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According to reports in The Sun, Manchester City are ready to sell former Everton defender John Stones, who earns £100,000-a-week according to the article, at the end of the season, and Toffees fans want their club to re-sign the England international this summer.

The 23-year-old joined the Citizens in a £47.5m deal in 2016 and while he looked to have a bright future under Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium at one stage, he has slipped to fourth in the centre-back pecking order in recent months.

Meanwhile, their Premier League rivals from Merseyside are likely to prioritise strengthening their central defensive options this summer with Ashley Williams failing to impress and Phil Jagielka getting no younger, and the Goodison Park faithful would seemingly love to see Stones return.

Everton supporters, who praised Morgan Schneiderlin on Twitter for his display against Newcastle United on Monday night, were quick to have their say on the exit rumour via social media, and while one said “I would 100% take John Stones back at Everton tomorrow”, another said they would “have him back in a heartbeat”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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Spurs could sign a dream partner for Harry Kane in Napoli star Victor Osimhen as an update emerges on the club’s pursuit of the striker.

What’s the story?

According to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), Antonio Conte’s side are named among the suitors for the Nigeria international.

The report claims that along with Spurs, the likes of Premier League rivals Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle are all in the running for his signature.

Indeed, it’s further added that Napoli will not contemplate a sale of their star forward unless a bid of around €100m (£84m) materialises – that figure of course would be a record-breaking sum for Spurs.

Imagine him and Kane

While Kane and Heung-min Son have been the best duo in the Premier League for a number of years now – they figure right at the top for most combined goals in the top-flight – the England star may thrive even more with a clinical and pacy number nine ahead of him.

Even during his time with Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, Osimhen made an immediate impression on his coaches, with then manager Andries Jonker saying: “He has great potential in him. He is ambitious, quick and highly unpredictable, he will be a star in the future if he maintains his focus.”

But perhaps the biggest indication of why the Nigerian may be the perfect signing for Spurs is the way his former Nigeria teammate Odion Ighalo has talked about his attitude and desire to succeed.

He said: “He’s the future, he’s going to do so well in football. I love him, he’s down to earth, he’s hard working, he has a future and he has the mentality of a winner, that’s what I love about him. He has that lion heart. I love him, I just want him to keep working hard the way he’s doing, he’s going to break so many records in Europe and Nigeria.”

As Kane gets older, the likelihood is that he will find himself playing more and more deeper and perhaps even becoming a bona-fide number ten rather than the figurehead of the attack.

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Osimhen leading the line with his speed and movement would give Kane the kind of electric striker who he could pick out with his pin-point passing and vision.

The man with 63 career goals to his name could be the perfect dynamic striker to compliment Kane up front for Spurs.

AND in other news: Left in 2019, now worth £50m: Levy suffered shocking Spurs howler over “insane” star

The confusion surrounding Praveen Kumar, the Uttar Pradesh allrounder, has been put to rest with the player confirming that he was joining the Bangalore Royal Challengers for the forthcoming Indian Premier League.Both Delhi and Bangalore had claimed they had snapped Kumar but he clarified to Cricinfo that he would join Bangalore franchise for US$ 300,000. Rajeev Shukla, a vice-president of the Indian board, had said Kumar was to join the Delhi Daredevils but TA Sekar, the cricket operations manager for the Delhi franchise, also confirmed the same.It is learnt that Kumar was first signed up by Bangalore before Delhi entered the picture with a bigger offer. The Bangalore franchise objected and raised a complaint with the IPL governing council. The IPL then stepped in and said that the initial agreement had to be upheld and Bangalore decided to match Delhi’s price and rope in Kumar.Kumar is currently part of India’s one-day squad that’s taking part in the CB Series in Australia. He was the only member of the squad not part of the 77 players included in the IPL pool. Kumar’s stocks rose after his fine domestic performances this season and the fact that he fell in the Under-22 category added to his demand.

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif fear life bans if traces of Nandrolone are found in their systems © AFP

In a development that’s likely to be a major factor, as Pakistan ponders whether or not to take Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif to the Caribbean, the ICC has refused to rule out the possibility that it may carry out targeted dope tests during the World Cup.In a communication to the boards of all countries participating in the event, the ICC has said it will maintain its right to target test players at any point during the event, a PCB official told Cricinfo.As per the communication, the ICC is likely to carry out testing in 16 matches with four tests (two per team) in each of the matches. It adds that while the tests are intended to be random and will not be announced in advance, the ICC will reserve the right to target test players.Pakistan have more reason than most members, of course, to fully comprehend the implications of such a policy. Though it is appearing increasing unlikely that either Asif or Shoaib will actually travel to the World Cup, for whatever reasons, in the event that they do, there is nothing stopping the ICC from targeting both.The ICC openly expressed its concern with the decision by a PCB-constituted appellate committee last November, to overturn bans on Shoaib and Asif for testing positive in internal dope tests for an anabolic steroid on technicalities. An earlier committee had found both guilty.The ICC was unable to intervene, correctly deeming the matter to be an internal one (the dope tests were conducted out-of-tournament by the PCB with decisions made under its own doping policy), instead expressing the hope that the PCB would bring its anti-doping policy in line with international codes. It has since also said that it is willing to support the decision by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) to refer Pakistan’s decision to an international Court of Sport Arbitration.Traces of Nandrolone are said by medical experts to remain in the body for a considerable period of time after use. The fear in Pakistan is that may be the case with Shoaib and Asif and if they were to test positive in an ICC tournament, they may not be as forgiving as Pakistani authorities were.

