There’s more transfer news Leeds fans, so don’t leave the Transfer Tavern just yet. 

Marco Bielsa’s Leeds revolution is in full swing. He’s already brought in Chelsea’s Lewis Baker and is apparently close to sealing a deal for Derby County’s Matej Vydra. Next on the list of apparent targets is Bristol City’s, Joe Bryan.

The Breakdown

According to reports, interest in Joe Bryan has increased over the last few days. The Robins have already sold Bobby Reid and Aden Flint as they look to cash on their stars. According to the Mirror, Joe Brayn is next on the list of departures. Bryan only has one year left on his contract and is therefore attracting interest from Leeds, Burnley, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough.

Bielsa is keen to bring in a new left-back as he looks to reshape, and is ideally looking for one with Championship experience. According to Bristol Live, however, Bielsa is not interested in a move for Bryan.

Although the new Leeds boss is looking for a new fullback, he may already have one on his books who could do a job for the team.

Tom Pearce wasn’t on the radar for most Leeds fans at the beginning of last season. The highly-rated academy prospect made his debut against Sheffield United and in total played five games for the club. Such were his solid performances that he was called up to the England under-21 squad for the Toulon Tournament this summer.

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Bielsa may want another fullback this summer but he could well already have one in his midst.

Is Tom Pearce the man to step in Leeds fans? 

Karachi, Nov 13: Karachi Whites overwhelmed Sheikhupura by an inningsand 13 runs to record their fifth victory in the Quaid-i-Azam TrophyNational Grade-I Cricket Championship at the UBL Sports Complex hereon Monday.Sheikhupura, who needed to bat throughout the fourth and final day,were bowled out for 218 in their second innings in the 11th mandatoryover.Earlier, Karachi Whites had declared their first innings at theirovernight score of 543 for four. The highlight being the mammothunfinished record fifth-wicket partnership of 361 between skipper AsifMujtaba (202) and Mohammad Masroor (171).Mujtaba’s timely declaration proved decisive in the end as the KarachiWhites bowlers stuck to their task to condemn Sheikhupura to theirfifth defeat in six matches.The only resistance offered was a stubborn stand of 78 in 103 minutesby the third-wicket pair of Mohammad Javed and Usman Akram.The left-handed Javed made exactly 50 off 129 balls in 134 minuteswith the help of 10 boundaries. His partner, Usman contributed 38 in103 minutes off 104 deliveries with four hits to the fence.At one stage, Sheikhupura looked like saving the match when they were137 for four in mid-afternoon. However, fine bowling by pace bowlerAthar Laeeq and the young spin duo of Tahir Khan and Adnan Malik putpaid to that notion.Athar drew the first blood when he clean bowled Majid Majeed, who made88 in the first innings, for a duck in the third over of the innings.Later he claimed two more wickets at crucial moments.Off-spinner Tahir Khan got rid of the other opener, Tahir Usman, withthe very first ball of his opening over.Adnan Malik, the slow left-armer, then dismissed Javed and Usman Akramin quick successions after lunch. The latter was out to a magnificentreturn catch.The last four wickets crashed in the final session after tea was takenwith Sheikhupura on 156 for six. Tahir was was responsible for abrilliant direct hit at the bowler’s end from square leg to run outMohammad Islam.In between, Tahir removed Asif Raza for 35, caught at backward shortleg by Athar Laeeq.The final wicket fell to Adnan Malik who had Sheikhupura captainJaffer Nazir caught behind for the innings’ third duck.Athar Laeeq finished with impressive analysis of three for 28 in 16overs while Tahir claimed three for 67 in 32 overs for a match haul ofseven for 160 in 69 overs.Adnan was at last rewarded for some excellent bowling with figures ofthree for 63 in 26.4 overs.The unbeaten Karachi Whites move out of the city for two matchesbefore the six-week Ramazan and Eid-ul-Fitr break with a tally of 63points. They face Lahore Blues in Lahore from Thursday (Nov 16) andthen take on Sargodha from Nov 22.

