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Rangers bolstered their first-team squad in the January transfer window by completing a number of deals in an attempt to improve Gio van Bronckhorst’s Ibrox squad.

Ross Wilson dipped into his transfer war chest to secure loans for Amad Diallo, Aaron Ramsey and James Sands, whilst striking permanent moves for John Souttar and Mateusz Zukowski, with the former set to officially join in the summer.

Bringing a player in from another club is one way to add further options to the squad. and another is unearthing a gem from the academy to make the breakthrough at senior level.

Save millions

One Rangers B team player who may be ready to make such a step up is 18-year-old Tony Weston, who has been in phenomenal form for the youth teams.

The Gers signed the striker from English club Blackpool in 2020, where he had made his senior debut in the FA Cup.

His ex-Tangerines manager Simon Grayson previously heaped praise on him, saying: “He’s got so much enthusiasm. The lads were watching what he was doing, where his pure enthusiasm and love of being a professional footballer is at the front of his mind.

“He’s got 30-year-old lads behind him in the warm-up and I’ve never known a 16-year-old lead with stuff like that. He’s got confidence in his ability and it’s great for him.”

Since arriving at Ibrox, Weston has been in sensational goalscoring form. He was dubbed “clinical” by Gers coach Steven Smith and his record backs that up, with five goals in nine cup matches and 21 goals in the Scottish Lowland League for the B team.

This means that the 18-year-old has 26 goals in all competitions at youth level, suggesting that he is now knocking on the door of the first team. His record is sublime for the academy side and he will surely be grabbing Van Bronckhorst’s attention with his prolific scoring return.

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The Dutch head coach must now offer him a chance in the senior team, whether that is before the end of the current campaign or in the summer for pre-season ahead of 2022/23. If Weston can make the step up, and his terrific tally of goals suggests that he can, then he would save Ross Wilson millions.

Rangers would not need to go into the transfer market to sign a striker if the teenage starlet proves himself as a genuine first-team option, and that is why he must be handed the opportunity to show what he can do at Ibrox. They would stop the club from needing to splash out seven-figure fees on a new striker, instead being able to invest that money on another area of the squad.

AND in other news, “Three or four..”: Chris Jack drops worrying Rangers claim which will concern Van Bronckhorst…

	Mahela Jayawardene has said that he will not need the services of Malinga Bandara in Australia © GNNphoto

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, has stood by the selectors’ decision to leave out legspinner Malinga Bandara from Sri Lanka’s 15-man squad for the CB Series in Australia while selecting six fast bowlers.The omission of Bandara, who took 14 wickets from nine matches in Sri Lanka’s campaign in the 2005-06 tri-series in Australia, has become a talking point in Sri Lanka, but Jayawardene said it was difficult to accommodate him as the second spinner since the team management had decided to go in for a solitary specialist spinner in Muttiah Muralitharan.”When you’ve got Murali and if he is playing in the side, with the conditions we get in Australia, there won’t be any room for a second spinner. It will not give us the adequate balance in our set-up. Our combination could be three quicks and a spinner plus seven batsman or we might go with six batsmen, four quicks, including an allrounder, and a spinner. Banda will only come into play if Murali gets injured. That’s why he is a standby.”While Dilhara Fernando has been ruled out of the series due to injury, Jayawardene has six other fast bowlers at his disposal, including the inexperienced right-arm seamer Ishara Amerasinghe, who has played one ODI, and the uncapped left-armer, Chanaka Welegedara. “We have three fairly experienced bowlers Vaasy [Chaminda Vaas], Lasith [Malinga] and Maha [Farveez Maharoof] in the line-up.”The other three are fairly new. Even though Kulasekera has been around he hasn’t played consistently, Welagedera is a young guy finding his way in international cricket and Ishara – we picked him for his pace and accuracy. He’s bowled pretty well in the last 6-12 months in A team cricket. This probably would be a place for us to see what he can do.”Jayawardene said a positive brand of cricket would help his team in the tournament. “A lot of our batsmen do enjoy the ball coming onto the bat which is a good thing. If our bowlers can pick up wickets on a consistent basis it will give us a very good opportunity. But I feel the area we could definitely dominate would be on the field, where we can create opportunities and with our energy, a lot of pressure.”Australia and India are much stronger in their batting than in their bowling. The important thing is we concentrate really hard, bowl in good areas and pick up wickets. If we create a lot of pressure on the field and create opportunities, then we can control the game. Foremost we have to believe in ourselves that we will get to the finals,” he said.In 2005-06, Sri Lanka qualified with Australia for the best-of-three finals and lost with a 2-1 margin.

