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Celtic are closing in on a fourth successive Scottish Premiership title and are in the semi-finals of the SFA Cup, with a chance to clinch a domestic treble.

Their ongoing success on the pitch this season has not stopped the club from looking to bolster their squad in the upcoming summer transfer window, though, as they have already agreed to sign Kieran Tierney on a free transfer.

The Scotland international is returning to Parkhead for the first time since his £25m move to Arsenal in the summer of 2019, which made him the most expensive Hoops academy graduate in history.

Most expensive Celtic academy graduate sales

Celtic have produced some excellent players from their academy, as the likes of Andy Robertson, Aaron Hickey, and Ben Doak have come through the youth set-up, but they have not always extracted great value out of their young talents.

Tierney’s £25m move to Arsenal is one of only three sales in the club’s history involving an academy graduate that was worth more than £1.6m, as shown in the table below.

Celtic’s most expensive academy graduate sales

Player

Fee

Kieran Tierney

£25m reported fee

Aiden McGeady

£10.3m

Mikey Johnston

£3m

Craig Beattie

£1.6m

Stephen McManus

£1.5m

Charlie Nicholas

£1.4m

Fees via Transfermarkt & Sky Sports

The Hoops have not been able to consistently produce high-value assets that they have been able to sell for millions, which is something that they may look to improve on in the coming years.

Where Are They Now

Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series

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Celtic, actually, had an exciting young academy prospect on their hands last season in the form of Rocco Vata, before they failed to convince him to extend his contract at Parkhead, and he left to join Watford for a compensation fee of £250k.

Rocco Vata is now being compared to a £100m talent

The Ireland international scored 23 goals in 34 B team matches for the Scottish giants, but only played three minutes in the Scottish Premiership last season before his exit last summer.

Since joining Watford, Vata has scored four goals and provided three assists in 33 first-team matches for the Hornets in all competitions in the 2024/25 campaign, and has earned a comparison to a player who has been valued at a whopping £100m.

Oxford City scout and recruitment analyst Hayden on X compared the Irish whiz to Tyler Dibling, suggesting that he would be a suitable alternative to teams interested in the Southampton teen, and that he was “impressed” by the Watford star.

The Saints have reportedly placed a £100m price tag over Dibling’s head, despite the 19-year-old having produced two goals and zero assists in 28 Premier League games this season.

Vata, who talent scout Jacek Kulig claimed has an “exciting” future, has scored three goals, created four ‘big chances’, and delivered three assists in 29 appearances in the Championship for the Hornets, showing great promise at such a young age.

It remains to be seen whether or not Southampton will sell Dibling for £100m or how much Watford would demand for their Irish 19-year-old starlet, but he appears to be on track to be another player Celtic have lost before they could extract maximum value from them.

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The Hoops must, therefore, regret not being able to keep hold of him last summer because he is a talented young prospect who could have had an exciting future at Parkhead, given his first-team emergence in the English Championship this term and the comparison to a £100m-rated starlet.

Seven members of the squad will be bringing their CPL experience into this year’s global event

