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Heading into Sunday’s clash, Leeds United would have heavily fancied their chances against Ruben Amorim’s hot-and-cold Manchester United.

After all, entering into this showdown between two bitter foes, the moods were very different, with the Whites pleased with a battling 0-0 draw on the road at Liverpool last time out, while the Red Devils shakily secured a share of the points versus bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Another Premier League draw was on the menu at Elland Road, as Matheus Cunha quickly cancelled out Brenden Aaronson’s opener, which sent the home fans inside Leeds’ beloved home ground into raptures.

Aaronson, once again, impressed in the middle of the park for Daniel Farke’s reinvigorated hosts, with his overall display also pleasing to take in, away from his memorable second-half effort beating Senne Lammens.

Aaronson's standout performance vs Man Utd

Aaronson easily shrugged off an attempted challenge by Ayden Heaven to fire the home side into a one-goal lead, as his resurgence in the Leeds starting lineup shows no signs of coming to a grinding halt.

Indeed, heading into this showdown with the Red Devils, the energetic American had managed to tally up two assists against Liverpool and Sunderland in December, but he was the goalscoring hero for a change against Amorim’s men.

On top of bagging a crucial goal, the former RB Salzburg attacker also showed off plenty of passion as Yorkshire faced off against Lancashire, with the lively number 11 going in for 11 duels in total.

Constantly bombing forward with pace, as well, Farke will know that Aaronson’s energy and determination will continue to be pivotal, as the games come thick and fast across the rest of the bumper month.

The team’s overall standards have risen so much in recent weeks that Aaronson would admit – at the close of the 1-1 draw – that he was disappointed that the three points didn’t come their way.

Still, there were a lot of positives for Leeds to latch onto, even if a win didn’t arrive.

The Leeds star who was even better than Aaronson

Leeds fans watching the game at home would have been greeted with a brief trip down memory lane as former Whites star Mateusz Klich spoke to the media pre-match.

Hailing the Whites as a “special place”, Klich is still loved to this day for what he offered Leeds over many a season, with 24 goals and 21 assists coming the Polish midfielder’s way from 195 games.

Picking up nine goal contributions from 35 clashes, Klich was always a reliable performer at his Elland Road peak.

Anton Stach looks to be heading down the same path as Klich in being a well-rounded presence, capable of also chipping in with a goal or an assist in the Premier League, with the former Hoffenheim midfielder going down as an instant hit in England since moving in the summer.

Stach’s performance in numbers

Stat

Stach

Minutes played

90

Goals scored

0

Assists

0

Touches

77

Shots

1

Accurate passes

38/50 (76%)

Key passes

3

Tackles won

3/5

Total duels won

7/13

Stats by Sofascore

He wouldn’t add to his three goals and two assists for the season against the Red Devils, but he was definitely lively throughout from the middle of the park, winning three tackles and seven duels to continue to live up to his reputation of being a “monster” that was handed to him by one scout.

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But, as journalist Paddy Keogh stated, Stach also showed off why he’s a “serious all-action” option for Farke – like Klich once was, with the skilful German coming off at the end of the tight contest with three key passes under his belt, as Leeds constantly attempted to unlock a stern United defence.

Aaronson’s numbers fall flat in comparison, despite his goal stealing the headlines come the end of the match, with the American only managing to register one key pass.

Moreover, despite the 5-foot-10 attacker putting his neck on the line to try and win 11 duels, he would only come out on top two times, while Stach would valiantly win seven of his own 13 duels, with Leeds Live journalist Isaac Johnson stating that he “held his ground” bravely amid a 7/10 post-match rating.

Leeds’ immediate future in the Premier League looks bright if both Stach and Aaronson continue to excel, with the German hopeful that he can be seen as another cult figure like Klich down the line, if he can keep up these sublime performances.

Related Stach repeat: Leeds identify £11m "goal-scoring menace" as top target

Leeds United are reportedly eyeing up this star who could be an Anton Stach repeat.

