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Batter Kevin Kasuza was also suspended and will soon appear for disciplinary hearing

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2024

Allrounders Wessly Madhevere and Brandon Mavuta have been banned from all cricket for four months by Zimbabwe Cricket for recreational drug use. They have also been fined 50% of their salaries for three months with effect from January 2024.Batter Kevin Kasuza, who played last of his seven Tests in 2021, has also been suspended from all cricket activities with immediate effect after he tested positive for a banned recreational drug during an in-house doping test last week.During an in-house dope test last month, Madhevere and Mavuta tested positive for a banned recreational drug in an out-of-competition case and were suspended immediately. They received the sanction following a hearing on last Wednesday when they admitted to charges of “breaching the ZC Employment Code of Conduct”,” a board release stated.Their rehabilitation will be overseen by ZC’s medical personnel and the duo has been ordered to train at the high performance programme. “In taking the decision, the Committee also considered some mitigating factors, with both players showing remorse and having already started working on withdrawing from the habit and getting their systems clean,” ZC said in a statement.Both Madhevere and Mavuta were part of the Zimbabwe side that faced Ireland in a home series in early December. Madhevere played all three T20Is while Mavuta played just the third T20I and the three ODIs after that. While Mavuta hasn’t played any competitive cricket since then, Madhevere featured for Mashonaland Eagles in the ongoing Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s first-class competition.

An Aston Villa update has surfaced on the possibility of Marcus Rashford joining Unai Emery beyond this campaign, with Manchester United hatching an intriguing plan for the £300,000-per-week winger.

Marcus Rashford earns Aston Villa praise after promising start

After falling down the pecking order at Old Trafford, with Ruben Amorim even criticising Rashford’s commitment, the big-name Englishman has so far displayed flashes of his best form since joining the club on loan in January.

Aston Villa now very keen on summer move for £41m "beast" to replace Duran

Unai Emery has his eye on a new striker.

ByDominic Lund Feb 20, 2025

Rashford made his debut for Villa in a centre-forward role in the FA Cup against Tottenham, and impressed after coming off the bench during Villa’s 1-1 draw with Ipswich in the Premier League. The 27-year-old was then handed his first start in their 2-2 draw against Liverpool earlier this week, standing out as their best performer on the night by virtue of his average match rating, according to WhoScored.

While he is yet to register his first goal or assist under Emery, his direct and exciting displays indicate that it is only a matter of time.

“Marcus Rashford and Asensio, we watched their skill and how they helped us and will help us again in the next months in the different competitions we will face,” said Emery on Rashford.

“We are in a new way after the changes we did. We are demanding because we still need to improve due to some tactical issues and how we want to compete in the Premier League.”

Meanwhile, his teammate Morgan Rogers has also explained what a joy it is to have Rashford at Villa.

“It pushes us along, we want to take what we can from the experienced players in the squad,” said Rogers on Rashford.

“It’s massive to have people like that in the building, and hopefully we can just push each other. The second goal was important, we played well, but we hadn’t killed the game off.”

Aston Villa handed update on Marcus Rashford signing permanently

Villa have a £40m option-to-buy Rashford at the end of his loan deal, but according to reporter Jacque Talbot, the prospects of NSWE triggering it are slim amid United’s own summer transfer plans.

It is thought that Villa’s financial issues mean there is uncertainty surrounding Rashford’s long-term future, and as things stand, it is more likely that he returns to Manchester.

That is because United are hatching their own transfer plan for the forward, with Talbot claiming Amorim’s side are planning to use Rashford as a makeweight in potential swap deal talks to sign Bayern Munich midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović.

Villa take on Chelsea today in the Premier League, and it is likely that Emery will utilise the attacker at some point as he looks to get the very best out of his new arrival during his brief stay in Birmingham.

