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Newcastle United have enquired about Villarreal wonderkid Yeremy Pino, according to Spanish sources (via Sport Witness).

The lowdown

19-year-old Pino is predominantly a right winger but is also capable of playing on the left flank.

He’s made 34 appearances for Villarreal this season in all competitions, scoring seven goals and providing four assists.

The Spaniard is one of the most heavily-used teenagers in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

Valued at £27million by Transfermarkt, Pino still has more than five years remaining on his contract with The Yellow Submarine.

The latest

The report (via SW) states that Newcastle have ‘made contact’ with Villarreal over a potential deal for Pino.

They face competition from Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, who have also established a dialogue with the Spanish club.

Newcastle have not yet decided whether they’ll pursue Pino, but if they do so, they may have to pay his €80million (£67.1million) release clause.

The verdict

Pino underlined that he was a ‘special talent’, in the words of Fabrizio Romano, by bagging four goals in a 5-1 win over Espanyol last month. He became the youngest player in history to score a La Liga first-half hat-trick.

There is, however, an interesting sub-plot here. Newcastle, of course, came close to appointing Villarreal boss Unai Emery after they sacked Steve Bruce.

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Could that lead to some friction between the two clubs? Villarreal president Fernando Roig Sr was apparently left ‘upset’ by the situation, while some figures at the club were surprised by leaks to the UK press on the day of a ‘big’ Champions League game against Young Boys (via The Athletic).

Newcastle could, of course, simply pay the release clause, but that would mean obliterating their £39.6million transfer record. Ideally, they could negotiate a lower fee, but that may depend on the state of relations.

Elsewhere, Newcastle have received ‘really good’ news before Southampton. 

Toby Radford has left his position as head coach of Glamorgan after two seasons in the role. He has departed with a year remaining on his contract as Glamorgan seek to restructure their coaching operation.There have already been calls for Robert Croft, a former England offspinner and a long-time Glamorgan servant, to be given a more central role – with the former England fast bowler Simon Jones among those naming him as a strong favourite.Both Croft and his former team-mate Steve Watkin, who is also on Glamorgan’s coaching staff, applied for the head coach role when Radford was chosen to replace the Australian Matthew Mott.Hugh Morris has been serving as both chief executive and director of cricket, an onerous task, but there are no indications he will step down from one of the roles.Radford will now return to specialist batting coaching, a role he performed both for the ECB at Loughborough and with the West Indies when they were crowned ICC World Twenty20 Champions in Sri Lanka in 2012.Glamorgan finished fourth in Division Two of the Championship last season, their second-highest position in the past decade, but a small squad faded badly in the second half of the season. They were also one of the few counties not to benefit from a general rise in T20 attendances, although they were not helped by a block of early-season matches in unfavourable weather.Radford admitted that he was disappointed with his departure, talking of “big strides” in developing a Welsh flavour in the side that Glamorgan again crave.”I am obviously pleased that the team showed major improvement in the past two seasons and it has been highly competitive across all formats and in all competitions,” he said.”It is disappointing for me not to be able to see the work through to its conclusion but I am confident that the wealth of home-grown young talents like David Lloyd, Aneurin Donald and Andrew Salter, all of whom are now first team regulars, gives the club huge optimism for both the immediate and long-term future. I would like to thank all of those who supported me in taking this club forward. Together we made big strides.”Morris said: “Toby’s hard work and commitment to the role has been evident for all to see and under his leadership we have made an important step forward in championship cricket. The coaching Toby has done with our young batsmen has been particularly important and I believe the players and the club will reap the benefits of this work in years to come. He leaves the club with our best wishes for the next stage of his coaching career.”

Israel will host Croatia in a European Division Two play-off game in November.As part of the new ICC World League structure, the Croatians, as winners of the European Division Three tournament played over the summer, have the right to challenge Israel, who finished second from bottom at the Division Two tournament in 2006, for the right to participate in Division Two in the 2008 tournament.According to the new ICC structure, each regional division is to consist of six teams. Division One consists of Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Denmark, Italy and Norway, who received promotion having won Division Two. Israel will need to defeat Croatia to remain in Division Two, which includes Gibraltar, France, Germany, Jersey, and Guernsey.The match, to be played on either Sunday November 11 or 18, with the Monday set aside as a rain day, is being embraced by the Israel Cricket Association, with chairman Stanley Perlman delighted at the opportunity to host an international match. “We have been trying to host international cricket in Israel for many years now, and hope that the visit of the Croatian team will pave the way for other countries to tour in the future. We will invite the Croatians to play a couple of friendly matches before the game against our national team as well.”Croatia defeated Spain by four runs to win Division Three in August, which included teams from Isle of Man, Belgium, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus and Finland.

