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England are likely to have to try and push for a series-levelling victory in Sharjah with 10 players, and just two front-line seam bowlers, after Ben Stokes sustained a shoulder injury diving for a catch on the opening day of the third Test. He will go for a scan on Monday morning to determine the extent of the damage, but his chances of playing any further part in the match appear slim.Stokes, fielding at short fine leg, dived full-length to his left in a bid to intercept a sweep by Sarfraz Ahmed off Samit Patel. As he thudded to the ground he jarred the point of his right shoulder and his pain was immediately clear.He was attended to for a few minutes in the middle by the England physio and doctor before walking off using his shirt as a temporary sling. He then received further ice treatment in the dressing room. There was no confirmation of whether the shoulder had popped out of its joint; a dislocation for a fast bowler can have significant long-term consequences given the strain they put on their bowling arms.Stuart Broad, speaking about the incident at the close of play, said that Stokes is not the sort of character to show much pain unless he is really hurting.”We all walked in straightaway to try to find him,” said Broad. “He’s a tough guy. So generally when he shows pain, he’s going to be sore. It was an amazing effort to try to take the catch. The outfield is very soft, so he landed a bit awkwardly on it.Ben Stokes needed treatment after landing on the point of his right shoulder•Getty Images

“I don’t know whether it popped out … but he’s having a scan tomorrow, so it’s hard to speculate what it is. But he’s obviously a bit down. We hope he can play a bit more of a part in this Test match, because he’s obviously a vital cog in our machine. But we also do have cover with bat and ball, a lot of options, if he can’t.”After this series, Stokes is not due to play cricket again until the tour of South Africa in mid-December although if the injury is found to be serious his participation at the start of that trip could be in doubt. In a six-month period since returning to the team after the World Cup, he has played for England in all three formats and had been due a rest during the one-day and T20 legs of the UAE tour.He was singled out last week by the coach, Trevor Bayliss, as one of the young England players who has made strides on this tour, even though his numbers do not reflect it. He has scored 76 runs at 19.00 – with 57 of those coming in the first innings in Abu Dhabi – and taken five wickets at 39.60, with four of those in Pakistan’s first innings of the first Test.”He is a guy who likes to play positive, aggressive cricket,” Bayliss said. “On this tour, as a bowler, he has had to bowl a boring line and length and his batting, he has had to get himself in and try to graft out an innings, and to me it looks like he is trying to do that and he has been quite successful in it. I think the experience of playing this opposition on these pitches will be beneficial for him.”Samit Patel also needed treatment on the opening day, his first in Test cricket since England’s victory at Kolkata on the 2012-13 of India. While diving in his followthrough to field the second delivery of his spell, he briefly dislocated the little finger on his left hand. However, the finger had gone back into place before the physio made it to the middle and he was able to resume with some strapping in place.

Celtic journalist Kieran Devlin has expressed his surprise at the notion that January signing Daizen Maeda has started his Parkhead career ‘poorly’.

The lowdown

The Hoops signed the Japanese forward from Yokohama F Marinos on an initial loan last month, and in the summer, the move will be made permanent for a fee of £1.38m.

The 24-year-old has made nine appearances so far for the club, starting four Premiership games and both legs of the Europa Conference League play-off tie against Bodo/Glimt.

Maeda has netted four goals for the Hoops up to this point, including one on his debut against Hibernian.

The latest

On The Athletic’s matchday forum, a supporter said that their problem with Maeda was his ‘woeful’ first touch, arguing that the 24-year-old produced a ‘particularly poor’ performance against Dundee last Sunday.

Devlin mounted a strong defence of Maeda in response, suggesting that his ‘outstanding’ work off the ball was underappreciated.

The journalist replied: “Game of opinions and all that, but I think we must be watching a different sport! Thought he was decent on Sunday with a directness that had been badly missing from Celtic’s wingers in the games previously, especially how well he does in creating the second goal.

“His control isn’t great but neither is Giakoumakis or Abada’s, really, but they like Maeda have other good qualities. His linkup play has been good enough while off the ball he’s outstanding, both in his pressing and his movement to create chances for himself and teammates.

“I can’t wrap my head around the theory I’ve seen online that he’s started his Celtic career poorly – but as I say, what makes these discussions interesting is how we all think differently about football and Celtic!”