ScorecardA disciplined bowling effort enabled New Zealand to defeat South Africa by 21 runs in the opening match of the Emerging Players Twenty20 tournament in Brisbane.Chasing a target of 153, the South Africans were in control at 1 for 79 after 12 overs. However, left-arm spinner Luke Woodcock’s dismissal of opener JJ Smuts for 43 triggered a mini-collapse and three wickets fell for seven runs. The pace of scoring slowed down and the innings stuttered to 6 for 131 off 20 overs, with no New Zealand bowler conceding more than seven runs an over.The New Zealand total of 8 for 152 was possible due to Dean Brownlie and Shanan Stewart who shared a 62-run stand for the third wicket in 5.4 overs. Stewart hit three sixes in his 45 off 22 deliveries, while Brownlie hit five fours in 55 off 38. The rest of the batsmen struggled, with six of them dismissed in single digits. South African fast bowler Cornelius de Villiers took 3 for 25 in four overs.
ScorecardIndia’s bowlers kept their nerve in a tense finish as the Australian Institute of Sports finished two runs short of the target of 169 despite two batsmen scoring half-centuries and having five wickets in hand.At 137 for 5, the Australians needed 32 runs off 28 deliveries and had the chase under control. However, they could score only 29 of those 32 runs as Ajinkya Rahane’s over went for just four. Earlier, Jaidev Unadkat had reduced the Australians to 44 for 3 but they recovered through a 72-run stand between Luke Pomersbach and James Faulkner that came in 7.5 overs. Pomersbach was run out by Manish Pandey after making 59 off 36 balls with six fours and three sixes. Faulkner finished on an unbeaten 52 off 42 with four sixes but failed to take his side to victory as they finished on 166 for 5.The Indian innings had a quick start with Shikhar Dhawan and captain Parthiv Patel putting on 90 in 9.2 overs. Dhawan made 58 off 37 balls with five fours and a six while Patel got 39 off 27 with four fours and a six. Allrounder James Pattinson was the best Australian bowler, taking 2 for 30 off his four overs. Pandey hit two sixes in his unbeaten 32 as India scored 168 for 4.

ScorecardColin Ingram continued his productive recent form•Getty Images

Glamorgan picked up their second victory in the Royal London Cup as Colin Ingram and Graham Wagg’s heroics with bat and ball earned a 146-run victory against Essex in Cardiff.Ingram made 130 from 144 balls, his second century in four days, and Wagg hit five fours and three sixes in a 46-ball cameo of 62 as the hosts posted 288 for 6 from their 50 overs.Essex crumbled in reply, with Ryan ten Doeschate the only one of their batsmen to acquit himself well in making 47 before they were dismissed for 142 in 37.1 overs – with Ingram, Wagg, Craig Meschede and Dean Cosker taking two wickets each.After chasing down 318 to beat Kent on Tuesday night, this was another impressive limited-overs showing from Glamorgan.Put in on an apparently slow pitch, Glamorgan lost Will Bragg in the third over when he nibbled at one from Reece Topley.The left-arm seamer and David Masters combined for an accurate opening spell and Topley claimed his second wicket when Jacques Rudolph drove him to mid-off fielder Ten Doeschate.From 18 for 2, Glamorgan recovered through Ingram – who scored 109 earlier against Kent – and 18-year-old Aneurin Donald. They put on 77 for the third wicket, with Donald hitting sixes off Ravi Bopara and Graham Napier.After Donald was bowled by Bopara, the recovery continued as Chris Cooke – another hero of the win against Kent – joined Ingram and they put on 83 before Cooke was also bowled by Bopara.Much depended on Ingram, and the South African went on to reach a career-best List A score. When Ingram holed out to mid-off, Wagg seized the initiative with some late-innings heaving scoring.Essex needing to score at almost six an over but were soon in disarray and by the end of the eighth over had slumped to 16 for 3. Tom Westley nicked one from Wagg to Mark Wallace and he was quickly followed by Mark Pettini, well caught low down by Rudolph at slip off Michael Hogan’s bowling.In the following over, Wagg took his second wicket when Nick Browne chipped a low catch to short midwicket.Jesse Ryder made his intentions clear by swinging with vigour, but after striking two fours he was caught on the extra cover boundary attempting a third. The Glamorgan seamers gave little away, and after restricting Bopara for a couple of overs, David Lloyd produced a beauty to hit the batsman’s off stump.Kishen Velani was the next to go when he top-edged Ingram’s leg spin to square leg, and although ten Doeschate top-scored with 47, the innings quickly folded after an insipid Essex batting performance.