Posts ByDan Emery

The English women’s team got their tour of Australia and New Zealand off to ashaky start today with a five-wicket loss to Australian National Leaguechampions New South Wales at Old King’s Oval, Parramatta, in western Sydney.England, who were at one stage reeling at 8/61 in the fifty-over-a-sidematch, made 104 in 49.5 overs. The NSWIS (New South Wales Institute ofSport) Blues, containing four current and two ex-Australian representatives, scored the required 105 runs for the loss of five wickets with15.3 overs to spare.All six of the NSW bowlers were among the wickets after Julie Hayes won thetoss and sent England into bat, Belinda Clark playing but stepping down fromcaptaincy duties for the day. Charlotte Edwards (16) provided someresistance against a well-drilled NSW bowling attack, until last pair LauraNewton (25*) and Lucy Pearson (13) added 27 for the tenth wicket. NSW pacebowler Bronwyn Calver took 2/13 from her ten overs, including the wicket of Clare Taylor through an exceptional diving one-handed catch from Julie Hayes. Therese McGregor claimed 1/4from five, while off-spinner Lisa Sthalekar (1/28) was somehow permitted tobowl an eleventh over – though that extra over, which went for seven runs,was one of the most costly of the England innings.A 72-run opening stand between Australian internationals Lisa Keightley (39)and Michelle Goszko (34) put the match beyond any shadow of a doubt,although nineteen year-old left-arm spinner Dawn Holden (4/31 from tenovers) had an impressive debut appearance in an England senior team.England play a New South Wales team of second-eleven strength tomorrow at BankstownOval, Sydney, before the first of four one-day internationalsagainst Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:06

Arnold: NZ quicks’ variety was the clincher

In conditions where the old ball did nothing and New Zealand’s three first-choice quicks produced innocuous medium-pace, Neil Wagner ran in relentlessly with tremendous stamina, sending down a barrage of short deliveries, harrying the batsmen at around 140 kph and broke Sri Lanka’s resistance. Until Wagner came on, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews had been untroubled and scored freely, but once he broke through his one wicket quickly led to many, and New Zealand completed a 122-run victory after lunch on the final day in Dunedin.Before Brendon McCullum turned to Wagner, Sri Lanka made 45 runs in 15.5 overs, and Mitchell Santner and Doug Bracewell had just begun to control a previously brisk run rate. Wagner immediately resorted to a short-pitched attack from over the wicket – like he had done on the third day – targeting the right-hand batsman’s ribs with men catching close on the leg side.Chandimal had been cover-driving and cutting Trent Boult and Tim Southee, his fierce punishment of anything loose taking him swiftly to a half-century. Mathews had played with softer hands and a straighter bat, batting with calm. Wagner gave them no width, no opportunity to get on the front foot, hustling them with pace, forcing hurried evasive actions and awkward fends off the body.Wagner’s method of attack had become so ingrained in the batsman’s psyche that they expected little else from him. And so Mathews, after moving hurriedly towards the off side to let two consecutive short balls whizz past his ribs, began to play the third delivery in a similar manner. Except that this time Wagner bowled a full length. The ball crashed into the inside of his front pad, shot between his legs and flattened middle stump. Mathews had not even played a shot, and was the first Sri Lankan batsman to not be caught in this Test.Chandimal had to shelve his cavalier approach against Wagner. He had got to 50 off 90 balls – scoring 19 off 26 this morning – but made only eight off his next 41 deliveries. Subdued into a defensive mind-set, he padded up to a ball from the left-arm spinner Santner that went on with the arm, and was adjudged lbw not offering a shot. After a partnership of 56, Mathews and Chandimal had fallen with the score on 165.Wagner now went around the wicket to aim at the ribs of the two left-handers – Kithuruwan Vithanage and Milinda Siriwardana. He pinned them to the crease with his length, and then bowled a fast full-toss at Siriwardana, who was hit on the back pad as he squared up in his crease. The umpire Nigel Llong gave him lbw but Siriwardana successfully reviewed the decision, replays surprisingly suggesting the ball would have missed off stump, perhaps because Wagner had delivered from extremely wide of the crease.Wagner was given the second new ball for the last delivery of his first spell, which comprised eight overs at speeds that did not ebb.Southee took two deliveries to strike with the new ball, swinging it back into Vithanage from over the wicket, hitting the left-hander’s pads. Vithanage had played an enterprising innings, a run-a-ball 38 full of shots.The slide was swift after lunch. Boult struck in the third and fifth over of the second session – drawing an edge from Rangana Herath and having Siriwardana caught at short cover, both batsmen not bothering with defence.Sri Lanka went down swinging, and were bowled out for 282. However, the fact that an inexperienced batting line-up had lasted 95.2 overs after playing 117.1 in the first innings will be some consolation for a team rebuilding from the retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

Continuity or monopoly?: Sharad Pawar will soon move on to bigger pastures but not without ensuring that his fief is in safe hands © Getty Images

