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NXGN has selected the best English women's players born on or after January 1, 2004 – but will they fulfill their potential in the coming years?

Today, England's women's national team is the reigning European champion and will be one of the frontrunners going into the 2023 Women's World Cup. But who are the young stars that could one day follow in the footsteps of players like Leah Williamson, Keira Walsh and Alessia Russo?

Many teenagers are making their mark in the Women's Super League at the moment, such as Aston Villa midfielder Laura Blindkilde Brown and Chelsea prospect Jorja Fox.

There are players from previous NXGN lists in the England set-up right now, too. Lauren James was among 2020's best wonderkids while Maya Le Tissier made the list the following year.

So, who will be next to break through? NXGN highlights nine of the Lionesses' most exciting prospects, born in 2004 or later…

Getty ImagesAlyssa Aherne (Manchester United)

Named Player of the Match when Manchester United won the 2022 WSL Academy Cup final, Aherne made her first team debut for the Red Devils in December in the Continental Cup.

A skilful winger with a good delivery, the teenager links up well with the full-back behind her and can finish, too. It's no wonder she's highly-rated within the club.

Aherne is currently dual registered with Burnley, in England's third-tier, in order to add valuable senior experience to her CV, and the England U19 international will hope that can help her take the next steps forward in her development.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesKeira Barry (Manchester United)

Another stand-out in United's WSL Academy Cup triumph last year, and a top performer for the team this season as well, Barry made her senior debut for the club alongside Aherne in December.

A year younger than her team-mate, the forward is the youngest player on this list but is already making a serious impression in the Red Devils' set-up and has been called-up by England's U19s, too.

Barry has absolutely incredible pace and is a good finisher. She's currently dual registered with third-tier side Derby County as she looks to polish her skillset further with exposure to regular senior football.

Simon Bellis / SportimageMia Enderby (Sheffield United)

The second-youngest player on this list, Enderby's importance for Sheffield United has only grown this season – especially after another gifted teenager, Lucy Watson, left the club to join Chelsea in the summer of 2022.

While Watson's departure was a blow, the Blades are excellent at developing young talent, and Enderby was next off the conveyor to make an impact in the forward line, having been slowly introduced to the senior game the year before. She's already one of her team's most regular goalscorers at 17 years old.

Already involved with England's U19s, the winger is thriving at a club with an excellent first-team environment and has admitted the exposure to senior football is helping her improve massively. Her ability hasn't gone unnoticed by WSL clubs, either.

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GettyTeyah Goldie (Arsenal)

In Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall's first pre-season, ahead of the 2021-22 campaign, fans got a good look at some of the best young players coming through the Gunners' set-up, with Goldie among those to really catch the eye.

"She's excellent in her defending," her coach told the press. "I think it's pretty rare to see a player being that young and being so good at following the attackers in the penalty area.

"She's very good at taking small steps to know when to commit, and when to not, so I think she has a real, real talent there and I think she's one of those players from our academy that has a really bright future."

Goldie earned her Champions League debut off the back of that strong summer, aged 17, and was a regular in the first-team squads before joining Watford on loan in January 2022.

Sadly, the defender would rupture her ACL only a couple of months into that spell with the Hornets, but she signed her first professional contract with Arsenal in June and appears to be close to a return to action.

After winning all 11 of their matches on their way to lifting the European Cup, Hansi Flick's side are well represented in Goal's side of 2019-20…

The Champions League is finally over, with Bayern Munich returning from Lisbon with the European Cup for the sixth time in their history.

Hansi Flick's team dominated throughout the competition as they became the first club to win every single one of their games during a continental campaign.

As such, Bayern's players dominate Goal's Team of the Season for the Champions League – but who else made the cut?

Getty ImagesGK: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)

After his somewhat strange performances at the 2018 World Cup, some questioned whether Neuer was finished at the highest level of the game.

The Bayern captain put those doubts firmly to bed, however, as he lifted the European Cup having kept six clean sheets in the competition – the most of any goalkeeper.

Neuer's string of saves in the final took his tally to 28 in the competition, with his completion rate of 77 per cent second only to Andre Onana among goalkeepers to make at least 15 saves during the tournament.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesRB: Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)

Whether it was in central midfield or at right-back, Kimmich put in outstanding performance after outstanding performance to help Bayern to the title.

