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Daniel Marsh hit a century and Trevor Ward 93 as Leicestershire piled up their biggest total of the season on the first day of the CricInfo Championship clash with Somerset at Grace Road.They were dismissed for 387 right on the close, and there was nobody happier than Ward. The 33-year-old former Kent opener turned back the clock with a gem of an innings – his best score in the Championship for three years.He was the first to admit: “It’s been long overdue,” after his first season at Leicestershire brought him only 110 runs in seven matches.But given his chance for the first time this summer he grabbed it with both hands to set the tone and tempo for the day.And Australian Marsh is already looking an inspired signing as the overseas player. This was the fourth time in seven innings that he has gone past 50 and he is the first Leicestershire player to make a Championship century this season.It all added up to a tough day in the field for understrength Somerset who were minus Test men Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick. The one consolation for them was the return to action of young left-arm seamer Matthew Bulbeck after a year’s absence with a stress fracture of the back.He bowled tidily to claim the wickets of Iain Sutcliffe and Vince Wells. There was little else to cheer up the visitors however, on a day dominated by the batsmen after Leicestershire had won the toss.Ward and Sutcliffe shared an opening stand of 79 – Leicestershire’s best for a year – and then Marsh and Darren Stevens put on 147 for the sixth wicket.Ward, who raced to his 50 off 56 balls with nine fours and a six, was out seven runs short of what would have been his first Championship century for four years. He chipped a catch to mid-on having hit another six fours in his 137-ball innings.Marsh then took over, reaching his century off 165 balls with 19 fours. But once Stevens had gone for 63 Marsh had little support from the tail and Michael Burns nipped in to take three for 26 in nine overs. The Australian was undefeated though on 138, boosting his average to 87.

With Gareth Bale set to become a free agent at the end of the season, the 32-year-old has been linked with a number of clubs in recent weeks – with one of the more surprising stories suggesting there is a ‘whisper’ of a move to Celtic.

Indeed, whether or not Ange Postecoglou’s side could offer the Wales international anywhere near the amount of money he would more than likely demand following the conclusion of his £528k-per-week contract at Real Madrid is very much up for debate.

However, while it is true that the forward has not exactly been at his breathtaking best over the last few years in Spain, he would still be a quite extraordinary signing for the Hoops to get over the line this summer.

Celtic’s next Hartson

As previously mentioned, with Bale having made just five first-team appearances for Madrid over the last two seasons, it is clear that the 32-year-old would require a significant amount of work in pre-season in order to get him back up to speed for 2022/23.

However, once he regained his match fitness, the £2.7m-rated forward who scored 106 goals and registered 67 assists over 256 appearances for Los Blancos, in addition to bagging 72 goals and providing 61 assists over 237 outings for Tottenham Hotspur, would undoubtedly be a huge weapon in Postecoglou’s attacking arsenal.

Indeed, the Welshman proved over his 20 Premier League fixtures – only ten of which came as starts – during his temporary return to Spurs last season that he still has what it takes to impress at the highest level of the English game, scoring 11 goals, registering two assists and creating two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.9 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.

These returns saw the player who Dean Saunders dubbed a “freak of nature” and Ian Darke labelled “frightening” average a quite extraordinary SofaScore match rating of 7.48, not only ranking him as Tottenham’s second-best performer in the league but also the fifth-best player in the division as a whole.

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As such, should Postecoglou manage to get a deal over the line for Bale this summer, the 56-year-old could well have landed Celtic their next John Hartson – the Welsh striker who scored 110 goals in 202 appearances for the Hoops – as, despite his advancing years, the 32-year-old quite clearly still possesses the ability to tear the Premiership up.

