January will provide Rangers boss Danny Rohl with the perfect opportunity to try and right the wrongs of the summer, with the German having inherited a deeply-flawed squad from the previous regime.

Reinforcements, if funds are available, will certainly be needed, while the winter window will also provide the chance to bite the bullet and discard those who have failed to flourish at Ibrox.

Joe Rothwell, categorised as Russell Martin’s man, looks to be the first definite departure heading into the New Year, even with the Englishman having signed a three-year deal upon his free transfer arrival.

An experienced addition, the 30-year-old faced notable criticism in the early months of the campaign, with former Rangers ‘keeper Cammy Bell among those outlining how the midfielder has “really struggled” in Scottish football.

Those ‘struggles’ have since seen the ex-Southampton man feature just twice since the change in the dugout, with clubs – somewhat surprisingly – now queuing up to end his Gers nightmare.

The latest on Joe Rothwell's Rangers future

As Kris Boyd alluded to earlier this season, the Light Blues have been stung far too often in recent times by dipping into what he described as an “inflated” and “overrated” market in England’s EFL, with the former Scotland striker lumping Rothwell and Max Aarons in with a string of previous failures, from Ben Davies to Kieran Dowell.

The jump to playing in the pressurised environment at Ibrox has been too much for far too many in recent times, with Rothwell, in particular, just the latest to have looked out of his depth in Glasgow.

Thankfully, for all concerned, this miserable spell is likely to be at an end sooner rather than later, with Football Insider reporting that he is likely to have played his last game for the club.

Unsurprisingly, the report suggests that Rothwell himself is ‘very keen’ to move on, with a welcome return to the Championship seemingly the most likely destination, amid notable interest from Sheffield United.

The one-time Manchester United academy man has twice been promoted with the Saints and Leeds United in recent years, ensuring he could be a valuable pick-up for Chris Wilder’s improving outfit.

As for Rohl and co, the club may well just be thankful that there is a market for their peripheral asset, ensuring the Gers can quickly cut their losses and move on.

Perhaps, that is a methodology that needs to be repeated heading into January, with the Premiership giants potentially able to capitalise on interest in their struggling stars.

Rangers can now cash in on struggling Ibrox flop

It isn’t a particularly good look for a player like Rothwell to be moving on so swiftly, after signing a relatively long-term deal, although considering the club’s woes both domestically and in Europe, there is little time for patience nor gradual improvement.

The 2022 Europa League finalists need to emerge as a truly competitive outfit once again, hence why no decision should be off the table, including cashing in on other recent summer purchases.

Of course, after splashing out £8m on the likes of Youssef Chermiti – a player who has scored just once since – funds are likely to be at a premium in the New Year, ensuring it might be a case of selling before buying for Rohl and co.

Rangers’ summer signings (25/26 stats)

Player

Games

Goals (Assists)

Djeidi Gassama

30

6 (2)

Thelo Aasgaard

24

1 (1)

Nasser Djiga

24

0 (0)

Oliver Antman

20

0 (3)

Jayden Meghoma

23

1 (3)

Max Aarons

22

1 (0)

Joe Rothwell

19

0 (2)

Bojan Miovski

20

5 (1)

Mikey Moore

20

2 (2)

Youssef Chermiti

18

1 (1)

Derek Cornelius

12

1 (1)

Lyall Cameron

9

1 (0)

Emmanuel Fernandez

10

3 (0)

Stats via Transfermarkt

If that is to be the case, then the Gers could pounce on reported interest in ex-Sheffield Wednesday man, Djeidi Gassama, with reports from last week indicating that LaLiga side Villarreal are exploring a deal for the 22-year-old.

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In the view of analyst Kai Watson, those at Ibrox should make the call to sell the young Frenchman if a bid does arrive, with the winger described as looking like a “ghost” since initially impressing in the Champions League qualifiers.

Indeed, a player who has “done nothing” since that four-goal burst in July and August, in the view of Watson, has hardly kicked on after reuniting with former boss Rohl, scoring just once since the 36-year-old took charge.

Denied a second by VAR in Monday’s win over Hibernian, Gassama – who has also failed to register an assist since the change in the dugout – found himself behind young Findlay Curtis for the meeting with the Edinburgh side, with Rohl also blessed with Mikey Moore to call upon on that left flank.

