Former Real Madrid and Spain centre-back Sergio Ramos has departed Mexican side Monterrey following their final game of the season. Monterrey fell to a 3-2 defeat to Toluca in the semi-finals of the Liga MX playoffs, and Ramos has confirmed that he has played his final game for the club. However, the legendary defender has no plans to call time on his playing career.
How both teams deal with the conditions on Monday will be pivotal in a game that could be key to deciding how Group B finishes
Firdose Moonda06-Oct-2024Lack of pace is expected to be the biggest challenge facing both England and South Africa in their key Group B clash in Sharjah on Monday. Both teams are one from one so far and the game could be key to deciding how the pool finishes but, on the evidence of the opening week in Sharjah, it could be heavy going.In four matches played at the venue, no team has crossed 120 and the average first innings score is 111.50. Run-scoring has been made particularly difficult by the slowness of the surface and the size of the outfield. With square boundaries of 63 and 57 metres on Saturday (which will vary slightly on Monday, depending on which pitch is being played on), finding the boundary has proven tough too and the numbers prove it. So far, in four matches, there have been 56 fours and five sixes hit in Sharjah across four matches, compared to 79 in Dubai so far.Sri Lanka have played both their matches in Sharjah, failed to cross 100 on both occasions and without being overly critical of the surface their captain Chamari Athapaththu explained her concerns. “I feel our batters need some good pace and bounce. Then, they perform really well. Because they don’t have big muscle power, they time the ball and in these conditions, it’s a bit hard to do that,” Athapaththu said after Sri Lanka’s second loss on Saturday. “The outfield is too slow and this is a big ground, so too hard to score sixes and boundaries.”Related
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Athapaththu pointed out that it wasn’t plain-sailing for their opposition either, especially Australia, who hit 10 fours in their chase of 94 but no sixes. “Even Australia, I saw them struggle. They have good power-hitters, but even they struggled because of the bounce,” Athapaththu said. “It’s a low-bounce track, so it’s hard to clear the rope. We have to rotate the strike, that is the most important thing. [About] 120-130 is a good score on these tracks.”But running between the wickets has also been difficult, with the heat making it difficult for players to keep their intensity up, but they’ve tried. Sharjah has seen 87 twos, in contrast to Dubai’s 69, and that comes with some risk. There have been four run-outs in Sharjah and two in Dubai. England already know run-scoring is going to be a slog.The other thing both England and South Africa will want to think about is how many seamers to include in their XI. England have already shown their hand by playing all four frontline spinners in the squad in their opener against Bangladesh and using them to their full capacity. They each bowled their full quota of four overs and that meant they only had one seamer in operation in Nat Sciver-Brunt.South Africa could learn from that, especially as they already have two seam-bowling allrounders who could be picked as batters. Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk bat at No. 3 and 6 or 7 respectively and will provide the pace options so they may consider sacrificing the accuracy of Ayabonga Khaka for an extra spin in legspinner Seshnie Naidu.Or maybe not, if they listen to Australia’s Megan Schutt, whose haul of 3 for 12 against Sri Lanka was the most economical among seam bowlers at the venue so far. “There was actually a little bit more bounce and carry in my first over than what I thought there was going to be, so that was a nice surprise to have a slip in there early. But taking the pace off, I think we always knew it was going to be effective over here. And as the game progressed, it did get lower and slower,” Schutt said. “It’ll be really interesting to see the spinners take hold a little bit more, but I think pace still has a big important role to play, and being able to move the ball early is still what I’m going to try and do, and it’s just about adapting to conditions if that doesn’t happen.”