‘If I hadn’t met Rudi on this tour, I was struggling. We spent around three hours and I’ve never spoken to anyone so deeply,’ said Sehwag of Webster’s effect on his game in West Indies © AFP

Rudi Webster, the Grenada-based psychologist, is currently with the Indianteam for a short stint and is eager to carry on the interaction that beganon India’s tour of West Indies earlier this year.”This is my first visit to India,” Webster told Cricinfo after the team’spractice session at Jaipur in the Rajasthan Cricket Academy, “and I’menjoying it thoroughly. I enjoyed working with a few players when theywere in West Indies and can hopefully get some more time here.”One of the players who Webster closely interacted with during the WestIndies tour was Virender Sehwag, who’d been going through a lean phase atthe time. In his 19 innings before he met Webster, he’d crossed fifty justthree times and his lack of fitness was a serious concern. It’s fair tosay that the three-hour session transformed Sehwag during the tour and hehimself admitted, to at the end of the series:”If I hadn’t met Rudi on this tour, I was struggling. We spent aroundthree hours and I’ve never spoken to anyone so deeply.”It was surprising that Sehwag, who’d turned down an offer to interact withAustralian psychologist Sandy Gordon, felt so strongly about the meeting.”There’s a lot of difference between Sandy and Rudi,” he statedmatter-of-factly. “Rudi played county cricket for many years and workedwith great players. He knows more than Sandy about the game and players.He knows about the way sportsmen think. He’d worked with great playerslike [Brian] Lara, [Viv] Richards, great footballers, golf players . and it helped me alot.”The results were there for all to see. Post Webster, Sehwag spanked 95 inthe final one-dayer at Trinidad, a game when none of his team-matescrossed 30; thundered 180 on the opening day of the second Test at StLucia (reaching 99 in the opening morning and admitting he’d “not hit theball more cleanly than in that session”); chipped in with vital wickets inthe Tests, playing the role of a genuine fifth bowler; startled a few with hisemphasis on fitness; and, most significantly, appeared to settle into amantle of leadership.So what had prompted the change? “I needed to remind myself of some littlehabits,” Sehwag continued, “my thinking before a game, my mindset beforethe bowler bowls. There are certain things I used to visualise when thebowler was at the start of his mark, when he was running in, when he wasabout to deliver the ball. All your routines should be in place, for aparticular bowler, for a particular team, for a particular series.”Rudi was just chatting to me and I began recalling several things – ‘Iremember doing this in Pakistan’, ‘I did the same thing in Australia’. Iunderstood that I need to do these things for a longer time, need to do itcontinuously. He was telling me things I had done in the past, and I’dforgotten that. He told me how important it was to remember these things,said it would help if I wrote it down on a paper and read it over and overagain.”It helped that Webster had been following Sehwag’s career closely. “I’vebeen watching him play over the years,” he beamed, “and have been terriblyimpressed with his ability to hit the ball. Not many players have thatability. Viv Richards, who probably had a few more shots, comes theclosest. All great players have very simple methods and I was veryimpressed while watching Veeru.”Webster admitted that Sehwag had opened out to him. “My track recordprobably helped me to establish a rapport with him,” he revealed, “andonce he found that I was speaking his language, there was a belief that hefound. Once you establish a trust, and he believes in your credentials youwill find you’ll share a very good relationship with him. He discussed thingsthat he would probably not discuss with others.”Usually when people go into a little slump, a simple technique they usegoes through the window,” he continued. “All sorts of negative things gothrough their minds. They doubt themselves because of pressures from mediaand fans. Their thinking becomes negative. They forget some basic routinesthat brought them success.”

