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Aston Villa have been heavily linked with Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher this summer and his signing could finally allow Steven Gerrard to axe Villa flop Morgan Sanson.

Following a superb season on loan with Crystal Palace, where his performances earned him a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad, Gallagher has not been short of suitors so far this summer.

It is still unclear whether or not he will get guaranteed football at Stamford Bridge and Villa could offer him regular first-team minutes ahead of the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

The 22-year-old contributed eight goals and three assists in 34 appearances for Patrick Vieira’s side last season, averaging a superb 7.08 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

The French manager was certainly a big fan of the 22-year-old, as he praised him last season, saying:

“He has got so much strength, so much power, so much mobility, but it’s about finding the right time to use his energy.

“He is unbelievable, and he is like that in life as well. He gives everything in every relationship with his teammates and he plays in the same way as he is in his life.”

Villa definitely seem to be in the market for a central midfielder this summer and should the England international arrive – with Chelsea reportedly willing to sell the youngster for a figure in the region of £50m – you feel it would put the final nail in Sanson’s Villa career.

Since signing from Marseille in a £16m deal in 2021, the Frenchman has made just 20 appearances for the Villans, in which he has failed to contribute a single goal or assist.

The signing of Gallagher would surely give Gerrard enough cover in midfield and Sanson could finally be axed, with his old side Marseille said to be interested in re-signing him in a £10m deal.

Unfortunately for the 27-year-old, his move to England has simply not worked out, emphasised by his shocking 6.34 average rating in the Premier League last season.

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Therefore, Villa fans will be hoping that a deal for Gallagher can be done, as it would surely bring an end to Sanson’s nightmare spell at the club.

AND in other news: Journo drops Villa claim on gem dubbed the “heir to Iniesta”, Gerrard would love him

Italian football journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has now revealed some significant Everton news involving Harry Winks and Richarlison.

The Lowdown: Swap deal?

The Goodison Park outfit have been strongly linked with a move for Tottenham midfielder Winks throughout the window so far, while Spurs have been linked with a move for Richarlison.

It begs the question as to whether the two Premier League clubs could potentially arrange a swap deal involving the two players, with Spurs giving some extra cash to sweeten it.

The Latest: Romano gives transfer update

Taking to Twitter, Romano has now shared an update on both players’ situations, claiming that a potential move for Richarlison ‘was discussed in talks’ between both clubs over Winks, as the latter ‘could’ be included in a swap deal.

The Italian journalist claimed: “Tottenham are still well informed on Richarlison – was discussed during talks for Harry Winks-Everton. Richarlison would be open to Spurs move #THFC. It also depends on Raphinha domino.

“Winks talks going slow, as he could be included in Richarlison talks or separated deal.”

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The Verdict: Depends on Tottenham offer…

Whether Everton should accept a swap deal involving Winks and Richarlison should depend on how much money Spurs are prepared to throw in along with the Englishman to bring in the Brazil international.

Winks is currently rated at £13.5m by Transfermarkt, while Richarlison is worth significantly more at £43.2m, so the north London club would surely have to stump up some extra cash to make a swap deal viable.

Moreover, the Brazilian would be very difficult to replace at Goodison Park given that he finished as the Toffees’ top scorer and highest-rated performer in the Premier League last season (WhoScored), so they could do with a significant amount of extra money from any potential Richarlison/Winks swap deal.

Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a boost in their bid to bring Romelu Lukaku to north London in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian publication Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness), who claim that Antonio Conte is now in an advantageous position in his pursuit of the Chelsea centre-forward, as Tottenham have the money to close a deal for the 29-year-old this summer – unlike Inter Milan.

The report goes on to state that, while the Belgium international is keen on the idea of a return to Serie A, Lukaku would also find it difficult to say no to sealing a reunion with the 52-year-old at Spurs.

Meanwhile, from the Blues’ point of view, it is believed that Thomas Tuchel would very much welcome the money received from the permanent sale of the striker – even if it meant selling Lukaku to a direct rival in the Premier League.

