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Many pundits thought that Arsenal would struggle without star summer signing Gabriel Jesus up front. They thought wrong…

Pressure? What pressure!

Arsenal once again opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a thrilling 3-2 win against Manchester United, with Eddie Nketiah flicking in a last-minute winner to spark chaotic scenes at the Emirates.

The Gunners striker was on hand to turn in Martin Odegaard's shot from close range to seal a crucial three points for Mikel Arteta's title contenders and deliver the perfect response to Manchester City's win earlier in the afternoon.

It was a deserved victory for Arsenal, who as well as restoring their five-point advantage over City having played one game fewer, have also opened up an 11-point lead over fourth-placed United.

It was far from plain sailing for the league leaders, who went behind early on to an excellent goal from Marcus Rashford, who drilled a thumping finish past Aaron Ramsdale from 25 yards.

Nketiah drew Arsenal level soon after with a fine back-post header from Granit Xhaka's cross and Bukayo Saka's spectacular shot then saw the hosts in front after the interval.

The lead didn't last long, however, with Lisandro Martinez heading in an equaliser which looked to have earned United a point.

But then, with just a minute remaining, Nketiah popped up with the all-important winner to give a thrilling contest the blockbuster ending it deserved…

GettyWinner: Eddie Nketiah

What an afternoon for Arsenal's young striker, the biggest performance of his career to date. This was his sixth appearance in all competitions since coming into the side following Gabriel Jesus' injury, and he's now scored six times during that run.

There was so much to like about his goal which cancelled out Rashford's early opener. Granit Xhaka's cross from the left may have been begging to be put away, but Nketiah's clever back-post run and header were a clear sign of the confidence he is playing with right now.

And his second goal, the crucial winner, was the type of clever, close-range finish we've come to expect from Arsenal's master predator.

There was plenty of concern amongst the Arsenal fanbase when Jesus got his injury, but Nketiah has proven – just as he did at the end of last season – that he has what it takes to make a big impact at the top level. He's now Arsenal's top scorer this season, with nine, and you wouldn't back against him adding plenty to that tally in the coming weeks.

AdvertisementGettyLoser: Ben White

He's not had many of them this season, but this was a difficult afternoon for the Arsenal right-back. An early booking did not help his cause, nor did having to come against Rashford playing the way he is right now.

But with the threat of that early yellow card hanging over him, White looked unusually nervy whenever United ran at him and it was clear that the visitors were looking to target him as much as possible. It was no surprise when the Arsenal man failed to reappear for the second half, with Mikel Arteta opting to replace him with Takehiro Tomiyasu.

GettyWinner: Marcus Rashford

A player operating at the top of his game. Rashford's stunning strike to open the scoring was his ninth goal in his last 10 appearances and was a finish of a player brimming with self belief.

White has been exceptional for Arsenal at right-back this season, but this was undoubtedly the toughest opponent he has faced this season. Rashford was quick, direct and looked to run at him at every opportunity during the first half. He was a threat whenever he got on the ball.

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GettyLoser: Wout Weghorst

There's not much to say about United's new striker. He was totally anonymous. If he is going to make a difference to Erik ten Hag's side between now and the end of the season, then he is going to have far more than he did at the Emirates. He was way off the pace.

