Gabriel Jesus’ future at Arsenal is in doubt as the club continue to evolve their attacking options under Mikel Arteta.

Jesus returns to fitness as Berta eyes new signings

Jesus has played an important role since joining from Manchester City, but competition for places and injuries have reduced the Brazilian’s role.

The signing of Viktor Gyokeres has pushed Jesus out of his preferred central striker role, and while the 28 year-old has recently returned to fitness to make his 100th appearance fo the club, Arsenal may see value in selling him at the right time, while Jesus will not want to play a minor role in a World Cup year.

“He’s very fit. We’ve been gradually increasing his minutes,” Mikel Arteta said after the Gunners’ Carabao Cup penalty-shootout triumph over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.

“But [against Palace] as long as he was OK, everybody was happy to let him go on. When we get into fatigue mode, we took him off, but we’re very happy.”

Arsenal are expected to dip into the transfer market to strengthen their options in January, and a new forward signing could come at the cost of their current number nine.

Arsenal could sell Jesus to sign Semenyo

That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa, and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, who told Football Insider Antoine Semenyo could ditch his proposed move to Manchester City if Arsenal clear a role for him.

Jesus is one of Arsenal’s highest earners on £265,000-a-week, and while reports suggest Semenyo has already turned down a large contract off from Tottenham, the Bournemouth star would likely command lower wages than Arsenal’s current number nine.

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With a release clause of £65m which will become active in January, Semenyo, who Pep Guardiola has called “extraordinary” and “unbelievable”, is set to be the most in demand player of the winter transfer window.

A fine all round performance by national cap, Romesh Kaluwitharana, ensured Colts CC a 58 run victory over Panadura Sports Clubin a key Premier League Limited Overs encounter at Colts cricket grounds today. The victory means that Colts become the group leaders and now look certain to qualify for the semi-finals.Kaluwitharana, coming into bat at number two, scored a well compiled 122 runs, which included nine boundaries and two sixes to erase the bitter memories of the day before, when he was run out without facing a ball. This was his second century in consecutive weeks.Then, when he took the field, he couldn’t stay out of the action. He decided not to keep wicket but held onto a brilliant diving catch at first slip in the seventh over to dismiss opener Anjula Perera.Chaminda Vaas, who captained Colts today, then decided to try his hand at bowling in the 47th over of the innings. Kaluwithrana, clearly delighted to have an opportunity to turn his arm over, took a wicket with his fifth delivery and another in his second over.Panadura SC who were chasing a target of 295 runs to win, batted doggedly but found it difficult to accelerate the scoring. Chamara Silva was the pick of the batsmen. He scored 55 and when he was at the crease Panadura had a theoretical chance. However, Dinuka Hettiarachchi (3/44) bowled him to leave Panadura 187 for three in the 43rd over.Panadura skipper, Sham Liyanage, was not too disappointed by the batting performance and remained upbeat about the remaining two matches two matches against NCC and CCC.”This was our highest total in the tournament so far, out batsmen did well, only thing we gave away too many in the last few overs that was also due to drizzling conditions,” explained Liyanage.Asked to bat first, Colts piled up a massive 294 runs despite the pitch being difficult to bat on the outfield having been slowed by the drizzle.Openers Chaminda Mendis(14) and Kaluwitharana put on 54 runs for the first wicket before Mendis was out in the 14th over. Then Jeevantha Kulatunge(49) joined Kaluwitharana to put up 105 runs for the second wicket and Kulantuge was the next to go in the 37th over.Kaluwitharana was joined by Sajith Fernando(77)and the pair put up 85 runs before Kalu was out in the 47th over. Sajith Fernando hammered the bowlers all around the ground in the final overs. He scored his 77 runs from just 41 balls and hit four sixes. 83 runs were scored from the last five overs.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