“Out of this world”

While it is true that, following his £97.5m move to Chelsea last summer, Lukaku did not enjoy the best campaign of his career in 2021/22 – scoring 15 goals over 44 appearances for the Blues in all competitions – considering just how effective the 29-year-old was for Conte at Inter, it is not difficult to see why the Italian would like to work with the forward once more at Tottenham.

Indeed, over his 95 fixtures under the 52-year-old at Inter, the £76.5m-rated talent bagged a quite astonishing 64 goals and provided his teammates with 17 assists – averaging a direct goal involvement every 96 minutes over the course of his two-year stay at the San Siro.

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The £350k-per-week forward most impressed over his 36 Serie A appearances in 2020/21, scoring 24 goals, registering 11 assists and creating ten big chances, as well as averaging a SofaScore match rating of 7.32 – ranking him not only as Conte’s best performer in the league but also as the joint 12th-best player in the division as a whole.

As such, should Conte believe that he can help the player who Luis Miguel Echegaray dubbed both “out of this world” and “ridiculous” refind this form at Tottenham, the centre-forward’s reported £85m asking price would appear well worth paying, as a peak-performing Lukaku would undoubtedly help to transform Spurs from a top-four contender to a title challenger under the 52-year-old next season.

AND in other news: “As of today…”: Romano reveals huge Spurs transfer twist, supporters will be gutted

New Liverpool signing Fabio Carvalho will play a ‘key role’ immediately at Anfield next season, according to reliable journalist Dominic King.

The Lowdown: Carvalho move sealed

The 19-year-old has signed for the Reds ahead of officially joining on July 1st, in what is an exciting piece of business by the club.

Carvalho enjoyed a superb season for Fulham, scoring ten goals and registering eight assists in the Championship, as the Cottagers sealed their return to the Premier League.

While there could have been the option of loaning the attacker out immediately this summer, perhaps back at Fulham to gain top flight experience, that doesn’t look as though it will be the case.

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The Latest: King drops interesting claim

Taking to Twitter, King claimed that Jurgen Klopp sees Carvalho as an immediate part of his plans from next season onwards:

“Liverpool have agreed a £7.7m deal with Fulham to sign Fabio Carvalho and he will officially move to Anfield on July 1. No intentions to loan Carvalho out next season, Liverpool see him as having a key role to play.”

The Verdict: One for the present & future

Carvalho looks like a huge prospect and it is encouraging to hear that he is already considered a massive part of Klopp’s plans in 2022/23.

The manager clearly thinks that he is ready to make a big impact from the off, with Fulham boss Marco Silva describing him as a ‘fantastic’ player.

The fact that Carvalho can operate in an attacking midfield role or across the front-line is perfect, in terms of versatility, and it could be that he begins to usurp more senior players in those roles, such as Roberto Firmino.

In other news, one Liverpool attacker has been backed to stay at the club. Find out who it is here.

The West Indies Under-19 wicketkeeper is yet to make his mark in the World Cup, but don’t bet against him just yet

