Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata will not join the club’s coaching staff and has no plans to retire in the summer, Fabrizio Romano has reported.

The Lowdown: Mata’s lack of game-time

Mata, who made the move to Old Trafford back in 2014, has once again struggled for game-time this season. The 33-year-old has made just two starts in all competitions and hasn’t kicked a ball in the Premier League.

The Spaniard’s deal expires at the end of June, and it seems as if he could well be on the way out in a huge summer shake-up.

The Latest: Romano’s post on Mata

Romano took to Twitter on Monday to provide an update on the playmaker. He revealed that Mata will not retire in the summer and won’t join a new-look coaching staff in Manchester, outlining:

“Been told Juan Mata will not retire at the end of the season, it’s not even an option. He’s now focused on Man United and then he will plan for his future – his current Man Utd deal runs out in June.

“Mata will not join Man Utd coaching staff, it’s not in his plans.”

The Verdict: Mata exit inevitable

With Mata playing no part in the Premier League this season, it looks as if his days at Old Trafford are now numbered.

An exit appears to be the best decision for all involved, with a coaching role at the club under a new manager not lined up for the 33-year-old.

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By moving on from the Red Devils, Mata will hopefully get the chance to play regular first-team football in the final years of his career, whereas United will be freeing up a whopping £8.32m on their wage bill every year.

In other news: Man Utd manager twist as chiefs talk with boss who has no agent

According to Sky Sports, Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend could be set to leave Selhurst Park this summer. The England international is being heavily linked with a move to fellow Premier League side Newcastle United, and were the 26-year-old to indeed make his way to the North East, the Eagles must seek to replace him with Middlesbrough sensation Adama Traore.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, while Townsend didn’t exactly pull any trees down last season, the winger was hugely influential in netting twice and laying on eight assists for Roy Hodgson’s side, thus contributing more assists than any other Palace player last term.

And given how well he led the line for the London-based outfit last season alongside Wilfried Zaha, what with Palace struggling for out-and-out strikers over the course of the campaign, the 26-year-old will certainly need replacing if Hodgson is to indeed take the club forward this time round.

And while 22-year-old Traore found life in the top-flight difficult for Middlesbrough in the 2016/17 campaign, his efforts last term suggest that he is beginning to translate his undoubted talent into direct contributions in the final third of the pitch.

How far will England get in Russia? Tell us now

The Spain Under-21 international was often Boro’s go-to man during their relegation campaign in the top tier, yet the tricky winger failed to net at all in 27 Premier League appearances, and only laid on one assist.

And while those figures are likely to seriously concern our resident Palace fans, they can take great comfort from his efforts last time round in the Championship, with Traore netting five times and laying on ten assists to help Tony Pulis’ men reach the play-offs, in which they lost to Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa.

Thus, while not in the top-flight, the 22-year-old found a level of consistency in his performances that hadn’t necessarily been seen in his Middlesbrough career to date, perhaps suggesting that he is beginning to find his feet in English football, and thus is ready to finally fulfil his undoubted potential.

And in a Palace side eyeing the next level under Hodgson this season, the Spaniard could certainly flourish, and as such may go some way to minimising the impact felt by the seemingly likely departure of Townsend.

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As such, the Eagles must seek to replace the linked-away Englishman with the £7.2 million-rated Boro sensation (as per Transfermarkt) this summer.

Palace fans… what do you think? Let us know!

