To judge by the way the pundits have been talking, England’s series against New Zealand is already in the bag. The Kiwis, allegedly, are the weakest touring side ever to have touched down in the country, with the ropiest top-order imaginable and a bowling attack that’s hanging by a shoestrong. But they’ve heard it all before, and according to Chris Martin, the man who’ll lead their attack at Lord’s on Thursday, such barbs are only going to spur them on.”Maybe the England team read the papers a bit more,” said Martin. “I know there’s a lot of media hype to bring the English team up, saying that they should really stamp on us and destroy us. It’s probably something they feel if they aren’t doing that, because then that hype gets over-extended and they start to feel the pressure. I suppose you guys are doing us a favour in some ways.”There’s no question that England are confident ahead of the start of their summer campaign. Kevin Pietersen has already started looking forward to resuming hostilities with his former countrymen, South Africa, while the coach, Peter Moores, gave a brusque affirmative when asked if he expected victory in the three-match series. But Martin has seen enough of England over the past four months to know that nothing is set in stone just yet.Four years ago, during Martin’s maiden series in England, the traffic was largely one-way, as England hurtled to a 3-0 whitewash – a performance that set the standard for their Ashes-winning exploits the following summer. But times have changed and Martin believes that the 2008 vintage is some way below that standard just now. “They are just a steady side and on their day they can be a very good side,” he said. “For us, we are in a similar vein. I know over the years New Zealand and England have had some pretty good battles, especially over here, so I’m quite looking forward to it.”As a bowling outfit, we were very poor in 2004,” said Martin, who took six wickets in the first two Tests before pulling a hamstring in his second over at Trent Bridge. “We let ourselves down. There’s normally a bowler who can carry a group like that but I don’t think we had that last time. So hopefully, throughout this series, we all help each other out and get a little bit more of a pack mentality.When New Zealand get it right, they can be an impressive outfit, as they demonstrated at Hamilton in March where they derailed England in the first Test. The next two matches, however, got away from them, and two months on, Martin was still rueing the missed opportunity. “We started with an emotionally charged win, and to let it slip in that second game switched the momentum back to England. We regret the way we bowled to a couple of guys on that first day, [Paul] Collingwood and [Tim] Ambrose. We let them get a bit more confidence.”New Zealand’s own batting could do with a bit more confidence. They’ve lost their leading runscorer of all time, Stephen Fleming, and face making two more changes to the top order after axing the underperforming Matthew Bell and Mathew Sinclair. But in Aaron Redmond, who made an impressive if doughty 146 in the England Lions match, they have identified an opener who could provide them with some much-needed ballast.Redmond’s six-and-a-half hour innings reminded Martin of their former opener, Mark Richardson, who famously made 93 and 101 in the last Lord’s Test in 2004. “Mark would bat for 130 balls and blunt the attack for a while and be out there being a menace,” said Martin. “I think Aaron’s pretty much going down that line as well. He just wants to bat time and stay out there. That helps our middle-order, and the runs we’ve been getting in the warm-up games have been extremely positive.”There is still, however, a question-mark about New Zealand’s attitude to Test cricket. Until the England tour in March, they had played four matches in 15 months, and two of those had come against Bangladesh. Furthermore, five of their key players, including the captain, arrived late for this tour after taking part in the Indian Premier League. Though they were only gone a week, the big bucks that their adventure brought them can only have turned heads in the dressing-room.”It inspires me to get myself over there,” said Martin, who was arguably the highest-profile member of the squad not to have been signed up. “As far as a New Zealand player goes, it’s an important financial incentive to get yourself over to India. For a young guy coming up and playing cricket in New Zealand, it’s a passage you should be following.”The preference and priority for anyone is playing for their country, but it’s a supplement, a superannuation plan,” he said. “If you can get your name up in lights and somebody with a wad of rupees is willing to spend money on you to play cricket, it’s nothing to turn down really.”Such sentiments are hardly encouraging for those who view Test cricket as the ultimate form of the game, but if the promise of a passage to India is sufficient incentive for New Zealand to raise their game, then maybe Martin is right. This series is not one to be written off just yet.
