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There was so lengthy a rain delay that the effect of its batting was largely watered down today. But Australia’s assault on New Zealand in thisSecond Test nevertheless continued on emphatically on the second day here in Hobart.Generally light but steady drizzle fell at all the wrong times today, contriving to wipe out four hours of play in total in the middle of the afternoon. And then there was a rather farcical end to it all, when the last nine overs were scrapped altogether on account of bad light.By stumps, New Zealand was 0/0 in its first innings, having not faced a delivery in response to Australia’s whopping Ricky Ponting (157*)-inspired tally of 8/558 declared.The weather eventually forced many among the crowd to head home early. But, in such action as was possible, hometown hero Ponting provided highlights aplenty for the locals as he continued to unfurl a veritable series of copybook strokes. In an innings that delivered the Tasmanian his ninth Test century, the right hander was again assured off both the front and back foot with precious few false shots featuring in his exhibition.Before a sharp burst of rain hit the ground for the first time at 12:20pm to send the players scurrying, he joined with Shane Warne (70) in arecord-breaking stand for the seventh wicket in Hobart Tests. Just to lend some symmetry to the occasion, he then added another new line to thesame page upon the resumption at 5:20pm, by combining with Brett Lee (41) in a stand that bettered the pre-existing mark for the eighth.”It was obviously very satisfying,” said Ponting of his first Test century on hallowed home soil.”Something I’ve always wanted to do is score a (Test) hundred at Bellerive. There’s nothing better than putting on a good performance in your homestate. Matty Hayden did it for the first time last week, and I’ve done it for the first time this week.”Quintessential partnership breaker Nathan Astle (1/30) snared a wicket in his first over when Warne dragged a ball back into his stumps, and hecontained the Australians respectably thereafter. And Daniel Vettori (5/138) deservedly collected a fifth wicket when he had a belligerent Leecaught on the deep mid wicket boundary.Otherwise, another gloomy day for the Black Caps had little to recommend it. It even ended dismally as openers Mark Richardson and MatthewBell sought the refuge of the dressing room for bad light in something of a scene of high farce.They, and the Australians, had walked all the way out into the middle, only to saunter all the way back again when Umpires Steve Bucknor andSteve Davis decided that the prospect of Glenn McGrath steaming in with the new ball represented too much of a danger in the conditions.It wasn’t the day’s only false start. Twice, the game had been within a minute of re-commencing – at 1:30pm and 2:15pm – when the drizzle mockingly re-awakened after lying dormant for all of the previous half-hour.It was a relief that Ponting, Warne and Lee were mercifully able to find a way of stifling the tedium.

Tottenham Hotspur’s academy is arguably one of the best in the Premier League.

The likes of Harry Kane, Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp have all broken through from the academy system to establish themselves as a first-team regular at some point over the last few years.

But who could be the next in line?

Japhet Tanganga has flirted with the prospect of being that man but far too often, he’s failed to deliver and prove his worth at this level. After all, he’s never been out on loan, whereas two of the aforementioned three made their name in temporary stints elsewhere.

Instead, Malachi Fagan-Walcott could be the one to save Spurs millions of pounds as just like his fellow U23 gem, he’s a versatile defender capable of playing anywhere along the backline.

Given Antonio Conte’s desire to play three-at-the-back in north London, there are more places up for grabs because of that extra central defender, so it seems plausible that someone like Fagan-Walcott will be in line for an opportunity sooner or later.

The 19-year-old has already caught the eye of the Italian head coach, having been called up to first-team training in recent months.

Fagan-Walcott has had experience away from Hotspur Way, featuring for SPFL outfit Dundee FC last season, though it was short-lived due to injury.

The Athletic once described him as an imposing centre-back at 6 foot 2 inches, a threat from set-pieces and popular with ex-manager Jose Mourinho, whilst Scottish publication the Daily Record dubbed him a “rising star” on social media.

Under the Portuguese, the academy prospect earned his professional debut, coming on in the final few minutes of Spurs’ last appearance in the Champions League – a heavy 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig back in March 2020.

“It was a night of mixed emotions, extremely disappointed to be knocked out of the Champions League with such a great team, but on a positive note happy to have made my professional debut in the Champions League,” he tweeted (as relayed by football.london).

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Not only is he blessed with those ‘imposing’ attributes but he also has rapid pace and acceleration, being a 200m district sprint champion and that only bolsters his credentials and might point to why Conte has already taken a look at him.

Whilst it’s unlikely we see him this campaign, Fagan-Walcott is certainly one to watch for the future and he will help save chairman Daniel Levy millions in future transfer windows.