Danyal Rasool05-Jun-2024No one really watches the CPL in Pakistan. For much of the tournament’s history, the league’s broadcast arrangements have offered no legitimate way to follow it live in Pakistan, and with many games beginning around 4am local time, most people simply don’t bother. Those who are motivated enough can find underhand workarounds.But over the past few months, every stakeholder in Pakistan cricket has been casting a beady retrospective eye on what has been going on in this Caribbean tournament. Bowlers Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir’s excellent CPL form prompted the PCB to coax them out of retirement months ago to get ready to participate in the first T20 World Cup to be played in the West Indies (and the USA) since 2010.Imad has taken 61 wickets in the CPL, while conceding only 6.20 runs per over (among spinners, only Sunil Narine has more wickets at a better economy). Amir’s three seasons have seen him hoover up 43 wickets at 6.5 runs per over. No other fast bowler in the CPL who has bowled at least 40 overs has a better economy rate. No overseas fast bowler has more wickets in CPL history than Sohail Tanvir.Perhaps it’s surprising that the CPL hasn’t gained more traction in Pakistan in some ways, given 29 of the country’s players have participated in the tournament across the years, more than they have in any other league; the only overseas side with more players who have CPL experience is South Africa. And no overseas nation boasts more CPL winners than Pakistan.Shoaib Malik is Guyana royalty, having played three seasons with Amazon Warriors, including the legendary 2019 season where he captained them to the final with 11 successive wins.No wonder, then, that Pakistan are focusing all their energies into a World Cup they feel they have a natural advantage in. There is a sense that their players have knowledge of local conditions to rival any other side there.”The main thing I’ve learned is how to utilise the wind there,” Imad says. “Because they’re islands, they can be windy, and you can use it if you’re skilful enough. You try to restrict runs from the windy end and it’s the opposite when you bat. That’s a tactical battle going on inside each ground.”Most players who have spent any time at the CPL reference the wind. Sohail Tanvir, who played for Warriors, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Zouks, goes so far as saying controlling the wind can often prove a decisive factor. Just as he made up for lack of pace with canny variations in his own bowling, Tanvir believes that versatility will be key.Azam Khan: “In league cricket, I get ten matches in a row, which is good for me. My batting position is such that I don’t feel I can win ten matches for my team, but I can win three to four”•Ashley Allen/CPL T20/Getty Images”You won’t have seen genuine pacers there achieve as much success,” Tanvir says. “On those pitches, the quicker delivery is easy to handle and put away. Because there’s a lot of humidity there, a bowler who has the skills to swing the new ball will be successful up front. And with the old ball in the second half of the innings, variation is the key.”Amir, who has played for Barbados Royals and Jamaica Tallawahs, says there is early swing regardless of whether the games are during the day or at night. However, he says that the dew later on, especially in Barbados – where Pakistan will play two of their three Super Eights games, should they qualify – will make it easier to chase down higher scores in night games.The varied nature of the wickets means players will need to think on their feet and adapt mid-game.”I don’t notice the batter,” Imad says, “but [focus on] what the wicket demands of me. Does it require me to bowl the slower ball, quicker ball, or just the arm ball? If I have 24 balls, I try to bowl 20 that use the conditions. In Pindi the wicket is flat, and you do something different, like go for wide yorkers. But the CPL won’t have Pindi- or Lahore-style wickets; sometimes even 120 is a winning score.”That makes the first few overs of an innings particularly important. “While the ball is new and hard, it’s easier to score runs there,” Tanvir says. “The older it gets, the more difficult. The West Indian players are able to use their power and score runs at the death too but it requires serious power-hitting.”But it also highlights the value of strikers who can find ways of muscling the older, softer ball past the boundary in the latter part of an innings. Pakistan have agonised over what to do with late-overs hitter Azam Khan, who has by and large been unable to translate T20 league form to international cricket. His record at the CPL, though, potentially makes a case for him as a middle-to-late overs bludgeoner at this World Cup.Over the last three seasons, only nine players have scored more runs in the league, and only one of those – Faf du Plessis – is not a local player. Only three batters with more runs boast a higher strike rate than Azam’s, but it is in the last six overs of an innings that his CPL value really sparkles. In that time, no non-West Indian has a higher strike rate than his 180.81 (min runs scored: 150). And the only man to hit more sixes than his 26 in the final six overs of innings? Andre Russell.Azam accepts that consistency will never be his selling point, instead making the case for what he feels is his ability to win games.”There’s a lot of difference between franchise and T20I cricket,” he says. “In league cricket, I get ten matches in a row, which is good for me. My batting position is such that I don’t feel I can win ten matches for my team, but I can win three to four. And it’s better if you do it in the later part of the tournament because that’s what people remember.”But Pakistan would do well not to focus on the Caribbean alone. One of the unique features of this World Cup is, it’s the first one to host main-round games in more than one country, with Pakistan playing their first four games in the United States. That country is virgin territory for a tournament as significant as this, and there’s an aspect of the unknown, particularly with New York, which hosts the India-Pakistan clash, and has a new stadium with a drop-in pitch from Adelaide.Imad Wasim: “I focus on what the wicket demands of me – slower ball, quicker ball, or the arm ball. If I have 24 balls, I try to bowl 20 that use the conditions”•CPL T20 via Getty ImagesIn Imad, though, Pakistan have tried to cover some bases there, too. “I played in Major League Cricket last year in Dallas and Fort Lauderdale, Miami, so I know those wickets very well, and wind is a huge factor in Dallas and Miami too. They are similar conditions to the CPL, but better for batting because the ball comes on to the bat. I think New York and Dallas will have high-scoring games.And while Imad jokes that if the New York wicket behaves exactly like Adelaide, Pakistan had best go in with “seven fast bowlers”, he also highlights the value of a spin bowler on almost any surface.”Spinners are necessary from a tactical point of view, because if the batter is set on one pace, spin breaks his rhythm. For this reason, one or two spin options are handy.”It seems lack of eyeballs on the CPL has not meant Pakistan don’t appreciate the significance of what happens there. And this summer, at least, T20 cricket in the West Indies will not want for viewers from the country whose players have made it a home away from home on the other side of the world.

