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Nick Knight was made man of the match and the man of series after England completed their five-match demolition of Zimbabwe with victory in the final one-day international in Bulawayo.Set 229 after Zimbabwe’s Grant Flower had scored a century, England coasted home by seven wickets with six overs and two balls to spare.Knight ended unbeaten on 80, and Paul Collingwood hit a rapid 56 from 46 balls, enabling England to romp home early.”It’s been a great series for me and a great series for the team,” Knight told Sky Sports.”We talked a lot about how we would play this series and it was good to makeit work. It’s been great cricketing weather and we’ve really enjoyed it.The England captain Nasser Hussain was full of praise for his players’ performance.”I was thoroughly pleased with the way we did it today,” he said.”The bowling, especially the last 10 overs, was great. The batting as well,the way we won in the last 10 overs was great. It was about a 250 or 260 wicket so we did what we wanted to by keeping them down.”Hussain is now looking forward to the forthcoming tour of India.”The hard task is to up ourselves an extra 25% for India,” he said. “We realise this is just a starting point. India will be difficult.”Zimbabwe’s stand-in captain Alistair Campbell admitted he was disappointed at the whitewash.”Who knows where we go from here,” he said. “We need to get together and plan our way forward, we need to turn things around. We’ve played non-stop cricket for about 18 months, it would have been great to have some time off.”

West Brom have the fourth most valuable squad in the Championship according to Transfermarkt with an overall value of £77.18m behind the likes of AFC Bournemouth, Fulham and Sheffield United.

One player in the Baggies’ ranks that contributes to their overall squad value is also one that the club didn’t need to spend a penny on.

Back in the 2015 summer window, the Midlands club secured a free transfer for 23-year-old centre-back Dara O’Shea from Irish club St. Kevins Boys.

Since then, the defender has gone on to make 36 appearances for their U18 and U23 sides combined, scoring two goals and providing three assists in the process.

For the senior side, the centre-back has made 60 appearances across all competitions with five goals and one assist to his name.

This season has seen the Irishman, who has been praised for his “unbelievable” improvement over the years by former Baggies manager Slaven Bilic, make just eight appearances in the Championship for Steve Bruce’s side having spent a significant period out injured with an ankle fracture.

Despite this, the defender has still managed to find the back of the net on two occasions and earn himself an impressive overall performance rating of 7.28 from WhoScored, making him West Brom’s highest-rated player, highlighting how valuable he is to the team.

In terms of his market value, Transfermarkt listed it at £135k back in October 2019, just a couple of months before he made his senior debut for the Baggies. Whereas it now stands at £2.7m, showing a significant increase based on what he’s done on the pitch and proving that the club hit the jackpot with him.

Described as being “like a sponge” by Bilic in terms of the focus he has on learning and improving his game, O’Shea is certainly a shining light in Bruce’s squad and for the club overall as a young player working his way through the youth ranks and becoming an impressive first-team figure.

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The defender’s rise also highlights the fact that clubs don’t always have to pay big money on players all the time and can instead focus on unearthing and developing young talents.

Moving forward, having only played in three league games since recovering from his ankle injury, it would be good to see the youngster get back on the pitch more regularly before the campaign ends.

In other news: WBA surely having nightmares over “unbelievable” dynamo whose value has rocketed 2033%

ScorecardFile photo: Pieter Seelaar top-scored for Netherlands with a crucial 49•Peter Della Penna