Scorecard

Alex Loudon impressed with the ball as his offspin claimed five wickets © Getty Images

Alex Loudon was the star as England completed a hard-fought five-wicket win against Bangladesh at Mirpur. Loudon collected 5 for 76, to add to his 71 on the third day, leaving England with a target of 130 which they reached in just under 20 overs.England gained an early foothold on the final day when Loudon trapped Mehrab Hossain lbw with just three runs added to the overnight total. Mosharraf Hossain, the nightwatchman, followed 15 runs later when he was run out and England sensed their chance to press for the win.Bangladesh played with a very defensive mindset, meaning that even though it took England a while to dislodge the resistance the lead was never growing at a rapid rate. Graham Onions, the Durham paceman, grabbed two middle-order wickets in two balls. When 183 for 5 soon became 202 for 7, on the back of two Tim Bresnan strikes, England would have fancied their chances of wrapping up the innings in quick time.However, Tushar Imran got his head down and forged a gritty half-century while Mohammad Sharif supported him well with 26 as the eighth wicket added 44, then Dolar Mahmud helped put on another 30 for the ninth. Loudon claimed the final three scalps, a reward for 32 overs hard work, but England were left limited time for their run chase.They played it in one-day style, promoting Matt Prior to open who slammed 50 off 52 balls to put England ahead of the rate. At 78 for 1 everything was under control and, although there were a few late wickets, Loudon completed a fine match by knocking off the final runs.

Former Western Province and South Africa fast bowler Garth le Roux appeared briefly before the George Regional Court on Monday, charged with 48 counts of tax fraud involving R1.8 million.The case was postponed to September 4 at the Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town. Bail of R100 000 was given.Le Roux appeared in court last month and was given bail on condition he surrendered his passport.

Sri Lanka Masters celebrate another wicket © Getty Images

Sri Lanka Masters romped to a comprehensive 97-run win against India Masters in the first game of the Zayed Cup, a triangular tournament being held in Abu Dhabi as a benefit for tsunami victims. The Indian side was depleted, with none of their international superstars in the fray, while the Sri Lankan one had quite a few of their top-flight players.One of them, Kumar Sangakkara, made 52 as Sri Lanka Masters were bowled out for 252. Shantha Kalavitigoda top-scored with 69, while Tillakaratne Dilshan made 43. The pitch was slow and aided the spinners, but it was a fast bowler who set the Indians back.Lasith Malinga, at his slingshotty best, uprooted Shikhar Dhawan’s off stump with his second ball, and Hemang Badani, an India discard, was run out shortly afterwards. Two more run-outs followed, and the Indians slipped to 86 for 8. Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh added 64 for the ninth wicket, helping India to 155. It merely delayed the inevitable Sri Lankan victory.