Former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, a long-time administrator and currently secretary of Saurashtra Cricket Association, has endorsed Shashank Manohar’s “personal” view that the ICC needs to be more democratic. This comes as important support for possible change in the structure of the ICC, especially considering BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had essentially opposed Manohar’s view.Shah had told ESPNcricinfo in November that it was not fair that everybody earned equal revenue when India contributed a majority of it. “I remember we fought against the infamous veto rights of England and Australia,” he said. “Now it is almost like we have brought back that system, except that we have added ourselves to that list.”Last week, Manohar had said in an interview with the that the revenue-sharing structure the Big Three had imposed needed changing. “I don’t agree with the revenue-sharing formula, because it’s nice to say that India [BCCI] will get 22% of the total revenue of the ICC, but you cannot make the poor poorer and the rich richer, only because you have the clout. The ICC runs cricket throughout the world.”This had brought about an opposing view from Thakur. “The [BCCI] president said this in his personal capacity,” Thakur told . “He made it very clear that it was his personal opinion. The Indian subcontinent contributes close to 70% of the ICC’s revenues. To take 21% of that is not much. That was the position with Australia and England earlier, and no one objected to it then. If this happens to India today, we shouldn’t object to it.”Shah, who will be a voting power if this issue comes up for discussion in the BCCI, believes the board shouldn’t take the view that this becomes right just because somebody else had done it in the past. Shah also compared it with the structure of the BCCI. “In India Tripura and Mumbai have the same voting powers and get the same share of the revenue,” he said and reiterated Manohar’s view that even if India contributes more to the world cricket financially, it needed good competition to do so.Shah said that if the ICC was to be restructured, the matter would be brought up in the BCCI first. Asked if he, as a member of the BCCI, would support such a move, he answered in the affirmative, but said that only a majority view was likely to be considered.
Two days after BCB president Nazmul Hassan said the Test series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in January would be shelved to concentrate on limited-overs cricket ahead of the World T20, the BCB’s cricket operations committee has announced it is in discussion with their Zimbabwean counterparts to hold one Test in January apart from three Twenty20s.The cricket operations committee chairman Naimur Rahman said that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) had proposed the teams play five T20s in Bangladesh after their series against Afghanistan ends on January 10. But Rahman said neglecting Test cricket was rarely beneficial.”Every team is playing Test cricket during this time,” Rahman said. “They will also play in the World T20, so we have to play all the formats. We cannot avoid any of these formats. Test cricket is the real deal. We can improve in other formats if we do well in Tests. But if we just play T20s, we can’t improve properly.”We have always spoken about increasing Tests in the FTP. So there will be a negative effect on us if we don’t play Tests despite the opportunity.”The original schedule for this series featured three Tests, then it was cut to two in September and now there is a possibility of a full, if split series – one Test in Bangladesh, two Tests in Zimbabwe after the World T20. “If we play one Test here, we can play the other two there in July next year, in addition to an ODI series,” Rahman said.Rahman also added the proposed series in January will likely be played in Khulna and Sylhet since most of the other venues in the country will be busy preparing for the Under-19 World Cup that begins on January 27.Naimur also said Bangladesh will not be playing the World T20 warm-up match on March 4 since it clashes with the Asia Cup’s schedule. They will only play the warm-up game on March 6. The operations committee has also called off an initial plan to hold a training camp in Dharamsala in late January because of the different weather conditions compared to the time the World T20 will be played there.