From being the bright note of Martin’s tenure, the forward’s impact has desperately dwindled since then, having also put in a particularly poor performance in last week’s defeat to Ferencvaros.

Rohl may have loyalties to him, following their prior relationship at Hillsborough, but if it means reinvesting funds to improve the squad in other departments, then ruthlessly cashing in might have to be the course of action in January.

Related Perfect Rothwell replacement: Rangers are "ready to sign" new star for Rohl

Rangers are reportedly in the mix to sign this central midfielder who would be a perfect replacement for Joe Rothwell.

Posts ByDan Emery

According to reports in The Sunday Mirror, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants to sign £60m-rated Napoli playmaker Lorenzo Insigne if Philippe Coutinho does join Barcelona before the transfer window slams shut at the end of the month.

What’s the word, then?

Well, Coutinho showed his desire to leave the Reds by handing in a transfer request on Friday and even though the Merseyside outfit had earlier released a statement saying he wouldn’t be sold, it remains to be seen whether that situation could change with The Sunday Mirror saying that the Brazilian expects to get his move away.

The Sunday Mirror says that if Liverpool could bank around £100m for the Barcelona target, that they would be able to make a move for Insigne, who Klopp is a long-term admirer of.

The report adds that the Serie A giants have insisted that the 26-year-old is not for sale ahead of their Champions League campaign and bid to win the Italian top flight title.

How did Insigne do last season?

The Italy international was one of Napoli’s stand-out performers as they could only secure a third-place finish in Serie A behind Juventus and Roma despite picking up an impressive 86 points throughout the campaign.

The 26-year-old, who usually plays on the left wing but can also play as a central attacking midfielder, managed to score an incredible 20 goals and produce a further 12 assists in 49 appearances in all competitions last season, with 18 of those coming in 37 Serie A outings.

Would he be a good Coutinho replacement?

He certainly would be.

Coutinho has shown over the years at Liverpool that he loves to dribble, create chances for his teammates and score spectacular goals and Insigne is very similar in that respect.

Standing at just 5’4″ tall, the Italy international created 66 chances in 37 Serie A appearances for Napoli last term while he showed his ability to run at and beat defenders by successfully completing 59 take-ons.

Would Liverpool get him for £60m?

It’s difficult to say.

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Napoli certainly won’t want to lose one of their key players ahead of another Champions League campaign but they could find an offer like that hard to turn down.

One concern  if he did move to Anfield would be his height though, with the Premier League being a notoriously physical league, although that hasn’t affected the likes of Coutinho, Eden Hazard and Sergio Aguero in recent years.

Another day, another transfer rumour to keep the Liverpool fans interested at the Transfer Tavern. 

Jurgen Klopp will want to try and forget last year’s defeat in the Champions League Final by bringing some silverware back to Merseyside. Liverpool have already got off to a brilliant start this transfer window by signing Monaco midfielder, Fabinho combined with the arrival of Naby Keita. Liverpool must continue their summer spending and bringing in Xerdan Shaqiri would be an astute signing.

The Breakdown

The Liverpool Echo reported earlier this month that the Reds will push to sign the Switzerland forward following the end of the World Cup.

Liverpool did try to seal a deal for Nabil Fekir before the reported £53 million deal broke down. Since then, Liverpool have been put off any future deal for the Lyon man and have been linked with the Stoke City winger.

At the World Cup, Shaqiri has been one of the standout performers and has been a huge reason for Switzerland’s progression out of the group stages. A talented winger, Shaqiri is valued at £12.6 million by Transfermarkt due to Stoke’s relegation to the Championship.

If Liverpool are to capture any form of silverware next season, they must add a goalkeeper, another defender and some attacking depth. Klopp needs more reliable forward options other than Ings, Sturridge or Solanke. At 27, Shaqiri is entering the prime of his career and could be a potential steal for Klopp.

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A £12.6 million move for the talented winger is a low-cost alternative to Fekir and a signing Liverpool should make.

Liverpool fans – should Klopp push this deal through? 