ScorecardScott Borthwick followed his 87 with five wickets•Getty Images

Durham kept themselves in with a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Royal London Cup by completing a comfortable victory over a Leicestershire side which has yet to win in the competition this season.Captain Mark Stoneman, with 98 off 104 balls, and Scott Borthwick (87 off 92) compiled a partnership of 146 for Durham’s second wicket after the visitors were put in by Foxes’ skipper Mark Cosgrove.Phil Mustard lost his middle stump to an Ollie Freckingham in-swinger for 12, but Stoneman in particular timed the ball superbly, hitting seven fours in going to his half-century off 45 deliveries. He was dropped, however, Andrea Agathangelou grassing a straightforward chance at second slip off the bowling of left-arm fast bowler Atif Sheikh when Stoneman was on just 36.The left-hander made Leicestershire pay, and looked certain to go on to what would have been a second century in the competition this season when Sheikh returned and Stoneman spliced an attempted pull to give mid-on a simple catch.Borthwick was unfortunate, run out when a fierce Graham Clark drive was deflected on to the stumps at the non-striker’s end by the foot of bowler Freckingham, leaving Borthwick stranded out of his ground, but with wickets in hand, Clark, John Hastings, Ryan Pringle and Callum Macleod could all hit out and did so to good effect in taking Durham to their second-highest total in a one-day game.Leicestershire lost wickets regularly after beginning their reply, with the only stand of note that of 99 in just 13.5 overs between Lewis Hill and Niall O’Brien. O’Brien had just gone to 50, off 43 balls, when Borthwick found his outside edge, and thereafter it became something of a procession. Only Hill, with 86 at a run a ball, offered any real resistance, and Leicestershire’s last chance disappeared when he was given out caught behind sweeping at Borthwick.The all-rounder also picked up the wickets of Rob Taylor, Liam Hurt and Sheikh to finish with a List A career-best return of 5 for 38.”It was almost a perfect performance, not just for myself but for the team,” said Borthwick. “To get towards 350 was a great team effort, and I came on to bowl at a nice time. New batters were coming in and they were under pressure to score fast and that sort of plays into my hands. There was a little bit of spin out there for me too, which was helpful.”We knew it was a “must-win” game, and we’ve kept ourselves in with a chance of going on. Now we have a massive game in the county championship, against Yorkshire at Scarborough. We had a good result there last season, and if we can do that again we’ll be back in the championship race.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board unveiled its preliminary plans for the Pakistan Super League on Sunday, including announcing Kevin Pietersen, Shakib Al Hasan and Dwayne Bravo as headline stars who had confirmed their commitment. In a glitzy event at the Lahore Expo center on Sunday, the board said the five-team T20 event would be held in February 2016 but did not, however, announce the venue of the inaugural edition.Last week, the PCB confirmed it was in talks with the Emirates Cricket Board over the possibility of hosting the tournament in the UAE, despite confirming earlier that Doha, Qatar would serve as a venue.Although Pietersen featured on the promotional video, it is understood no deal has been finalised yet. According to those privy to the talks, Pietersen has not signed on any paper yet but is likely to play in the inaugural season of the PSL.Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja briefly addressed the gathering. The launch of the tournament logo, with an image of a left-arm bowler, was followed by a video message in which the players, who also included Grant Elliott, Tim Bresnan, Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy confirmed their participation in the league.There were, however, no announcements related to franchise names, broadcasters and the player draft. Younis Khan, who led Pakistan to the World T20 title in 2009, was absent from the event.The PSL, ESPNcricinfo understands, had initially contacted top agencies handling over 100 international players to consider playing in Pakistan. The response was overwhelmingly negative, which forced the PSL to be held outside Pakistan. The PCB has promised financial packages greater or equal to those offered in the Bangladesh Premier League, Sri Lanka Premier League and the Big Bash League.The PSL will feature franchise-based teams from the provincial capitals – Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad – with prize money of $1 million. The full schedule is yet to be announced but the window between February 4 and 24 has been reserved for the 24-match event. It is expected that all the matches will be played at a single venue.If the tournament takes place in Doha, it will be the first major cricket series hosted by the Qatar capital, which will also host the 2022 edition of the football World Cup. The PCB had initially planned on conducting the PSL in the UAE, where Pakistan have been playing their international matches, but they were forced to look for an alternative venue after being told by the Emirates Cricket Board that it was hosting the Masters Champions League (Twenty20 tournament featuring retired cricketers) on the same dates. The PCB and the ECB, however, are looking at hosting the PSL in the UAE if an appropriate scheduling window is available.Popular Pakistani singer and actor Ali Zafar unveiled the official PSL song at the end of the show, which also featured popular actors like Mahirah Khan, Ayesha Omer, Nadia Hussain and several other Pakistani TV and movie stars.

