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Sumaiya Siddiqi, Asmavia Iqbal and Anam Amin all delivered incisive spells to suffocate South Africa Women and set up Pakistan’s six-wicket win in Sharjah

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Mar-2015
ScorecardAsmavia Iqbal picked up two wickets and then muscled a crucial 21 not out•PCBSumaiya Siddiqi, Asmavia Iqbal and Anam Amin all delivered incisive spells to suffocate South Africa Women and set up Pakistan’s six-wicket win in Sharjah. The victory also meant that the hosts took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.South Africa, batting first, failed to inject any momentum into their innings, as they lost wickets right from the off. Asmavia dealt the first blows, removing Trisha Chetty and Bernadine Bezuidenhout in successive overs. It immediately put the visitors on the back foot, as they struggled to find the boundaries, hitting only six fours and a six throughout their innings. Sune Luus and Lizelle Lee were the only two players to score 20s, as South Africa could only muster 83 for 6. Asmavia (2 for 12) and Amin (2 for 25) picked up two wickets each, while Siddiqi bowled out the South Africa captain Mignon du Preez for 12.Pakistan made heavy weather of the small chase, losing four wickets inside 13 overs including two run-outs, but Bismah Maroof and Asmavia shared an unbroken, 41-run stand, guiding the team home in 17.5 overs. Maroof stroked three fours during her unbeaten 30, while Asmavia’s 14-ball 21 featured two fours. Her all-round exploits earned Asmavia a second consecutive Player-of-the-Match award.

Moeen Ali suffered the indignity of becoming the first bowler hit for six by Boyd Rankin in first-class cricket as Warwickshire built a strong position on the third day against Worcestershire at Edgbaston

Press Association11-May-2015
ScorecardVarun Chopra•Getty ImagesMoeen Ali suffered the indignity of becoming the first bowler hit for six by Boyd Rankin in first-class cricket as Warwickshire built a strong position on the third day against Worcestershire at EdgbastonEngland’s spinner was not spared as the visitors ran into a riotous record unbroken ninth-wicket partnership of 114 by Rankin and Chris Wright, which delighted the Edgbaston faithful and left the visitors facing a tall victory target of 437.Rankin struck an unbeaten 56, his maiden half-century, from 100 balls and celebrated that first six off Moeen with two more, off Sachitra Senanayake and Alex Kervezee respectively. Wright contributed a classy unbeaten 61 off 97 balls, his eighth first-class half-century, to build on a foundation diligently laid by captain Varun Chopra’s 18th first-class century.It left Worcestershire a daunting target of 437 to win and they closed on 88 for 2 having suffered a big blow just before the close. Moeen moved to a classy 33, including four exquisite off-side fours in one Rikki Clarke over, but then edged left-armer Keith Barker to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.Warwickshire resumed in the morning on 105 for 2 and were pegged back by Joe Leach who quickly added two wickets to his six in the first innings as three wickets fell for 19 runs in 32 balls. Leach had Laurie Evans caught at second slip and Ambrose taken at leg slip before Clarke fired a return catch to Charlie Morris.Chopra made 107 playing with great care, and Barker added 66 but when Jeetan Patel was stumped off Senanayake just after lunch, Warwickshire were 207 for 8, effectively 207 for 9 with Sam Hain unable to bat due to a shoulder injury.But as the visitors’ three specialist seamers tired, Wright and Rankin took full advantage to set a new county ninth-wicket record partnership against Worcestershire, surpassing the 98 by Piran Holloway and Allan Donald at Edgbaston in 1992.After the declaration at tea, Worcestershire went into bat needing 437 in a day and 32 overs and started well as Daryl Mitchell and Richard Oliver added 52 in 13. Patel struck with his fifth ball when Oliver, having batted well for 33 from 42 balls rather gave it away with a leading-edge to mid-off. Moeen got off the mark with a straight six off Patel but perished in the lengthening shadows late on and Worcestershire will need skipper Mitchell , who closed on 16 not out, to continue his vigil deep into the last day.”I was pleased with the century,” Chopra said. “I felt quite good yesterday when the ball was doing a bit. There was a bit of playing and missing along the way but it was the kind of wicket when you might always get one with your name on it so you just had to try to stick in there and put away the bad ball when it came along.”I was pleased to get the hundred but then, having done all the hard work, got out when the wicket started to get flat which was a bit annoying. Wrighty and Boydy put on our first hundred partnership of the year and you would have had pretty long odds on it coming from the two guys who are normally our numbers 10 and 11. But they both played really well.”Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes added: “That nith wicket stand was a killer for us because we had a real chance of chasing a lot lower score than we were expecting. We nearly did what we said last night which was to try and bowl them out today for another 100-120 runs. But they batted well and also our bowlers were just running out of steam and the reason they ran out of steam was we only batted for 42 overs and did not give them enough time to rest up and recharge the batteries ready for the next onslaught.”I can’t knock the bowlers, they’ve tried really hard and we just desperately need to bat well again because it’s a big score. We did well tonight but it was a big blow losing Moeen just before the end. That hurt us because he is a key player and he himself wanted some time at the crease. He got a little bit of that but he would have loved to be there overnight for a big innings tomorrow. It is a good test now for the rest of our batsmen.”

