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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsInspired by Moeen Ali it took England just 24 overs to surge to an overwhelming 241-run victory on the final morning in Durban. AB de Villiers, South Africa’s last realistic hope of salvaging something, fell in the first over of the day and there was scant resistance after that as England went 1-0 up in the first Test of an overseas series for only the second time since 2004.Although South Africa were four down overnight, after the late dismissal of Faf du Plessis on the fourth evening, England might have expected to be made to work reasonably hard to extract the last six wickets but it all came surprisingly swiftly for them. In the end it was over 20 minutes before lunch when Morne Morkel was lbw to Stuart Broad with South Africa’s last seven wickets tumbling for 38 from the dismissal of du Plessis.In the field, England made a habit of setting the tone early in an innings in a bowling stint. Broad removed Stiaan van Zyl second ball of the first innings then claimed Temba Bavuma second ball of the third day and Moeen continued the theme today with his third delivery of the morning when, from round the wicket, he got one to straighten at de Villiers who was playing deep in his crease. De Villiers called for the DRS – he had to, really – but the ball was pitching in line and clipping leg stump.Moeen Ali struck in his opening over•Gallo Images

Jonny Bairstow had a fourth day of contrasting fortunes – a key innings of 79 followed by the missed stumping offered by de Villiers – so there was a heartening moment for him when he took the opportunity presented by Bavuma when he walked past a delivery from Moeen, which slid on past the outside edge. It was a simpler stumping chance as the ball did not spin sharply like the one Bairstow missed, but he took it confidently and his team-mates were quick to congratulate him.Moeen had a third for the morning when the angle from round the wicket worked again as Kyle Abbott was trapped on the back foot. His seven-wicket match haul was the second best of his career after the eight he claimed against India, at the Ageas Bowl, in 2014.Steven Finn continued his impressive work from the previous day, giving the nightwatchman Dale Steyn a working over before knocking back the off stump with a fuller delivery. Broad was the outstanding quick in the first innings, but Finn took that honour second time around.Before play, James Anderson bowled six high-intensity overs on the outfield and appears on track to return for the Cape Town Test. That would mean a likely omission for Chris Woakes, presuming all the pacemen pull up well from their exertions here, but he at least managed to open his wicket tally for the Test – a game where he has bowled consistently at good pace – when Dane Piedt popped a catch to short leg.With just two days between Tests, the extra few hours off England earned themselves will be welcomed by the fast bowlers but, barring the lack of a century and Bairstow’s two errors, it is South Africa with all the problems heading into the New Year Test at Newlands. It has been a 2015 to forget in Test cricket for South Africa, but a year of transition for England’s five-day outfit has concluded with a significant success.

Cricket Australia (CA) has welcomed the federal government’s illicit substances policy, which was announced today, as being coherent with Australian cricket’s own anticipated approach.”Our concern is to achieve the appropriate balance between player welfare/rehabilitation; and deterring cricketers from using illicit substances,” said James Sutherland, CA’s chief executive. “We have also wanted a policy which is specific to cricket’s circumstances and needs”.Sutherland said CA consulted with numerous stakeholders for over a year in preparation for a cricket policy on illegal substances. This included working with medical experts, talking with government officials and extensive consultaion with players and their association, the Australian Cricketers’ Association. CA also studied other sports.Sutherland said the standards supporting CA’s proposed approach had been agreed with a wide range of parties, though a few details were yet to be finalised.The Australian goverment is expected to put in A$21 million per year for the next four years to test athletes and is confident major sports will sign up.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Umar Gul bagged his third five-wicket haul in Tests to put West Indies in early trouble © Getty Images

Brian Lara’s decision to bat backfired quite badly as West Indies were bundled out for 206 on the opening day at Lahore. Lara himself battled hard, scoring a classy 61 – his first half-century in Pakistan – but the rest of the batsmen struggled in murky conditions on a pitch which offered significant seam movement to the Pakistan pace attack.Umar Gul finished with rather flattering figures of 5 for 65 – including the prized wicket of Lara – while Shahid Nazir made the early inroads with three top-order wickets. When play was called off early because of bad light, Pakistan had progressed to 39 for 1.The early exchanges suggested that West Indies’ move to bat was a wise one as Chris Gayle clattered a wayward Gul for plenty of fours on the way to a typically rambunctious 34 off 28 balls, but once Gul made the breakthrough, Pakistan were in control almost throughout. Dwayne Bravo and Dave Mohammed helped Lara in the battle, but once West Indies had slipped to 52 for 4, but those mini partnerships only helped limit the damage and help the team get past 200.Gul finished with most of the honours, but the bowler who set up Pakistan was Nazir. The absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif allowed him an opportunity to make his mark, and he made the most of it. The pace wasn’t threatening – he bowled around the 130 kmph – but once he found his radar all the batsmen found him more than a handful.Gayle was beaten by one which nipped back into him – though he was unlucky to be given out as the ball was clearly going over the stumps – Ramnaresh Sarwan succumbed to a brute of a delivery which lifted, seamed away, squared him up, and took the outside edge, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul was another victim of one that straightened after pitching. It would have been even worse for West Indies had Asoka de Silva ruled Lara lbw when Nazir trapped him in front on 0 – the ball pitched in line with middle and leg, straightened and would have hit the stumps – but he ruled otherwise.