Sreshth Shah29-Jan-2020When Leonardo Julien, the West Indies U-19 wicketkeeper-batsman was growing up, he would play backyard cricket with his two brothers. But they wouldn’t go easy on young Leonardo, who was the youngest of the trio. The brothers would bowl at him with the hard rubber ball, and one day a delivery hit him so hard that he remembers throwing his bat away and running back into his house.”Come back”, Julien remembers his father shouting at him. “Only babies cry.”It was at that very moment that Julien’s perspective as a cricketer changed.”That incident toughened me up,” Julien tells ESPNcricinfo. “After that, I realised I need to be stronger. I developed my game such that no one could beat me for pace moving on. No one could make me cry.”Julien’s love for the game began when he was six, watching his two brothers leave for training while he was left behind at home. It was the main reason why they would entertain him with some backyard cricket in the first place, to pacify him. By the age of seven, Julien was padding up at a local cricket academy in Trinidad trying to emulate them.While the careers of his brothers faded away, Julien took giant strides on the cricket field. Originally, just like the other kids of his age, Julien wanted to try everything, but he especially wanted to bowl off-spin.But what made Julien switch to being a wicketkeeper was his curious soul. When he was nine, while training one day, he found the wicketkeeping gloves of Bryan Christmas – who earned fame as a 14-year old playing the 2011 U-19 World Cup – lying around. Julien picked them up and wore them. Within two years, he was the designated wicketkeeper for the Trinidad youth team.”I wanted to do everything when I was smaller, so I used to bowl,” Julien says. “My first choice was bowling and then batting. When I wore Christmas’ wicketkeeping gloves one day, I liked the feel of it on my hands.”The next year, in a game where the keeper got injured, a coach asked the team ‘who wanna keep?’ I screamed, ‘me!’ I’ve been a keeper since.”These days, when Julien isn’t representing West Indies U-19, he plays for the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force. His batting inspirations are Michael Hussey – because of “how aggressive he was in running between the wickets” – and Virat Kohli, for the way “he maneuvers the game.””The way Kohli grabs the game with his hands, that’s how I want to be,” Julien says. “My playing style is like him – aggressive, but at the same time I can also stay in the wicket for a long time because I love scoring runs. I want to own all three formats – T20s, ODIs and Tests – like him.”Julien has always been a prodigy. When he won the West Indies Regional U-17 championship in 2016, he was only 14. But he doesn’t regret his formative years playing cricket instead of indulging in childhood mischief. He finds inspiration in video games, especially Fortnite, the first-person-shooting multiplayer game with more than 250 million players worldwide, and draws some parallels that it has with cricket.”Fortnite is a game that inspires me,” Julien says. “It’s entertainment but it also helps me think. Fortnite is all about strategising, on how to get on top of your opponent. You need to have a strategy with a clear plan. It has helped me think on my feet.”Julien has had a quiet World Cup in South Africa. He has made only 82 runs in four games, with a high score of 40. But West Indian wicketkeepers have traditionally transitioned successfully into the senior sides in years to come. The 2008 alumni Devon Thomas has played for West Indies. The 2010 runner-up Shane Dowrich did too. From the 2012 squad, wicketkeeper Sunil Ambris made his international debut two years ago, and the two wicketkeepers in the squad from 2014 – Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran – are now regulars in the country’s white-ball set ups.Can 2020’s Julien do the same?

Virat Kohli has joined a small group of cricketers who have married celebrities in other fields

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2017Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi – Sharmila Tagore, 1968
When Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, married the actor Sharmila Tagore, the event caused both excitement and debate. Pataudi was not only captain of India and a style icon; he was also royalty, and at the time it was frowned upon in conservative India for a royal to marry someone from the film industry, especially someone who had donned a bikini in a photoshoot. Add to this, the two were from different communities. Nonetheless, the pair were married at the Pataudi palace in 1968 in a well-documented ceremony and have since become symbols of modernity. They had three children, two of whom – Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan – are famous actors.Mohammad Azharuddin – Sangeeta Bijlani, 1996
With his upturned collar and passion for watches, Mohammad Azharuddin, the former India captain, was clearly someone with a penchant for the glamorous life. Sangeeta Bijlani had won the Miss India contest in 1980 and moved on to acting in films. There were rumours about the two dating through the early 1990s, made all the more scandalous because Azharuddin was then married with two children. The gossip took an ugly turn when people began postulating that his relationship with Bijlani was affecting Azharuddin’s form. He eventually divorced his first wife, Naureen, and married Bijlani in 1996.Kevin Pietersen – Jessica Taylor, 2007
Before his autobiography-writing days, Kevin Pietersen was considered the new saviour of English cricket. So, when he began dating pop singer Jessica Taylor, a former member of the group Liberty X, the media were all over the story. The two were married in an intimate function at the Manor House Hotel in Wiltshire. Fast bowler Darren Gough was Pietersen’s best man.Shoaib Malik – Sania Mirza, 2010
Sania Mirza became the most searched-for woman tennis player in the world in 2010, a year in which she won no Grand Slam titles. Such was the buzz around her wedding to Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan allrounder. Given the political tensions between India and Pakistan, two high-profile sportspersons from either side of the border getting married was always going to attract attention. And there was more to gossip about when a woman named Ayesha Siddiqui claimed she was still married to Malik and said she was suing him for mistreating her. The Malik-Mirza wedding, which took place in Hyderabad, became international news. The two now live in Dubai.