Division One

Points Table

Peter Trego sends David Fulton on his way at Lord’s © Splod

Kent were indebted to an amazing last-wicket stand of 135 between Justin Kemp and Amjad Khan to rescue their first innings against Middlesex. The pair came together with Kent struggling on 249 for 9, after wasting the earlier efforts of Robert Key who made 94. But Kemp and Khan flayed the ball around, with Kemp reaching his second century of the season. Khan was no slouch, and actually struck more boundaries – 10 – than his more recognised batting partner. The stand began as a frustration for Middlesex and rapidly turned into something serious as they are in desperate need of a win to ease their relegation fears. Kent, meanwhile, will have gratefully welcomed the extra batting points as they chase Nottinghamshire at the top of the table. Jamie Dalrymple eventually ended the stand, but the pick of the attack was Alan Richardson who worked through 27 overs for his three wickets. Paul Trego also snapped up three in the morning, while Yogesh Golwalkar, the 25-year-old spinner signed to fill Middlesex’s overseas gap, managed three of his own on Championship debut.Mushtaq Ahmed bowled Sussex into a promising position against relegated Glamorgan as they attempt to keep pace with the Championship leaders. Mushtaq took 5 for 89 as he and James Kirtley shared nine wickets between them to restrict Glamorgan’s first innings. A number of batsmen made starts, but only David Hemp converted into anything approaching a substantial innings. Even his 71 was a wasted opportunity to reach a bigger score when he was bowled by Kirtley and Mushtaq quickly wrapped up the tail. However, Glamorgan did show some fight as they claimed two Sussex scalps before the close although Ian Ward remained firm on 42.

Division Two

Points TableIt was a day of wasted innings for Worcestershire as they shared the opening day honours with Yorkshire. Both teams are still fighting for promotion, with Yorkshire holding the third spot at the moment and they will have been happy with their efforts today. The bowlers chipped away at Worcestershire’s batting, as everyone except Shoaib Akhtar reached double figures but no one went beyond Vikram Solanki’s 48. Tim Bresnan took three wickets and the rest of the attack all chipped in but the total was boosted by a last-wicket stand of 58 between Matt Mason and Nadeem Malik. Yorkshire’s reply moved along a rollicking pace as Anthony McGrath raced to 65 from 54 balls with 12 boundaries.Ian Blackwell and Arul Suppiah made contrasting nineties as Somerset took control against Northamptonshire. Both teams are someway adrift of the promotion spots but produced a hard fought day of cricket at Taunton. Matthew Wood starred in the early proceedings with an aggressive half-century but Suppiah and Blackwell added the key stand of 91. Suppiah’s individual 91 came from 179 balls while Blackwell’s was a typically forthright innings, his 98 taking 122 deliveries with 13 fours and two sixes. It was a blow for Somerset as both fell because on a flat Taunton pitch one of them really needed to turn their innings into a big century. Monty Panesar toiled away for 24 overs – as did Jason Brown – with three wickets between them, while also keeping a lid on the scoring rate after the seamers had been dispatched at around four an over.

A big contribution from Brian Lara will do just fine for West Indies’ chances in the semi-finals© Getty Images