AND in other news, Cost nothing, now worth £18m: Pochettino struck gold at Spurs with “absolute machine”…

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTravis Head hammered gave Adelaide Strikers every one of the 56 runs they made in the last three overs•Getty Images

Pantomime season’s arrived in Adelaide. It’s the final day of the year, so let the good times roll. Or the mad times, in this case. A bumper crowd of 46,389 watched on, rabid, riotous and ever so partisan and Strikers batsman Travis Head gave them everything they could want with a blitz so grand that his team romped to a win despite needing 51 off the last three overs. He got every one of those runs himself, and the five more he needed to finish 101 not out off 53 balls.New Year’s eve arrived with a lot of fanfare, including a premature fireworks display, but everything faded into the background and a mighty game of cricket took centre stage. It contained moments of high farce; funky overthrows, dodgy drops, attempted mankads, mystery injuries and plenty of bickering and after all that – as far as the crowd was concerned at least – the good guys prevailed in a thrilling finish with a young hometown hero standing tall.A night of such oddities, surely, was made for Brad Haddin. An injury-enforced reshuffle meant he swapped opener for finisher, coming in at No. 4 and seeing an efficient Sydney Sixers’ innings home, after Michael Lumb and Ed Cowan – making his first appearance of the campaign – got them off to a flyer. But 66 for 0 became 66 for 2 in no time flat.Lumb was his usual mix of legside hoicks, lusty hooks and bunted inside-out drives, and it took a moment of inspiration to remove him. Alex Ross provided it by sprinting 30 yards round the offside fence to dive and intercept an uppish, well-struck drive. A ball later – Adil Rashid’s first – Nic Maddinson was gone too, trapped plumb in front playing a rather odd reverse sweep.Haddin joined Cowan, who ditched his usual orthodoxy with a couple of violent swipes to leg. It was that stroke that brought about his downfall, however, as he was caught at cow corner, and soon enough Rashid – now the competition’s joint highest wicket-taker – had snared Jordan Silk and Ryan Carters too. In a bit to push the scoring rate up, Sixers had lost half their side in the 14th over. They still had 105 on the board though.Former Strikers captain Johan Botha – who was roundly booed and spent the night donning the near permanent scowl of a man wronged – and Haddin saw the innings through, sharing a 71-run stand. Haddin twice slog-swept Rashid for six, and went after Kane Richardson too, while Botha ran hard before finding the boundary four times in the last two overs, including a magnificent slash over point in a fractious final over. The bowler Ben Laughlin and Haddin clashed when the batsman appeared to edge behind but stayed put, and the umpire doubled the home side’s fury by adjudging it a wide.Craig Simmons and Tim Ludeman got the Strikers’ chase off to a brisk start. Simmons belted Jackson Bird’s opening over for three fours, once through point, then either side of square leg. Next over, he sent Ben Dwarshuis high into the stands with a pull. Ludeman was quickly in on the act, taking a pair of boundaries from each of Doug Bollinger and Botha’s opening overs.Simmons fell at the start of the fifth over, skying an attempted slog off Bird. An over later, Mahela Jayawardene was caught behind, and Ludeman soon followed off a top-edge. Brad Hodge wriggled to 17 off 18, including one mighty six, but when the New Year’s fireworks prematurely began, he and Alex Ross fell in quick succession to the impressive Dwarshuis, and the game looked up.Enter Travis Head. He had taken 19 balls to find the fence, but once he biffed both Bird and Botha for sixes, he was a man on the move. Sean Abbott was set to bowl the 18th over, with Strikers still requiring 51 runs and Head 45 off 38. Head sent Abbott for four to long-on, six to deep midwicket, four behind point, then for two enormous legside sixes. Doug Bollinger bowler an impressive 19th over, but Head still managed a monstrous six over extra cover, to go with five other scampered runs. And Abbott, amazingly, was left to bowl the last set with Strikers needing 13 to win.No Adelaide Strikers batsman had ever made a BBL century and Head was 17 short of a maiden T20 ton. The first was a half-volley on leg stump. Six. Slower-ball bouncer. Six. Short again. Slapped. Six. Century. Pandemonium.If 2016 is half as fun as all this, we are in for a treat.

Australia A 109 for 0 (Jaques 56*, Rogers 50) trail Pakistan A 199 (Abdur Rauf 73, Bollinger 3-34) by 90 runs
Scorecard

Doug Bollinger’s three wickets at the start proved crucial as Pakistan A could only manage 199 in their first innings © Getty Images

