both games against Pakistan, in pressure situations, he stuck in. When he’s in form it makes a huge difference.”When Kohli got to his half-century with a drive to long-off, his celebrations included a bow and a salute towards the stands, where Sachin Tendulkar was present. “I can’t express the feeling. My brother is here as well and Sachin Tendulkar was up there in the stands. I have seen Sachin paaji do that for India for years together and seen how people shout for him. I have gotten a chance to do it in front of him and he is celebrating. I cannot explain that feeling as a youngster who has grown up playing cricket because of him. To be able to do it in front of him and give him happiness; I am very grateful for it and it is a very emotional moment.”

When hands were shaken at 5.52pm, both teams, you sense, left sunny Southampton satisfied

Will Macpherson at the Ageas Bowl13-Apr-2016
ScorecardIan Bell extended his innings to 174•Getty ImagesWhen hands were shaken at 5.52pm, both teams, you sense, left sunny Southampton satisfied; Warwickshire, shorn of the services of the injured – although not seriously – Chris Woakes, have shown off their Championship credentials, even if three days was not long enough to force a result.Hampshire, also without the services of an England bowler, Reece Topley – who will miss six to eight weeks with a broken hand – will be delighted to have battled through and survived a considerable test from Warwickshire’s bowling attack. Belief will have grown that they can survive once again.Warwickshire, who ended with 12 points to Hampshire’s nine, always looked they could force a result, and often looked like they would. But Hampshire dug in and, eventually, after Hampshire’s top four fell in an hour before tea, and Sean Ervine gave his wicket away shortly afterwards, Liam Dawson and Adam Wheater proved stoic enough foes.”We can’t do anything about losing nearly four sessions to bad weather,” said Warwickshire director of cricket Dougie Brown. “What we did was give ourselves a really good opportunity, so we can’t ask for any more than that as a side. There was nothing you could actually fault.”In conditions far more benign than on the opening day, and on a pitch still playing true, each of Warwickshire’s four standing bowlers provided utterly distinct threats. The absent crosswind significantly reduced Keith Barker’s inswing, but he still found enough to consistently trouble the batsmen.Rikki Clarke nagged, nagged and nagged again, while Boyd Rankin was awkward as ever, especially when bowling in tandem with Jeetan Patel, who provided a masterclass in probing finger spin, and could twice have had James Vince leg before to go with the wicket of Will Smith. Dawson, who is highly rated by England and scrapped hard with the bat having bowled solidly if unspectacularly throughout this match, will be a better bowler for his front-row seat to Patel, who was simply relentless in his accuracy.The absent fifth member of the gang, Woakes, was kept off the field as a precaution, having, according to Brown, “dived and landed awkwardly on his left knee.” Woakes will have a scan on Thursday to determine his fitness for Sunday’s trip to Lord’s to face Middlesex and beyond, but Brown did not appear particularly perturbed.Earlier, Ian Bell, in adding 44 to his overnight 130, proved that he still possesses all five gears and a considerable degree of inventiveness, too. In reaching his century on Tuesday, Bell scored eight boundaries. On Wednesday morning, however, the ball veritably whistled to the fence the same numbers of times, and in far more varied directions.There were a trio of vintage cover drives and his favourite upper-cut off the seamers, and the full repertoire against Dawson’s consistent left-arm orthodox: a sweep that split too men in the deep, a deft reverse-sweep that beat the sprinting deep-point, a slog-sweep and, finally, the best of the lot, a perfect drive that had mid-on sprawling to his left. Eventually, he rather lost James Tomlinson in the flight, and his swirling slog – pushing for a fifth bonus point – was caught well by James Vince at mid-on.Warwickshire’s innings petered out when Bell departed, with Patel and Rankin falling to slogs as they missed a final batting point and set off on their eventually futile pursuit of a win.Hampshire’s batting is shallow – and Jimmy Adams will not be fit for Sunday’s visit to Headingley – but had the depth to earn them five points here. Tom Alsop dealt dutifully with Patel, and was desperately unlucky to be caught brilliantly at short leg by Sam Hain off Rankin. Vince, with an opportunity to stake a claim for one of England’s middle order spots – as Bell had so emphatically earlier in the match – looked rusty, outfoxed by Patel and falling to the first ball of a new Clarke spell. Ervine took the game to Warwickshire in ugly style, and one wafty swipe outside off too many saw him become Barker’s seventh wicket of the match.Still 55 adrift and with plenty at stake, Wheater joined Dawson and Hampshire’s hatches were battened down. There was rough outside off stump, a hoard of men round the bat, and Dawson’s untroubled half-century, the completion of which saw the end of the game, was a considerable effort. He has proved all week that he has an enviable appetite for a scrap, and Hampshire will need it all season.

The Brazilian is set to join Barcelona, which will make him the latest in a long line of top players to have left Anfield during their title drought

Getty Images1STEVE MCMANAMANAs a local lad with silky sills who had come through the youth-team ranks, Steve McMananan was beloved by Liverpool fans but some turned on him after he decided to leave on a free transfer to Real Madrid in 1999. The winger's decision was fully justified, though, with McManaman going to become the most decorated Englishman to have ever played abroad by winning seven trophies during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, including two Champions Leagues.AdvertisementGetty Images2MICHAEL OWENDespite persistent hamstring problems in the early stage of his Liverpool career, youth academy product and 1998 World Cup sensation Michael Owen looked set to break every possible goalscoring record at Anfield only to join Real Madrid in 2004 for £8m. Much to the satisfaction of heartbroken Reds supporters, the transfer did not work out for the jet-heeled striker, who spent most of his time on the bench during a solitary season at the Santiago Bernabeu that coincided with Liverpool winning the Champions League.Getty Images3XABI ALONSOLiverpool fans were aghast when manager Rafael Benitez tried to replace Xabi Alonso – one of the heroes of the surprise 2005 Champions League triumph – with Gareth Barry in the summer of 2008. As a result, they understood why the still clearly upset Spanish midfielder elected to depart for Real Madrid the following year. It was also the right call from a sporting perspective, as Alonso went on to win a Liga title and the Champions League with los Blancos.ENJOYED THIS STORY?

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Getty Images4JAVIER MASCHERANOJavier Mascherano became a popular figure at Liverpool because of his tenacity and commitment. His relationship with the club soured in the summer of 2010, however, when he demanded a transfer before reportedly refusing to play in a Champions League game at the start of the season in order to push through a move to Barcelona. Mascherano eventually got his wish and although the Argentine later expressed some regret over the manner of his Anfield exit, his decision has been vindicated by a staggering haul of 17 trophies with the Catalan club.

The Barcelona superstar scored a phenomenal hat-trick against PSV Eindhoven, while the Manchester United midfielder netted a brace

GettyWojciech Szczesny | GK | Valencia 0-2 JuventusNone of the last three penalties Wojciech Szczesny faced in the Champions League resulted in a goal (two saved by him).AdvertisementGettySergi Roberto | RB | Barcelona 4-0 PSV EindhovenSergi Roberto completed 96% of his passes against PSV (92 passes attempted).GettyLeonardo Bonucci | CB | Valencia 0-2 JuventusLeonardo Bonucci has kept a clean sheet in eight of his last 11 Champions League games in which he played the full 90 minutes.ENJOYED THIS STORY?

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GettyAbdou Diallo | CB | Club Brugge 0-1 Borussia DortmundAbdou Diallo made nine recoveries against Club Brugge, more than any other Borussia Dortmund player.