” We don’t want to leave it for the last game. We want to make sure we win all our games and guarantee that spot in the semi-final.”South Africa’s Tazmin Brits
Either way, as Heather Knight said in the post-match presentations, after England’s victory over Bangladesh, play as a whole may be a bit of a slog. “It is not going to be beautiful or sexy in these conditions,” as Knight put it.South Africa may argue that a lot of their cricket in the lead-up to this tournament has not been sexy. After reaching last year’s final, they only won one out of seven series in the lead-up to this World Cup and that one was on a last-minute trip to Pakistan before this tournament. Contrastingly, England have been all about attractive cricket, with victories in five of their seven series between the end of the last World Cup and the start of this one. But as South Africa scarred them at Newlands last February, they know they have to be wary – especially after the way South Africa opened this tournament with a ten-wicket win over West Indies. “South Africa had a convincing game. They are competitive and bring fire and passion,” Knight said.Being a team that comes from the country often called the best never to have won a World Cup, South Africa, for their part, just want to keep being convincing. “We’ve got a big game against England and as everyone knows, that’s always a tough one,” Tazmin Brits said. “But we don’t want to leave it for the last game. We want to make sure we win all our games and guarantee that spot in the semi-final.”
George Bartlett compiles fluent century before rain, time confirm stalemate
ECB Reporters Network06-Jun-2021Somerset opened up a ten-point lead at the top of Group Two when their LV=Insurance County Championship game with Hampshire at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, ended in a draw.Set an unlikely 459 to win from a minimum of 75 overs, the visitors closed a final day curtailed by afternoon rain on 88 for 2, with Tom Alsop unbeaten on 23 and Sam Northeast 19 not out.Earlier, George Bartlett had completed a fluent hundred, including 11 fours and two sixes, and Tom Banton contributed an unbeaten 51 as Somerset extended their second-innings score from an overnight 323 for 6 to 409 for 7 before declaring.The home side took 15 points from the game to overtake arch-rivals Gloucestershire at the top of the group, while Hampshire claimed 14 and lie close in third place.Clearly feeling a draw would be a more than satisfactory outcome in their position, Somerset batted on for 75 minutes at the start of the day.Bartlett and Banton began cautiously, scoring only 14 runs between them in the first half hour before both cutting loose. Banton moved to a 54-ball half-century with a six over mid-wicket off Ian Holland, the second time he had cleared the ropes.Bartlett, unbeaten on 74 overnight, accelerated towards an assured century and reached it off 160 deliveries. When he skied a catch off the first ball of the following over, it signalled the declaration.Ian Holland and Cameron Steel began Hampshire’s second innings positively. But their hopes of batting through the remainder for the morning session were scuppered when Steel fell lbw for 14, playing across a delivery from Lewis Gregory.Lewis Gregory celebrates after taking the wicket of Cameron Steel•Harry Trump/Getty Images
Lunch was taken at that point with the scoreboard reading 30 for 1. That became 39 for 2 when Holland, already dropped by Tom Abell at third slip off Josh Davey, was bowled pushing forward to Gregory.Northeast survived a tougher chance to Abell off the unlucky Davey, having made only four. But from then on Northeast and Alsop batted solidly, overcoming a pacey spell from the River End by Marchant de Lange, including several bouncers.The pair had added 49 when what started as light rain shortly before 3.20pm quickly developed into a downpour. Umpires Steve O’Shaugnessy and Peter Hartley ruled that play could restart at 5.05pm after an inspection.But by then the 41.4 overs originally remaining in the game had been reduced to 19.4 and the captains decided to shake hands on a draw without further play.
Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has just over a month to go until he will have the opportunity to make his first signing since arriving at Ibrox to replace Russell Martin.
The German tactician came through the door well after the summer transfer window had been and gone, after sporting director Kevin Thelwell provided Martin with a host of signings.
Rangers, as shown in the graphic above, had a high turnover of players in and out of Ibrox after they failed to win any trophies in the 2024/25 campaign, under Philippe Clement or Barry Ferguson.
Unfortunately, though, Martin was unable to get a tune out of the squad after those changes in the summer and was eventually sacked last month after a run of five wins in 17 games.
