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Everton’s nightmare of being relegated to the Championship could be realised at the end of this season after a torrid run of form, having won just one Premier League game since 6th December and scoring just seven goals in the top flight since the start of 2022.

The lack of creativity will concern boss Frank Lampard just as much as the defensive frailties will, and with the likes of Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both being tipped for summer exits from Goodison Park among others, the opportunity for a couple of young players to make a mark in the first team could be presented by the former Chelsea manager.

This season might come a little soon for 16-year-old Emilio Lawrence, who has been a part of the U18s set-up for just over a year now, but should he continue to make significant progress, an opportunity in the first team will surely be on the horizon.

Having played for both England and Scotland at youth level, the teenager is regarded as one of the most exciting prospects in the country by some, having been a key player in the U18 Premier League for the Toffees this year, scoring five goals in the process, including one at the weekend during their 4-1 loss to Leeds.

In fact, Lawrence scored his first goal at this age level last season against Wolves when he was 15 – an impressive feat which was praised by coach Paul Tait after the game, with him saying: “Emilio gave us a threat.

“He can hit the ball with both feet and shifted it from right to left to score a smashing goal.”.

The winger has the “ability to manipulate the ball past defenders with ease” according to Mersey Sport Live, and also has the eye for a “defence-splitting” pass.

Combine that with the ability to play all across the frontline, and he certainly has the potential to follow in the likes of Christian Pulisic, a £40.5m-rated talent who became more versatile and filled in a number of roles while Lampard managed him at Chelsea.

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Although it might be a little while before we see Lawrence in action with the first team, we’ve already seen some hints that the English coach is willing to give chances to youth players, and the youngster could be given an opportunity in pre-season to impress.

In other news: Everton now plotting swoop for “unbelievable” 13-goal gem, he’d be a huge bargain

	Nasir Jamshed made a successful debut as Pakistan’s batsmen made a world-record five fifties in the opening ODI at Karachi © AFP

After Pakistan’s convincing win over Zimbabwe in their opening match of the Mobilink Cup in Karachi, the two teams head to the unfamiliar territory of the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad, where no international match has taken place for ten years.Although Pakistan’s team management is believed to be keen on playing another bowler and using the wicketkeeper, Kamran Akmal, as an opener, the selectors are understandably reluctant to tinker with a winning combination. Pakistan though will hope for an improved performance from their inexperienced pace trio – Iftikhar Anjum, Sohail Tanvir and Samiullah Khan – who between them managed only two expensive wickets in Karachi.Samiullah, on debut, went wicketless while conceding 60 runs, which was particularly disappointing, especially after such an impressive performance for the Patron’s XI against Zimbabwe in the tour match before the series.Pakistan were never seriously tested during Zimbabwe’s run-chase at Karachi, and so their strategy of playing only three specialist bowlers didn’t come under scrutiny. They ended the match with the bit-parters Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq bowling the last eight overs between them.The strength of Pakistan’s batting – all of whom, bar the unfortunate Salman Butt, went about their work ruthlessly in Karachi – and Zimbabwe’s weakness with the ball means it may not matter. Twenty-three fours and eight sixes in Karachi do not fully depict the intensity of their stranglehold over Zimbabwe’s bowlers. But five half-centuries in the innings – a world record – meant Zimbabwe were under attack from the very first over with Nasir Jamshed, the debutant opener, leading the way.The captain, Shoaib Malik, is understandably confident of another Pakistan win. “We are looking forward to giving our best in the next match to extend our lead,” he said. “I’m quite satisfied with the team’s overall performance and am confident that they will perform even better in Hyderabad.”Zimbabwe, in light of the mauling their bowlers received, may decide to bring in Gary Brent. He was missing at the National Stadium after a stomach upset left him dehydrated and unable to take part in training, but with 74 ODI wickets, he remains the squad’s highest wicket-taker. A gritty batting display in the four-day match against Patron’s XI means Brent will also add substance to Zimbabwe’s lower order.While the bowling provides their captain Prosper Utseya with reasons to worry, the batting will give him considerable hope. Even though the chase at Karachi was stiff, Zimbabwe were given a brisk start and while Vusi Sibanda was in the middle, the merest glimmers of an upset remained. Two more half-centuries followed and the fact that Pakistan were unable to dismiss them will give Zimbabwe a boost ahead of Hyderabad.With both sides relying more on their batting, the toss could be an important one. The early start (9.15am local time) means the conditions should assist seamers in the first few overs. Never at ease in such conditions, Pakistan will still retain distressing memories of facing up to a lightweight attack in bowler-friendly conditions. If he wins the toss again, Utseya might bowl first to play to his strengths and Pakistan’s relative weakness.Niaz Stadium has not hosted a Test for over 23 years and the last ODI played here was way back in 1997 when Pakistan beat India in a low-scoring match. However, Hyderabad hosted six Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches here this season. Judging by the numbers on display – 29 half-centuries and nine centuries in those matches – the pitch is partial to runs, though an early-morning wobble might have to be negotiated first.

