Category Uncategorized

Leicestershire took full advantage of the ideal conditions with Iain Sutcliffe and Aftab Habib capitalising to maximum effect as both reached unbeaten centuries on a benign pitch in ideal conditions after the visitors won the toss.Opener Sutcliffe batted throughout the day and his serene and patient approach brought him due reward as he reached his hundred having batted for five hours. The left-hander did survive an impassioned appeal for a catch at the wicket off the bowling of Ashley Cowan when he had scored 53. Cowan stared disbelievingly at umpire Jeff Evans who overruled the appeal and then stood in the middle of the wicket for some time before proceeding with his over.Six balls later, Evans was apparently overcome by sunstroke and slumped to the floor before being assisted to his feet by the Essex fielders and receiving medical aid. He was persuaded to leave the field but returned nine deliveries later to resume his duties whilst Sutcliffe continued with his unflustered innings. By the end of the day he had faced 314 deliveries and struck 24 boundaries in reaching 149 not out.In contrast, Habib was altogether more enterprising and equally effective as he adopted a more punishing attitude towards the Essex attack. He reached his century just before the close having faced 157 balls that included 14 boundaries with one six.Essex spent the day toiling in the hot conditions and received sparse reward with only two wickets.Trevor Ward was the first to go, having seen his side off to a steady start before he got a leading edge to an intended pull and was caught at mid on for 25 off the bowling of Graham Napier.Ben Smith was the wicket to fall during the afternoon session when he was trapped leg before as he pushed forward to an inswinger from Justin Bishop before Habib joined Sutcliffe to condemn his opponents to an unenviable task of toil under the hot sun as the pair combined for an unbroken partnership worth 207 by the close of play.

After considering a variety of options, the BCCI has finally identified the road ahead for the next two seasons of the IPL at its working committee meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. Bids have been invited for two new teams but they will be in existence only for the next two years. IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla confirmed the new teams will make way for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals when their suspension ends in 2018. Shukla though was noncommittal about whether the IPL will be a 10-team or an eight-team competition from 2018.”The working committee had made four recommendations, out of which one recommendation has been accepted by the committee,” Shukla said. “That the two vacant spots should be auctioned for two years. After two years we will decide whether we should go for two more franchises or we should confine ourselves to eight teams only.”However, given the short-term deals on offer, questions are already being raise over whether investors will be interested although BCCI authorities are confident that they will lay down bidder-friendly conditions to help them recover as much money as they have invested. As an incentive to the bidders, the BCCI is also likely to recommend that 12 players from the suspended franchises be split between the two new teams before the player auction.While the BCCI statement issued after Sunday’s working committee meeting did not elaborate on the specifics of the new bidding process, Shukla said details like the base price for the bids and the cities that can be bid for will be worked out over the next three weeks and finalised at the AGM on November 9.”The tender document will be prepared and it will be approved in the AGM on November 9. And then the tenders will be released,” Shukla said, adding that the bidders will have the final choice on which city they want to represent. “Whoever is the highest bidder will get the franchise and it is up to them to decide which city they prefer.”Ahmedabad, the adopted home of Rajasthan Royals, is out of contention as a host city since the Motera stadium, the home of top-flight cricket in the city, is being renovated. Jaipur, the original home of Royals, is unlikely to be included in the list of eligible cities since the Rajasthan Cricket Association remains suspended by the BCCI. Chennai’s fate will depend on the outcome of the Chennai Super Kings owners’ litigation against the two-year suspension.Shukla said that the interest of players from both the suspended franchises “will be protected”, but didn’t elaborate on it. ESPNcricinfo understands that the players contracted with the two will be put into the annual auction pool after six players from each are allotted to the new owners on the basis of lots. The BCCI feels such a move would ensure balance of the two new teams and ensure star appeal for both to allow the new owners to recover their money in a short period.The remaining 35-odd players will be put into the auction pool and will be up for grabs for all eight franchises. However, it is understood that the BCCI will ensure that all the players who were on the suspended franchises’ roster in 2015 will be available to them once again when the suspension lifts in 2018.This means that the big auction scheduled for 2017 could be pushed back by a year to 2018, when the two new teams are scheduled to make way for Super Kings and Royals.While the base price for the franchise bids is being worked out, according to an IPL insider, it will be “much lower” than in 2010 when two new teams were inducted at a high price. “We will try and ensure that the new owners will recover the money they put into the IPL for two teams,” he said.At the inception of IPL, the base price for teams was $50 million. While the ownership was in perpetuity, the franchise fees were fixed for 10 years. In 2010, the base price rose to $225 million for a ten-year period. However, in 2012, when Deccan Chargers was resold to Sun TV’s owners for five years, it was sold at Rs 86 crore per year, less than a half of the 2010 base price.