Early inroads, a dropped catch (or sometimes more than one) and then the opposition middle order leading a recovery. It’s a familiar script for Sri Lanka

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Lord's09-Jun-2016From a pitch expected to be lifeless, Sri Lanka’s working-class attack squeezed three first-session wickets out. On a first day some suspected might be fruitless, six batsmen were wangled back to the pavilion, and Sri Lanka were occasionally strutting about.But then, at some point in the day, their outlook changed. An easy catch was spilt. Chances were missed. Balls scooted into fielders’ hands, then accelerated out, as if having got a second wind. And an opposition batsman in the lower middle order made a smart hundred. He strung hefty partnerships together along the way.Hang on, hasn’t this happened already? Three weeks ago, Sri Lanka had had England 83 for 5 before the hosts surged to 298, Jonny Bairstow helping himself. Oh wait, but that was in a colder crosswind, and in front of a sparser crowd, at Headingley.Although, 12 days ago, didn’t Sri Lanka have their opposition five down again, before England eventually went on to more than double their score – a No. 7 romping to triple figures? Oh, but that was in the even colder crosswind, and in front of the even sparser crowd, at Chester-le-Street.In Bairstow’s 107 not out at Lord’s, the ghosts of many lower middle-order tormentors of Sri Lanka were invoked. When he cracked Nuwan Pradeep to the square-leg boundary in the 32nd over, he was Sarfraz Ahmed, who leapt around the crease to cut and pull, rescuing Pakistan from a big first-innings deficit and delivering them instead a lead, first at the SSC in 2014, then in Galle less than a year ago.When the catch off Bairstow dribbled onto the turf in the 36th over, he was Kane Williamson being shelled at fine leg in 2015, en route to a match-upending double ton. Or Moeen Ali being let off at gully at Chester-le-Street, en route to 155 not out. Or Bairstow being put down by the bowler at Headingley, on his way to 140.And when Moeen and Chris Woakes played good supporting hands, in partnerships worth 63 and 52 unbroken respectively, they were Zulfiqur Babar hitting a half-century from No. 10, or Morne Morkel scratching out an important partnership alongside JP Duminy.To say Sri Lanka have opponents by the shirt collar then let them go is, by now, an understatement. They’ve let go of the collar, apologetically smoothed out any crinkles they may have caused, then asked any more shirts that needed ironing. They’ve taken the foot off the pedal, sprinted out to the front of the slowing car, and then got themselves run over.At the end of the day, they sent the same player they had sat in front of the media inside the first two days of the first two Tests. He answered in the same old way, the same old tired questions the same old boring journalists asked of him.”We dropped crucial chances in Durham and here as well,” Rangana Herath said when asked about Sri Lanka’s difficulties with the lower middle order. “Throughout the series the catching has cost us big time. Catching is one discipline that we need to improve a lot. But then it’s part of the game. The important thing is tomorrow morning we need to come back and do well. The first hour tomorrow is going to be very crucial. We need to bowl them out as soon as possible.”In some ways, Sri Lanka are like the has-been band, still touring around the world, playing the same set-list. Only, they have been on the road so long, they’ve forgotten they have played this same concert at this venue before. In their most recent Lord’s Test in 2014, they had had England at 120 for 4 on the first day. England wound up eventually declaring on 575 for 9.The problems for this young team are many, but among the most familiar is this propensity to leak runs. Since the start of 2015, they have surrendered 30.12 runs to the last five partnerships in an opposition innings, on average. No team has been worse.A scoreline of 279 for 6 on an unhelpful surface, after losing the toss, represents good returns when taken in isolation. In the greater scheme, it is another revolution on a merry-go-round of middling days that could have been outstanding ones.