Brian Lara needed to concentrate hard for his first half-century in Pakistan © Getty Images

Lara survived, and slowly attempted to put the innings back on track, putting on 44 for the fifth wicket with Bravo, and 52 for the seventh with Mohammed, who contributed a plucky 35. Lara wasn’t always convincing against the fast bowlers, but he handled Kaneria quite masterfully, using his feet and stretching fully forward to negate the spin from the rough – which was quite alarming for a first-day pitch – and then using the width of the crease to push back and cut when Kaneria pitched it short. He looked good for many more when Gul struck against the run of play, conjuring up a peach of a delivery which pitched, seamed away, and forced an edge.Gul bowled a mixed bag – he was all over the place with his control in the first session but he also managed to produce wicket-taking deliveries, nailing Ganga, Lara, and then cleaning up the tail to finish with his third five-wicket haul in Tests.Pakistan’s openers had their share of problems when they came out to bat, as Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards got enough pace, bounce and movement to cause plenty of discomfort. Farhat played and missed repeatedly before Edwards finally got one to straighten and trap him in front. Mohammad Hafeez had his share of luck, but to his credit attempted to play close to his body, and was willing to bat out long periods without scoring. Both he and Younis Khan played with soft hands, placed the ball in the gaps, and ran the singles to keep the score ticking over. The umpires finally called off play with 17 overs still left in the day as even the floodlights weren’t enough to stop the gloom.In 37 previous Tests at Lahore, the team batting first has won just three, compared to 14 by the team batting second. If West Indies don’t pick up their act over the next few days, they could well be the latest team to succumb after batting first.

Scorecard

Ryan Le Loux, the Queensland legspinner, top-scored with 63 from No. 9 © Getty Images

Daren Powell opened West Indies’ tour of Australia by knocking back four of the Queensland top five before hobbling off with hip soreness in the tour match at Allan Border Field. The West Indians, who lost Wavell Hinds with a broken finger while fielding, suffered a mixed day that included reducing the home side, who boasted the Test players Matthew Hayden and Shane Watson, to 5 for 126 before letting them escape to 323 after Ryan Le Loux’s maiden first-class half-century.Queensland, who won the toss and batted in the four-day warm-up, fought back from the Powell-induced trouble with a committed lower-order push led by Le Loux, the legspinner who in partnership with Mitchell Johnson and Michael Kasprowicz added 108 for the final two wickets. West Indies were 0 for 13 when bad light stopped play five overs early.Powell was easily the best of the West Indian attack and caused early damage when he removed Hayden – he had already received a beamer from Tino Best and been dropped at square-leg – for 0 and came back either side of lunch to claim Martin Love, Watson and James Hopes. The Queensland lower order, with help from Andrew Symonds’s 55, then took advantage of a good batting pitch and some wayward bowling to post a respectable total.

ScorecardDay 1
Bulletin – Jayawardene plays a lone hand
Quotes – Pollock – ‘It wasn’t easy out there’Day 2
Bulletin – Jayawardene’s 237 boosts Sri Lanka to 486
Quotes – Dyson – ‘It was a magnificent innings’Day 3
Bulletin – Rudolph wages a lone battle
Quotes – ‘I thought I handled Murali OK’ – Rudolph
Day 4
Bulletin – Declaration sets up thrilling finish
Quotes – Jayasuriya – ‘We have a good chance’

The Indian board has denied that it was pursuing an agenda of selective discrimination against Mohammad Azharuddin, stating that he was wrong in alleging “defective procedures” by the BCCI.Contesting Azharuddin’s suit against his permanent disqualification from Test cricket, the BCCI’s counsel argued that the president’s powers enabled him to deal with irregularities as needed. Should he be satisfied, after a preliminary inquiry, about the allegations against a player, an appointed officer can conduct further investigations that will culminate in action against the player.The counsel said that Azharuddin was given “all opportunities” to present his case during the stages of inquiry. Only after failing to establish his innocence was Azharuddin charging the BCCI with baseless allegations.

Left-arm spinner Nicky Boje, out of action since April when he left South Africa’s tour of the West Indies prematurely for shoulder and knee surgery, has been recalled to the South African squad for the next two games in the Standard Bank Triangular One-Day Series.Boje, who had an outstanding 2000/01 summer, joins the 12-man squad fielded by South Africa for the first two matches in the tournament. There are no other changes.There had been speculation that South Africa might add another fast bowler to their squad, particularly now that Allan Donald is again out of action with a strained stomach muscle and missed Free State’s weekend Supersport Series match against Northerns.Boje, on the other hand, played, bowling 44 overs in the Northerns Titans first innings.The squad will do duty in the game against India at Centurion Park on Wednesday and against Kenya in Kimberley next Sunday.Squad: Shaun Pollock (capt), Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Claude Henderson, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Kemp, Nicky Boje

As Frank Lampard tries to rebuild this Everton side in his own image, one man who arguably typifies the complete nightmare of a transfer strategy in recent years under Farhad Moshiri, is Alex Iwobi.