When the first round of matches began, and the minnows lined up to get thrashed by the giants, the only upset that seemed even remotely on the cards was West Indies being done in by Bangladesh. Well, not only did Brian Lara and his team get past that hurdle with a degree of comfort, they’ve also beaten a struggling South Africa and are now only a game away from having a shot at the trophy, and partially redeeming a season which has so far gone horribly wrong.Standing in the way, though, is a resurgent Pakistan outfit which, since Bob Woolmer took over as coach in June, has displayed a commitment and steel that isn’t the norm with Pakistan cricket. On current form, it’s clear that Inzamam-ul-Haq would fancy his chances of making it to Saturday’s final. To be fair to West Indies, their recent one-day record isn’t half as bad as their Test stats – in their last 25 ODIs, they’ve won 12 and lost only nine. Their bowlers have struggled for penetration in Tests, but in the less-demanding world of one-day cricket, where dot-balls are almost as valuable as wickets, their collection of part-time trundlers has fitted in perfectly.Where West Indies have become extremely formidable, though, is in their ability to chase down almost any target. In their last nine games when they have chased over 225, they have won six times, and Australia, South Africa and England have all been at the receiving end.Lara’s prowess at the crease needs no elaboration, but the revelation has been the manner in which the support cast have spruced up their act. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have regularly played pivotal roles, while Chris Gayle’s stand-and-deliver style has often allowed the team to get off to blistering starts. Add the contributions of Ricardo Powell down the order, and it’s easy to see why West Indies’ preferred mode of approach is to win the toss and field first.Here’s more data which suggests that the toss could have a critical bearing on the match: in games between the two sides over the last ten years, the team winning the toss has won 22 and lost three, while the last time Pakistan lost after winning the toss against West Indies was more than ten years ago – back in October 1993.Even if Lara does call correctly, his team will still find it tough to put it across a Pakistan outfit which is, finally, showing signs of fulfilling its potential. Since the Asia Cup began, they have won seven out of ten games, but even more than that, it’s their approach which suggests a huge change in attitude.Discipline in the field was never one of Pakistan’s strengths, but under Woolmer, the intensity has gone up a notch, the number of shocking misfields has considerably reduced – there were still a couple in their win against India on Sunday – and the bowlers seem finally to have understood the virtues of line and length. The batting continues to be iffy, though. Inzamam and Yousuf Youhana bailed them out on Sunday, but the West Indian bowlers will fancy their chances against the top three. Shoaib Malik has had a fabulous run at No. 3, but most of those runs have come in flat, subcontinental conditions. His last three innings in England have fetched him a sum total of seven runs.Their aren’t too many question-marks over Pakistan’s bowling attack, though, and while Lara v Shoaib Akhtar is the obvious key contest, the outcome of the match could well be decided by how the rest of Pakistan’s bowling fare against the West Indian line-up. A West Indies-Pakistan encounter may not quite have the zing of an Australia-England clash, but there are enough entertainers in both sides to make the game an enthralling contest.Pakistan (probable): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Yasir Hameed, 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Moin Khan (wk), 9 Naved-ul-Hasan, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Mohammad Sami.West Indies (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Ricardo Powell, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Courtney Browne (wk), 9 Ryan Hinds, 10 Ian Bradshaw, 11 Corey Collymore.

Fidel Edwards returned home to Barbados after his impressive Test debut, and insisted that the transition from domestic to international cricket was not as daunting as he had feared."It [playing for the West Indies] wasn’t really as difficult as I thought it would be," Edwards told the Barbados-based Nation newspaper. "It is just about going out there, keeping on your head and bowling." The 18-year-old Edwards was thrown in at the deep end – his Test debut was only his second first-class match – but he took 5 for 36 in the Sri Lankan first innings and impressed with his maturity and aggression.Edwards said that he had benefited from a spell at the West Indies Academy, as well as a brief pre-match net bowling at Brian Lara. "I just bowled about four balls at him, but he was talking to me before that."If I get picked for the upcoming tour, I will give my best. I hope to get over 50 wickets in the domestic season and just take it from there," Edwards added.