	Ray Mali and Malcolm Speed preside over the fateful ICC meeting in Dubai in March © International Cricket Council

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has been put on paid leave until his contract runs out on July 4.In a brief statement, David Morgan, the ICC’s president-elect, said: “This … is the result of a fundamental breakdown in the relationship between the CEO and a number of board members, including the president, over a variety of issues that include Zimbabwe.”David Richardson, the ICC general manager – cricket, will serve as interim CEO until Speed’s replacement, Haroon Lorgat, assumes the role at the ICC’s annual conference at the beginning of July.”Cricinfo has learnt that though Speed’s ouster was largely due to serious differences he had with Ray Mali, the ICC president, and Norman Arendse, the president of Cricket South Africa, over the Zimbabwe crisis, the chief executive’s recent comments on the unauthorized Indian Cricket League (ICL) had senior BCCI officials demanding that he leave the post.BCCI started pushing for Speed’s removal after he told reporters in Mumbai that the Indian board was yet to officially request ICC to ban the one-year-old ICL. Indian officials later claimed that the issue had been raised at various ICC meetings.Apparently, the decision to remove Speed was finalized informally during a meeting of some senior ICC board members, including a senior Indian official, on the eve of the Indian Premier League (IPL) launch in Bangalore on April 18.”There were many who were not happy with Malcolm’s confrontational style of functioning,” a BCCI official, who did not wish to be named, told Cricinfo.”We have removed him so what is left to say now,” said a senior official from the anti-Speed camp, who did not wish to be identified. “We were not happy with the way he handled the Zimbabwe situation, and his recent statements which implied that the ICL issue had not been raised officially within ICC.”Rumours had also been circulating for the last month that Speed had had a serious falling-out with Mali, following the ICC executive’s decision not to take any major action against Zimbabwe following an independent forensic audit carried out by KPMG, which the ICC has since refused to make available.Following the ICC’s meeting in Dubai in March, at which the decision to overlook the audit was taken, Speed refused to attend the traditional post-meeting media conference, explaining privately to the executive that he was not prepared to defend in public a decision with which he fundamentally disagreed. It had been the recommendation of the audit committee that senior ZC officials should have been referred to the ethics committee.In July last year, a confidential report by Speed and Faisal Hasnain, the ICC’s chief financial officer, was leaked, much to the ICC’s embarrassment and anger, in which Speed made a series of stinging attacks on Zimbabwe Cricket’s finances, concluding: “It is clear that the accounts of ZC have been deliberately falsified to mask various illegal transactions from the auditors and the government of Zimbabwe. The accounts were incorrect and at no stage did ZC draw the attention of the users of these accounts to the unusual transactions. It may not be possible to rely on the authenticity of its balance sheet.”Mali, who is a staunch supporter of Zimbabwe and of its officials, has not yet commented publicly on the situation it will be Morgan who fronts up at the press conference at Lord’s tomorrow.Mali is understood to have been incensed by Speed’s conduct and gained support from a number of board members as he successfully moved to have Speed sidelined for the remainder of his tenure. Although Zimbabwe has emerged as the key reason for the falling-out, it is understood that Speed’s recent statement that the rebel Indian Cricket League had approached the ICC seeking official recognition had also been used as an excuse to get rid of him.”At this point I am not in a position to respond to your question,” Mali told the when asked for the reasons the action against Speed had been taken . “But I will definitely do so in the near future.”Haroon Lorgat, South Africa’s former convenor of selectors, is lined up to succeed Speed as CEO, but said that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the development as he is not involved with the ICC yet. “This is something I don’t want to get into right now,” Lorgat told Cricinfo.

