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Along with sister Shaiza, Sharmeen had gone about getting women’s cricket in Pakistan officially recognised in the mid ’90s

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2018Sharmeen Khan, one of two sisters all but responsible for the birth of the modern women’s game in Pakistan, has died. Reports suggest that Sharmeen, 46, died of pneumonia.Sharmeen played two Tests – Pakistan’s women’s team has only ever played three – and 26 ODIs between 1997 and 2002, opening the bowling with her right-arm pace and batting in the lower-middle order. Sharmeen, along with her elder sister Shaiza, played in Pakistan women’s first ODI, in Christchurch in 1997.But far more than her playing record, Sharmeen’s role as a fiery advocate of the women’s game in Pakistan in the mid-90s is her legacy. A year before that first ODI the two sisters had helped secure ICC membership for Pakistan women all on their own. It had not been easy, the sisters fighting off various conservative forces within the country, as well as administrative indifference. Those years were marked by various legal battles involving the control of the women’s game – in Pakistan women’s cricket dates back to the 1970s.Such was their influence, the sisters had Pakistan’s earliest tours in that era bankrolled by their father’s business – training camps would be conducted by Sharmeen and Shaiza often at their sprawling residence in Karachi. The sisters set up the Pakistan Women’s Cricket Control Association (PWCCA). This body was recognised by various PCB chiefs and was aligned with the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) in the days before the women’s game came under the administration of the ICC.Once that did happen, and the women’s game in Pakistan came under PCB control, Shaiza and Sharmeen were edged out of the scene, though not without a legal fight.Shaiza was the more dominant presence, much more vocal with her opinions and also the more gifted player of the two. But both sisters were recognised internationally – among their proudest achievements were representing the MCC when the club opened membership to women for the first time in 1999. And both Shaiza and Sharmeen, along with Kiran Baluch, were given lifetime MCC membership in 2003, in recognition of their pioneering roles in Pakistan.

Carlo Ancelotti hoped his team would head to Manchester City with a lead, but backed Real Madrid to win the second leg of their European tie.

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Real Madrid surrendered early lead against CityLate Federico Valverde volley salvaged 3-3 drawSecond leg at the Etihad set for next WednesdayWHAT HAPPENED?

Los Blancos played out a memorable 3-3 draw with Man City at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. Ancelotti's side fought back to overturn an early deficit, but then squandered a lead, and were forced to settle for a draw at home.

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The game served as a stark contrast to the same tie played 11 months ago. In that fixture, the two sides gave up little, and played out a cagey 1-1 affair. Man City eventually comfortably won the second leg en route to a first Champions League title in the club's history.

WHAT ANCELOTTI SAID

In a post-match press conference Ancelotti begrudgingly accepted the result: "What I wanted was to take a small advantage, but we have to be satisfied. We have competed and if we do so also in the second leg we can go through."

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The two sides will meet again next week in the second leg of the tie. Before that, both have domestic fixtures to worry about. Los Blancos play Mallorca, while Pep Guardiola's side host Luton.

Victoria had a handy lead by the close thanks to a calm half-century by Cameron White

Alex Malcolm17-Nov-2018Chris Tremain’s third five-wicket haul of the Sheffield Shield season helped Victoria dismantle Tasmania on day one of the clash at Bellerive in Hobart.After being sent in to bat by Victorian captain Peter Handscomb, the Tigers were bowled out for 81 in just 29.5 overs.Tremain picked up three of the first four wickets of the innings trapping Alex Doolan in front, getting Jordan Silk caught at point with a sliced drive and finding Beau Webster’s outside edge to leave the home side 4 for 34.James Pattinson and Scott Boland also got in on the act. Pattinson picked up three scalps of his own in a brisk five-over spell while Boland claimed Jake Doran and the crucial scalp of Matthew Wade.Tremain returned to claim the last two wickets of the innings including Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine.Victoria were in early trouble at 2 for 21 in reply after Travis Dean was run out and Handscomb nicked a superb delivery from Gurinder Sandhu. Marcus Harris failed to capitalise on a start edging an attempted cut off Riley Meredith.Cameron White steadied with a calming half-century. His patient 63 from 121 balls featured just five boundaries but put Victoria in control. He got good support from Seb Gotch who remained 23 not out at close and will look to build a significant lead early on day two with the help of Victoria’s lower order.