Ireland and Scotland have said they would welcome the chance to field teams in the County Championship

Tim Wigmore26-May-2015Ireland and Scotland have said they would welcome the chance to field teams in the County Championship. As revealed by ESPNcricinfo last week, the ECB is considering, among many options, a proposal to expand the competition to 21 teams and three divisions of seven.No decision on the future format of county cricket is expected until after the season. But the ECB are open to European Associates providing some of the extra three teams in a 21-team Championship, and it is understood they have already informally contacted Cricket Ireland, who are very keen on the idea, about the possibility. While Scotland have yet to be contacted, they are also eager to explore the concept. It is unlikely that Netherlands, the third strongest European Associate, could commit to playing 12 Championship games a season.”We’d be very interested because our ambition and goal is to play Test cricket,” says Richard Holdsworth, the performance director of Cricket Ireland. “To play in a first-class structure with the English counties would help our players develop and would allow them the match time that they need in order to develop as international cricketers and ultimately play Test cricket.””We don’t get much opportunity to play first-class games so this would create an opportunity to help fill that gap and help develop our next bunch of players who may be the bunch to play Test cricket come 2018 and 2019.” But, even if invited to do so by the ECB, Ireland would not intend to participate in county T20 and 50-over competitions.While Ireland have an existing multi-day competition – which they would retain even if they were included in the County Championship – at this stage it is probably unsatisfactory preparation for playing Test matches against Zimbabwe, let alone stronger opponents. Three sides play each other twice each in three-day games home-and-away every year – a total of four games each a season.The lack of variety in opposition is far from ideal while conditions tend to favour medium-pace seam bowlers who, as was painfully exposed in the World Cup, struggle against Full Members on flat wickets.So for an estimated cost of around €350,000 (£250,000), the benefits for Irish cricket of playing 12 four-day fixtures in the Championship a year would be great. These could extend not just to those based in Ireland – including young hopes Craig Young, Andy McBrine and Stuart Thompson – but also many of the 11 Irishmen currently on the books of county sides. Andy Balbirnie, George Dockrell and Paul Stirling, three important members of Ireland’s side in red-ball cricket, have played just one Championship match between them this season.Ireland’s prospects in the Intercontinental Cup, and ultimately Test cricket, would be far better served by such players playing in the County Championship rather than 2nd XI cricket. As the ECB now allow players to go on loan in certain competitions, Middlesex could continue to use Stirling in white-ball cricket while allowing him to play for an Irish team in the Championship.