It is still not clear whether the WICB has agreed to ratify Stanford as the official, regional 20/20 tournament © Brookslatouche

There have been some curious, if hardly surprising, official responses to the Stanford 20/20 tournament, from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and from one prominent regional sponsor.Presumably the new leadership of the WICB, formally installed at the annual general meeting in Port-of-Spain last weekend, will quickly clarify the relationship between the two.It is still not clear whether the WICB has agreed to ratify Stanford as the official, regional 20/20 tournament, setting aside a period of five weeks at the start of the season in exchange for an annual fee of US$1 million. As it would eliminate the financial, organisational and administrative responsibilities while still being under its auspices, such a deal would seem to be money for jam for the WICB which has seldom been known to operate anything at a profit, far less of $1 million.A statement by Tony Howard, the WICB cricket operations manager, last month that the next first-class season would start three months earlier than usual, in October, and the follow-up from the Stanford organisation that confirmed the dates, and fixtures, for the 2008 tournament as January 25 to February 24, suggested that an accord had been reached.Yet the swift and indignant reaction of Colin Murray, marketing manager of Carib Beer, sponsors of the first-class season for the past five years, indicated otherwise.Stanford’s dates are in the middle of what is usually the Carib tournament and he wondered out loud whether Stanford’s 20/20 wasn’t for his “own personal and selfish gain”. Seeing the Texan billionaire intends to repeat the grants in the inaugural year of $280,000 to each of the participating territories, increased to 21 for 2008, in addition to the $1 million to the champion team, $500,000 to the runners-up and equally unprecedented sums for individual performances, it was a comment seemingly based on pique rather than reason.It was hard to spot anything selfish in such numbers.Such money goes to struggling individual associations that received little or nothing from the WICB in the past and is appreciably more than all the other sponsors of West Indies cricket put together. Murray further questioned how Stanford’s investment would guarantee that the WICB operations “are stable and will continue to benefit from his involvement”. That, of course, is up to the WICB to determine although its record in financial matters is not encouraging.While Murray was making his objections known, Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the ICC, was revealing his members’ “genuine concerns” over Stanford’s plan for a Super Stars tournament, provisionally scheduled for June 2008. It would feature four ICC full-member teams playing against each other on a single elimination knockout basis with the winner to take on the Stanford Super Stars for a jackpot of $20 million, all at the Stanford ground in Antigua.But it needs the ICC’s approval, for which Stanford has guaranteed the WICB $1 million for “successfully negotiating”. It is an extension of the planned match between the Stanford Super Stars and South Africa that was baulked last November as it clashed with the first week of the official West Indies tour of Pakistan.While Speed said ICC members were wary about the effect it would have on players’ workloads, the cap on 20/20 Internationals and the television agreement with ESPN-Star, he also noted that they wanted a slice of the cake “to ensure that their participation will benefit as many of the game’s stakeholders as possible to help facilitate its continuing strong growth”.This really is a bit rich coming from ICC members who drove a torpedo through the fragile hull of the WICB’s finances six years ago by altering the payout for teams on overseas tours. Whereas such contracts had previously been subject to bi-lateral negotiations, a system on which the WICB heavily relied for its very survival, the other nine ICC full members voted to standardise it. It meant that the host was now responsible for all the expenses of the touring team while retaining gate receipts, sponsorship, broadcasting rights and the like.The upshot was obvious. While Australia, England and India, for instance, raked in the money from attendances (up to £3 million for a Test at Lord’s or the MCG) and phenomenal television contracts, the West Indies, with the small size of their populations, economies and grounds set against the high costs of accommodation in the tourist-cricket season, scrunted.

Malcolm Speed expressed “genuine concerns” over Stanford’s plan for a Super Stars tournament, provisionally scheduled for June 2008 © Getty Images

So the rich and powerful became richer and more powerful, and the poor and weak, of which the West Indies are the prime example, got poorer and weaker. It is an arrangement that officials estimate cost the WICB $10 million in six years. Yet, now that a wealthy investor comes forward to give West Indies cricket the financial boost it badly needs, and to encourage its development in unfamiliar Caribbean outposts previously ignored by both the WICB and the ICC, the ICC wants in on the action to further what he calls the game’s “continuing strong growth”.That, presumably, means helping fund ICC tournaments such as the Under-19 World Cup qualifiers in distant lands involving countries such as Afghanistan, Japan, New Guinea, Qatar, Thailand and Vanuatu and the Intercontinental Cup of four-day matches between the likes of Canada, Kenya, Namibia and Scotland that do not play four-day matches in their own competitions – and never will.Whether that represents “continuing strong growth” or not, Speed and the ICC might recognise that there has been just the opposite among some of the more established members, not least the West Indies where there is continuing strong decline.With the cooperation of the WICB, Stanford’s money can help turn the present weakness into traditional strength again. But the ICC should appreciate that it is not for sharing.

