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Goal breaks down the numbers to reveal the deadliest strikers in Europe going into the next round of fixtures

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi make the top five, but which players across the top European divisions have the best average in terms of time it takes to score a league goal?

Gettyimages20Mario Balotelli | Nice – 131.5 mins/goal1842 minutes played – 14 goalsAdvertisementGetty Images19Gabriel Jesus | Man City – 129.7 mins/goal1299 minutes playes – 10 goalsGettyimages18Nabil Fekir | Lyon – 129 mins/goal2066 minutes played – 16 goalsENJOYED THIS STORY?

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Getty17Wagner Sandro | Bayern & Hoffenheim – 127.5 mins/goal1402 minutes played – 11 goals scored

Rory McIlroy has explained why he could not “go anywhere near” investment at Leeds, but is still hoping to get a “0.0001% share” in Manchester United.

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Spieth and Thomas involved at Elland RoadRed Devils fan refused to join projectForms part of Alpine investment groupWHAT HAPPENED?

The Northern Irishman, who recently helped Europe to Ryder Cup glory in another epic clash with the United States, is an avid follower of the Red Devils. As a result, he could not bring himself to join fellow golfing superstars Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in forming part of the £170 million ($207m) takeover of Leeds by the 49ers Enterprises group.

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report McIlroy as saying: “They asked me if I wanted to come on board and I was like, as a Man Utd fan, can't go anywhere near that.”

WHAT THEY SAID

While steering clear of the United outfit in Leeds, McIlroy would like to get involved with the one in Manchester – with the Glazer family having opened themselves up to offers that now see Sir Jim Ratcliffe leading the race to acquire a 25 per cent stake in the club. McIlroy added: “I would love to have taken a 0.0001% share. If another opportunity comes my way I will definitely look at it. To be able to own even a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of the club you grew up cheering on would be very cool.”

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Getty/GOALWHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

McIlroy is not involved in football just yet, but he is one of the investors – alongside the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Trent Alexander-Arnold – in the Alpine Formula 1 team. He has said of joining that group: “It's a great opportunity, I've always been a big fan of F1. There has been quite a bit of Northern Irish/Irish connection there with Eddie Jordan and Eddie Irvine back in the day. It's always been something I followed. And then when this opportunity came up, I just think with the popularity of F1, how much it's booming in the US in particular – and I have invested in a few things – but this has got more of a story and a journey. It's no surprise they went to market and got some investors in but I think it obviously stabilises the team and it gives them some confidence going forward. F1 as a whole they do it so well. Golf could learn quite a bit from F1 in terms of some of the set-up stuff and how they do things.”

Folarin Balogun scored a goal for Monaco and set up another, but it wasn't enough to upset Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes on Friday.

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Balogun scores fourth of yearSets up another for MinaminoMonaco fall 5-2

Balogun and Monaco were unable to take down PSG in Friday, as they failed to take a chance to go level with the Ligue 1 giants atop the Ligue 1 table.

The U.S. men's national team star did score in the 75th minute, though, but by that point the game was effectively over thanks to a second-half blitz from PSG.

GOAL analyzes Balogun's performance from the Parc Des Princes…

GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

The hosts seized an early lead in the 18th minute, with Portuguese star Goncalo Ramos netting his third goal of the season.

Monaco fought back with a goal of their own just two minutes later, with Balogun's pressing leading to a Gianluigi Donnarumma mistake. The Italian's attempt to play the ball out of the back ended in a Takumi Minamino goal, equaling the score at one a-piece.

PSG wouldn't be denied, though, as Kylian Mbappe made it 2-1 from the penalty spot in the 39th minute, giving the hosts the momentum going into halftime. It was a bit nervy in the second half, but PSG eventually put the game to bed via a world-class Ousmane Dembele goal. Moments later, Vitinha added a fourth, totally ending Monaco's hopes of a comeback.