It’s a brilliant idea – it would grow the game massively in the country. It would be a huge step in the right directionPreston Mommsen on the idea of Scotland being a Championship team

A side in the County Championship could also make Ireland more attractive to Irish-qualified players from overseas. Nick Larkin, an Australian with an Irish passport who scored 78 and 130 for New South Wales against South Australia in November, spent the last two seasons in Irish domestic cricket – but Ireland is a long way to go for only four multi-day matches, and he is not due to return in 2015. “Playing regular first class cricket would be more likely to entice players like Nick to want to come and play in Ireland and try and make the national team,” Holdsworth said.Although Cricket Ireland expect to receive more from the ICC when the new rights cycle kicks in later this year, they would still not be able to match what counties could pay men like Ed Joyce, Will Porterfield, Gary Wilson and Niall O’Brien. So Ireland would field something equivalent to an A-team side in the Championship and brand the side as such. This would allow them to develop depth in red-ball cricket beyond their first choice eleven.Another attraction for Ireland would be the predictability of the fixture list: at the moment, Ireland’s only guaranteed game against Full Members is a one-off ODI against England every two years. Six Championship games in Ireland every year would, the board believes, make it easier to attract sponsorship and government investment to upgrade cricket facilities. It could also make Cricket Ireland membership more attractive.For Cricket Scotland, the notion of participating in the County Championship is also very attractive. “If people wanted to talk about it with us, I’m certain we would want to talk,” said Willie Donald, the acting chief executive.In the context of the introduction of a pathway to Test cricket, he sees the idea as “very pertinent for our thinking right now.” Donald believes that inclusion in the Championship “could broaden and deepen our developmental base of players in Scotland.”Preston Mommsen, Scotland’s captain, agreed. “It’s a brilliant idea – it would grow the game massively in the country. It would be a huge step in the right direction. Personally I learned my cricket playing in the CB40 competition between 2010 and 2013 and I think it’s made a huge difference for us not playing in that competition. For us to be exposed to that level of cricket that can only be a good thing.”After the excitement of the World Cup, Mommsen has found the paucity of high-quality cricket since the World Cup a “mental challenge”; the most competitive game he has played since was against Durham 2nd XI. He believes that 12 first-class games a year would be crucial in helping Scottish players develop. “The standard would be very challenging for us – but at the same time you’re going to find a way to adapt and raise your game to meet those standards.”But inclusion in the Championship would also bring significant challenges for Scotland. They would seek reassurance that inclusion would not compromise their integrity as an international nation, although there are numerous examples – like Namibia playing in South African domestic cricket, England Lions and Ireland playing in the Caribbean, and countries playing in England in the past – to suggest that it would not.Hosting six Championship games a year would also require significant improvement in Scotland’s facilities. “We’d have to be absolutely sure that we could afford the infrastructure and meet the commitment from a financial perspective,” Donald said. “We wouldn’t shy away from that.”Participation in the Championship would further stretch Scotland’s financial resources at a time when, together with Ireland, they are developing plans to build a new cricket-playing facility in Spain, where matches could be played in September and October from as early as 2016.Nick Larkin, an Australian with an Irish passport, could be a player Ireland tried to tempt back•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaScotland would also need to expand their number of full-time contracted players from 11 (with a further eight contracted to counties) if they played 12 Championship games a year. “We don’t have a big enough pool of professional players right now to meet that workload,” Donald said. Existing full-time contracted players would also need to be paid more.Unlike Ireland, Scotland would also ideally like to be included in the one-day and T20 formats too. “I could imagine in Edinburgh on a Friday night against Surrey or Middlesex that would be a whizz-bang up here. That would be fantastic – we would definitely get big crowds. It would be very exciting if that were part of the package,” Donald said. “From an income stream perspective I could guess that it would give that business model a substantial boost.”Netherlands could hardly contain their excitement about the prospect of returning to limited-overs county cricket. “We’re queuing up – we can’t wait, it’s as simple as that,” said Alex de la Mar, the cricket operations and finance manager. “If that happened it would be absolutely super for Dutch cricket because we need good opposition.” He also believes that it would make it “far easier to sell the game to sponsors”.Like Scotland, Netherlands did not want to leave county cricket when the ECB restructured the one-day competition before 2014. But inclusion in the Championship would be altogether more complex. “It would need quite a lot of discussion and sorting out as to whether we could even afford that,” de la Mar said. “It’s a lot of travelling, it’s a lot of games, and can you do that with half the team amateurs?”Shorn of ODI status, Netherlands’ funding from the ICC is less generous than that enjoyed by Ireland or Scotland. They only have five full-time contracted players, so there would be major issues with player availability for Championship matches; de la Mar also fears the prospect of tussles getting players released from their clubs for games.There is also an even deeper issue: the complete lack of culture of multi-day cricket in the country. While Ireland have long made their ambitions to play Test cricket palpable, and Scotland are now doing the same, Netherlands does not regard it as realistic. Spending huge swathes of a very finite budget on first-class cricket would be difficult to justify, so an elusive 21st team in the Championship might have to come from within England.Still, those who think some altruism from the ECB is overdue should be very encouraged by the prospect of Ireland and Scotland joining the Championship. “Full Members should take more responsibility in helping associates,” Mommsen said. “There’s a huge untapped market here and this would be huge in terms of helping us out.”