The verdict

Maeda’s goal return for Celtic so far is solid, but what do the rest of his performance numbers say?

He has missed three big chances, namely situations where he should reasonably have been expected to score (via SofaScore). He hasn’t offered much from a creative standpoint either, supplying only 0.2 key passes per 90 minutes, and he’s only winning 39% of his duels.

As for his control, he is averaging two unsuccessful first touches per 90 minutes (via WhoScored).

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There is some room for improvement, but perhaps he’s almost suffering from the form of fellow J1 League arrivals Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate, both of whom have impressed so much in the early knockings at Celtic that they’re already being touted as future Premier League players.

More patience may be required with Maeda.

In other news, read this injury expert’s latest claim on Christopher Jullien

Based on the results between the two sides at the last three World Twenty20 Qualifiers, Ireland were likely salivating at the prospect of taking on USA at Stormont.In 2010, Niall O’Brien produced his career-best T20 score of 84 off 50 balls as Ireland passed 200 for the first time in their T20 history before reducing USA to 25 for 6 in a 78-run romp. In 2012, his brother Kevin got out of a lengthy scoring rut after his 2011 World Cup heroics against England by smacking 47 off 36 balls ahead of Boyd Rankin’s career-best T20 figures of 4 for 9 in a 64-run win. Last year, William Porterfield’s T20 career-best 127 not out in a total of 216 for 3 set up a 75-run win.It should be no surprise that Andy Balbirnie kept up the tradition of career-bests against USA on Sunday. The young batsman’s 44 is the highest score in his brief 12-match T20 career. However, he was dropped twice in his innings, on 13 and 23. It allowed Balbirnie to stay at the crease where along with Stuart Thompson and later John Mooney, he carried Ireland from a precarious position of 92 for 5 one ball into the 16th over to a much more comfortable end score of 146 for 6.USA captain Muhammad Ghous lauded his bowling unit for their performance over the first 15 overs of the match. It was by far USA’s best effort in their four encounters with Ireland at the qualifier, but Ghous and his team-mates were left to rue what might have been had they not let Ireland get away in the final five overs.”Overall the bowlers bowled really excellent but the last five overs, that’s where we gave up the game,” Ghous told ESPNcricinfo after the match. “Our bowlers bowled four or five no balls and it can cost you and take pressure off batsmen. The guys tried their best. These guys just played really good shots, shots you can’t set fields to, paddle sweeps. They just played better cricket in the last five overs.”Ghous tried to encourage his team-mates as they walked off the field, shouting to them, “146 is nothing guys. Come on we can do this.” However, after John Mooney had struck four of the seven deliveries he faced to the boundary in an unbeaten 20 off seven balls, most USA players had their heads down, the last two overs at the forefront of their minds instead of the excellent work they did over the first 15USA’s penchant for alarming collapses wouldn’t have been too far back in their minds either and they knew that 130 was the maximum they could afford to give Ireland. Their batting form held true again as a panicky display in the middle of the innings saw them lose two wickets to run-outs in the space of five deliveries, and four wickets in eight balls to go from a hopeful 74 for 4 in the 12th over to a hopeless 81 for 8 after 13. After repeated denials by his team-mates earlier on the tour, Ghous finally admitted the team lacked adequate preparation to take on teams like Ireland.”Everybody lives in different parts of the USA, so it’s very tough for all of us to get together,” Ghous said. “We do lack some experience and preparation but we are here and we have to give our 100% best. Whatever we have, we have to put out there.”Experience does matter. These guys are all young. We don’t play as much cricket on the higher level. We have one or two tournaments in a year. The more you play better cricket, that’s where you gain experience. It will come by playing more tournaments.”As for his own role in the team, Ghous defended his decision to underbowl himself against Ireland. He took the new ball for one over, but only bowled one more for the rest of the game to finish with figures of 0 for 15, and he has yet to take a wicket in the tournament.”These wickets suit medium-pacers,” Ghous said. “Even Ireland, Dockrell came and only bowled one over [sic two]. That’s their main frontline spinner. It’s not necessary I have to bowl four overs. I will come and squeeze runs where I can if I see an opportunity. I have enough bowlers that I can mix around. Me bowling all four overs is not necessary as long as the team is doing great and other people can come and chip in.”USA’s next game is against Namibia at Stormont on Monday morning and Ghous remains hopeful that the team will be able to rally back from a pair of hard losses.”We should have restricted [Ireland] to 130 but things happen and that’s cricket. Things can’t always go your way. The positive I’ll take is that the guys are bowling great so hopefully they’ll keep it that way. We’ll come tomorrow hard and restrict Namibia to even lower than that. We’re gonna play hard and positive. This is a long tournament. Anything is possible.”