Late innings resiliency with both bat and ball ensured Netherlands escaped with a six-run win over UAE at Abu Dhabi on Friday to wrap up a two-match WCL Championship sweep for the visitors on Friday. The latest victory vaulted Netherlands past Hong Kong to the top of the WCLC table with 10 points to Hong Kong’s nine. The Dutch are currently undefeated in six games with 10 points coming from four wins and two no results.Netherlands scratched their way to 216 after being sent in thanks to Pieter Seelaar, whose 49 at No. 7 helped the Dutch rebuild after the double-blow of losing Roelof van der Merwe and Wesley Barresi in the space of three overs reduced the visitors from 108 for 4 to 112 for 6 in the 30th. Seelaar added 76 for the seventh wicket with Michael Rippon in the biggest stand of the innings and hung around until the final over before he was ninth man out but not before giving his side a defendable total.In reply, UAE were cruising at 158 for 3 after 37 overs, needing 59 more to win at a little more than four per over, when Timm van der Gugten shifted momentum in the match by removing Shaiman Anwar for 71, ending a 103-run partnership with Mohammad Usman. Van der Gugten struck again later in the over to nab Saqlain Haider for 1 and Usman was dislodged for 52 by Mudassar Bukhari off the first ball of the 42nd to make it 178 for 6.Still, UAE only needed 39 to win off 53 balls, but the run rate was choked successfully by Bukhari, Rippon and Ahsan Malik. In his first tour back since being reported at the World Twenty20 Qualifier for a suspect bowling action, Malik’s impact continued to show as he claimed 2 for 18 in his second spell of 3.3 overs at the death.Entering the final over UAE needed 13 to win with the last pair of Rohan Mustafa, on 21, and Manjula Guruge at the crease. A dot was followed by a six from Mustafa to bring UAE within one shot of leveling the score but Malik struck on the next ball, having Mustafa caught by Bukhari to end the match.

Turning his arm and turning over the Australians, Anil Kumble arrived at the MCG with a bang © Getty Images

Turning the momentum
Touring captains usually arrive in Australia under pressure but it was AnilKumble who applied it to the home side on day one. Australia’s openersreached 135 when Kumble unbalanced Phil Jaques with a wrong’un that thebatsman didn’t spot before achieving something unthinkable by out-classingMichael Hussey with a similar delivery. Talk in Australia prior to the Testcentred around how the Indians would react to Brad Hogg’s variations, butKumble created the immediate problems, taking three batsmen with googliesand two with legspinners.Beware of the captain
It took a sublime 144 from Sourav Ganguly, their captain, to revive India onthe last trip in 2003-04. This time it was again their leader dealing theopening blow with five wickets. It was the second time Kumble earned a spoton the honours board at the MCG, emulating Bhagwat Chandrasekar, hisstate-mate, who also claimed five in an innings twice.Hogg’s happy holidays
Boxing Day looked as if still Christmas for Hogg. As he sung thenational anthem, Hogg could not stop smiling at the thought of playing hisfirst Test since 2003. He, however, had to wait for action and after Australiaelected to bat, he settled down with a book in the first session. Hogg was calledlater in the day, made 17, and is looking forward to bowling into thefootmarks that will grow from the work of the game’s large contingent ofleft-armers.Everywhere man
It seems impossible, but Shane Warne may have increased his presence at theMCG since last year’s Boxing Day when he took his 700th wicket in his finalTest on his home ground. Twelve months later, he is donating items to theMelbourne Cricket Club in the morning, playing with the schoolchildren onthe oval at lunch, being appointed to a leadership role with CricketAustralia and completing a stint in the Nine commentary box. But thatwasn’t all. Cartoon figures of Warne are shown on the sight-screen and thescoreboard promoting a beer company, so he can’t escape even if he doesn’tturn up for the rest of the game.He’s not a Victorian
After having Warne to cheer for the past 15 years, Melbourne supporters wereleft without a local to celebrate and had to adopt. Ricky Ponting and AndrewSymonds received the greatest roars from the crowd of 68,465 when theywalked out to bat, but there was also loud support for each Indian wicketand the arrival of Sachin Tendulkar for his over before tea.Curator escapes a sledge
Concerns have been raised over the MCG’s drop-in pitches following dreary domestic games this season and Matthew Hayden spent a lot of time talking about the surface at stumps. However, he wasn’t complaining too loudly and when asked if he thought the wicket was Test standard he said: “It’s hard to argue with that when I’ve got six hundreds on it. I’d be a game man to sledge the curator.”