If John Bracewell, the new head coach, wasn’t fully aware of the size of the task that lies ahead, then successive defeats to Scotland will have highlighted the challenge he faces.

Ryan Bailey20-Jun-2015
ScorecardScotland’s captain Preston Mommsen saw his side cruise home•AFPA week which was supposed to help dust off the cobwebs has proceeded to serve as an alarming wake-up call for Ireland. If John Bracewell, the new head coach, wasn’t fully aware of the size of the task that lies ahead, then successive defeats to Scotland will have highlighted the challenge he faces.For the second time in three days, Ireland were emphatically dispatched by their Associate adversaries in a fashion which has raised serious question marks over the capacity of many of Bracewell’s squad to cut it at this level; there may have been some part of the New Zealander that had wished today’s Twenty20 international had not been so hastily arranged after Friday’s washout.It was a perfect summer’s day at Bready but it would have been bleak viewing for many of those in attendance. Without the spine of the side, there has been an element of trial and error this week for the hosts but not even the return of George Dockrell, who took three wickets, or Andrew Balbirnie’s 31 could conceal the chinks in the armour.Once again, a limited, and mediocre, attack was picked apart by Matthew Cross, who along with Preston Mommsen, provided the backbone of Scotland’s pursuit of 167. Only Dockrell, who has endured a difficult season in county cricket, showed any measure of control with the ball as Craig Young, Graeme McCarter, Alex Cusack and Stuart Thompson all veered off their line and lengths and were ruthlessly exposed.As England continue to enjoy their limited-overs renaissance across the water, Ireland appear to be struggling to adapt to what is now required in the shortest format. It may seem harsh to level such criticism towards a side that have enjoyed unparalleled dominance of the Associate ranks, but a few home truths are needed; these two performances have certainly provided substance for anyone who intends to aim fire.There was a greater intensity with the bat, after Mommsen had called right for the third successive day, but the problems lie elsewhere. Kevin O’Brien briefly threatened to unleash his full array of shots and shift the momentum in his side’s favour but Safyaan Sharif returned to have the Ireland captain caught at long-on just as he was beginning to motor.166 was certainly a defendable total but Cross and Kyle Coetzer made light work of the chase with a stand of 73 and even when Cross fell two short of a destructive half-century, Mommsen, and then Richie Berrington, took up the mantle to seal an emboldening series win for Scotland with eleven balls remaining.The sides meet again on Sunday, a fixture which has taken on an added significance for Ireland even if this series is now beyond them.

South Africa Under-19 kept the seven-match Youth ODI series against Bangladesh alive with a 34-run win in a rain-affected encounter in Pietermaritzburg