The 25-year-old created more chances than any other player in the competition (28), with his fourth assist the cross from which Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the final.

He also contributed two goals towards the success of Hansi Flick's side and is surely a future captain of Germany's most successful club.

Getty ImagesCB: Dayot Upamecano (RB Leipzig)

He may only be 21, but over the course of Leipzig's run to the semi-finals Upamecano has confirmed his place among the best centre-backs in world football.

His man of the match-winning display against Atletico Madrid proved to be the pinnacle of his competition, with the young Frenchman winning in excess of 70% of his duels throughout the tournament.

Though he looks set to stay with Julian Nagelsmann's side for the 2020-21 campaign, it will surely not be long before he flies the nest and joins one of Europe's truly elite clubs.

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GettyCB: David Alaba (Bayern Munich)

Having started the season at left-back, Alaba yet again displayed his immense versatility to step in at centre-back amid a mid-season injury crisis in Munich and excelled in his new role.

During the course of the Champions League campaign, the Austria international won 85% of his attempted tackles and 75% of his duels while completing 91% of his attempted passes.

The 28-year-old's contract situation needs resolving quickly as Bayern look to lock down one of the game's most underrated individuals.

It's a London-dominated team as West Ham, Crystal Palace and Arsenal are well represented after impressive victories over the weekend

GettyLukasz Fabianski | West Ham

The goalkeeper made four saves in preserving West Ham's clean sheet in the 3-0 win over Newcastle.

AdvertisementGettyAaron Wan-Bissaka | Crystal Palace

The 21-year-old defender made three interceptions and recovered possession eight times for Crystal Palace as they beat Burnley.

GettyJonny Evans | Leicester CityEvans made nine clearances and two tackles to help the Foxes keep a clean sheet as they beat Watford 2-0.ENJOYED THIS STORY?

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GettyShane Duffy | Brighton

Duffy made an incredible 14 clearances against Huddersfield, while no other Brighton player made more than five.

Rohit Sharma’s 83 off 55 balls was the “kind of batting that was really needed,” in the words of his captain MS Dhoni

Alagappan Muthu in Mirpur24-Feb-2016A top-order batsman scored big, which led to a comfortable victory in limited-overs cricket in the subcontinent. Seems just another Wednesday for the Indian team.Except the pitch in Mirpur had a considerable amount of live grass on it, India were invited to bat first and were afforded very few bad balls in the early tussle. They had already disintegrated once on a bowler-friendly pitch in Pune and the chances of a repeat weren’t all that outlandish.So Rohit Sharma’s 83 off 55 balls was the “kind of batting that was really needed,” in the words of his captain MS Dhoni. He weathered a four-pronged pace attack, with Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman topping 140 kph, didn’t panic when India were only 52 for 3 at the halfway stage and found his runs via the safest possible means. He knew the pitch was offering sharp bounce, so the drive on the up was stowed away. In fact, most of his runs down the ground were off singles until the six and four he hit after becoming well set in the 16th over.MS Dhoni on…

Hardik Pandya’s boundary hitting
“You don’t need to tell him. He knows one thing: hit the ball. Every time he goes to bat, he wants to clear the boundary. The more games he plays, the better he will get, but definitely he has the skill. It’s something that’s very difficult to have, that skill to clear boundaries right from the very first delivery.”
Ashish Nehra’s value to the team
“The beauty of Ashish Nehra is he knows what he needs to do to be 100% on the field. One of the major concerns about him was his fitness. He had the tendency of breaking down. But he knows what he needs to do. He has a fixed routine, that these are the things I need to do and whatever happens he follows that and that’s the reason he’s so disciplined and he’s still playing today. He’s what 36 or 37 years. The format also suits him.
It will be slightly difficult for him to play the 50-over version, because all of a sudden you have to be on the field for three hours. But this format with the kind of experience he has, it really counts and also he is somebody who effortlessly bowls at decent pace and can swing the ball. So all of that together really helps us. That’s what we want from him, we want to keep him fit throughout the T20 World Cup.”