Scorecard

Eoin Morgan and Andre Botha walk off after their record stand © ICC

Ireland put their World Cricket League disappointments behind them in grand style as they produced a record-breaking performance on the opening day of their Intercontinental Cup match against UAE in Abu Dhabi. Eoin Morgan and Andre Botha added an Ireland record 325 for the third wicket and they aren’t finished yet.They need to secure an outright win to move into the final against Canada; any other result and arch rivals Scotland will pip them to it. Fears that the team would be scared after three near-misses during the WCL were quickly put to bed as the batsmen made hay.Morgan and Botha went past the previous Irish partnership record of 304 between Jeremy Bray and Niall O’Brien, also against UAE, at Windhoek in 2005. Their next target will be the competition record of 331 which is currently held by Steve Tikolo and Hitesh Modi. Morgan, already with his highest first-class score, is also approaching the highest score by an Ireland play of 198 Ivan Anderson back in 1973.Between them the pair hit 34 fours and a six against eight UAE bowlers, who toiled for little success. An opening partnership of 122 between Bray and William Porterfield, who enjoyed a successful WCL, laid the platform but that was only a taste of what was to follow.

Umar Gul, the Pakistani fast bowler, and Tahir Khan, the offspinner, again shared nine wickets, as they did in the first innings, while Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) defeated Pakistan Customs by an innings and 57 runs on the final day of their fourth-round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex Ground No.1 at Karachi.The win took PIA to the top of the five-team ranking, with 15 points from three matches. Customs, with six points from as many appearances have slumped to the bottom spot and, after the elevation of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in the table, they are now faced with demotion to next season’s Grade-II circuit.Umar, who is on the comeback trail after missing more than a year of international cricket through injury, completed 10 wickets in the match, taking 5 for 87 yesterday to follow his 5 for 64 in the first innings. Customs were all out for 267.Tahir, who turns 25 on January 9, turned in an impressive allround performance in the match. He captured eight wickets, four in each innings, and contributed a fine unbeaten 69 with the bat, off only 76 balls with six fours and three sixes.Customs’ best batsman was Afsar Nawaz with a solid 72, made off 146 balls with seven fours. Hasnain Abbas, the opening batsman, hit 10 fours in his 64 off 129 deliveries. The rest, however, did not last long enough.Customs now need to beat the record seven-time Patron’s Trophy champions Habib Bank, in the fifth and final round match starting at the same venue from Tuesday. PIA’s last Group A match starts from the same day against Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Sports Complex here. The top two teams from either group in the tournament qualify for the Quadrangular Stage round, which gets underway from January 15.Saeed Ajmal’s offspinners captured him a career-best 7 for 116 as Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) beat Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) by a convincing 101-run margin on the final day of their Patron’s Trophy match at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Sports Complex at Karachi.KRL thus got a lift from the bottom position in the five-team points table to the third spot. They may have saved themselves from relegation to next season’s Grade-II circuit, but they must still watch the proceedings in the fifth and final round of the group league, that starts from Tuesday. KRL, in fact, have completed their schedule of four matches, of which they lost three and won just one for a total of nine points. Victory for either SNGPL or Pakistan Customs in the last round, or for both, can still