All Today’s Yesterdays – November 16 down the yearsNovember 15 | November 171971
Birth of the Burewala Bombshell. There have been few more scintillating sights in cricket history than Waqar Younis in his pomp. With batsman hopping and stumps flying, he and Wasim Akram took reverse-swing to a new level in the early 1990s with their toe-crushing yorkers. They were close to unplayable, particularly for new batsmen: in 1992 alone, England lost 4 for 1 (Lord’s), 8 for 28 (Headingley) and 7 for 25 (The Oval). Remarkably, over half of Waqar’s Test wickets have been out bowled or lbw (by contrast, the figure for Dennis Lillee and Courtney Walsh is 33%). He was at his best in the early 1990s – after bursting onto the scene against New Zealand in 1990-91, Waqar took 109 wickets over a three-year period at an average of 18.07, at the incredible strike rate of 33.55 balls per wicket. He later became captain of Pakistan, and took 7 for 36 – the second-best figures in ODI history – against England at Headingley in 2001. He retained that job until the 2003 World Cup, but a poor showing by Pakistan hastened an unceremonious exit. He was also a huge success in county cricket, first for Surrey and then Glamorgan, for whom he took a career-best 8 for 17 against Sussex at Swansea in 1997.1862
Birth of the man known as “The Terror”. Australian seamer Charlie Turner was a formidable opponent, particularly on wet surfaces, and he took his 101 Test wickets at the startling average of 16.53. Among Aussies with 100 wickets the next-best, Alan Davidson, conceded exactly four more runs per wicket. With his long, rhythmic run and virtually square-on delivery, Turner took 6 for 15 on debut against England at Sydney in 1886-87. And in 1888 he took 21 wickets at an average of 12, despite England winning two of the three matches by an innings. In 155 first-class matches in all he took an improbable 35 ten-fors. He died in Sydney in 1944.1982
Just another day at the office for Chris Tavaré, who took 63 minutes to get off the mark in the second innings of the first Test between England and Australia at Perth. In all Tavaré made 9 from 82 balls, and in the first innings he took almost eight hours over 89. In the course of that innings Tavaré was stuck on 66 for 90 minutes – it was the second time in three Tests that he’d twice spent an hour without scoring. The match itself was a fairly dull draw, notable for a freak injury to Terry Alderman, who rugby-tackled a pitch invader and dislocated his shoulder so badly that he did not play first-class cricket again that season. The match was also notable for Norman Cowans becoming England’s 500th Test cricketer.1983
The third Test at Ahmedabad proved to be a landmark match for Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, but West Indies were still victorious by 138 runs. In the course of his first-innings 90 Gavaskar overtook Geoff Boycott as the top runscorer in Test history (at the time), while Kapil (9 for 83) became the tenth person and the first captain to take nine wickets in a Test innings. But in a low-scoring game India were blown away as they chased 242 to win. Michael Holding, fresh from spanking 58, took out the top order with 4 for 30, and at 39 for 7 and then 63 for 9 India were in danger of humiliation. They recovered to 103, but West Indies took a 2-0 lead in the six-match series with three still to play. An eventual 3-0 victory left nobody in any doubt as to their ability to thrive in all conditions.1940
Birth of one of the few men to play Test cricket and League soccer in recent years. Chris Balderstone played cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire, and soccer for Huddersfield, Carlisle and Doncaster, and in September 1975 he played in the County Championship until 6.30pm and kicked off for Doncaster an hour later. He was a scrapper of a batsman and a useful left-arm spinner, particularly on wearing wickets, who was rather unfortunate to play his only two Tests against a formidable West Indies side in 1976. Balderstone’s last appearance, at The Oval, was a nightmare: he was cleaned up twice by Michael Holding for a pair, and he dropped Viv Richards, who went on to smash 291. He went on to become a Test umpire between 1993 and 1996. Balderstone died of cancer in Cumbria in 2000.1952
India hammered Pakistan by 10 wickets in the decisive third Test at Bombay to take the first series between the sides 2-1. India were in control from the moment Pakistan slid to 60 for 6 on the first afternoon, and despite a brilliant 96 from the 17-year-old Hanif Mohammad (who also had to keep wicket) that gave the first indication of his abundant talent, India romped home on the fourth day. Left-arm spinner Vinoo Mankad completed the Test double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in only his 23rd match. It was a record until 1979, when Ian Botham managed it in his 21st.Other birthdays
1827 James Southerton (England)
1944 David O’Sullivan (New Zealand)
1968 Eboo Essop-Adam (Zimbabwe)

