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Two years on from what should have been his final Test appearance, allrounder returns to Old Trafford for extraordinary encore

Matt Roller17-Jul-2023As Moeen Ali celebrated his second IPL title with Chennai Super Kings after a breathless final in Ahmedabad seven weeks ago, Test cricket could not have been further from his mind. He was in his second year of retirement from the format, balancing his commitments as England’s white-ball vice-captain with lucrative opportunities on the T20 circuit.Now, with an Ashes series on the line in Manchester, he is not only England’s lead spinner, but their No. 3 batter, too. It is a unique all-round role for England in modern Ashes cricket; to find a precedent, you have to go back to the days of ‘Young Jack’ Hearne, Frank Woolley and Wilfred Rhodes.This was not meant to happen. Moeen planned to spend these few weeks enjoying some rare time off in the short gap between the T20 Blast and the Hundred, but events – Jack Leach’s back, Ollie Pope’s shoulder and Moeen’s conversation with Brendon McCullum on the third evening at Headingley – have taken over, as they often do.”Things happen for a reason,” Moeen said on Monday. “I genuinely believe that and I’ve always believed it. That’s why, when the call came, I thought, ‘It’s an opportunity I can’t turn down.’ It’s a great challenge but yeah, things happen for a reason. I’m a big one on faith and destiny and all that.”Emirates Old Trafford was meant to be the scene of Moeen’s final Test two years ago, but India’s withdrawal from the game hours before the first ball was bowled meant that his farewell appearance never happened. Two years later, he should get the chance to bow out at The Oval: “It would be amazing to win an Ashes and finish Test cricket properly.”Moeen’s promotion to No. 3 at Headingley was a move in keeping with the rest of his Test career, engineered for the benefit of others rather than himself. He knew that Harry Brook was more comfortable at No. 5, and thought Jonny Bairstow would have more influence shifting down a spot or two, so approached McCullum and pitched his idea.He explained: “If I can even just play 10 overs and we get through that hardness of the ball, it’s probably easier for the other guys to come in – especially in a chase like that. I just thought it was better, and they obviously all agreed.”Moeen only made 5 off 15 balls before losing his leg stump to Mitchell Starc, yet his promotion was a qualified success: it meant Brook walked out in the 20th over, rather than the 10th, and his 75 was the decisive innings in England’s three-wicket win. “I know you want your best players up the order,” he said, “but with Popey out of the side, it’s obviously short-term.”And it is easily forgotten, amid his self-deprecation, that Moeen is an experienced No. 3. He has batted there 75 times in first-class cricket for Worcestershire, averaging 53.61 with seven hundreds and two doubles, and has long said that the higher up the order he bats, the more he feels like a genuine batter: “You end up preparing differently.”Related

• Whisper it quietly but Zak Crawley is so far nailing this Ashes

• Khawaja: Crowd abuse has gone too far in the Ashes

• Khawaja returns to where he feared Test career had ended

• Anderson: Don't blame my age for off-colour Ashes display

• Anderson: Edgbaston pitch was 'like kryptonite for me'

“[I’ve been] going back to simple things about batting: playing the ball late; playing as straight as I can; and just leaving a few balls,” he explained. “Just trying to get my mindset right for No. 3.” He netted in the indoor school at Edgbaston between Tests, and since arriving in Manchester has been “just hitting balls, training quite a bit, trying to get myself ready for a tough challenge”.Moeen is 23 runs away from reaching 3,000 in Tests, to go with his 200 wickets, and would become only the 16th man to complete that double. “I think it means more to my dad,” he said. “It would mean a lot to me as well but my dad is the one who is buzzing for it so hopefully I can get there. I know it’s only 20-odd runs but it feels like miles off.”He has thrived with the ball at Old Trafford, taking 16 wickets in his three previous Tests here, and proved at Headingley – where he dismissed both Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith – that his spinning finger has healed sufficiently for him to fulfil his role after the seam of the ball ripped his skin at Edgbaston.Moeen was sent an anti-bacterial gel called ‘Medihoney’ by an NHS worker after the first Test, who wrote him a letter explaining that she was a big fan; it helped to heal the wound almost straightaway. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is amazing,'” he told the BBC. “Those little things are what make me content and happy.”Moeen will be part of one of the oldest, most experienced bowling attacks in England’s Test history this week. They have 1,974 Test wickets between them, breaking the record set by the attack that played in the first match of the series. “I was always told that old is gold,” he said with a smile.Everything about Moeen’s comeback has been surreal, yet somehow utterly in keeping with the rest of a mercurial Test career. When he first retired, it seemed Moeen’s legacy would be his selflessness and adaptability. If he can help England square the series this week, it could be even greater.

