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Manchester United owners INEOS are taking a page out of Chelsea’s book as they swoop to secure two of the brightest talents in South America ahead of the January transfer window.

BlueCo's transfer strategy finally bearing fruit at Chelsea

Todd Boehly was heavily criticised during the early days of his reign at Chelsea, with Jamie Carragher among his most vocal opponents, questioning the sheer volume of signings made under the American.

The Blues have seen a major success story emerge from their flock of young signings however, with Estevao Willian becoming a key member of Enzo Maresca’s first team, scoring crucial goals against Liverpool and Barcelona this season.

The Brazilian is just one of several South American recruits made under BlueCo’s ownership, with the likes of Andrey Santos, Kendry Paez and Aarón Anselmino all out on loan.

The Red Devils have begun to follow the path trodden by BlueCo since INEOS’ arrival, with 18 year-old Paraguay left-back Diego Leon signed in the summer and two more South American gems now seemingly on the way.

Indeed, Manchester United have agreed a deal for midfielder Cristian Orozco and a report from AS has revealed United ‘have already begun negotiations’ for Brazilian centre-back Luis Eduardo, with a bid expected in the coming days and weeks.

Eduardo could be the next Thiago Silva

Eduardo turns 18 in January and has very liittle senior experience, making just one appearance so far for Gremio’s first team.

However, the teenager captained his country to the semi-finals at the U17 World Cup in Qatar last month, which is where he caught the eye of scouts from both United and Chelsea.

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Standing at 6 foot 1, he is not the tallest central defender around, but has been a weapon at set pieces for Brazil’s youth side, scoring three times in just 13 caps.

Similar to the 5 foot 11 Thiago Silva, the Gremio defender has been praised for his leadership, pace and timing, using his reading of the game to break up play rather than pure physicality.

United are expected to reinforce the first team in the January transfer window, but adding quality to the youth ranks can only boost their chances of returning to past glories.

Australia’s batting order for the first Test is still some way from being confirmed, but Labuschagne is currently the favourite to go in at the top

AAP31-Oct-2025

Marnus Labuschagne says he would have no issue opening for Australia in the Ashes, confident he is now much clearer in his own game than in recent summers.Labuschagne was denied another chance to bat in Queensland’s Sheffield Shield match with New South Wales on Friday, with the match ending in an early draw.Related

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After rain washed out the opening day, Jack Clayton’s 113 ensured Queensland would not have to follow on.Sam Konstas was then more patient with the bat, before attacking later in the innings and being caught charging Sam Skelly on 41, before a draw was called soon after.Konstas won’t be there come the first Test in Perth next month, with the 20-year-old almost certain to be given time in the Sheffield Shield to find his game.Labuschagne is favourite to take Konstas’s spot at the top, in a move that would allow allrounders Cameron Green and Beau Webster to both stay in the team.Labuschagne has said throughout this summer his preferred position is No.3, while insisting he would be willing to open to get back into the team. He has done so just twice at Test level, out for 17 and 22 in this year’s World Test Championship final against South Africa before being dropped from the side.But on Friday he declared he would more than welcome the challenge to open in Perth in three weeks’ time.”I’d say ‘great’,” Labuschagne responded when quizzed on what he would say if asked to open. “It honestly doesn’t concern me, I just want to be playing cricket at my best.Sam Konstas whips through the on side•Getty Images

“This year I’ve been in in the first few overs a few times. You’re used to it batting No. 3, and I’ve batted there probably 95 per cent of my career in both formats.”So I’m very used to being in early. If I have to open, great. If I bat three, great. Wherever there’s a spot for me I’ll take it and we’ll go from there.”Forced to watch on from the sidelines in the Caribbean last winter, Labuschagne has since adopted a less-is-more approach to his batting. The renowned cricket nuffie no longer bats in the nets on match days, admitting he was getting in his own head and thinking too much about his technique.Small changes have been made to his grip and stance, while he has also put pressure back on the bowlers in his four centuries for Queensland to start the summer.”Mentally I’m a lot clearer on my game and not getting too much deep thought into certain dismissals or methods,” Labuschagne said. “It’s not the actual training in the nets, I absolutely love that, I can do that all day.”But at times I feel like my technique gets in a space where I go home and I’m like ‘maybe I want to do this or maybe I want to go and try that’. Now I’m trying to stay out of my own way really and go out there and trust my skills when I get to the middle.”

Also, who holds the record for the most international runs in a calendar year in women’s cricket?