The Cobras earned their first victory of the season after defending 163 against the Warriors. The franchise have lost three out of five first-class matches and their first two T20 matches as they continue to battle player concerns over the capability of coach Paul Adams. But Adam could smile for a change after Wayne Parnell, Kieron Pollard and George Linde took the team to victory.Parnell was coming back from a rib injury sustained during South Africa’s ODI series against Australia. He opened the batting with Richard Levi, who departed early, and scored 61 off 51 balls. He lacked support until joined by Pollard, whose 50 off 27 balls earned him the batsman of the match award. The pair scored 78 off 50 balls at a rate of almost 10 an over to ensure the Cobras compiled a competitive total.In reply, the Warriors were in early trouble at 58 for 5. Left-arm spinners Linde and Rory Kleinveldt did the damage but Colin Ackermann resisted. His 60 off 41 balls was one of only four scores in double figures in the innings and the only one of more than 22. The Warriors sit mid-table with one loss and one win so far.David Miller’s career-best T20 score was not enough for the Knights to beat the Titans in a last-ball thriller that was decided by a no-ball. The Titans’ victory keep them at the top of the table, eight points clear of their nearest challenger.At 10 for 2, the Knights ceded the early control as veteran allrounder Albie Morkel struck. Miller and Pite van Biljon shared 91 for the third wicket, with van Biljon only a minor contributor. His 28 off 31 balls offered only companionship for Miller, who stood man alone in building the total. Miller’s century came off 56 balls and his eventual strike rate was a shave under 200. He was particularly harsh on Junior Dala, whose four overs cost 57 runs.The Titans stayed on course in the chase, with all their batsmen chipping in. Heinrich Klaasen’s 50 off 27 balls started them off well before Farhaan Behardien and David Wiese kept them in the hunt.They were dismissed off successive balls – Wiese off the last of the penultimate over and Behardien the first of the final over – to leave the Knights needing five runs off the last five balls. Shadley van Schalkwyk was bowling and he gave away only two runs off the next three balls before a bye was conceded, leaving the Titans with two to get off the final ball. That’s when van Schalkwyk overstepped and the Titans took a single to win the game.
The Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy ended on Tuesday – the same day as the IPL 2026 auction – with Jharkhand and Haryana booking their final berths for a title clash on December 18 in Pune. Here’s how the day unfolded.
Haryana blitz their way into the final
Haryana hammered Hyderabad by 124 runs to go level with them on points and book a place in the final by finishing on top of the Group B table in the Super League.Haryana, Hyderabad and Mumbai all finished on eight points each but Haryana topped the table and the table-toppers from the two groups went through to the final.For their second game in a row Haryana posted a total above 230 but this time they ended on the winning side, with a massive victory for a net-run-rate boost. They were given a rapid start by captain Ankit Kumar’s 57 off 27 that was studded with six sixes. Ankit’s last nine scores in the tournament now read 57, 89, 60, 46, 6, 44, 78*, 9 and 51. Haryana stuttered briefly after an opening stand of 81 in 7.4 overs before No. 6 Samant Jakhar and No. 7 Parth Vats combined to hammer 81 runs in just 32 balls to power them from 135 for 5 to 216 for 6. Jakhar smashed eight sixes in his 60 off 22 and Vats struck 45 off 19 with another three sixes. They posted a massive 246 for 7 while Mohammed Siraj finished with 4-0-37-1.Hyderabad were 16 for 2 early and finished the powerplay on 58 for 3 before stuttering to 99 for 6. They never really recovered as offspinner Amit Rana took 3 for 14 from three overs and Anshul Kamboj finished with 3.1-0-16-2.
Reddy downs Jharkhand, but they make the final
An all-round performance from Nitish Kumar Reddy helped Andhra snap Jharkhand’s nine-game winning streak in the tournament. But Jharkhand topped Group B with eight points, the same as Andhra, and a better net run rate to go through to the final.Reddy’s brisk 22-ball 45 with the bat in Ambi lifted Andhra to 203 for 7, before his 2 for 32 with the ball slowed Jharkhand’s chase enough to secure a nine-run victory.Jharkhand appeared well-placed early, racing to an 88-run opening stand in just 6.5 overs through Ishan Kishan (35) and Virat Singh, who was third out for 77. The breakthrough came when S Raju removed Kishan.Virat continued to find the boundary but Reddy’s second spell proved decisive in halting their momentum. Kumar Kushagra returned a catch to Reddy in the tenth over, Tripurana Vijay then dismissed Virat in the 13th, and Reddy struck again in the 15th over to remove Robin Minz.Despite those blows, Jharkhand still needed only 40 runs from the final five overs, but Saurabh Kumar then turned the game around. He conceded just three runs and dismissed Anukul Roy in the 16th over, followed by another tight over in the 19th that cost five runs and saw him rattle Rajandeep Singh’s stumps. With 18 to defend in the final over, Reddy allowed only three runs from the first half of the over, and Bal Krishna’s last-ball six proved inconsequential.File photo: Sarfaraz Khan smashed 73 off just 22 balls•Associated Press