There were reminders galore of the abundance of quality that comes from the Caribbean

Aadam Patel24-Nov-2022Things have not gone well for West Indies in recent times. Their T20 World Cup campaign was an abject failure as they finished bottom of their group and failed to qualify for the Super 12 phase. For a side that once reigned supreme in the shorter format, that was quite the downfall.There are indeed problems within West Indies cricket and the hopes are that an independent panel assembled by CWI to undertake a “comprehensive review” will provide insight and possible solutions but one thing is for certain – a lack of talent is not an issue.On opening night of Season 6 of Abu Dhabi T10, there were reminders galore of the abundance of quality that comes from the islands, particularly when it comes to the shorter formats.Having been put into bat by New York Strikers (one of two new franchises for this year’s event), it was Evin Lewis from Trinidad who took Bangla Tigers to a winning score in the opening game, smashing 58 runs off 22 balls in a blistering knock that included two fours and seven sixes.Wahab Riaz took two wickets in two balls in his first over but in between, it was a clinic from Lewis. He brought up his 50 off 18 deliveries, handsomely flicking Romario Shepherd over the square leg fence for six. By the time he was dismissed by fellow West Indian Ravi Rampaul, the Tigers had gone past the hundred mark and their final total of 131 for five was too much for Kieron Pollard’s Strikers outfit.Pollard himself made 45 off 19 deliveries but it was ultimately in vain as his side fell 19 runs short of the Tigers’ total.In the second game of Wednesday’s double-header, the reigning champions Deccan Gladiators won the toss against Team Abu Dhabi and their captain Nicholas Pooran ensured they were going to carry on from where they left off last season with a ruthless unbeaten knock of 77 from 33 balls, including eight sixes.Despite losing Will Smeed to a golden duck in the first over to Naveen Ul-Haq, Pooran hit back-to-back sixes to finish the over and cashed in throughout. He took Andrew Tye for three consecutive boundaries in the second and though Peter Hatzoglou carried on his remarkable story, picking up the wickets of Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Suresh Raina, Pooran saw him out before taking Mustafizur Rahman to the cleaners. Mustafizur’s ninth over went for 27 runs with the man from Trinidad going 4, 6, 4, 6, 6. It was quite the assault from a man who has no doubt felt the heat after West Indies’ early exit Down Under.Hatzoglou’s figures of 2 for 12 off his two overs were the best of the bunch for Team Abu Dhabi and he was backed up with Fabian Allen’s 2 for 18 but their pace attack took a battering, with Mustafizur, Naveen and Tye going for a combined total of 102 runs from their six overs. Pooran was backed up by a late cameo from Odean Smith as Gladiators set a target of 135.Despite a flurry from James Vince, who had arrived in Abu Dhabi just hours earlier from Australia, with 37 off 19, Pooran’s side defended their total with ease, winning by 35 runs. Josh Little picked up from his hat-trick at the World Cup trapping Vince in front as Gladiators, coached by Mushtaq Ahmed, bowled superbly with Tom Helm and Zahoor Khan taking two wickets apiece.Pooran earlier this week announced he was stepping down as West Indies white-ball captain and this was a welcome knock him after just 25 runs across his three innings at the World Cup. He was elevated to captain after Pollard announced his international cricket retirement in April but West Indies won just eight out of 25 white-ball games during his stint as full-time skipper. Perhaps this tournament can bring back a bit of that spark and enjoyment that he is renowned for.There are no fewer than 26 West Indian cricketers in Abu Dhabi for this year’s edition of the T10 and for a region that revolutionised the way the shorter forms of the game are played, there is every hope that with the talent still within its ranks, it’s sooner rather than later before West Indies cricket is back on the rise.

