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Barcelona have made contact with Girona winger Savinho ahead of a potential 2024 transfer as Xavi pushes for reinforcements in attack.

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Barcelona want Girona's SavinhoDeco in touch with player's representativesHas contract with Troyes until 2027WHAT HAPPENED?

The 19-year-old has made a huge impact at Girona since joining the club on loan from Troyes, having scored four goals and provided as many assists in 15 La Liga appearances. His performances have helped Girona embark on a brilliant run of form that has seen them rise to second in the Liga table, tied on points with leaders Real Madrid. Barcelona sporting director Deco is known to be an admirer of Savinho, and is now reportedly in touch with the player's representatives as the club plot a summer move for him, according to .

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The Catalan giants have not enjoyed the brightest of starts to their title-defence, as they find themselves third in the league, four points behind Girona and their arch-rivals Real Madrid. In search of a goalscorer, they have already lined up the arrival of another Brazilian youngster, Vitor Roque, who will travel to Barcelona later this month ahead of his official registration. Xavi still wants more quality on the left flank, though, which is why Deco is now sounding out Savinho's representatives.

DID YOU KNOW?

The 19-year-old Girona sensation began his professional career at Atletico Mineiro before moving to Troyes. He is still under contract at the French outfit until 2027, but it will be difficult for them to turn down any big-money bid from Barcelona next year.

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WHAT NEXT FOR SAVINHO?

For now, Savinho will continue to focus on his duties at Girona, who will next face Orihuela in the second round of the Copa del Rey. The teenager will then have the chance to come up against his potential suitors, with Barcelona set to host Girona in La Liga on December 10.

Brad Haddin, the Australia wicketkeeper, has announced his retirement from ODI cricket, a day before leaving for Test tours of the West Indies and England

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2015Brad Haddin, the Australia wicketkeeper, has formally announced his retirement from ODI cricket, a day before leaving for Test tours of the West Indies and England.Amid the Australia team’s celebrations after the World Cup final victory over New Zealand in Melbourne in March, Haddin had revealed that he was not going to play any more one-day games.Haddin played 126 ODIs and scored 3122 runs at an average of 31.53 with two centuries and 16 fifties. He also had 170 catches and 11 stumpings, the third-most dismissals for Australia after Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy.”I have had a privileged one-day career and I have been fortunate enough to be involved in three World Cups and now is the right time to walk away,” the 37-year old Haddin said.”Not many players get to write a script like mine at the end of their careers and I have been lucky enough to do just that after winning a World Cup on home soil.”I leave the team with Australia ranked No. 1 in the world and I am proud of everything we have achieved.””Australian cricket congratulates Brad on a fine one-day international career,” Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said. “Throughout the years he well and truly maintained Australia’s proud tradition of outstanding wicketkeeper-batsmen in limited-overs cricket. He leaves big shoes to fill as a talented player and important senior figure within the team.”We thank him for his wonderful contribution to one-day cricket and look forward to his continued performances at Test level as the team works hard to retain the Frank Worrell Trophy and the Ashes.”

Round-up of the Sunfoil Series matches that ended on December 7, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-20130:00

Sunfoil Series Wrap: Knights tame Lions

ScorecardFile photo: Corne Dry’s five wickets in the second innings gave the Knights a target of only 15•ICC/GettyCorne Dry’s third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket helped set up a comprehensive 10-wicket win for Knights against Lions in Kimberley, after a century from Rilee Rossouw had helped the team to 262 in the first innings.Lions, electing to bat, were shaky right from the start and lost wickets at regular intervals. Temba Bavuma briefly stopped the slide, scoring 96 and putting up half-century stands with Brett Pelser and Zander de Bruyn, but seven of their batsmen fell for single-digit scores. Johan van der Wath and Quinton Friend notched three scalps apiece to bowl Lions out for 204 in 78.4 overs. In reply, Rossouw struck 20 fours during his 111 – his 15th first-class ton- and added 71 with Rudi Second for the third wicket as Knights secured a first-innings lead of 58.Lions would’ve hoped to set a competitive total, but their second stint with the bat lasted less than 31 overs. Only two batsmen, Stephen Cook and Neil McKenzie, made double-digit scores, as Dry finished with 5 for 27 to skittle them out for 72, leaving Knights only 15 to score for victory.Knights’ openers Reeza Hendricks and Dean Elgar achieved that score inside three overs, to seal the big win.