Phil Foden revealed his success mantra after reaching his best goalscoring season with Manchester City with a stunning hat-trick against Aston Villa.

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City trounced Villa 4-1Foden emerged as the MVP with a hat-trickDiscussed the secret behind his red-hot formWHAT HAPPENED?

In a scintillating display of skill and determination, the 23-year-old England international netted three time to catapult City to a commanding 4-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium against Unai Emery's troops. Reflecting on his remarkable achievement, Foden attributed his success to a dedicated focus on improving his positioning and exploiting scoring opportunities.

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Speaking to after the match, Foden said: "Yeah, definitely. I always now try and arrive in the box and I think that’s why the goals are happening: you get at least five a season by arriving in the box late. So I’ve been working on all aspects on my game. I’ve still a lot to improve on and I’m still growing in that position.”

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In addition to his goal-scoring prowess, Foden's versatility and adaptability have been instrumental to City's success this season. Operating predominantly in a central role in the absence of Kevin de Bruyne, Foden has flourished while contributing significantly to the team's attacking prowess. His ability to orchestrate play and dictate the tempo of the game has elevated him to one of the cornerstones of the Guardiola project at Etihad.

“I seem to have some really technical players in the pockets and I think out wide I can do that job but I prefer in the middle,” he said. “I think this year I’m growing into the game. The manager spoke on rhythm and slowing the game down and I think I’m showing that as well. He said before, ‘you’ll grow into that position’ because before I was just going so quick, attacking every action, and I think now I’m getting the balance just right.”

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DID YOU KNOW?

Foden opened his account on the night with a free-kick that went through Villa's wall, which was the first set-piece goal of his career. However, the midfielder revealed that he hardly practises them in training and that he actually robbed Julian Alvarez of his attempt.

“I don’t actually practise them. I don’t even know why I took that one,” he said. “Julian (Alvarez) was on them. I just felt confident at the time and said ‘Julian do you mind me having this one’ and it paid off in the end.”

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has shed light on the future of loaned players Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo ahead of the summer transfer window.

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Laporta wants to keep both Felix & CanceloJorge Mendes working with Atletico & Man City to fork out a priceAnsu Fati's future hangs in the balanceGetty WHAT HAPPENED?

Laporta is confident that both Felix and Cancelo, currently on loan from Atlético de Madrid and Manchester City respectively, will continue to be Barcelona players beyond the current campaign – albeit not as permanent signings. Despite the Blaugrana's desire to secure permanent deals for both players, financial constraints may hinder the club's ability to finalise their signings.

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Speaking to Laporta said: "I think they will continue. I hope that Atletico de Madrid will not put any objection to Joao Felix continuing with us and I think that City will not object either. We have an agent there who is working on the issue, Jorge Mendes, and he knows our intention to continue with the players. What I can't tell you now, because it will depend a lot on the amounts, is whether we are going to sign them or extend the loan. It will surely be an extension of the transfer, already setting a price."

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Meanwhile, Laporta was cautious when he was discussing Ansu Fati's future who is struggling for minutes at Brighton.

"Ansu is being followed by Bojan (Krkic)," he said. "You already know that Bojan, apart from dealing with the players who come from the quarry and who are in the first team dynamic but who are not yet making their debut but who do come up to train, also takes care of the players we have on loan.

"To go see them, to talk to them, to see how they are. Fati, Lenglet… There are a series of players that he is following. Ansu had the injury, he has recovered, he has gone through a series of vicissitudes and we will see at the end of the season what is done. In principle, he has to return by contract, but we'll see, we'll see."

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Felix and Cancelo are currently with the Portugal squad and are likely to play against Slovenia on Tuesday. After fulfilling their international commitments they will return to Barcelona ahead of their league fixture against Las Palmas on March 30.

Chelsea's move for Manchester United outcast Alejandro Garnacho is reportedly being held up by their struggles to sell Christopher Nkunku.

Chelsea eye Garnacho transferDeal held up by Blues playerTrying to offload NkunkuFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The Sun states that Chelsea's 'steep' valuation of Nkunku is holding up a Garnacho transfer to Stamford Bridge. The report states the Blues have rejected a loan bid from Bayern Munich for the France international, and they are holding out for a £50 million ($67.5m) sale for the 27-year-old.