Sunrisers Hyderabad are the form team, but Delhi Capitals can create a ripple, if they play it right

Nagraj Gollapudi and Gaurav Sundararaman07-Nov-2020The Capitals’ ideal XI – Plan A
Drop the out-of-form Prithvi Shaw, open with Marcus Stoinis. Drop Daniel Sams, bulk up the middle order with Shimron Hetmyer. Opening with Stoinis and Shikhar Dhawan could allow the Capitals to get off to a quick start, something that has been missing for them after the first half of the league phase.Stoinis was the Capitals’ best batsman in their humbling defeat against the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1. He is a proven opening option in T20 cricket, having done it successfully in the Big Bash League since 2018, where he has struck ten half-centuries and a century with an average of 52 and a strike rate of 133.By accommodating Hetmyer, ideally at No. 4 or No. 5, the Capitals can give a bit of freedom to Rishabh Pant, asking him to play game and perform the finisher’s role. Also, bring back Harshal Patel for Shaw, who can be a handful if the Abu Dhabi pitch continues to play slow and low as in the Eliminator.The Capitals’ ideal XI – Plan B
Open with Stoinis, replace Shaw with Harshal Patel, hand legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane his first match of the competition as replacement for Sams. It might be a left-field as suggestions go, but might not be, if you consider that Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa were the best bowlers, along with Rashid Khan, in the Eliminator between the Sunrisers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday evening on a slow pitch in Abu Dhabi.The Capitals have sorely missed Amit Mishra, who was forced to return home after breaking his finger in the early half of the tournament. While R Ashwin will remain the key spinner, Lamichhane can operate in the middle overs along with Patel, allowing the fast-bowling pair of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada to bowl enough overs at the death. It will be a brave call, but the Capitals have to think out of the box.ESPNcricinfo LtdDon’t let Rashid Khan settle down
The Capitals batsmen go quiet when Khan is in front of them, like a bunch of students when the headmaster walks into class. In five matches in IPL 2019 and 2020, the Capitals have scored just 76 runs from 120 deliveries against him. In this period, Khan has taken ten wickets at an economy rate of 3.8. Six of those wickets came this year, in threes, including the 3 for 7, one of the best spells of the tournament so far.Khan will bowl in the middle overs, so it will be the responsibility of Dhawan, Iyer, and Ajinkya Rahane, most likely, to find ways to attack him. It is one of the toughest one-on-one battles in T20 cricket, but it might not hurt the Capitals to get up to a little mischief against Khan.Stir it up for David Warner
In case Wriddhiman Saha does not play, again, Warner will take the lead in making the bold opening statement in the powerplay, as the Sunrisers have in their four successive wins in the last two weeks.Warner will want to attack Rabada and Ashwin in the first six overs. Now, Rabada has got Warner out twice in the IPL, but has conceded 57 runs from 34 deliveries in the process. Ashwin has got Warner out thrice in the IPL, giving away 92 runs from 82 deliveries. Both of them will aim to cramp Warner for any room and prise him out.That said, if the surface remains slow, then the Sunrisers batsmen will play percentage cricket, thereby making it a more even contest.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Capitals’ openers must stay the course
Dhawan and Shaw were among the best opening pairs at the beginning of the tournament, scoring 226 runs, including three 50-plus partnerships, in the first five matches. Shaw has fallen off miserably after that, while in the Capitals’ last five matches, Dhawan has scored three ducks. In those, the Capitals have lost at least one wicket before getting to double-digits. Since October 20, which is when their slide started, the Capitals have lost eight wickets in the first two overs of a match, the poorest among all teams.Bring Axar Patel on to attack Manish Pandey
Pandey has shown a lot of positive intent in key moments for the Sunrisers this IPL. Luckily, in Patel, the Capitals have the right bowler to challenge Pandey. In the 61 deliveries he has faced from Patel in T20s over the years, Pandey has been conservative, picking only 38 runs at a strike rate of 64, while losing his wicket twice.Getty ImagesBack to the start – what about the toss?
Keep chasing? It is a bigger question for the Capitals. In the two matches in the league phase, which the Sunrisers won, Iyer had elected to chase and that backfired on both occasions. Warner has won three tosses in a row now, and elected to field first. It is not just going by the trend at the venue, which tilts in favour of batting second, but the Sunrisers have been the best bowling unit in their last six matches – since October 20. Warner would want to chase again if he calls the coin right on Sunday, keeping in mind a low-on-confidence opposition and his strong bowling unit.