It’s not often that choosing New Zealand teams has been as predictable as that for tomorrow’s first Test with Australia at Brisbane.The tour selectors have chosen the following playing XI: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Matthew Bell, Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan, Dion Nash, Shayne O’Connor, Adam Parore, Mark Richardson, Mathew Sinclair and Daniel Vettori.But, in reality, from the moment the touring side was named this was always going to be the preferred 11 for the Test.It was going to take a severe slump in form for someone in the middle order to allow Lou Vincent into the playing XI, and it was only going to be injury that prevented the first-string bowling line-up taking the field.Sadly, the concerns over possible repercussions among those returning from injury means the side is not firing on all cylinders yet, but for those who look back on 13 months of injury frustrations it is the most comforting look to a New Zealand side in that time.Notwithstanding the level of competition the New Zealanders face, one of the greatest teams in cricket history, there is still plenty for the Kiwi side to play for.There is their own self-respect. The Australians could take joint ownership with All Black coaches Laurie Mains and John Hart for talking up the quality of the opposition.Captain Steve Waugh has been acknowledging his respect for rival captain Fleming while Shane Warne has been preparing his victims by talking about all their positive qualities while no doubt flicking through his own log book of memories to utilise the negative features of the batsmen he will be facing in this series.It is a fascinating concept for the New Zealanders to deal with – they’re not used to this sort of respect from the Australians, so that alone should be enough to make them wary.In all reality, Fleming and his men are probably praying that their Achilles heel in this and most other Test matches of the last decade, the opening partnership, can find some of the consistency they enjoyed at home last summer against Pakistan.Good starts are an absolute must against Australia and Richardson and Bell face the toughest task of all in the side in attempting to deal with the skills and aggression of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, not to forget Brett Lee.If Richardson, an acknowledged big game player, gets a start there could well be some fireworks, and if form in the early stages of the tour suggest it is likely to be later rather than sooner in the series, fireworks there will surely be at some stage in the three Tests.Bell is a different concern. He has been such a hesitant starter and with his shuffling style, his pads are going to be a magnet for the Australian quicks.There is pressure too, on Sinclair to up his performances against the Australians. He knows, like all batsmen from 3-6 that Vincent is lurking just waiting a chance and they know he is good enough to make the most of it, that he cannot afford to dally in this series and it will be interesting to see how the immensely committed Sinclair reacts.Will this be the series where skipper Fleming finally does justice to his batting talents? His trip to England was expected to give him the chance to work on his faults and he has pronounced himself happy with what he achieved.Now it is a case of turning that into runs, and plenty of them, on the international stage.Astle and McMillan experienced the Australians in full cry for the first time on their last tour and will be better equipped. They need to score regular big totals if New Zealand is to be in any way or shape competitive in this series.Then there is Cairns. The Australians know he is the key man in this side, with both bat and ball. They will be keen to get the wood on him as early as possible, just as keen as he will be to make an impression on them. It won’t be worth having 40 winks while he is at the crease.Parore got under Aussie skins well before the series started and is of such a nature that he will be looking to make the itch even more uncomfortable. He could do with some big scores to go alongside his ‘keeping deeds of recent times.So much has happened to Vettori’s hopes of playing in this series in the last two weeks that he will probably need to pinch himself good and hard when he finally walks onto the Gabba. But it won’t be long before he is involved in pinning down batsmen with his left-arm class material.The interest in his ankle injury has tended to gloss over the fact that this still remains his return from a stress fracture in his back and the real test for him is coming through the work load that is bound to be required of him.Nash is in a similar boat. But just how well he supports Cairns could well determine just how far New Zealand can push this match. At his most competitive, it would go until the last session of the fifth day.Completing the comeback class of 2001 is O’Connor. He is a much better bowler than the fresh-faced youngster of four years ago, and it will be interesting to see how much his increased pace, and ability to swing the ball, can back up the efforts of Cairns and Nash.It is New Zealand’s most daunting overseas assignment for some years. With everyone back on board good results are expected. The challenge is ahead of the tourists. But the question remains: Do they really feature on the Australian warning radar or are the world champions genuinely respectful of Fleming’s men?

Rangers have not been shy when it comes to dipping into the transfer market and bringing new players to Ibrox who they feeel can improve and strengthen their team wherever possible over the past few years.

As tends to be the case with all clubs, not all transfers end up being particularly successful. However, one deal at Ibrox which can be seen as a rewarding one for the club is their move for Filip Helander.

The Gers signed the centre-back from Bologna during the 2019 summer transfer window. Since then, the 28-year-old has gone on to make 57 appearances across all competitions, chipping in with seven goals and one assist along the way, a decent return for a centre-back.

Last season saw the Sweden international, who was praised for his “outstanding” positional play by former Rangers boss Steven Gerrard, make 31 appearances across all competitions, with 21 of those coming in the Premiership.

In those league appearances, Helander averaged 1.7 tackles (the second-highest of any player in the squad) and 2.2 clearances per game, putting him in the top three for that statistic. Those returns highlight how important he was in the club’s title charge from a defensive point of view.

Shortly after making the move to Glasgow from Italy, Transfermarkt had the defender’s market value listed at £1.8m. It now stands at £3.15m, showing an increase of 75%, which you’d imagine is largely down to his efforts last season. This also shows what a great bit of business it was from the club to bring him to Ibrox.

Unfortunately, the centre-back hasn’t had much luck this season after picking up a serious knee injury back in September which has kept him sidelined until recently.

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If the defender can maintain his fitness for the remainder of the campaign and get back to the sort of form he showed in Rangers’ title-winning season, he could have a big part to play in their chase to retain the Premiership title this time around.