put KRL’s position in jeopardy.On Friday, they set SNGPL a win target of 350 but Ajmal’s devastating offspin downed them for an eventual total of just 248. He not only achieved his best first-class bowling figures, but also gathered his first 10-wicket haul at this level. He actually ended with 11 for 141 in the match. Misbah-ul-Haq, SNGPL’s captain, and the experienced Saleem Mughal fought valiantly in a fourth-wicket stand of 86 but the rest of the order couldn’t maintain the tempo and succumbed to Ajmal’s guile and relentless pressure. Saleem top-scored with 79 off 163 balls with four fours and three sixes. Misbah’s 72 included five fours and two sixes and required 161 deliveries to make.SNGPL will now have to try and beat Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in their fifth and final round match, starting at the same venue from Tuesday. Like KRL, it is now they and Customs who are trying to save themselves from demotion.Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) completed a four-wicket win over Service Industries on the final day of their Patron’s Trophy match at the Sheikhupura Stadium on Saturday. It was their first win in three matches and Service Industries’ third defeat in four appearances. Having completed their schedule of four matches with no points at all, Service have suffered the humiliation of being demoted to next season’s non-first-class Patron’s Trophy Grade-II circuit once again.Having resumed at their overnight 184 for 6, Service managed to add only nine more runs in six overs yesterday morning to be dismissed for 193.This left ZTBL a modest target of 169 which they achieved with minor hiccups for the loss of six wickets. For ZTBL, Mohammad Siddiq, the fast bowler, captured a first-class career-best 6 for 55 in 26.5 overs. He was at the forefront enabling his team to clinch the first-innings lead, when he made an unbeaten 39 at No.10 and featured prominently in an invaluable 44-run last-wicket partnership.Atif Ashraf, the opening batsman, and Bilal Asad compiled a splendid 108-run stand for the third wicket after the first two wickets had fallen with only five runs on the board. Atif top-scored with 63 off 91 balls with 11 fours while Bilal made 47 off 78 balls with eight fours and a six. Naved Ashraf, the captain, then took ZTBL nearer victory with a fluent 28. For Service, Mohammad Irshad, with 3 for 51, and his new-ball partner Jamshed Ahmed 3 for 55 bowled well.In the fifth and final round starting from Tuesday, four-time Patron’s Trophy champions ZTBL will meet five-time winners National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) Ground in Lahore. Neither team gained any points as the fourth-round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match between National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) was fogged-out for the fourth day running at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground on Saturday. Even a single innings could not be played to its limit, as WAPDA, resuming at 249 for 9, added a solitary run when the match was called off due to poor weather, bad light and the heavy fog.WAPDA, who were the tournament runners-up in 2003-04, thus remain at second place in the five-team Group B table with 12 points from three matches. NBP have been Patron’s Trophy champions on five occasions and they continue to be at the third spot with a tally of nine points.With only 7.3 overs play possible on Wednesday’s opening day, the second day saw 60.1 overs being bowled. The count was down to 15.2 on Friday while a mere two overs could be sent down on the final day before the umpires decided to end the players’ agony.NBP will now play their fifth and final round match, starting from Tuesday, against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) at the same venue. WAPDA have their next match coming up from the same day against top-of-the-table Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), at the Sheikhupura Stadium.