Dale Steyn: Badly missed at the World Cup but unlikely to miss out in the near future © Cricinfo Ltd

South Africa kick off a hectic period of international cricket with a series of ODIs against Ireland and India and Mickey Arthur, their coach, highlighting the importance of Dale Steyn and a varied attack to future plans.South Africa, who arrive Thursday and play Ireland on Sunday before three ODIs against India, left Steyn out of their World Cup squad, a move that in hindsight was exposed by the lack of variety in their one-paced attack. “Dale Steyn’s return is huge for us. We saw how important pace is at the World Cup and Shaun Tait and Lasith Malinga were probably the two most destructive bowlers there. Dale has the ability to do what they did and his return has added greater depth and variety to our attack,” Arthur said.Arthur also said the role of Thandi Tshabalala, the off-spinner, will be important. South Africa have struggled to produce a quality spinner of any kind since their return to international cricket in 1991 and Tshabalala’s absence from the Caribbean also irked some. “We need a spin bowler who can play a crucial role in the attack and bowl 10 overs a game,” Arthur said. Johan Botha and Robin Peterson, he added, were still in options.But Arthur is looking beyond even this season and to the next, when South Africa take on England in England and play home and away against Australia. Ireland and this season is merely the beginning. “We’re playing England in England and then two series against Australia and, as a team, we’ve assessed that those are series we can leave our mark on, leave as our legacy. But we don’t want guys making their debuts in series like that, so there needs to be succession planning in key areas.”We need a pool of players who can play at that level and the only way to get that is by giving guys opportunities.”Shaun Pollock has given us yeoman service, but he needs to be managed, and Vernon Philander has been identified as one of his back-ups, along with Albie Morkel, who played in the Afro-Asia Cup and Ryan McLaren and Johan van der Wath, who I’ve been keeping an eye on in county cricket,” Arthur said.”Albie has had a chance in the series between Africa and Asia and Vernon will now have his in Ireland.”

Mahela Jayawardene continues to grow as an international captain © Getty Images

It’s a measure of how formidable Sri Lanka are on their own turf that Mark Boucher, leading South Africa in this Unitech Cup, felt compelled to resort to flippancy when asked how the hosts could be stopped. “If you have any suggestions, please tell me,” he said, perhaps aware that South Africa have not won a one-day match on the island since the far-off days of 1993.India too have been indifferent performers in Sri Lanka, with their batsmen stymied by the sluggish pitches and Sri Lanka’s multitude of slow-bowling options. Having beaten India in a low-scoring match in the Asia Cup final two seasons ago, they handed out three defeats in the triangular last year, Greg Chappell’s first assignment in charge of the team.Having pulverised England 5-0 in the old country, Sri Lanka have every reason to feel that this Cup too is theirs for the taking. Sanath Jayasuriya, seemingly consigned to the fringes after his failures in India last year, is once again batting with the power and confidence that characterised his salad years in the late 1990s, and in Upul Tharanga he has found a free-stroking accomplice infinitely more accomplished than biff-bang merchants like Avishka Gunawardene.And though Marvan Atapattu is missing, Mahela Jayawardene, who appears to add layers to his accomplishment with each game in charge, and Kumar Sangakkara form a potent second line of attack. Factor in Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chamara Kapugadera, and you realise just why Sri Lanka are expected to carry on their proud record of 88 wins against 35 defeats on home soil.An astonishing 41 of those wins have come at the Premadasa Stadium, formerly a swamp. The most famous of those was probably the rout of Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final of 2002, when a blistering Australian start gave way to utter confusion and self-destruction once Aravinda de Silva came on to bowl his innocuous offbreaks.Men like Dilshan, who bowls in similar fashion, and the ever-unpredictable Lasith Malinga give Sri Lanka a bowling X-factor to supplement bonafide legends like Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. The spectre of Murali has such a debilitating effect on the psyche of opposing teams that they often try to tweak their tactics with a view to neutralising his threat. Already, there are rumours that India may save Virender Sehwag for the middle order, just so that too much momentum won’t be lost once Murali comes on to apply his wicket-taking tourniquet with the softer white ball.

Sachin Tendulkar is back to give Indian even more batting power © Getty Images

India have a few wild cards of their own though. Their batting, with Tendulkar back to reinforce it, is grisly strong, and when they get it right – as they did against Sri Lanka at home and Pakistan away – no target is safe. Yuvraj Singh has become a master of the one-day game, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni provides an unorthodox big-hitting option not seen since the days of Kapil Dev.Munaf Patel and S Sreesanth – only one of whom is likely to play if Irfan Pathan is persisted with – can give as good as they get in the pace stakes, and RP Singh with his skiddy medium pace could also be an option on slow pitches. Most crucial though will be the spin component led by Harbhajan Singh. Sehwag has been in superb bowling form of late, and Yuvraj and Tendulkar, shoulder willing, will be other options if the need of the hour is to take the pace off the ball.South Africa don’t have such a luxury, and must depend instead on their pace bowlers to hit the right areas on pitches not really suited to their brand of bowling. With the canny Charl Langeveldt missing, and Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock both struggling with niggles, the likes of Andre Nel and Johan van der Wath will have to step up if South Africa are to change their dismal fortunes on these shores.van der Wath, the so-called new kid on the block, is already 29, but as his thrilling 16-ball 36 in one-dayer at Johannesburg showed, he doesn’t shy away from the big occasion. Neither does Herschelle Gibbs, whose withdrawal with cramps after a scintillating century prompted that astonishing capitulation against India in the Champions Trophy semi-final of 2002. But with no Smith, no Kallis and no Kemp to provide some pizzazz, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the final on August 29 will be a South Asian affair. With so much wet weather around, one can only hope that it will be decided by events on the field, and not by rain-rules and charts that few can fathom.

Dear Reader,I’d like to share some thoughts and feelings about Pakistan’s new team and the happenings during our first outing at Sharjah last week.Based on Pakistan’s recent performance in World Cup 2003, we went to Sharjah’s 4-Nation Cherry Blossom Cup, as underdogs. We were to face Zimbabwe, a Super Sixes qualifier and the two losing World Cup semi-finalists, Kenya and Sri Lanka – all rated above us.For future team-building plans and giving a rest to out-of-form senior players, we opted for a newer look but talented Pakistani team.I am indeed proud of the boys for performing so diligently and helping us return home unbeaten from the tournament. We had confidence in the abilities of the youngsters and they have not disappointed us at all.First of all, I would like to congratulate and thank all Pakistan supporters worldwide for this win. We have been receiving comments and prayers from all parts of the world wishing us to perform well in Sharjah and I hope the results have made everyone happy.However, we are keeping a close eye on our mistakes too as there is still need for a lot of improvement to become a cricketing power to be reckoned with. Complacency can be our biggest enemy and we are aware of its suicidal nature.I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to our coach Javed Miandad. His presence lessens any captaincy pressures I have on my shoulders.Everyone must have noticed the discipline on the field, especially among the batsmen. The way they built their innings, whether chasing or setting targets; everything was done most professionally because of our mentor and coach. His presence at the `analyst seat’ encourages everyone, especially the youngsters, to become salient parts of game plans. The sharpness in fielding, again goes to the training sessions we had under Javed Miandad’s supervision.As the captain, I am lucky to not only have Javed Miandad as my coach, but also fortunate to have received valuable inputs from the selection committee chairman, Aamer Sohail. He has a very good insight of the finer elements of cricket. Aamer Sohail played an important role in making strategies for different phases of the games.One prominent aspect of our performance was the ability to chase targets in two important games, against Sri Lanka and the final against Zimbabwe. On both occasions, we achieved our targets proficiently without any hiccups and with many overs to spare.The fifties scored by Mohammad Hafeez, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan and Taufeeq Umar during these two target-chasing wins were remarkable efforts.The explosive unbeaten fifty by Abdul Razzaq in the first game against Zimbabwe can be better termed as the launching pad for our performance in the entire tournament. We were tottering at 203/7, when he hammered his way to an unbeaten 76 to enable Pakistan amass seventy-five runs in the last thirty-five balls. This innings actually put us on the right path towards winning this championship.In batting, both Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan came of age, showed complete dedication and accepted their responsibilities of being the anchors and heads of our batting line-up. Among the youngsters, Misbah-ul-Haq and Faisal Iqbal pitched-in with useful contributions.The revelation of the tournament was Mohammad Hafeez. His well-crafted fifty against Sri Lanka tragically ended with run-out, otherwise he would have gone on for a much bigger innings. His thirty-six against Kenya and his economical bowling spells with valuable wickets at crucial stages has helped us tremendously in drafting our match plans. If he does not fall into the trap of complacency, Mohammad Hafeez has shown the class to meticulously serve Pakistan in the future.We were struggling a little against Kenya, when Shoaib Malik stepped up up with a gem of an innings, 76 in 58 balls. Shoaib Malik also had a good tour with both bat and ball.Batsman Naved Latif is a gritty player, but has a few small technical flaws which need to be rectified in nets, before giving him a longer stint at international level.Like always, there was little help for medium pace seam bowlers in Sharjah, but overall, newcomer Naved-ul-Hasan bowled quite well. He did not get many chances to bat in the tournament, but the way he assisted Shoaib Malik against Kenya, we have see in him genuine all-rounder abilities.Another find of the tour has been Umar Gul. His beautiful `line `n’ length’ was unruffled by the presence of top world-class batsmen like Atapattu, Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Wishart, Grant Flower and others. He bowled with complete confidence, except for one over against Kenya, which hopefully he will remember, so as to improve for the better in the future. God Willing; Umar Gul is going to be a valuable asset of Pakistan cricket team.Building our bowling line-up for the future required us to try a new spearhead fast bowler. We used Mohammad Sami for this purpose and he did not disappoint us. Sami was not only explosive, but also accurate. He needs to keep working hard on his fitness. God Willing; Sami is going to win many important games for us in the future, just like he did in Sharjah.Danish Kaneria bowled very well with good control on a good line and length and his variety is quite deadly. Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez ably assisted Danish with their accurate off-spin.It was nice to see our team manager, Haroon Rashid being very particular about behavioural discipline both an and off the field, which resulted in Mohammad Zahid and Naved Latif sitting out one game. Many feel it was harsh, but please do remember, no player is bigger than the game and as a basic principle of a cricket team, discipline needs to be applied without reservations in order to set proper precedents.Unfortunately Mohammad Zahid was the only player not to get a game during this tour, but he is very talented, young and will indeed get good chances in the near future.The next seventy days bring us much bigger challenges; in Sri Lanka against New Zealand and the hosts, and in England against the home side.We would need to further improve on our recent performances, rectify our mistakes and enhance our talents. We are quite capable of meeting expectations and are preparing hard to face the strong Kiwis, Sri Lankan and English sides.I am looking forward to all of your prayers, support and encouragement to help us along.With best regards,Rashid Latif

Sunil Gavaskar, who is also the chairman of India’s National Cricket Academy, clearly takes his responsibility towards Indian cricket seriously© Cricinfo

Sunil Gavaskar will host a conclave being held by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in June, in which the captains of domestic sides that play in the Ranji Trophy will meet and discuss cricketing matters. A similar conclave held last year received enthusiastic participation, and the BCCI clearly hopes to institutionalise the event.The Press Trust of India reported that as a preliminary preparation for the conclave, the BCCI has solicited reports and observations about the last domestic season from the captains, umpires and match referees involved.Mumbai, which had hosted last year’s conclave, is a likely venue for next month’s meet. The last time, it had been a grand success, with Gavaskar stating that he was delighted with the levels of interactivity that were displayed by the stakeholders of the domestic game.