أوضح مدرب ليفربول آرني سلوت، تفاصيل إصابة ثنائي الفريق خلال المباراة أمام برايتون في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

والتقى ليفربول وبرايتون مساء السبت على ملعب “آنفيلد”، وحقق فريق سلوت الفوز بهدفين دون رد، سجلهما هوجو إيكتيكي.

وفي حديثه لموقع ليفربول الرسمي، بعد المباراة، قال المدرب سلوت: “إذا خرج لاعب مصابًا بعضلة مثل جو جوميز، فهذا ليس بالأمر الجيد عادةً”.

وأضاف: “لم أكن أتوقع وجوده في التشكيلة الأسبوع المقبل (أمام توتنهام) لكن أحيانًا تأتي المفاجآت السارة”.

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وأردف: “ربما يفهم الناس الآن بشكل أفضل سبب حرصي الدائم على عدم إشراكه في الكثير من المباريات، أعتقد أن الكثيرين تساءلوا إذا كان لديك مدافع، إذا كان لديك ظهير أيمن، فلماذا لا تشركه؟”.

وواصل: “أما سوبوسلاي (تم استبداله في الدقيقة 83) فقد كانت إصابته في كاحله، لم يكن الوضع يبدو جيدًا عندما رأيته للتو، لكنه يتمتع بعقلية رائعة، لذا دعونا نأمل خيرًا”.

وأتم: “الخبر السار هو عودة كونور برادلي من الإيقاف (الأسبوع المقبل)، وعادةً ما يتدرب جيريمي فريمبونج معنا أيضًا، لكننا سنفتقد أيضًا محمد صلاح لأنه سيشارك في كأس الأمم الإفريقية”.

An altercation between Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Dennis Santana and a fan nearly turned physical at Comerica Park on Thursday evening.

In the second game of a doubleheader, Santana was in the Pirates' bullpen when he approached a fan sitting in the seats above who was likely razzing the players. Santana walked over, pointed at the fan. jumped up and took a swipe at him. Santana was then ushered into the clubhouse by teammates

Several different videos of the incident began to circle around social media.

The Pirates have yet to address the incident. According to 's Cody Stavenhagen, the Tigers say that the fan was ejected from the game at Comerica Park.

Pittsburgh lost to Detroit 9–2 on Thursday in the first game of the doubleheader. The nightcap was tied 4–4 before severe weather caused a delay in the ninth inning.

Santana is in his eighth season in the big leagues and his second with the Pirates. Over 31 appearances this season, Santana has logged a 1.74 ERA with 25 strikeouts.

Are India a bowler short? Why are India losing so many wickets to left-arm spinners? Are India using spin too much in the death overs? How does the team regroup and move on from the loss against South Africa?The way allrounder Sneh Rana was grilled at the press conference ahead of the match against Australia, it would create the impression that India weren’t winning anything at the women’s ODI World Cup . That’s not the case at all.But it’s true that though India have won two of their three games and came close to winning the third, they have been far from convincing. There have been batting collapses in all three outings with low scores from their senior batters Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues. Their fielding hasn’t been up to the mark either, and they have mostly had to complete their 50 overs with five bowlers.Related

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After seeing the ease with which boundaries were being scored in the death overs by both India and South Africa in Visakhapatnam, where India next play Australia on Sunday, the hosts would love the comfort of a sixth bowler, especially some added experience in the pace attack that currently features Kranti Gaud and Amanjot Kaur, who have all of 21 ODIs between them.Their options on the bench could tempt them. Either Renuka Singh, who was at the 2022 ODI World Cup as a squad member, or Arundhati Reddy, who has 49 internationals under her belt, are waiting for a chance. But such is the balance of this team that a bowler would have to come in at the cost of a batter because replacing an allrounder would again cut down a bowling option.”I think that call is for the management to take, and I can’t comment much on it,” Rana said about the make-up of the XI. “But we already have good bowlers, and even Pratika [Rawal] and Harman bowl, so it won’t make a big difference at this stage.”Harmanpreet and Rawal have been rolling their arms over in the nets but how many overs can they send down in batting-friendly conditions, that too against a top side like Australia? Harmanpreet has bowled all of 15 overs in the last three years and last picked up a wicket over three years ago.The other option is to drop a batter, but doing so early in the tournament is also unlikely, even though the dot-ball percentage of Rawal and Harleen Deol has come under scrutiny, and Rodrigues has bagged two ducks in three innings. Leaving out a batter would again make it tricky for a line-up that’s not been up to the mark at this World Cup.Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol’s dot-ball percentage has come under scrutiny•SLC