In other news: Van Bronckhorst can seal Rangers masterclass with “unbelievable” £6.5k-p/w gem, he’s a “class act”…

After “probably three of the toughest days” he had experienced in his Test career, the usually unflappable Hashim Amla was left frustrated.”The surface was probably the toughest that I have had and the cricket itself was really difficult,” Amla said. “Credit to India, they kind of bowled well. Unfortunately, we ended up on the wrong side of this game.”The result in Nagpur ended South Africa’s nine-year unbeaten streak in 15 away series, the second-longest unbeaten run in the history of Tests. The 124-run loss also ended a golden South African era that was defined by adaptability away from home. Amla, however, said that even the South African teams that adjusted everywhere from Auckland to Abu Dhabi would probably not have been able to display the same adhesion on the Nagpur turner.”One consolation would be that the conditions we played in. We haven’t experienced this type of challenge before,” he said. “I haven’t played on this before in my life anywhere away from home so I suppose it’s a bit of consolation because it was really challenging and you never know if we had come against this before what would have happened.”Amla stated that the pitch at the VCA Stadium was “a lot more challenging” than the ones he had played on during the previous visits to India. In 2008, Amla scored 159 in Chennai, before striking a double-century in Nagpur two years later. Amla countered Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh during those trips but felt that the two bowlers would have been unplayable on the Nagpur pitch, where South Africa were shot out for 79 in 33.1 overs in the first innings.”When I first came to India in 2008 and even in 2010, I was facing Anil Kumble, Harbhajan,” Amla said. “I think if I had to face them on wickets like this I don’t think I would have got any runs either. Facing them here would have been an nightmare.”While Amla acknowledged the current Indian crop as “exceptional in these conditions,” he believed the surfaces were more to blame for the strangle that affected both teams. “The wickets have played their part in making it difficult for all the batters. There hasn’t been a hundred in the series yet and just a handful of fifties, and that’s for both teams. It would be harsh to say this South African team has struggled to score runs. If you look a the Indian team although they are on the winning side, it’s been tough for their batters as well.”South Africa’s technique and temperament, especially against spin, was questioned but Amla and Faf du Plessis combined well in a stoic second-innings effort. The partnership revived memories of Adelaide and Colombo in its determination but was nowhere near as comfortable.”I still think we could have got bowled out for 70 or 100 in the second innings. There were so many plays and misses, edges that could have gone to hand. It’s easy to say that we could have batted in the first innings how we did in the second innings but I think circumstances were a lot different,” Amla explained. “Some balls go to hand, some balls don’t go to hand and we scored slowly. I don’t think we were as positive.”Amla also felt that South Africa may have turned the tables around had the target been closer to 200 besides calling for a better effort from the bowlers and the fielders.”If you look at their first innings, I think they were about 30 runs too much from our bowling perspective,” Amla said. “I don’t think it was a 200 first innings wicket and neither was it a 170. We could have got India out for at least 140 and that would have changed the context of the game.”The South Africa captain, though, may have himself to blame for allowing the hosts get away. On a pitch where spinners thrived, even with the new ball, Amla held back his most attacking option – Imran Tahir. The legspinner bowled only two overs before tea on the first day and was not used until the 25th over of the second innings.”Imran has a tendency of picking up wickets but leaking runs,” Amla said. “That’s the type of bowler he is. I found it difficult to use him in the first innings because of him leaking a bit of runs here and there and felt Simon [Harmer] was somebody who could get us a wicket as well as keep it tight.””And then in the second innings, when you are more than 100 behind you have to find the balance. He picked up five wickets and I know it’s easy to ask why I didn’t bring him on earlier but if I knew he was going to pick up five, I would have opened the bowling with him. I don’t have any regrets because I had a clear idea of what I needed to do. It’s not about lack of trust. It’s about using your players as efficiently as possible.”Essentially, the Tahir conundrum is a microcosm of how South Africa have approached this series. They were aware of the spin challenge but had little clue about the extent of it. Having seen all and succumbed to it, do South Africa think India went too far to secure the home advantage? “You want to lose honourably and you want to win honourably as well,” Amla said. “I can’t comment too much on the wickets. Let’s leave it at that.”