Steven Lynch07-Jan-2025I noticed that there were no players in Australia’s team in the Boxing Day Test who were in their twenties – Sam Konstas is 19, everyone else was in their thirties. Has any Test team ever had nobody in their twenties before? asked Reece Lane from England
That’s a good spot. Australia’s team in the absorbing fourth Test against India in Melbourne last week was the first to contain a teenager (the precocious Sam Konstas) and ten thirtysomething players. It happened again in the final Test in Sydney, even though Australia changed their team: newcomer Beau Webster was born in December 1993, so is already 31.There have been four previous Tests in which all 11 players on one side were over 30. Three of them were fairly recent matches involving New Zealand: two Tests against Pakistan in Karachi in December 2022 and January 2023 (when their youngest player was Ish Sodhi, who had turned 30 in October 2022), and against England in Wellington in February 2023, when the youngest was Will Young (born November 1992).Many years before, at Headingley during the 1921 Ashes series, England fielded a team composed entirely of players over 30, even though four of them were making their Test debuts. The youngest back then was Vallance Jupp, who was born in March 1891. (Thanks to Ian Hill for his help with this one.)Jasprit Bumrah took his 200th Test wicket in Melbourne, and still averages less than 20. Has anyone else matched this? asked Deepak Kanwalkar from India
Jasprit Bumrah’s remarkable form in Australia took him past 200 wickets during the fourth Test in Melbourne, the landmark wicket being Travis Head. Going into the final Test in Sydney, Bumrah had 203 wickets at 19.42.No one else has had an average below 20 at the time they took their 200th Test wicket – next comes Joel Garner at 20.34 (he ended with 259 at 20.97). It should be noted, however, that the average of South Africa’s Shaun Pollock briefly dipped under 20 later on: after his 50th Test, he had 210 wickets at 19.86. He finished with 421 wickets at 23.11.Laura Wolvaardt scored a huge amount of international runs in all three formats last year. Did she break the record? asked Brydon McKenzie from South Africa
This turns out to be a slightly complicated one. South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt did break the record in 2024 – but she only held top spot for a short time as she was overtaken herself late in December.At the start of last year, the calendar-year record for runs in all three women’s international formatswas held by England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt, with 1346 in 2022. Wolvaardt passed that in 2024, finishing the year with 1593 runs in all – 223 in Tests, 697 in ODIs and 673 in T20s. But that was passed in December by India’s Smriti Mandhana, who finished with 1659 runs in the calendar year – 149 in Tests, 747 in ODIs and 763 in T20s. Mandhana is also fourth and fifth on this list: she made 1291 international runs in 2018, and 1290 in 2022.Sciver-Brunt remains England’s record-holder. Sophia Dunkley comes next for them, with 1093, also in 2022. Their team-mate Maia Bouchier made 974 in 2024, including a century on her Test debut in Bloemfontein in December.Smriti Mandhana overtook Laura Wolvaardt by 66 runs to record the most runs in a calendar year in women’s internationals – 1659•BCCIZimbabwe’s Brian Bennett scored his maiden century and took his first five-wicket haul in just his second Test. Has anyone done this double quicker than that? asked Keith Casey from Zimbabwe
Brian Bennett scored 110 not out and then took 5 for 95 during Zimbabwe’s run-soaked draw against Afghanistan in Bulawayo last week. He was the third man to collect his maiden century and first five-for in his second Test, after Jack Gregory for Australia against England in Melbourne in 1921 and Roston Chase for West Indies vs India in Kingston in 2016.Only four other men have achieved this double in the same Test – but one of them was making his debut: Bruce Taylor scored 105 and took 5 for 86 for New Zealand against India in Calcutta in 1965. Like Bennett, Taylor was 21 – but now that some confusion about his date of birth has been resolved, it can be confirmed that Bennett is the youngest to achieve the feat, being around six months younger than Taylor was. It should be noted that Chamani Seneviratna also did this in what turned out to be her only women’s Test, for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in Colombo in 1998.Bennett joined a distinguished cast of men who scored a century and took five wickets in an innings in the same Test at any stage of their career – and again he is the youngest to have done it. Ian Botham appears five times on this list, and R Ashwin four. The only other Zimbabwean to do it was Paul Strang, against Pakistan in Sheikhupura in 1996.One man from each side in the recent Bulawayo Test was making his first-class debut – how often has this happened? asked David Protheroe from England
Six people made their Test debut in Bulawayo last week, and you’re right that for two of them – Newman Nyamhuri of Zimbabwe and Afghanistan’s AM Ghazanfar – it was their maiden first-class match too.This has been an unusual occurrence over the years, as this list shows. Since 1900 there had been only eight additions until last week, including two in 2023 from Ireland, where very little first-class cricket is played. It was more frequent before 1900, mainly because South Africa also had a limited domestic programme at the time. It’s therefore not too surprising that the last instance of two opposing players making their first-class debut in the same Test was in Port Elizabeth in 1896 – Audley Miller for England and Joseph Willoughby for South Africa.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.

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