There is plenty to see and do around Napier – lovely ocean views, a gannet colony, a water park, cycling tracks through the sun-bathed countryside – but it’s the Hawke’s Bay’s wine that is world famous

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Mar-2015As you bounce along the Waimarama country road 20 kilometres south of Napier, a sudden, serrated spine of ash-coloured hills rises in a steepening curve to the right. Below the weathered ridge, the ribs of the range stretch down into greener lower slopes that sustain cattle and sheep. Further down, a still, shallow pond captures the hills’ every detail in its reflection – like a mirror held up by the earth, demanding its handsomeness be admired again. The whole effect is dramatic and imposing; the hills presiding over surrounding orchards and vineyards like a rugged, forbidding royal family.I make a special mention of their splendour because that Wednesday, these royals would be outdone. The landscape could not hope to match giddying scale and daunting scope of the ignorance myself and two others would visit upon the Craggy Range winery at the foot of the hills, that Wednesday morning.There is plenty to see and do around Napier – lovely ocean views, a gannet colony, a water park, cycling tracks through the sun-bathed countryside – but it’s the Hawke’s Bay’s wine that is world famous, and it’s the wine we were damned well we were going to taste. No matter that none of our trio had even a passing interest in wine. No matter that we collectively had a kindergarten-level literacy of the subject.Wine is first meant to be considered at a small distance before it is consumed, apparently – its colour and smell are all supposed to be part of the experience. If the Craggy Range winery staff had studied us for a while after we stepped out of the car, they would have had a taste for the ineptitude that would soon enter their establishment. For a good five minutes we wandered around the premises in search of the tasting room, checking all the way by the laundry, and at one stage squeezing through the gap between a pillar and a gate, seemingly convinced that these people would hide the entrance to their business underneath a doormat, or behind a cluttered shed.When we stumbled upon the entrance, which was no more than 20 metres from where we had parked, and almost exactly in the centre of the front side of the building, we waltzed in and startled the young lady in charge of the cellar. We were, she said, her first guests of the day. As she produced three white wines and three reds for us to sample, she almost seemed happy. Over the next half hour, we would systematically ruin her morning with our boundless lack of knowledge about wine, proving beyond doubt that we were getting almost nothing out of the wine-tasting experience.The pond captures the hills’ every detail in its reflection•Andrew Fernando/ESPNcricinfoAs we began to glug down the samples, we offered questions of profound obtuseness between us. Questions like: “Do you chill white wine before you drink it?” And “why is some wine white and others red, when they are made from the same grape?” After each question, we would pause for a few seconds, as if to aerate the tannins of our own daftness, then let fly with: “What’s the difference in taste between Shiraz and Syrah?” (They’re the same thing, apparently)There were moments when I was personally impressed with the apparent grasp of viticulture that belied one of our queries. This was delusion. Without fail, our hostess was visibly becoming more and more dismayed with the quality of each fresh probe. “Yes, merlot does actually improve over time,” went one of her particularly downbeat responses.In between these rounds of inane Q&A, she would leave us and go into her office for a few minutes, presumably to weep. None of us needed to go at the time, but I now wish we had asked her where the toilets were. That would at least have raised the average intellectual standard of the exchange.Eventually, a thirty-something couple who appeared much more cultured and knowledgeable arrived, much to our hostess’ joy, you suspect. We polished off our remaining samples as she split time between the two groups, then even bought a bottle of one of the wines we had tasted. It was mainly out of economic utility – you didn’t have to pay the tasting fee if you bought something – but I like to think it was also a sort of apology for her having to suffer through our visit.

A look back at previous ODIs between India and Pakistan where the result technically didn’t matter

Kanishkaa Balachandran and Vishal Dikshit14-Jun-20136th match, Champions Trophy 1986-87, SharjahThe format for the four-nation tournament, also featuring West Indies and Sri Lanka, had the teams play each other once in a round-robin format with the team with the most wins declared the winner. West Indies, having swept all three games, took the title, consigning the final match between India and Pakistan to a dead rubber. It wasn’t short of excitement, though. Imran Khan took advantage of the helpful conditions to remove India’s top three, bowling them out for a paltry 144 in just over 40 overs. Pakistan didn’t have it easy. They slipped from a comfortable 51 for 1 to 65 for 6, with Maninder Singh finishing with 4 for 22. Manzoor Elahi rescued Pakistan with a brisk, unbeaten 50 to steer Pakistan to a three-wicket win, to take second place.6th ODI, 1987-88, JamshedpurAnother exciting, yet inconsequential game. Pakistan came into the final ODI with an unassailable 4-1 lead in the series. Imran Khan put India in and the openers responded with a stand of 154 with Manoj Prabhakar scoring his maiden ODI century. Dilip Vengsarkar’s aggressive fifty took India to a strong 265 in the allotted 44 overs. Ijaz Ahmed’s 72 gave the chase a boost, but it went down to the wire with Pakistan needing 12 off the final over. Javed Miandad, no stranger to tense finishes between the two sides, sealed the deal, marking the end of a very successful tour for Pakistan.5th ODI, 1997, TorontoIndia dominated the second edition of the Sahara Cup, winning the first three ODIs. The fourth game was reduced to 28 overs a side due to rain and Pakistan managed 159 for 6. Sourav Ganguly, who was in sensational form with the bat and ball through the tour, was the architect of India’s fourth consecutive win, smashing an unbeaten 75. Ganguly aside, the quality of cricket wasn’t the greatest. India’s tardy over-rate siphoned off two overs when they came out to bat in an already truncated match. Pakistan had a tough time overcoming Ganguly and the cold, with the temperature dropping to 12 degrees. Pakistan botched three run-out chances, Moin Khan missed a stumping off Ajay Jadeja and Mohammad Akram back-pedalled at the boundary and palmed a six over his head during the tense final chases giving Ganguly a life. It was so cold, that even the commentator Geoff Boycott, though used to freezing temperatures in his native Yorkshire, covered his face with his jacket before an interview in the open air after the game, leading to plenty of laughter among the camera crew.6th match, 1999, SharjahIn a tri-series just a month before the World Cup, the two neighbours got together along with England in Sharjah. England managed a solitary win out of their four league matches which kept them out of the final even before this last league game between India and Pakistan. Javagal Srinath gave way to a 22-year old Ajit Agarkar and Pakistan switched back to their opening combination of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar. Pakistan won the toss but failed to capitalise as they were reduced to 110 for 5, including two run-outs. Fifties from Saleem Mailk and Moin Khan steered them to a modest 205. India didn’t have to toil as much after losing the first wicket. S Ramesh and Rahul Dravid scored 82 and 81 respectively before falling to run-outs but India cruised home with six wickets in hand.3rd ODI, 2013, DelhiIn a series sandwiched between the Test and ODI series of England’s tour of India, Pakistan hopped over for two Twenty20s and three ODIs. The T20 series was shared and Pakistan’s fast bowlers, along with Nasir Jamshed’s consecutive hundreds, wrapped the series in the first two ODIs. In the third, Ajinkya Rahane took Virender Sehwag’s place and Shami Ahmed made his ODI debut replacing Ashok Dinda. For Pakistan, Umar Akmal was given a chance in place of Azhar Ali. The match was played in he first week of January in Delhi, where the temperature was a mere three degrees minutes before the toss. Pakistan’s quicks stifled the Indian batsmen yet again in the Powerplay overs. 37 for 3 and then 63 for 4. However, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja pulled India’s total past 150 but Saeed Ajmal’s five-for made sure they were all out for 167. Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke the opening partnership for the second time in three matches and the remaining bowlers cashed-in from there. Misbah-ul Haq was the only batsman to cross the score of 35 as wickets fell at the other end. Ishant Sharma’s 3 for 36 got the lower order to wrap-up a 10-run consolatory win for the hosts.