England have been thrown into the Dubai microwave, temperatures set to high, and a couple of half-baked practice matches later they are claiming they are ready. On a day when the fast food culture again brought agonising about the worsening global obesity epidemic, nobody should be surprised that cricket tours have become the latest convenience food. England will be relieved to see a few high-calorific scoreboards against a Pakistan side yet to lose a Test series in their adopted home.Joe Root, England’s vice captain, dutifully accepted the invitation to say that England are well enough prepared. Since the Ashes, he has had a holiday, joined his ghostwriter to knock out a book on the Ashes, caught a plane and dashed off a fifty against Pakistan A. Serious match practice these days is largely for developmental tours. That phase completed, players are expected to adjust immediately.Are England ready for the three-Test series? It was a pressing question considering that the last time England played Pakistan in these parts their batting was so unworldly. “I think so,” Root said. “I got some good time out in the middle in these conditions. The nets are quite challenging surfaces as well, you’re still playing in the heat and getting used to that environment of hard work and fatigue. We’ve definitely learned a lot.”Surely, though, there are limits to how much international tour matches should be allowed to demean the game. Two expedient warm-up matches against Pakistan A, with batsmen coming and going much as they pleased, have been nothing more than glorified practice sessions, not fit for spectator consumption, undeserving of scorecards or analysis. They should not be presented as more than they are. Duncan Fletcher, who began all this a decade or so ago, has a lot to answer for.It must have been a trial for all concerned – a trial much like the one observed by Fielding Mellish in Woody Allen’s “I object, your honour! This trial is a travesty. It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.”Joe Root feels the heat in Dubai•Getty Images

Root has proved himself not just an excellent cricketer, but an adaptable one, although his personal challenge is summed up by the fact that this will be his first Test in Asia since he made his Test debut three years ago in India, in Nagpur, when he was assured in making 73 while his team-mates struggled. He has never played in the UAE and he has never faced the Pakistan legspinner, Yasir Shah, whose even mention will stir memories of their last failure against Pakistan spin bowlers.”Only on that India tour have I played Test cricket in these sort of conditions so it’ll be completely different to anything I’ve come across previously. But it’s more making sure you’ve got your mind right and you have clear scoring options, solid defence and technique and you cover all the bases to give yourself the best chance.”As a batsman who rose to No 1 in the world Test rankings in the Ashes summer, displacing Steve Smith, then his rival vice captain, he again carries high expectations. Nobody plays spin better in this England party. Ian Bell once did. James Taylor is also skilful, although he is not sure of his place, requiring England to drop Jonny Bairstow or even, not that some would countenance it, by leaving out Jos Buttler.”It’d be nice if I could go on from the Ashes,” Root said. “I want to make some big contributions this series and I’m going to have to play extremely well to do that. As a team, to beat Pakistan here, it’s going to be a big effort, but we’ve proven over the last six months that we’re capable of doing things that maybe look a bit too much for us.”More spin, more left-arm seam, more heat, slower scoring rates: Root is ready for a change of mood. England’s oft-expressed desire to play enterprising cricket might have to be shelved for a while. “We’re not expecting to score at the rate we’d like to or have become accustomed to over the last six months,” he said, a point hammered home by Mahela Jayawardene, who is temporarily on hand to advise how to manipulate spin in such conditions. Root can be expected to cope better than some.”No-one’s won here against Pakistan, that’s be really pleasing for me to be part of a team who have come into these conditions and done what no other side has done before. And what would make it even more pleasing would be if I was one of the guys that made big runs. That’s going to be the same wherever I go.”

Lisa Sthalekar will come out of retirement to play for the Sydney Sixers in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League tournament this summer.Sthalekar, 36, retired in 2013 as one of Australia’s most accomplished women’s players of all time, and as the only Australian to have scored 1000 runs and taken 100 wickets in women’s one-day internationals.During her 12-year international career, Sthalekar was part of four Australian World Cup-winning squads as well as two Ashes-winning teams.”I’m really excited, the fact that I get to put on this cool gear and to play cricket with my mates again is going to be a lot of fun,” Sthalekar said. “I didn’t want to give up this opportunity with the Women’s Big Bash, it’s a real credit to Cricket Australia and the state associations for giving the girls this opportunity.”It’s such an exciting competition that I wanted to be a part of it and because I’d retired only a few years earlier I thought that I might still have an opportunity to give back to the game but also work with some of the players that I enjoyed watching develop and grow up, especially in the Cricket NSW programs, but also to play with my mates again.”Sixers General Manager Dominic Remond said Sthalekar would be a valuable presence for the team both on and off the field.”It is a terrific coup to coax Lisa out of retirement and have her wealth of knowledge around the Club,” Remond said. “Lisa is one of the best female cricketers Australia has produced and will play a vital role in the success on and off the field.”