“Overall if you see, he used the pace of the bowler,” Dhoni said when asked what he thought of Rohit’s innings. “They were bowling back of a length so he played a few cuts shots and he actually exploited the field more often than not.” Rohit collected 20 of his runs behind point, and the two fours and a six availed from that region came immediately after he was dropped on 21 off 28 balls.Along with deciding which areas to target, Dhoni also praised Rohit for knowing when to step back and Hardik Pandya for stepping up. The 22-year old allrounder strode in at No. 6 and clattered five of his first 11 balls to the boundary. He got to face seven more and came away with 31 off 18 in a partnership that provided 61 off 27.”Rohit made sure he gave a little more strike to Hardik when he started hitting and he stayed till the end,” Dhoni said. “Because of Hardik we got those extra 10-15 runs otherwise we were thinking a score of 140 would have been a very good score.”India’s 166 for 6 did have something missing. Yuvraj Singh, making a comeback ahead of the World T20, had his second opportunity in seven matches to spend some time at the crease but he could muster only 15 off 16 balls. Dhoni mounted a concerted defence of his team-mate.”I think the approach was good because all of a sudden you don’t want to go out there when you get a chance to bat thinking that you want to do all these things. What’s important is to play the delivery according to the merit. I feel that was what he was doing. Today he played a fabulous shot through the mid-off region and I think that’s the kind of batting that’s really needed from him.”It’s important for him to score runs, even if it is 15 runs, 12 runs or 20 runs, that will give him a lot of confidence and we all know once he’s confident he’s a completely different player and also to expect him to score big in the very first opportunity that he gets, or any other player gets, is very difficult. I feel he’ll need a bit of time, an opportunity like this is always going to be good for him. It doesn’t really matter how many he has scored but the time he spends in the middle will be something that is very crucial not only for him but also for the team.”It was actually something of a surprise to see Dhoni playing today’s game. He had hurt his back while training on Monday and with the World T20 only three weeks away, there must have been a strong temptation to rest him.”There was this dilemma of playing or not playing,” he confessed. “But in this format if you’re not playing, you have to leave the team and go back and it was a kind of scenario where it was difficult to convince people that I’ll make sure I’ll go through the 20 overs.”With bat in hand, he had no trouble: the six he hit to finish off the innings had barely begun its descent when he started to walk off to the dressing room. But keeping wicket proved a little more taxing and he needed a brace for his lower back in the 10th over of the chase.”So what’s the state [of my back], I’ll get to know tomorrow, once you get up the body gives you a proper scenario. Now the body is warm, so it may give you fake signals. We’ll see tomorrow how it goes, with two more days for the next game.”

Stafanie Taylor’s half-century and contribution with the ball ensured West Indies leveled the series against South Africa with a dominant showing at the Wanderers

The Report by Firdose Moonda06-Mar-2016
Scorecard File photo – Stafanie Taylor hit seven fours and a six in her 63•WICB Media/Randy Brooks Stafanie Taylor’s half-century and contribution with the ball ensured West Indies leveled the series against South Africa with a dominant showing at the Wanderers. Taylor led a recovery after South Africa made early breakthroughs and then pushed them to a decent total on a good pitch, before her bowlers kept South Africa under constant pressure in a chase that never really got underway. They lost 6 for 24, with Taylor picking up two at the end, and were bowled out inside 20 overs, leaving themselves work to do ahead of the series decider in Cape Town on Wednesday.South Africa would have felt they made the right decision after they put West Indies in to bat and had them at 17 for 2 in the first three overs. Shabnim Ismail’s impressive run continued as she claimed both wickets.That brought West Indies’ most dangerous pair together. Deandra Dottin and Taylor took on the South African bowling and were particularly severe on the short ball. Taylor showed both power and placement with the pull and the sweep while Dottin was inventive and even scooped Marcia Letsoalo over fine leg. Letsoalo, though, had the last laugh when she trapped Dottin lbw at the end of the 13th over to end the 68-run stand.Following Dottin’s wicket, South Africa pulled West Indies back with two boundary-less overs and in frustration Taylor holed out to long-on with the score at 100. West Indies would have been eyeing a total over 150 and Stacy-Ann King played her part in trying to get them there. She was aggressive at the end and took 18 runs off the penultimate over before being caught at cover. That was the first of two wickets South Africa took in the last over to keep West Indies under 150 but it still proved too much to chase.After an untidy start by Shamilia Connell, Tremayne Smartt had Dane van Niekerk caught at slip to leave South Africa’s debutant opener Lara Goodall with immense responsibility early on. She was joined by her captain Mignon du Preez, who took the initiative early with two pulls off Smartt but found the rest of the attack – Connell in particular – difficult to get away.Goodall hit Connell straight to cover but Marizanne Kapp found a way to attack the fast bowler, who bowled her full quota of four overs upfront. She struggled in her final over and Kapp took advantage, first of width and then of a line that was straight. Connell should have had Kapp caught at short fine leg but had bowled a front-foot no-ball; Kapp survived and sent the free hit for four.South Africa’s good fortune ended there. Kapp gifted midwicket a catch in the next over from Hayley Matthews and du Preez was lbw four balls later. The hosts were wobbling at 52 for 4.Taylor brought herself on and between her and Matthews, they gave away just eight runs in the next three overs to push the required run rate over ten. Dinesha Devnarain tried to ease the pressure with 12 runs in an over but the attack was short-lived.Devnarain was run out after Anisa Mohammed bowled Lizelle Lee, the wicket that sparked South Africa’s collapse.