Fred Klaassen is only county-contracted player involved in three-match series

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-2022Teja Nidamanuru, an allrounder who has featured for Auckland in the past, and batter Antonius Staal, who has played 14 T20Is but never an ODI, have been included in Netherlands’ squad for their upcoming home ODI series at home against West Indies.

Schedule

Netherlands vs West Indies: May 31, June 2, June 4 – VRA Stadium, Amstelveen

Also named in the squad after serving a ball-tampering ban was Vivian Kingma, while opening batter Musa Ahmed has also made a comeback after missing Netherlands’ last series, against New Zealand.Veteran Stephan Myburgh, who made a 45-ball-64 in his last outing, against New Zealand in Hamilton, is not part of the squad having announced his ODI retirement after that game. Brandon Glover’s was the other name missing from the squad that played the New Zealand ODIs. The quick bowler had gone wicketless in both the games he featured in on that tour.Fred Klaassen, the Kent left-arm seamer, is the only player with a county contract who has been named in the squad.Related

• No Holder, Lewis or Hetmyer in West Indies' ODI squad

The three-ODI series will start on May 31, with all matches played in Amstelveen. The matches will be part of the World Cup Super League, where Netherlands are currently placed 13th. Their summer will also involve Super League games against England and Pakistan, at home, in June and August respectively.Squad: Pieter Seelaar (capt), Scott Edwards (wk), Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Fred Klaassen, Vivian Kingma, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Musa Nadeem Ahmed, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Vikram Singh, Antonius Staal

ECB ‘hopeful’ about Indian involvement but awaiting BCCI approval

Matt Roller23-Feb-2021Ten Australia Women internationals have confirmed their availability for the inaugural season of the Hundred, with the ECB “hopeful” that they will be joined in the competition by a handful of India players.Nineteen of the 24 overseas slots in the women’s Hundred have now been filled, after eight new players were announced on Tuesday: Alyssa Healy, Nicola Carey (Northern Superchargers), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Jess Jonassen (Welsh Fire), Sophie Molineux, Annabel Sutherland (Trent Rockets), and Rachael Haynes (Oval Invincibles).Eleven Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa players had previously been confirmed: Elyse Villani (Trent Rockets), Sophie Devine, Ashleigh Gardner (Birmingham Phoenix), Deandra Dottin, Chloe Tryon (London Spirit), Mignon du Preez, Lizelle Lee (Manchester Originals), Dane van Niekerk, Marizanne Kapp (Oval Invincibles), Amelia Kerr and Stafanie Taylor (Southern Brave).Related

• The Hundred to launch with women's fixture on July 21

• The Hundred – full 2021 squad lists

• The Hundred – men's draft announcements

• ECB launches Women's Regional T20 alongside RHFT

• Farrant recall: a landmark moment for English women's cricket

While recruitment for the men’s Hundred involved a retention stage and a player draft, the women’s competition is running on an open-market system, with players and teams allowed to negotiate contracts directly.The ECB remains optimistic that some Indian players will be involved in the competition. While the BCCI does not grant No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) for active men’s players to appear in overseas leagues, India’s leading female players have previously appeared in the Kia Super League (KSL) – which has now been discontinued to make way for the Hundred – and the Women’s Big Bash League.ESPNcricinfo understands that Indian players are keen to be involved in the competition, but that they are waiting on approval from the BCCI. Four India internationals – Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma – were involved in the KSL between 2017 and 2019.ESPNcricinfo understands that the ECB has been in discussions with the BCCI about the prospect, and a spokesperson said they were “hopeful” of Indian involvement.Charlotte Edwards, Southern Brave’s head coach, told Sky’s : “I think there are conversations happening. Clearly, they’re players we want in this competition. We’ve got most of the top Australian players, so I think the next step is to get the Indian players over the line. That’s exciting for the competition, so hopefully that will happen.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Beth Barrett-Wild, the head of the women’s Hundred, told ESPNcricinfo that the ECB was confident the “best players in the world” would feature.”Obviously there’s a level of uncertainty with the Covid situation, but we’ve got a brilliant team hooked into government who are making sure we’re on top of what’s happening,” she said. “It’s really difficult to know where we’ll be in July but those overseas players have all signed their contracts, so fingers crossed they will be over here in the summer.”It shows that these players want to play in the Hundred and see it as a big opportunity, both from a playing perspective and in terms of their personal visibility. We talk about world-class quality and the Hundred being a world-class competition, and I can categorically say that we’ve got the best players in the world coming.”Teams have also confirmed the signings of several English players. Deals for Sophie Ecclestone (Manchester Originals), Bryony Smith (Welsh Fire), Alice Davidson-Richards (Northern Superchargers), Sarah Glenn (Trent Rockets), Sophia Dunkley (Southern Brave), Mady Villiers (Oval Invincibles), Georgia Elwiss (Birmingham Phoenix) and Tammy Beaumont (London Spirit) were all announced on Tuesday.

Glamorgan batsman digs in to rescue team from prospect of follow-on

ECB Reporters Network10-Aug-2020Centurion Billy Root was the inspiration behind a stirring Glamorgan fightback after Worcestershire captain Joe Leach had plunged them into deep trouble with an early burst with the ball in the Bob Willis Trophy encounter at Blackfinch New Road.Root, unbeaten on 53 overnight, had seen his side nosedive from 185 for 2 to 203 for 6 after Leach’s spell brought the remarkable figures of 7-5-3-4.At that juncture, the visitors were still 53 runs away from avoiding the possibility of being asked to follow on. But Root showed great application and determination in enabling his side to recover to the extent that their first-innings deficit was only 81 as they totalled 374 all out from 116.3 overs.He went onto make 118 and it needed a stunning catch from Worcestershire keeper Ben Cox to bring his fine knock, containing 12 fours and spanning 258 balls, to an end.Worcestershire openers Daryl Mitchell (48 not out) and Jake Libby (44) then extended their side’s advantage in solid fashion during an opening stand of 97 before the latter and Leach (0) departed shortly before the close.Root had received excellent support from Graham Wagg (54) in a seventh wicket partnership of 118 in 34 overs. The former Nottinghamshire batsman gave only one sharp chance when on 74 – to slip off spinner Brett D’Oliveira.Then a last wicket stand of 41 between Timm van der Gugten (23 not out) and Michael Hogan (17) further helped Glamorgan’s cause before they were dismissed on the stroke of tea.Leach’s initial spell wreaked havoc to the Glamorgan batting line-up. Kiran Carlson added only three runs to his overnight 76 when he pushed forward to a delivery which left him and Daryl Mitchell held a sharp low catch at second slip.It ended a partnership of 141 in 47 overs with Root, and Leach struck again in his next over when Glamorgan captain Chris Cooke (0) went for a square drive and picked out Ed Barnard who excelled in clinging onto a low chance at pointTom Cullen (1) was next to perish to a ball which moved away just enough to find the edge as he pushed forward – and Mitchell made no mistake with a chest high catch.It became 203 for 6 with the last ball of the same over as Dan Douthwaite hooked at Leach and succumbed to a tumbling catch by Brett D’Oliveira running in from the mid-wicket boundary.Only when Wagg joined Root did some much needed solidity return to the batting. A square cut for four off Leach – his 12th boundary – took Root to three figures from 258 balls.Wagg’s half century came up soon afterwards from 79 deliveries with seven fours before Root’s spectacular dismissal. He nicked a delivery from Charlie Morris and saw Cox take a stunning one-handed catch in mid air away to his left.The same combination accounted for Kieran Butt (7) in more straightforward fashion and then Wagg (54) top edged Ed Barnard to provide a simple catch to the keeper.Dillon Pennington finally received some tangible reward to end the innings when Hogan was pouched by Barnard in another fine catch at point, as Leach finished with 4 for 67 from 26 overs, Barnard 3 for 54 and Morris 2 for 86.Mitchell and first-innings century-maker Libby were initially watchful against some accurate Glamorgan new ball bowling from Hogan and van der Gugten.But they gradually flourished with the 50 partnership coming up in 23 overs after successive boundaries by Libby off van der Gugten on his return to the attack.Libby also hit Douthwaite for a trio of boundaries in one over but fell to the same bowler – caught behind – shortly before the close. Leach promoted himself but the move backfired when he was caught at slip by Charlie Hemphrey off spinner Kieran Bull.

A 76-run win helped the Sixers climb out of the bottom of the points table

The Report by Mohammad Isam25-Jan-2019How the game played outSylhet Sixers climbed out of the bottom of the Bangladesh Premier League points table with a 76-run win over Rajshahi Kings in this season’s first match played in Chattogram. Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Nawaz took three wickets each to headline an excellent Sylhet bowling performance to shoot Rajshahi out for 104 in 18.2 overs.Laurie Evans’ early dismissal rocked Rajshahi, who failed to gain any momentum in their chase of Sylhet’s 180 for 6.Sylhet earlier put up a strong total, mainly because of a 62-run third-wicket stand between Jason Roy and Afif Hossain. Roy, in his first innings for Sylhet, struck four fours and two sixes in his 28-ball 42, while Afif scored 28 in 29 balls. Towards the end, Tanvir slammed four fours in his unbeaten 23 off nine balls.Turning points

• Sylhet added 90 runs in the second half of their innings despite losing a set Roy at the end of the tenth over.
• Zakir Hasan and Fazle Mahmud took up 5.2 overs to add 36 runs, and that didn’t really help Rajshahi to recover from their three early losses.
• Run-rate pressure led to Fazle, Christiaan Jonker and Mehidy Hasan falling in the 15th over to Nawaz.

Star of the dayThe experienced Tanvir wasn’t the captain for this game, but he delivered a very good all-round performance. First, he blasted 23 in quick time before picking up three wickets.The big missSoft dismissals hurt Rajshahi in their pursuit of 181. First, Mominul Haque’s attempted clip off Taskin Ahmed went straight to short fine-leg, and then Ryan ten Doeschate was bowled off a really short delivery from Alok Kapali.Where the teams standRajshahi are stuck in fifth place with three games remaining, while Sylhet have returned to the sixth spot following the win.

The 28-year old became the first fast bowler to record a ten-wicket haul in the UAE as Pakistan sealed an emphatic 373-run win

The Report by Danyal Rasool19-Oct-20180:50

Mohammad Abbas, Pakistan’s second-fastest to 50 Test wickets

Abu Dhabi really was nothing like Dubai. Over in the nation’s most global city, Australia batted out 140 overs in blazing sunshine to thwart Pakistan’s hopes of a win. Here in the capital under clouds and a slight drizzle, it took Mohammad Abbas and his teammates barely 50 overs to scythe through an Australian side that looked as feeble as the worst pessimist had feared a fortnight ago.Abbas completed a five-wicket haul, his second in this match and his fourth in a career that yet spans a mere 10 matches. It was his scintillating spell on Friday morning that ripped through Australia’s middle order, condemning them to a 373-run defeat, their fourth-worst in history.Abbas was strewn across every record book in Abu Dhabi. He is the first fast bowler to take a ten-wicket haul in UAE, he’s the joint fastest to 50 wickets, and has the lowest average of any bowler with that tally in the last 122 years. For a bowler who only made his debut 18 months ago, he is fast rising to the status of unofficial world No. 1, a ranking none other than Dale Steyn tipped him to reach. If you watched him bowling in this Test, and indeed these two weeks, you’d be hard pressed to disagree.These are especially worrying times for Justin Langer, the new Australia coach. In the three Tests since the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town, Australia have suffered two defeats that rank as their second and fourth-heaviest of all time.On Friday, the middle order collapsed yet again in an intense morning session where Abbas ripped through them with virtually unplayable accuracy. Marnus Labuschagne and Mitchell Starc showed fight when it looked like the game might not extend to the second session, but that partnership was broken half an hour before lunch as Yasir Shah finally got his teeth into the game.Travis Head and Aaron Finch began the day solidly enough, but the sheer insurmountability of the task that lay ahead brought its own constricting pressures. Asad Shafiq, captaining in place of Sarfraz Ahmed – the regular captain is being examined for possible concussion – kept Abbas on for an extended spell this morning, and for good reason. Mohammad Rizwan was keeping up to the wicket, and Abbas, with his deadly accurate off-stump line, began to wear the Australian pair down.Head was the first to go, nicking through to the keeper, and that started a masterclass in stump-to-stump bowling. Abbas struck Mitchell Marsh’s bent back knee in his next over, and a review revealed it would have hit the stumps. His next over produced two further wickets, Finch the first victim, before perhaps the best one of the lot. Three balls into his innings, Tim Paine felt he could safely leave one from Abbas that began outside the stumps. The ball seamed in, and the Australia captain could only watch as it clattered into off stump. Australia had lost four wickets for seven runs, and Abbas was suddenly on the cusp of another five-fer.Usman Khawaja wasn’t able to come out to bat because he’d been off the field for a large time nursing an internal injury, so Starc came out instead. It was the best passage of play for Australia. Abbas was finally given a rest and the pair, particularly Labuschagne, looked reasonably comfortable against Yasir. They batted together for over an hour and brought up the 50 partnership, and for Australia to take any sort of momentum into the next session, it was obvious the two would need to see this one out.Yasir ensured that wouldn’t happen. As Starc stepped back to deal with what he saw as a short delivery, it turned sharply and struck him on the pad. That was followed by perhaps the worst DRS review all series; it wouldn’t have been more obviously out had it smashed into his middle peg. Yasir would find another wicket next over, with Peter Siddle trapped in front. Replays showed a review – which Australia did not call for this time – would have saved him, with the ball pitching slightly outside leg stump.The only uncertainty following the lunch interval was whether Abbas would be able to complete his ten-wicket haul. Though come to think of it, there never was going to be any doubt.

