PROTEAS COACH UNAPOLOGETIC ABOUT 'EASY' ROUTE TO TEST FINAL

Marco Jansen celebrates hitting the four that gave South Africa

Proteas coach Shukri Conrad brushed off criticism about the format of the World Test Championship after his team qualified for the final.

South African coach Shukri Conrad predictably brushed off criticism about the uneven scheduling of the World Test Championship after his team qualified for the final.

South Africa beat Pakistan in a dramatic two-wicket win in Centurion on Sunday to earn their sixth successive Test win.

On the average points system used for the championship, the South Africans are guaranteed a place in the final next June, even if they lose their last match, the second Test against Pakistan starting in Cape Town on Friday.

‘EASY DRAW’

“People abroad will be shouting that we had an easy draw. Well, I’m not going to apologise for that. We’re just thrilled that we can be at Lord’s next year,” Conrad said after the victory against Pakistan.

Australia’s win against India in Melbourne on Monday put them in pole position to join South Africa at Lord’s, although they still have to play a fifth Test against India and two matches away against Sri Lanka.

South Africa’s path to the final illustrated the imbalance in the quantity and quality of the fixtures for the nine teams contesting the World Test Championship (WTC), a fact highlighted by former England captain Michael Vaughan, who called for a revamp of the format.

“At the moment every team plays a wildly different number of games and that just does not create a balanced outcome or totally fair league table,” Vaughan wrote in a column for British daily The Telegraph.

South Africa’s programme consisted of just 12 matches, the joint lowest number together with Bangladesh.

England played 22 Tests and Australia and India, the other members of cricket’s ‘big three’, had 19 fixtures each.

South Africa had six series, all of only two matches. They shared a series against India 1-1 but did not play against Australia or England.

Australia, India and England, by contrast, played each other in a five-match ‘marquee’ series.

With no team dominating, they all shed points, affecting their average points standings.

After sharing the honours against India, South Africa effectively forfeited a series in New Zealand because their governing body prioritised a Twenty20 tournament.

Conrad could not select any players contracted by the T20 franchises, which ruled out most of his first-choice players.

Since then, though, South Africa have won away series in the West Indies and Bangladesh and beaten Sri Lanka at home before scraping home against Pakistan.

Conrad admitted that his team were far from their best at Centurion, needing an unbeaten ninth wicket stand of 51 between Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada to secure the win.

“The WTC weighs on you, you really want to get to the final, but we need to be a lot more resilient and clinical. We saw what pressure did to some of our players but they will grow enormously from the experience.

“We are so much better than we showed in this match but we want this team to never know when they are beaten and we want the opposition to know that too,” said Conrad.

- Garrin Lambley

LIVERPOOL 'REACHED AGREEMENT TO SIGN KYLIAN MBAPPÉ' AS PSG SPEAK OUT

Liverpool's interest in Kylian Mbappe was widely known, but it has now emerged that an official agreement had been struck.

Kylian Mbappe playing at Anfield for PSG in the Champions League. (Image: Getty)

Liverpool reportedly reached an agreement to sign Kylian Mbappe before the 2018 World Cup winner made his long-awaited move to Real Madrid.

The La Liga outfit are rumoured to have paid Mbappe a signing bonus of £85million, with the Frenchman having penned an initial five-year contract at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But had things worked out differently for Mbappe, he might’ve been playing in the red and white of Liverpool instead.

That’s because it’s claimed by L’Equipe that Liverpool and Mbappe had reached a shock agreement over the attacker’s transfer two summers ago.

It’s suggested by the French outlet that Mbappe was dissatisfied with the sporting project at Paris Saint-Germain shortly after signing a contract extension in 2022.

Mbappe is believed to have been upset that PSG failed to land either Bernardo Silva or Robert Lewandowski, so much so, that the world-renowned superstar reportedly submitted a transfer request.

Liverpool, on the back of an agonising season that saw them finish second in both the Premier League and Champions League, are said to have emerged as the most likely destination at the time.

The Reds even tried their luck at luring him out of PSG, with a bid reported to be in excess of £160m submitted to the Parisian giants.

Needless to say, their approach was laughed off by PSG, who had just handed Mbappe a monster contract and were instead holding out for upwards of £300m for his signature.

Mbappe addressed these rumours during a 2022 interview with the Telegraph, saying: “We talked a little bit, but not too much. I talked to Liverpool because it's the favourite club of my mum, my mum loves Liverpool. I don't know why, you will have to ask her. It's a good club and we met them five years ago. When I was in Monaco I met them. It's a big club."

Whereas then manager Jurgen Klopp had issued a coy response when quizzed on whether the club held interest in the speed-merchant.

Speaking a summer later in 2023, Klopp commented: “I can say that I think he's [Mbappe] a really good player, but the financial conditions don't suit us at all. I wouldn’t like to ruin the story now, but as far as I know, there's nothing to it.

"It's possible that someone else from the club is preparing something and wants to surprise me, but that hasn’t happened in the eight years that I've been here. That would be the first time."

- AMOS MURPHY

MAX VERSTAPPEN ON SPEAKING HIS MIND | VIA TJE TELEGRAPH

 

JAMIE CARRAGHER ON HARRY MAGUIRE VIA.THE TELEGRAPH