And so the drought continues. More than seven years after they weregranted Test status, and in their 44th match against non-Zimbabweanopposition, Bangladesh slipped up yet again, squandering the advantagesgained on the second day to subside to a five-wicket defeat on the fourthmorning. It took South Africa 10.5 overs to knock off the 27 needed, butthe result was never in doubt after Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and AshwellPrince had built on a superb spell from Jacques Kallis.Prince, who played a couple of pleasing drives off Shahadat Hossain, wasunlucky not to be there at the end, given out leg before though thedelivery from Shahadat pitched outside the line of leg stump. Aleem Dargave it, but there was to be no final twist in this tale.AB de Villiers, who endured several uncomfortable moments against theleft-arm spin of Mohammad Rafique, clipped two fours of Shahadat to bringthe scores level, and Mark Boucher then cut one past point to start thecelebrations in the South African camp. Prohibitive favourites before theseries started, they had been made to work exceptionally hard by aBangladeshi team inspired by Shahadat’s nine wickets.Bangladesh will look back ruefully at their inability to post 200 ineither innings. The opening day offered plenty of insight into theirbatting woes, with six batsmen spending reasonable time in the middlebefore throwing it away. The main culprit was Mohammad Ashraful, thecaptain, who sauntered to 34 from 26 balls before an over-exuberant chargeat Johan Botha changed the complexion of the match.Jamie Siddons, the new coach, will take the positives from this match,especially the bowling of Shahadat and the restrained 74 from JunaidSiddique. But he also needs to look at a relatively listless display fromMashrafe Mortaza, and cavalier strokes from too many of the batsmen. SouthAfrica are unlikely to be as sloppy in the second Test.

A Mumbai court has issued a non-bailable warrant against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in an IPL-related money-laundering case being investigated by India’s Enforcement Directorate, a government agency responsible for prosecuting economic offences. The warrant could pave the way for the ED to request a red-corner notice by Interpol against him, with the aim of securing his extradition from the UK, where he currently lives, to India.The sessions court judge PR Bhavake said it was a fit case to issue a warrant as Modi had not co-operated with the agency despite being summoned three times for the investigation. The ED said it had sent multiple summons since July 3 to Modi for its investigation without any response. The deadline for Modi’s personal appearance as stated by the summons expired on July 19.The case against Modi, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, was filed by the BCCI against him in 2010. It relates to the handling of IPL broadcast rights in 2009 and his role in the deal between the two broadcasters – Multi Screen Media and World Sports Group (Mauritius) – is under investigation.In 2008, the BCCI sold the IPL’s global television rights to World Sport Group India for a period of ten years, while the broadcast rights in India were awarded to MSM for a period of five years.In March 2009, the BCCI terminated its agreement with MSM on account of various breaches and within a few hours of the termination, granted global and Indian broadcast rights for 2009 to 2017 to World Sport Group Mauritius which had the same directors as WSG India.A fresh agreement with WSG Mauritius was entered into, under which WSG Mauritius had 72 hours to find a broadcast partner, failing which the rights would revert to the BCCI. It was also expected to pay the BCCI Rs 112.5 crores as a signing fee – a sum the BCCI contended it never received. When WSG Mauritius failed to get a partner, it agreed the rights would come back to the BCCI but WSG India would retain the global rights (excluding Indian subcontinent) till 2017.The BCCI then contended that MSM had paid WSG Mauritius a facilitation fee of $80 million [Rs 425 crore] to cut a deal that would ensure the India rights came back to MSM. According to the BCCI, this was done with the knowledge and active participation of Modi. In June 2010, the BCCI terminated all IPL media license agreements with WSG Mauritius over the issue of the facilitation fee.In its petition, the ED – which called Modi a “potential accused” – said that he “was not authorized to terminate the media rights contract with …MSM” and didn’t follow a tender process or obtain approval from the IPL governing council for signing the deal with WSG Mauritius.