With Rohl now in the building, the former Sheffield Wednesday head coach will have time to assess those summer signings and decide where he wants the club to strengthen the squad when the January transfer window opens.
One of those Martin and Thelwell signings whom the manager may deem needs to be replaced in the winter is experienced central midfielder Joe Rothwell.
Rangers swooped to sign the 30-year-old midfielder from Premier League side Bournemouth on a permanent deal during the summer window for Martin, who had worked with him on loan at Southampton in the 2023/24 campaign.
Unfortunately, the English lightweight has flopped at Ibrox, on current evidence, and is yet to play a single minute of action in the Scottish Premiership since Rohl came through the door.
He was ill and unavailable for selection against Dundee last time out, but the midfield flop was an unused substitute in the wins over Kilmarnock and Hibernian in the manager’s first two matches in the dugout.
This means that Rangers have now won one of the eight league matches he has played in and won all three of the games that he has not featured in so far this season.
|
25/26 Premiership |
Rothwell |
Percentile rank vs CMs |
|---|---|---|
|
Tackles |
7 |
Bottom 29% |
|
Interceptions |
8 |
Top 29% |
|
Duels won |
16 |
Bottom 27% |
|
Duel success rate |
47% |
Bottom 37% |
|
Aerial duels won |
4 |
Bottom 29% |
|
Possession won in the final third |
1 |
Bottom 18% |
|
Ball recoveries |
22 |
Bottom 40% |
|
Stats via FotMob |
||
As you can see in the table above, Rothwell has struggled off the ball throughout the Premiership campaign, ranking poorly among his positional peers in the majority of the key defensive metrics, aside from interceptions.
On top of his defensive woes, the Englishman has no goals and one assist in eight appearances in the league, per Sofascore, which shows that he has not offered outstanding quality on the ball to make up for his defensive deficiencies.
This is why Rohl may already be considering replacing Rothwell in the January transfer window, and why the midfielder has been an unused substitute in the last two league games that he has been available for.
The Scottish Premiership giants may be able to replace the former Bournemouth and Southampton flop amid reported interest in a star who plays in his position.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
According to TEAMtalk, Rangers are one of the clubs exploring the possibility of a deal to snap up Kilmarnock central midfielder David Watson in the January transfer window.
The report claims that the Light Blues are in talks over a possible move for the Scotland U21 international, whose contract is due to expire at the end of the season.
It reveals that Rohl is a big fan of the midfield starlet and wants to add him to his squad in the winter market, with the Gers looking to seal a cut-price deal due to his contract situation.
However, TEAMtalk adds that Hearts, Aberdeen, and unnamed clubs in the English Championship are also keen on signing the £1.5m-rated Kilmarnock star, which means that there is plenty of competition for his signature.
Thelwell could land a huge upgrade on Rothwell for Rohl if he is able to beat the likes of Aberdeen and Hearts to the signing of Watson ahead of the second half of the season.
For a start, the Scotland U21 international is ten years younger than the English flop. He has far more years left ahead of him to develop as a player and offer quality on the pitch for Rangers than Rothwell does.
This also means that there is the potential for his value to grow so that he could be sold on for a profit in the future, like a Hamza Igamane or Calvin Bassey, and that may not be the case with the Bournemouth man, as he is in the latter stages of his career.
In terms of the here and now, Watson could come in as an upgrade on Rothwell from an offensive perspective. The Scottish star has scored three goals in 12 Premiership matches this season, after netting four last term, with the Rangers dud yet to get off the mark at Ibrox.
The Scotland U21 international, who Kilmarnock commentator Andrew Milligan claimed has “no ceiling”, would also come in and offer a huge upgrade on the English flop defensively.
|
25/26 Premiership |
David Watson |
Joe Rothwell |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
12 |
8 |
|
Tackles + interceptions per game |
3.1 |
1.9 |
|
Clearances per game |
0.9 |
0.1 |
|
Duels won per game |
6.0 |
2.0 |
|
Ground duel success rate |
51% |
46% |
|
Fouls won per game |
2.3 |
0.1 |
|
Blocks per game |
0.5 |
0.1 |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
||
As you can see in the table above, Watson has excelled out of possession in comparison to Rothwell in the 2025/26 campaign, making far more defensive contributions at a more efficient rate.