It didn't stop Balogun, though, as the American broke through in the 75th minute go make it 4-2 and end his own day on something of a high. The goal didn't mean much, though, as Randal Kolo Muani essentially erased it with a fifth for the Parisians in stoppage-time.

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WIth the loss, Monaco squandered a chance to really make a statement in the title race, as they entered the match just three points behind league-leaders PSG with Nice sandwiched between the two. However, with the win, PSG now have a six point advantage on Monaco, who will remain in third place after this weekend regardless of what happens elsewhere.

Getty ImagesUSMNT IMPACT

Even aside from his goal, it's fair to say that Balogun did have a good game leading the line for Monaco.

His holdup play was solid throughout as he did feel involved in the attack. More importantly, his pressing was relentless, as he single-handedly created Monaco's first by pressing what should have been a lost cause. It wasn't though, as his effort led to a Donnarumma mishap for Monaco's first.

Monaco's second, though, was all him. The forward broke through all alone and provided a composed finish, leaving Donnarumma no chance.

Ultimately, there was no way back for Monaco, but Balogun certainly did his part.

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GettyGOAL'S RATINGS

Folarin Balogun (8/10):

Got his goal and set up another one, even if he won't be credited with the assist. Now has four goals on the season and performances like this will certainly keep him in the Monaco XI.

Ian Bell believes Alastair Cook will continue to show a tougher side to his captaincy as he learns from the experiences of the winter

Andrew McGlashan16-May-2014Ian Bell believes Alastair Cook will continue to show a tougher side to his captaincy as he learns from the experiences of the winter. While much around Cook has changed, including the head coach, he has kept his position in the one-day and Test sides but has spoken about having to forge a team in his own style.Cook has previously admitted he began to doubt himself during the one-day series in Australia – he floated the suggestion of giving up the captaincy before back-tracking, blaming emotion, but has since said, in an interview with the that they were serious thoughts – but a combination of support from team-mates and a break from the international scene while T20 dominated has allowed him a fresh outlook.Despite the victory in India in late 2012, in his first series as captain, and last year’s Ashes victory on home soil, Bell conceded that the team had, perhaps, been in the shadow of what Andrew Strauss had forged and that the dramatic reversals of the last six months having forced the players to move on.Early signs of Cook ploughing his own furrow have come with the axing of Graham Gooch, his longer-term mentor, as the official Test batting coach (although he will remain involved with a number of batsmen, including Bell) and after avoiding a slip-up in Scotland the one-day series against Sri Lanka, which starts next Thursday, will mark a return to spotlight.”I think he will have learnt a lot from Australia. That could be a great thing for him,” Bell said. “At the time you think it’s the worst thing ever but hopefully he’ll have learnt about himself but also the direction he wants the team to go in.”There’s no doubt the team at that point probably still felt a bit like Straussy’s side, I think now this is a real line in the sand that he can say ‘this is my team’. A lot of the time as a player you learn a lot more from your mistakes in a bad series than you do in a good series. This could be the start of him becoming a great captain for England.Swann leaves the biggest hole – Bell

Graeme Swann will be the toughest of England’s absent senior players to replace in the Test side according to Ian Bell.

He acknowledged the matchwinning capabilities of Kevin Pietersen, but said that Swann’s presence in the bowling attack gave them a balance which will be tough to replicate.

“Without Swanny it will change the dynamics of our team a lot,” he said. “We could come to Lord’s with three seamers and if we wanted Swanny to hold an end up he could do that which takes a lot of skill. He could also then revert to bowling teams out on the last day, too.

“They are world class cricketers and have been for a number of years, but maybe you look at how good Swanny was at Test cricket and replacing him with another spinner is going to take some time.”