Replacing one batter with another in the XI later in the tournament – whether for form or a niggle – would also, possibly, not be an option for India because their only batting reserve in the squad of 15 is wicketkeeper-batter Uma Chetry, who hasn’t received her ODI cap yet.”See, I don’t think it’s a major concern because our batters have handled these situations very well in the past,” Rana said. “Ups and downs are part and parcel of the game, they can happen anytime. But we have some of the best batters in the world on our side. It’s just a matter of one good knock, and I’m hopeful they’ll bounce back very soon.”All the batters are working on their strengths, and everyone knows where they need to improve. Each player is taking individual training for that. If we talk about strike rate, whatever has been lacking in the past few months, everyone is aware of it and, as a team, we discuss it, regroup, and work towards improving it.”India will hope for a big batting effort against Australia on Sunday, which they got in the three-ODI series preceding the World Cup. There, India scored 369 chasing 412, won by 102 runs after scoring 292, and went down by eight wickets after scoring 281. The series was lost, but they put up good scores. Here, another loss will push them down towards the middle of the table, with their next game against England, the current table-toppers, and the one after that against New Zealand, who have returned to winning ways recently. Whatever they do, they must do it quick.

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Somerset 339 for 6 (Thomas 86, Rew 74, Lammonby 47, Porter 3-45) vs Essex Josh Thomas and James Rew, two young left-handers born on the same day a year apart, were instrumental in helping Somerset build a commanding platform in their Rothesay County Championship match against Essex at Chelmsford.Thomas, the younger of the pair, was making his first-class debut but showed no sign of nerves or inexperience in making a confident 86. Rew, already with 11 centuries to his name at just 21, took up the cudgels when Thomas was out to record his eighth score of fifty-plus this season before falling to the new-ball on 74.The 20-year-old Thomas had stepped in as a concussion substitute for Tom Abell last week against Hampshire and retained his spot as the former Somerset captain sat out the mandatory one-match period. The rookie’s 127-ball innings started at pace and did not slow down until he had accumulated a run-a-ball fifty. With 14 fours and a six, he dominated a 121-run stand for the second wicket with Tom Lammonby that laid the foundations for Somerset’s 339-6Rew, at the crease for 115 balls, was not as outwardly flamboyant as Thomas but eked out a 90-run partnership in 29 overs with Lewis Goldsworthy for the fifth wicket. Jamie Porter and Doug Bracewell extracted liveliness and bounce from a green-tinged wicket that had encouraged Somerset to bat after winning the toss. Porter finished the day with 3 for 45 from 21 overs.Otherwise, it was an exasperating day for Essex, who still need a smattering of points to be certain of playing Division One cricket next season.Thomas lost his more experienced opening partner, Archie Vaughan, early on when the 19-year-old mistimed a drive off Porter and edged to third slip.The loss did not deter Thomas. He had got off the mark to his first ball faced, turning Bracewell off his hip for two, and then twice drove the New Zealander impressively straight for boundaries. It set the tone for his innings. An eighth four, hammered through the covers from Charlie Bennett’s own first ball in first-class cricket, brought up Somerset’s fifty, of which the dominant Thomas had contributed 41.Bennett, who was Essex’s top wicket-taker in the Metro Bank Cup, frequently strayed down legside to the left-hander, but when he bowled a straighter delivery, Thomas pulled it effortlessly for six. Thomas’s half-century came from just 51 balls when he turned a ninth boundary down to third man. However, he was given a life on 55 when dropped at first slip by Dean Elgar off Noah Thain.The let-off seemed to inhibit Thomas and his rate of scoring dipped noticeably once he had passed that milestone, though he still made nearly two-thirds of the first hundred in the stand with Lammonby. The pair had been together for 34 overs when Porter’s pace beat the outside of Thomas’s bat and thudded into his off-stump.Lammonby scratched around for 129 balls in all in making 47 with just three fours before he was lbw to one from Bennett that looked as if it might have missed leg-stump.Tom Kohler-Cadmore lasted just eight balls before he tried to charge Bracewell and ended up nicking to substitute wicketkeeper Simon Fernandes, fielding post-lunch in place of Michael Pepper, who required treatment to an injured thumb.Rew and Goldsworthy picked up Thomas’s good work, piecing together a watchful partnership during which Rew reached his own half-century from 89 balls. His sixth boundary, through the covers off Matt Critchley, gave Somerset their first batting point. But with the new-ball just eight deliveries old Bracewell had Rew caught behind.With the shine still on the ball, Porter had a third victim when Kasey Aldridge edged a misdrive low to Fernandes. But Goldsworthy, operating below the radar, reached a second half-century in three innings this season while putting on fifty for the seventh wicket with Craig Overton.

Hampshire are through to next month’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup final after a rain-affected semi-final win over Yorkshire at Scarborough, the visitors defending a revised 41-over target of 254 following Liam Dawson’s stunning List A best 142 off 116 balls.Hampshire, winners of this competition in 2018, will face Worcestershire at Trent Bridge on September 20 after the Rapids beat Somerset at home and the visitors won here by 18 runs on Duckworth Lewis Stern.In reply to Hampshire’s 304 for 6, which saw England Test all-rounder Dawson brilliantly recover his side from 78 for 4 inside 20 overs, Pakistani opener Imam-Ul-Haq impressed for 105.And Yorkshire were well placed at 171 for 3 in the 31st over chasing a revised 254-target in 41 overs following rain.But they lost two wickets in a Scott Currie over, including Imam run out, and Hampshire squeezed impressively, with the hosts 235 for 8.Currie, who struck twice with his seam, had earlier contributed his own List A best 61 not out off 40 balls. Dawson’s left-arm spin also accounted for two wickets, and Yorkshire have now lost 19 of their last 22 List A finals.Yorkshire started well, Matt Milnes dominating as Hampshire slipped having been inserted.Seamer Milnes, having claimed a career-best 7 for 38 in last Sunday’s group-stage win over Sussex at Hove, claimed the first three here, including forcing visiting captain Nick Gubbins to play on with his third ball in the day’s second over.He then removed Fletcha Middleton and Ali Orr before George Hill’s seam also forced Ben Brown to play on.Dawson came in at 53 for 3 in the 12th over and offered a sharp return catch to Ben Cliff on six, clearly a key moment.The 35-year-old was the glue which held the innings together before exploding late on.He shared 89 for the fifth wicket with 17-year-old Ben Mayes, whose 37 helped to turn the tide, before sixth-wicket partner Currie pressed the accelerator.Shortly after Dawson reached his fourth List A century off 103 balls, Currie’s maiden List A fifty came in 35 as Hampshire pushed on from 180 for 5 after 40 overs.Dawson finished with seven sixes and hit strongly down the ground and over cover and long-on, while both he and Currie improvised as they shared 136 inside the last 13 overs of the innings – 75 runs coming off the last five overs.Kyle Abbott and Brad Wheal then bowled very tidily with the new ball, restricting Adam Lyth and Imam to 43 for 0 in the 13th over when the rain arrived.A half-hour delay through to 4.25pm was followed by Lyth edging the second ball back behind off Eddie Jack.Imam, leaving for national commitments after this game, then calmly advanced the hosts to 98 for 1 after 20 overs with a 52-ball fifty.Strong off his legs, the left-hander then united with Will Luxton to share 99.Luxton pulled a couple of sixes, including one the first ball back after the second half-hour rain break. But he chopped on to Jack with the second, falling for 30.James Wharton holed out to Currie shortly afterwards before Imam reached his fourth ton of this season’s campaign off 96 balls.But Wharton and Imam fell, alongside Fin Bean, as Yorkshire lost a defining three wickets for 10 inside two overs to slip to 171 for 5 in the 32nd, still needing 83.Imam was run out by a combination of Jack from midwicket and bowler Currie after Bean pulled and non-striker Imam slipped.Yorkshire then lost Hill and Harry Duke in successive balls to Wheal and Dawson and, seven wickets down, needed 47 off 4.5 overs.From there, they subsided, with Dawson striking again.