Wellington piled on the runs at the Basin Reserve and despite a spirited response from Mathew Sinclair, Central Districts could not keep up with the asking-rate of nearly 12 an over

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Dec-2012
ScorecardWellington piled on the runs at the Basin Reserve and despite a spirited response from Mathew Sinclair, Central Districts could not keep up with the asking-rate of nearly 12 an over. In a game shortened to 18 overs per side, Central Districts were made to rue their decision to ask Wellington to bat, as Tamim Iqbal smashed 35 of the 39 runs he and Jesse Ryder put on upfront in 3.4 overs. Ryder went berserk after Tamim’s departure, carting five sixes in his 22-ball 47. By the time Ryder was bowled by Peter Trego, Wellington were 104 inside nine overs. Chris Woakes and Grant Elliott had further punishment in store for Central Districts. Woakes blitzed his way to an unbeaten 55 off 28 deliveries while Elliott was not far behind with 35 off 18.Sinclair launched a flurry of fours as Central Districts zoomed to 108 for 1 in 11 overs but they were still well behind the asking-rat. The innings started to stagnate after Sinclair was stumped off Mark Houghton for 71 off 43. Kieran Noema-Barnett tried but the final margin, 53 runs, showed just how dominant Wellington’s batsmen had been.
ScorecardScott Styris’ six-hitting spree was the difference as Northern Districts remained top of the table after defeating Auckland in a match badly hit by rain at Eden Park. After Auckland chose to field, there were two interruptions early in Northern Districts’ innings. The game was cut to 12 overs per side, after which Northern Districts lost two early wickets to Kyle Mills. Styris walked in at No. 4 and raced away with the game. He hammered eight sixes in making an unbeaten 68 off just 26 balls while opener Anton Devcich contributed 28. After another spell of rain, Auckland were handed a target of 73 in six overs. They could manage only 49 for 6.

Jonny Bairstow lifted Yorkshire with an unbeaten 141 but discontent over Ajmal Shahzad’s impending departure rumbled on

David Hopps at North Marine Road02-May-2012
ScorecardJonny Bairstow struck his fifth first-class hundred but it failed to derail the controversy surrounding Ajmal Shahzad’s impending departure•Getty ImagesTo try to understand why Yorkshire and Ajmal Shahzad are going their separate ways, it was tempting not to spend the entire day at the cricket at North Marine Road, but to retreat for a while to the warmth of Mr Jingles Dickensian Café in the centre of town. Scarborough claims tenuous links with Dickens on the grounds that he once gave a reading in the town and wandered around a few graveyards in the vicinity, and he would have relished a satirical take on Yorkshire cricket’s latest melodrama.There is something about Yorkshire cricket that in the end turns everybody into the sort of comically exaggerated characters that were Dickens’ stock in trade. Colin Graves, Yorkshire’s no-nonsense chairman, runs a chain of supermarkets rather than a mill and Ajmal Shahzad, depicted as the restless and ambitious type, could yet become a shoo-in for the first Yorkshire Asian to be cast as Pip in Great Expectations.Nobody emerges well from Yorkshire’s decision to end their association with Shazad less than a month into the season. Shahzad’s volatile temperament has run straight into the arms-folded, straight-talking, uncompromising nature of Yorkshire cricket. Yorkshire can take pride in Shahzad as the first Yorkshire-born Asian to play for the county, but they have failed to forge a deep loyalty and sense of team ethic. Shahzad has felt undervalued for a long time and Yorkshire have found solace in the assumption that he is not a team player.Graves is due to explain Yorkshire’s decision to cut their losses on Thursday lunchtime. It will be no surprise to learn that some counties have already made a formal approach. There may also be reference to an on-field tantrum against Essex at Headingley a fortnight ago, which drew the displeasure of the umpires, Rob Bailey and Alex Wharf. But there are faults on all sides. If Graves does not say “it’s a rum do and no mistake”, then perhaps he should.Somerset have become the first county to confirm their interest in taking Shahzad on a loan deal. “We are currently assessing the situation,” said their director of cricket, Brian Rose. “It has been publicised that we are looking at the list of potential loan players and of course he is an exciting addition to that list.”Other counties will follow – although judging by the feelers that were put out a couple of years ago, Shahzad will not be easily affordable. It was then that Yorkshire allowed another supposedly problematic pace bowler, Matthew Hoggard, to leave for Leicestershire and pronounced that Shahzad was the future. It has not been much of a future.On the first day, post Shahzad, Yorkshire did what for so long they have done best: they took a mess of their own making and stared it down. Andrew Gale, the captain who now has to restore equilibrium, and Jonny Bairstow, who like his father before him bats as if asserting that anything is always possible, added 160 in 40 overs for the fourth wicket. It was a stand steeped more than most in Yorkshire pride. Gale was the more secure of the two before, on 80, he edged an injudicious square drive off Wayne White but it was Bairstow, 141 from 213 balls at the close, who progressed to his fifth first-class century.It sounds carping to observe that Bairstow was not at his best for long periods as he rallied Yorkshire’s dressing room spirits so successfully, but he was not. He was a batsman in a hurry, as if eager to right wrongs, and was dropped on 19 off White by Jacques du Toit at second slip. It was a strange innings, reliant more on a sharp eye than confident footwork, although there were four sixes to cheer a crowd that had donned winter apparel to protect itself against a chill wind off the North Sea. He worked hard, though, to settle into a more reliable tempo after tea, taking more than an hour to move from 80 to 100 before he preyed upon a tiring attack in the final hour.Another stalwart, Anthony McGrath, rallied with an unbeaten 49 as Bairstow shared in a second century stand. His father spent an entire career bemoaning internal strife and was occupied for so long fighting fires that he was regularly compared to a little red fire engine, sirens clanging. It remains to be seen if Yorkshire will waste another generation of cricketers.Leicestershire did not help themselves in the field. Their ground fielding was shoddy and they missed at least four catches with Ramnaresh Sarwan, captain in Hoggard’s absence, reprieving both Joe Sayers and Gale, on 32, at slip and looking frozen to the ground – quite literally – as Gary Ballance edged wide of him in the afternoon.Many Yorkshire followers watched with a maudlin air. Jason Gillespie, the new coach, has seemingly decided that Shahzad’s breakdown of relations with Yorkshire is irreparable. But Yorkshire, however they dress it up, however much they plead that righteousness is on their side, have followed up a mediocre start to the season by abandoning a troubled relationship with just the sort of player who might have kick-started their promotion push.In an interview with the Grocer earlier this year, Graves said: “I was indoctrinated with a company and a brand and never thought there was anything outside it – so to step out of that and go into the unknown was a bit like jumping off a cliff.” He was talking about abandoning Spar for Costcutter. He could easily have been talking about the endless mystique of Yorkshire cricket.

Australia have been set the distant target of 632 to win the third Test and the series after South Africa were bowled out for 569 in a rollicking final session

The Report by Daniel Brettig02-Dec-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAB de Villiers’ was in prime touch during his 169•AFPTwo days remain in this match, and two possibilities. The first, by far the most likely, is a convincing South African victory, set-up by the sparkling innings of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers and finished off by Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel.The second, still too outlandish to contemplate, is Australia finding a way to bat for long enough to reach a winning target of 632. David Warner and Ed Cowan made a sound enough start on the third evening to reach 0 for 40 by the close, but in terms of the task ahead they have barely reached base camp at the foot of Everest.Amla and de Villiers provided a rich day’s batting entertainment at the WACA ground, both falling short of double centuries but delighting spectators with their marriage of aggression and invention. De Villiers’ century was particularly notable as his first while also carrying the wicketkeeper’s gloves, opening the path to an extended stint in the dual role.Australia’s bowling was made to look ordinary in the extreme at times before Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson found some heat in the early evening to polish off the South African tail. In all the visitors’ innings lasted just 111.5 overs, the runs arriving at more than five per six balls, and its speed has left plenty of time for Australia’s batsmen to negotiate. The pitch is still playing very well and the outfield extremely fast, but the visiting bowlers are refreshed and focused on the goal of wrapping up the match, the series and the ICC’s No. 1 ranking.Smart stats

The highest fourth-innings total in Test cricket is 654 for 5, by England against South Africa in Durban in 1939. England played 218.2 eight-ball overs in that innings.

South Africa’s 111.5 overs is the second most any team has faced in an innings in which their run-rate is more than five. Australia faced 146.3 and achieved a rate of 5.01 at the same ground against Zimbabwe in 2003.

This is only the fourth recorded instance of a team scoring at more than five per over in an innings lasting more than 100 overs. Two of them have happened in successive Tests.

AB de Villiers’ 169 is more than three times his previous-highest score as wicketkeeper (52* v England in Durban in 2004). In his last 11 Tests against Australia, he averages 63.81.

De Villiers has 422 runs in three Tests in Perth, at an average of 84.40. Among overseas batsmen, only David Gower has scored more Test runs at this ground.

Among all batsmen who’ve scored at least 300 Test runs in Perth, de Villiers’ average is the highest.

This is the third time two South African batsmen have scored 150 or more in an innings against Australia. On the previous occasion too de Villiers was one of the batsmen (he scored 163 and Ashwell Prince 150 in Cape Town in 2009).

The last South African to bag a pair on debut was Allan Donald. The last time a batsman in the top seven bagged a pair on debut for South Africa was in 1913.

Cowan and Warner began the pursuit with unhappy first innings memories; Cowan’s of a golden duck, Warner’s an unwise waft at Steyn that pinpointed the start of Australia’s sharp second day slide from a promising position to a dire one. They fought out the closing overs in characteristic fashion, Warner hitting boundaries both certain and uncertain, Cowan watching the ball intently and surviving an exquisitely probing first spell by Philander.There was some tension evident on South Africa’s side when Cowan twice pulled away from the bowler, citing flies around his helmet. He exchanged words with the visiting captain Graeme Smith before a can of Aeroguard was called for. So far the Australian openers’ stand has been merely a nuisance, but their survival placed a slightly different slant on a day that had been a South African waltz for most of its duration.Resuming with a lead of 292, South Africa rose to salute Amla when he flicked Johnson to fine leg for his 18th Test century, a stroke representative of his legside mastery. Amla’s movement across outside off stump to play to leg was exaggerated at times, but apart from the sliced drive from Johnsons’ wide ball that just eluded Michael Hussey’s reach he was seldom troubled.Kallis rumbled along comfortably enough himself until Michael Clarke swung Starc around to the Prindiville Stand end, teasing out a top-edged hook shot that Johnson held well at fine leg, the ball dying into the breeze late in its path. De Villiers took his time to get established but accompanied Amla to the interval with an enormous amount of time left to stretch Australia’s eventual target.There was acceleration on resumption, de Villiers advancing to ping Nathan Lyon down the ground for a straight six, while Amla took advantage of Hussey’s introduction with a pair of boundaries. Clarke responded to the calls of the WACA crowd by handing Ricky Ponting a bowl for the final over before the second new ball became due.Given how Starc and John Hastings started with it Clarke might have been better off keeping Ponting on, as de Viliers and Amla attacked with impunity. It took Johnson’s introduction to draw a few false strokes, and ultimately a wicket when Amla blocked a drive back to see the chance snaffled by Johnson’s outstretched right hand.Dean Elgar wore a sharp blow on the elbow before playing inside a fuller delivery to be pinned LBW – though this did not stop him from seeking an imprudent review in the manner of Ponting the day before. Two wickets in an over did little to unsettle de Villiers though, and the three reverse-swept boundaries to go to three figures summed up the marriage of skill and invention he has used so well as a batsman and now a wicketkeeper also.After tea the runs arrived in a torrent, de Villiers taking progressively more liberties and Faf du Plessis showing the penchant for shots as well as forward defensives. Their concentration was broken when Clarke called for a highly speculative LBW referral against de Villiers, the break in rhythm proving more helpful than the video evidence. Johnson broke the stand next ball with a swift delivery going across du Plessis, and the final five wickets melted away for 31 runs. Whether that is of any consequence for South Africa will not be known until tomorrow.

Lionel Messi “can’t wait” for his ‘Last Dance’ with eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo, as Inter Miami prepare to lock horns with Al-Nassr.

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Old adversaries to meet on February 1Could be final clash between the pairBoth remain in trophy hunt for 2024WHAT HAPPENED?

It has been announced that leading sides from MLS and the Saudi Pro League will face off at the Riyadh Cup. Inter Miami will also tackle Al-Hilal at that friendly tournament, but it is a meeting between Messi and Ronaldo that is generating the most interest.

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Said fixture will take place on February 1 – in what will be Ronaldo’s next outing after a mid-season break in the Middle East – and could represent a final meeting between two all-time greats that boast 13 Ballons d’Or between them. Messi has posted on social media of that contest: “I can’t wait to be part of #RiyadhSeasonCup with my team Inter Miami CF as we face top Saudi clubs in a historic championship.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Messi is back in the United States ahead of Inter Miami’s 2024 campaign, with Herons CSO Chris Henderson having said of the club’s targets: “We’re evaluating every department in our front office and performance staff, to support [Tata Martino] and his staff and all the players to make sure we’re performing everywhere in the club. We’re looking at everything to [improve the squad.] We have high hopes for 2024, and we want to show what we can do as a club. Winning trophies and having high ambition is something we’ve had since day one.”