AND in other news: Huge boost: Ange reveals major Lennoxtown development, it’s brilliant news for Celtic

Cliched T20 speak tells you that one ball can turn a match on its head, but Mohammad Amir’s deadly yorker to remove Misbah-ul-Haq only gave the opening BPL fixture a better finish. That delivery in the 19th over was the exclamation point of a game that swung both ways, mainly due to these former Pakistan team-mates.Misbah ended up with the biggest impact through a 39-ball 61 that was both patient and attacking. The innings reconstructed Rangpur’s chase of 188 after they had fallen to 23 for 4 in the fifth over. Misbah added 64 for the fifth wicket with Al-Amin, then a fast-paced 80 with Thisara Perera but when Amir removed both off consecutive deliveries, even Misbah thought it was over.”I think he won in that moment,” Misbah said. “He bowled a really good yorker, I was set and I missed that. This is what people are here to watch. Amir bowled well with the new ball. He had good pace and variations. In the 19th over he would have won the game for his team. Good to see him bowling like [he did today].”Amir started off with a maiden before taking the first two wickets – Lendl Simmons caught at mid-off and Soumya Sarkar dubiously given out leg-before – off consecutive deliveries in his second over. He was hard to get away, especially when he kept zooming in the full ball.Chittagong Vikings captain Tamim Iqbal, who felt that his team were 10-20 runs short and suffered through Asif Ahmed’s two dropped catches, was delighted to see Amir bowl with such verve.”He bowled brilliantly,” Tamim said. “I was looking forward to seeing him bowl. I am sure he will get better and better each day. He was playing a game like this after a long time. I think he was a bit nervous but it will get better for him. He has been taking wickets back in Pakistan. He was playing T20s after a long time.”Misbah said that he always knew that, with Thisara and Sammy waiting in the wings, Rangpur had a chance despite falling behind halfway through their chase.”We just wanted to play 20 overs, and that’s what I was telling Al-Amin,” Misbah said. “He was playing well at that time. We had Thisara and Sammy in the end, so we knew what capabilities they have when it comes to hitting the ball.”Even if we needed 80 runs in five overs, we were confident. Here 15 runs an over is chaseable when you have set batsmen. Once you have that big over, you have to keep in mind which bowler has how many overs left. If we can plan that, we can win games.”

Gamini Lokuge, the sports minister, has expanded the interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket from its present size of five members to seven. Sidath Wettimuny, the former Test opener, Premasara Epasinghe, a commentator, and Dion Gomes, president of the boxing association, have been added to the committee along with Lalith Wickremasinghe, a representative of the ministry.Prakash Schaafter and Damien Fernando, a representative of Jeevan Kumaratunga, the former sports minister, have been replaced. The replacement of Fernando was expected following the appointment of Lokuge, who replaced Kumaratunga as sports minister during a cabinet reshuffle in March.The top three members in the interim committee however remain unchanged, with Jayantha Dharmadasa as chairman, Kanganan Mathivanan as secretary and Sujeewa Rajapakse as treasurer. The new-look committee is due to have its first meeting on July 11. Sri Lanka cricket has been under interim administration since April 2005, after the elected body was accused of misappropriation of funds by Kumaratunga.

Scorecard

Thilan Samaraweera on his way to a hundred © Getty Images

Sri Lanka took every opportunity to give their batsmen time in the middle on the second day of the tour match against Sussex at a chilly Hove, piling up 521 for 5 before declaring at tea. By the close, Sussex had reached 41 for 1 in reply.Yesterday it was Upul Tharanga who took centre stage, and today it was the turn of Chamara Kapugedera and Thilan Samaraweera who both reached hundreds, in Kapugedera’s case the first of his career.James Kirtley struck early to remove Mahela Jayawardene without addition to his overnight 45, but that was to be Sussex’s only success for almost two sessions as Kapugedera and Samaraweera smashed 248 in an unbeaten sixth-wicket stand. Samaraweera hit exactly 100 from 203 balls, including seven boundaries, while Kapugedera, who faced one more ball, scored 134 including 15 fours.The Sri Lankans finally declared at tea, but bad light forced Sussex to wait more than an hour to start their innings. When they did, they soon lost Richard Montgomerie who was caught behind for 27 off Lasith Malinga.