Sarfaraz 73, Rahane 72* in Mumbai’s win
Sarfaraz Khan hit 73 off just 22 balls as Mumbai mowed down a 200-plus total in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for the second game in a row. Rajasthan posted 216, but Mumbai hunted it down with three wickets and 11 balls left. Ajinkya Rahane, who added 111 off just 38 balls with Sarfaraz for the second wicket, finished unbeaten on 72 from 41 deliveries.Sarfaraz’s 64 off 25 balls had helped Mumbai chase 235 against Hyderabad in the previous game, and he followed it up with another aggressive, boundary-laden display. Against Rajasthan, Sarfaraz smacked six fours and seven sixes to lay the foundation of the chase. Atharva Ankolekar, at No. 8, thumped 26 off just nine balls to provide the finishing kick, even as Manav Suthar finished with 3 for 23 for Rajasthan.But the fact that Mumbai had a huge total to chase was down to half-centuries from Mukul Choudhary (54*) and Deepak Hooda (51). Hooda had a 103-run stand with Ramnivas Golada, who smashed 48 off 29 balls. While both batters fell in succession, Choudhary and Mahipal Lomror then added 89 in 44 deliveries for the fourth wicket.Lomror’s 39 featured four sixes, and Choudhary ensured Rajasthan ended with a huge score. Tushar Deshpande leaked 54 runs in four overs.File photo: Harnoor Singh scored 64 off 36 balls•Punjab Kings
Harnoor, Arora help Punjab chase 226 vs MP
In a dead-rubber in Pune, Punjab ended their two-match losing streak with a two-wicket win over Madhya Pradesh. Half-centuries from Harnoor Singh and Salil Arora, followed by a late assault from Ramandeep Singh, who remained unbeaten on 35 from 21 balls, powered Punjab to a successful chase of 226 with five balls to spare.They were jolted early by the loss of captain Prabhsimran Singh, but Anmolpreet Singh and Harnoor counter-attacked by adding 50 runs in just 18 balls before Anmolpreet was dismissed by Mangesh Yadav for a 14-ball 38. Harnoor continued the onslaught, striking 64 off 36 balls with five fours and three sixes, and added 73 for the fourth wicket with Arora. Punjab required 45 from the final five overs when Arora, who scored a fifty off 29 balls, fell in the 16th over. A mini-collapse followed as four wickets fell for 20 runs, but Ramandeep held his nerve to see Punjab home.The chase marked the seventh instance of Punjab crossing the 200-run mark in the tournament this season – the most by any side. No other team has managed more than four 200-plus totals in a single edition of SMAT, with Jharkhand also on four in 2025-26.Earlier, Venkatesh Iyer top-scored for MP with 70 off 43 balls. Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Aniket Verma and Mangesh chipped in with handy cameos to lift them to 225 for 8, but it ultimately proved insufficient. Fast bowler Gurnoor Brar was the standout bowler, finishing with 3 for 45.
Test match batting preparation aplenty was on offer for England in perfect batting conditions against Canterbury in Christchurch today but, Michael Vaughan, Nasser Hussain and to a lesser extent Craig White excepted, England failed to make the most of their chances.Cricket in Christchurch played in the idyllic weather and surroundings of today is cricket as it should be played and the dreams of the city’s planners of the mid-19th Century were realised at the mid-city complex of Hagley Oval.Yet even the almost English setting, a goal of those town planners, was not sufficient to prevent England also suffering problems.The middle-order batting collapse, the curse of recent England performances, reared its head again in benign conditions before White led a recovery which saw England with a 188-run lead by stumps.Vaughan, despite his lack of appearances on New Zealand soil, is shaping as the most serious contender for batsman of the tour, and that is based on an obvious delight, even in only two appearances so far, in scoring runs and spending time in the middle. This is a player most countries would nurture and encourage.”I couldn’t have asked for a better day. We had the best of the conditions and I needed a score,” he said in reflecting on his masterful 156, scored off 198 balls and including 23 fours.It is amazing to believe that a batsman of such quality has to stand in a queue for a Test match place when he has looked the player most likely to succeed. His attitude of putting the pressure back on the selectors to pick him was confirmed afterwards.”All I concentrated on was putting pressure on by scoring a big hundred.”The make-up of the team is not down to me, I just hope that when the team is named on Wednesday I am in there,” he said.Vaughan, who shared a 207-run stand with Hussain, felt no