South Australia’s seam bowlers Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall were rewarded for breakout seasons with the Redbacks at the SACA state awards night in Adelaide on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-2016South Australia’s seam bowlers Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall were rewarded for breakout seasons with the Redbacks at the SACA state awards night in Adelaide on Friday.Mennie took out the night’s major award, the Neil Dansie Medal as the outstanding SA player of the season, and also the venerable Lord Hampen Trophy as the best performed first-class player of the summer.A season haul of 51 wickets in the Sheffield Shield was a major reason for SA’s advance to their first final since 1996, even if they were unable to overcome Victoria over five days at Glenelg Oval.Worrall, meanwhile, was warded the Barry Jarman Most Improved Trophy, in recognition of a season in which he grew from a fringe member of the squad to a widely respected seam and swing merchant, as epitomised by a first innings haul of 6 for 96 in the Shield final. At 24, Worrall still has plenty more improvement left in him, and his brand of bowling may soon attract higher attention.Among other awards, Kane Richardson was named SA’s limited-overs player of the season, Adil Rashid and Sarah Taylor took out the Adelaide Strikers MVP awards, and Taylor also won the Andrea McCauley Trophy as the most outstanding WNCL/WBBL cricketer.In Sydney, New South Wales handed their major awards to Nic Maddinson and Ellyse Perry in a gala ceremony at the Hilton. Maddinson won the Steve Waugh Medal by the narrowest of margins ahead of Mitchell Starc, who played only one Sheffield Shield match for the summer but was unplayable during the early season Matador Cup limited-overs carnival.Maddinson was rewarded for an even spread of performances across the year, even if his Shield run-making was not at the level the national selectors had hoped for. Perry was a most deserving winner of the Belinda Clark Medal as the outstanding female cricketer in the state, having played a leading role for both the NSW Breakers and the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL.Speaking from India, where she is set to take part in the World Twenty20 final with the Southern Stars, Perry said she was extremely grateful for the honour. “This has been a fantastic season for cricket, especially women’s cricket this year with the start of the Women’s Big Bash League,” she said.”This was a huge moment for women’s cricket and to be part of that was an absolute honour and privilege. A huge thanks goes to Cricket NSW for their support of the women’s game. It is a great time to be playing cricket, and I am fortunate to be playing with such a great group of people.”In the BBL and WBBL player of the year awards, Usman Khawaja and Shane Watson shared the Thunder award in a season when the once derided side turned the tables and clinched the title. Stafanie Taylor clinched the women’s award ahead of Rene Farrell.For the Sixers, the opening batsman Michael Lumb squeezed ahead of Brad Haddin to claim the award after a season that disappointed the club’s players, coaches and management. Marizanne Kapp won the women’s award ahead of Perry.In Brisbane, the Queensland wicketkeeper and loyal servant Chris Hartley won his third consecutive Ian Healy Trophy as the Bulls’ most accomplished player for the season. Young batsman Matt Renshaw won Sheffield Shield player of the year, while Nathan Reardon was recognised for his Matador Cup efforts.Beth Mooney took out both women’s awards, as the best performed Queensland Fire cricketer and also the MVP for the Brisbane Heat in the WBBL. The night also featured tributes for the retiring James Hopes and Ryan Harris, who ended his career at the outset of last year’s Ashes tour.

Sam Robson put aside a poor run of form to notch a much-needed century in tame draw

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge08-Jul-2015
ScorecardSam Robson scored a much-need half-century as the match petered out to a draw•Getty ImagesAs the opening salvos of another Ashes battle were being fired in Cardiff, you would be surprised if it had not crossed the mind of Sam Robson that had things gone somewhat differently last year then he could have been striding out to the middle alongside Alastair Cook to take his Australian brothers as an established England batsman.The Sydney-born batsman, having thought long and hard before committing his international future to England, was rewarded for his decision last summer but fell out of favour almost as rapidly as he had gained it. After scoring a composed hundred in only his second Test, against Sri Lanka at Headingley, he followed up with 59 in the opening match against India at Trent Bridge only for his fortunes to decline.In his next six Test innings, he had a top score of 37 and was ultimately perceived as one of the few batsmen not to cash in against a mediocre Indian attack, and moreover with a weakness outside off stump, which saw him caught in the slip cordon five times. He has not been selected since.This season his form has been patchy. He made 178 against Durham at Lord’s in early May but take that out and his average going into this match was below 20. Therefore, the unbeaten 77 which ensured that Middlesex left a damp and chilly Trent Bridge with a draw was a hint that better is to come. He was dropped on eight – a routine chance, it has to be said, spilled at slip by Steven Mullaney in not the first dropped catch of the game by Nottinghamshire – but otherwise looked solid and in control.”I’m playing quite well but I need to put more scores on the board consistently,” he said afterwards. “It was good to get a few hours out in the middle today and hopefully I can take that forward.”He admits he was left disappointed by losing his England place after the India series but denies that he looks back with any sense that his chance to forge an international career has gone.”I don’t look back on my England experience last summer as a failure,” he said. “To come out of my seven Tests with a hundred and a fifty, I feel like I know what I have to do at that level and it is just a case of doing it more consistently.”If I do get another chance I will be a better player when it comes up. I was disappointed when I got left out but there’s no point in feeling sorry for yourself.”I have worked hard on what I need to do in terms of improving areas of weakness. Hopefully I can continue to improve each year as I have in each of the last six or seven years.”I was not particularly thinking about what was happening in Cardiff when I went out this morning. But every time there is a Test match on and you have played at that level it just drives you on and makes you more hungry to get back there again.”The fate of this match was probably cast long before the fourth day began but if it were not a drizzly, dank morning in which only 20 minutes play were possible made the draw inevitable.The only wicket to fall was that of James Harris, who had been sent in to open as nightwatchman on Tuesday evening and played pretty soundly before he was leg before to Harry Gurney, playing back when he should have been forward. He escaped a censure from umpires Russell Evans and Ben Debenham despite gesturing angrily towards Debenham when he was given out, clearly feeling he had hit the ball.A reprimand would have soured an otherwise fine match for the 25-year-old Welshman, who seems close to recovering the standing among fast bowlers he enjoyed a couple of years ago, before England encouraged him to tinker with his action in a quest to find extra pace.Like Robson, he is driven by an ambition to prove himself at the highest level. James Franklin, the Middlesex captain, believes he might yet get there.”He is still pretty young,” Franklin said. “He is already on 52 Championship wickets with still six games to go so there is a real possibility he could end up with 70 to 80 Championship wickets, which would be an amazing season.”Combine that with the runs he is scoring and his name has to be up there in lights in front of the selectors.”There are still bits and bobs where he does not quite click with his bowling action which I guess is down to the last couple of years of him trying to change it.”This year he has gone back to what he used to do and he is getting results again. The full cycle has yet to be completed but there is much more good than bad in what he is doing.”Franklin conceded that Yorkshire will take some catching in the Championship table, in which Middlesex are now second with the points they take from this match, but does not believe the contest is decided.”At some stage you would hope they could be pegged back a bit and hopefully other teams can take points off them while others gain momentum elsewhere,” he said.”Sure, Yorkshire have got the ball in their court at the moment but there is still a heck of a lot of cricket to play, six or seven rounds, so that’s potentially 120 points out there for any team if they want it.”