Saleem Altaf, the former Pakistan medium-pacer, has been appointed as director of cricket by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He will represent Pakistan at all International Cricket Council and Asian Cricket Council meetings.Altaf’s appointment fills a gap left vacant after Rameez Raja’s resignation as chief executive of the PCB in August last year. Altaf will head a committee of five, comprising Imtiaz Ahmed, the former Test wicketkeeper, Naseem Ashraf, Mueen Afzal and Ali Reza. Meanwhile Abbas Zaidi has been named director of board operations, in charge of all non-cricket matters including administration, finance, marketing and media.”The appointments have been approved by the chief patron of the board after consultations with the chairman of the board Shaharyar Khan,” Zaidi was quoted as saying by Reuters.Altaf, who is 60 years old, played 21 Tests for Pakistan between 1967 and 1978, and picked up 46 wickets. He also scored one half-century.

England v Zimbabwe, 2nd Test, Chester-le-Street, Day One
Thousands of northern prayers were answered when Chester-le-Street’s first day of Test cricket dawned fine. The trappings were all in place: the countdown clock, the expectant media chatter, the local boy Steve Harmison champing at the bit to bowl the first ball (he didn’t, because Nasser Hussain won the toss and batted). Even Phil Tufnell, the newly crowned King of the Jungle, was there.The ground looked a picture, and the crowd was a pretty good one. All that was missing was the usual tension associated with Test cricket – that worrying feeling that England were struggling for supremacy. After the Lord’s Test, where Zimbabwe rolled over and died on the third day, the general opinion was that England couldn’t lose. That feeling probably contributed to the mid-afternoon wobble, when three quick wickets tumbled as Douglas Hondo was briefly accorded supercharged status.Normal service was restored by Alec Stewart (no change there, then) and Anthony McGrath – and even McGrath’s mum might have thought it a bit fanciful a month ago if she’d been told he would soon have a Test average pushing 100.There has been much talk of whether this Zimbabwean side is the weakest ever to tour England. Despite today’s showing with the ball, they are certainly in contention for that dubious honour. Only Grant Flower of the batsmen has scored a Test century, and even he averages less than 10 with the bat in Tests in England.I was asked before the first Test to nominate the other contenders for Weakest Team Since The Last War, and probably alienated half of New Zealand by plumping for the 1958 Kiwis, who were bowled out for under 100 five times in five Tests, and would have lost 5-0 if it hadn’t rained for days on end at The Oval. They could make nothing of Tony Lock, who took 34 wickets at 7.47 with his slow left-arm spin. That tour came in the middle of what looks at first sight to have been a great run by England at home: 3-0 against West Indies in 1957, 4-0 v NZ in 1958, an unprecedented 5-0 v India in 1959, and 3-0 v South Africa in 1960 – 15-0 in four years. The record was spoilt a bit by going down 4-0 in Australia in 1958-59 … some things never change.It might have looked good, but actually it was a pretty dire time. All four of those sides were terribly weak – even the West Indians underperformed despite having some great names on board. One-sided cricket is boring, and cricketwise the ’50s are about the dullest decade on record – that’s the main reason one-day cricket started with such a bang in the 1960s. I’m quite relieved to say that I wasn’t around at the time, but reading about those series you’re struck by the inevitability of it all. Tension was absent.And there remains a lack of tension about this match, too. It wasn’t a great batting effort by England on a belter of a pitch. But it’s still hard to envisage Zimbabwe bowling England out cheaply twice, or England not bowling Zimbabwe out twice, although it might well take rather longer than a day. In 2000 the Zimbabweans bounced back after a similarly chastening defeat at Lord’s and competed well in the second Test at Trent Bridge. But the main man then was Murray Goodwin, a classy cutter who cracked 148 not out. Goodwin scored 35 this week – for Sussex, not Zimbabwe. Andy Flower, Zimbabwe’s best batsman by a street (or maybe a Streak), was attempting his usual rescue act after his side lost early wickets. That side was Essex, not Zimbabwe (and he failed, possibly because he had half an eye on events at the Riverside).It’s simplistic to say this, because there are political currents, undercurrents and crosscurrents at work here … but if Zimbabwe want to compete at international level, they can’t go on losing their best players. Otherwise they’ll go on losing their Test matches.Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden CricInfo.