Scorecard
Multan returned to the Gold League of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in style with a thumping 269-run victory against Islamabad in the final of the Silver League at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.At the start of the fourth day, Multan needed just four wickets to complete the formalities, and Islamabad, who were struggling at 79 for 6, were in no mood to resist. Bazid Khan was run out without adding to his overnight 17, while Ashar Zaidi, Rauf Akbar and Zohaib Ahmed all fell for single-digit scores. Azharullah took two of those wickets to finish with match figures of 5 for 75, while Abdur Rauf was the most successful bowler in Islamabad’s second innings, taking 3 for 44.

James Franklin has previous experience of the county season having played for Gloucestershire two years ago © Getty Images

James Franklin, the New Zealand left-arm fast bowler, has signed for Glamorgan for the forthcoming season. Franklin, 25, will arrive in mid-May as a replacement for Michael Kasprowicz, following New Zealand’s tour of South Africa.”We are delighted that James is joining us,” John Derrick, the Glamorgan coach, told the team’s website. “His left-arm bowling will add extra variety to our attack, and he is coming over to Wales on the back of a highly successful season in New Zealand.”Franklin is well accustomed to the English season having played for Gloucestershire two seasons ago, where he took 7 for 60 on debut against Lancashire. He also featured in the Test and one-day series when New Zealand toured England in 2004 and, last month, captured eight wickets in New Zealand’s 2-0 drubbing of West Indies.”I have spoken several times in the past couple of weeks to John Bracewell, the coach of the New Zealand team,” Derrick added. “He has a very high regard for James` ability, both as a left-arm swing bowler and as a middle-order batsman. In fact, in John`s opinion, James could bat at number six in the future for New Zealand.”Franklin won’t be alone this season: he joins a host of compatriots including Andre Adams, Shane Bond, Daniel Vettori, Scott Styris, Hamish Marshall and his captain Stephen Fleming, all of whom have been signed up by other counties.

Ali Bacher: ‘Limited advances in assisting the umpires have not kept adequate pace with the growing sophistication of the technology’ © Getty Images

Ali Bacher, the man who did so much to introduce new technology into international cricket, has said that umpires should be allowed to use television replays to help them in making lbw decisions.In an interview with Mihir Bose in the Daily Telegraph, Bacher said that unless this was done, the authority of officials would continue to be eroded. “Umpires are increasingly being placed in unreasonable positions,” he explained. “They are, in a sense, competing against ever improving technology and are destined to fail. The limited advances in assisting the umpires have not, in my view, kept adequate pace with the growing sophistication of the technology.””Current legislation is placing umpires in an untenable position by not allowing them access to the same information as is readily available to the public. Media are in a position to determine more accurately the decision-making ability of an umpire.”My proposal seeks to permit the standing umpire to consult the TV replay umpire whenever he chooses on specific matters aimed at assisting him in arriving at the correct decision.”Bacher pointed out six scenarios where the umpire’s naked eye was not infallible. These included balls pitched fractionally outside leg stump and whether the ball struck the pad on or outside off stump.He concluded by saying that while he wanted more use of third officials watching television, he was not in favour of extending that to include using Hawkeye-type technology.Bacher has been increasingly vociferous in putting forward this argument, and on a recent trip to the West Indies he outlined his plans at the prestigious Sonny Ramadhin Memorial Lecture in Trinidad.