Cricket South Africa will continue to be consistent in its stance regarding tours to and from Zimbabwe, Gerald Majola, their chief executive officer, said in a statement on Tuesday.”We view tours to and from Zimbabwe as cricketing matters,” said Majola, when asked to comment on reports that the New Zealand government was putting pressure on the ICC to suspend the Zimbabwe Cricket Union because its links to Robert Mugabe’s regime. We will continue to meet our obligations to the ICC and the ZCU in this regard. We have always been consistent in this. I have just returned from a meeting of the ICC’s chief executives, and the matter of any possible suspension was not even raised. In fact, all the countries, including New Zealand, who are due to tour Zimbabwe reaffirmed their commitments.”Cricket South Africa is also at the forefront of developing Africa into a major cricketing continent,” concluded Majola, “and this includes assisting in the progress of Zimbabwean cricket. We will continue on this path.”It is being reported that South Africa have agreed to play three ODIs in Zimbabwe on July 30, 31 and August 3.

L Balaji: will tour Australia after all © AFP

Lakshmipathy Balaji has replaced Aavishkar Salvi for the four-Test tour of Australia. Salvi sustained an acute shoulder sprain during the final of the TVS Cup in Kolkata and the selectors and team management present at the venue decided that Balaji was the best replacement.Salvi, who bowled three overs for 23 runs, is unlikely to play competitive cricket for at least four weeks, in the opinion of team physio Andrew Leipus.Balaji, who took ten wickets in Tamil Nadu’s most recent Ranji trophy match, against Rajasthan, was overjoyed on hearing the news. “Playing in Australia is a great opportunity,” said Balaji on the telephone from his Chennai residence. “I’m really looking forward to doing well in Australia.”

Chris Cairns has remained in Sydney with a minor back strain while his New Zealand team-mates drove to Bowral for tomorrow’s limited-overs match against an Australian Country XI at Bradman Oval.The Kiwis could be joined by dynamic opening batsman and part-time medium pacer Nathan Astle tomorrow night if, as expected, he proves his recovery from a broken hand in a domestic game for his club, Canterbury.NZ team manager Jeff Crowe says Cairns did not want to risk aggravating a small niggle by travelling to and from the Southern Highlands town.Allrounder Chris Harris will also be given a rest ahead of NZ’s busy tri-series program of three matches in four days from Saturday.The Kiwis take on Australia on Saturday and South Africa on Sunday in a double-header at Adelaide Oval, then back up two days later againstAustralia at the MCG.