Great news for Nottinghamshire fans – Chris Cairns is back, albeit temporarily. The allrounder Cairns will stand in as captain for Stephen Fleming next season, when he will lead the side for three matches of the C&G Trophy.Fleming will be on tour with New Zealand in South Africa at the start of the season, and his fellow international, Cairns, is only too pleased to step into the breach. “Everyone knows that Trent Bridge is my second home,” he said, “and I’m delighted to have another opportunity to return to Nottingham.”Notts’ director of cricket, Mick Newell, was understandably delighted to have secured his services: “Chris ticks all the boxes and is going to be in the UK anyway, playing league cricket. I’m pleased he’s coming back.”But what he won’t be doing is playing any Championship cricket. Newell is keen for upcoming players to take their chance, saying: “Unless we have a real problem with injuries, I don’t see Chris being involved in the competition.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Lasith Malinga gave Sri Lanka the vital breakthroughs© Getty Images

The opening Test drifted towards stalemate during the fourth day as Sri Lanka’s first innings ran out of steam in the afternoon and then New Zealand idled in the second innings, apprently content to gain a psychological advantage and rest their bowlers for the second and final Test, which will start after a two-day break over the weekend. Having bowled out Sri Lanka for 498, New Zealand closed on 64 for 2 after 30 overs, with a lead off 123.James Franklin was the star performer for New Zealand, rescuing his bowling figures after a lacklustre third day, with a fine display of reverse-swing bowling. By the middle of the afternoon the ball was swerving around dangerously and Sri Lanka’s long tail crumbled, with five wickets falling in a 96-minute afternoon session. Franklin finished with 4 for 126 and Chris Martin, previously the most penetrative bowler, took 4 for 132.Lasith Malinga, another reverse-swinger, also posed problems with the old ball and provided some much-needed entertainment with an exciting spell late in the day. Bowling curling yorkers at a brisk pace, he produced a painful toecrusher to send Craig Cumming limping off the field adjudged leg-before. Shortly afterwards, with the light starting to fade, he rattled Hamish Marshall and should have been awarded a caught-behind decision by Steve Bucknor, who followed the mistake with an even worse misjudgment later in the over, adjudging Marshall lbw to a delivery that was swinging down to fine leg.New Zealand sent in a nightwatchman, Paul Wiseman, who was then relieved to be offered the light before Malinga’s next over. James Marshall was unbeaten on 33 at the close with an excellent chance to cement his place in the side in good light on the final day. The pitch remained docile and the only serious threat to the batsmen – in absence of both the team’s match-winning spinners – has thus been reverse-swing.Sri Lanka started the morning brightly with Thilan Samaraweera (88) unveiling several well-timed drives to the boundary to quickly bring up his fifty. At the other end, Mahela Jayawardene waited patiently for over 20 minutes before opening his account for the day, which he did in some style with a mountainous thwack over deep mid-wicket off Wiseman that sailed over the ropes. It looked ominous for New Zealand as a fast rate of scoring might have left Sri Lanka with a handy lead mid-way through the final session and a chance to apply some pressure.But halfway through the morning, Nathan Astle started to banana-swing the ball and then Franklin found just enough away movement to find the edge of Jayawardene’s defensive bat, ending a 125-run stand. His huge disappointment was obvious: while 141 from 243 balls was a wonderful effort and an innings full of delightfully silky strokeplay, he knew he’d missed an opportunity on such a flat pitch to really cash inThe departure of Jayawardene slowed Samaraweera’s progress and he added just a handful of runs to a 45-run stand with Dilshan, who played a strange cameo, never quite looking at ease. Dilshan started with a legside-heave off Wiseman and thereafter concentrated mainly on the cover-drive and finding the boundary rather than working ones or twos. Stephen Fleming sensed an impatience within Dilshan’s approach and filled the covers with catchers. In the end, though, the short covers were not necessary as Dilshan self-destructed, slapping a delivery from Martin straight to Lou Vincent at orthodox extra-cover. If Jayawardene had chided himself quietly on his departure, Dilshan should have been fuming inside at his wastefulness.After lunch, Samaraweera looked set to notch up a fifth Test hundred. But Martin, arms still pumping like a high jumper despite a heavy workload, extracted some extra bounce which surprised Samaraweera. He tried to take evasive action too late and in the end almost guided the ball to Fleming at first slip. The breakthrough laid the tail bare and precipitated a final collapse.Then Franklin swept into action, reverse-swinging the old ball away from the right-handers and darting it into the left-handers. After Chaminda Vaas had top-edged a sweep off Wiseman – who lacked fizz and struggled against spin-loving batsmen – Franklin ripped through Rangana Herath’s defences and then found Nuwan Kulasekera’s outside edge before Upul Chandana skied a catch looking for quick runs.How they were outSri Lanka
Nibbled at a short-of-a-length ball angled towards the slips.
Slapped an on-the-up drive straight to extra-cover.
Surprised by extra bounce and edged, almost guided, to first slip.
Caught at short fine-leg while sweeping.
Beaten by a ball that darted back through the gate.
Edged an outswinger to first slip.
Skied a catch looking for quick runs.New Zealand
Missed an inswinging toecrusher.
Unluckily adjudged out to a delivery that swung in late and appeared to be missing leg.