Concerns raised during the Prime Minister’s XI match about the experimental pink ball have been dismissed by Cricket Australia, as a host of cricket and broadcasting figures prepare to descend on Adelaide for a day/night Sheffield Shield fixture that will be used for all manner of last-minute rehearsals.The meeting between South Australia and New South Wales, part of a full round of floodlit Shield games, will not only serve as a pink ball proving ground for the players involved but also Channel Nine and various operators of technology associated with international cricket and the Decision Review System.Ian Taylor, the head of Animation Research, recently admitted that the company responsible for ball tracking was yet to do so successfully with a pink ball, telling Fairfax Media that “we can track it some of the time”. Management and crew from Nine, CA, the ABC and numerous other interested parties including the Australian Cricketers’ Association will be in Adelaide to see for themselves how the ball and playing conditions stand up to scrutiny.The latest version of the Kookaburra ball was chewed up badly by Manuka Oval’s abrasive pitch and square, leading the Test batsman Adam Voges to offer a blunt critique. Players on both sides were similarly nonplussed, and there was much discussion of the topic during the two-day tour match that followed. David Hussey, another participant, said the ball simply did not look capable of lasting 80 overs.”The ball simply doesn’t stand up for the 80 overs, and during the PM’s XI game we had to change the ball twice, so certainly some tinkering needs to happen sooner rather than later,” Hussey told SEN. “The administrators have simply gone ahead with it, they want day/night Test cricket to happen purely for TV rights I believe. I think it’s going to be here to stay but I really think they have to do something about the ball and very quickly.”Talking to some of the Kiwis after Friday night’s match, they were fielding in the evening and they could barely pick up the ball. So it’s probably more of a player safety issue rather than playing at night. As Victoria batting coach I’m trying to tell all the batters just to play the ball as late as they possibly can, because it is a different style of ball, and you just see a sort of blur to start off with. It takes a few balls to get used to it.”The concept sits quite comfortably with all the players, but the pink ball, there could be a better option about.”Separate issues about the ball’s visibility were raised, including the inability of some batsmen to pick up the orientation of the seam as a way of working out which way it was going to be swinging or seaming. Visual cues such as these are viewed as critical to a batsman’s capacity to survive against fast bowling at the top level of the game. However CA’s head of cricket operations, Sean Cary, said the Canberra match was not a source of worry.”We’re not reading too much into the condition of the ball during the Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra,” said Cary, who will also be in Adelaide for the Shield match. “We know the Manuka wicket is very abrasive and has a similar impact on a white ball in limited-overs cricket.”We’ve worked very closely with the Australian Cricketers’ Association and Kookaburra during its development to get it ready and fit for purpose. That included making significant improvements in the last 18 months around greater seam visibility, colour, shape and hardness.”We’re as confident as we can be that the ball is ready to go and I think from the experiences in the last round of Shield cricket that we had using the pink ball, we can be really positive as we approach the Test.”Greg Dyer, the president of the ACA, has stated that it is not too late for the Adelaide Test to revert to a day fixture. However the logistics and commercial arrangements being set in place for a match that was announced as far back as June make this a distinctly unlikely possibility – in a nutshell too much money is being spent, or made.Advocates of day/night Test cricket have been out in force, with the former captain Steve Waugh declaring the necessity of the game moving into the night in a string of interviews. “Test cricket is withering away in a lot of countries; Australia and England are the only two places where people watch Test matches,” Waugh told Triple M.”Day/night will bring people back to the game. We’ve got to get over the fact it might not be a perfect ball … once we play one day/night Test people will be saying ‘what were we worrying about?’.”