The Nigeria international signed in a deal worth around £34m back in the summer of 2019, and it’s since been 133 weeks to the day that he joined the club.

With 83 games under his belt for the Toffees, Iwobi has been nothing short of a disaster, scoring just six times and providing only six assists too –  it’s hardly a surprise then that he was described as “embarrassing” by The Liverpool Echo’s David Prentice last season.

Former Everton man Michael Ball was equally loud in his criticism of the versatile attacker, pointing to the fact Arsenal fans seemed to be delighted with Iwobi’s sale.

He said: “Yeah it hasn’t worked out for him. He came to the football club with that chunk of a fee. The reaction of the Arsenal fans didn’t really help, I think they were very pleased with the amount of money they received for him.

“And you just hoped that (Alex) Iwobi would come to the football club with the attitude to prove them all wrong and show everybody that he is worth that amount of money and he’s got the ability to step up to the plate but, unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out for him.”

The £100k-a-week earning ace has endured a Goodison Park nightmare, and while he has featured in the past two games for the Toffees under Lampard, it’s hard to see how he turns things around in the long-term.

With his transfer fee and wages combined, the Toffees have splashed out an incredible £47m on Iwobi in the time that he has been at the club, and that’s money well and truly down the drain.

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If Everton genuinely have aspirations of taking that next step under a new and exciting young coach in Lampard, then it’s high-time they cleared out the deadwood in the summer, with Iwobi being one of them.

Meanwhile, this Everton starlet is impressing behind-the-scenes at Finch Farm…

Rafiqul Alam, the chairman of selectors, feels Bangladesh have the potential to do well in Tests and should aim at pushing the game to the fifth day and getting more draws out of their opponents © AFP

Rafiqul Alam, Bangladesh’s newly-appointed chairman of selectors, has said pumping more money into domestic cricket is the easiest way to improve the game at that level.”I rather think that if domestic cricket is spruced with more money, competition will go up and there will be more close matches,” Alam told the ,a Dhaka-based newspaper. “The first-class competition [National Cricket League] should be taken seriously by all concerned,” he said.The Bangladesh board has set up a ten-member committee to review the structure of the domestic game as it feels the weakness of domestic cricket is hampering Bangladesh’s performance at the international level.Alam, who replaced Faruque Ahmed in the selection panel, outlined the goals for his two-year tenure. “My personal point of view is that we should have a short-term goal and that should last three to four years, if not more.” He said Bangladesh had shown considerable improvement in one-dayers over the past few years and should continue to build on the positive work to progress further.The side also has the potential to do well in Tests, according to Alam, and should aim at pushing the game to the fifth day and getting more draws out of their opponents.”We have pushed teams like Pakistan [in 2003], done well in West Indies [in 2004] and almost won against Australia here in Fatullah last year,” he said.Alam played two one-dayers during the tour of Sri Lanka in 1986. He was also a match-referee with the board and has been involved in coaching as well.

Mark Gillespie: gunning for the buzz and thrill © Getty Images

Mark Gillespie, the rookie New Zealand fast bowler, is optimistic about his abilities to contribute in tight situations during his side’s Champions Trophy campaign. Touted as a potential at-the-death bowler, Gillespie has been picked as cover in an injury-prone New Zealand side and has expressed an appetite for a challenge.”If I play, it’ll be for keeps and I’m excited about that. I’d love to get a run,” Gillespie, 26, told reporters. “Every outing is a crunch match in this tournament so you’ve got to be on your game every time you walk out on the park. It’s not as if there’s a few soft games for blooding a youngster, it’s not like that. But I like the challenge; I like the extra buzz and the excitement, and I especially like the thought of playing over here, where it seems that just about everyone is obsessed with the game.”Gillespie earned a call-up based on a decent State Shield showing and a good performance for New Zealand A in the Top End tournament at Darwin. In his first outing in India, he picked up 3 for 37 from seven overs in a warm-up victory against Mumbai yesterday, but remained unsure of whether he would play in New Zealand’s first match against South Africa on Friday.”I’ve had no indication of what, if any games, I might be considered for,” he said. “I haven’t given it much thought to be honest; just taking every day as it comes. I don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself. If I play, well great, but if I don’t I’m still getting a marvellous learning experience.”He also lapped up the Indian atmosphere and support: “It’s been pretty crazy; a new experience for me, definitely. They just adore cricket, the people over here. It’s amazing, no matter where you go there are crowds following you. I haven’t got any previous experience over here so I don’t know what’s normal. But people are just crazy about the cricket and the Champions Trophy right now”.