It is, therefore, easy to understand why Rohl is such a big fan of the Kilmarnock star and why he wants Thelwell to get a deal over the line for him when the January transfer window opens.
Watson’s offensive and defensive statistics suggest that he would arrive at Ibrox as a huge upgrade on Rothwell, who has struggled since his move to the club, and provide the likes of Connor Barron, Nico Raskin, and Mo Diomande with genuine competition for the midfield spots.
Thelwell let Rangers star go for £0, now he'd walk into the XI over Aasgaard
This former Rangers star who was released by Kevin Thelwell would walk into the current team over Thelo Aasgaard.
By
Dan Emery
Nov 18, 2025
Home side’s batting malfunctions on cloudy day as Gloucestershire cement table-topping form
Andrew Miller06-May-2021Gloucestershire 19 for 1 trail Middlesex 210 (White 76*, Payne 5-31) by 191 runsThis wasn’t exactly an advert for Championship cricket. More a case of Championship cricket for adverts (specifically of the erectile dysfunction variety, as it happens) as Sky Sports cobbled together a lo-fi means to fill an IPL-shaped void in their scheduling. The solution? The dispatching of their heavies – Athers, Nasser, Keysy and Wardy – to HQ, to see what the Middlesex live stream had to offer their cricketainment-starved masses.The answer “Robbie White” might not have been top of anyone’s list, to be fair. Nor a run-rate that protested, like a two-stroke moped, whenever it got close to 2.5 an over. Nor a dank and confused day that started as black as midnight and erupted, via two half-hearted rain-breaks, into the sort of hypothermic blue skies that cause accidental picnickers to stammer “isn’t this lovely?” through chattering teeth.But at least there was David Payne, bending his left-arm bananas around a series of skittish defensive techniques, to claim the day’s outstanding figures of 5 for 31 in 18.5 overs. And at least there was the chance, too, for the under-sung Ryan Higgins to seize this unlikely version of the limelight. By picking off two well-crafted wickets, including the in-form Sam Robson for the day’s first scalp, Higgins took his season’s tally to 26 at 17.34, and with his batting yet to come, he could yet reinforce the sense that his numbers are more than just a trick of the Bristol light.But overall, this was a day on which Middlesex stared their recent batting failures in the mirror, like a self-motivating drunk in a pub toilet, and ended up decorating the dancefloor once again in spite of resolving to hold it all in this time. Their innings of 210 in 80.5 overs was attritional in outlook, but lacked attrition in execution – with the honourable exception of White, who remained high and dry on 76 not out from 149 balls, as the rest of Middlesex’s top seven reached double figures without getting past 20.White is still waiting for that elusive first-class century – he made a career-best 99 in last season’s Bob Willis Trophy, and has now passed 70 in the last four of this season’s five matches. His nine boundaries were cherry-picked at first, as he focussed on punishing the ball in his eyeline, but his confidence was beginning to flow as he eased to his fifty with a brace of fours off Daniel Worrall – a liberated cut and a pumped drive through the covers. With a bit more support at the other end, he’ll reach his promised land soon enough.Gloucestershire, top of Group 2 after a startlingly composed start to their campaign, have leant heavily on their batting in their three wins from four, not least in their 348-run chase against Leicestershire in the last round of matches. But when given the chance to bowl first on a stereotypically “look up, not down” morning at Lord’s, Chris Dent seized the chance, and was vindicated in the final analysis, even if for long periods of their innings, Middlesex seemed to be toughing their way through to better times.Their frailties, however, were rarely far from the surface. Robson and Max Holden peered through the gloom of the first hour to reach 23 for no loss when rain stopped play for the first time, only for Higgins to bend his second ball of the resumption down the slope and into Robson’s planted front pad for 13.Max Holden was then suckered by a zippy nipbacker from Matt Taylor, the second