South Australian captain Darren Lehmann has used the Pura Cup match against NSW to remind selectors he may be the man to lift the struggling national one day team, after hitting a cavalier 143 at Adelaide Oval today.Lehmann’s dashing innings, which included 22 boundaries and a six from 130 balls, set the scene for a NSW run-chase for outright points on tomorrow’s final day.The Blues were 0-10 at stumps, with openers Brett van Deinsen on nine and Greg Mail on one, needing a further 305 runs to win in a minimum 96 overs tomorrow.After leading by 27 on the first innings, SA made 287 in its second innings today to lead by 314 overall.Lehmann’s creative knock, which included several boundaries clipped over the slips and wicketkeeper, as well as many more elegant shots to all parts of the field, was easily the highlight of a day in which none of his team-mates could manage more than 28.”I was really happy to get 100 today, mainly from a team point of view,” Lehmann said.He said he was giving little thought to any openings that might be created in the Australian line-up by the current run of one-day losses.”Any time’s a good time to be making runs, I can’t really worry about that, I’ve just got to worry about playing for South Australia and if it comes up it comes up,” he said.He was dismissed by part-timer van Deinsen attempting to hit the medium pacer over the mid-wicket fence for the second time in an over, instead managing to sky the ball to cover, where Mail took the simple catch.Mail’s catch failed to make up for two costly missed chances earlier, when he dropped Lehmann in the slips off van Deinsen when he was on two, and off NathanBracken when on 58.Van Deinsen also provided the SA skipper with a life when he dropped him off Stuart Clark’s bowling when he was on three, with NSW likely to look back onthose three errors as if it fails in its run-chase on a wearing pitch tomorrow.Bracken bowled just eight overs in two spells in SA’s second innings, claiming the wickets of Ben Johnson and Ben Higgins, but spent long periods off the field after being diagnosed with chicken pox.Earlier, former Australian under-19 captain Michael Clarke completed an impressive 132 in NSW’s first innings as the Blues lost their last four wickets in under an hour to be all out for 332 this morning.Young SA paceman Paul Rofe took 4-8 in 3.4 overs with the new ball today, including the wicket of Clarke, to finish with career-best figures of 6-60.Rofe has now taken 27 Pura Cup wickets so far this season at an average of 21.1.

An inspired spell of bowling from mediumpacer Sadagoppan Mahesh (5/57)saw Tamil Nadu snatch a vital, if slender, three run lead in theirencounter against Goa. Starting the second day at 44/1 in response toTamil Nadu’s 204 all out, Goa were skittled out for a disappointing201. Skipper Pravin Amre (66) provided the lone resistance as wicketafter wicket tumbled.Mahesh’s first three spells yielded no wickets and read 12-4-21-0.However, Sridharan Sriram mixed his bowlers around well and thisproved a good decision at the end of the day. Mahesh’s last two spellshowever, broke the back of the Goa side. His last two spells returned5/36.In response, Tamil Nadu added insult to injury, making a thumping 104for no loss at stumps on day two. Southpaws Sriram and SadagoppanRamesh made 29 and 63 respectively as they defied Goa’s quest forquick wickets. Ramesh was easily the dominant partner in the session,his runs being scored at a run a ball with 8 boundaries. Sriram’sinnings on the other hand was a patient one, 29 (55 ball, 2 fours).The pair remained unseparated and lengthened the Tamil Nadu lead to107.

Speaking to Canale 8, as transcribed by Sport Witness and Tutto Napoli, journalist Antonio Giordano of Corriere dello Sport has shared a Manchester City transfer update involving old flame Fabian Ruiz.

The Lowdown: Sky Blue old familiar…

City fans will remember the Napoli midfielder being linked with a move to Eastlands as far back as two years ago.

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Indeed, according to reports at the time, Pep Guardiola and sporting director Txiki Begiristain were very keen on signing Ruiz with Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis going on to issue his exact demands to the press.

As City eyed both the Spaniard and colossal defender Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli in 2020, De Laurentiis openly stated he would only consider selling either of his star assets for €100 million (£83m).

Nearly 24 months on, with the player’s deal running out in 2023, it now appears the Serie A side will let Ruiz go for much less as reports suggest Napoli now value him at around £16m.

As his price drops by a whopping £67m, City and Guardiola are allegedly back in the frame.

The Latest: Giordano shares news…

As per Italian reporter Giordano (via SW), Guardiola is personally eyeing Ruiz again alongside the likes of Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, Newcastle and Arsenal.

He also says that an ‘inevitable’ auction will be triggered for the Spain international ‘in two months’ as Ruiz enters the final year of his Napoli contract.

The Verdict: Time to pounce?