What do you do when you know your days are numbered? You score a Test hundred, of course. The first in a mini-series on great South African performances in England

Firdose Moonda20-Jun-2012Day four of the second Test between England and South Africa at Headingley in 1994. The day before, Peter Kirsten had become the second-oldest man since the Second World War to score a maiden Test century, at 39 years and 82 days. But he couldn’t take the field the next day.”The press contingent gave me a few congratulatory free beers that night, to the extent that I couldn’t field the next day,” Kirsten said. “It was different in those days. But that hundred was the biggest highlight of my cricketing career. I mean, just to score it two Tests before I knew they were going to put me out to pasture. Not bad.”Kirsten knew he was a marked man when the series started. It was not made explicit to him, but he had no doubt the tour, only his third, would be his last. “Peter Pollock [then chairman of selectors] wanted to bring [Darryl] Cullinan into the arena, and he was too good a player to be kept out, so I knew the writing was on the wall for me. I knew before anyone even told me. I knew how they were thinking.”So it was Kirsten’s last chance to make a Test hundred, not because he wanted to prolong his career or prove a point to the administrators, but in order to create a memory for himself. Kirsten felt he was ready to do that in Leeds. “I was in a good frame of mind. I got 42 in the second innings of the Lord’s Test and I also scored 100 at Sussex just before that, so I felt good. I was the senior statesman and that was the time to be at my best, and I was. Technically I was at my best in that Test. Technically sound, mentally sound.”South Africa had recorded a resounding 356-run win at Lord’s and saw the second Test as an opportunity to stamp their authority on the old enemy. But England kept them in the field for over 160 overs as they crafted an innings of 477. By the time Kirsten went in to bat, South Africa were “under the cosh” at 91 for 4.”It was moving around a bit. That Leeds wicket tended to favour the bowlers,” he said. “And England had a good trio of fast bowlers. Darren Gough was quick, and you always had to be at your best against him. He was a good Yorkshireman, with an aggressive attitude. Phil DeFreitas swung it around a bit, and they also had Angus Fraser.”Gough troubled Hansie Cronje with short-pitched bowling through the series, but at Leeds he targeted Kirsten. “Gough felled me when I was on 47 and I was down on the ground,” Kirsten said. “But he obviously wasn’t quick enough, because I batted on.”Once Kirsten reached 50, with Jonty Rhodes at the other end – “always keeping me on my toes, the little bugger” – the new ball was not far away. By the time it came, the wicket had got a little flatter and things became easier for Kirsten. Brian McMillan was a “tower of strength” as Kirsten accumulated runs, putting to use a tip given to him by one of the game’s greats.At a net practice two days before the match, Kirsten got a piece of advice he credits for the change in his approach at Headingley. “Geoff Boycott was standing behind me when we were practising, and he came to me and said, ‘Kirsy, as we get older, we’ve got to get those feet dancing. Look to get forward a bit.’ He was right, because as age creeps on you, your feet tend to get stuck in the crease.”Kirsten still remembers the shot that brought up his only Test century. “It was a fantastic drive through the covers off DeFreitas and we ran three. I wasn’t dramatic when it happened. Mine was more of an inward gratification. It was a marvellous feeling and something that I can still feel. It’s tangible. I can still feel the goosepimples, and the crowd’s acknowledgement was magnificent.”Kirsten had been a popular figure in England, having played at Derbyshire for six seasons until 1982. Even though he was returning after a dozen years, “a lot of people knew me from my county days” as he said. “The cricket culture was marvellous and still is. The cricketing public understand how the game works and they appreciate good cricket, so South Africans are very popular there.”He doesn’t think much has changed about the sense of occasion that accompanies a series between England and South Africa and said that this time around, the battle for No. 1 should heighten the contest. Kirsten thinks it will be decided on the strength of the batting and the quality of the spin.”Both sides have excellent bowling attacks and the batsmen will battle in the first 30 overs or so, when the ball is moving around a bit. Whoever bats better in the top seven will win the series, because both sides will lose early wickets at some stage. If you look at the lower order, South Africa may have the edge but England have got the edge in terms of [Graeme] Swann. He is going to be a big factor.”The upcoming series starts at The Oval, with the Leeds Test sandwiched between that and Lord’s. I would have preferred to have scored my hundred at Lord’s and got my name on the board,” Kirsten said. “But Hansie had a great sense of humour so he got a black pen and wrote my name on the dressing-room wall at Headingley, pretending that it was Lord’s. I’m sure by now my name would have been rubbed off.”