Essex have confirmed the departure of head coach Paul Grayson, ending weeks of speculation over his position at the club.It brings to an end a 19-year association with the club and follows another season where Essex have failed to secure promotion in the County Championship and went out of both limited-overs competitions at the quarter-final stage.Two weeks ago Grayson had been given the backing of the club until the end of the season – following a recommendation from Ronnie Irani, the new cricket chairman, that he be removed immediately.Defeat to Yorkshire last week in the Royal London Cup quarter-final hastened his departure although a club statement said the decision was by “mutual consent.” It is understood he has not worked with the team since the quarter-final and handed in his resignation on Friday, feeling that his position had become untenableGrayson has left one year into an official three-year plan which made clear that the priority was to secure a one-day trophy and rebuild a young Championship team based on home grown talent. One of those young players, left-armer Reece Topley, recently confirmed a move to Hampshire, but the likes of Tom Westley and Nick Browne have enjoyed productive seasons while seamer Jamie Porter has 42 wickets at 26.11 in the Championship.”I have had 19 wonderful years at Essex, both as a player and as a coach, but I now feel the time is right for a new challenge,” Grayson said.”I would like to thank the cricket committee for their trust and support over the years, in particular John Faragher, Graham Gooch, David Acfield, Keith Fletcher and Nigel Hilliard. A special thank you to Graham Saville, who brought me to Essex and has showed loyal support to me, for which I will always be grateful.”Thank you also to the loyal supporters who understand the vision of the club and the development of Essex’s own players. I have always been a strong supporter of the club’s policy of developing our own players into first-class cricketers and it is a pleasure to see so many doing well in the game. I would like to thank the players for their hard work and dedication, particularly the three captains I have worked with; Mark Pettini, James Foster and Ryan ten Doeschate.”Grayson had supervised consistent displays in limited-overs cricket since taking charge in 2008 with Essex second only to Hampshire in the number of victories in one-day cricket in that time. But while Hampshire have gone on to win trophies, Essex have repeatedly faltered in the final stages, typified by this season’s T20 Blast and Royal London campaignSaville, former chairman of the cricket committee, said: “I’d like to thank Paul Grayson for his loyal service to the club as both a player and as a coach. He has done everything we had asked him to do with our youth policy.”Since taking over in 2007, Paul has helped to develop some outstanding young cricketers, who we hope will go on to represent Essex for a long time in the future. We wish him all the best for the future.”