Axar Patel regards himself as a batting allrounder and said he was putting in a lot of work at the Kings XI Punjab nets

Arun Venugopal25-Apr-2015Kings XI Punjab allrounder Axar Patel had a late initiation to serious cricket, taking to it only when he was 16. He was a reluctant cricketer too. Academically bright, Axar was going the engineering route, but his father had a better idea and sent him to a coaching camp.Axar, though, would slope off to join his mates for tennis-ball matches. “I would give the impression I was going for practice sessions and instead play gully-cricket,” Axar has said in the past.His father’s persistence eventually caused a change of heart, and Axar started taking his cricket seriously. His rise thereafter has been swift: he won the emerging player of the IPL award, playing for Kings XI Punjab last year. Within months, he made his ODI debut, against Bangladesh, thus fulfilling his late grandmother’s desire of him appearing on TV, turning out for the “blue t-shirt .”However, Axar soon discovered that as swift as growth could be, sustaining and furthering it could be harder. In the Carlton-Mid series, Axar managed only one run from three innings batting in the lower-middle order, and picked up two wickets. He was in the World Cup squad, but didn’t get a game. His captain MS Dhoni, though, was encouraging in his appraisal after the tri-series, saying Axar would only get better with more exposure.Axar, who regards himself as a batting allrounder, said he was putting in a lot of work at the Kings XI nets. “I concentrate more on my batting than my bowling,” Axar said. “As a bowler, I do what I normally do, but when I bat in the nets I am very focused on improving my skills. I talk a lot about my batting with my coach Sanjay Bangar, and technically, too, I have been trying to work on a few things.”Axar didn’t appear too flustered by the lack of match-time in the World Cup. “I look at it positively. I have made it to the team at this age, and that’s very good for me. And when I spend so much time with the senior players, I keep observing what their approach is, how they plan. When I bowl to these batsmen, I set my field and ask them how they would play in such a situation and what their mindset was.”Axar has had a better time with the ball than with the bat so far in this IPL: with six scalps, he is joint-second highest on the wicket-takers’ list for Kings XI. He has scored 51 runs from four innings, but his most significant contribution came against Rajasthan Royals when his last-ball boundary, off James Faulkner, took the game into a Super Over that Kings XI eventually won.As a spinner, Axar said he needed to stay ahead of the batsman all the time. “I feel adjustment is necessary. You need to vary your pace and obviously your length. You also need to use your mind, and second guess what the batsman is thinking and planning. In the death overs, I use fuller length, and I try not to give the batsman any width. If he has any opportunity at all to open his arms, he has the upper hand.”Axar said his interactions with some of the more attacking batsmen in his side helped him figure out when a batsman lined up a bowler. “I discuss a lot with Viru paaji and Glenn Maxwell when I am bowling. Maxwell plays both sides of the wicket. So I discuss with him about how he decides which ball to go after. I show him my field and ask him which areas he would target.”Axar said keeping fresh mentally was important, considering how cramped the schedule was during the IPL. “Things are very hectic, but with these team-building activities and music, I try to switch off and relax. You remain mentally fresh and take your mind off the game.”