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jul-2015
ScorecardNazmul Hossain Shanto couldn’t carry forward his form from the fourth match•BCBSouth Africa Under-19 kept the seven-match Youth ODI series against Bangladesh alive with a 34-run win in a rain-affected encounter in Pietermaritzburg. South Africa now trail 3-2 with two matches to go.South Africa got off to a solid start in the 38-over contest after being put in to bat, with the openers Liam Smith and Rivaldo Moonsammy putting on 34 in 40 balls. Moonsammy then added 39 with Matthew Breetzke before Bangladesh forced themselves back with three wickets in the space of 38 balls. From 85 for 4, South Africa got back on track via a 94-run fifth-wicket stand between Wiaan Mulder and Dayyaan Galiem. Mulder hit nine fours in his 56, while Galiem struck three fours and a six in his 39-ball 42 which helped South Africa to a total of 183 for 6.Bangladesh did not start well in their chase, losing three wickets within the first four overs. They lost another clump of wickets as they went from 44 for 3 to 48 for 6. Mehedi Hasan Miraz (67) and Mosabbek Hossain (40) offered resistance with a 80-run seventh-wicket partnership but Bangladesh couldn’t revive the chase and were eventually bowled out for 149 in 31 overs. Fast bowler Lutho Sipamla finished with figures of 3 for 32.”I think we started off better than in any of our other games in terms of batting,” South Africa U-19 captain Tony de Zorzi said. “The most important thing for us is to perfect our mental game and I believe in the last couple of days we have come very close to getting where we want to be with that. I think once we have that under our full control, they won’t be able to come close to us.”

Specsavers has been announced as the new sponsor of the County Championship, replacing insurers LV= after a 14-year association

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Feb-2016Specsavers has been announced as the new sponsor of the County Championship, replacing insurers LV= after a 14-year association. The optical retail chain has signed a four-year deal with the ECB for full naming and branding rights for the first-class competition.The ECB had been searching for a successor to LV=, which was known as Liverpool Victoria when it took over as the Championship’s sponsor in 2002, and has chosen to extend its relationship with Specsavers, which has been the board’s official optometry and hearing partner and principal partner of the Association of Cricket Officials (ACO) since 2014.”We’re very pleased to have agreed a four-year deal with Specsavers after holding discussions with several interested parties about this sponsorship package,” Sanjay Patel, the ECB’s commercial director, said”The County Championship continues to enjoy a strong following and the competition’s geographical spread across 18 different counties will help Specsavers gain wider brand exposure at both regional and national level.”Our commercial family continues to expand and today’s announcement highlights once again that cricket is an attractive property to a wide range of different brands and businesses.”Yorkshire are the reigning county champions, having lifted the title in 2014 and 2015, and will begin their Championship defence when the new season gets under way on April 10.The news follows an agreement with Greene King to become the “official beer of England cricket”, replacing Marston’s, and the renewal of Yorkshire Tea’s status as “official brew”. The ECB is also looking for a successor to Waitrose as main sponsor of the England team, after the supermarket chain decided not to continue with its deal beyond 2016.

Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who completed a five-year suspension for spot-fixing in September last year, will captain the Sialkot Region team in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy grade-2 tournament, which starts from Saturday in Bahawalpur

Umar Farooq02-Mar-2016Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who completed a five-year suspension for spot-fixing in September last year, will captain the Sialkot Region team in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy grade-2 tournament, which starts from Saturday in Bahawalpur. Asif’s contract with the grade-1 side, Water and Power Development Authority [WAPDA], is unaffected and he has been released to lead his regional side in the event.Asif was one of three Pakistan players to be given a ban for their role in spot-fixing during Pakistan’s tour to England in 2010; Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir were the other two players. After their suspensions ended in September last year, Butt and Asif were signed on as non-executive, 17th grade employees by WAPDA. The pair made their return to competitive cricket in the National One-Day Cup earlier this year.Asif was born in Sheikhupura, a small town which lies to the north-west of Lahore but was later merged with Sialkot. The team was relegated to grade-2 after they finished at the bottom of the Quaid-e-Azam Silver League in 2014-15 with six points. If they finish the grade-2 competition as one of the top two teams, they will gain direct entry into the qualifying round of the grade-1 competition.”Since he was cleared by the ICC and the PCB so we have decided to play him,” Nauman Butt, Sialkot Region president told ESPNcricinfo. “It was my request to him to play as captain and players like (Abdur) Rehman, Bilawal Bhatti are going to play under him. None of the players have any problem with our decision and they are all like family members. He is the senior-most player in the team and enjoying the respect that a captain requires from a team-mate.”His behavior has been exemplary during the camp with all the youngsters and I am satisfied with his attitude. I have spoken with every player and they have confirmed that they have no problem at all. What happened was past and he served his punishment and got all the NOCs from the governing body and he recently played the National One-Day Cup as well.”Asif, 33, was banned for seven years (two years suspended) for bowling a deliberate no-ball during the 2010 Lord’s Test against England. The two-year suspension was on the conditions that the player would issue a public apology, show remorse, cooperate with the anti-corruption unit, commit no further breaches and participate in an anti-corruption education programme under the auspices of the PCB.The grade-2 competition will be the second major tournament Asif will feature in this year. In January, he played seven games for WAPDA in the National One-Day Cup, taking seven wickets at 27.00. Butt, meanwhile, finished the tournament as the second-highest run-getter with 536 runs in seven games, including a century and four fifties. Both players were registered for the Caribbean Premier League 2016 draft, but were not picked by any franchise.