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If Chelsea cannot sell former RB Leipzig star Nkunku this summer, that could jeopardise a Garnacho switch. United are said to want at least £50m for the 21-year-old, who only wants to join Chelsea before the transfer window shuts on September 1.

DID YOU KNOW?

Since signing for Chelsea in the summer of 2023, Nkunku has had an underwhelming stint in west London. Injuries have curtailed his game time but a return of 18 goals in 62 games does not make for great reading. Nor does a paltry six goals in 38 Premier League outings.

AFPWHAT NEXT?

Aside from Chelsea trying to sell Nkunku and buy Garnacho, who is training away from United's first team, Enzo Maresca's side travel to West Ham in their next Premier League encounter on Friday.

India have the bowling attack to be dominant in half the world and competitive in the other half

Sidharth Monga08-Mar-2021While the Test specialists of this Indian side have said the World Test Championship (WTC) is like a World Cup to them, the team’s captain and coach have been disdainful of it, especially the change in the points system and cancellation of some series, both forced by the Covid-19 pandemic.The root of the gripe is that the change in qualification criteria – based now on percentage of points contested as opposed to absolute points won – and a further postponement of Australia’s tour of South Africa made India’s road to the final tougher. This new system now assumes that New Zealand would have won 70% of the points on the tour of Bangladesh too, and Australia’s tours of Bangladesh and South Africa are worth 69.2% of the total points up for grabs.Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri are fierce competitors so it is understandable they were not happy with what Shastri described as the “shifting goal posts”, but it is arguable these changes made their qualification difficult. New Zealand could well have beaten Bangladesh by the same 2-0 margin that a severely-depleted West Indies side attained recently, and gone past India. For Australia, the tours of Bangladesh and South Africa stood cancelled. It is not unimaginable for Australia to beat the current South Africa side comprehensively anywhere or beating Bangladesh in Bangladesh and thus go past India.Related

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The Indian team leadership’s gripe with “shifting goalposts” and the WTC being relevant only to those teams who are not motivated to play Test cricket betrays a lack of understanding of the bigger picture or even an awareness of the privilege of having the means to be able to prioritise Test cricket the way India do.And yet, even if India had missed out on the final with New Zealand and Australia doing well in the tours that now stand cancelled, it can be said with fair certainty India would still have been the best Test team of this WTC cycle. They have been the best Test team in the world for quite a while longer than that.If India had failed to make the final, it would have had to do with the schedule they got. At a time when – barring recent exceptions – home Test wins have almost been a given, India’s WTC cycle featured relatively easier home series and two really tough away tours, of New Zealand and Australia. Within five days of play in New Zealand, India lost out on 120 possible points, which hurt their campaign. They compensated for it with their stupendous series win in Australia.That is perhaps why India express their dissatisfaction: they know they have been the best team in the world, they have beaten Australia in Australia in successive series, and yet their participation in the WTC final came down to a last series during which the world turned on them for the pitches they rolled out. India’s digs at the WTC might be questionable, but their Test supremacy isn’t.Two of the biggest factors in India’s recent rise are the emergence of Jasprit Bumrah and the resurrection of Ishant Sharma•AFPSince the start of the home Test series against South Africa in 2015-16, India hold a win-loss ratio of 3.2 in Tests; no other side comes remotely close. At home they have been near unbeatable, losing just two Tests out of 25 in the same period, but you could still question them and argue that it was just a finetuning of what sides before them used to do. But factor this: in close to six years, India have been blanked in only one away tour, a win-loss ratio of 1.3, which is superior to every team.The single-biggest contributing factor to India’s ascent has been the emergence of Jasprit Bumrah, the resurrection of Ishant Sharma and the refining of Mohammed Shami. Over the last few months we have seen the scary bench strength. At home, Umesh Yadav makes it a choice of two fast bowlers out of five. In conditions that aid seam bowling, Mohammed Siraj is as good a fourth bowler as you can get in the world today. What is taken for granted is two spinners in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who have legit claims to spots in an all-time India XI. Then they have Axar Patel, who made sure a player of the quality of Jadeja was not missed at home.Because India have this bowling strength, they have been competitive in all conditions except in New Zealand, where swing works more than seam and where you often lose a series by the time you have acclimatised to the conditions. India’s five toughest tours in this period have been the ones to New Zealand, South Africa and England, and two to Australia. Except for the New Zealand tour, India’s bowlers have competed on each tour.ESPNcricinfo LtdLook at the control numbers. India have been close enough to the hosts in terms of uncertainty created in batsmen’s response in each of these tours barring South Africa. If you are that close, you allow luck to help you. By comparison, India drew 17.9% false shots when they played at home against South Africa, who could draw only 12.6%. When New Zealand got thrashed in Australia, they drew only 12.1% false responses as against Australia’s 19%.In England in 2018, India drew more false responses from the England batsmen, which is probably why pundits felt the 4-1 win flattered England. It was said if a few things had gone India’s way here and there, they might even have won the series. That is exactly what happened in Australia in 2020-21 where Australia actually created more pressure with the ball but India were close enough to them to make that accompanying luck translate into a series win. This is the best you can hope for in an era when utter dominance – the kind West Indies and Australia enjoyed in their legendary runs – is near-impossible to attain.No other side in recent times comes this close to competing so well on their bogey tours. New Zealand, the other finalists, got completely blanked in Australia and in India. Australia, who can consider themselves unfortunate to not be in the final, have had horror tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa.All this while, at home, India have let an opposition come close to their numbers only once – Australia in 2016-17 – a dominance that can be put down to more than one exceptional spin bowler, a luxury no other team can replicate even if they can become India’s equals or even better at times with pace bowling. Barring a couple of series, India have been competitive in every series for close to six years, but at home, in Sri Lanka and in the West Indies, they have been routing the opposition as a matter of routine. Australia and New Zealand, however, have both had reverses at home: New Zealand against Australia and South Africa, and Australia against India and South Africa. It shows in how well India have done in their most-recent series against all opposition.ESPNcricinfo LtdBarring the post-pandemic course correction, this has also been an era of toss playing a big role in deciding the outcome of the matches. That’s because quite a few sides are evenly matched in most conditions in the world. India and New Zealand have been excessively dominant at home so the toss has mattered a little less, but in most other matches the toss has played a crucial part. In these times, India have lost only one match – home or away – after winning the toss. It’s a win-loss ratio of 22 after winning the toss; next-best is New Zealand’s 3.5. Perhaps more impressive is India’s win-loss ratio of 1.5 after losing the toss; only other side in credit there is England.Despite such clear dominance, with some luck – say, Jofra Archer being fit for the second Ahmedabad Test and playing instead of Dom Bess – England would have made it extremely difficult for India to be in the final. That wouldn’t have changed a thing about who the best Test side in the world at the moment is. It is India because they have the bowling attack to be dominant in half the world and competitive in the other half.Identifying the best Test team in the world is not really the purpose of the WTC. The WTC strives to provide some context and relevance to sides who are not fortunate enough to play as much Test cricket as the Big Three do. It is the ICC’s attempt to prevent Test cricket from becoming this elite three-team affair. It makes New Zealand a part of the conversation even though most of their series are two-match long and they play half as many Tests as England do. That will inspire Sri Lanka and Pakistan and West Indies.The final will still be a mouth-watering contest. You would back India against New Zealand in most conditions outside New Zealand and the first half of the English summer. It is when the ball swings in the air that New Zealand hold an edge. A midsummer final in England might give New Zealand that opportunity to make it anybody’s Test, but even if India lose, it will not change a thing about who the best Test team in the world is. Not as long as Siraj is only the fourth-best quick and Patel the third-best spinner in the Indian squad.