ScorecardJames Porter gave Northamptonshire some tricky moments•Getty Images

The LV=County Championship Division Two clash between Essex and Northamptonshire at Chelmsford ended in a draw after bad light brought a curtailment in play with the visitors 92 for 4 in pursuit of 302 for victory from a minimum of 56 overs.Northamptonshire were soon on the back foot when David Murphy became the first of two wickets for Jamie Porter when he played across the line and was bowled for 7 with only 12 runs on the board.Porter then took his haul of Championship wickets to 46 for the current campaign when bringing a ball back into Alex Wakely who shouldered arms and was bowled for 17 to leave his side 48 for 2 and Essex with hopes of victory.Their hopes were dented by bad light and a vigilant innings by opener Ben Duckett who stood firm to reach the close with an unbeaten 34 having batted for 109 minutes.The first stoppage because of poor light came shortly before tea with Northamptonshire 64 for 2. Seven overs were lost but on the resumption, 18 runs had been added when Rob Keogh was run out.With the light deteriorating and two slow bowlers operating, Keogh had scored 17 and was backing-up when he was left stranded by a direct throw by substitute fielder Aaron Beard at cover and who had just come onto the field for Ravi Bopara.Three runs later, Aron Nijjar breached the defences of Josh Cobb who was bowled without scoring. That left Essex with 25 overs at their disposal in search of the win but the light was to have the final say. Just three more overs had been bowled when umpires Martin Bodenham and Martin Saggers again called a halt to proceedings.This time the suspension of play cut into the final hour and both captains subsequently agreed on the draw.Earlier, Essex added 161 runs with the last 65 coming off nine overs after lunch as Ryan ten Doeschate and Mark Pettini raised the tempo to set up the declaration. The pair posted an unbroken 77 runs for the sixth wicket contributing 43 and 37 respectively with an array of cleanly struck drives on both sides of the wicket before the declaration came on 216 for 5.A series of Essex batsmen had played themselves in before going onto make a significant score. Teenager Dan Lawrence hit 36 and Bopara 25 whilst Tom Westley and Jesse Ryder posted scores of 20 and 29 before both became victims of former Essex pace bowler Maurice Chambers who produced a beauty of a delivery to bowl Westley who played back to a ball of fuller length.Chambers finished with 2 for 47 from 16 overs and Ollie Stone whose consistent line of attack brought him 2 for 55.The visitors started the day with two substitute fielders. One was for Murphy who aggravated a thumb injury towards the close of the third day and had passed the wicketkeeping gauntlets to Duckett. The second substitute fielder stood in for Richard Levi who broke a knuckle when batting on day two.Overall, 106 overs were lost to the elements during the match. Essex collect 12 points and Northamptonshire nine.

India fast bowler Varun Aaron has urged young campus cricketers, competing in the Red Bull Campus Cricket World finals in Dehradun, to believe in their abilities and remain focused, in order to realise their dreams of making the senior-national squad in the future.The 25-year-old has struggled with injuries in his short career thus far. He has 35 Twenty20 wickets from 38 matches at an economy-rate of 8.”It’s extremely important to enjoy the game,” Aaron said. “Believe in yourself and if you think you are cut out for the tough cricketing world, if you know that cricket is your passion, then definitely pursue it in spite of the hardships. I have seen a lot of young talent in my school and college go down the drain due to lack of self-belief and direction. If you are certain of your talent and abilities, don’t let it go to waste.”The format is a great way for young college students to play the game they love. T20 has attracted a lot of young players and it is a great platform for students. Many guys who come from families that are unable to support their dreams can actually come into light with T20. KL Rahul, for instance, played Red Bull Campus Cricket which was a big boost for his career. It presented him with a wonderful opportunity to fulfil his dream and now he is scoring hundreds for India.”Dehradun is hosting eight of the top campus-cricket teams from around the world in the World Finals, which is being played at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy from October 19 to 24.Teams from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, Australia and UAE are competing in the annual T20 competition. The participating teams have qualified for the finals after winning their respective national tournaments.”The format is fast and a game ends in a span of four hours. It is important to believe in yourself and give your 100 percent,” Aaron said.”All three formats are different and require different skill sets. While T20 is great, Test cricket is the ultimate form of cricket and a lot of hard work and effort has to be put in to succeed at that level.”The latest edition will be the first time UAE will participate in the tournament, having replaced West Indies in the line-up.Red Bull Campus Cricket started in 2012 with the aim of finding the best cricketing talents from colleges around the world. This initiative has been started with the aim of funnelling the best grassroot cricketers and preparing them for the bigger stage.