As per reports, Manchester City missed a major trick in the sale of academy graduate Cole Palmer to Chelsea despite the £42.5 million price tag.

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Manchester City sold Palmer for £42.5 millionDid not include a sell-on clauseChelsea happy with lack of clauseGettyWHAT HAPPENED?

Palmer's skyrocketing transfer value will benefit Chelsea financially, according to The Daily Mail, as Manchester City failed to include a sell-on clause when approving the winger's summer move to Stamford Bridge.

Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Considering Palmer had only made three Premier League starts prior to arriving at Stamford Bridge, City considered a £40 million guaranteed payout from Chelsea to be a decent bargain. However, the club may now start to regret the decision considering the player's form in the league for the Blues.

GettyDID YOU KNOW?

There have been tens of millions of pounds that City has obtained in recent years from moves involving former players like Jadon Sancho, Pedro Porro, and Romeo Lavia.

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WHAT NEXT FOR PALMER?

The 21-year-old will now be in action for Chelsea when they take on Newcastle United on Saturday, November 25.

ESPNcricinfo assesses Lancashire ahead of the 2015 season

David Hopps03-Apr-2015Last season:
In: Alviro Petersen (Kolpak), Nathan Buck (Leicestershire), George Edwards (Surrey)
Out: Kyle Hogg (retired), Kabir Ali, Andrea Agathangelou, Oliver Newby (all released)
Overseas:2014 in a nutshellThe highlight last season for Lancashire was an appearance at NatWest Blast finals day with interest fuelled by the dreamlike return to professional cricket of Andrew Flintoff. Fred did not quite pull it off as Lancashire fell in the final to Birmingham Bears, but the sense remained of a Lancashire side playing to maximum efficiency in the shortest format. Nothing so impressive could be said about their Championship form. Lancashire have become county cricket’s yo-yo club, promoted or relegated in three successive seasons. They struggled for top-order runs, Ashwell Prince apart, and the retirement mid-season of Kyle Hogg, added to the wind-down of Glen Chapple’s career, indicated a county needing a shake-up.2015 prospects Promotion in the Championship is Ashley Giles’ priority, although it will be far from automatic: Surrey, in particular, look strong, Kent are stirring again, and Derbyshire are optimistic after finishing 2014 on a high. In the NatWest Blast, another Finals day looks a challenging task. Two South Africans, Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince, will ensure runs while an unproven pace bowling departments combines some ambitious second teamers with winter recruits Nathan Buck and the potentially explosive George Edwards. But it is the anticipation of a flood of young players coming through the Academy that most excites Lancashire supporters and which would provide a heartening send-off for Mike Watkinson after the end of a 33-year-association with the county. Power brokersAshley Giles might have had an unfortunate experience as England’s one-day coach, but his status in the county game deserves to be incontestable. His sensitive guidance took Warwickshire to a Championship and Lancashire have every chance to assert themselves as one of the leading counties in the country as his influence as head coach begins to bear fruit. Tom Smith, a powerful and combative allrounder, captains Lancashire for the first time, a tough task considering the respect commanded by his predecessor, Chapple.Key playerIn many ways, the key player is the one whose career is winding down. One of Giles’ most challenging tasks is to manage the retirement of Glen Chapple, a great champion of Lancashire cricket, who is approaching a farewell season at 41 as he moves increasingly into coaching duties. Do that successfully and much good can follow for Lancashire. It will not be easy with Chapple needing 25 wickets for 1,000 in first-class cricket and a strengthened group of pace bowlers eager for opportunity.Bright young thingHaseeb Hameed, a sixth form student at Bolton School, is a potential answer to Lancashire’s perennial shortcomings at the top of the order. He is scheduled to return from a tour of Australia with England U19s with the season already underway and with his studies to complete, and a first-team debut still awaited. It might seem early therefore to suggest he will make an impact, but a first-team opportunity at some stage is eagerly anticipated. An Academy product, he plays for Nantwich in the Cheshire Premier League.ESPNcricinfo verdictThere is a sense of change at Old Trafford. Manchester now has a stadium to be proud of again and Lancashire have further secured their financial future by raising the £12m needed to build a 150-room hotel on site thanks in part to a £4m loan from Trafford Council. The strengthening of links between the county and clubs is slowly bearing fruit and Ashley Giles can be trusted to preserve it. The coaching shake-up following the arrival of Giles as head coach has not pleased everyone – Flintoff, for example, was angry at the removal of one loyal servant, John Stanworth – but the county’s aspirations have rarely been higher. Promotion should be the priority.Bet365 odds: LV= Championship, Div 2: 3-1; NatWest Blast 10-1; Royal London Cup 16-1