Shreyanka has fractured the fourth finger on her left hand

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jul-2024Shreyanka Patil has been ruled out of the women’s Asia Cup after picking up an injury to her left hand. A press release from the Asian Cricket Council on Saturday said the 21-year old India offspinner “sustained a fracture to the fourth finger of her left hand.”Shreyanka took a full part in the team’s only game of the tournament so far, against Pakistan on Friday, bowling 3.2 overs and picking up 2 for 14. She was not needed to bat with India wrapping up the win in 14.2 overs and with seven wickets to spare. Tanuja Kanwar, the uncapped 26-year-old left-arm spinner who plays for Gujarat Giants in the WPL and Railways in domestic cricket, has been called up as replacement.Shreyanka made her debut for India in December 2023 on the back of impressive performances in the WPL. This year, she went on to become champion with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a season where she took 13 wickets – the most by any bowler – at an average of 12.07 and an economy rate of 7.30. Shreyanka has played 12 T20Is for India and has gone wicketless in only two of those games. She’s also represented her country in three ODIs.Kanwar, born in Himachal Pradesh, also made a big splash in the WPL. She was bought by the Giants in 2023 for INR 50 lakh. A week before that auction she had starred with 3 for 26 for Railways in the One Day Trophy final to finish the tournament with 18 wickets while averaging 11.16 and conceding just 2.43 runs an over. Kanwar finished the 2024 WPL season with 10 wickets from eight matches at an average of 20.70 and an economy rate of 7.13. She is known for a variation where she bowls her left-arm spin from well behind the popping crease.India’s next match at the women’s Asia Cup is on Sunday against the UAE in Dambulla.

How Knight Riders trumped Kings XI by being unpredictable, and, really, what was all the hand-waving from Dinesh Karthik all about?

Dustin Silgardo03-May-2019They say that if you can really up the ante in the last few overs of the first innings of a T20 match, it can really deflate the opposition, and stick the momentum firmly on your side.Sam Curran’s 24-ball 55 not out, including 22 runs in the last over, bowled by Harry Gurney, certainly made Kings XI the happier side at the break, and Knight Riders needed a start frenetic enough to snatch that momentum back, and away. Enter Chris Lynn, and in 22 Powerplay deliveries, he had put the pressure right back on Kings XI.He started quietly enough, but then got stuck into young Arshdeep Singh, taking three fours in the fourth over of the chase, and then hit R Ashwin for a four and a six in the fifth, and Andrew Tye for a six and four in the sixth before falling off the last ball of the Powerplay.The 46 he scored was also his best Powerplay performance this season – comfortably topping the 38 he had scored in 26 balls against Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata – both in terms of runs scored and strike rate.Gill at ‘home’ at the top of the inningsWe go back to Andre Russell saying the other day, that Knight Riders “have a good team”, but were “making bad decisions”. That’s when the team was in the middle of a win-drought. A change in the script, winning a match they had to win to stay in the running for a playoff spot does make it seem like some good decisions were taken, and we think one of them was in not being predictable.ESPNcricinfo Ltd Sticking with Sandeep Warrier instead of Prasidh Krishna, who had done well in patches but had been really expensive in his last few games Shubman Gill opening the innings on a ground he is very familiar with turned out to be a masterstroke. Not that Gill hadn’t opened before in IPL 2019 – he had thrice before, and now has three fifties in four innings at the top – but the temptation must have been to go with Sunil Narine after Kings XI put up 183 for 6. Knight Riders went with Gill, and were rewarded with a 49-ball unbeaten 65, the 19-year-old batting through the innings to take the team home. Russell was again given a lot of balls to face, having been sent in at No. 4 midway through the 11th over. It showed intent on the part of Knight Riders, an example of the team learning from its earlier mistakes, and the 24 he struck in 14 balls went some distance in helping them win with two overs to spare and boost their net run rate.Curran picks his targets, and spotsCurran’s 55 not out off 24 balls was his first really significant innings in the IPL, and his performance suggested that he had learnt from his previous six outings with the bat.He had been out twice to the variations of legspinner Sandeep Lamichanne, in Kings XI’s two games against Delhi Capitals, so he wisely played Knight Riders’ leggie, Piyush Chawla, cautiously. He had also struggled against Royal Challengers Bangalore offspinner Moeen Ali, trying to hit the ball square of the pitch before missing a reverse sweep and being trapped lbw.ESPNcricinfo LtdAgainst Knight Riders’ Sunil Narine, Curran looked to hit straight, getting both his boundaries in the long-on region. He went straight against the seamers too but mixed it up with some shots to fine leg.His reading of the slower balls was impressive. Against Mumbai Indians, he had fallen to a Jasprit Bumrah slower ball, but here, he anticipated a short slower one from Russell, walked across his stumps and slapped the ball to fine leg, and then, in the final over, waited on a Harry Gurney slower one and hit it down the ground for six.Pooran – a better No. 4 than Miller?David Miller is not the best batsman against spin. He doesn’t get out to spinners too often, but since 2017, his strike rate against spinners – in all T20s – has been 116.83. Nicholas Pooran, in contrast, has scored at 139.33 against spinners in the same period. The sample size in Pooran’s case is smaller than Miller’s though.As a result, Pooran, especially against a team like Kolkata Knight Riders, was Kings XI’s choice for No. 4 ahead of Miller, as he showed with a 27-ball 48 before toe-ending Nitish Rana to the midwicket fence. Miller was left on the bench for the game.ESPNcricinfo LtdBefore this game, in his IPL 2019 appearances, Pooran had batted at No. 4 only once, in the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and had scored a 10-ball 21. This time, he was even better. He hit Piyush Chawla for a six and a four in the eighth over, and another six in the tenth over, but was quiet against Sunil Narine – remember that maiden Super Over Narine bowled to Pooran in the 2014 Caribbean Premier League?Miller has had an underwhelming tournament, with 213 runs in 10 outings, with an average of 26.62 and strike rate of 129.87. Pooran might have done enough in his latest innings to keep that No. 4 spot for himself in whatever matches Kings XI Punjab have left in the tournament.Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell have a chat•BCCIWhen you’re not happy and you know it, wave your hand
It was interesting to see Dinesh Karthik looking a lot more animated than he usually is soon after the Powerplay. A meltdown, we called it on our ball-by-ball coverage, and it certainly looked like it, Karthik waving his gloved hands about and – from the looks of it – letting it rip. He even gave his team an animated talk during the strategic time out.What it was about, we didn’t know at the time. Was it about the murmurings of discontent in the ranks that we have been talking about?Karthik answered it after the game, saying, “I wasn’t too happy with the way the fielders and bowlers were doing, the body language. The kind of things I didn’t expect from them. So I thought I’d let the boys know what I felt about it.”

Newcastle United have joined the race for a “special” young star who has been likened to Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, according to a new report.

Newcastle plan for big summer after Carabao Cup success

Newcastle have had quite the season. Not only are the Magpies firmly in the race for Champions League football next season, they also won the Carabao Cup – their first piece of major silverware in 64 years.

To clinch the trophy, Eddie Howe’s side beat Premier League leaders Liverpool 2-1 in the final at Wembley Stadium, with both Alexander Isak and Dan Burn on the scoresheet.

Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle about the club’s open-top bus parade, which took place over the weekend, Burn said: “It’s something I’ll never forget – I knew there would be a lot of people but when we saw the sheer amount of people it was amazing.

“It really hit home, what it means to the region and the city, the achievement that we’ve managed to do. The lads were starting chants all the way round and just being able to take in that moment, it was only an hour but it’s an hour I’ll never forget.”

On his goal in the final, which saw the English defender head home Kieran Trippier’s corner, Burn said: “The first few days, my phone was getting constantly pinged with videos and remixes, when I was away with the England lads it was on TV all the time and I ended up having to switch the TVs off at the end because I was starting to get a bit embarrassed!”

“I will watch it forever, I’ll never tire of it – it was an amazing moment.”

Newcastle join race for Dibling despite huge price tag

Even after such a successful season, Newcastle are expected to bolster their squad in the summer, with Howe keen to push on from this year’s achievements and build more depth. Among those players thought to be interesting the Magpies is Southampton’s Tyler Dibling.

According to Chronicle Live, Newcastle are now one of several clubs keen on the English talent and are “expected to closely monitor” his situation at Southampton in the coming weeks, as the Saints brace for a significant transfer shake-up when they eventually get relegated back to the Championship.

Though previously Southampton put a price tag of £100 million on Dibling’s head, it’s thought that the asking price will significantly drop in the summer to ensure a sale.

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Dibling has been one of Southampton’s standout players in an otherwise poor season for the club, and has been heavily lauded for his performances by former Premier League players Danny Murphy and Dion Dublin.

“It is the quality he has got – the belief in himself and the physical power. He just goes past people with ease. He has got a lovely left foot. He is very brave on the ball and his decision-making is good,” Murphy told BBC Sport of the 19-year-old in December.

“It is difficult to get too over the top with these young players, because he has just come on to the scene, but he is going to be something special.”

Dublin added: “Do you know what it is? I don’t want to put any pressure on him, but he plays his game like Cole Palmer, doesn’t he? He plays free and easy, and he gets himself into good positions, rolls players and takes the ball well.”