Uttar Pradesh coasted to a 10 wicket victory over Orissa on the lastday of their Super League match at the Green Park in Kanpur today. UPnow lead the Group C points table with 11 points from 2 matches whileOrissa are yet to get off the mark.Resuming at 129/3, Sanjay Raul and Rashmi Parida extended their standto 132 before Parida fell for 69 (141 balls, 10 fours) with the scoreat 152. P Jai Chandra joined Raul and the two went in to lunch at208/4. It was after lunch that Orissa’s resistance finally broke downas Musi Raza took 5 of the last 6 wickets to fall with his off breaksincluding 3 in the space of 8 balls. Raza finished with 5/49 in 15.2overs. Raul top scored with 82 (202 balls, 10 fours) while Jai Chandraremained unbeaten on 65 (117 balls, 9 fours).The innings terminated at 257 and with 12 runs needed UP openers ManojMudgal and Mohammed Saif took just ten balls to put an end to thematch. Both Orissa and UP play Saurashtra at Rajkot in their nextmatches, from February 24-27 and March 4-7 respectively.

Alec Stewart – Man of the Match Man of the Series Man of the Summer? Photo © AllSport

England’s confidence grows
England/Zimbabwe at Lord’sAlec Stewart’s phenominal appetite for run scoring continued unabated atLord’s today as he dominated the Zimbabwe bowling and played the major rolein England’s victory by the comfortable margin of six wickets in the finalof the NatWest Series.The England batting was built around him once again, as it has been so oftenin this series. Although England made a poor start in chasing 170 runs forvictory, loosing the first two wickets on nine, Stewart showed composure inholding the innings together at that early stage and then settled into a143-run stand with Graeme Hick, 43, as they batted with growing confidence.Stewart, having hit successive centuries in his previous two innings whichhad followed an unbeaten 74 prior to that, again led the way, batting withpanache and playing his shots fluently right through his brilliant innings.He drove with fine timing and was quick to pull anything short.His innings ended when England were a mere 21 short of their target. On 97,having hit two consecutive boundaries, he attempted a cut to a ball that wasnot that short of a length, and edged a catch behind the stumps. Those threeruns that he fell short of would have made him the third batsman to havescored three successive hundreds in limited overs cricket. The feat has onlybeen achieved by Pakistan batsmen, Saeed Anwar and Zaheer Abbas.Stewart and Trescothick have set example for other batsmen to followStewart leads on aggregate with 408 runs in this competition and hisperformance in this match and, indeed, in this tournament, was enough forhim to be named the man-of-the-match as well as the man-of-the-series.Despite Stewart’s outstanding form and Marcus Trescothick having impressed,especially with his earlier batting in this series, England battinggenerally has not come off either in this series or in the two Tests played against West Indies. No doubt, that is one area that they will need to addressbefore the Test series resumes early next month.Earlier, in the Zimbabwe innings, after they had been asked to bat, twoquick incisions had crippled their batting to an extent that had made recovery an onerous task in the face of some accurate England bowling. Darren Goughstruck with his first ball having Guy Whittall edge the only delivery hereceived to a wide second slip and four overs later Gough brought one insharply to Murray Goodwin who could only play it on to his stumps. Gough’sexcellent bowling eventually brought him three for 20 from his ten overs.If two wickets down for twelve was a severe blow, particularly when one ofwhich was the wicket of Goodwin, who is the only Zimbabwean with a century -an unbeaten one, too – to his credit in this series, then it looked evenworse when Allan Mullally had Alastair Campbell caught with the total on 31.Zimbabwe’s stalwarts bid farewellHowever, with Neil Johnson, who is making his farewell appearance forZimbabwe, as is Goodwin, one taking up residency across the border in SouthAfrica and the other, Goodwin, returning to Western Australia where he grewup learned to play cricket, Zimbabwe still had expectations of staging arecovery.But England’s bowlers had other ideas. They kept the pressure on andalthough there wasn’t a significant ball movement except some from Gough andMullally, they did not stray in their line and direction.Caddick bowled his allotted ten overs in one spell and in his eighth over hebowled Johnson. Zimbabwe were 31 for four and 21 of those were scored byJohnson. All but one of those runs had come from boundaries. He chose hisstrokes carefully, avoided risky singles and waited for the loose balls tohit.Flowers salvage prideWith not a great deal of batting left, it was all up to the Flower brothers,the only specialist batsmen remaining, to salvage something from an inningsthat was in tatters. Grant Flower, who heads the Zimbabwe averages in thiscompetition, duly obliged along with Andy, and the two of them set aboutbringing some respectability to the score.With only fifteen overs having been bowled when their stand began, they hadthe time if not the wickets to work on the recovery. They went about it withsome caution but did not miss the opportunity to pick up runs.Andy Flower played more freely while Grant showed a little more restrain.They faced 161 balls during their 89-run partnership, taking the total to120 when Andy fenced at a ball from Craig White without moving across for it andedged behind for a catch. He had batted patiently for two hours and missed adeserving half-century by two runs.Grant Flower remained unbeaten after reaching his second half-century of thecompetition. It was mainly their effort that took the totat to 169 for sevenbut it never looked enough.