“I’m sure over time he will be harder on the players. He’s made some big decisions and that’s a good sign. It’s what people have been asking him to do. I’m sure we’ll see more of that. He knows the way we want to be playing our cricket and we didn’t see that in Australia and maybe that has given him the chance to see which way he wants to take the team.”Bell will have a vital role to play for Cook in both formats that they share the same side: in Test cricket, where he sits on 98 caps, he is now one of the senior batsmen, in the absence of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott, while in one-day cricket the pair have forged a successful opening partnership.After the one-off T20, in which Bell hopes to make a return to the format, the attention will shift to the 50-over game for a couple of weeks with less than a year to go until the World Cup. The recall of Michael Carberry has opened the possibility of a reshuffle at the top of the order, but Bell feels he has finally reached his potential in the last two years of opening.”I’ve averaged over 40, probably the best I’ve played ODI cricket,” he said. “Before I was very inconsistent, not only in my runs but where I was batting in the order. Me and Cooky seem a good partnership; without Trotty at No. 3 there may be some jiggling there I don’t know, and no Kev as well. I learnt a lot from our last one-day series in Australia and hopefully I will be that guy opening the batting, or in the top three, that can get us off to good starts.”There continues to be much debate about the make-up of England’s top order, the pace they play at and the reluctance to introduce a more attacking player – such as Alex Hales – but remains adamant that the incumbents can provide the style of batting needed in Australia.”I think we have to have two gameplans. In English conditions it will do a bit so we have to get the platform right, but that doesn’t mean blocking it or leaving the ball. The same in Australia, it doesn’t mean we have to slog. It means playing proper cricket shots with intent, scoring off lots of balls.”It doesn’t have to be like Chris Gayle, going 100 yards each time, but we can find out way. For us it’s about a platform because we know our middle and lower order is powerful and can hurt any team in the world.”Investec, the specialist bank and asset manager, is the title sponsor of Test match cricket in England. Visit investec.co.uk/cricket or follow us @InvestecCricket

Hampshire became the first county side to qualify for five successive T20 Finals Days following a five-wicket victory in the quarter-final of the NatWest Blast over Nottinghamshire.

George Dobell at Trent Bridge03-Aug-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Vince led his side to their fifth consecutive Finals Day•Getty ImagesHampshire became the first county side to qualify for five successive T20 Finals Days following a five-wicket victory in the quarter-final of the NatWest Blast over Nottinghamshire.Hampshire were indebted to their captain, James Vince, for helping them chase down a daunting target of 198. Vince, promoted to the captaincy for this competition despite his relative youth (he is 23), made an unbeaten 93 – a career-best score in this format – to help his side reach their target with an over to spare. It was the third highest successful run-chase in the competition this season.If Vince’s batting was worthy of victory – his driving through the off side was especially eye-catching – Nottinghamshire will know that they were, to a large extent, the architects of their own downfall.Not only was Vince badly missed on 20 – Alex Hales failing to take a sharp but distinctly catchable chance at cover off the bowling of Ajmal Shahzad – but the hosts also contributed 14 extras (eight no-balls, four byes and a wide) and will know they bowled well below their potential.Harry Gurney, who now carries the expectations of an England bowler, struggled to hit the correct lengths – Vince thrashed four boundaries in his first over as Gurney overpitched and then over-compensated with a short slower ball – while a preponderance of full tosses throughout the innings rendered it almost impossible for Nottinghamshire captain, James Taylor, to set a field.It is Notts’ first loss in white ball cricket in 10 matches, stretching back to June 13, but a result that will do nothing to shed their burgeoning reputation as chokers. It was their fourth successive home quarter-final defeat in the competition.Nottinghamshire were strong favourites at the halfway stage of the game. Making first use of an excellent T20 surface – it was hard to believe this was next pitch on from the strip deemed “poor” by the ICC after the England v India Test – they were powered to an excellent total through ever more impressive half-centuries from Hales, Riki Wessels and Samit Patel.If Wessels played some outstanding strokes – one slow-sweep for six off Kyle Abbott was quite exceptional – it was Patel who most caught the eye. Quick on his feet and blessed with strong wrists, he gave himself room to thrash the bowlers off their lengths and then punished the resulting full or short balls that followed. His half-century occupied only 23 balls and contained three sixes and four fours.Taylor blames bowlers for T20 exit

Nottinghamshire captain James Taylor was quite clear as to where the blame lay for his side’s fourth consecutive home quarter-final defeat.
“That is by far and away the worst we’ve bowled in the competition this year,” he said. “Our bowlers have been outstanding in this competition. They’ve won us plenty of games.
“So to put in a performance like that with the ball, when we’ve been outstanding all season, is uncharacteristic and very disappointing. It hasn’t happened all season. For it to happen on the big stage is devastating for the club and the guys as individuals.
“We never executed our plans. Even Luke Fletcher, who is usually a banker with his yorkers, missed them at the end which summed up our performance.”

While Hampshire’s bowling was not at its best – Kyle Abbott was particularly ragged, but Danny Briggs will not reflect with great joy on this performance, either – they were grateful for four frugal overs from the gentle-looking Will Smith. Bowling what might generously be described as off-breaks, Smith mixed-up his pace cleverly but most of all gave the batsmen little room in delivering the most economical figures of the day.Hampshire started well in reply. But when Michael Carberry ran past Patel’s first delivery and then Shahzad claimed two wickets in two balls it seemed Hampshire would have too much to do. The first delivery, a bouncer, took the glove of Glenn Maxwell as he attempted to hook, while the next, a well-disguised slower ball out of the back of his hand, completely deceived Jimmy Adams who was lured into a drive that he spooned to cover.Instead Vince thrashed four sixes in seven balls – the first three pulled off Patel, the fourth slogged over square leg off a Steven Mullaney no-ball – to put his side ahead of the run-rate and then calmly picked off the full tosses as they came. He rarely had to wait for long.He added 81 in just 6.4 overs with Sean Ervine with Patel squandering a chance to end the stand early by putting down a tough chance on the boundary when Ervine had 11. While Patel originally seemed to have held on to the ball, he was obliged to throw it to the ground as he staggered to avoid stepping over the boundary rope and conceding six. Ervine ran two instead and went on to take Hampshire to within 20 of victory.While four byes off the penultimate ball ended any chance Vince had of reaching an individual century, he still rated the finest innings as one of the finest of his career.”Given the situation – a high chase in a quarter-final – that is up there with one of my best innings,” he said. “At the halfway stage, chasing 200, it looked as if it was going to be tough.”Hampshire, who play Lancashire in the semi-finals and who have won the competition twice before in 2010 and 2012, will be without Maxwell and probably Abbott too, due to international commitments (there is a slim chance Abbott may be allowed to return) though Owais Shah will be back from Caribbean Premier League duty.It will be little consolation to Nottinghamshire that they were part of a highly enjoyable game of T20 in front of a large and appreciate crowd. 11,237 witnessed a match full of big hitting, some athletic fielding and some high-profile blunders. In the end, though, Hampshire simply made fewer mistakes.

In the sixth episode of Contenders, a special ten-part buildup to the 2015 World Cup, Rahul Dravid and Graeme Smith discuss England’s chances

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2015England arrive at the World Cup having endured a few torrid months, especially in one-day cricket. After series losses to India at home and in Sri Lanka, the selectors decided to axe Alastair Cook as captain in favour of Eoin Morgan. In this episode of Contenders, former India captain Rahul Dravid and former South Africa captain Graeme Smith reflect on England’s chances in the tournament. Can the three-time finalists leave the distractions behind and finally win a World Cup? Is their formula for playing ODI cricket archaic? And could some of the emerging players make an impression on the biggest stage in the game?What they said about…Cook’s axing as captain
Dravid: Better late than never. It would have been really difficult for them to go into a World Cup with the captain in such poor form.
Smith: It’s very important that as a captain you perform yourself, that you lead by example and often that benefits your leadership. But for Alastair he just carried a huge amount of baggage since the Ashes.Pietersen’s absence
Dravid: In my opinion, they made that decision a little too early because he’s been a great player. And irrespective of what your feelings are about him, he’s a kind of player that can impact a game, change a game.
Smith: I think he’s very much an individual style cricketer and one of the things we also said was you either love him or you hate him. Probably within the team you also found that happening.England’s brand of ODI cricket
Dravid: I think England got stuck playing the same old form of cricket that they have always played and that got them great success till 1992. They never really adapted to and changed the way the game just changed all across the world.
Smith: If you look at England, it’s very methodical. It’s people who can do okay, maybe get you an 80 or 90.But there aren’t any guys there that can really break games at the moment and they need to start developing that mindset within their teams before the World Cup so that they can get say a 100 off 70 balls and win the game for the team.The opening game against Australia
Smith: I think for them to be playing against Australia at the MCG is going to be a huge motivation. They have an opportunity to say, ‘We are going to stamp our authority and we are going to beat the host in the first game up’.Morgan as captain
Dravid: When he first came on the scene, he was not burdened with the responsibility of trying to be the main batsman in the side or like the leader in the team. I just think over the last year, he almost feels like that, because a lot of younger players are coming in.
Smith: His greatest challenge is more behind the scenes – to give confidence to the guys, and give them a style of play that will suit them, create balance, and to relieve the darkness.Moeen Ali’s emergence
Dravid: He’s a lovely player to watch. He plays positively and looks to take the opposition on, which is a good thing. It allows England to have a left-right combination at the top, which is another advantage.
Smith: He surprised me. I thought he would be more methodical than what he has been, he’s shown a little bit of flair, and bowled offspins, which has been a bit of a surprise. He’s become an all-round package.James Anderson leading the attack
Dravid: He is important. Like Dale Steyn, he does swing the new ball upfront. He can take wickets upfront. His death bowling, remains to be seen, that for me is the uncertainty.Playing in Australian conditions
Dravid: What’s happened to England in the last few World Cups is that they’ve always played a lot of Test cricket and come into the World Cup after a really long winter. This time it’s relatively relaxed. They played a lot of ODIs in Sri Lanka, they are playing ODIs in Australia before the World Cup so I think that’s definitely going to help them.
Smith: They need the ball to swing, they need the ball to do something, they maybe lack a little bit of pace, but maybe Finn can provide it. Experience is certainly on their side with the two opening bowlers.

Sarah Elliott wants the Women’s Ashes to include more than a single Test match believing it would be a true reflection on the two teams

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-2014Sarah Elliott wants the Women’s Ashes to include more than a single Test match believing it would be a true reflection on the two teams.The ECB and Cricket Australia introduced the multi-format Ashes last year in England – where the winner is decided on a combination of points across all three formats – to move away from the situation where the Ashes was determined by a single contest, but Elliott still thinks more emphasis needs to be placed on Tests.”Test cricket is what it’s really about,” she said. “I would love to see a few more Test matches so the two teams can really fight it out. Three would be good. That would be fair.”Elliott, who was only part of the Test squad, scored a century in the match at Wormsley last year, which was drawn, and made 13 and 29 in Perth as Australia lost by 61 runs. That means they face an uphill struggle to regain the Ashes with England already six points up and only 12 remaining across the three ODIs and three T20s.England and Australia are the only two women’s teams who now compete in Test cricket. The previous Test not involving those two nations was in 2007 when South Africa played Netherlands.

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Newcastle United are among the clubs interested in taking Yannick Bolasie on loan from Everton, according to TEAMtalk.

Bolasie recently returned to the Toffees after a loan spell with Aston Villa – something TEAMtalk report his parent club wasn’t happy about; but how do the numbers stack up for the DR Congo international?

How did he fare at Villa Park?

Bolasie, per the aforementioned report, invoked a clause in his contract at Villa allowing him to return to Goodison Park earlier this month.

According to Transfermarkt, the 29-year-old made 21 appearances in the Championship, scoring two goals and laying on five assists.

Check out the video below for Emma Conybeare’s rundown of which clubs need what in the January transfer window…

The wide man struggled in the second-tier, however, completing 90 minutes just twice.

Per WhoScored, Bolasie’s statistics are far from brilliant, particularly when it is considered that he has been playing in England’s second-tier.

In each appearance, Bolasie made an average of 11.5 passes, with only one of those being a key one. In 12 games, he may have provided four assists, but he scored just twice.

Despite those numbers, TEAMtalk say that Newcastle are one of the Premier League clubs interested in securing the African’s services.

The verdict

Newcastle do need attacking reinforcements, but the numbers do not seem to stack up.

The Magpies have yet to do any business in the January transfer window and recently missed out on signing Gelson Martins from Atletico Madrid; per Chronicle Live, the winger snubbed the move once he realised AS Monaco were interested. He eventually moved to the French club on loan.

Bolasie, while he has Premier League experience and offers searing pace and trickery that is currently lacking at St James’ Park, is not the in-form marquee winger that the north-east outfit need.

They would also have to send Kenedy back to Chelsea to free up space in their squad; due to the loan registration rules, as per premierleague.com, they are only allowed two at any one time, and they are unlikely to try and send Salomon Rondon back to West Bromwich Albion given he has established himself as Rafa Benitez’s first-choice centre-forward this term.

The DR Congo international is more experienced than Kenedy but the jury is out as to whether he’s actually better as things stand right now.

While it was understandable that Virat Kohli limited himself to two debutants in Harare, it will be self-defeating now to keep Mohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Parvez Rasool away from ODI debuts in Bulawayo

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit31-Jul-2013Match factsThursday, August 1, 2013
Start time 0900 (0700 GMT)Cheteshwar Pujara could make his debut in the blue uniform•BCCIBig PictureThe young India side that won the Champions Trophy and the tri-series in the Caribbean was already without so many senior players, it was said the defending world champions already had one eye on building for the 2015 World Cup. For the short trip to Zimbabwe, the selectors picked an even more inexperienced squad, with as many as five of the 15 players having never played an ODI, including three who were still to play an international game. Further, five more players had little international experience. It is all very well saying that this trip was about testing the fringes of India’s bench, but there was also the unspoken expectation – almost an assumption – that Virat Kohli would lead the side to an easy victory in his first full series as captain.Raw side, raw captain. And three games later, Kohli has a 3-0 margin, a century and a half-century. He has also given debuts to Ambati Rayudu and Jaydev Unadkat, and stuck to them for all the three matches. Before the series moved to Bulawayo, Kohli gave himself room to experiment more with the line-up with the series already won. While it was understandable that Kohli limited himself to two debuts in Harare, despite fans’ desire to see more new faces on the field, it will be self-defeating now to keep Mohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Parvez Rasool away from ODI debuts in Bulawayo.With India’s focus ideally shifting to giving the bench a run, what’s in it for Brendan Taylor and his men? Plenty, as the Zimbabwe captain pointed out after the series was lost tamely in Harare. Just getting the chance to play as many as five games against the world champions and top-ranked ODI side is huge in terms of exposure for Zimbabwe. The series gone and, with the toss usually not as important in Bulawayo as it was in Harare, they might just be able to play more freely – especially someone like Taylor, who, as Zimbabwe’s best batsman, has appeared to bat under a lot of self-imposed pressure so far.Form guide India WWWWW (most recent first, last five completed games)
Zimbabwe LLLWWIn the spotlightJaydev Unadkat has come a long way from the teenager who was rushed into a Test debut against the might of South Africa in Centurion in December 2010. He has worked on his strength, increased the length of his run-up and ran in with energy on the unresponsive pitches of Rajkot in the Ranji Trophy. He has been the sharpest of the three India quick bowlers who have played so far, troubling batsmen with zip in his shortish deliveries. Bulawayo will offer lesser help for the bowlers, and it will be interesting to see how the 21-year-old responds.This series has been another typical chapter added to Hamilton Masakadza’s career – three starts in three innings this series and no conversions. He has fallen to the legspinner Amit Mishra each time, all three dismissals coming to loose strokes. Returns of 11, 34 and 38 are not what you expect from a senior top-order batsman in a series Zimbabwe have prepared so hard for. Can he get at least one big score before the series is done? He can begin by avoiding getting out to Mishra.Team newsIndia hardly ever give any hint about their combination at press conferences, but if one were to go by net sessions, Pujara has a bright chance of making his ODI debut. He batted for a long time on the eve of the match. Vinay Kumar did not train due to a niggle, and that could mean an opening for Mohit Sharma to make his international debut.India (probable): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma/Cheteshwar Pujara, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Amit Mishra, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Mohammed ShamiMalcolm Waller’s horror run of scores this series reads 2, 2 and 0. Timycen Maruma looks likely to play his first ODI since March 2010. He had taken a blow to the shoulder during training in Harare, but Taylor said he’s fine.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Sikandar Raza, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt & wk), 5 Sean Williams, 6 Timycen Maruma, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Brian Vitori, 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Michael ChinouyaPitch and conditionsUsually, Bulawayo is hotter and drier than Harare, making for a flatter pitch and a quicker outfield, but the wind direction changed a few days ago, bringing in cloud, cold and some wet weather from South Africa. It’s unlikely that the games will be shortened by rain, but the cloud cover could make the toss more important than usual. It was cold and overcast on Tuesday, but the sun broke through around Wednesday noon. The cold breeze persisted, though.The Queens Sports Club pitch appeared dry and had a few cracks, and could play slow.Stats and trivia Brendan Taylor’s highest score in nine ODI innings this year is 39 Fourteen ODI totals in excess of 300 have been scored in Bulawayo as opposed to seven in HarareQuotes”We encourage our boys to play freely, and if we do that we generally play our best cricket. Hopefully there’s a little less pressure, and we just go out there and enjoy ourselves.”

Lions came close to clinching an unlikely win against Cape Cobras but fell short by 47 runs in their chase of 238 on the third day at the Newlands

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2014
ScorecardFile photo: Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s seven wickets went in vain for Lions•AFPLions came close to clinching an unlikely win against Cape Cobras but fell short by 47 runs in their chase of 238 on the third day at the Newlands. The chase was led by a hundred from Temba Bavuma, but there was little support for him as he made 112 out of Lions’ 190. The 47-run win took Cobras top of the table.Cobras didn’t start too well, after being asked to bat, sliding to 17 for 3. But fifties from Justing Ontong and Yaseen Vallie rescued them with a stand of 139. Imran Tahir dismissed both batsmen, trapping Ontong lbw for 88 and having Vallie caught for 70. Dane Vilas resisted with 34 but Tahir’s four wickets meant Cobras were restricted to 255.Lions lost their top order even more cheaply, for 13 runs. After Quinton de Kock and Dominic Hendricks were sent back by Dane Paterson, Neil Mckenzie and Temba Bavuma stalled the fall of wickets for 14 overs. But once Justin Kemp broke the stand of 43, four wickets from Dane Piedt dismissed Lions for 119. Five wickets from Lonwabo Tsotsobe led the Lions fightback in the second innings as Tahir chipped in with three more and Cobras managed only 101, setting Lions a target of 238.Lions lost early wickets again but Stephen Cook replied with a 42 until Paterson got rid of him, leaving the score at 97 for 4. His third wicket reduced them to 107 for 5 and two more from Shaheen Khan made it 120 for 7. Bavuma stitched two partnerships to give Lions some hope – of 31 with Tsotsobe and of 24 with Pumelela Matshikwe for the last wicket – but Paterson dismissed Bavuma after the latter’s seventh first-class hundred for the 47-run win.