The Indians may not be consistent, but the Zimbabweans sure arepredictable. When it comes to bowling on Indian wickets, Heath Streakand his motley crew have no idea how to approach the task. Theirspeedster Henry Olonga is a case in point. After roaring in for a fewovers attempting to send down the fastest delivery in the history ofthe game, he settles down to being more sedate, if not more sensible.When it comes to spinners Brian Murphy, Grant Flower and Dirk Viljoen,the less said the better. Uniformly, the Zimbabwean bowlers, barringthe captain himself, bowled on every spot in the pitch. Short, full,wide of off stump, down leg side… Everything was tried but thesimple short of a length outside the off stump delivery. The result,India amassed 609 before declaring with four wickets still in hand.Sachin Tendulkar made a masterly 201 not out and Rahul Dravid helpedhimself to 162. The two put on 249 runs together. For the first timesince Mark Taylor’s Australians conceded 633/5 declared to India inCalcutta in early 1998, India crossed the six hundred run mark. Thatwas two and a half years ago. One would certainly have to go back muchlonger to find an instance where India made six hundred runs abroad.The day began positively for India. After a few quick singles Dravidstruck a boundary to reach ninety-nine. On reaching that score, heslowed down, ever so briefly. Carefully playing out almost two overs,Dravid finally brought up his century. Having done so, it was back tobusiness as usual. Dravid quickly got busy cracking the bowlers away.He began by welcoming Grant Flower to the wicket by hitting him out ofthe ground over long on. Playing several such shots against the leftarm spinners, Dravid was unafraid to take the aerial route. Meanwhile,Tendulkar threatened to catch up with his counterpart. Reaching hiscentury off 155 balls, Tendulkar opened his shoulders and began totake a serious liking to the Zimbabwe bowlers. The pair went in to thepavilion to enjoy a sumptuous lunch, till then untroubled andunconquered.While the crowd eagerly awaited a surfeit of runs and no wickets lostin the session between lunch and tea, they were in for adisappointment. Instead, the Indians added just 83 runs for the lossof two wickets.After reaching 162 without stuttering, Dravid inexplicably went aftera bouncer that was well down the leg side from Streak and gloved theball through to the wicketkeeper. The nature of the pitch and thebowling attack made it look like Dravid had missed out on a goodopportunity. However, one must remember that he spent more than sixand a half hours at the wicket and struck twenty fours.Coming in to bat with 473 runs already on the board must be quiteawkward. Sourav Ganguly certainly found it so. In a two paced inningswhere he was either blocking the ball or going for huge hits, Gangulymanaged 30 before miscuing one such big hit, only to be caught at midoff.Ajit Agarkar (12), as he has done many times in the past, promisedmuch and delivered little. Fortunately Sunil Joshi came in and smackedthe ball around for a sprightly 27 in the company of Tendulkar. Thisbrought stumper Dahiya out to the middle. He was given just fourminutes at the crease by Tendulkar. Reaching the second double centuryof his Test career in 392 minutes, Tendulkar exulted. In a repeat ofthe last Test, India declared their innings closed as soon as abatsman reached his double hundred. In Delhi it was Dravid and today,Tendulkar. The Mumbai batting star’s 201 included 27 hits to thefence, but not once did he attempt to hit the ball all the way overthe ropes. At a massive 609/6 India declared their innings closed.In response, Zimbabwe sent Guy Whittall to open the innings in placeof Grant Flower who bagged a pair in the Delhi Test. In the eighteenovers that were bowled, Zimbabwe managed to reach 59/1. The wicketthat fell was of Gavin Rennie, being needlessly run out. Whittall (34not out) and Stuart Carlisle (4 not out) saw Zimbabwe through tostumps without further damage.

West Ham United are once again interested in a deal to bring Hugo Ekitike to the London Stadium in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), who claim that, after failing with a bid for the Stade Reims centre-forward in January, West Ham remain interested in a move for the 19-year-old at the end of the current campaign.

The report goes on to state that the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Arsenal are also keeping a close eye on the situation of the France U21 international – for whom the Ligue 1 side are believed to be demanding a figure in the region of €20m (£17m) in order to part with this summer.

“The next Mbappe”

Considering just how much potential Ekitike quite clearly possesses, in addition to the fact that David Moyes is in rather desperate need of a new centre-forward this summer, the argument that the teenager would be something of a dream signing for West Ham is a rather easy one to make.

Indeed, over his 21 Ligue 1 appearances this season, the £18m-rated forward has been in sensational form for Reims, bagging nine goals, registering three assists and creating two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.3 shots and making 0.6 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the striker who Graeme Bailey dubbed an “outstanding talent” – as well as claiming that “many in France believe he could be the next Mbappe” – average an incredibly impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.88, ranking him as Oscar Garcia’s 10th-best player in the top flight of French football.

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As such, with Moyes currently only having the option of the 32-year-old Michail Antonio up top – a player who has suffered terribly with injuries in recent years – it would indeed appear an extremely wise move for the West Ham board to finally provide the Jamacia international with adequate backup and competition in leading the Hammers line, with Ekitike very much looking to be an extremely exciting prospect for the Irons.

AND in other news: Sold at £37m, now worth £58.5m: Moyes had a WHU nightmare on “unplayable” £56k-p/w ace