The ugly clouds that hovered over Kensington Oval for most ofyesterday was in keeping with the performance of the Barbados team inthe middle.And anyone who chose to leave home after they were certain that thematch against South Africa ‘A’ had started, would have missed most ofthe disappointing display.Within five overs, the cream of the batting was gone. The first fourwickets, including those of captain Philo Wallace and Ryan Hinds, weredespatched with only six runs on the tins, and by midday the inningswas ended in spite of a stoppage for rain.Barbados’ 89 all out in 27.3 overs was in some way due to CharlWilloughby’s outstanding, varied left-arm fast bowling, but the truthis there were many elements of the batting that left a lot to bedesired.Team coach William Bourne was spot-on in his assessment.’We did not bat very well, even though the pitch was helpful,’ Bournesaid after South Africa completed their comfortable seven-wicketvictory by reaching a reduced target of 76.’Some of the batsmen got themselves into a fairly reasonable battingposition and then basically gave their wickets away.’We have not done as well as we should have. If we had appliedourselves much better, we could have had at least 150 runs.’The only ones who tried to make a fight of it were wicket-keeperCourtney Browne, whose 22 off 26 balls included a scorching coverdrive and two other off-side boundaries off successive balls; hisCable & Wireless BET team-mate Adrian Brathwaite, and Ian Bradshaw,left not out on 17 after coming in at No. 9.Willoughby, a 25-year-old who enjoyed an outstanding domestic SouthAfrican season in which he took 50 wickets in nine matches for Boland,removed both Wallace and Hinds and added a further four scalps tofinish with six for 24 from nine overs.Skipper Wallace fell to the day’s second ball, giving a catch to the’keeper when he failed to get his bat out of the line, while Hinds wasone of those deceived by the several slower balls Willoughby sentdown.Opener Mike Maynard, one of four players in senior Barbados coloursfor the first time, was another deceived by the change of pace andsnicked a drive to first slip in the third over.Chris Humphey, another first-timer, was pinned on the back foot byVictor Mpitsang, the 20-year-old South African who came to theCaribbean two years ago to represent the UWI Vice-Chancellor’s XI.The first of the day’s two stoppages came after 40 minutes whenBarbados were already in dire straits at 12 for four. There wasfurther trouble on resumption when Shawn Graham was embarrassed by adelivery from Willoughby to which he shouldered arms and was obviouslylbw.Browne replaced him and immediately triggered loud cheers from some ofthe Hockey Festival participants in the Garfield Sobers Pavilion. Hisinnings, however, was too brief and was ended by a sliced drive thatresulted in a catch to point.Ryan Hurley, as always, will go after the bowling, and paid the pricefor trying to lift medium-pacer Justin Kemp over mid-off.When Willoughby returned for another spell, there was another softdismissal with Brathwaite steering a slower ball to first slip.Barbados were 73 for eight and in spite of the presence of Bradshaw,batting in the identical position in which he made his impressivehalf-century against the same opponents a few days ago, the result wasalready inevitable.Only the heavy shower that interrupted the South Africans’ inningsafter four overs, could have prevented the visitors from completingtheir win. There was no play for almost two hours, but on resumption,the target: 76 from 37 overs, was attained.Left-armer Bradshaw claimed two wickets against batsmen guilty ofplaying across the line, but the runs were simply not enough forBarbados.