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Everton will host Wolverhampton Wanderers at Goodison Park this afternoon, and Frank Lampard will be hoping his side can capitalise on Burnley’s defeat by picking up all three points from the game to gain some distance from the relegation zone.

Frank Lampard confirmed on Friday that both Ben Godfrey and Demarai Gray will be available for selection after returning to full fitness and training last week.

The ex-Chelsea boss told the press:

“Ben Godfrey is a big player for us and so is Demarai Gray. They are both fit.

“I haven’t really been able to call on them but now I can, and we need our big players.”

With that being said, this is how Football FanCast expects Everton to line up against Wolverhampton Wanderers today…

Pickford, Coleman, Godfrey, Holgate, Kenny, Allan, Doucoure, Gray, Richarlison, Gordon, Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

We predict just two changes to the team that lost 5-0 to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night, with Michael Keane and Donny Van de Beek dropped from the start line-up.

Godfrey steals the spot in the centre back pairing to replace Keane alongside Holgate, with the defender available for the first time since he sustained a hamstring tear at the beginning of February.

It would be likely that Lampard wants to freshen up his backline after a shocking defensive performance away from home, with Keane scoring his second own goal in two months, Godfrey has given Lampard a fresh perspective to inject into the team against Wolves.

The second change would see Lampard axe his Deadline day signing, Van de Beek, from the starting line-up in the game at Goodison Park.

The “dangerous” 24-year-old underperformed in the disappointing game against Spurs, and Lampard may decide that playing a different formation to reintroduce Gray back into the team to offer a more attacking threat in the game this afternoon.

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The £42k-per-week earner who was hailed a “talent” by Jamie Redknapp, is currently the second-highest goal scorer for Everton this season, so has proven he can be an attacking threat to his team when they need to tally up goals to secure points.

His addition in the team could make the difference in the side picking up their first win in three and stealing an important three points in the relegation challenge.

In other news: Lampard must drop Van de Beek against Wolves

The State Insurance Central Stags certainly roared at Queen’s Park, Invercargill today when they comprehensively defeated the State Otago Volts by seven wickets in their Shell Cup contest.Winning the toss and putting Otago into bat on a wicket which although covered had seen three days of wild and wet weather, Central Districts never looked back from ball one and the Otago batsmen began a procession back to the pavilion that looked like a parade of lemmings.At the end of 31.3 overs the Volts had been dismissed for a paltry 67 and truly realised what the value of winning the toss was. But, it is fair to state the the pitch while not at all satisfactory was never venomous and the Otago batsmen never really got into the mode of pushing the ball around and waiting for the bad ones to hit to the boundary.Only Warren McSkimming batting at number eight looked in any way assured, and even then only to a limited effect. Three Otago batsmen in Martyn Croy, Matthew Horne and Lee Germon were dismissed as a result of vagaries in the pitch but that could not be blamed for a total of 67 – the fourth lowest one-day total in New Zealand cricket history.The task of knocking off the 68 runs required was not a difficult chore for the Stags who found the pitch had lost most of its sting and they gleefully the victory target in 15.4 overs.It was not a game that will go down in the annals of one-day cricket memorables but it has given Central Districts a place in the semi-finals of the Shell Cup and Otago yet another exit to near the bottom of the class.

Multan defeated Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) in a thriller by a three wickets margin, on the final day of their fifth-round match, at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Friday.Multan required a mere 116 to win but they made heavy weather of the task at hand. They lost seven wickets before they got home. The first four wickets fell with just 23 on the board, then the total was taken to 94 but three more wickets were lost. Naved Yasin, with an unbeaten 27, was joined by skipper Rauf, who made 20 not out and the two took their team to an exciting win.SSGC medium-fast bowler Shakeel-ur-Rehman from Peshawar had meanwhile bowled his heart out in bringing his team near a difficult triumph. Shakeel took five for 64 yesterday, that gave him a match haul of 10 for 162. In the end, though, his was a futile effort.Multan with 18 points from five matches have now jumped up to sixth place in the 11-team ranking, from their previous eighth spot. SSGC are down to number seven from the fifth positon, with 18 points from four appearances.Wasim Khan took five wickets and offspinner Irfanuddin chipped in with three to power National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to a eight-wicket win against Karachi Whites at the NBP Sports Complex Stadium on Friday.Resuming at their overnight 97 for 3, still 29 runs behind their opponents, Karachi Whites managed only a modest 202 in their second innings. That left National Bank a small target of 78 runs, which they achieved with ease.The only Karachi batsman to show some defiance yesterday was Daniyal Ahsan. He batted just over four hours and faced 156 balls in scoring 63 runs that included five fours. For National Bank, first innings centurion Nasir Jamshed was again in good form in the second, making an unbeaten 40 off 57 balls with six fours and two sixes.In five matches, National Bank have now taken their points tally to 36, but remain at second place behind Habib Bank in the 11-team Group A ranking. Habib Bank too have 36 points to their credit, but in only four appearances, and they also have a superior net run-rate. After five matches, of which they have won two and lost two, Karachi Whites remain stuck at 21 points.Islamabad returned to the top of the Group B ranking after registering an emphatic nine-wicket win over Karachi Blues at the Diamond Cricket Club Ground on Friday.Having resumed at 87 for one, requiring only a further 59 runs, the second-wicket pair took the score to 149 for one as Islamabad emerged victorious comfortably. The unbroken partnership was worth 140 runs: Umair Khan hit 68 not out off 93 with 13 fours while Farrukh Hayat achieved the first half-century of his first-class career, making an unbeaten 51 off 107 deliveries.Islamabad, who had slipped to number three in the 11-team Group B table following a defeat at the hands of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) in the fourth round, are now back on the top. They have won all their other matches for a tally of 36 points.
At the Bugti Stadium Quetta, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) went from eighth place to sixth when they beat Quetta by five wickets. They had needed only 144 runs to win and they did so for the loss of five wickets. KRL, however, collected only six points as they had earlier surrendered a nine-run first innings lead to Quetta..

Stephen Fleming gets a breather as Daniel Vettori takes over the reins for two matches © Getty Images

Stephen Fleming has been rested for the first two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka after New Zealand Cricket decided to adopt a rotation policy ahead of the forthcoming World Cup in West Indies. Daniel Vettori will lead the team in Fleming’s absence.Also missing from the first two games is Shane Bond, the fast bowler who will undergo a reconditioning program. Bond has had a long history of recurring injuries but is likely to be back in the team for the last three ODIs. John Bracewell, the coach of the New Zealand team, has embraced the rotation policy of giving key players enough rest before crucial matches, something that has worked well for the All Blacks rugby team.Vettori will be returning to the team after a short break himself, as he was rested from the two Twenty20 matches that New Zealand played against Sri Lanka following the Test series. He has prior experience of leading the team, having done the job on eight occasions when Fleming was either unavailable through injury or rested.The five-match series begins on December 28 in Napier, with the second match being played in Queenstown on New Year’s eve.Squad for first two ODIs Daniel Vettori (captain), Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum, Jeetan Patel, Ross Taylor, James Franklin.

Greg Chappell has clearly rubbed Yashpal Sharma the wrong way © Getty Images

Yashpal Sharma, former India cricketer and deposed national selector, has criticized Greg Chappell for targeting players he did not like.”Chappell wants [Sourav] Ganguly out while [Virender] Sehwag, Harbhajan [Singh] and Zaheer [Khan] are the other targets in his mind,” said Sharma, who was ousted from the selection committee last week. “Chappell questioned my integrity and his behaviour shocked me. He also alleged that I was [Jagmohan] Dalmiya’s man. I felt very bad because I have played with honour for my country and he has no right to question my credentials,”Sharma, a member of the team that won the 1983 World Cup in England, had reportedly pushed for Ganguly’s inclusion in the team for the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka. Ganguly was earlier dropped from the one-day side due to poor form, an elbow injury and a damaging public spat with Chappell.Sharma, Pranob Roy and Gopal Sharma were last week removed from the national selection panel after Sharad Pawar wrested control of the board. They were replaced by Bhupinder Singh, Ranjib Biswal and Sanjay Jagdale, none of whom have played Test cricket.Sharma played 37 Tests for India during the 1970s and 1980s, scoring 1,606 runs with two centuries. He also figured in 42 one-dayers in which he aggregated 883 runs.

Dale Steyn: left out of the final Test© Getty Images

South Africa’s selectors have dropped Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla, while Charl Langeveldt was ruled unfit and released from the squad for the fifth and final Test against England at Centurion which starts on Friday.Andre Nel, who was on standby, will now cover for Langeveldt, who broke his left hand at Cape Town and, despite an improvement, could not grip the bat comfortably.South Africa’s selectors resisted pressure to make more wholesale changes despite the side being slammed by the media in the aftermath of the defeat at Johannesburg. Two players under the spotlight, Jacques Rudolph and Boeta Dippenaar, have both been retained and will play.”We want to back the players. But there has to be a realisation that Test cricket is played over five days,” explained Haroon Lorgat , the selection convenor. “You’ve got to play and win each session. Too often in this series we have switched off. Look at the Durban match, we played well for two days and then we were hanging on to avoid defeat. We can’t have that.”Amla, who has scored plenty of runs at domestic level, failed to impress in two Tests, making 36 runs in four imnings, with serious questions being raised about his technique. Steyn showed signs of promise but lacked control and his eight wickets cost 52 each. Both, however, are likely to feature again in the Test side before too long.South Africa Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Boeta Dippenaar, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (wk), Nicky Boje, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel.

The XXXX Queensland Bulls opening ING Cup match of the season against Tasmania at the Gabba on Saturday will double as a public celebration of the Multi-Cultural Cricket project.The pilot "MCC" program was conducted at Macgregor, Durack, Warrigal Road, Darra, Riverview, Inala, Goodna and Dinmore State Schools last season and involved 240 children, as well as a number of volunteer coaches.It was aimed at introducing cricket to children from non-traditional cricket backgrounds and utilised aspects of the successful Milo Have-A-Go program. There were 24 different nationalities represented in the program including children of Chinese, Vietnamese, Samoan, Tongan, and Aboriginal and Islander backgrounds.It was made possible through a Living in Harmony community grant to Queensland Cricket as part of the Federal Government’s Living in Harmony initiative.Saturday’s promotion will recognise the introduction of the "MCC" project, as well as a number of initiatives conducted by Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia to increase the interest and participation in cricket from non-traditional cricket backgrounds and indigenous communities.Children and coaches from the pilot MCC program will take part in on-field displays during the main break of the match.Additionally, the Federal Minister for Citizenship and Multi-Cultural Affairs, the Hon Gary Hardgrave MP, will announce the inaugural Indigenous Cricket Advisory Committee – Queensland (ICACQ) during the break, which is scheduled to run from 1.30pm to 2pm.As part of the day, a naturalisation ceremony involving the Minister and more than 150 people will also take place in the Gabba Room at the ground.Tickets for the match were made available to a number of community cultural groups and the parents and children involved in the MCC Project.Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Officer Graham Dixon said cricket as a sport had much to offer Australians from non-traditional cricket backgrounds."Cricket draws heavily from the community through the army of volunteers who are so essential to ensuring cricket is Australia’s favourite summer sport," he said."One of the messages that we are promoting is that cricket is the Australian game for all Australians and through programs like the Multi-Cultural Cricket project, we can hopefully introduce the sport to children and parents alike who might not have encountered it," Dixon said."Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia have identified non-traditional cricket backgrounds and the ingenious communities as among those areas where we have to work harder as a sport to develop."We have made a number of initiatives in this are, including promoting Milo Have-A-Go cricket in Torres Strait through the Eddie Gilbert Program, which has made some promising progress in indigenous communities in Far North Queensland.""The formation of the first Indigenous Cricket Advisory Committee – Queensland will also assist the growth of the sport at the grassroots", he said.Dixon said Queensland Cricket teams in the past had been culturally-diverse, with the current Bulls squad containing players from a range of different backgrounds.Opening batsman Daniel Payne has Japanese, Javanese, Aboriginal and Greek ancestry while injured pace bowler Scott Brant is originally from Zimbabwe and was granted Australian residency earlier this year.Saturday’s match commences at 10am with gates opening at 9am.ING Cup, XXXX Queensland Bulls v Tasmanian Tigers, Saturday, the Gabba: Stuart Law, Daniel Payne, Martin Love (c), Clinton Perren, Lee Carseldine, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Nathan Hauritz, Mitchell Johnson, Joe Dawes, Shane Jurgensen, Steve Farrell (12th man to be named).

“It is not who is right, but what is right that is of importance.”Ring out the old – ring in the new. For Canada, 2001 has been both full of promise, but frustrating because of still vastly unfilled potential growth.The ICC Trophy 2001 was a brand new and untried format, the largest event of its kind and yet was ” the best of the previous Events.” To the many people at ICC, CCA and the CCA organizing sub-committee, we again extend our congratulations and thanks for their sterling efforts. The CCA Boards of Directors that stayed the course, approving the Bid process and the Event, sometimes in trying financial circumstances we salute you.””When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.”Against many odds, we have qualified teams for the U-19 world Cup in New Zealand in January 2002 and for the Senior world Cup in south Africa in 2003. We thank the many coaches, umpires, volunteers, scorers, families and supporters, all essential to continue Canada’s path to excellence.Most importantly we thank the commitment and sacrifice of the players and officials who got Canada this far. Far greater commitment and sacrifice is now needed. Can we deliver? We have done it before. We shall do it again. The players need your complete support, however. We have training and multiple prep tournaments in 2002 and in 2003 leading up to the World Cup. Youth players need to be groomed and encouraged to step up.We wish our fellow World Cup bound colleagues in Kenya, Holland and Namibia, the best in the future and in the World Cup. Kenya we trust will shortly follow our friends in Bangladesh to FM status.We in Canada continue to strive to follow them initially to ODI member status, in the immediate future. It is a beacon of hope for development in the vast Americas television market. Time waits for no one. ” Set a stout heart to a steep hillside.”We at the CCA wish the Full, Associate and Affiliate members of International Cricket a peaceful and productive year. ” Either men will learn to live like brothers, or they will die like beasts.” Battles should be fought on the cricket field with bat and ball, not with bullets and accusations or provocations.Canada’s international diplomatic and safety record are avenues for renewed cricket international prime-time event marketing. Our World Cup bound teams will benefit profoundly, as will Americas’ development.We hope that we shall experience a “cricket-year”- no new crises, no alleged or real exposé’s, no new actions, incidents or confrontations that bring the greatest game in the world into disrepute. We need action, not words. “Clapping with the right hand only, will not produce a noise!”We seek a year of recovery and of growth in Canada, in the Americas and around the whole fraternity of world cricket.To all but especially to our players, officials and volunteers and in the Associates and Affiliates, our best wishes. We offer that:”In order to succeed we must first believe that we can.””In every thought and action, think excellence.” It must follow.If frustrated, consider that “Patience is a bitter plant, but it has sweet fruit.” Press on. Respect and respectability shall come!” `God’ seeks comrades and claims love (respect?), the devil seeks slaves and claims obedience?”” To do all that one is able to do is to be a man, to all that one would like to do, is to be a God!” HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Southampton may have finally found their Virgil Van Dijk replacement at last in 6 foot 3 centre-back Mohammed Salisu, who signed for the club last season in a £10m deal with Real Valladolid – but it was another defender who caught the eye yesterday during their 3-1 FA Cup fifth-round victory at home to West Ham.

Yan Valery, who was standing in for Ghanaian 22-year-old Salisu who is out with “a little bit of a problem” was praised by manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, who was running out of superlatives for the Frenchman.

“Valery played a fantastic game as a centre-back,” said Hasenhuttl.

“Valery, very impressed, unbelievable performance. With the ball he can still be a little bit calmer, he didn’t want to take too many risks today, absolutely okay.

“He played a few more long balls, absolutely okay. Against the ball, how he defends now, I know that he can do this. His whole body language and his belief in what he has doing has changed completely for us and this is for me very important.

“When we played at Chelsea in the cup game, when he played in a back-three, I knew he was strong but now getting into a back four, sliding, defending, making decisions, it is much more difficult and you need to have more quality but fantastic, I must say, fantastic.”

The 23-year-old natural right-back was once described as the Saints’ “weak link”, but he’s now finally beginning to prove his harshest critics wrong. He has made just six appearances this season so far, with Tino Livramento and Kyle Walker-Peters ahead of him in the pecking order – so with that in mind, it was an excellent decision to begin transitioning the Saints star into a central defender.

He made a very impressive six interceptions and four clearances against West Ham, as well as making two tackles to win back possession and winning 75% of his aerial duels.

The last match before yesterday he played was against Coventry City in the fourth round of the FA Cup, and he was once again deployed as a central defender, this time on the right side of a back-three, and he also did very well – achieving a 7.4 match rating.

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Should the homegrown defender continue his solid form as a centre-back, he could save the Saints millions on a new defender in the future, and potentially even form a solid partnership with Salisu at the back.

In other news: £10.8m Saints star who lost possession 16x has just given Hasenhuttl a big headache

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Andy Balbirnie’s unbeaten 85 was Ireland’s first middle-order fifty in the series•Associated Press

Ireland’s hankering for a resistant middle order was finally satisfied by Andy Balbirnie, as the right-handed batsman struck his fourth half-century – an unbeaten 85 off 74 balls – to take them to a six-wicket victory in the third ODI. It was their first victory of the tour and kept the series alive at 2-1 with two ODIs to go.At least two of Ireland’s top three had scored fifties in the first two ODIs. That pattern was quickly erased by Dawlat Zadran who dismissed Ed Joyce and William Porterfield off consecutive overs to reduce Ireland to 24 for 2 by the end of the sixth. But Paul Stirling continued to stand in their way, cutting out the risks early as he dug in to put on 96 for the third wicket with Niall O’Brien (30), and got to his third-consecutive ODI fifty in the process. He put on a further 59 with Balbirnie for the fourth wicket, before falling one run short of another hundred. This time, he missed a straight one from Mohammad Nabi and lost his off stump. His wicket, however, wouldn’t bring another collapse. On the contrary, Ireland lost no further wickets. Gary Wilson’s run-a-ball 28 did enough to complement his younger partner, who spearheaded the unbroken 86-run stand as he scored Ireland’s first half-century from the middle-order in this series. Afghanistan dropped three catches to help Ireland along in the chase, but the neutralization of legspinner Rashid Khan, who went wicketless, will have made them feel most vulnerable. They did have Rashid to thank, however, for keeping them in the game in the first place.A ten-ball first over from Peter Chase belied the start to come for Afghanistan. Chase and Tim Murtagh made run-scoring difficult for Afghanistan’s top order on a slow pitch. By the 11th over, three of them had fallen playing away from the body, and one had swiped across the line. Mohammad Nabi was given the marching orders when Stuart Thompson got a finger on the ball before Samiullah Shenwari’s straight drive broke the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Afghanistan were reduced to 67 for 5 after electing to bat. Shenwari and Gulbadin Naib’s painstaking 30-run stand for the sixth wicket ended nine overs later, leaving Afghanistan’s lower order nearly 24 overs to contend with. Rashid and Naib played 16.1 of those and put on 97, getting fifties before falling in the space of four balls. Ireland wouldn’t have minded that fight at 193 for 8, but Shafiqullah, who would’ve come in at No. 7 normally, struck a 28-ball 50 at No. 9 to set Ireland a target of 265.