Aston Villa supporters in the Football Transfer Tavern are hoping to hear news that Tim Sherwood is on the verge of signing a replacement for Christian Benteke, but reports from the Daily Mirror suggest the Villa boss is still hung up on his former striker, despite Villa beating the odds and turning over Bournemouth at the weekend.

Benteke completed a £32.5million move to Liverpool last month, and stated this week he hoped to prove the claims of his former boss wrong during his debut season at Anfield.

Sherwood claimed Benteke’s move to Anfield didn’t make sense as the Belgian international is a player who thrives on crosses, and Liverpool are a side ‘who don’t cross the ball’.

Benteke hit back at Sherwood’s comments earlier in the week, and now it seems the Villa boss has entered a war of words with the 24-year-old, having responded to the man who fired 13 goals in 16 games to save Villa from relegation last season.

Sherwood responded: “I can’t remember ever saying that, he must have dreamt that one.

“I would try anything to make him stay but I don’t remember ever saying he shouldn’t go and play for Liverpool. I wouldn’t be that disrespectful to that football club.”

Sherwood also hit back at claims he had taken the credit for the Belgian’s revival during the second half of last season.

He added: “I took no credit, people gave me credit, I didn’t take it, I didn’t ask for it.”

A bunch of Aston Villa fans over by the pool table here in the Transfer Tavern are deliberating this news, and feel that Sherwood needs to forget about Christian Benteke, as the club have replaced him well with Rudy Gestede!

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Our landlord feels the same way as the Villa fans here in the Tavern and admits that the Villains have replaced Benteke will, with Rudy Gestede already looking like he will do a job in the Premier League for the midlands club this season!

Aston Villa fans, who is the man to replace Christian Benteke at Villa Park? Let us know your thoughts below!

Form is temporary, class is permanent goes the adage. When a classybatsman is in form, that is the ultimate problem for a bowling side.Zimbabwe today were at the wrong end of an exhilarating battingdisplay from three men – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and SouravGanguly. If Tendulkar provided the initial impetus with a run a ballblistering 39, Dravid (70 not out) and Ganguly (65 not out) took Indiato their fourth consecutive victory in the first Test of the currentseries at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The pair added 110 runs for the thirdwicket and took India past the target of 190 in 37.3 overs with sevenwickets to spare.The session between lunch and tea proved to be a most dramatic one,and settled the issue in India’s favour. The Indian bowlers, freshfrom the rest and rejuvenated by the meal knocked out the Zimbabwetail. But not before they let at least three chances go abegging.Skipper Ganguly floored a sitter in the slips and Vijay Dahiya added ablackmark to a good match for him by dropping a regulation catchbehind the stumps. Fortunately for India, the error was rectified soonenough as Henry Olonga, the last man, missed a full, straight Srinathyorker and was trapped plumb in front. After charging in for 24.1overs, Srinath returned 5/81, taking his match tally to nine wickets.Although Srinath had created the chance for the Indians by restrictingZimbabwe to 225, there was still a challenging target to beoverhauled. Challenging or not, it was easy work for India given thekind of form the top three batsmen have been in.Sadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das walked out to the middle endingany speculation that the Indians might change the batting order in anattempt to make a quick start. Unfortunately for Ramesh, his poor formcontinued. Playing at a ball outside the off stump from Heath Streakwithout really moving his feet, Ramesh (0) presented Andy Flower withan easy catch. First innings double centurion joined Das out in themiddle and started off in splendid fashion, pulling Brian Strang tothe fence in style.Unfortunately for India even this combination was not to last. Dasmade an error of judgment, backed up too much and could not regain hiscrease before a Brian Murphy direct hit broke the stumps at the nonstriker’s end. For the third time in this match, the score read 15/2.In walked Sachin Tendulkar. Playing as only he can, the Mumbai classact decimated the Zimbabwean bowling. Driving the ball with immensepower, Tendulkar found the gaps with ease. The momentum was sofrenetic, the hitting so clean, that even Heath Streak was forced tostop and applaud.When the spinners were brought into the attack, their fate was nobetter. Tendulkar employed the sweep shot with great results. Plantinghis foot and sweeping the ball all along the ground, Tendulkar poundedthe hoardings square of the wicket. Unfortunately for India thefairytale didn’t last long. Tendulkar went hard at a ball from PaulStrang that was well outside the off stump and miscued it to backwardpoint. The other leg spinner, Brian Murphy who suffered so much at thehands of Tendulkar pouched the catch. Tendulkar’s 39 ball assault thatyielded as many runs, was over. His innings however, had put India inthe driver’s seat.Ganguly and Dravid then came together to forge a sensible 110-runpartnership that saw India through to victory. Dravid added anunbeaten 70 to his first innings double ton. Stroking the ball withgay abandon, he realised very early on that this target could beoverhauled by sensible batting. Ganguly too was patient and prudent inshot selection. When the ball was there to be hit though, neithermissed out. If Dravid’s pet stroke was the pull, Ganguly’s was thedance down the wicket that deposited the ball in the stands. WhenGanguly nudged the ball behind square for his 65th run, India hadcompleted their triumph with 9.3 overs to spare. Srinath was adjudgedthe man of the match.