The most striking aspect of the Investec summer launch came in the contrast between Ian Bell’s understandably guarded responses, and the utter relaxation of Grant Elliot, nevertheless taken aback by the headlines around English cricket in the past 48 hour

Andrew Miller14-May-20151:23

KP can feel aggrieved – Bell

As the man who struck the six that sealed New Zealand’s epic World Cup semi-final win over South Africa in March, Grant Elliott is no stranger to stressful situations. But even he was taken aback by the blizzard of headlines that have enveloped English cricket in the past 48 hours.”You guys are pretty intense over here,” he said at the launch of the Investec Test summer. “I asked Belly, ‘is it always like this?’ He said, ‘yeah, pretty much’.” Ian Bell, separated from Elliot by compere Nasser Hussain, was visibly braced for impact.The most striking aspect of the morning came in the contrast between Bell’s understandably guarded responses, and the utter relaxation of a New Zealand cricketer who, though he will not be featuring on this tour until the ODIs in June, is self-evidently qualified to speak for the mindset of his Test-playing team-mates. The afterglow of New Zealand’s extraordinary and captivating World Cup has yet to wear off and Elliott spoke with an openness and enthusiasm that must surely be the envy of any England player who longs for a chance to be truly judged on the field.”The cohesion and team environment we had could be seen through the television screen,” Elliot said. “But possibly the best accolade was having mums and dads come up to us, saying my son or daughter wants to play cricket next summer. It was great.”Respect for your team-mates would have played its part too, which is presumably the underlying, and still unspoken reason, for Kevin Pietersen’s blackballing from the England set-up. And yet Bell, who is part of the same management company, could shed no light on the dressing-room politics.”I played ten years with Kevin, we both went through highs and lows, we won a lot of cricket together,” Bell said. “I enjoyed my time with him but it’s very difficult to say anything. Kevin is a quality player, probably the best player I’ve ever played with so he does make any team stronger. But I haven’t sat in on any of these meetings, I don’t know what’s been said between Colin Graves and Kevin, and Tom Harrison and Kevin, and Andrew Strauss and Kevin.”It’s no good us as players talking about that and there have been no conversations in the dressing room about any of this stuff.”There’s no use blaming the players for the situation that their management has created for them, but whatever way you try to spin it, it’s not a good look for a sport that has rarely felt more distant from its public. As Elliott summed up, not without a degree of relish: “It’s complicated, isn’t it?”New Zealand shrugged off their internal politics long ago and throughout the World Cup, the connection between the New Zealand team and their fans was real and heartfelt, and stories abound to illustrate the warmth and the depth of that feeling – a primary school teacher in the Bay of Plenty won a bet (50 press-ups) with an incredulous Year Five student that, yes, she was in fact Trent Boult’s girlfriend, and, yes, if the class behaved for the rest of the term she would ask him to visit.There’s a significant difference in scale between England and New Zealand, of course – Elliott himself likened his home town, Wellington, to a “fishing village” – but the ECB can but dream of creating such a seamless connection between its team and its public.5:37