Mark Alleyne with the trophy Photo © AllSport UK

Champions Gloucestershire suffered a 27-run defeat to Northamptonshire on the Duckworth-Lewis system in their final National League match of the season.Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne was presented with the trophy by sponsors Norwich Union after the finish of a low-scoring encounter.It was the county’s third one-day trophy of a record-breaking season and, despite the defeat, it did little to dampen the champagne celebrations at the end.A 3,500 crowd helped create a buoyant atmosphere during the game and they must have thought a Gloucestershire victory was on the cards when the visitors, who had elected to bat, slumped to 32-5 in the 14th over.Ian Harvey uprooted Jeff Cook’s off stump with the first ball of the innings and the Australian all-rounder went on to record a career-best one-day return of 5-19.He finished the campaign with 34 National League wickets, which was four more than the county record he set last season.It needed some disciplined batting from Tony Penberthy (30), David Ripley (17) and Kevin Innes (32) to take Northants into three figures.Even so, a score of 129 in a match reduced to 43 overs per side by a shower looked inadequate.Gloucestershire were asked to score 129 rather than 130 to win under the Duckworth-Lewis rules, and set off briskly in pursuit of the runs.The fifty came up in ten overs and a quick finish looked likely as Harvey blazed the ball to all areas.He had smashed 43 from only 27 deliveries when he was bowled by Penberthy, a wicket which changed the game dramatically.The runs dried up and Penberthy also accounted for Matt Windows, Alleyne, Chris Taylor and Martyn Ball in a spell of 5-29.It was his best figures in a limited overs match, surpassing the 5-36 he took against Gloucestershire in a Sunday League match at Northampton seven years ago.He was well supported by off-spinner Jason Brown, who claimed a return catch to remove James Averis in nine overs which only cost 12 runs.Jack Russell stood defiant for Gloucestershire with an unbeaten 17, but the end came when Innes had Mike Smith caught at slip by Northants skipper Matthew Hayden.It was appropriate that Hayden should hold the final catch of Northants’s season, for the Australian won’t be back with them next year because he is expected to be part of his country’s Ashes squad.Harvey should be back with Gloucestershire, however. He will probably be part of Australia’s squad for the triangular one-day series, but that won’t preclude Gloucestershire from re-signing him. They have already offered him a new two-year deal.

Bihar went into the third day of their Ranji Trophy East Zone Leaguematch played at Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur, against Tripura on 212/1and went on to declare their first innings at 450/6 in 123 overs.Right handed batsman Nikhilesh Ranjan took the honours of the day withhis innings of 110 on a day when three Bihar batsmen were dismissed inthe eighties. Having allowed Bihar gain a lead of 214 runs in thefirst innings, Tripura were 90/2 in 45 overs at the close of play.Bihar batsmen made most on a day when Tripura bowlers looked clueless.Left handed batsman Tariquer Rehman was the first to go for 83. He hadadded 189 runs in 75.3 overs with Nikhilesh Ranjan for the secondwicket. Rehman’s innings lasted 208 balls and he hit six fours. Biharsoon lost the centurion Nikhilesh Ranjan for 110. He was at the creasefor six hours as he faced 304 deliveries hitting one six and tenfours. Bihar rubbed salt into Tripura’s wounds with another bigpartnership for the fourth wicket between Rajiv Kumar and Sunil Kumar.They added 162 in 25 overs. Captain Rajiv Kumar went on a leather huntwith a breezy knock of 80 in 78 balls. His innings was studded withone six and five boundaries. Sunil Kumar was not to be left behind ashe scored 87 in 100 balls including eight boundaries. It was sad tosee both the batsmen miss out on a chance of getting to theirhundred. C Sachdev of Tripura had a hard work out of 44-12-121-3 as hewas the best of the bowlers.Tripura have their captain S Dasgupta unbeaten on 33 as they stilltrail by 124 runs going into the last day of the match. Dasguptaplayed a good supporting role to S Chowdhuri who was dismissed justbefore the close of the third day for 47 (7 boundaries) as they added76 in 38 overs.