‘ Murali bowled exceptionally well for another 60 odd overs again’ – Jayawardene © AFP

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, heaped praise on his champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who came up with an exceptional bowling performance on a flat track to take six wickets for 131 runs (match bag of 10 for 172) to send South Africa crashing to defeat by an innings and 153 runs in the first Test in Colombo.”Credit should go to the bowlers”, said Jayawardene. “The conditions weren’t easy. We knew in the last two days the South Africans were going to be a very tough nut to crack and they proved to be. They fought really hard and it wasn’t easy to bat on that wicket – it was slower but they scored a lot of runs on that.”Murali bowled exceptionally well for another 60 odd overs again. He is not getting tired. It was difficult for me to get the ball off him. It was a bit of a freak when Murali got a wicket with the new ball. When I took it, I didn’t have that in my mind, but Murali came up to me and said that it might go low and skid through, to give him one or two overs and see how things go. He got a wicket in the first over. That’s the genius in him because he imagines things that other people cannot”.He also praised the rest of his bowlers and said it was a brilliant allround effort with the quicks Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof sticking to their task well, especially in the first morning. He said getting South Africa out for a low score in the first innings was the key factor to this win.Jayawardene, who was named the Man of the Match for his monumental knock of 374, described the win as “icing on the cake”. “No matter the records we broke, if we didn’t get the result we wanted in the end, it would not have mattered that much. We put in the hard work in the first two to three days to get the advantage and we came out with a win.”He said South African captain Ashwell Prince’s wicket in the second over of the final morning was the turning point. “We planned that we needed an early wicket. To get that wicket in the second over of the day gave us a lot of breathing space and to get another batsman [Herschelle Gibbs] before lunch were two big wickets that definitely gave us the breakthrough.”

After his monumental knock of 374, Jayawardene described the win as “icing on the cake” © AFP

Prince admitted that poor batting by the South Africans in the first innings cost them the match. “There was a bit of moisture in the pitch the first morning but I can’t blame it for any of our wickets in the first innings”, Prince said. “They were poor, soft dismissals. The guys were aware of that and came up with an improved batting performance in the second innings. It was a typical South African-style fightback. We showed a lot of character in the second innings and we got a few positives to take out of this match.”Prince said that during the Jayawardene-Sangakkara world record partnership of 624, the longer the pair batted, the more South Africa realized that there wasn’t much of a chance for them to win. “The pitch was very good to bat on and the longer they batted the more relief it gave us to bat for a long time as well.”Making his debut as South Africa’s first coloured Test captain, Prince said that it was not the ideal situation but added: “We improved as the game went on. We can’t win the series anymore, but we can get that one win and hopefully draw it.”Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, described Muralitharan as undoubtedly the world’s best bowler. “Our guys have all played a lot of Muttiah now. We’ve developed game plans and strategies against him. He doesn’t come as a surprise element anymore. We started to play him better and better but in these conditions he is quite phenomenal.”Arthur said the return of fast bowler Shaun Pollock for the second Test starting on Friday in Colombo would be a great motivating factor although as true professional cricketers, the South Africans are very easy to motivate. “We’ve got to get 20 wickets going into the next Test match”, he continued. “We need all the bowling options available. We got to sit down and think as to what’s going to give us the best chance of winning the next Test. We lose [Graeme] Smith, [Jacques] Kallis and Pollock for one Test match means you lose 250 Test caps. That’s a huge amount of experience.”Arthur added that it has been tough for him as coach coming into his first Test series in Australia and now in Sri Lanka, but is satisfied with the way the team has performed, despite the absence of key players.