An unbroken century stand from their openers helped Australia A finish on 109, trailing Pakistan A by just 90, at the end of the first day’s play of the first Test.Phil Jaques, the more aggressive of the openers, carried on his fine form from the recently-concluded one-day series. He scored 56 with seven fours while Chris Rogers was more circumspect, striking two boundaries in his 50. Rogers came into this match on the back of a century in the last of the ODIs. Neither batsman did their cause any harm as they compete to become Matthew Hayden’s new opening partner in Australia’s Test team.Faisal Iqbal, Pakistan’s captain, tried six bowlers but to no avail as Jaques and Rogers safely played out the tricky passage of play comprising of 34 overs after Pakistan’s dismal performance with the bat.The home side started poorly after electing to bat, losing three wickets, including that of Yasir Hameed with only 18 on the board. Hameed’s wicket was crucial as he had been among the runs, scoring two centuries in the limited-overs matches. Doug Bollinger, the left-arm fast man, cleaned up Taufeeq Umar for a duck and had Hameed (11) and Hasan Raza (0) caught.Khalid Latif and Iqbal briefly stabilised the innings before Latif was dismissed by James Hopes. Mansoor Amjad, who had an encouraging stint with the bat at Leicestershire this season, hung around for 90 balls, scoring 25, as Iqbal’s aggressive knock of 33 was brought to an end by Hopes.Abdur Rauf, better known for his bowling even though he has scored five first-class half-centuries, then played a lone hand in ensuring the Pakistan total earned respectability. Rauf smashed seven fours and three sixes in his 84-ball 73, adding 71 with the tail to take Pakistan to what seemed a decent 199.Dan Cullen and Cameron White grabbed two wickets each as Stuart MacGill, playing his first match of the tour, ended the innings wicketless.

Stuart Broad has won the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Player of the Year award after his rapid rise through the Leicestershire ranks and into the England one-day squad. He was presented with the award at the club’s annual dinner in central London on Friday night.He joins a long list of illustrious names, but it doesn’t include his father, Chris, who was also at the dinner. Stuart said: “It’s nice to be the first Broad to win this award.”Broad has taken 40 first-class wickets this season and claimed four for 63 on Friday, in Leicestershire’s draw against Northamptonshire, before traveling down to London.Broad polled nearly three times as many votes as his nearest challenger – last year’s winner Alastair Cook – and beat off competition from other candidates like Lancashire’s Tom Smith, Ravi Bopara of Essex, Durham’s Liam Plunkett and the Worcestershire wicketkeeper Steven Davies.Previous winners

The bright start of Geraint Jones in the first innings, when he made 30, was overshadowed by his poor wicketkeeping © Getty Images

Geraint Jones is still hurting from his disappointing Ashes debut, but he hopes to pay back his team-mates if picked for the second Test. While his performance was highlighted by two simple dropped catches in the second innings, Jones was criticised by commentators for a performance that included an irresponsible dismissal – he pulled Glenn McGrath to Jason Gillespie at mid-on – when England wanted to hang on for a draw.However, Jones, who will face pressure from Nottinghamshire’s Chris Read, said he deserved a spot at Edgbaston next Thursday. “There are always those worries but I hope that one performance will not be detrimental to the way I’ve performed,” Jones told the . “It still hurts. I was disappointed to miss those two chances but the rest of the summer I’ve been keeping as well as I ever have.”Allan Border, a former Australia selector, said the display of Jones was “clearly a worry”. “He will need to improve or I would be looking closely at his position within the team,” Border told .Jones hoped the bad patch was just a “blip” after earning his spot against New Zealand last year and holding it through the successful South Africa series. “I know myself that I’m good enough,” he said. “To miss those two chances did hurt a lot, but that’s part of the game. When you think you’ve got everything under control, cricket bites you hard.”

Pieter Strydom, a former South African international, has been named captain of the Eastern Cape for the next season. Strydom, nicknamed “Striker”, had played two Tests and 10 one-dayers for South Africa in the 1999-00 season apart from captaining Border for several years.Reunert Bauser, the CEO of the Eastern Cape franchise, said that Strydom’s experience of captaining Border for a number of seasons was one of the main reasons for the appointment. iAfrica.com quoted Bauser as saying, “He is a shrewd captain and his all-round ability with both bat and ball has earned him the respect of many an opposing team.”Reacting to the appointment Strydom termed it as a “challenge” and added, “I am proud to be named to lead the franchise for next season. I hope my captaincy and the results we achieve will repay the faith the Board have in me.”Strydom, 34, was born in the Eastern Cape and studied educated at Grey High School, which also has Hansie Cronje, Herschelle Gibbe and Nicky Boje on its alumni rolls. Strydom shifted to Border in 1992-93 and played as vice-captain to Peter Kirsten for a few years. He took over as captain in 1997-98 and carried on for six seasons.Under his captaincy, Border reached the SuperSport final in three consecutive years apart from making the final of the Standard Bank Cup in 1999. last year, he surprisingly lost the captaincy to Justin Kreusch.Strydom’s best bowling in first-class cricket was 4 for 12 against Northerns at Centurion Park, while another highlight of his career was the 6 for 17 that he snared against Western Province in 2001-02. In 2002-03, Strydom played his 100th first-class match and was awarded a benefit year as well.