left-armer in Gloucestershire’s ranks – his lack of intent condemning him for offering no shot as the ball speared back down the slope. And though Peter Handscomb avoided his third duck since arriving as Middlesex’s new captain, his dismissal was not that of a man at ease with his game. A grotesque leave as Payne curled an inswinger into his off-stump for 10 left him nursing a tally of 27 runs in four innings.Middlesex by now were going nowhere fast, unable to stick and not daring to twist as Gloucestershire’s seamers hounded their techniques with increasing frequency. Nick Gubbins was another to succumb to Payne’s natural bend through the air, as he jabbed with hard hands for George Hankins to cling on at the second attempt at second slip, and though John Simpson showed signs of fluency with three well-timed fours in his 17, he was done like a rookie by the spin of Tom Smith. A flat tonk through mid-on one ball as Smith gave him oodles of air to chase, a confused thud of the pad the next, as Smith slipped a faster, flatter one down the slope.Related
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Martin Andersson, not quite at the races in either of his two disciplines this season, hung around with White for a while in a 42-run stand for the sixth wicket, the best of the innings. But Taylor switched his angle to round the wicket to crash into his thrusting front pad for 20, before James Harris received the best ball of the day, a wicked full-length inswinger that burst through his gate from over the wicket before his technique could respond.The tail came meekly – Higgins bagged his second to dislodge Ethan Bamber with an inswinger, before Payne fittingly sealed his five-for with two in three balls, as Thilan Wallalawita and Tim Murtagh were rounded up with only Wallalawita’s calypso cover drive for four to show for their efforts.The only saving grace of a day that started terribly for Middlesex with the news of Toby Roland-Jones’ latest injury setback came in the closing minutes, as Dent and Kraigg Brathwaite got into a fearful muddle on a quick single to midwicket. Dent was run out for 10 as he scurried back whence he came, trapping his bat in the turf to hamper his progress. With the forecast set to be mixed for the coming days, the atmospherics around Lord’s could yet assist a fightback from Middlesex’s own seamers. But they’ll need to find greater resolve when their own second innings comes.Given the expense that Sky have spared in their production, they could have picked pretty much any ground in the country this week. They could have spirited themselves to Trent Bridge, to watch the champions Essex fold for 99 as Stuart Broad got the better of Alastair Cook; to Northampton, to watch Sussex slump to 25 for 7 on a 15-wicket day, or the Ageas Bowl, where Hampshire’s April run-harvesting already feels as much of a bygone era as warm hugs and finger buffets.But they’ve settled for the hallowed turf, with its building works and statue rumpuses, and misfiring home batters. And they’ll take what they’ve been given, come what may.
Aston Villa have now reportedly formalised their move to sign an impressive Bundesliga attacker ahead of rival interest from Barcelona in 2026.
Whilst Thursday’s 2-1 defeat against Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League provided them with another setback, things have been looking up for Aston Villa following a disastrous start.
Having failed to win any of their first six games in all competitions, they’re now on a run of just one defeat in six which came last time out in unexpected fashion. Following a disruptive summer surrounded by the future of key men and PSR issues, Unai Emery almost has his side back to their very best at long last.
Alas, there’s still work to be done. If those in the Midlands can negotiate a way past their PSR problems, then the January transfer window represents the perfect time to make up for a frustrating summer.
Aston Villa now in contract talks with big-name duo after McGinn and Cash
The Villans are planning an exciting January pursuit.
By
Sean Markus Clifford
Oct 25, 2025
Emery was forced to miss out on a number of targets and is now dealing without the squad depth that he needs to compete on all fronts, especially in his frontline.