ill effects of the shoulder dislocation that forced him to leave the field during the fourth One-Day International in Auckland.”My shoulder is fine when I’m batting and is getting better by the day.”I was always going to be playing in this game after having had treatment on the shoulder in Queenstown.”I had no reaction from it when I was batting and I felt free to play any shot. I felt in good touch. We cashed in on some balls that were there to be hit and that is the secret of batting,” he said.Hussain batted like a player still trying to get the one-day series out of his system, which he was after being excused from the first three-day game against Otago earlier in the week. He was much more controlled than Vaughan who was very much the senior partner of their stand.His innings of 69 took 121 balls and ended when he attempted a sharp single, of his own calling, but he didn’t allow for Canterbury square leg fieldsman Gary Stead fielding the ball cleanly and breaking the stumps at the bowler’s end with his throw.The run out came one run after Vaughan’s dismissal and was followed soon after by Mark Ramprakash who was caught by short leg fieldsman Robbie Frew as he attempted to turn a ball from off-spinner Paul Wiseman.Then Andrew Flintoff suffered the mortification of continuing the tumble when hitting a full toss straight back to bowler Chris Harris to be out for one.Four wickets had fallen for eight runs.Usman Afzaal was joined by White and they added 43 runs before Afzaal became the first victim of the new ball, being caught from Warren Wisneski’s bowling for 19 from 56 balls. James Foster was bowled by Wisneski four runs later to leave England 333/7.The chance for Canterbury to wrap up the innings was lost when Ashley Giles was dropped by point fieldsman Shanan Stewart when on nine. He had the ball in his hands but in rolling over he lost the ball.Hitting out in celebration, Giles helped White add 50 for the eighth wicket before he cut at a ball from Wisneski which lobbed to Harris at gully.White brought up his 50 off 114 balls, having his seven fours. By stumps soon after he was 53 not out and Andy Caddick was four not out.Wisneski had problems with his rhythm during the morning but when he returned with the second new ball he proved a much more difficult customer for the batsmen and he ended the day with three for 88.Young tyro Wade Cornelius came in for some stick and had one wicket, Mark Butcher, at a cost of 85 runs. Wiseman had two for 70 from 17 overs.The real pressure goes on the England attack tomorrow. To knock over Canterbury which hasn’t been one of the harder assignments for side’s in recent domestic history, more bowlers than Caddick have to fire.
Midfielder Steven Gerrard is confident that England team-mate Wayne Rooney will keep his cool at the World Cup finals in South Africa.
Rooney was cautioned during his side's final warm-up game against the Platinum Stars and warned about his swearing towards match officials, but Gerrard is confident that there will be no problems when the tournament itself gets underway.
He told reporters:"People talk about the yellow card he got the other day, but that is Wayne Rooney. He is always on the edge. He has got that fire in his belly.
"I know Wayne. I know about his upbringing and his background. We have a good understanding on the pitch because we are quite close off it.
"If Wayne channels his frustrations in the right way he can be one of the players of this tournament."
Meanwhile, USA head coach Bob Bradley has dismissed suggestions that his team could try and provoke Rooney in Saturday's clash in Rustenburg.
He added:"I'm asked this a lot and no we won't try and wind him up. We don't get into that sort of thing.
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"I have tremendous respect for Rooney and what he brings to England in so many ways. His effort, his competitiveness, his movement, his influence on that team is great.
"But we won't try and wind him up."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Jimmy Bullard is unsure whether he should leave Hull City and sign for Celtic this summer after holding preliminary talks with the Glasgow giants.
The Tigers' club record signing still has three years of his KC Stadium contract remaining but is likely to leave the club following their relegation to the Championship.
Bullard has endured a succession of injuries during his time with Hull and admitted:"It's been good to get away from football and get my thoughts right.
"I'm contracted to a football club but we all know things can change quickly. I'm in the middle of talking to both clubs and I'm not going to say anything about the future until I get back home.
"I'm going to have to have a long, hard think about what my future holds. I'm contracted to Hull at the minute so I'm still a Hull player.
"But if somebody else tells me I'm going here or there, I'll have a look at those things. I don't want to be disrespectful to Hull. I'll speak to the chairman and then see. We had a bad year going down to the Championship and that hurt.