England 391 for 9 dec (Root 130, Bairstow 74, Starc 6-111) beat Australia 60 (Broad 8-15) and 253 (Warner 64, Rogers 52, Voges 51*, Stokes 6-36) by an innings and 78 runs
ScorecardBen Stokes took his tally to six wickets as Australia were cleaned up on the third morning•Getty Images

England regained the Ashes 10.2 overs into the third day at Trent Bridge as they completed a thumping win by an innings and 78 runs in the fourth Investec Test. It was 599 days since England fell apart in an Ashes whitewash in Australia. The rebuilding has been painful, but Alastair Cook’s young England team has beaten an experienced Australian side that will now be dismantled.The last act was down to Mark Wood – Australia’s last man Nathan Lyon considering a leave and instead dragging the ball back into middle and leg stump. But with Australia seven down at start of play the smiles had crept onto England’s faces from the moment they took the field and, on the players’ balcony, Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace did a passable impression of the Jollity Brothers.Ashes cricket can turn its combatants into heroes, and often it can destroy them too. Up on the Australian balcony, Michael Clarke, a captain who had failed again to win the Ashes in England, mournfully watched the final stages from the Australian balcony as Cricket Australia confirmed that he will retire at the end of the series.”Time has caught up with me,” said Clarke. “As a player you build yourself up for big tournaments – the World Cups and the Ashes. It’s not easy but it’s the right time to go.” Everybody loves winning – and winners – but there is something especially noble about a great player recognising the time to go, and departing with grace and good spirit. The applause he received – in England too – was heartwarming.Cook, a younger man, and stubborn with it, had survived his own tough times to live a happier chapter, becoming the third England captain to win the Ashes twice on home soil. “I couldn’t be happier,” he said. “After what we’ve been through in the last 18 months to play like we have in three out of four Tests against a very good Australia side – we haven’t lost many days of cricket – is just incredible. I’m just so proud of this young team and the way they’ve taken their opportunity.”Two captains briefly in tears at the prize giving ceremony told of what the Ashes means.England have now won four home Ashes series in a row, a sequence not matched since the 19C. Now 3-1 up in the series, they go to the Kia Oval with the pressure off, but a smarting Australia side will remain desperate to summon a response to give Clarke a rousing send-off. In the Ashes, there is no such thing as a meaningless Test.And, in south London they may experience a surface a good way removed from the traditional England surfaces that have given them so much grief in Cardiff, Edgbaston and Nottingham in turn.Ben Stokes has been England’s talisman when it mattered. Swinging the ball lavishly, he took another wicket to finish with his best Test figures of 6 for 36. With James Anderson, one of the greatest proponents of swing bowling in history, looking on from the dressing room, Stokes made light of his absence in a manner that Anderson could admire.It might have been an old ball, 63 overs into its lifespan at start of play, but it had swung prodigiously for Stokes late on the second day and when he returned to the fray after what was no doubt a night of anticipation it proved to be as obliging as ever. At 241 for 7, still 90 behind, Australia faced up to an impossible task.Stokes has feasted on Australia’s left handers. He had bagged four the previous day, three with outswingers delivered from around the wicket and, with the last ball of his second over, he added Mitchell Starc to the list. It was a virtual replica of those dismissals, an outswinger catching the edge on its way to Ian Bell at second slip, but this time he had gripped the ball cross-seam in an attempt at variety and found it booming away to the slips all the same.Stokes is not particularly renowned as a swing bowler at international level, but in Durham they will tell you a different story. England’s most northerly county outpost encourages swing bowling and, on his day, Stokes swings it more than anybody.Some of his finest Test displays have been against Australia, his competitive instincts sharpened by the bristling nature of the contest. Red headed, raw boned and busily tattooed on muscular biceps, he has been in his element.A yorker from Wood soon did for Josh Hazlewood, leaving Australia’s last pair at the crease. Adam Voges, on a ground he knows well from county stints at Nottinghamshire, negotiated his way to a three-hour half-century, an effort which received warm appreciation.England did not turn to Stuart Broad, whose 8 for 15 had as good as settled the Test on the first morning. “Cookie will tell you that on the first morning I wanted to bat,” he said. He would have been glad of the rest. It remains to be seen whether he rests out The Oval. Anderson is definitely expected to sit it out.But that will become apparent in the days to come. For England, the first task was a celebration with the destination of the urn settled in a series that has been brisk, entertaining for all the one-sided nature of the matches, and at times nigh on incomprehensible.