Just like last season, that could be solved by a number of potential loan deals – one of them being for Endrick. The Real Madrid wonderkid is reportedly set to leave the Bernabeu on loan in January and Villa are among the clubs interested in his signature.
Emery benefitted from the arrival of out-of-favour stars Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford last season and may now get a repeat one year later courtesy of Real Madrid.
The teenage star may not be the only player on his way, either. Reports are now suggesting that Villa have formalised their move to sign a Barcelona target.
According to reports in Spain, Aston Villa have now formalised their move to sign Fisnik Asllani from Hoffenheim. The 23-year-old forward has enjoyed an impressive season in the Bundesliga so far, attracting interest from Villa and even Barcelona as a result. Sparking an interesting race, Emery should be keen to get his man.
Since being described as a “superb complete forward” by scout Jacek Kulig last month, Asllani has taken his total to five goals in eight games in all competitions – four more than the struggling Ollie Watkins.
If Aston Villa want to secure the future of their frontline, then Asllani is their man. Beating Barcelona to his signature would also represent quite the move from a side entering 2026 off the back of a frustrating summer transfer window.
In a repeat of last season, the January arrival of an attacking star could turn Villa’s campaign around.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has taken a fresh swipe at Mohamed Salah ahead of the team's Champions League clash with Inter at San Siro on Tuesday evening. Salah has been left out of the squad for the game in Milan following his critical comments after Saturday's draw with Leeds, and his future at the club remains in doubt. Carragher has already branded Salah a "disgrace" for his outburst and has now followed that up with a fresh post on social media.
The allrounder looks back at Sri Lanka’s memorable Test series win in England ten years ago
Interview by Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Aug-2024To start, what are your memories of that 2014 series?
It was one of my best years as player and captain. It will go into the record books and history books. We can cherish those moments for the rest of our lives, because it was such competitive cricket.Let’s talk about that Lord’s Test first. You scored a hundred and Kumar Sangakkara hit the Lord’s century he’d been dreaming of…
In my first Test at Lord’s, being able to get on the honours board was such a delight for me. I was happy for Sanga as well because that was his last innings at Lord’s and he desperately wanted that hundred. Good things happen to good people.The batters had a good game but it came down to Nuwan Pradeep, the No. 11, having to bat out five balls to save that Test. What were you feeling in the dressing room watching that?
The most important job was done by Nuwan Pradeep and the lower order, because if we had lost that game, we wouldn’t have won the series. I’m very grateful for the grit the bowlers showed with the bat in that game. In the dressing room we were counting down the overs. We were probably putting a lot of pressure on the batters who ended up having to go out there.Bowlers do a lot of hard work just bowling, but sometimes end up having to do the team’s dirty laundry as well. I sometimes feel it’s pretty unfair. But they showed a lot of grit and a lot of courage against Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, who were running in hard.Nuwan Pradeep was not only courageous, he also remembered we had a review up our sleeves as well [he was given out lbw off the second-to-last delivery, but reviewed straight away and was shown to have got an inside edge to the ball]. Even though he’s not the best the best in facing the ball, he was so gritty in not letting the team down. In the dressing room we absolutely didn’t want to lose that game. We were hoping, praying, keeping our fingers crossed – all those things.Related
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In the second Test, you got a few wickets in the first innings to keep Sri Lanka hanging in the match. What do you remember of that?
It was a pretty hostile series for both teams. There was a lot of talking and going at each other. It was quite fun on the field. I took the ball and tried to bowl on a good length. In England, if you land the ball on the spot and get it to move, it gives you a chance to take wickets. I just did that and got four wickets.In that second innings, you had had a pretty good partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, but then he got out and a couple of wickets fell. When the No. 8 batter, Dhammika Prasad, got out first ball, you threw your bat in anger. Do you remember that moment?
Yes, I do. I had a go at Dhammika in the dressing room as well. