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An injury expert has now dropped a big Newcastle United claim on Allan Saint-Maximin before they face Brentford away from home in the Premier League.

The Lowdown: Missed West Ham…

As quoted by The Chronicle, Eddie Howe revealed that Saint-Maximin got a ‘kick on his calf’ against Aston Villa, which subsequently ruled him out of the 1-1 draw away to West Ham United over the weekend.

He has recently posted a video of him in training after missing the game, suggesting that he could now be available again to face the Bees on Saturday afternoon, in what is another crucial match in the battle to avoid relegation.

The Latest: Injury expert reacts

Speaking to Football Insider, injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis, has now claimed that Saint-Maximin should be fit and available to play in West London after his latest injury setback:

“He took several whacks, which isn’t uncommon for Saint-Maximin.

“For the most part, he dusts himself down and gets on with it. His powers of recovery are great. Unfortunately, this time he didn’t recover as hoped.

“But I’m fairly confident we should see him back against Brentford this weekend. The fact it was just a knock, that’s huge for Newcastle.

“But Newcastle did show against West Ham that they aren’t a one-man team, in any case. On another day, they could have left with three points.

“But I fully expect him to be in and around that starting XI barring any setback on the training ground this week.”

The Verdict: Huge

As Dinnery claims, it is huge for the St. James’ Park faithful that Saint-Maximin only appears to have suffered a knock, and so should be ready to come back into the team on the weekend.

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There is no doubting his importance to the side, as he is their second-top scorer in the top flight so far this term with five goals, while his three assists are more than any of his teammates (WhoScored).

Saint-Maximin also averages more shots and dribbles than any of his teammates, and the Magpies will certainly need their shooting boots if they are to take all three points away from their trip down south.

In other news, find out which six-foot-three ‘Hercules’ NUFC have sent scouts to watch here!

ScorecardFile photo: Dishant Yagnik took Rajasthan home with an unbeaten 16•Sakshi Telugu Daily

Rajasthan stole a slender two-wicket win against Odisha by chasing down 230 in the last innings on the third day in Jaipur. Rajasthan turned things around despite being routed for 51 in their first innings, which is the second-lowest first-innings total to win a Ranji Trophy match.Rajasthan were 79 for 2 overnight, still 151 away, and lost Puneet Yadav (59) after he scored only three runs on the third morning. They lost two more wickets – Tanveer-Ul-Haq (21) and Ashok Menaria (20) – in quick succession and were struggling at 118 for 5 before Rajat Bhatia (31) and Siddharth Dobal rescued them with a stand of 76 runs to take them close to 200. However, Bhatia was dismissed by Basant Mohanty and Dobal went on to register a fifty before he too was removed by Mohanty for a run-a-ball 52. From 210 for 7, Rajasthan lost Aniket Choudhary too at the score of 223 but Dishant Yagnik (16*) and Pankaj Singh (8*) held their nerves to take six points.
Scorecard Right-arm seamer Mukesh Kumar, playing his third first-class match, and Pragyan Ojha shared six wickets between them to wipe Assam out for 143 in 54.4 overs. Resuming on 1 for 4, after Ashok Dinda had scythed through the top order on the second day, Assam lost Amit Verma to Ojha to 9. Tarjinder Singh, aided by contributions from Arun Karthik (30) and Syed Mohammed (31), mounted some resistance but Assam were asked to follow on.They fared much better in their second dig, reaching 72 for 2 before bad light curbed another day in Guwahati. Opener Pallav Kumar Das (28*) and Gokul Sharma (8*) stayed unbeaten after Aamir Gani dismissed Rahul Hazarika and Amit.
ScorecardRavi Jangid followed his third first-class century with figures of 4 for 44 as Haryana were bowled out for 241 and asked to follow on. Haryana’s steady opening partnership of 118 between Nitin Saini and Chaitanya Bishnoi showed only little of what was to follow.It was offspinner Akshay Wakhare who broke the stand when he got rid of Bishnoi for 47. Saini reached hid fifty but was bowled by Jangid soon after. He made light work of the middle order before Shamsher Yadav become the second half-centurion of the innings. However, Aditya Sarwate collected four wickets of his own to perform the final rites on the innings.Jangid was at it again, removing the openers in Haryana’s second innings. Saini had a good start again, but did not convert it into a big score. Mohit Hooda and Rohit Sharma managed to survive till stumps but Vidarbha are on course to seal their quarter-final spot.
ScorecardFifties from Shrikant Mundhe and Rahul Tripathi set Karnataka a target of 293 in Pune. The double-treble winning defending champions lost R Samarth to Nikit Dhumal, who took his match tally to four, but Mayank Agarwal and Robin Uthappa scored at a fairly brisk clip as Karnataka closed the day at 61 for 1 in 15 overs.Earlier, Tripathi, who started the day on 31, went onto make 78 before he was undone by S Aravind. Kedar Jhadav and Vishant More failed to build on starts but Mundhe, coming in at No.8, struck 81 off 150 balls, including seven fours and two sixes to push Maharashtra to 260. Vinay Kumar was the pick of the bowlers for Karnataka, claiming figures of 4 for 71.

