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Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, believes his team can shrug off their controversial World Cup build-up and clinch a second title to add to the trophy they won in 1992.Pakistan go into the 2007 tournament without injured strike bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif as well as influential allrounder Abdul Razzaq. But Inzamam insists he wants to mark his final World Cup with a victory to add to Imran Khan’s memorable triumph 15 years ago.”Every great player has his time, they serve their time, that’s life, that’s the way it is so when the time comes, so be it,” said Inzamam ahead of his team’s two warm-up matches against Canada on Tuesday and South Africa on Friday. Inzamam, second only to Sachin Tendulkar on the all-time list of highest one-day international batsmen with 11,665 runs, also insisted he could recover the kind of form which he enjoyed on his 1992 World Cup debut.”I am confident and I have worked hard in the nets and I am looking forward to the World Cup and I will do my best at this level,” he said. Inzamam played down the significance of losing Shoaib, Asif and Razzaq, and believed Mohammad Sami, Yasir Arafat and Azhar Mahmood will prove adequate replacements. “I believe in our team and we believe in ourselves and definitely we will try do well in the World Cup,” he added. “In one-day internationals, every team is tough but one man can change the outcome of a game and one good game can change the whole scenario.”After their warm-up games here, Pakistan head to Jamaica for their opening Group D matches against West Indies. Ireland and Zimbabwe are the other two teams in the group.

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Hemant Punoo, USA’s captain, led from the front to spearhead his side’s win in the Under-19 World Cup on Tuesday. Punoo’s 2 for 36 and aggressive 64 with the bat allowed his side to beat Namibia by two wickets with an over to spare and, consequently, means they will now face New Zealand in the Plate Championship semi-final on Wednesday. Namibiar were, at one stage, batting nicely thanks to half-centuries from Pieter Grove (58) and Dawid Botha (56). They reached 121 for 2 and later on were 151 for 3 only to be reined back in the latter stages of the innings. In reply, with his side struggling on 44 for 3, Punoo played a vital innings and reached his fifty in 76 balls as the USA crept home by two wickets.
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Uganda’s batting again failed as they failed to chase down a modest total from Nepal of 193. The Ugandans were dismissed for just 132; their previous efforts of 74 (Pakistan), 137 (New Zealand) and 84 (Bangladesh) means that, in four matches, their average total is just 107. Nepal adopted a high-risk strategy of batting first despite the fact no other team had done that after winning the toss at the venue throughout the competition so far. It looked to be a costly gamble, too, as they slipped to 85 for 5 before Gayanendra Malla (64) and Basant Regmi (42 not out) hauled them back to post a useful total, if not a dominating one, of 192 for 9. They needn’t have worried: although Uganda’s openers, Hamza Almuzahim (24) and Arthur Kyobe (16) added 56 for the first wicket, they quickly slipped to 65 for 4. Jimmy Okello (18) and Semanda (23) staged a mini-recovery, but it was too little too late.
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The moment came minutes after the tea break. The fifth ball of the 62nd over, bowled at 2.40pm, by Abdul Razzaq, was just short of a length and slanting into the pads, and Sachin Tendulkar moved across his stumps and tucked the ball to the on-side to scale another personal summit. With that run, he became the fifth player in the world, and the second Indian, to score 10,000 Test runs.Tendulkar, who came in to bat with the score on 156 for 2, after Virender Sehwag had powered India to a brisk start, was tentative early in his innings, playing out as many as 18 dot balls before getting off the mark. But he got under way with two crisp cover-driven fours off Shahid Afridi and from then on, with the scoreboard counting down the last few runs as he approached the milestone, his every run was cheered.After reaching the milestone he was especially fluent, showing shades of his old self, cutting and driving both the spinners and medium-pacers. Danish Kaneria’s attempts at curbing Tendulkar by bowling into the rough from around the stumps were wasted as Tendulkar got down on one knee and swept the ball fine for two fours, the second of which took him to his half-century. But just when he was looking dangerous, he went, edging a square-cut against Afridi to the wicketkeeper. Another record, the one that he is likely to cherish more, still awaits. For the moment, Sunil Gavsakar, the first man to score 10,000 Test runs, remains joint first with Tendulkar in the rank of century makers

Day 1 Close Bangladesh 86 for 3 trail Queensland Academy of Sport Invitation 201 (Caseldine 92, Hopes 53) by 115 runsBangladesh finished their first day of cricket in Australia evenly-placed at stumps. They dismissed the Queensland Academy of Sport Invitation side for 201 at Allan Border Field in Brisbane, and ended with a flourish, the last two balls being hit for a four and a six, closing on 86 for 3 – a deficit of 115 runs.However, the incumbent batsmen Mohammad Ashraful (33) and Rokon Al Sahariar (4), face the task of ensuring their side gain an appreciable first innings lead if they are to have a chance of a victory in this match which is part of the build-up to their forthcoming Test matches against Australia.When Bangladesh began their innings Javed Omar struggled against Damien MacKenzie and James Hopes, facing 37 balls before he was dismissed for a duck, caught in the gully by Craig Philipson off Hopes attempting a cut (23 for 1). Bowling his sixth over, Hopes had still not conceded his first run. Then off the last ball of the next over, Hannan Sarker, who had raced along to 19 was bowled by Steve Magoffin (27 for 2).The match may be a non-first-class fixture but six of the Queensland side have played first-class cricket, while Nathan Hauritz is an international. Both sides are playing 12 players in the match, with one batsman being replaced by a bowler at the change of innings.Bangladesh made good use of winning the toss and Tapash Baisya took two quick wickets to leave Queensland AIS struggling on 6 for 2. He claimed a third with the score on 10, bowling Aaron Nye for 3.Lee Carseldine held the top-order together during a 100-run stand with Hopes, although it nearly came unstuck when Hopes was dropped at forward square-leg off Anwar Hossain when the score was 33. Hopes eventually fell for 53 (110 for 4), but Carseldine continued in an increasingly dominant manner. He had reached 92 when he was caught by Baisya off Khaled Mahmud’s right-arm medium pace (165 for 5). Carseldine hit 15 boundaries and a six in his 115-ball innings. The Queenslanders were in trouble immediately when Philipson was run out for 5 two balls later (165 for 6).It was left to Chris Hartley to shepherd the lower-order through to 200 with his 20, off 43 balls, being only the third double-digit score of the innings.Baisya had good reward for tidy bowling during the day, taking 3 for 33 from his 14 overs while Mahmud took 2 for 34 from 12 overs.

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 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.”