Collapses, snail-paced innings, and unfit conditions were the story in the Group C games of Ranji Trophy 2016-17 played on November 5, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2016Mayank Dagar and Pankaj Jaiswal took seven wickets between them as Himachal Pradesh bowled Jammu & Kashmir out for 162 on the first day in Ranchi.Parvez Rasool, who took over the captaincy from Mithun Manhas, won the toss and elected to bat. Jaiswal removed opener Umar Nissar in the second over, before 19-year-old spinner Dagar broke a second-wicket partnership of 47 to reduce J&K to 49 for 2. Jaiswal was involved in three of the next four wickets to fall, as he ran out Puneet Bisht for 12, and removed Parvez Rasool and Ram Dayal to leave J&K at 111 for 6.Opener Shubham Khajuria, who scored a century in the last match, scored 48 and was the last batsman to be dismissed, having retired mid-way through his innings. Mithun Manhas (18), who had also retired, was the ninth wicket to fall. Both of them got out to Dagar, who took the last three wickets to finish with 4 for 33.Himachal lost openers Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra on the way to 58 for 2 at stumps.Services scored at under two runs per over as they went into stumps at 170 for 3 against Andhra in Indore.On a day that only three wickets fell, it will he hard to believe a bowler had been on a hat-trick, but Cheepurapalli Stephen did remove Services captain Soumik Chatterjee and Ravi Chauhan in successive deliveries in the 23rd over, leaving Services at 19 for 2.However, opener Anshul Gupta, who scored 72 off 268, put on 140 for the third wicket with Shamsher Yadav, who survived the hat-trick ball, to steady Services’ innings. Gupta fell to the part-time legspin of DB Ravi Teja with the score on 159. From that point, Services scored only 11 runs in the last 25.2 overs. Yadav was unbeaten on 60 off 22o balls.Haryana overcame two passages of losing wickets for no addition of runs to end the day on 227 for 8 against Kerala in Jaipur. They lost their second and third wickets on the score of 53 before going from 104 for 3 to 104 for 6.After being put in, Haryana lost opener Shubham Rohilla in the third over. Nitin Saini put on 44 for the second wicket with Chaitanya Bishnoi before both of them fell to debutant medium-pacer Venugopalan Vinod Kumar.Vinod Kumar then broke a 51-run partnership for the fourth wicket when he got rid of Rajat Paliwal. Sandeep Warrier removed Mohit Hooda and Harshal Patel in the next over, and Haryana had lost three wickets in 11 balls.Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 51 as he put on 50 with Yuzvendra Chahal, 34 with Mohit Sharma and an unbroken 39 with Sanjay Pahal to take Haryana to 227 at stumps. Warrier ended the day with 4 for 59, and Vinod Kumar finished with 3 for 37.Only 38.3 overs were bowled in the match between Chhattisgarh and Goa in Cuttack because of a wet outfield. Amandeep Khare scored an unbeaten half-century to lead Chhattisgarh to 103 for 2 at stumps.There was no play until lunch after Goa won the toss and elected to field. When play began, they removed debutant Abhishek Singh for a duck in the third over. A second-wicket partnership of 76 between opener Sahil Gupta and Khare ended when Gupta was run out with the score on 81. Returning skipper Mohammad Kaif joined Khare to ensure no more damage before play was called off.Damage, though, was caused to medium-pacer Felix Alemao, who slipped in his follow-through and had to be taken off on a stretcher after bowling 5.5 overs.Play was abandoned for the day in the match between Hyderabad and Tripura in Delhi as smog made it impossible for players to take the field.

Sunderland are stuck in a horrible rot at the moment, one that seemingly has no end.

Despite news that Stewart Donald is set to finally relinquish his control of the Black Cats, there has been no rejuvenation or upturn in positivity.

In fact, there has been quite the opposite. The Mackems have sacked Phil Parkinson and now without a win in four League One outings, are searching for new owners, a new manager and a director of football.

If anything summed up Sunderland in the last four or five years it would be this. Yet again, there is a lack of clarity at the Stadium of Light and it must be impossible for the players to focus on their jobs.

However, one player who was able to focus on what mattered against Burton was Max Power. The midfielder popped up with a vital late goal in their 1-1 draw which somewhat saved Andrew Taylor’s blushes.

Despite his strike, there was someone who stood out further – Luke O’Nien.

The right-wing back has been impressive this term and is showing great commitment to the club with his performances. On Tuesday, he was brilliant again, providing a lesson to the rest of the team.

He didn’t score or assist a goal but he was dedicated and robust, winning 90% of his duels against the Brewers. Whether it was on the ground where he won four duels or in the air where he won five, O’Nien was imperious and deserves the plaudits from what was otherwise a damp occasion.

Furthermore, the 26-year-old was fouled on four occasions, using his body to good effect to win dead-ball situations for his team.

It was disappointing, therefore, to see him go off with an arm injury, something that is suspected to be a dislocated shoulder.

If that is the case, then it could be a few weeks before we see O’Nien in action for the Black Cats again. After this performance, that would be desperately cruel on the club.

Meanwhile, Sunderland MUST hand more minutes to one young striker…

Mike Ashley can hand Steve Bruce an ideal upgrade on Dwight Gayle by signing Aberdeen’s lethal striker, and rumoured Newcastle United target, Sam Cosgrove in January.