After a week of bluster and hyperbole, it fell to Andrew Strauss to provide the sense of perspective required ahead of the Investec Ashes series.Strauss, England’s new director of England cricket, was at the Kia Oval to promote a charity match in which he will captain a team. And as he looked around the room to see some of the injured servicemen who he will represent in his Help for Heroes side, the talk of “war” and “battle” that so often precedes the Ashes was given a sobering slant.Help for Heroes is a charity that aims to help those injured in real wars. The match, on September 17, will involve some of the world’s most high-profile players (Brian Lara, Graeme Smith, Matthew Hayden and Graeme Swann are among those confirmed to play) and will raise funds for those facing a lifelong fight to live with their battle scars. It was a reminder of sport’s ability to heal and help, but also of its relative triviality.”It makes you realise that the Ashes is not about life and death,” Strauss said. “It’s a game of cricket. It’s a number of games of cricket between two very passionate sides who desperately want to win.”We don’t need to build it into something it’s not. Ultimately our team are going to be very focussed to go out there and beat Australia, as every team that’s represented England will do so. But that kind of war rhetoric when it comes to the Ashes is unhelpful. The players should be competitive, they should stand up to each other and play in the right sort of spirit, and if we do so it will be a great advertisement for the game of cricket.”But nobody should mistake Strauss’ sense of proportion with any lack of desire to win the Ashes. While there has been much talk of late that the style of cricket played by England will be almost as important as the result, Strauss is not convinced. Certainly, he dismissed the idea that the victorious England side of 2013 struggled to win over everyone due to any lack of style.”The reason people weren’t all that impressed in 2013 was because they’d got very used to us winning Ashes series,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s very hard to come out of an Ashes series as a loser and be pretty happy with yourself. It is about winning and losing, as professional sport is generally.”But I do think everyone involved in English cricket got a real lift from the two series against New Zealand. They got a lift from the way those games were played and the type of cricket England played. It made us all appreciate and understand the importance of engaging with the public.

Cook will try new things – Strauss

Andrew Strauss has reiterated his commitment to Alastair Cook as Test captain and suggested he is at the stage of his career where he will welcome the encouragement to develop as a more dynamic captain.
While Cook has rediscovered his form with the bat in recent games, doubts about his conservative captaincy have arguably been magnified by England’s impressively positive cricket in the limited-overs series against New Zealand.
But while Strauss was reluctant to be drawn on the situation beyond the end of the Investec Ashes, he felt Cook was going into the Ashes in a “better frame of mind” than has been the case for some time.
“As I said at the start of the summer I think Cook is very much the man to take the England Test team forward,” Strauss said. “He’s had two Test matches, he’s played well and I think he has captained well. So my opinion hasn’t changed in any way.
“None of us know what’s going to happen over the next five Test matches so it would be wrong to speculate about what goes on after the end of this series. But at the moment he is the right man. I also know he is incredibly motivated for this series; from a team level he is going into this series in a better frame of mind than he has been for some time.
“I think Alastair is in a phase of his career where he is not afraid to try new things. I know from my experience that when you’ve been involved with English cricket for a long time it’s quite nice to have that sort of fresh change of thinking. I am sure he and Trevor Bayliss will forge a very strong partnership.”

“Ultimately we are in the entertainment business and people have a choice whether they turn on cricket on television or go and watch a cricket match or do something different. We’ve got an obligation to make the product one that people want to watch.”Strauss has maintained a relatively low profile this summer. Despite taking some major decisions – notably the replacement of the England coach – this was the first open press conference he had held since the day of his appointment. Even now, he was only persuaded to do so by the boost to the charity event his profile guarantees. As he put it: “If I can use the higher profile of my new role to blatantly engender more publicity for this game, then I will have no hesitation in doing so.”While Strauss’ attention has, understandably, been on the recruitment of Trevor Bayliss as coach – Strauss admits he only learned about him when he was linked to the job at the time Peter Moores was reappointed and that, the more he found out, the more impressed he was – it is clear his plans are starting to take on more long-term projects.Notably, the national academy at Loughborough is about to undergo a review, while it seems inevitable that an announcement into the restructure of county cricket will be made by the end of the year. The current likelihood is that each county will play 12 Championship matches (they currently play 16) and that the domestic T20 tournament will be played a month or so later than it is at present.”I think there’s a general feeling that Loughborough isn’t producing,” Strauss admitted. “But I don’t think people were saying that two or three years ago when we were top of the world rankings. It’s also very difficult to measure the impact because all the good players go through there and go on to play for England.”I have spent a lot of time there since I took over the job. There is a lot of good and hard work goes on there but there are areas we need to look at and see what we can do better. It’s not a process that’s starts and finishes in a couple of weeks.”And yes, we have to find a way of creating a different structure for the domestic competitions. There isn’t any cricketer who goes through the full season that feels like we are giving ourselves the best chance of producing England players in the various formats with the structure we have at the moment.”Personally I think there needs to be some change but whatever change that is implemented has to appeal to a wide array of people and it has to definitely be better than what we have at the moment.”The process of national selection is already under review. “I am sitting on selection,” Strauss said. “But I don’t have a vote. The process will continue as it has done, but it is an area I am looking at and doing a bit of a review of whether it is the best possible structure going forwards. I think there are some issues about responsibility and accountability which need to be flushed.”

ScorecardRiki Wessels scored his second List A hundred and first for Nottinghamshire•Getty Images

The best one-day score of Riki Wessels’ career helped Notts Outlaws maintain their unbeaten start to the Royal London Cup and secure their place in the knockout stages.Wessels scored 132 as the Outlaws posted 295 for 9 to beat Middlesex by 49 runs at Lord’s, with 12 balls to spare.The 29-year old scored his runs from 118 deliveries and hit 12 fours and seven sixes as he registered just his second century in the format and first since 2008.Steven Mullaney and Luke Fletcher added some lustre to the Outlaws’ innings, sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 63 in just 8.1 overs before both fell in the final over of the innings.Ollie Rayner returned his career-best figures of 4 for 35 and Gurjit Sandhu ended with 3 for 64.Sam Robson scored 88 in Middlesex’s response but when he fell in the 38th over the home side’s chances disappeared with him as the Outlaws’ spinners took control. Imran Tahir ended with 3 for 38 and Samit Patel took 3 for 45.A combination of an uncertain weather forecast and a tube strike meant that very few spectators were in the ground to see the Outlaws’ openers walk to the middle after James Franklin had inserted his former county.Alex Hales was clearly attracted to the shorter boundary on the Tavern side and deposited Sandhu several rows back before then drilling a return to the same bowler to depart for just 11.Michael Lumb, playing his first match in this season’s competition only made a single, before edging Toby Roland-Jones behind as the powerplay produced a meagre return of 28 for 2.James Taylor, like Hales, had made a century in this same fixture 12 months ago but perished for just 8, shuffling in front to be given lbw against Roland-Jones.Brendan Taylor, fresh from a pair of ducks against Essex and Lancashire, over the last four days, scored 19 before sweeping Rayner’s first delivery to short fine leg.Wessels was already starting to pepper the short side, hitting two sixes in his fifty but then lost Samit Patel who chipped back to Rayner for 9.On 87, the opener had his only moment of concern as Dawid Malan got a hand to a leg-side blow but had to settle for pawing the ball back into play, rather than conceding the six runs it would have been had he continued to topple over the rope.Wessels reached three figures for the first time in a Notts shirt, from 100 balls, with his fifth six, a switch hit off Rayner. Two more sixes, from consecutive Roland-Jones’ deliveries, took him to 132, whereupon he presented a catch in the deep, off Rayner.Brett Hutton made just 9 but solid contributions from Luke Fletcher, who blasted 39 from 29 balls, including two sixes, plus 51 from Mullaney, saw the Outlaws to within five runs of 300.Mddlesex’s response was given the perfect start with a solid opening stand of 71 before Tahir had Malan caught at backward point by Hales for 33.Robson, playing just his 13th List A match, passed 50 from 70 balls with five fours and received good support from Nick Gubbins in a second-wicket partnership worth 81.The 29th over saw Notts make a double strike. Hutton sent back Gubbins for 45, with Taylor gratefully clinging on at midwicket and then former Outlaw, Franklin, was run out for nought by a direct hit from Lumb.Robson’s top score in this format came to an end with an ill-advised blow down the ground in Tahir’s comeback over and the tail folded meekly as Patel picked up the final three wickets to seal the win.

Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of Middlesex’s final County Championship fixture of the season against Worcestershire at New Road tomorrow after failing to recover sufficiently from the blow to the head he took while batting against Mitchell Starc in last week’s fifth ODI against Australia.Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, was forced to retire hurt on 1 during the seventh over of the series decider at Old Trafford on September 13, when he took his eyes off the ball from Starc that struck him a fierce blow on the side of the helmet.After a lengthy period of treatment on the field Morgan was forced to retire hurt, and he did not return either to complete his innings as England were bowled out for 138, or lead the team in the field during Australia’s series-sealing eight-wicket win.Angus Fraser, the Middlesex director of cricket, confirmed that the club were following the current advice from the ECB medical team, which recommends that players who have shown signs of concussion need to be symptom-free for a full week prior to their next fixture.Morgan, who was described by Trevor Bayliss, the England head coach, as “having a lump on his head and a headache” after reportedly taking an hour to come fully to his senses in the dressing room, was apparently still worse for wear last Tuesday morning, a full 48 hours after the incident.”To be eligible to play in the next game after suffering concussion, the ECB advice is that a player has to show no symptoms for a week,” Fraser told ESPNcricinfo. “Unfortunately Eoin was still a bit groggy and fuzzy when we assessed him last week. He is absolutely fine now and I’m sure he would be available to play if there was another fixture next week.”The management of head injuries in cricket came sharply into focus last November following the death of Phillip Hughes following a blow to the head during a Sheffield Shield fixture between South Australia and New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That incident was clearly on the minds of several of the Australian players at Old Trafford, not least Starc, who had been fielding for NSW when Hughes was struck, and was visibly shaken by this latest incident as he was comforted by his coach, Darren Lehmann.In common with many other sports, such as Australian Rules Football and America’s NFL, the ECB this season introduced new guidelines for counties when dealing with concussed players, a move that has become imperative for all sports administrators following a study into Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disease of the brain that was recently found to be present in 96% of a study of ex-NFL players.This season has involved several high-profile head injuries, not least the on-field collision between the Surrey fielders Rory Burns and Moises Henriques at Arundel in June. Burns, who suffered cuts above his left eye as Henriques sustained a broken jaw, was back playing for Surrey within a fortnight.An ECB spokesman confirmed that Middlesex took the decision to rest Morgan last week, having followed the current advice and guidelines from the ECB medical team.This article was amended at 2130 on September 21, 2015 with additional information.

Sometimes fairy tales do happen in sport. Geraint Jones, Ashes winner in 2005 turned priceless county pro – via Papua New Guinea – signed off his professional career by being chaired around Lord’s after Gloucestershire secured the Royal London Cup with an epic come-from-behind victory.Jones had dragged Gloucestershire to a competitive total with 50 off 65 balls, using his wealth of experience to assess the conditions, before being bowled as the first of Jade Dernbach’s hat-trick wickets. For 34 overs of Surrey’s chase it appeared Dernbach’s 6 for 35 would be the headline act, but then Kumar Sangakkara clubbed a full toss to mid-on and Gloucestershire, evoking the spirit of the one-day sides which dominated from 1999-2004, strangled Surrey and took the match to the final over.”I just feel very lucky to be honest,” Jones said. “To finish this way, very few people get the chance to walk off holding a trophy and look back on a great day. Personally I couldn’t have asked for any more. Since the knockout stages I’ve been saying to myself, dare to dream and who knows. And it couldn’t have worked out better.”My family was here, although I had to keep batting because the boys had swimming lessons this morning and then had to get the train up so I couldn’t get out until they showed up – that spurred me on. To finish this way, with a group that has given such energy back to my cricket, it’s a pleasurable way to finish.”Jones was not actually on the field the moment the match started to change as Jack Taylor’s full toss found the hands of substitute Will Tavare at mid-on. “Thankfully when I popped off for a toilet break is when Sangakkara hit that ball to Tavs, because I knew they were trying to hit it my way,” he said.”I must admit at half time I was very nervous that we were 15-20 shy especially with the way Sangakarra has been playing. But once we got into it, I knew the way our spinners have been bowling all summer has been exceptional and the wicket was going to be good for them because Batty showed when I was batting that it wasn’t easy to score off them.”Michael Klinger, the Gloucestershire captain, also pinpointed the role of his spinners – Taylor and Tom Smith who combined to take 5 for 85 in 20 overs – plus the unfortunate absence of Zafar Ansari for Surrey as a key part of the match. He said he, too, would have bowled with the 10.30am start but also backed the strength of his team’s bowling if they were able to get a score on the board.”They were a little bit light on their batting playing a lot of allrounders,” he said. “We talked pre-game that if we could get through the top they were quite inexperienced and it just so happened the two wickets we got were the two in batters. We knew it would be tough to score against our spinners. In the end, two spinners was the advantage for us. Unfortunately Ansari’s injury hurt them a little bit as well.”Klinger also paid tribute to Jones. “It was fitting that he was our best batter in his last game and to finish his career the way he did.”For Jones, who celebrated with his children on the outfield as Gloucestershire enjoyed a lengthy lap of honour in front of a large number of travelling supporters, this victory will take a special place in his career highlights.”It’s right up the top, purely for the fact I was able to contribute and the group of lads have added more than I can put into words because they’ve made my last few months in cricket so enjoyable.”He will certainly be remembered for more than just that one catch.