Ian Blackwell hits out during his 62 from 43 balls

England 328 (Solanki 79, Strauss 51, Blackwell 62, Talha Jubair 3-67, Mohammad Ashraful 3-55) beat Bangladesh Cricket Board Development XI 161 (Giles 3-25) by 167 runs
ScorecardWhatever England might have learned from their practice game against the BCB Development XI, it did not teach them much about tight finishes. They dominated from the first ball, and eventually coasted to victory by 167 runs.It was a case of men against boys. The oldest Bangladeshi was 23, and most of the rest were much younger. So the result was hardly in doubt before the start, but the one-sided nature of the match became painfully clear as Vikram Solanki and Andrew Strauss piled up an opening partnership of 146 within the first 20 overs.The gulf was rubbed in when the BCB XI batted. Chasing 329 for victory, they fell behind immediately, and lost further ground as the afternoon dragged on. They never looked like getting the runs, but nor did England look like ripping through them, so the innings meandered like a lethargic river.Faced with such a large total, the Bangladesh batsmen had no option but to risk all in the hope of becoming a hero. Some prospered briefly, but none could keep it up. Manjurul Islam (not the recent Test fast bowler but a left-arm spinner) came nearest to heroics. He scored 47, but as it was already 68 for 6 when he came in he was on a hiding to nothing. Of the others, Mazharul Haque, with 41, was the only other player to exceed 22. There was no great collapse, just a steady ebbing away of wickets.England bowled decently, using eight bowlers in all. Ashley Giles took three wickets, to make up for his fruitless show in the second Test, and he was economical, though little can be read into this performance.But England did the main damage earlier. In front of a grand total of three spectators, Strauss, on his England debut, built on a cautious start, while Solanki was fluent from the first ball, his shots as silky as ever. They were aided by loose bowling – there were 12 extras in the first five overs – and some shabby fielding.It was an odd innings, though – everything happened in reverse. After that very quick start, the scoring rate gradually declined. The first maiden of the innings came in the 49th over. As Strauss and Solanki had kicked on at more than seven an over, it was not too fanciful to suggest that England might make 400. After all Andrew Flintoff (the captain for the day) and Ian Blackwell were still to come.And as the crowd grew, Flintoff and Blackwell did come. For a while they did not disappoint: they hit sixes – big cartoon ones – and struck fours with ridiculous ease. But on a day of dull predictability, such bright spots were never going to last. Flintoff made 43 and Blackwell 62 as, mainly through greed, England were bowled out for 328 with three balls remaining. Wickets really only fell when batsmen tripped over themselves in their eagerness to make runs. Solanki, Giles and Anthony McGrath were all caught playing lofted straight-drives, while Blackwell missed a huge heave. Gareth Batty was the last man out, top-edging a high full-toss as he attempted to pull.But England’s biggest problems came when they got down on one knee. They swept more than an overworked broom, and though it was profitable at times, it was always dangerous. Strauss and Flintoff both fell to slog-sweeps, while Paul Collingwood, after a scratchy 16, was bowled round his legs trying to paddle the ball to fine leg.Although the competition was not stretching, Michael Vaughan was pleased that the seven additions to the England squad were given the opportunity of a match. The team for the first one-dayer on Friday will have a different look. Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick will return, and Richard Johnson and Rikki Clarke, both rested here following illness, have a good chance of regaining their places.

Surrey County Cricket Club is delighted to announce that James Ormond has signed a three-year contract. Ormond made his Test debut at the AMP Oval this year against Australia and is currently with the England team in India and will be an invaluable addition to the squad. The 24-year-old bowler left Leicestershire at the end of the 2001 season after seven years at the Club, where he took 225 wickets at an average of 25.67 in first-class cricket and 101 wickets at 22.57 in limited overs cricket.Paul Sheldon, Chief Executive Surrey County Cricket Club, stated: “This is a tremendous signing for the Club and will give us the strength in depth to challenge for all four major competitions next season.”James Ormond added: “I am extremely excited about signing for such an ambitious Club. To be playing in a side with so many talented and experienced players I hope that I can improve my game as well as help Surrey win more silverware in the future.”Surrey have won six trophies in the last six seasons and the current squad now includes 15 players who have played international cricket.

ScorecardSulieman Benn took four wickets in the second innings•WICB Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks LaTouche Photogr

Roston Chase’s unbeaten 136 helped set up a crushing Barbados win, inside three days at the Kensington Oval. They took 19 points and moved up to second on the table with an overall tally of 63 points. On the other hand, Leeward Islands, who were handed their fifth defeat in five matches, were left rooted to the bottom.After being inserted, Barbados were dented early by pacer Gavin Tonge, but Jonathan Carter gave them a solid platform. He hit eight fours during his 90-ball 54 before Chase took over and lifted the hosts to 368. Tonge dismissed Barbados’ top four but was overshadowed by Chase who produced his career-best effort.In reply, Leeward Islands had a reasonably steady start before Ashley Nurse and Miguel Cummins combined to trigger a slide. Opener Chesney Hughes and No.3 Sherwin Peters made 32 and 44 before the middle order and lower order crumbled. Leward Islands were asked to follow on after falling from a promising 73 for 1 to 170 all out.Leeward Islands were then quickly reduced to 47 for 6 in their second dig, which left them starting at an innings defeat. However, fifties from Orlando Peters and Jacques Taylor, to add to lower-order contributions, spared Leeward Islands that ignominy. Nurse took three wickets, pushing his match tally to eight, while Sulieman Benn claimed four wickets. Leeward Islands eventually managed 198, making Barbados bat again for a target of one run.