Steven Finn has admitted he was frustrated by England’s decision not to take him to India as part of the World T20 squad, insisting he would have been fully fit for the tournament

George Dobell14-Apr-2016Steven Finn has admitted he was frustrated by England’s decision not to take him to India as part of the World T20 squad, insisting he would have been fully fit for the tournament.Finn, who was replaced in the squad by Liam Plunkett after suffering a calf injury, assured the England management that he would be fit and subsequently played a full part on Middlesex’s pre-season tour.While he celebrated England’s relative success in the tournament, joking that they would have been “knocked out in the group stages if I’d been there”, he felt the latest in a succession of injuries robbed him of “a big winter”.”It’s frustrating,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I would have been fit. I told them I would be fit.”There wasn’t actually much wrong with me. I was back up and running within a week of the calf injury but the decision was made quite quickly to pull me out of the squad. There were still 10 days before the squad left to go for India and I was pretty much bowling 100% by the time the guys started the World Cup.”They played fantastically and got better as the tournament went on. I was frustrated not to be out there with them, but you get over that and accept the decision is made.”Helm ‘something special’

Tom Helm has been rated the “the most talented young bowler I’ve ever seen” by his team-mate Steven Finn.
Helm, a 21-year-old fast bowler, missed most of the 2015 season with a stress fracture but is tipped to play around half of Middlesex’s Championship matches this season if fitness allows. Finn believes he has the pace and skill to enjoy great success.
“In my opinion, he is the most talented young bowler I’ve ever seen,” Finn said. “He’s got something that different and special. You watch him bowl and you think: this is beautiful.
“It’s quick, it’s easy and he swings it both ways at will. He’s got something special. If he stays fit he’ll be a very big player for Middlesex and probably higher than that.”

The calf injury was the latest in a series of setbacks that have interrupted Finn’s progress since his return to the Test team during the 2015 summer. A foot injury kept him out of the Test series in the UAE, while a side strain ended his tour to South Africa. In between times, he cut his head on a street sign while looking at his phone while walking.”Injuries at this stage of my career, when it looked like I could have had a big winter, are frustrating,” he said. “But I’ve taken solace in the fact that when I’ve come back I’ve bowled well straight away. In the past it has taken a while.”Middlesex’s Championship season starts at Lord’s on Sunday with a game against Warwickshire. Finn knows that his performances in the opening games will determine whether he wins selection for the Test series against Sri Lanka and hopes that the newly developed ability to swing the ball – evident during the 2015 Ashes series – will give him an edge.”I feel I’ve something to offer in all three formats,” Finn said. “But Test cricket is what I desperately, desperately want to play.”That third seamer spot has been up for grabs at the start of the summer for the last four or five years. There’s a lot of people out there wanting to stake a claim for it and I’m in that category as well. Whoever takes the most wickets or is the most impressive in those games will probably get the nod for the third seamer.”You have to move the ball to be successful and I’ve been working on a genuine inswinger. I have chatted to Jimmy Anderson about it, but he is a genuine genius. I can only do it to left-handers at the moment, so it’s a work in progress.”Finn also expressed sympathy for Ben Stokes, who was hit for four successive sixes in the final of the World T20 as West Indies won the trophy. Finn conceded 49 in two overs – including six sixes – in a drubbing at the hands of New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum in the 2015 World Cup and knows better than most how such an experience feels. Finn suggested that, while he became flustered during the McCullum assault, Stokes retained his composure admirably.”When I got hit by Brendon I went to things that I wasn’t sure whether they were going to work,” Finn said. “You have to take yourself out of the situation and remember what worked well for you and Stokesy did that very well. He tried to deliver the skills he had all tournament.”Stoksey’s yorker had worked for him all tournament and, if you look at the pitch map of that over, apart from the first ball, they were very close to being good yorkers that wouldn’t normally be hit for six.”Ben can take solace in the fact that he did deliver his skill. He just got met on that day by someone who was having a freakish innings.”It will have hurt a lot at the time, but he’ll be fine. He’ll still be the heart and soul of the team. He’ll still be the life of the team. And if there is a last over to bowl again, I’m sure he’ll put his hand up to do it because he’s that sort of character.”