Sandeep Patil, India’s chairman of selectors, has expressed concerns over the Indian team’s performances, and said the panel has discussed “a few issues” with the team management. The way Ajinkya Rahane is being used – captain one day, carrying drinks the other; batting at No. 3 one day, 6 the other – was definitely one of the issues, but Patil said they discussed other things too. But he said he retained faith in the ODI captain MS Dhoni, the team director Ravi Shastri, and the support staff. India have lost both the Twenty20 internationals to South Africa, and two out of the first three ODIs.”It is not [about being] happy or not happy,” Patil said about India’s performance in the series against South Africa so far. “We are concerned. The two selectors with the Indian team had a word with the team management and the captain. Today also we had a detailed discussion with the captain.”It is not about worrying. Every time they win we feel good. Every time the Indian team lose we feel bad. Nobody is happy about losing the game we should have won. Besides that, we still back the team we have chosen, we still back the ideas, we still back the team management, the support staff. We want them to do well. The areas we felt that needed looking into have been discussed, and I hope that the team management and the captain will give a good thought to it.”Patil was asked whose fault it was that the India captain feels the No 5, 6 and 7 slots are unsettled. Has he not got the teams he wanted or have the selectors not shown enough foresight?”I have said this earlier too, and I’d like to clarify once again, that our jurisdiction is to give the captain the team which not only the captain wants but the team which the selectors feel will do well, looking at the form of that particular player, looking at the slot for which he has been chosen, looking at the opposition,” Patil said. “I think we are still on the same page. Whether it is the captain, whether it is the director, whether it is the team management, the support staff, whether it is the BCCI.”All selectors feel we have picked the best combination. The final selection of the XI is always left to the team management. That’s why earlier when I was asked if we have discussed this issue, yes we discussed this issue, we worried about a few things. I hope things will work better hereafter.”In recent Indian cricket, for the selectors to even discuss these issues and then acknowledge that issues exist is almost unheard of. A necessitating factor could be the way Rahane is being used. The captain has said he is an excellent ODI batsman against the new ball or against the old ball on quick pitches – which basically leaves him either a slot in the already packed top order or none at all. Yet he was played at No. 3 twice, with Virat Kohli having to move down to 4. In those two ODIs he scored 60 off 82 in a chase of 304 and 51 off 63 in India’s first-innings total of 247 for 9. In the third ODI Rahane was moved down, but perhaps because of the rapidly rising asking rate he was pushed all the way down to No. 6.Patil insisted Rahane was not the only matter of concern. “We have discussed not only Ajinkya but other players also with the captain and the team management,” Patil said. “Me and my co-selectors have had a word with the director [Shastri] also. But this is always left to the team management and the captain. We have limitations. We have no complaints but we have limitations. We discuss and we agree to a conclusion, and finally decide the combination of 15 players, but it is always left to them to pick the final XI and the batting and bowling order.”When asked if he was satisfied with the way Rahane was being handled, Patil remained non-committal. “It is not whether I am satisfied or if we are satisfied,” Patil said. “As I said we have full confidence in our captain and team management and the director. We have discussed these issues. Not only regarding Ajinkya Rahane. There were a few more issues. We have discussed them with the team management and the captain. I am sure they will give good thought to it.”