With Hansie Cronje’s life ban now confirmed by the Pretoria High Court, the right of cricket’s governing bodies to administer cricket has been reaffirmed. And not a moment too soon, some might believe.Whichever way it is seen, Judge Frank Kirk-Cohen’s judgement simply re-establishes the status quo. Even before argument began in the case, the United Cricket Board had acknowledged that the ban could not and did not extend to activities such as coaching children outside the ambit of the UCB’s structures, working in the media and buying a ticket to watch a cricket match.Crucially, Judge Kirk-Cohen took the view that the matter of accrediting Cronje as a journalist still lay with the UCB. In other words, it is still up to the UCB to decide if and when they see fit to allow Cronje to use their facilities.In other words, nothing has changed. It might be stretching a point to argue that the UCB “won” the case. Certainly, though, Cronje lost.And all of this does rather beg the question of exactly what Cronje believes he is entitled to. By his own admission he dealt with bookmakers over a number of years. So have other cricketers, his supporters have argued, and they haven’t been banned for life.But Cronje took it a step further. He tried to induce his team-mates, most notably Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams to underperform. That the plot failed is neither here nor there. The intention was there and if players deliberately set out to give of less than their best, then what we have, by almost anyone’s reckoning, is match-fixing. Certainly, if players give their wickets away or bowl badly on purpose, then they have deceived their team-mates, their supporters and anyone who has taken the time and trouble to pay attention to their performances.The UCB, no doubt, will heave a sigh of relief. And so, too, will the International Cricket Council. A crisis for cricket has been averted and although most people believe that the scourge of corruption has by no means been eradicated, at least the right of cricket to rid itself of cheats has been confirmed.The match-fixing saga has been a desperately sad affair, both for the game and for Cronje himself. It is to be hoped that he will go away and reflect on what has happened to him and to cricket during the past 18 months or so. What cricket still seeks from him are signs of genuine remorse. While he continues to say that he is sorry for what he has done, his challenge to the ban tended to suggest that what he was really sorry about was being caught.There may, in the future, be a place for him, some kind of role for him, in cricket. The door has never been completely slammed in his face. But he has to accept that any return will come by way of invitation, not by demand.

Mohammad Amir has been included by the PCB in a 26-man squad for a conditioning camp at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore ahead of Pakistan’s upcoming tour of New Zealand. The camp, which stretches from December 21 to January 6, will also serve as a barometer to assess the fitness and performances of players leading into the World Twenty20 in March.Amir’s selection is a major leap in his reintegration into the national set-up. Amir, who completed his five-year ban for spot-fixing in September, has been active in domestic cricket since January. His latest stint with Chittagong Vikings in the Bangladesh Premier League was a success – he finished the tournament as the highest wicket-taker for the franchise.Amir’s return, though, has also led to reservations from certain quarters about him being in a Pakistan dressing room. While few players have raised eyebrows at the prospect of playing alongside him, the PCB is open to considering him for selection and is working a way out to settle any unwelcoming sense at the top. Inviting Amir for the training camp and getting him to mix with the top players in the country is seen as a stepping stone towards his comeback.The national selectors, however, dropped Sohail Tanvir, while Harris Sohail was left out because of his continued struggle with a knee injury, which requires him to have surgery in Australia. Rafatullah Mohammad, the 39-year old batsman, and Imran Khan, the pacer, have been axed, while uncapped left-arm seamer Ruman Raees has been included.Umar Gul is also in contention following a productive first-class season with Habib Bank Limited. He was dropped after Pakistan’s ODI series defeat in Bangladesh earlier this year and has missed a major chunk of international cricket since 2013 over fitness and form.The main objective of the camp is to improve the overall physical fitness of all players. The performance report from the camp is likely to influence the PCB’s annual retainers next year. Player fitness had been given greater priority since last year and made a compulsion as part of a new clause in the central contracts. The fitness clause became one of the three major criteria – performance and integrity clearance being the others – that define a player’s prospects of making the Pakistan side.According to the 2014 contracts list, the physiological screening protocol has been divided into five levels, with a player having to undergo 17 different tests. Each component is marked on a scale of 100. Level 1, also called the fundamental level, has marks ranging from 0 to 20 – a score that is considered unacceptable. The fitness test conducted in May 2014 was considered as a benchmark for the players. Seniors like Afridi and Umar Akmal had then been fined for maintaining a below-par fitness level.Meanwhile, the players who are engaged in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Super Eight round have been granted permission to play their domestic matches scheduled between December 20 and 23, and asked to join the training camp on or before December 24.Pool of 26 players: Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sharjeel Khan, Azher Ali, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Umer Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Bilal Asif, Sohaib Maqsood, Amir Yamin, Wahab Riaz, Anwer Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Umer Gul, Rahat Ali, Junaid Khan, Ruman Raees, Immad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Saad Nasim, Mohammad Amir