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"I live for the moment. I have a decision to make so let's see where the future takes me."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
After the disaster of Junichi Inamoto, can Arsene Wenger really afford to take another gamble on Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda?
Last week, Wenger expressed his admiration for Honda and gave the Samurai Blue attacking midfielder the ultimate compliment by hailing the 24-year-old as ‘a genius’ and also pinpointed the player as the star man in this years World Cup in South Africa. Last week, Wenger told Eurosport of his awe of Honda:
“This Japanese team is based on a solid and collective defence in which everybody knows exactly what to do. When they get the ball they can give it to Honda – and the magic starts. When they get that genius Honda playing up front, he had shown what a top class player he is. For me he’s the best performer of the competition so far.”
Without a doubt Honda was an intricate figure for Japan in South Africa this summer, where he managed to start all 4 games in the tournament and bagged 2 goals along the way as well. Honda is currently contracted to CSKA Moscow and is widely known around Europe due to his appearances in the Champions League. However, after performing extremely well in South Africa and dazzling many with his technical ability this summer, the Samurai Blus midfielder has no doubt turned many heads.
Wenger appears to be keen on the player and may make a move for Honda sometime during the summer. However, a lot of Arsenal fans will remember when Wenger brought Arsenal’s first and only Japanese player in the form of Junichi Inamoto…it didn’t bold well.
Currently playing his home country for Kawasaki Frontale, Inamoto was once an Arsenal player. Wenger obtained Inamoto’s services in 2001 but failed to make an impact at the club. The midfielder only managed to appear to 4 times (2 games in the League Cup and the other 2 in the Champion’s League). Although Inamoto did well in the 2002 World Cup, the midfielder failed miserably to find a consistent place within the Arsenal first-team which prompted a move away from North London…not an Arsenal player at all. Surely lightning couldn’t strike twice if Honda were to make a move to Arsenal, right?
Undoubtedly Honda was Japan’s star man this summer and certainly impressed me with his movement and all-round knowledge of the game in general. The midfielder is also very versatile and can play as a second striker and even a left-back if required. Honda seizes great pace, agility and a great level of technical ability which would suit Arsenal’s style of football.
Keisuke Honda has only been with CSKA Moscow for 6 months having signed for the Russian club in December 2009 on a four-year deal. Taking this into consideration and the fact that the attacking midfielder had a splendid World Cup, CSKA will only sell the Japanese star for the right price. However, the player’s agent, Kees Ploegsma has conceded that should big European clubs come knocking for his client’s services, the player would find it hard to resist. According to the Sun, Ploegsma stated:
“Keisuke plays in a beautiful city for an important club, but obviously if there are offers from big European clubs it is difficult to say ‘no’. At this time there are no bids and all in all he is happy at CSKA but we’ll see.”
So really, it all depends at what price the Russian club are willing to let the midfielder go at. CSKA spent £5 million on the Japanese international, and with 4 years left on his contract and a fine World Cup tournament under his belt, Honda maybe priced in the region of £13-16 million.
Would the value of the player be a gamble for Wenger to spend this summer? Not really, considering the fact that he has spent the same on past players. Is Inamoto the same type of player as Honda? No. Honda looks a more demanding player and has experience in Europe. Honda is also more technically gifted than Inamoto, and to label Honda as ‘a gamble’ is wrong in many fans eyes. Inamoto’s failure does not mean that the CSKA man will fall short at Arsenal. If Wenger is intrigued in the player and believes Honda is ‘a genius’ then the Frenchman should definitely pursuit his interest further, despite the past failure of one Japanese player at the club.
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England's Howard Webb has been confirmed as the referee for Sunday's World Cup final between Spain and Netherlands in Johannesburg.
Webb will become the first Englishman to referee the final since Jack Taylor in 1974 when he takes charges of the showpiece at Soccer City.
The 38-year-old from Rotherham will be assisted by Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey.
The trio were also selected to officiate the Champions League final in May between Internazionale and Bayern Munich.
Webb was overlooked for both the quarter-finals and semi-final stages of the World Cup but had been retained by FIFA for the latter stages of the tournament.
The final will be his fourth match at the finals after starting out with Spain's surprise Group H defeat to Switzerland in the first round of matches.
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He also refereed Italy's final group game against Slovakia and the last 16 game between Brazil and Chile.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email