While much of the attention was focussed on the Board of Control forCricket in India’s crackdown on players who have aligned with the IndianCricket League there was another significant development that took place.In order to ensure continuity the BCCI has announced a president-elect tosucceed Sharad Pawar. That office will most likely be held by Chirayu Amin, presidentof the Baroda cricket association, for three months, and then, probably, by ShashankManohar for three years through to 2011.Pawar will become vice-president of the International Cricket Council inJuly 2008, and will then have to relinquish office at his home board. An interim president will hold office for the three-month period from July tillSeptember 2008, when the elections are set to take place.Once the ICC announced that David Morgan of the ECB, and Pawar from theBCCI, would take up office as ICC president in 2008 and 2010 respectively,the BCCI decided to do something similar at home, whereinthe president elect will be chosen a year in advance. This suggestion camefrom Inderjit Singh Bindra, former president of the BCCI and currentpresident of the Punjab Cricket Association. It was suggested that such apractice would ensure that the president elect had a good workingknowledge of the board, and that elections would proceed in a smoothmanner.According to the procedural changes being suggested, the interim president forthat period will be someone from the same zone as the existing president -West Zone – which in this case is Amin. By rotation the next turn, whichwill be for a full three years, from September 2008 till 2011, goes toCentral Zone. The front-runner here is Shashank Manohar, who is thepresident of the Vidarbha Cricket Association and vice-president of theBCCI, apart from being a close aide of Pawar. What this will mean, ineffect, is that there will be no elections for the post of president in2008 and the current regime will continue, unchallenged, till 2011.It is understood that Lalit Modi, the man behind many of the financial andbusiness aspects of the board, suggested that a similar procedure beadopted for other office bearers of the board, apart from the president,in order to ensure some sort of continuity. However, this did not come upfor discussion in the course of the two special general meetings held inMumbai on Tuesday.

John Buchanan has devised a new pre-season plan for the Australian squad © Getty Images

John Buchanan’s desire for innovation will result in the Australian players preparing for the Champions Trophy and the Ashes with a challenging three-day camp in the Queensland bush. According to the exercise is designed by the coach, whose contract expires after the World Cup in April, as a back-to-basics experience and it is expected to be approved by Cricket Australia’s Board on Friday.”Buchanan wants to keep it all a bit close to his chest because he wants it all to be a bit of a surprise for them and a challenge when it happens,” the paper quoted an unidentified Cricket Australia director as saying. After the outback camp the Australians are expected to reconvene on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for more pre-Ashes training.Throughout his seven-year tenure Buchanan has pushed the players to think outside the game and his experiments have included trips to French and Turkish battlefields, writing poetry, introducing the players to by Sun Tzu and hiring a baseball coach. The Champions Trophy in October begins a hectic summer for the team, which also has the five-Test series against England, the VB and Chappell-Hadlee series and the World Cup in the West Indies.

Yuvraj Singh – grateful for coaching assistance © Getty Images

Yuvraj Singh says his century against Zimbabwe is all thanks to the hard work he has put in recently, under the watchful eye of India’s coach Greg Chappell and his assistant Ian Frazer.”I was short of confidence when I went to Sri Lanka,” he told PTI, “and Greg (Chappell) and Frazer worked very hard on me. My footwork improved greatly,” he added, after his 120 bailed India out of a tricky situation against Zimbabwe in a tri-series game on Sunday.”I worked very hard on my first 50 runs but once I got set I chose my bowlers to attack. It never crossed my mind that we could lose the game. I knew that if I could bat till the end, we cannot lose the game.”He said the pressure was definitely on India after an early flurry of wickets. “If you lose four early wickets, whatever is the attack, the pressure is on the opposition,” he added. “Our top order is one of the best in the world and if they were out, they must have bowled good balls.”

Stuart MacGill has earned Streak’s respect© Getty Images

Heath Streak has lauded Stuart MacGill’s decision to withdraw from Australia’s tour of Zimbabwe. He told The Melbourne Age “I respect Stuart for the decision he’s made.” MacGill recently pulled out of the tour saying he could not tour Zimbabwe with a clear conscience.”That’s his (MacGill’s) view on what he feels is morally and principally right,” said Streak. “With our stand-off now with the ZCU that’s basically what we feel. Morally and principally we are standing up for what we believe is the right thing.”At the same time Streak warned that the protest of 15 Zimbabwean cricketers should not be misconstrued. “We’ve got to be careful people don’t think we’re trying to encourage Australia and England not to come because that isn’t the case, but we want our issues resolved in a fair and transparent manner… If that doesn’t happen then I’m sure friends of ours that we’ve made during our international careers from all countries, not just Australia and England, will want to know more about what’s going on and how it’s being dealt with.”While newspapers have reported that several other Australian cricketers also have second thoughts about touring Zimbabwe, James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, has said that such a development is unlikely.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming raised the stakes ahead of Friday’s must-win World Cup clash against India by reminding his rivals of the drubbing they received three months ago.Sourav Ganguly’s men were thrashed 2-0 in the Tests and 5-2 in the one-dayers on the tour of New Zealand in December-January amidst complaints of poor wickets heavily tilted in favour of the bowlers.But the Indians put aside the disappointment of that tour to win seven of their eight World Cup matches so far and book a place in the semi-finals alongside Australia and Kenya.The Kiwis, meanwhile, allowed Australia to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Port Elizabeth and must now beat India at the Centurion on Friday to grab the fourth spot.Fleming, however, was unconcerned about the terrific form shown by the Indians at the tournament.”They’ll be confident but sometimes that can be a weakness. Hopefully we can open up some of the wounds we opened in New Zealand,” Fleming said.His Indian counterpart, Sourav Ganguly, however, refused to worry about the past.”History does not interest me, that’s over, it’s behind us,” he said.Ganguly stressed it was important to win to keep the momentum flowing.”We can’t take it lightly, it’s a World Cup game after all,” he said.”Moreover it would be great to go into the semi-finals with eight wins in nine matches.”India’s New Zealand coach John Wright continued the mind games, saying Kiwi pace bowling sensation Shane Bond will not pose any problems for Sachin Tendulkar.”Sachin can take care of anything,” Wright said.Tendulkar, one-day cricket’s leading batsman, has scored a record 571 runs in this tournament, while Bond scared the living daylights out of the Australians on Tuesday with a fiery burst of 6-23 at Port Elizabeth.”There is no grudge, we just have to play as well as we have been doing in the tournament and get through this game,” Wright said.”From 14 teams, we have made it to the top four because we have played very good cricket.”But we need to concentrate hard because no win is easy.”Ganguly said it was too early to think of the final.”We have to take it one match at a time. For that matter so have Australia. Even they have not qualified for the final yet,” he said.Teams (from):New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Lou Vincent, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond, Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Craig McMillan, Andre Adams, Kyle Mills, Matthew Sinclair, Scott StyrisIndia: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Javagal Srinath, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Sanjay Bangar, Ajit Agarkar

BCCI nominates 4 former players as Development OfficersThe Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated fourformer Test players for the post of Development Officers of the AsianCricket Foundation (ACF). National selectors Ashok Malhotra and MadanLal, allrounder Roger Binny and left handed batsman Woorkheri Ramanwere the four BCCI nominees, according to ACF chairman JagmohanDalmiya.The ACF will meet in Kolkata on July 31 and August 1 to finalise thepanel of development officers. The two-day meeting will also discussvarious other issues pertaining to development of cricket in theregion.Pakistan and Sri Lanka had already sent their nominations for the postof Development Officers. While Pakistan’s list comprised formerskippers Mushtaq Mohammed and Zaheer Abbas and medium pacer IqbalSikander, Sri Lanka recommended stylish batsman Roy Dias, former pacerRumesh Ratnayeke and wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon Kuruppu.* CBFS wins defamation caseThe London High Court has passed a judgement in favour of theCricketers’ Benefit Fund Series, Sharjah (CBFS) with regard to theirdefamation case against the “Asian Age” daily newspaper for publishingcertain “libellous statements”, a CBFS release said on Saturday.”The judgement allowed for damages for an amount to be assessed at alater date as well as legal costs for the plaintiff. An injunction nowprevents the Asian Age from publishing similar libels in future. TheAsian Age did not defend the case against it,” the CBFS said in thepress release.The court heard the CBFS case on July 12 regarding the publication ofthe alleged offending matter on February 14, and passed its judgement.When contacted, MJ Akbar, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director ofAsian Age, said they have not received any notice in this regard.

Toby Bailey saved face for Northamptonshire with a career-best 85 not out against promotion-chasing Worcestershire at New Road.The Second Division champions were deep in trouble at 96 for seven until their 24-year-old reserve wicketkeeper delayed the home county’s march towards their first target of maximum bowling points.Bailey shared in half century partnerships with acting captain Tony Penberthy (48) and Paul Taylor (14) before tea was taken early with the visitors in much better shape at 231 for nine.Needing victory to have a chance of joining Northants in the top-flight next year, Worcestershire gambled that Glenn McGrath would profit from bowling first on a cloudy first day.The Australian fast bowler claimed his 65th Championship wicket of the season with only his second ball and eventually took his total to 68 with figures of four for 69 in 24 overs.Medium-pacers Stuart Lampitt and David Leatherdale added to the morning demolition with four lbw victims, all given by umpire John Steele, but Bailey transformed the situation with 14 fours from 117 balls.