Seamer’s six-for echoes opening-round rout as Cook builds on 125-run lead at Chelmsford

Andrew Miller05-Sep-2023

Essex 304 (Browne 59, Cook 58, De Caires 8-106) and 104 for 1 (A Cook 44*) lead Middlesex 179 (Porter 6-34) by 229 runsThe harder that Essex toil to keep pace in this title race, the further adrift of Surrey’s rampant frontrunners they seem to end up being. Barely 15 minutes were on the clock at Chelmsford when word drifted up the A12 that Warwickshire had lost their third wicket of the morning to slump to a dismal innings defeat at the Kia Oval – by which stage Essex too were back in the pavilion, courtesy of Josh De Caires’ eighth wicket of their first innings – leaving them all out for 304, and with a net loss of one batting point on their South London rivals.And yet, to Essex’s credit – and Jamie Porter’s in particular – they were still in there fighting for this title by the close of the second day. After a day of harder graft than might have been envisaged after Porter – not for the first time this season – had overseen the obliteration of Middlesex’s top four in the space of his first four overs, Essex strolled through to the close with a lead of 229 and nine wickets intact, courtesy of Alastair Cook’s unbeaten 44, his second substantial knock of the match.With the sun set to blaze for two more days and this used pitch likely to get dustier even if it has eased out for now, there’s no reason to believe that Essex won’t be leaving this contest with a 21-point haul under their belts, to keep their challenge mathematically alive – at least until Surrey have seen off the relegation-bound Northamptonshire in their next home fixture in a fortnight’s time. More’s the pity that the lop-sided scheduling in the top flight has denied us a return clash of the top two, after Surrey were forced to cling on for a feisty draw on this ground back in May.Still, Essex aren’t done with the scrapping just yet. There’s so much residual excellence within this red-ball set-up that, on a rare off-day for Simon Harmer – their most obvious weapon in light of De Caires’ impact, but restricted on this occasion to a solitary wicket in the deep – their standards were maintained instead by their other pair of Old Faithfuls, Porter and Sam Cook, with a combined analysis of 9 for 80 in 22.5 overs.Porter emerged with the lion’s share of that haul – 6 for 34 in 12.5, his best figures of the season … by one run, after his 6 for 35 had routed Middlesex in their previous meeting at Lord’s in April’s season opener. On that occasion, the top four had contributed not a single run to a ghastly scoreline of 4 for 4, and so today’s collapse to 25 for 4 was comparative riches.The division of labour, however, was all too familiar for a put-upon batting line-up – three for Porter, one for Cook, and scarcely a moment’s let-up between them. Mark Stoneman was the first to go, driving loosely on the up to pick out Paul Walter in the covers, whereupon Joe Cracknell – playing his second Championship fixture and his first in two years – was followed by a fourth-ball inducker that Harmer scooped up at second slip.Sam Robson was bowled by Jamie Porter as Middlesex collapsed at Chelmsford•Andrew Miller/ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Three overs later, Porter had his and Essex’s third – and the best of the innings – as Sam Robson played down the wrong line of a perfect seaming delivery that straightened around his outside edge to flatten his off stump. And three balls after that, Cook – aiming full and threatening from round the wicket – pinned a tentative Jack Davies on the shin as he failed to commit fully on the front foot, and the innings was in freefall.The stage was set for Harmer, entering from the River End with licence to rip his offies and invite a catatonic line-up to implode. With India’s Test seamer Umesh Yadav hitting a hard length in his first spell as an Essex cricketer, Middlesex ground out a total of three runs in ten overs, including 35 consecutive dot-balls, until Max Holden denied Harmer a fifth consecutive maiden with a firm sweep through square leg.With Holden and John Simpson just beginning to creep out of their foxholes, back came Porter from the Hayes Close End, and down went Middlesex’s fifth wicket, as Simpson was pinned on the crease for 16, albeit the impact was on the high side of leg-sided. Porter didn’t care how they came, and before his 12th over was done, he’d bagged his own fifth, as Holden’s fighting knock ended with a tame clip back to the bowler for 30. Though Ryan Higgins and De Caires displayed some panache in their respective rearguards – the latter with a ramp for four off Porter than his old man certainly didn’t teach him – Essex would not be denied in their push for a substantive125-run lead.Porter duly delivered it by pinning Ethan Bamber lbw for 0, and in the wake of his back-to-back five-fors against Hampshire in Essex’s last Championship outing in July, he’d rushed past 50 wickets for the season too – quite the bounce-back after a fallow summer in 2022, in which his injury-plagued haul of 19 at 30.89 had left him contemplating his future as he approached his 30th birthday.Instead, after a renewed fitness drive – aided in no small part by a winter in Melbourne alongside Essex’s Australian bowling coach Mick Lewis – Porter’s now racked up 53 at 16.92, by a distance his best season since his annus mirablis in 2017, when he powered Essex’s title charge with 85 wickets at 16.74, and earned himself a 12th-man berth in England’s Test plans against India the following summer.Those England hopes, even Porter might accept, are long gone now – while Cook’s seem destined never to arrive in the first place, even though, at the age of 26 and with a first-class average below 20, his credentials could scarcely be more presentable. But all’s the more reason why this Essex era is of such enduring importance to this squad of players. Given all that they’ve achieved in the past six years and more, they are not quite ready to accept that their mantle of red-ball trendsetters has slipped away to the South-West.