Fine tuning: Matthew Hoggard prepares for his second Ashes series © Getty Images

Matthew Hoggard, the swing bowler, has questioned the longevity of Australia’s mostly 30-something attack and doubted their ability to knock England over twice. Hoggard was largely ineffective in the 2002-03 Ashes series, where his six wickets cost 62.5 runs each, but he expected his team-mates to target the greybeards when the series starts tomorrow.”They’re getting on a little bit – we’ve got back-to-back Test matches so it’ll be interesting to see if they can put in the consistent performances for 25 days,” Hoggard told the . “It’ll be interesting to see if they have the firepower to bowl us out twice.”Glenn McGrath and Shane Ware are 35, Michael Kasprowicz is 32, Jason Gillespie 30 and Brett Lee 28. Hoggard, 28, challenged McGrath to make it to the end of the five-Test series in September. “It’s going to be tough on the body, it’ll be interesting to see if he is the world-class bowler he was and to see if Jason Gillespie can find some form,” he said. Hoggard also said Warne was “not the force he was” and was taking a defensive option by bowling more around the wicket.While Hoggard was busy talking down Australia, his pace partner Steve Harmison was trying to convince everybody he had a nasty streak. A key component if England are to be successful, Harmison said bowling fast was his job.”I feel I’ve got a nasty streak in me but it’s when I’m in my cricket gear and have got the ball in my hand,” he told . “I don’t believe you frighten batsmen. You work them to your advantage. I don’t go out intentionally to hurt anyone or frighten anyone.”Harmison was another young bowler to struggle against Australia in 2002-03 when he claimed nine victims at 50.55. Since then he has played 25 Tests, topped the world rankings and stirred up Australia’s one-day batsmen with his steepling bounce.

Anil Kumble: should bolster the Indian bowling attack© AFP

Ajit Agarkar and Anil Kumble have returned to the Indian squad for the three-Test series against Pakistan. Both players missed the one-day series due to injuries – Kumble was nursing a shoulder strain, while Agarkar had a shin problem. There were few surprises in the 15-man line-up, with Yuvraj Singh grabbing the extra batsman’s spot, while Ramesh Powar and Murali Kartik, who were part of the one-day squad, were both retained.The first Test starts at Multan on March 28.Squad
Sourav Ganguly (capt), Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, L Balaji, Anil Kumble, Murali Kartik.

BRISBANE, Feb 20 AAP – Nathan Hauritz expects his next match to be in suburban Brisbane and not South Africa.The Queensland off-spinner says he isn’t thinking about a possible call-up to the World Cup squad as Shane Warne prepares for tomorrow’s hearing for his failed drug test.Hauritz and NSW leg-spinner Stuart MacGill are among the leading contenders to replace Warne if he is banned by the Australian Cricket Board’s anti-doping committee.But Hauritz isn’t thinking Johannesburg, Cape Town or even Harare, where Australia is drawn to play Zimbabwe on Monday.The 21-year-old is thinking Shaw Road, Wavell Heights, where his club Norths meets Sunshine Coast on Saturday.”It’s the same situation as when Warney did his shoulder (in December),” Hauritz said.”I’m trying not to worry about it and just focus on what’s coming up for me here.”I’ve got the club game on Saturday and then we’ve got the Pura Cup game against Victoria (starting at the Gabba next Thursday).”Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said his panel was awaiting news of Warne’s fate before acting on any replacement.”I’ve asked each selector to put their thinking caps on and give the situation some consideration,” Hohns said today.”Once we know what’s happening we can act but it may be that Shane is cleared and then the situation is irrelevant.”We certainly haven’t had a combined discussion yet.”Hauritz has not received the opportunities expected this season after his impressive one-day international debut in South Africa last year.He played four matches in place of the injured Warne and was later selected in Australia’s Test squad to meet Pakistan in Sri Lanka and Sharjah.But West Australian Brad Hogg was preferred when Warne injured his shoulder, leaving Hauritz and MacGill in the queue.MacGill will play for NSW in Sunday’s ING Cup one-day final against Western Australia in Perth along with Blues teammate Michael Clarke.The 21-year-old Clarke has also been mentioned as a potential replacement for Warne.