On a still evening somewhere in an average South African suburb, a die-hard sports fan is in dreamland, where everything is moving. He sees men running, jumping, and even leaping. He sees a ball hit into a black velvet sky and come back down, sometimes on one side of a rope and into a crowd of clawing hands; sometimes on the other side in to vacant space that should have been better guarded. He starts to panic. He wants out of this imaginary world. He screams “McCullum”.He clutches a stuffed toy to his chest, presumably to soften the sounds of his beating heart, and wakes up to realise his sleeping self was replaying the World Cup semi-final between which South Africa lost and that in the real world, the nightmare of New Zealand is quite different.When broadcaster shot their promotional advert for the upcoming series between South Africa and New Zealand – which Mike Hesson has seen and chuckled at – they were not prepared for this:”I’m an All Black supporter now,” Grant Elliott declared in Durban, where the South African rugby team lost to Argentina for the first time ever five days ago to finish last in the Rugby Championship, turning their World Cup preparation upside-down. Nobody expects Elliott, who was born in Johannesburg but has lived in New Zealand for more than a decade, to shout for Springboks, but that he is so closely allied to their biggest rivals stings. Perhaps mostly because of the nightmare two of South Africa’s most popular sports – which also happen to be two of New Zealand’s most popular – is trapped in at the moment.The national rugby side has lost three in a row, which remains the sports-loving portion of the country’s main concern. However, the cricket results are also worrying. The senior team was defeated for the first time ever in an ODI series in Bangladesh, the A side can barely hold their food, nevermind their own in India, and the Under-19s slumped to home and away defeats to Bangladesh. South African fans could be forgiven for feeling flat, at the least, and furious, at the worst.But Elliott has cautioned them not to be too harsh on their teams, even while he bats for the other side. “With the results they had in Bangladesh – and I know how difficult it is to travel and play in Bangladesh conditions – I don’t think you can really gauge where the team is at with that result, because those are tough conditions,” he said. “In their own conditions, Bangladesh are very competitive. I have been to Bangladesh and struggled to win a game there. Its just such foreign conditions as we found with turning wickets, slow wickets so it took a while to adapt to that.”It gets better because he gave them some hope for the upcoming contest. “The grass is always green in Natal.”Kingsmead’s green mamba has lost some of its venom in recent years, but early-season conditions mean it will offer something for South Africa’s pace pack. Kagiso Rabada was excited to see “green on the wicket, not just off it,” while David Wiese said that if the nets were anything to go by, it could be “a bit spicy.” New Zealand will not mind that either, as they have a clutch of their own quicks who Elliott hopes will stake a claim in the absence of Tim Southee and Trent Boult.”We are missing the bulk of our players that played in the World Cup which leaves quite a big hole in our team now but it is an opportunity for New Zealand cricket to get a bit more depth in the squad which I think is important for the lead up to the World T20,” he said.”I don’t think you can really gauge where South Africa are at with the Bangladesh result, because those are tough conditions” – Elliott•AFP

South Africa are also looking forward to that tournament and for all the advantages home conditions may give them now, they know they will need to be strong in the spin department for next March. That’s where Eddie Leie could come in and the legspinner was not too bothered by the prospect of a pacy track thwarting him as he tries to play his way into the World T20 squad.”The role of a spinner doesn’t change – it doesn’t matter where you play in the world or in the country. For a spinner, it’s bowling the middle overs and trying to control from overs seven to 13. It doesn’t matter what the conditions look like, you have to find a way to control the middle overs,” Leie said. But that does not mean he is going to operate only as a container.”T20 is about flair – you try to mix it up as much as you can; keep the batsmen guessing. You can’t bowl the same thing all the time because they can just line you up so you have to mix it up and if you can get wickets in the middle overs, you ultimately will control that middle period.”Words spoken with such clarity will likely sound like a lullaby to our restless sports fan but his sleep will only improve when South Africa start winning as consistently as they used to, especially in a dual World Cup year. The cricket cup is gone, but there’s still the rugby trophy to hope for.

Players in the third edition of the BPL will be allocated to participating franchises through a lottery-based transfer system called “players-by-choice”. Used once for the 2012-13 Dhaka Premier League, it will replace the players’ auction of the BPL’s first two editions.The system was formulated first in 2013 after many of the Dhaka clubs demanded a level-playing field, faced with exorbitant salary demands from players. It is styled after the draft in American sports, except for a few details. In the following season, the BCB reverted to the traditional open players’ transfer, which lasts two to three days.BCB president Nazmul Hassan said that the system will ensure balance among the BPL teams. A team can pick a maximum of four overseas players from the list provided by the BPL governing council. They can select from outside the list as well but those players will not be given payment guarantees from the BCB.”We have discussed making quotas for local and foreign players,” Hassan said. “We have to go for players-by-choice. They will make a list of local cricketers and divide them into different categories. We want to ensure one team is not too strong and another not too weak. We will have a long list of foreign cricketers. Every team can take four cricketers from here.”The BPL governing council will make categories A, B and C where the prices will be fixed. We won’t stop anyone from taking players from outside the list. If they pick from the list, they can make a good team worth Tk 7 crore (approx. USD 900,000). If anyone wants to bring more foreign players, the franchise will pay the players, not the BCB.”The players-by-choice was first used to determine the player transfers for the 2012-13 Dhaka Premier League season. It took the Dhaka clubs a while to understand the system despite being given a demo a few days before it was first put to use.Under the system, the franchises will pick their choice of players from different categories. In 2013, there were seven categories, each of which had a fixed payment ranging from Tk 1 lakh (approx. USD 1,300) to 22 lakh (approx. USD 28,300).The teams will first have to take part in a lottery to determine their calling number in each of the rounds for every category. In each round, the team that drew first in the lottery will have first choice of players. Each round will have a separate lottery.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:46

Agarkar: SA struggling against India’s spin

Virat Kohli scored his first ODI century against South Africa and first in 14 innings since the World Cup to anchor an authoritative Indian batting performance. Although they did not reach 300, this was their highest score of the series so far, and their spinners made sure it was enough.On a slow surface which took turn, the slow men burrowed their way into South Africa’s middle order, taking 32 for 3 between the 10th and 20th over, to blunt the challenge even with AB de Villiers still at the crease. The captain did his bit with a heroic hundred and a share in the highest stand of South African innings, 56 for the fifth-wicket alongside Farhaan Behardien, but by then it was too late.What South Africa lacked was big partnerships, which India had a double dose of. Kohli put on 104 with Ajinkya Rahane and 127 with Suresh Raina, who scored a much-needed half-century after back-to-back ducks, to set India up for a substantial score despite a squeeze at the end of their innings.South Africa’s seamers bookended the Kohli assault with incision, restricting India to 35 for 2 in the first eight overs and claiming 4 for 29 in the final five but it was what happened inbetween that separated the sides. Kohli was in sublime touch, timed the ball well and paced his innings sensibly.He took advantage of a six-man attack that was found strategically wanting, overusing the short ball and obviously missed Morne Morkel, who was out with an quad injury and could have generated awkward bounce. Morkel’s replacement, Chris Morris, ended up being the most expensive of the South African seamers but did not concede as much as Imran Tahir, who led an ineffective slower-bowling section that could not find the same control India’s did.It did not always look as though South Africa would toil that hard. They asked questions of both Rohit Sharma (caught at midwicket) and Shikhar Dhawan’s (caught behind off an attempted pull) shot selection and seemed to be extracting some early lift but that quickly disappeared. Aaron Phangiso and Tahir struggled to maintain the tone Kagiso Rabada set, especially against an enterprising Kohli.Together with Rahane, Kohli showed energy at the crease and urgency running between the wicket, found gaps and the boundary, and had raced to a 51-ball fifty. In searching for a wicket, de Villiers brought his seamers back but Kohli was in control and it was only when Steyn returned for a third spell, in the 27th over, that South Africa broke through. Rahane flashed at a wide one without moving his feet. The ball kept low and took the bottom edge on its way through to de Kock, who took it low down with both hands.MS Dhoni did not promote himself above the under-fire Raina, who had the situation and the space to play himself back into form. He took his time sussing out conditions and the scoring rate slowed. There was only one boundary in the next seven overs but for South Africa’s attack the respite was only temporary.With the last ten overs approaching, Kohli’s slow-burn was ready to burst into flames. He brought up his century with a six off Phangiso, smacking the ball over Steyn’s head at long-on and putting a total in excess of 300 in India’s sights. Raina saw that as his cue to accelerate as well. After taking 12 runs off 16 balls, he scored his next 38 runs off 34 balls and reached his half-century off 48. He was particularly severe on the full ball, while Kohli punished the spin.India were headed for a score in excess of 300 but South Africa dragged them back in the final five overs. Kohli was struggling with cramp, and battled to get Rabada away at the end and was caught behind. Both Rabada and Steyn took two in two but the damage was already done.Quinton de Kock threatened to undo that damage, providing a speedy start. He survived the early loss of Hashim Amla (who has scored the same number of runs in this series as Dhawan) and owned the area outside off stump, but then spin struck. Harbhajan ended de Kock’s dictatorship when he tossed one up – de Kock drove and the edge carried to second slip.De Kock’s wicket came three overs into the spin squeeze as India began to run rings around the South Africans. Faf du Plessis was caught behind off a sharply turning delivery from Axar Patel and showed his displeasure at the dismissal, and David Miller was trapped lbw by a Harbhajan delivery that pitched on off and hit him in front of middle. At 88 or 4, with only one recognised batting pair left, South Africa were finished, but de Villiers showed remarkable fight.He seemed to be batting on a different surface and did not struggle against the spinners. He was harsh on Amit Mishra, who he charged to turn a delivery into a low full toss, swept and reverse-swept, and attacked Harbhajan. Momentarily, it looked like he may win the match single-handedly. But the bubble burst when Bhuvneshwar had him caught behind off a short ball. The series now hangs in the balance ahead of Sunday’s decider.

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.

The tour by the Uttar Pradesh’s women cricketers to Sri Lanka isturning out to be a successful one. They have now won three matchesout of three, with one abandoned due to heavy rain. At the NCC Groundsin Colombo on Monday, they defeated a Colts CC XI by 71 runs.Unlike the other two games, which were really tense affairs, UP ranaway with the match after batting first and scoring 130 in 40overs. In the context of a low scoring tour, this was a large total,certainly too much for this Colts side who were bundled out for just59 in 35 overs.Priyanka Shally continued her fine form this tour with a useful 21, aninnings that rescued the visitors who had slumped to 2-2 after havingbeen put in to bat by the home side. Her efforts were ably supportedby Shikha Jaingran, who went on to top score with 26. The pair put on59 runs for the fourth wicket and effectively won the match for theirteam. The pick of the bowlers was Hiroshini who finished with 3-16 offher eight overs. Unfortunately for the Colts, her teammates were alittle too generous with the extras, donating the visitors a veryuseful 30 runs.In reply, the home side never looked like reaching the target. Indikawas the only batsmen to settle with a useful 20 runs but even shefound it difficult to cope with the bowling of Varsha Paphael whopicked up 5-9 off eight overs.

Stunned! I suppose this is the only word that can sum up the mood ofthe camp. “So close yet so far” — a cliche so often used yet onewhich offers no help. People who read this report who do not pridethemselves on knowing much about the great game will only seestatistics and probably wonder to themselves how a team chasing 99 towin a game failed to do so and how a team who had controlled the gamefor most of the match lose one hour of the game and lose the match.The answers do not immediately spring to mind, but I suppose that iswhy this is such a great game and why we as players train so hardjust to take part in matches such as this. Unfortunately somebody hadto lose, and on this occasion it was us. We need to feel honouredthat we were able to take part in such a fascinating and thrillingTest match.These are very philosophical words on my behalf, and the result abitter pill to swallow, but a pill that must be digested and passedout in order for us to refocus our attention on winning the next Testmatch to level the series. If this match showed us anything, it wasthat the two teams are evenly balanced and that whoever plays themore intense and disciplined cricket will emerge on top.Day five of the Test match started exactly as planned. Streak moppedup the last wicket in the first over over the day to have the WestIndies all out for 147. Streak’s figures of 5-27 was a brilliantreturn for some outstanding bowling. We knew the 99 needed forvictory was going to be a testing target on a deteriorating wicket.The ball was staying low, sometimes running along the ground. Someoneneeded to get in and bat through with the rest of the team chippingin around him.Grant Flower was doing very well, and at lunch we were 40 for 3, bothFlowers at the crease. A partnership here would see us through, andwe were still very much in the driving seat. What transpired in thenext two hours would go down in the annals of cricket history. In themidst of some great fast bowling, a deteriorating wicket and somemisfortune, we were bowled out for 63.The sensation was numbing, but one can’t help but think back to thelast ball and the scenes that followed. The West Indies players werejubilant, pulling stumps out of the ground, waving their hands in theair and gathering together to run a victory lap. The crowd wasprobably more ecstatic than the players — the music was raging, thespectators were dancing and hugging each other. They had waited solong for their team to do well in the face of what had happened tothem in the last two years, and without Lara they thought itimpossible.People say that West Indies cricket is in a crisis, a sentiment thatI partly agree with, although every nation goes through ups and downsand periods of rebuilding. But the passion that was evident on thatMonday afternoon can only lead to improving times in the West Indies.It was left for us to wonder what might have been after playing suchgood cricket for four days. A few interesting statistics to come outof the match were that this was the only side chasing under 100 runs in thesecond innings that had lost. It was the first time that Zimbabwehave been bowled out for under 100 in Test matches. A few otherinteresting facts were that the last 17 wickets fell for 93 runs, anindication of how the pitch played. And the last fact that made usfeel a little better was that in the last Test match played at thisground, the West Indies were bowled out for 51 by Australia in theirsecond innings.What is left is for us to put what happened firmly behind us and takethe numerous positives from the game into our next game. If you keepdoing the right things, everything will come right. This is my firmbelief, and hopefully in the next Test match, due to start on Fridayin Jamaica, we will be on the right side of what the papers here havedubbed “Miracle Monday”.