There is not a bowler on the planet who has more international wickets this year than Mitchell Starc. His tally of 75 puts him well in front of the second-placed Yasir Shah. Extend it to the combined first-class, List A and T20 formats, and Starc is even further in front: his 138 wickets across those forms have come at the remarkable average of 16.07, and John Hastings is next with 108 wickets.In short, Starc is in the form of his life. Player of the Tournament in the World Cup, he last month annihilated almost every team in the Matador Cup with 26 wickets at 8.11, then topped off his Test preparation with eight wickets with the pink ball in last week’s Sheffield Shield round. Now it is back to the red ball to see if that recent form translates.It has not always. In fact, with Starc, something has always seemed to get lost in translation between the white ball and the red. It meant that the first three years of his Test career resembled the hokey-pokey: Australia put their left-armer in, they put their left-armer out, they put their left-armer in. Now it’s time for him to shake it all about.He made a good start to a red-ball resurgence during the Ashes, when he was Australia’s leading wicket taker, and now the challenge is to sustain that same form over a six-Test home summer against New Zealand and West Indies. It was against New Zealand at the Gabba that Starc made his Test debut four years ago, but it is only now that he is starting to make himself a consistent Test bowler.”The last 12 to 18 months, to play a lot of cricket I think has been the best thing for me,” Starc said. “There’s only so much you can learn and work on in the nets. I guess I’ve had a bit of an extended run with the white ball and whether it be through form or through injury I haven’t had that with the red ball. To have a bit of that in the last six months has been nice and I think that’s probably shown in getting better with the red ball.”Starc played every Test during this year’s Ashes in England and was his country’s leading wicket taker, an achievement that encouraged not only Starc but the Australian coaching staff as well. Coach Darren Lehmann said that although there were times in England that Starc lacked consistency, he expected a big summer from him back home.”He’ll be fine, I think it’s just experience and confidence,” Lehmann said. “He’s had some really good spells for us over the last 12 months with the red ball. It’s probably about being really consistent with what he wants to achieve, getting the lengths and lines right. He was very good at stages in England and then sometimes he leaked too many runs. I expect him to bowl really well with the red ball [at home].”Starc’s form is so impressive at the moment – particularly his mastery of the fast, inswinging yorker – that plenty of Matador Cup batsmen must have wished the Bangladesh Test tour had gone ahead last month and he had not been let loose on them in Sydney. Cricket Australia insisted he rest from one of the matches, against Queensland, but he told them that he otherwise just wanted to keep bowling.”I had a bit of input, so I wanted to play a lot,” Starc said. “I didn’t want to rest that Queensland game but they got that one over the line – resting’s not going to do anything for my body. I just want to be available for every game, as long as I’m fit enough and bowling well enough.”Australia will hope that New Zealand still carry some of the scars from the World Cup final in March, when Starc’s inswinging yorker rattled the stumps of Brendon McCullum in the first over of the match, setting the tone for Australia’s win. Starc took 2 for 20 in that game, as well as 6 for 28 in the earlier group match against New Zealand in Auckland, and he hopes they remember.”We’ll definitely be reminding them that we’ve bowled them out for 150 and 180 on very good wickets,” he said. “It’s one-day cricket, it’s something we can look back on and take a bit of confidence from but it’s a different challenge and nice to be playing in Australia and taking on guys that probably haven’t played too much cricket in these conditions.”New Zealand opener Martin Guptill said it was important he and his team-mates prepared for Starc’s yorker, but did not let it dominate their thoughts.”He’s got a very quick yorker and it does swing, but you don’t want to just be preparing for that,” Guptill said. “He’s got other balls in his arsenal as well. You’ve just got to watch the ball and play each ball as well as you can. I’m just trying to go out there and do my processes, and if I get a yorker I try and clamp down on it.”

Kent skipper Matthew Fleming paid glowing tribute to Andrew Caddick after his side’s two-wicket County Championship defeat by Somerset at Bath.Fleming said: “I can’t fault the way we played. We battled from start to finish and there were some good performances, but Caddick was the difference between the sides.”Not content with match figures of 10-97, the England pace bowler produced an equally valuable contribution with the bat after coming in with Somerset struggling on 152-8, needing a further 38 to win.Caddick had the confidence to counter-attack, sweeping left-arm spinner Min Patel for a big six over mid-wicket, to give one final twist to a compelling match.His positive batting enabled Ian Blackwell to settle at the other end and the pair produced sensible shot selection to suffer few alarms in an unbroken stand of 41.When Blackwell cracked the winning boundary several team-mates ran onto the pitch to share the celebrations. It was a sweet moment for the winter signing from Derbyshire, who is making a good impression at his new county.Somerset captain Jamie Cox was overcome by the tension of the final overs and admitted he couldn’t watch. “I’m not usually like that, but it was some finish,” said the Australian.”Thanks to Caddy and Ian we have come out of the Bath Festival with a huge boost. Some of our earlier dismissals weren’t too clever and they pulled things around.”Going into the final day on 50-3, chasing a victory target of 190, Somerset were pinning hopes heavily on Cox, who was unbeaten on 27 overnight.But, having added 16 to his score, he was bowled around his legs by the tireless Patel, who later removed Rob Turner on his way to figures of 3-43 off 36 overs, including 20 maidens.Peter Bowler and Turner fell before lunch, which was taken with Somerset 123-6. When Keith Parsons was caught behind trying to force Mark Ealham off the back foot soon after the interval Kent were right on top.Graham Rose, batting with a runner because of a hamstring problem, fought hard for his 18. But when he fell lbw playing across a straight ball from David Masters at 152 Somerset supporters feared the worst.It was Caddick’s match. He consistently extracted bounce from a pitch that acted as a feather bed to the other seamers and deservedly picked up the Player of the Festival award.The prize was a bottle of bubbly and the chance to put his feet up for two nights in a local hotel, something the England management will presumably appreciate as they seek to keep their top bowler fresh for the battles ahead with West Indies.Kent contributed fully to Championship cricket at its most absorbing and had no reason to feel too downhearted over their first defeat in the competition this season.Fleming said: “It was four days of very competitive cricket. Tonight we’ll loosen our ties and relax because the only really bad aspect of the game for us was the result.”

Tamil Nadu were holding the upper hand in a keenly fought KSCAUnder-25 Trophy battle against Kerala at Bangalore’s MaharajaJayachamarajendra Wodayar Sports Complex today. Despite a braveunbeaten century by opener C Sanju, Kerala at 169/3 were still 277runs behind Tamil Nadu’s first innings score of 446.Resuming at 297/4, TN lost overnight centurion Lokesh who added justfour more runs before falling for 124 (177 balls, 15 fours). It wasthe start of a streak of four consecutive wickets to opening bowlerPrasanth Chandran. The other overnight batsman Surendra Doss belted alusty 88 off 86 balls inclusive of 13 fours and a six before beingseventh out at 366.Padmaraju and Veeranan propped up the innings with a last wicket standof 58 before the latter was caught and bowled by leg spinner CM Shyamfor a breezy 25 off 27 balls. Padmaraju remained undefeated on 42 (52balls, 7 fours) as TN closed at 446 in the 117th over. Chandran tookthe bowling honours with figures of 5/118.Kerala got off to a bright start as Sanju and N Bijumon added 55 forthe first wicket before off spinner C Dhandapani saw the back of thelatter for 18 with a return catch. Dhandapani, who took all threewickets to fall for 46 runs, continued to torment the batsmen,removing CM Deepak and skipper KPK Nambiar cheaply as Kerala stutteredto 73/3. But Sanju and S Ramakrishnan (25) steadied the ship with anunbroken 96-run stand for the fourth wicket.