Sri Lanka A batted out an anti-climatic final day of the unofficial Test Match at NCC grounds in Colombo to secure a draw and set-up a series decider in the final game in Galle on Monday.Pakistan doused hopes of an entertaining finale when they elected to bat on for an hour in the morning. Having added 43 runs they finally declared, setting Sri Lanka an unrealistic target of 290 in 72 overs.Having lost Avishka Gunawardene early on, it soon became clear that Sri Lanka had no intention of chasing victory. They grimly occupied the crease for 71 overs, scoring at less than two runs per over, whilst the Pakistan captain used ten bowlers in all, including Humayun Farhat, the wicket keeper. When, to widespread relief, the umpires finally called it a day Sri Lanka were 129 for three.In their defense, Pakistan were handicapped by a back injury to, Irfan Fazil, their fastest bowler. Nevertheless, their undue conservatism was disappointing and somewhat perplexing – surely their best chance of victory was to encourage the Sri Lankans to chase?Mudasser Nazar, the Pakistan coach, admitted afterwards that his team had missed an opportunity: “I am disappointed; I thought that we could have pushed the issue a bit more, but we lost our way after tea yesterday when we lost those quick wickets. Originally we wanted to score 290-300 and give ourselves a whole day to bowl them out. Maybe the target was a little bit too stiff.A feature of this series has been the low scoring rate. In Dambulla that was understandable because of the slowness of the pitch, but this was a fine batting wicket, perhaps too good for four-day cricket.According to Mudasser: “The scoring rate has been very disappointing. I think the players are cautious because they are playing for the A team and that they are so desperate to break into the national team. This can have a negative impact on the team, but I am addressing this.”The Sri Lankan coach, Hemantha Devpriya, agreed, adding: “The Sri Lankan selectors are looking for batsmen who can occupy the crease for long periods of time and the players themselves are well aware of that.”Pakistan’s only realistic chance of victory today was a beguiling spell of leg spin by Danish Kaneria. He did trouble the Sri Lankans, though perhaps less than the incessant appealing suggested, but Michael Vandort (55) and Dammika Sudharshana (29) eventually settled down to compile a 53 partnership in two hours – this was not pretty cricket.When Sudharshana was finally dismissed, trapped leg-before wicket by Nafjaf Shah, Tillakaratne Dilshan wasted an opportunity to impress the selectors when he was bowled by the part-time spin of Taufiq Umar. Indika de Saram batted out the innings with Vandort, a natural accumulator, who played solidly for his three-hour 55.The teams now depart for Galle where they play again in just two days time. Nazar was confident that Irfan Faisal would have recovered from his back strain: “He has suffered from bowling a little too many overs for a man who is very. There is, after all, a lot of cricket on this tour crammed into a very short period.” Shabir Ahmed’s groin injury is apparently 30 per cent better, but he will not be ready for the next game.

[ad_pod ]

A 2-2 draw for Newcastle at Bournemouth on Saturday set up a remarkable statistic that shows just how brilliant Rafael Benitez truly is.

Newcastle were extremely unlucky at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, as were many people who had Bournemouth in their William Hill bonus code bet, as the Magpies should really have played the majority of the match against ten men after Jefferson Lerma’s first half horror tackle.

Salomon Rondon put Newcastle in front with a perfect free kick, before a brace from Josh King flipped the game on its head, only for Matt Ritchie to equalise in stunning fashion late on.

The win leaves the Toon Army on 35 points after 31 games, seven clear of the drop zone.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals why Tyne-Wear is a more intense derby than anything London can offer – check out the video below….

On the chalkboard

It has been said several times throughout the season that the Magpies’ campaign was following a similar trend to their last, starting off horribly before picking up form thanks mainly to some fantastic home performances.

The similarities are greater than you could ever imagine though. At this point last season, the Tyneside outfit had nine wins, eight draws and 14 defeats with 31 goals scored and 40 conceded.

Right now, Benitez’s men have nine wins, eight draws and 14 defeats with 31 goals scored and 40 conceded. They are quite literally exactly where they were at the same point last season.

To many fans that statistic may be a worrying indicator of stagnation from the boss, but delving deeper into the numbers shows just how impressive it is.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Of the teams above the Magpies, every single one bar Tottenham Hotspur spent more money than them last summer. Of the teams below them, only Crystal Palace spent less, per TalkSPORT.

To achieve consistency while all the teams around you in the table splash tons of cash to improve their squads is a true marker of just how special Benitez is, and it also makes you wonder just how good Newcastle can become under the Spaniard with even a little bit of backing from upstairs.

Whether it be under the infamous Mike Ashley or, as Newcastle fans will hope, with someone new at the helm, Benitez is more than capable of leading a charge for the top eight with some genuine backing this summer.