Jude Bellingham “could be a Real Madrid player for life”, says Chris Waddle, with the England international being likened to Paul Gascoigne.

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Midfielder joined Blancos in summer of 2023Working on deal until 2029Setting his sights on major silverware in 2024WHAT HAPPENED?

At just 20 years of age, Bellingham has already starred for Borussia Dortmund and Real – breaking records once posted by Cristiano Ronaldo in Spain – and has seen his No.22 shirt retired at first club Birmingham City. He is a Kopa Trophy and Golden Boy award winner and is proving that he can become another ‘Galactico’ at Santiago Bernabeu.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesWHAT WADDLE SAID ABOUT BELLINGHAM

Ex-England star Waddle believes La Liga giants in the Spanish capital will already be planning contract extension talks, telling of Bellingham’s present and future: “Real Madrid, the way he's playing, will want to extend that probably after three years or four years. So he could be a Real Madrid player for life, which is not a bad thing. But the good thing with Jude Bellingham is he went to Germany first and he learned a lot in Germany. You have to grow up, you have to learn the language – it's a different culture, it's different football. He seems a very level-headed guy who always works hard. His goals sometimes, you know, people score goals and that helps your performances and gives you confidence and Bellingham just seems to score nearly every week now for Real Madrid. So that's all great for Real Madrid but it's also great for England. I know he missed the last game through injury for England, but he's going to be key at a young age; he’s still a key figure going into it.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

England have booked their tickets to next summer’s European Championship in Germany, with Waddle expecting Bellingham to make a Gazza-esque impact at that tournament alongside world-class Three Lions captain Harry Kane. Waddle, who made the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup with Gascoigne as a talismanic team-mate, added: “You see where Gazza probably came into the World Cup in 1990 as an unknown type. What would happen, you know, what would happen with Paul? Would he shine in the tournament? Would he not get noticed Gazza took it on, he just went into it and thought I'm meant to be here, look out, and we all saw the results in 1990 when I was there with Gazza, the performances. Jude Bellingham could go into this tournament and come out as the star player. But teams will do their homework and if you actually look at England, if you stop probably Kane and Bellingham from playing and getting chances, there's not many people to score goals. I know [Phil] Foden chips in with the odd one and [Bukayo] Saka, but these two will be under the spotlight and they'll be under scrutiny by other teams. They'll look at how England play and I think Harry Kane will be marked closely as with Jude Bellingham. So this is another step he's got to come through, especially Bellingham. He's got to go to the tournament, expectations are massive for the lad. When Gazza won in the tournament when I played with him there were no expectations. So we'll see what happens there but if they can keep that form up all season, that is a massive incentive going in there and other teams will be looking at that and they'll be a bit scared.”

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR BELLINGHAM?

Bellingham has hit 15 goals for Real through 17 appearances in all competitions, but he is nursing a shoulder problem at present – with it possible that he will require surgery at some stage as England count down the days to another shot at continental glory in 2024.

Two players each from Manchester City, Everton and Leicester help make up an evenly spread XI

Getty Images1Bernard | Everton

Bernard scored one and created two chances in Everton's away win at West Ham.

AdvertisementGetty Images2Marcus Rashford | Manchester United

Rashford netted with his only shot on target against Watford, opening the scoring for the Red Devils.

Getty Images3Bernardo Silva | Manchester City

Bernardo Silva was directly involved in both of Man City's goals against Fulham, scoring one and assisting another.

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Getty Images4Abdoulaye Doucoure | Watford

Doucoure made more passes (61) and more passes in the opposition half (45) than any Watford player at Old Trafford.