Elliott backs New Zealand IPL stars to fire in Tests

To that end, Matt Dwyer, formerly of Cricket Australia, has been appointed the ECB’s new director of participation and growth. It is a vital role, in spite of the lumpiness of the title, but nothing compared to the impact that a liberated, exciting, free-spirited national team could create.More’s the pity that, ten years ago, that’s exactly what England had. Though only a rookie at the time, Bell was a member of the 2005 Ashes team that won over the country with every bit as much élan as Brendon McCullum’s New Zealand have shown throughout their recent triumphs.”I remember Michael Vaughan saying he’d rather lose to Australia by taking them on than sit there and lose by playing passive cricket,” Bell said. “I see this summer as similar, we are going to have to be brave, take the odd gamble here and there, and if we play good cricket, we can start changing people’s opinions on the team and start getting people talking about cricket again, which is what we all play for.”But we’re certainly not in the place ideally that we’d like right now.”Indeed. If England are embarking on a long-term project – and Andrew Strauss appeared to imply that a five-year rebuilding mission is on the cards – then the first Test at Lord’s, now only seven days’ away, is probably too soon to hope that England can exorcise the negativity and find a new thrilling brand of KP-free aggression. But they ought to expect some handy pointers on the merits, and otherwise, of all-out attack, as Elliott fully expects Brendon McCullum to stick to the gameplan that has served him well in all formats and all conditions.”He’s a bit of a maverick, he’s risky, but it’s great to be a part of that and you have to buy into it,” he said. “I know that the bowlers turn around and think ‘where the hell are my fielders?’, and they’ll all be in the slips. But you can’t help but be endeared to him and want to play for him. He’s been an integral part of New Zealand’s success.”So too has the underlying recognition that cricket is only a game – as Elliott himself personified after booking New Zealand’s place in the World Cup final. Again, with echoes England’s endeavours in 2005, Elliott’s first instinct was to offer a hand to his beaten opponent. “I’ve got a perspective on the game now,” Elliott said. “That game could have gone any way, my middle pole could still be tumbling out of Eden Park. It’s a game of sport, and it’s about having that respect for your opponents.”

Paul Collingwood, the veteran former England allrounder who has already declared his ambition to coach at the highest level when he retires from playing, says that only “a ridiculous offer” would interest in him the current England vacancy

Jon Culley12-May-20151:35

Strauss backs Cook after ‘turmoil of last 18 months’

Paul Collingwood, the veteran former England allrounder who has already declared his ambition to coach at the highest level when he retires from playing, says that only “a ridiculous offer” would interest in him the current England vacancy.Yorkshire’s first-team coach Jason Gillespie and fellow Australian Justin Langer currently head the betting for next England coach and Andrew Strauss, the new director of England cricket, confirmed at his first news conference that Gillespie was a candidate.Were England to go in another direction, though, and shy away from putting an Australian in charge for an Ashes campaign, then Durham captain Collingwood would be a front-runner, especially given that he has already worked with England during a brief stint as assistant to former limited-overs coach Ashley Giles.Collingwood will be 39 in two weeks’ time but asked if he would be putting his name forward following the sacking of Peter Moores, he said his thoughts are on continuing his playing career, possibly even into next season.Paul Collingwood briefly served as England’s fielding coach under Ashley Giles•Getty Images”I’m still playing cricket for Durham,” he said. “I have a contract until the end of the season and I’m looking forward to fulfilling that.”At the moment, unless some kind of ridiculous offer comes in, something I can’t refuse, I’m more than happy playing cricket for Durham, maybe even the season after this.”Collingwood, who has also coached with UAE and was Scotland’s assistant coach at this year’s World Cup, announced he would retire from playing at the end of last season only to change his mind.”I spoke about last year being my last one, but if I keep taking wickets and scoring runs and keep enjoying it, and bringing some good youngsters through here at Durham, it is going to be a hard thing to give up.”Captain when England won the only ICC trophy in their history at the 2010 World Twenty20, Collingwood impressed with his energy and man-management skills in leading Durham to the County Championship in 2013, during a traumatic season in which their director of cricket, Geoff Cook, was recovering from a heart attack.