There’s been a bit of upheaval in the directorial department at Newcastle United over the past year, but Ross Wilson has forged a neat working relationship with Eddie Howe, and the pair are looking to make improvements at St. James’ Park.

Last year, Howe and his squad defied many odds to lift the Carabao Cup and restore a place in the Champions League. It all came together, and while the sale of talisman Alexander Isak this summer threatened to knock things out of kilter, United have made progress in recent weeks, with new heroes emerging.

Bruno Guimaraes remains the Magpies’ all-inspiring leader, but Malick Thiaw has risen to the occasion since arriving in the Premier League this year, becoming a different kind of driving force for the Tynesiders.

Howe's new leaders at Newcastle

Isak was never a vocal talisman in Howe’s Newcastle squad, but, before the summer transfer window, he led by example on the field, scoring 27 goals across all competitions last season and notching in the Carabao Cup final.

However, Newcastle banked a record fee for his signature, and Guimaraes has only raised his game this term, both from a technical and leadership standpoint.

Though a new forward focal point has yet to properly establish himself, Thiaw has taken to life in the Premier League seamlessly, and Bruno has actually remarked that the imperious German defender is “the future of this club”.

It says something of his character and technical quality that he has arrived from AC Milan for around £35m and swiftly stepped higher than Sven Botman. As per Sofascore, Thiaw, 24, has won 74% of his aerial duels in the Premier League, completing 88% of his passes and yet to make an error.

He’s some player, and Bruno is too, but United may actually have a younger member of their squad who is shooting through the form rankings in the English game, starting to prove he could be the pick of the bunch.

Newcastle made a better signing than Bruno & Thiaw

When Newcastle signed Lewis Hall from Chelsea for £28m (after a season-long loan move throughout the 2023/24 campaign), they knew they had struck a bargain for a young full-back with a wealth of potential.

However, injuries have damaged the 21-year-old’s chances of establishing fluency since that move became permanent, and so it’s interesting to see him playing so well in recent weeks, finally building toward the elite player he could, should, become.

Described as “the best player on the field” by reporter Andy Sixsmith after his monstrous display against Tottenham, Hall has overcome his injury problems and is now reminding the Premier League that he is one of the best in the business. Indeed, with more performances like these, it won’t just be those of a Toon persuasion advocating for him to be on the Three Lions plane across the pond next summer.

Minutes played

90′

Touches

75

Shots (on target)

3 (0)

Accurate passes

36/43 (84%)

Chances created

0

Dribbles

2/2

Recoveries

6

Tackles won

4/4

Interceptions

2

Clearances

4

Duels won

8/15

As per FBref, Hall actually ranks among the top 7% of full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 11% for progressive passes, and the top 5% for through balls and tackles won per 90.

This is a frighteningly rounded player, his formative career as a centre-midfielder fostering a dynamic skillset that is charging his journey to the top. If the England international can keep fitness levels on his side, then he will only get better and better on Tyneside, potentially even becoming Howe’s main man.

In this, he might become one of the best signings of the PIF era. Already, it is clear that his name belongs in such a conversation, but Hall needs consistency now. Who knows, maybe he could climb up to loftier ground than the likes of Bruno and Thiaw stand on.

There’s also the matter of him arriving from Chelsea after being awarded the Cobham side’s Academy Player of the Year award. Pinched from a direct rival, Hall is developing into a player who will rival the likes of Marc Cucurella for the left-back crown down the line.

With so much room still for growth, there’s every chance that Hall could be Howe’s main man in the not-too-distant future.

Bigger waste of money than Wissa & Elanga: Howe must drop Newcastle dud

Eddie Howe must now axe this big Newcastle United waste of money ahead of the tense Tyne-Wear Derby.

ByKelan Sarson 2 days ago