Kevin Pietersen has conceded for the first time that Andrew Strauss, his former England captain and now director of cricket at the ECB, was right to overlook his claims for a Test recall ahead of this summer’s Ashes victory.Speaking at the Sports Industry Breakfast Club, Pietersen admitted that Strauss’s decision, which was made in a face-to-face meeting in London only hours after he had scored a career-best 355 not out for Surrey against Leicestershire at The Oval, had initially left him furious.However, having watched from the sidelines as a new-look England team beat Australia 3-2 in an eventful Ashes series, Pietersen admitted that Strauss’s stance had been vindicated. He also claimed to have drawn a line under his international ambitions.”At the time I would have said it was ridiculous and nonsense,” Pietersen said, “but England won the Ashes. I don’t draw back to a meeting in May and think ‘goodness how things could been different’.”[Strauss] made his decision and it’s turned out absolutely fine. Absolutely it seems to be the right decision at the moment.”I didn’t find it hard [to watch] at all,” he added. “I love seeing England win. I have some real close buddies in that side and seeing them do the business was something that made me happy. Seeing those guys play so well and just seeing the structure and the way it has developed makes me so happy.”The animosity between Strauss and Pietersen is no secret, with Strauss having inadvertently aired his opinion of his former team-mate during the MCC bicentenary fixture at Lord’s last year, when he was caught swearing on an open microphone in the Sky Sports commentary box.However, Pietersen claimed to have been impressed by Strauss’s first summer in his new role, and praised in particular his efforts to rebuild the connections between the current England team and its former players. Ian Botham and Bob Willis were among the names invited to speak to the team during the Ashes, a move that Pietersen described as “brilliant”.Pietersen’s next career move is set to be a stint in the Pakistan Super League as he continues his foray into the world of the freelance Twenty20 cricketer. However, he insisted his first love remains Test cricket, and called for greater remuneration for its players to protect the integrity of the five-day game.”Twenty20 cricket is here to stay, the game brings in a whole different audience to the sport, but I love Test cricket,” he said.”We owe it to the great game to speak positively about Test cricket. It’s an amazing part of what we do and it’s the thing I miss most about the game.”Test cricketers should get paid more, they need to know they are being looked after. With the lures of franchise cricket, we need to protect the game. Test matches should be the pinnacle.””I would love to play Test cricket. If that can’t happen then I will just keep plying my trade anywhere I can over the next few years.”

ScorecardFile photo: Jalaj Saxena was unbeaten on 99, and put up 181 for the first wicket with Aditya Shrivastava•MPCA

Baroda opened their Ranji account with a bonus-point win in Vadodara, as the hosts toppled Railways by an innings and 113 runs inside three days. Baroda were already at a commanding 448 for 6 when the day began, and Hardik Pandya’s 85-ball 64 lifted the team to 500, after which they declared. Railways needed to score at least 334 to make Baroda bat again, but just like in the first innings, the visitors lost early wickets to stumble to 44 for 5. Prashant Awasthi (67) and Karn Sharma (51) put up a brief resistance by stroking fifties and stringing together a 108-run partnership, but no other batsman contributed with a significant knock. Pandya capped off a fine all-round display by picking up 3 for 30 – taking his match tally to eight wickets – as Railways were eventually bundled out for 221. Yusuf Pathan, Bhargav Bhatt and Sagar Mangalorkar ended with two scalps each.
ScorecardThere was little to separate Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in Indore, as Tamil Nadu compiled 596 for 9, only for the hosts to make a solid reply, scoring 181 without the loss of a wicket by stumps. Tamil Nadu, who began at 517 for 7, suffered an early setback as their overnight centurion Malolan Rangarajan was dismissed for 131 five overs into the day. However, the visitors’ tail continued to frustrate MP, as L Vignesh, the No.10 batsman, stroked a brisk 50 to take the team close to the 600-run mark, after which Tamil Nadu declared.MP, though, were unfazed, as the openers Aditya Shrivastava and Jalaj Saxena batted together for 65 overs without any damage. Shrivastava stroked 10 fours for his 73 not out, while Saxena was unbeaten on 99, with 17 fours.
Scorecard A brace of middle-order half-centuries from Murumulla Sriram and D Siva Kumar helped Andhra consolidate their strong start and take a first-innings lead of 113 against Gujarat.Having begun the day on 196 for 1, Andhra lost Srikar Bharat early for 127, but Mohammad Kaif went on to score a half-century and take his team towards earning first-innings lead points. He added 66 for the third wicket with AG Pradeed but then there was a slump during which Andhra lost four wickets for 29 runs.Sriram and Siva Kumar, however, took Andhra past Gujarat’s score of 308 during a seventh-wicket stand of 94. Rush Kalaria had taken a five-for for Gujarat, claiming five of the top six wickets, and his team-mates mopped up the tail – taking the last four Andhra wickets for 27 runs. The hosts were dismissed for 421.Gujarat lost Samit Gohel for 1 in reply, and ended the day on 24, 89 runs behind with nine wickets in hand.Mumbai v Punjab – Punjab fight, but Mumbai inch towards win

A counterattacking hundred by Nurul Hasan was the highlight of Khulna Division‘s drawn game against Dhaka Division in Fatullah. Khulna remained on top of the Tier-1 tournament standings with 39 points, followed by Dhaka Division on 34 points.Khulna batted first and were bowled out for 117, with Dhaka’s seamer Nuruzzaman Masum taking four wickets in his first NCL match in nearly two years. But any hopes of a sizable lead came crashing down as Mustafizur Rahman picked up four wickets of his own to restrict the lead to 37.Mahedi Hasan and Anamul Haque then added 148 runs for the second wicket to drive Khula forward – Mahedi making a run-a-ball 104. Two quick wickets fell thereafter, but Anamul and Hasan’s 153-run stand for the fifth wicket took the team out of troubled waters.Anamul made 100 off 267 balls, while Hasan went on to make an unbeaten 182 off 223 balls. Hasan and Ziaur Rahman added 154 for the sixth wicket, with the latter hammering 89 off 113 balls in the team’s 506 for 7. Dhaka needed to bat out time, and they did by surviving 40 overs on the final day. Saif Hassan top-scored with an unbeaten 67, and Abdul Mazid made 60 in the drawn contest.Tanveer Haider came up with fine all-round display in Rangpur Division‘s draw against Dhaka Metro at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna.Batting first, Dhaka Metro were bowled out for 242 with Tanveer taking four wickets with his legspin. Shamsur Rahman and Asif Hossain wasted strong starts, and were dismissed for 51 and 56 respectively. Rangpur took a 57-run lead in the first innings, with Tanveer making a patient 78 thanks to support from the tailenders. Sharifullah took four wickets.Dhaka Metro were then helped by Mehrab Hossain jnr’s 109 as they declared the second innings on 352 for 7. Tanveer got into the act again, picking three wickets, but Rangpur managed to walk away with a draw. They finished with 72 for 3 in chase of 296 when the game ended.In Tier-2, Barisal Division crushed Sylhet Division by 150 runs at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra.What started as a low-scoring game turned dramatically courtesy a 230-run fourth wicket partnership between Salman Hossain and Al-Amin in Barisal’s second innings, after they conceded a 17-run lead.Al-Amin made 157 off 197 balls with 16 fours and three sixes, while Salman’s 146 came off 284 balls. Barisal declared on 464 for 7, leaving Sylhet a target of 448. Zakir Hasan apart, none of the other Sylhet batsmen offered resistance. Zakir brought up his maiden first-class hundred, remaining unbeaten on 137 with 20 boundaries. Offspinner Sohag Gazi took five wickets in the second innings to take his match haul to 8 for 156.Chittagong Division took the honours in their drawn game against Rajshahi Division at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.Batting first, Rajshahi were bowled out for 208 runs after offspinner Iftekhar Sajjad took five wickets. Chittagong then took a lead of 142 courtesy Tasamul Haque’s second consecutive first-class hundred. He batted for nearly eight hours on his way to an unbeaten 134. Sunzamul Islam took eight wickets for 106, his second best first-class innings bowling figure.Rajshahi had to bat out for over five sessions to walk away with a draw. Nazmul Hossain Shanto rose to the occasion and made 101, his second first-class century, after batting for more than 80 overs. Shanto had earlier top-scored in the first innings too by making 63.

A freer dressing room culture and a renewed focus on fitness helped improve Sri Lanka’s fielding in the recent series against West Indies, interim head coach Jerome Jayaratne said.Slipping fielding standards had been a major area of concern for Sri Lanka in 2015. In January, captain Angelo Mathews had said the team’s poor catching cost them the Wellington Test match, before Sri Lanka’s fielding drew yet more criticism during the World Cup, most notably from then-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya. Chances continued to be spilt during mid-year series against Pakistan and India, but the team has been credited with a better fielding performance against West Indies. Jayaratne said giving players freedom to make mistakes was vital in bringing change.”I said I was going to bring in a policy at the beginning of the series, which was to try and catch even half-chances,” Jayaratne said. “I don’t care whether you drop catches and any dropped catch will not be discussed hereafter. The players started to believe in themselves and were not afraid to drop anything. They gave it their best shot.”Jayaratne said the dressing room atmosphere was “not all that good” when he took over as head coach. “The root of it was they were scared to drop catches. When I spoke to them individually, they preferred the catch going to the next man, rather than to them. Tillakaratne Dilshan likes the ball coming to him and he enjoys fielding. If you don’t find the means to psychologically enjoy fielding, you will never be a good fielder.”Sri Lanka earned their first trophies this year with big victories in the Test and ODI series against West Indies, but the upcoming away tour to New Zealand shapes as a key test for a transitioning team, and as an audition for its acting coach. Players have spoken out in support of Jayaratne so far, and the board is presently considering extending his tenure until the end of the World T20 in April. If the upcoming series go well, Sri Lanka Cricket may consider keeping Jayaratne in the role permanently.”The New Zealand tour will be a very stiff test for us,” Jayaratne said. “New Zealand have been playing good cricket from about a couple of years. It’s good for us especially to play under their conditions. It will show what our guys are made of at the moment.”The selection panel, headed by Kapila Wijegunawardene, have also shifted focus to the New Zealand series, which Wijegunawardene described as a “watershed tour”. He said the West Indies series had helped settle a new Test XI, but hinted the selectors would consider their options for the No. 3 position vacated by Kumar Sangakkara. Lahiru Thirimanne had earlier been groomed to take up that role, but has had a mediocre Test record so far.”What we planned earlier for the No. 3 spot is not quite working out the way we anticipated,” Wijegunawardene said. “We will be open to making a few experiments in that position to see who best needs to be slotted in there. We’re going through some of the performances from the ‘A’ team. There is some element of risk which is being forced on us when trying to identify the right player for the line-up.” Wijegunawardene named Udara Jayasundera, Kithuruwan Vithanage and Kusal Mendis as the players they have in mind for the spot.Thirimanne is not being discarded altogether from the Test set-up, however. “It’s a matter of getting his confidence back for Thirimanne. It can happen to every player now and again. He needs to work on his technical flaws and get his confidence back,” Wijegunawardene said.

Punjab comfortably earned an honourable draw against Baroda in theirRanji Trophy Super League group B match at the PCA stadium in Mohalion Sunday. In arrears by 139 runs on the first innings, Punjab whowere 84 for one at stumps on Saturday, were 274 for four when stumpswere finally drawn. Baroda got five points and Punjab three.Punjab suffered an early setback when skipper Vikram Rathour fellwithout adding to his overnight score of 46. But Reetinder Singh Sodhiand Pankaj Dharmani made matters safe by adding 122 runs for the thirdwicket off 56.4 overs. The two batted patiently, avoiding risks andwhen finally Dharmani was out for 67, Punjab were virtually assured ofa draw. Dharmani faced 175 balls and hit nine fours.Dinesh Mongia fell in the following over for a duck but Sodhi andYuvraj Singh then added 60 runs off 21.2 overs for the unbroken fifthwicket before the match was called off. Sodhi, showing deepconcentration, batted 448 minutes, faced 325 balls and hit 14 foursand a six for his unbeaten 114. Yuvraj faced 68 balls for his unbeaten31, hitting five fours.

Bahrain’s inningsThe match started at the Bugti Stadium Quetta, the capital city of the province of Baluchistan. It is a hill station with a pleasant but at times cool summer.Nepal won the toss and elected to field first. The result showed that they were pretty wise in reading the pitch. Batting first, Bahrain met a disastrous start by losing 7 wickets for 32 runs in 19 overs. Except for Rizwan Abdul Ghani who was run out after scoring useful 15 runs, no other batsman was able to score more than 5 runs. Unable to face the pressure of Nepal’s hostile bowling, Bahrain was all out for 42 runs in 23.4 overs. Basanta Regmi was the leading bowler with 3 wickets for 6 runs in 5 overs.Nepal InningsFacing an easy target of 43 runs, Nepal opened with Monik Shrestha and Prakash Sharma, who was bowled by Anand Mahendra for 6. Nepal thus lost the 1st wicket at 19.Prem Chaudhary joined opener Shrestha and both of them carried their team to victory. Nepal scored 44 for 1 in 10.1 overs. Shrestha (15) and Pram Chaudhary (15) remained not out. Nepal achieved a remarkable victory over Bahrain by 9 wickets.

Martin Speight (55) and Jimmy Daley (50) scored their first half centuries for Durham this season against Hampshire at Chester-le-Street today in the County Championship Division One match. Durham made 320 for 9 declared in 92.3 overs.Hampshire reached 69 no loss in 20 overs in reply. With one day to go and a loss of almost two days to rain, a draw is almost certain. That leaves little chamce for both the sides to escape relegation.The day began with Durham at 246 for 4 with Speight and Dalley going for big hits. Speight was recalled for this game as a batsman but was replaced by Andrew Pratt as wicket keeper. Pratt’s unbeaten 27 made sure of a third batting point for Durham who declared at the fall of the ninth wicket, hoping to bowl Hampshire out twice.But Hampshire openers Laney (26) and White (23) scored freely before Wood and Neil Killeen bowled tidily as they made 63 for no loss in 20 overs.