City’s depth, particularly in midfield, is nothing short of extraordinary with Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne all able to play either side of Fernandinho or Rodri in the middle of the park.

This isn’t even counting central-midfield youngsters like James McAtee who have emerged from City’s academy ranks recently with huge promise.

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This begs the question – is it really worth the selection headache for Guardiola? Especially when top targets like Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland are arguably the major priority right now.

Despite Ruiz’ plaudits, with former Premier League striker Emile Heskey calling him ‘phenomenal’, we believe Guardiola is better placed prioritising a forward.

In other news: Man City also readying bid to sign brand new target as news emerges on ‘special’ £67m sensation, find out more here.

	Brad Hogg has reason to be relieved now that India have withdrawn their charge © Getty Images

Two days before the Perth Test the sun finally shone through the cloud that has been hanging over this series for the past week, with India dropping their charge of abuse against Brad Hogg, Australia’s chinaman bowler. Later in the day, it would emerge that the two captains had agreed to scrap the contentious catching agreement that sparked off the controversy surrounding Michael Clarke.Hogg was accused of making an offensive remark to Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the second Test in Sydney and charged under Level 3 of the ICC Code of Conduct following a complaint by Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan.The decision to drop charges was taken at a meeting of the two captains, Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble, convened by Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC’s chief match referee, who was flown in in the aftermath of the Sydney Test controversy. It capped an evening of fast-moving developments that saw six statements read out at the local Hyatt in the space of a couple of hours.It gives the Indian team the moral high ground and transfers pressure back on to Australia to drop the racism charge levelled at Harbhajan Singh – which will now be heard after the Test series – and Kumble, it is believed, indicated during the meeting the ball was in Australia’s court. However, it is understood that Australia will not be able, on technical grounds, to drop the racism charge against Harbhajan. The charge against Hogg was levelled by Chauhan, who withdrew it on Monday, while in Harbhajan’s case, the charges were brought by both the on-field umpires after a complaint by Ponting.Nonetheless, it was a significant decision and Kumble, explaining it, said the game had to move on. “Ricky and I had a discussion with Ranjan [Madugalle] and after that it was important that the game of cricket moves on,” he said. “Cricket is larger than any individual. It is important we forget what happened in Sydney, it was just one of those bad moments, just an incident probably in the heat of the moment. And we decided as a team to move on and remove the charges against Brad Hogg. It’s important that we moved on.””I enjoyed a productive meeting which I had with Anil Kumble and Ranjan Madugalle in which we talked through all the issues thoroughly,” Ponting said. “I am convinced that both the teams can move into the next game clearly understanding the parameters under which the game should be played and the teams acknowledge that the game must be played in its true spirit.””It’s a kind gesture, lovely gesture by the Indian team,” Hogg said. “It’s much appreciated by myself and the Australian cricket team. Hopefully the future contests between India and Australia are good viewing for the spectators and enjoyable for the teams.”Madugalle, who had earlier met the team managements separately, met the two captains at 5:15 pm. After the meeting, which lasted about half an hour, he was optimistic of the series carrying on in the right spirit.”Over the last couple of days we’ve had very useful discussions with captains and managers of both teams resulting in meeting with Anil and Ricky today,” Madugalle said after the meeting. “Both of them realise the importance of moving the game forward as opposed to reflecting on the events of the last week. And as captains they have the responsibility to uphold the game in the right spirit and play the game with mutual respect for one another. And I’m very confident that the next five days will see just that. So let’s all look forward to a great Test match.”Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, said he hoped the decision would help get the focus back to the game. “The decision to drop the charge against Brad Hogg was taken in the larger interest of the game,” Shetty told . “India has always upheld the spirit of the game and the on-field issues should not be taken outside the field.” On whether Australia would reciprocate and drop the charges against Harbhajan, Shetty said, “We really hope that Australia looks at it positively”.Mike Procter, the match referee at the SCG and the man in charge of the hearing today, called it a “magnificent” gesture. “I was tendered a letter from the [India] captain and the manager when the hearing started. So that’s all behind us now and we can get on with the cricket, which is great news. A wonderful gesture by India showing sportsmanship they possess and the way they play their game.”