Liverpool are through to the quarter-final of the FA Cup, following their 2-1 win at home to Norwich last night, with Takumi Minamino netting both goals.

That makes it four strikes in his last three games that he has taken part in for club and country, and five in total since the start of the year for the star who currently has a £10.8m valuation.

His first goal, a tidy finish after a neat touch in a tight area, came 12 minutes before the second, a thunderous half-volley from inside the area.

It was two goals who showed why, in the words of Ian Doyle, he could become the club’s “new Luis Suarez”, replicating the Uruguayan’s remarkable record against the Canaries.

The 27-year-old forward, who has been tipped to be replaced in the Summer with the likes of Marco Asensio and Darwin Nunez linked, completed 66% of his dribble attempts as well as 82% of his passes including one key pass.

His goals were also a sign of his clinical nature, having just had three shots all game with the other one blocked during his 67 touches of the ball.

With a scoring frequency of one goal every 47 minutes in the Premier League and one every 68 minutes in the FA Cup, it’s hard not to see why some Liverpool fans are hoping to see the winger get more chances.

Manager Jurgen Klopp was full of praise at the end of the game for his often over-looked midfielder, having made 22 appearances in all competitions this season with 14 of those coming from the bench.

“His [Minamino’s] impression was obvious with scoring two goals and not only that – he had a lot more top, top football moments,” said Klopp.

“He was a constant threat tonight, he was mobile, he was quick. He was technically on an incredibly high level; it was really windy tonight and when you then saw how he controlled the balls when he had to bring down the high balls, that was all really, really, really good.

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“It was really a complete performance. The two goals were great but all the rest he did was top-class as well. It was really good.”

The Reds boss is going to have to rotate his way through the next couple of weeks, with five games in 15 days scheduled – but the Japan international may have just earned himself an important role in the German’s upcoming plans.

In other news: Imagine him & VVD: LFC can save millions in 20 y/o who’s their “very own Gareth Bale”

	Mohammad Yousuf will be looking to clear legal hassles which came about after he backed out of a contract with the Indian Cricket League to re-join the national squad © AFP

Mohammad Yousuf will have legal counsel representing him at the next arbitration hearing in Mumbai examining his pull-out from the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The representation will be arranged by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the hearing on January 24.Yousuf initially signed up with the ICL after being dropped from Pakistan’s squad for the World Twenty20 last September. Soon after, however, he was convinced by the PCB to turn his back on the ICL, represent Pakistan and also sign up the Indian Premier League (IPL), a rival circuit officially sanctioned by the BCCI.Organisers of the ICL have insisted that Yousuf cannot renege on his contract and appear for the IPL and sent him a legal notice last year, which prompted the arbitration hearing. However, Yousuf or any representation, failed to appear at the last hearing in Mumbai in December.”There is another hearing on January 24 in Mumbai and we are keen for them to hear Yousuf’s side of the story before they take any decisions,” Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, said. “This is an arbitration hearing trying to mediate in this dispute, not a court of law. They issued a hearing without listening to Yousuf’s version last time and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen this time. We will have legal representation at the next hearing.”At the same time, the board has also filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, arguing that the dispute should be heard in Lahore, where Yousuf is based and where the contract was signed.Ashraf also said that the board was considering the cases of other players who played in the ICL and are, for the moment, barred from playing domestic cricket in Pakistan. Former Pakistan openers Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, as well as Shabbir Ahmed, played in the ICL recently and the PCB has subsequently prevented them from playing domestic cricket.The players have gone to court challenging the ban but Ashraf said the court had dismissed the petition. Farhat and Umar were prevented from playing in the just-concluded Quaid-e-Azam trophy final for Habib Bank. But their futures will now be discussed at the board’s governing committee meeting on January 25 and there appears a chance the domestic ban might be revoked.”We will look at their cases, but I want to reiterate that they all had an opportunity to play for Pakistan,” Ashraf said. “Some of them [Farhat] even had central contracts but they handed them back and chose to play there. That is their choice certainly for the contracts are lucrative, but we are also now paying players well when they play for regions.”The players should be asked why they chose that option, but we would like to move forward from the matter now. We don’t want a confrontation with any of them.”