GOAL gives you the best 25 Arab Players of 2017.

Arabian Football has never been in a better state after four nations qualified for the 2018 World Cup and three Arabian clubs out of four reached the Asian and African Champions League Finals in 2018. We have also seen Arabian players excel in one of the strongest, if not the strongest league in the world, the English Premier League and the leagues around it. 

Hence, we at GOAL welcome you to the 2017 GOAL Best 25 Arab Players Award, where we give you the best players in and out of the Arab World across the last 12 months.

25 | Ali Mabkhout – Al Jazira – UAE

The talented Emirati striker led Al Jazira to the UAE Arabian Gulf League, scoring 33 goals in the league to win the top scorer award. 

Advertisement24 | Muaiad Ellafi – Al Shabab (KSA) – Libya

The Libyan was excellent with Ahli Tripoli in Libya and contributed to their qualification to the quarter finals of the CAF Champions league.

23 | Abdulla Al-Mayouf – Al Hilal – Saudi Arabia

The Al Hilal goalkeeper was a key player for the side that won the league and reached the final of the AFC Champions League alongside earning qualification to the FIFA World Cup with Saudi Arabia.

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22 | Rachid Ghezzal – Lyon – Algeria

The Algerian midfielder helped Olympique Lyonnais to a 4th placed finish in the French League and the semi final of the UEFA Europa League.

The World Cup winner surpassed the 30-goal mark in top-flight football at just 20 years old – but how do other prolific greats compare?

By scoring a hat-trick in PSG's win over Monaco on Sunday, Kylian Mbappe broke the 30 goal barrier in Ligue 1 for the season.

At 20 years and four months of age, he is the youngest person ever to achieve 30 goals in a year in the French top-flight.

Mbappe could surpass Phiippe Gondet's record for Ligue 1 goals in a season with six more in PSG's three remaining games. Bondet notched 36 for Nantes in the 1965-66 campaign.

Current European Golden Shoe leader Lionel Messi has 33 goals this season and if Mbappe were to equal or surpass Bondet's mark, he would surely challenge for that crown too.

Mbappe's achievement looks even better when bearing in mind many of the great forwards of eras gone by, including Pippo Inzaghi, Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Owen, Didier Drogba, Gabriel Batistuta, David Trezeguet, Radamel Falcao and Sergio Aguero, have never passed that mark .

Goalhas looked back at the ages at which other goalscorers passed the 30-goal barrier in Europe's Top-5 leagues for the first time.

We restricted the list to the last 30 seasons, but as the first of those started a decade before Mbappe was born, that shouldn't make his feat less impressive.

Getty Images17Zlatan Ibrahimovic (31 years and 7 months)

Season: 2012/2013
Club: PSG
Goals scored: 30

AdvertisementGetty16Edinson Cavani (30 years and 3 months)Season: 2016/17
Club: PSG
Goals Scored: 35Getty Images15Diego Forlan (30 years)Season: 2008/09
Club: Atletico Madrid
Goals Scored: 32ENJOYED THIS STORY?

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Getty Images14Gonzalo Higuain (28 years and 6 months)Season: 2015/16
Club: Napoli
Goals Scored: 36