Rashid Latif has escaped punishment for his controversial open letter to the ICC last month, as the Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed he would be retained as captain for the home series against Bangladesh in August.Latif, who led Pakistan during their 2-1 NatWest Challenge defeat against England last month, had invited trouble when he claimed that match-fixing was still an issue in international cricket. He claimed that the current laws, particularly in the first 15 overs of one-day matches, invited “fancy fixing”.”It provides a chance for the bookies to approach top-order batsmen to achieve unusual scores and affect the complexion of competitive matches,” wrote Latif, a statement that contradicted the ICC’s official line that match-fixing was a thing of the past. Latif was quick to apologise to the PCB for breaching their code of conduct and that seemed to have done the trick.”We have accepted Latif’s apology and the matter is closed,” said Tauqir Zia, the PCB chairman. “As long as Latif is doing fine he will remain captain and I must admit at an age when most of his colleagues are retired he is doing well.”Latif had planned to retire after the World Cup, but was persuaded to stay on to oversee Pakistan’s rebuilding process. It now seems he may be at the helm for some time yet. “We want to appoint a captain on a long-term basis,” added Zia, “and there are options before us. Anyone suitable can be appointed captain at a time when it is necessary.”Bangladesh play three Tests and five one-day internationals during their tour of Pakistan, which begins on 17 August.Click here for Latif’s letter to the ICC

X-rays have revealed CLEAR Black Cap, Daniel Vettori, has not broken his ankle after he fell awkwardly when fielding off his own bowling in Canberra.The left arm spinner fell in the 18th over of New Zealand’s second match of their tour of Australia against the ACT Invitation XI.However, while Vettori has not broken any bones, it appears his ankle may be quite badly sprained.”We’ve been advised by the experts that by tomorrow we’ll have a much clearer indication of just how bad the sprain is,” says Manager Jeff Crowe.”Obviously it’s a concern, but we’re going to wait and see how Dan progresses over night rather than speculating at this stage about different scenarios.”One hour after tea the ACT XI were 226/3. Shayne O’Connor had picked up two wickets and Chris Cairns one.

Luke Parker pulls during his 49 but Warwickshire struggled against Kent © Getty Images

Jonathan Batty’s unbeaten 102, his fourth century of the season, guided Surrey to a comfortable draw on the last day against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Surrey had been set an improbable target of 447 after a remarkable late onslaught from Liam Plunkett, who belted five sixes in his unbeaten 59 from 44 balls. Plunkett then took the first wicket to fall, that of Scott Newman for 34, before Ottis Gibson extracted Mark Ramprakash’s off stump to give his side a massive lift. But without the injured Steve Harmison, Durham’s attack lacked the penetration and the game meandered to the close.Ryan McLaren was the star at Edgbaston for the second time in a fortnight, as Kent exploited seaming conditions to dismiss Warwickshire for 213. McLaren took a hat-trick earlier in the month as Kent secured the Twenty20 Cup, and he was on target again with 4 for 42. Martin Saggers jagged the ball around for figures of 3 for 53, and Warwickshire’s best resistance came from Luke Parker, who made 49. Martin van Jaarsveld, who took the final wicket, chipped in with five catches. In reply, Rob Key compiled a bullish half-century, as Kent reached the close on 108 for 1.Adil Rashid took one step closer to securing a winter tour berth with England as he rescued Yorkshire’s innings with his maiden first-class century against Worcestershire at Kidderminster. It was a crucial innings too – Yorkshire had at one stage slipped to 125 for 5 in seamer-friendly conditions – but Rashid’s effort, from 152 balls with 17 fours, ensured a healthy total of 319. Click here for John Ward’s report.

Owais Shah made a spectacular and timely unbeaten 177 to show the selectors he’s in form ahead of England’s seven ODIs against India against Northamptonshire. Shah added 196 for Middlesex’s third wicket with Ed Joyce, who made 106, before exploding into action with 17 fours and three sixes as wickets fell away around him. There is little chance of a result after just 9.2 overs over the first two days at Northampton, but Middlesex were in some trouble at 36 for 2 when Shah and Joyce came together. And after Joyce had been dismissed by David Wigley, they stumbled again; Eion Morgan made a second-ball duck, and Jamie Dalrymple and Ben Scott both went cheaply too. Shah, however, found useful support in Chaminda Vaas, who was run out for 28, as Middlesex reached 380 for 7 at the close.Andy Caddick burst into action after two days of inactivity at Cardiff, grabbing two early wickets with the new ball and returning to dismiss Mark Wallace for 16, to give Somerset control against the Championship stragglers, Glamorgan. At 92 for 6, Glamorgan were deep in the mire, but Alex Wharf and Robert Croft pulled them round with a vital half-century stand for the seventh wicket.