What’s the word?

According to The Scottish Sun, Bruce is determined to bolster his attacking arsenal in the winter market, feeling the Magpies currently lack adequate depth behind Callum Wilson and club-record signing Joelinton.

The Toon have sent scouts on regular missions to monitor the merits of Cosgrove whilst he continues to bounce back from knee cartilage damage, with the towering 6 ft 4 centre-forward making his fourth Premiership start of the season at St. Mirren on Saturday.

Cosgrove played an influential role in proceedings when he earned his campaign debut at home to nine-in-a-row title-holders Celtic in October by providing the assist for Aberdeen’s second in a 3-3 draw after just seven minutes on the pitch.

He followed the assist with a goal in the victory over Hibernian next time out and he could be signed for as little as £2million plus add-ons, after seeing a move to Ligue 2 side En Avant de Guingamp fall through this summer after an astounding 23-goal season across all competitions.

Forget Gayle, sign Cosgrove

While Cosgrove has not yet hit the same heights as last term as he continues his comeback from knee cartilage damage, a bargain £2m fee and his insane record in front of the net last season should be all the reasons that Ashley needs to get the cheque book out in January.

Bruce would be de delighted to have a player of Cosgrove’s ilk serving as the deputy to Wilson and Joelinton, as the Aberdeen ace’s towering physique and similar style of play to Andy Carroll will hand the Newcastle boss a game-changing option to call on when the Toon must ditch the original game plan.

The Magpies do not currently have regular goalscorers as backups as Carroll or Gayle are both yet to score this season, or in Gayle’s case, yet to even feature for a single minute in any competition.

Reports suggest that Bruce and the Newcastle hierarchy are unlikely to accept offers for Gayle in the upcoming winter market fearing a lack of depth in attack, but signing Cosgrove would allow the St. James’ Park natives the chance to listen to offers, rather than see the forward leave for free next summer.

Gayle’s future is certainly set to be away from Tyneside whether they keep him or sell him in January, so it would be foolish not to seek a replacement as soon as possible and accept whatever compensation can be found for the former Crystal Palace frontman.

Aston Villa have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Werder Bremen forward Milot Rashica this week, according to fresh reports…

What’s the word?

BirminghamLive’s Ashley Preece claims that the Midlands club, for the time being, have walked away from negotiations over the 24-year-old attacker.

Villa have tracked the player throughout the summer transfer window with sporting director Johan Lange holding talks with Bremen chief Frank Baumann recently.

However, despite meeting his €22.5m (£20.5m) release clause, it’s thought that discussions have stalled with Rashica wanting to double his €40k-per-week (£36.5k-per-week) wages.

Dean Smith’s side are wary of splashing out huge wages to players yet to prove themselves in the English game.

Huge blow

This comes as a massive blow to Villa’s transfer plans as the Kosovan talisman would have offered a new versatile threat and could have perhaps lessened the burden on skipper Jack Grealish.

The 24-year-old provided 11 goals and eight assists playing on the left-wing and through the middle for the Bundesliga outfit last season.

Per WhoScored, he averaged 2.6 shots, two dribbles, 1.4 key passes and one cross per game, so evidently he’s a troublesome presence wherever he’s playing on the pitch.

Rashica has even been likened to Alexis Sanchez in his playing style – “It’s not just his ability to play across the front line and ice-cold finishing that Rashica has in common with Arsenal-era Alexis Sanchez. A one-man attacking force with pace to burn, the Bremen talisman has that self-same stocky build and low centre of gravity that made Sanchez such an overwhelming prospect for opposition defenders back in his Barcelona and Arsenal days.”

Whilst his Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt claims the wing wizard “makes scoring look easy” and there hasn’t been many players like that at Villa Park in recent years.

A front three of Rashica, Ollie Watkins and Bertrand Traore with Grealish in support should be enough for Villa to avoid another relegation scrap, so losing out on him over wages could be a killer blow.

AND in other news, Aston Villa must avoid a swoop for Danny Drinkwater v2…