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR MESSI?

Inter Miami have already added former Liverpool and Barcelona striker Luis Suarez to their ranks, while USMNT star Julian Gressel has been acquired as a free agent. David Beckham and the club’s board are looking to ensure that Messi has all of the tools around him to make bids for more major silverware possible.

Fawad Ahmed pull off a stunning piece of fielding during Australia A’s tight win over Gloucestershire, but his bowling did not make a huge statement

Daniel Brettig in Bristol23-Jun-2013
ScorecardFawad Ahmed had a difficult match with the ball•Associated PressFawad Ahmed provided the single most thrilling moment of Australia A’s tighter-than-it-should-have-been victory over Gloucestershire when he clasped a blinding catch at mid-on to account for a stubborn Gareth Roderick. Unfortunately for Ahmed, it was also the most telling contribution he made to the last match before Australia’s selectors decided whether or not to add him to the Ashes squad that assembles in Taunton on Monday.Match figures of 31.2-9-100-1 for Ahmed told a story almost as barren as the tourists’ second innings fade for 111, against a Division Two team that their captain Michael Klinger conceded was still learning how to play “hard first-class cricket”. There were mitigating factors against the success of legspin in the match, cold temperatures keeping hands cold and an icy wind testing Ahmed’s command of length and pace.Ashton Agar’s left-arm spin fared rather better, though their relative tallies of overs suggested the 19-year-old was not being quite so closely observed by the selectors John Inverarity, Rod Marsh and Mickey Arthur. Ahmed’s best was eye-catching, several leg breaks fizzing past groping bats and some googlies misread as comprehensively by Matthew Wade as they were by the Gloucestershire batsmen.But a tally of two wickets from as many matches on the Australia A tour is the first significant reverse Ahmed has suffered since making his state debut for Victoria last summer and quickly factoring into the calculations of selectors, administrators, marketeers and ultimately Federal politicians, who passed legislation to expedite his application for citizenship last week.Questions about Ahmed’s readiness for an Ashes promotion were chief among those raised by the first long-form match played by an Australian team in England this year. Steve Smith, the stand-in captain while Brad Haddin rested, could thank his pace bowling triumvirate of Ryan Harris, Jackson Bird and the fast-rising Chadd Sayers for ensuring the tour would conclude with three victories out of three, but the tourists were placed under considerable pressure before getting there.On the second evening Dan Christian had taken the initiative well away from the bowlers, inflicting particular punishment on Ahmed. He would only add another six runs to his overnight total before the persisting Harris coaxed an outside edge behind, but after Benny Howell was pinned lbw first ball, a series of partnerships down the order had Gloucestershire creeping alarmingly close to their target, Ahmed’s catch notwithstanding.The last pair of Liam Norwell and Tom Smith had scrounged 36 together by the time Sayers claimed a deserved eighth wicket for the match, granting Wade his fifth catch among 23 byes, the morning session extended by an extra half hour for the taking of the final wicket proving a nervous 30 minutes for a team that had seemed in such command on the first day, declaring after a mere 58 overs then rounding up five early wickets.From there they had to fight the match out. Gloucestershire’s ability to fight toe-to-toe with a conglomerate of Australia’s best young players plus a sprinkling of Ashes tourists provided some disquieting evidence to back up the observation of the former England captain Andrew Strauss about what his side had witnessed down under in 2010-11.”We were surprised at the quality of some of the state sides,” Strauss told the . “Australia used to have a conveyor belt of talent but it was noticeable they were a long way behind where they had been four years previously.”On the evidence of this match there is still a lot of catching up to do, for Ahmed and Australia.

Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh has suffered a hamstring injury that rules him out of Perth Scorchers’ Champions League T20 campaign

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2013Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh has suffered a hamstring injury that rules him out of Perth Scorchers’ Champions League T20 campaign. Marsh had originally picked the injury during Australia A’s tour of South Africa in July-August, and aggravated it during a session with Scorchers.”He hurt it on the Australia A tour but he got through, he kept playing,” Scorchers coach Justin Langer was quoted as saying by Australian newspapers. “When he got back we were doing a running session and it just went.”I knew straightaway [that it is serious], it was that sort of coach’s nightmare when you see it. He has had all the tests and it shows that it’s probably a reasonably long lay-off… it won’t require surgery but it’s probably an eight to 10 week injury.”Marsh will be replaced by Western Australia allrounder Hilton Cartwright, who made his debut for Scorchers in the Big Bash League last season and played three games.*Marsh has previously had trouble with his hamstrings. He had to retire during a Ryobi Cup match last November due to a similar injury. He has also had discipline problems plaguing him over the last year. In July 2012 he was sent home from Australia’s Centre of Excellence after being “unfit to train” after a night out. In October, during the previous edition of the Champions League, after another night out he was forced to sit out by Scorchers.He was recalled to the Australian squad for the Champions Trophy in June, and then travelled with the A team to South Africa for a full tour. This injury, unless the healing process is smooth and very quick, is likely to rule him out of Australia’s limited-overs tour of India that runs from October 10 to November 2.*0752 GMT. This article has been updated with information about Marsh’s replacement in the side

Somerset surged to a five-wicket victory over Sussex that gives them the opportunity to steal the runners-up position in Division One at the last

David Hopps at Hove07-Sep-2012
ScorecardPeter Trego thrashed Sussex’s bowlers around the ground as Somerset stormed to victory•Getty ImagesOnly once have Somerset pulled off a fourth-innings run chase of greater magnitude than this and Yorkshire still shudder at its memory. Sussex will feel similarly shaken after Somerset surged to a five-wicket victory which gives them the opportunity to steal the runners-up position in Division One at the last.Peter Trego at his belligerent best, alongside a suave unbeaten century by James Hildreth, completed an outstanding win, which took them one point clear of Sussex, who must feel mugged. Warwickshire might have secured the title but the runners-up position will now not be settled until the final day of the season.When Trego flicked Steve Magoffin, Sussex’s one bowler of real threat, through square leg for four Somerset had overhauled a target outdone in magnitude only by their successful fourth-innings chase of 479 for 6 against Yorkshire at Taunton in 2009.The loss of four quick wickets at the fag end of the third day had seemed likely to cost Somerset dearly, but Hildreth, who finished unbeaten on 101 from 180 balls, steadied matters on the final morning with Alex Barrow and then was content to tick along as Trego took command. Their partnership rattled along at more than six an over – 166 from 25 overs – and victory came with 40 overs to spare.Trego finished unbeaten on 89 from 72 balls with 12 fours and four sixes. He is so consumed by attacking presence that bowlers can lose heart at the mere sight of him. He is surely unfortunate that England never give him a second thought in Twenty20. He could not be more dismissive of his chances. “There is more chance of me growing a second winkie,” he said.Trego destroyed a poor spell from James Anyon after lunch, helping himself to four boundaries in two overs from the bowler. The last was a rank long hop that he pulled for four and the previous deliveries were not much better. Three slog-sweeps for six against Sussex’s spinners – the first against Monty Panesar which took him to 50, the last two against Chris Nash – took Somerset within range. Even Magoffin was despatched over the ropes. Hildreth ticked off his hundred in the nick of time.Hildreth’s most fortunate moment was on 28 when he inside-edged Nash but the wicketkeeper, Ben Brown, failed to make contact. But, on this occasion at least, the Sussex bowling attack consisted of Magoffin and ragamuffins.Magoffin took Sussex’s only wicket of the final day. Hildreth and Barrow had taken their partnership to 80 in 32.2 overs when Magoffin, with the new ball only five deliveries old, found the penetration to have Barrow caught at first slip. But the wicket soon looked flat again, there was no swing under idyllic blue skies and Somerset reassumed control.Barrow walked off slowly, his dejection apparent. He is only 20 and had looked composed for his 40. But you are not really a man until you have seen off the likes of Magoffin with a hard ball in hand.”Where would we be without Magoffin?” asked a Sussex supporter at the deckchair end as the Queenslander struck. It turned out to be a rhetorical question. “I’ll tell you where we’d be. We’d be down the bottom with Worcestershire and Lancashire, that’s where we’d be.”Magoffin would be a contender for a Division One team of the season. Only a small handful of bowlers have taken more Division One wickets this season at lower cost than his 54 at 19.29. But the talk at the end was of Hildreth and Trego and, as so often in Somerset cricket, it was happy talk.It has been a tough season for Somerset, with lots demanded of promising young players before their time. They have held together magnificently. Brian Rose, their outgoing director of cricket, might not be dreaming of another runners-up trophy, but they aim to give him one all the same, and celebrate his departure in style.