Five-and-a-half years after he last bowled for England, as they regained the Ashes at The Oval in 2009, Andrew Flintoff was running in wearing an England shirt

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2015Five-and-a-half years after he last bowled for England, as they regained the Ashes at The Oval in 2009, Andrew Flintoff was running in wearing an England shirt, albeit a training one, as he joined the squad in Brisbane.He played a full part in the session at the Gabba, getting involved in a boxing session and chatting with various members of the team before marking out his run. He was quick to thank the current set-up for inviting him to take part, and also noted how the standards expected at training continue to grow.After the session Flintoff tweeted: “Great fun bowling in the nets @ECB_cricket lads today!! It’s fair to say they practice harder than “in my day”!”As an ex player It’s the greatest compliment to be welcomed back into the dressing @ECB_cricket! Thank you.”There remain some strong links between this squad and Flintoff, not least with the coach Peter Moores who instigated Flintoff’s time with them in Brisbane. He also played alongside Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Ravi Bopara with Bell going as far back as the 2005 Ashes.”Any player who’s played for their country, and played brilliantly, it’s great to have them around the squad,” Moores told . “Some things move on and some things stay exactly the same.”He came in and gave his view, he had a bowl, and it was good to have him around. With past players, to make sure we build up those relationships is really important. We’ve had some great players who’ve played for England in the past and a group of players now whose job is to represent their country that way now.”Jos Buttler, who has briefly been a team-mate with Flintoff at Lancashire during his T20 comeback, was thrilled to be able to spend time with him.”It’s always great to talk to guys who played the game and obviously being such a big character and such a great player for England as well, I’m sure everyone will want to chat to him,” Buttler added. “He can talk about his career and we can pick his brains. He’s also been playing in Brisbane so he should have some local knowledge for us as well.”England are preparing for the second match of the tri-series against India on Tuesday. With Australia winning their opening two matches, including one with a bonus point, it is already looked as though the contest is now who will join them in the final at the WACA.Anderson, who missed the opening match against Australia after having problems with his troublesome knee, bowled a lengthy spell during the net session on Sunday. If available to face India he would likely replace either Steven Finn or Chris Jordan, while England will need to consider whether they can fit James Tredwell into the line-up.

Hours after Shaharyar Khan said the PCB would appeal the ban on Saeed Ajmal, the board has backtracked from that position and said it was “contemplating its future course of action and weighing all options”

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2014Hours after the PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said the board would appeal the ban on Saeed Ajmal to an ICC-appointed Bowling Review Group (BRG), the PCB has backtracked from that position and said it was “contemplating its future course of action and weighing all options.””The PCB has referred the matter to its recently-formed Illegal Bowling Action Committee, which will consider the matter and revert with their views and/or recommendations and the Board shall thereafter decide what action to take”, Shaharyar said in a PCB statement.The ICC rules allow the PCB 14 days from the receipt of the report on Ajmal’s action to file an appeal. The BRG shall comprise the following persons: a current member of the ICC Code of Conduct Commission (in the Chair and with the casting vote only), a current ICC referee, an ex-international player, an ex-international umpire and a human movement specialist. The ICC General Manager – Cricket shall be an ex-officio member of the BRG.Earlier today, soon after Ajmal was banned from bowling in international cricket after an independent analysis at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane found all his deliveries to be illegal, the PCB had seemed more certain of its intention to appeal.Though the PCB was aware that an unsuccessful appeal could lead to Ajmal being banned from bowling in international cricket for a period of time, it said at the time, that it would appeal in order to understand the angles from which Ajmal’s action had been analysed. It is understood that the board maintained Ajmal had a medical condition following an accident that affected the movement of his elbow and that had been accepted by the ICC when his action was cleared previously.”Our experts understood that it is the doosra that may be suspected but that proved wrong because his entire action was called illegal,” Shaharyar had said at a press conference earlier in the day. “So that’s a concern for us but we are going to appeal because we want to understand if the ICC has covered all the angles or not. An appeal obviously will benefit us because there is the chance that he may be cleared and get back straight away.”Otherwise if the appeal is unsuccessful we are wary of the one-year ban imposed on him, but then again he can remodel his action within the period and return to cricket. We have two weeks to lodge an appeal. We have to face this with courage and go through it without panicking. We have bowlers who can fill in for Ajmal and won’t let the team miss him.”This was the second instance of Ajmal being reported for a suspect action. In April 2009, the bowler had been reported while bowling the doosra, and was cleared the following month.1330 GMT The story was updated after the PCB issued a release that said it was mulling all courses of action with regard to Saeed Ajmal’s ban