Niranjan Shah: ‘Players who take part in the ICL will never be eligible to play for the country again’ © AFP

Player signing up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) will be banned for life, Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Indian board, has said.”Our stand is very clear. Players who take part in the ICL will never be eligible to play for the country again. It is up to the players to decide what they want to do”, Shah told PTI in Mumbai.Asked whether the ban would apply to players yet to represent the country, Shah said: “Definitely. It is applicable to all players,” adding that domestic cricket would also be out of bounds for such players.Shah said that the BCCI would take a decision on Kapil Dev’s chairmanship of the National Cricket Academy at its general body meeting on August 21.Kapil had joined the ICL’s executive board as its chairman and has been at odds with the BCCI ever since. He had called recent remarks made by Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, about the ICL, “shameful”.”If the board thinks that only the national XI can attract crowds, then it should stop conducting any domestic tournament,” Kapil told PTI.The ICL, which is scheduled for September, will feature six teams playing Twenty20 matches. Each team will comprise four international players, two Indian players, and eight upcoming players. Brian Lara is the only confirmed player on the ICL list.

Six South African grounds will compete to be one of the three venues for the Twenty20 World Championship in 2007. The decision will be made by the newly-formed Policy Committee which met for the first time on Wednesday after the ICC limited the number of grounds to three.John Smith will chair the committee and Steve Elworthy will be the tournament director, a press conference in Johannesburg announced. Smith hhas chaired the Ministerial Committee on Cricket Tranformation before, while Elworthy has already proven his worth as a commercial cricket director.Gerald Majola, the chief executive of the South African board, heaped glowing praise on both, calling Elworthy “the ideal tournament director” and Smith “an outstanding chair.” He added: “John is one of South Africa’s leading jurists and has an extensive knowledge of South African cricket and its vision.”

Michael Clarke is not changing his breathtaking approach© Getty Images

Michael Clarke has no plans to alter his aggressive approach after his stunning series in India. Clarke’s youthful style alongside his mostly 30-something team-mates is breathtaking and he will make his home debut against New Zealand at the Gabba on Thursday. “What’s worked for me has got me this far and I think it’s important to continue doing what comes naturally,” Clarke told the Daily Telegraph.Instead of resting since returning from India, Clarke has already trained with New South Wales and was considering a club appearance until named in the Test side. “It’s going to be pretty special playing on home soil in front of my family and friends in Brisbane,” he said. “This is my dream.”Clarke will reunite with Darren Lehmann, who was recalled after injuring his hamstring in the third Test at Nagpur. The role of Lehmann, preferred to Simon Katich, as a mentor and nurturer apparently sealed his place and kept his Test career alive. At 29, Katich is five years younger than Lehmann and has time to return. “I really don’t know what got me over the line but I have the experience factor,” Lehmann told the Courier-Mail. “I think my role is to help the young guys throughout their upbringing in the Australian team.”John Buchanan, the coach, said too much was made of the team’s average age of 31. Only Clarke, 23, Ricky Ponting, 29, and Jason Gillespie, 29, are under 30. “Whether you’re 23 or 38 it’s still about whether you’ve got the skills and whether you can apply the skills,” he said. “There’s no doubt Darren has got the skills and that he’s applied the skills very well over the last 12 or 18 months.”Steve Waugh, who retired at 38, said he was never concerned by age. “I don’t think 30 is old for a cricketer any more,” he said. “I know with myself in the last three years I felt the fittest in my whole career because you’ve got more people around to help you.”

Mike Hussey: will lead Durham in 2005© Getty Images

Mike Hussey, the Australian batsman, will replace Jon Lewis as Durham’s captain next season. Durham will be Hussey’s third county side, after a successful three-year stint with Northants, and half a season with Gloucestershire this year.Hussey, who has also captained Western Australia and Northants, said he would relish the challenge: “There is a lot of young talent within the team and I’m really looking forward to helping them develop. I am convinced that Durham are more than capable of achieving promotion in both one-day and Championship cricket in 2005.”Martyn Moxon, the former Yorkshire and England batsman, who is now Durham’s coach, explained: "It was felt that a change in leadership would help the team’s progression. Mike will bring a new approach to the squad in addition to the wealth of experience he acquired as captain of Northants and Western Australia."Moxon praised Lewis, the outgoing captain, saying that he had done a superb job throughout his tenure, while David Harker, Durham’s chief executive, added that the club were looking to Lewis to support Hussey in his captaincy.There will be another Australian addition to Durham’s 2005 squad – yesterday they announced that Ashley Noffke, the 27-year-old Queensland fast bowler, was also being drafted in.

Rumours about Sourav Ganguly seeking a new marketing agent intensified even as World Sports Nimbus strongly denied reports that it had offered Ganguly Rs 60 crore (US$12.5 million approx) as guarantee money over a five-year period. The Times of India quoted Harish Thawani, co-chairman of WSN, as saying: "We have given no such proposal to Ganguly, nor are we contemplating to. There is no resolution even in the company board of taking cricketers on board for celebrity management."Earlier reports had suggested that WSN wanted to sign up Ganguly once his current marketing agreement with Percept expires on August 31. According to the , Nimbus had supposedly offered a deal whereby Ganguly would be guaranteed the money, regardless of whether or not the firm made a profit. It was also not contingent on his remaining captain of India.Ganguly is in Sydney for a commercial shoot, and has refused to either confirm or deny the rumours.

Running through Maharashtra’s batting line-up with his leg-spinners,Sairaj Bahutule returned figures of 5-69 as the visitors collapsed to216 all out in their Ranji Trophy league match against Mumbai atMumbai.Winning the toss, Maharashtra looked to post a big total in the firstinnings. Its batsmen, however, failed to post large scores, and onlyKaushik Aphale (51) even got past the 50-mark. Paras Mhambrey,supporting Bahutule, picked three wickets.In reply, Mumbai were 31 for no loss at stumps, with openers VinayakMane and Sameer Dighe unbeaten on 15 and 14 respectively.

ScorecardMitchell Johnson picked up 5 for 31•Getty Images

Mitchell Johnson ran through Queensland and collected five wickets as Western Australia finished their Matador Cup campaign with a comfortable consolation victory. Adam Voges was also in fine touch in the 39-run win, scoring 81 and picking up three wickets with his part-time spin, but the match was effectively a dead rubber with neither side having any chance of progressing.Queensland’s young new-ball pair of Billy Stanlake (4 for 37) and Mark Steketee (3 for 45) were impressive Voges steered the Warriors to a solid total of 9 for 240 after he won the toss and chose to bat. Contributions also came from Michael Klinger (48) and Mitchell Marsh (46), and Ashton Agar struck two sixes in a late cameo of 21 not out from 10 balls.The quality of Johnson made it an extra tough chase for the Bulls; Johnson had openers Charlie Hemphrey and Usman Khawaja both caught behind cheaply, before Joe Burns and Nathan Reardon steadied with a partnership of 94 runs. Both men scored 54 but both also fell to the spin of Voges, who also trapped Michael Neser lbw and finished with 3 for 20.Voges outbowled the specialist Agar, who struggled to contain Queensland and went for 46 off his nine overs, and did not claim a wicket. But the Warriors had enough firepower in their attack as Johnson got rid of Peter Forrest and Chris Hartley, and then claimed the final wicket to finish with 5 for 31 and secure the 39-run victory.Western Australia were without fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile due to a minor injury to his left shoulder. The fast bowler Jhye Richardson, 19, debuted in place of Coulter-Nile and bowled six overs for 0 for 34.