Sri Lanka’s selectors have picked a 15-man squad for the opening Test against New Zealand, including the previously out-of-favour wicket-keeper, Romesh Kaluwitharana, and four specialist slow bowlers. In all, eight changes have been made since Sri Lanka’s last test against South Africa at Centurion in November.Michael Vandort, a left-hander who scored a century in his last test against Bangladesh but was then a surprise omission from the South Africa tour, and Tillakaratne Dilshan, a 26-year-old right-hander, will be competing for the final place in the middle order, assuming that Sri Lanka play six specialist batsmen and Kaluwitharana at number seven.They could, however, opt instead for playing Kaluwitharana – who has not played test cricket for two years following the emergence of Kumar Sangakkara – at number six and include a spinning all-rounder at number seven: either Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana or Kaushal Loukuarachchi, who would be making his debut if he plays.The P.Sara Stadium, the home ground of star bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, traditionally favours the spinners and it is clear that Sri Lanka’s strategy will rely heavily on their slow bowlers. With Sanath Jayasuriya also available to bowl, they could field as many as four.With Dilhara Fernando having not recovered from an injury to his lower back, Prabath Nissanka looks set to partner Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka’s leading fast bowler who has recovered from an ankle injury, although the uncapped Dharshana Gamage also comes into the reckoning.Jayasuriya, who has struggled in the middle order in tests after dropping down during Sri Lanka’s tour of England last year, is expected to open the innings again with Marvan Atapattu, the vice-captain.The out-of-form Mahela Jayawardene confirmed his place in the squad with a century against the touring New Zealanders at the weekend whilst Sangakkara, freed from the responsibility of keeping wicket, will bat at number three.However, there is no room for Russel Arnold, who had a miserable series against South Africa, scoring just six runs in four innings, and Jehan Mubarak, a left-handed opener who impressed at Centurion when he replaced Jayasuriya but failed in the one-day series that followed.With Dav Whatmore having been granted early leave from his contract, which was to expire at the end of May, Duleep Mendis has been appointed as interim coach for the series. Hashan Tillakaratne, a surprise choice for the test captaincy, leads the side.The first test in the two match series starts on April 25 with the second test to be played in Kandy on May 3. The two sides will then play in a triangular also involving Pakistan.Full squad:Hashan Tillakaratne (Capt), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Michael Vandort, Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana, Kaushal Loukuarachchi, Chaminda Vaas, Prabath Nissanka, Dharshana Gamage, Muttiah Muralitharan

Somerset skipper Jamie Cox looks set to return to Taunton for the 2002 season.Earlier on today Chief Executive Peter Anderson said: “We’ve had informal talks with Jamie, and we have offered him a further two year contract which in principle he has agreed to. We will probably wait until after the game at Lord’s in early September before everything is finalised.”

Gio van Bronckhorst’s Rangers are set to turn their attention away from Europe today as they return to Premiership action at Ibrox.

They beat Borussia Dortmund 6-4 on aggregate in the Europa League, after a 2-2 draw in Glasgow on Thursday night, and now come up against Motherwell.

The Gers are chasing Celtic at the top of the table and need to pick up all three points today to keep the pressure on their arch-rivals.

Time’s up

One player who must be ruthlessly axed from the starting XI for this match is left-back Borna Barisic after his poor displays against Dortmund.

He has been way off the mark required in Europe and that should result in him being dropped to the bench against Motherwell today. The Croatia international was hauled off at half-time on Thursday to make way for Leon Balogun, with Calvin Bassey moving to left-back, and that could be the change that takes place in the side ahead of kick-off at Ibrox.

Barisic recorded SofaScore ratings of 6.2 and 6.4 against the Bundesliga outfit, which suggests that he struggled badly in both games. Therefore, the 29-year-old dud, who was once dubbed “mind-boggling” by Richard Foster, has now been way off it in his last two outings and does not deserve to be in the starting XI on current form.

Bassey, meanwhile, managed a SofaScore rating of 7.3 in the second leg against Rangers as he played at both centre-back and left-back. His second-half showing at full-back, setting up James Tavernier’s second goal, suggests that he is in a better place, as it stands, to start ahead of his Croatian teammate against Motherwell.

However, this does not mean that all is lost for Barisic. He is currently enduring a bad patch of form but has proven that he knows what it takes to put in top-class performances in the Premiership. The defender has averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.28 in the division this term.

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This shows that he is capable of delivering excellent displays on a consistent basis, but he needs to be able to get himself back into a position where he is able to do that again. The Scottish Cup tie with Dundee FC next month could be a good opportunity for him to come back in and find his feet, for example.

For now, van Bronckhorst must ruthlessly axe him from the starting XI and go with Balogun and Bassey in the back four next to Tavernier and Connor Goldson.

AND in other news,  Wilson masterclass: £2.5m Rangers transfer claim emerges that’ll leave fans buzzing…