Technical malfunction prevented Sri Lanka from reviewing an lbw decision against Martin Guptill in the fourth over of the sixth ODI in Dunedin, causing significant displeasure among the fielding team

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Jan-2015Technical malfunction prevented Sri Lanka from reviewing an lbw decision against Martin Guptill in the fourth over of the sixth ODI in Dunedin, causing significant displeasure among the fielding team.Dhammika Prasad jagged a length ball into Guptill, who was batting on four, and hit him below the knee-roll, in front of off and middle stump. The ball had evaded Guptill’s bat and appeared to be heading for the stumps, but umpire Derek Walker turned down the voracious appeal from Prasad and Sri Lanka.The bowler motioned vigorously to his teammates that a review should be sought, but both captain Lahiru Thirimanne and wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara appeared to be aware that DRS was unavailable from the end Prasad was bowling from, and did not request a review. Umpire Walker confirmed that DRS was not available, thanks apparently to a fault in the video equipment at that end.Sri Lanka were visibly irked by the incident, however, with Mahela Jayawardene audibly complaining that the episode was “rubbish”. Prasad was also seen in conversation with Walker, both during that over and immediately after it.Guptill was eventually out for 28 in the 14th over, after Walker had once more turned down an appeal, this time for a catch to the wicketkeeper. That decision was overturned on evidence from Hotspot and Snicko, however. The DRS cameras and ball projection software were not needed.

Bangladesh’s pace bowlers have had their moments even in the recent past, but very few times in this team’s history have they been as effective as a collective as they were against England

Mohammad Isam10-Mar-2015Bangladesh’s pace bowlers have had their moments even in the recent past, but very few times in this team’s history have they been as effective as a collective as they were against England in Adelaide. They took all the wickets that went to the bowlers, and it was evident that captain Mashrafe Mortaza placed a lot of faith in them.Two examples from Monday evening demonstrate what Mashrafe saw in Rubel Hossain and Taskin Ahmed that the rest of the world missed. First was when he finished Shakib Al Hasan’s quota in the 47th over. Though he ended wicketless, Shakib had conceded just one boundary. Not many Bangladesh captains would take such a risk, but Mashrafe simply asked his two pace bowlers to defend 31 runs in the last three overs or take the remaining two wickets.When Rubel did take the first of those wickets, in the 49th over, he put a slip in as James Anderson took guard. Again, past Bangladesh captains have focused more on protecting boundaries in these situations but Mashrafe believed that Rubel would keep angling towards the left-handed Anderson’s off-stump, either hit the stumps or take the edge. Or he may have thought that a thin edge would slip past the wicketkeeper so a slip could even act as a stopper.Mashrafe has shown a lot of confidence in this particular bowling attack, even on bad days against Sri Lanka and Scotland. Bangladesh conceded 300-plus totals in both games, with the three-man pace attack taking only five wickets between them and giving away runs at 6.79 and 7.13 per over respectively. If Rubel had been dropped after giving away 60 runs from his eight overs against Scotland, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise.But that is not how Mashrafe thinks of the pace bowlers. He saw great body language from Rubel during the course of the England innings, and kept asking him to bring his side breakthroughs.Mashrafe passionately defended them, saying that it was time pace bowling is taken seriously across all circles in Bangladesh cricket. They need more respect and care and better pitches back home, he said.”I’m sorry to say but people have been talking rubbish about our pace bowling,” Mashrafe said. “We know what we are. We know how capable we are. I hope people will surely start giving some respect. I’m really happy with our quicks, that they have shown the world how good they are. Hopefully this will bring their confidence up, and they will show again and again in this sort of tournament.”Everyone expects us to be a team dependent on spin bowling. I think it is high time we get out of that mentality. If we want to take our cricket forward, we need to focus on pace bowling. Spin obviously works in certain countries, so it will be hard to shift to pace completely. But I think the pace bowlers need better care, and provide wickets where they feel some comfort. I would hope these bowlers continue to bowl in the same way back home – Rubel Hossain did so against New Zealand and Taskin Ahmed against India.”Mashrafe himself bowled superbly in this game, as he did against Afghanistan with the early breakthroughs. He would have given Bangladesh an early strike against Sri Lanka had it not been for Anamul Haque dropping Lahiru Thirimanne in the first over. Against England, Mashrafe bounced back after conceding three fours in his fourth over. He returned in the 20th over to get Alex Hales caught behind.At the start of his three-over spell in the batting Powerplay, he removed the dangerous Joe Root and with him went England’s chances. Two for 48 from ten overs was as good a spell he has ever bowled for Bangladesh.He also praised Rubel, who took four England wickets, for bouncing back from a personal problem that landed him in jail less than two weeks before the team departed for the World Cup.Rubel has been woeful in Tests and T20s for a number of years but has often used his skills better in ODIs. Less than two years ago, he took a hat-trick in a six-wicket haul against New Zealand. He has been expensive at this tournament but against England he generated enough seam movement and late swing to take the four wickets.”He has been fantastic the last one-and-a-half years,” Mashrafe said. “It’s nice to see his bowling from mid-on or mid-off. He’s swinging the ball, he’s bowling fast, and I’m really happy that he takes all the pressure on his shoulders and delivered from the start.”I should mention that he was been under tremendous pressure before coming to this World Cup. He put the pressure outside and showed his performance, and the whole world has seen how good he is. Hopefully he will continue.”Rubel and Taskin can be considered lucky to be playing under Mashrafe. He has often taken up the cause of the pace bowlers with authority, asked for better treatment and care. It is about time that Mashrafe is reaping the rewards of his conviction.

Raj Kundra, one of the co-owners of the Rajasthan Royals, has said that he will hand over his stake in the franchise to the Supreme Court or anyone it appoints till the allegations levelled against him are cleared

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Nov-2014Rajasthan Royals distances itself from Kundra

In a separate affidavit filed on behalf of Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited, Shantanu Chari, the managing director of Royals, dissociated the franchise from the dealings of Kundra. Calling Kundra as an “investor” in the franchise, Chari said Kundra owned a 11% stake in Royals through his “family concerns” and not his own. Chari said Kundra family’s shareholding was the least among the four stakeholders that owned the franchise.
“Mr Raj Kundra was not part of the management of Respondent No. 4 (Jaipur) directly or indirectly and has never participated in any management decisions inter alia regarding the bidding of players, strategy adopted by the franchise for the games or any other decision taken by Respondent No. 4 in relation to its day-to-day functioning,” the affidavit said.

Raj Kundra, one of the co-owners of Rajasthan Royals, has said that he will hand over his stake in the franchise to the Supreme Court of India or anyone it appoints till the allegations levelled against him by the Mudgal Committee are cleared. Saying that the Mudgal report had “flaws”, Kundra said in an affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court on Friday that the investigation panel’s conclusions were “unclear and definitely adverse”.In February, when the Mudgal committee had published its initial findings, Kundra had “categorically answered in the negative” when asked about whether he had engaged in any betting activities during the 2013 IPL. In June the BCCI suspended Kundra from participating in any cricket-related activity pending the court investigations.On Friday, Kundra’s affidavit reiterated that “all aspersions cast on his actions in his personal capacity were completely false”.Reacting to the BCCI’s action, Kundra had said he would transfer “ownership” of his shareholding in Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited (the parent company of Royals), until such time that he was given a clean chit. “Applicant, being a man of his words, hereby agrees to transfer his ownership in the shares of Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited in the custody of this Hon’ble Court or to such person, as may be appointed by the Hon’ble Court,” the affidavit said.”He agrees that in such a scenario, he will receive back the shares, or any benefit thereof, only in case he is cleared of all of the present allegations. However, the Applicant clarifies that the above mentioned act is without prejudice and should in no manner be considered as an admission of guilt or as an acceptance of the Said Report. The Said Report has inherent flaws and the Applicant would crave leave to oppose the same by filing a comprehensive reply after receipt of all relevant information, as sought herein.”Kundra said the Mudgal report could not only severely hurt his relationship with the Royals management but also cause “damage to his reputation in society and casts aspersions on his integrity”.The final Mudgal report, released this Monday, said Kundra “was in touch with the bookies” but, by not reporting contact with them, “has violated the BCCI/ IPL Anti-Corruption Code”. During the investigation, the Mudgal committee also found that the “investigation against this individual was abruptly and without reason stopped by the Rajasthan Police upon receiving the case papers from Delhi Police”.Kundra said although the court had asked him to submit his observations or objections, he first wanted to get the materials on which the conclusions are based (presumably collected by the investigating team) or the discussions/analysis thereof by the investigating team or the Mudgal Committee (on which the final conclusions recorded by the Mudgal committee would presumably be based). “In the absence of the aforesaid materials and discussions/analysis, the Applicant is unable to effectively and fully exercise his right to defend himself by inter alia pointing out the errors and anomalies in the material collected by the investigating team or understanding/analysis thereof by the investigating team or the Mudgal Committee.”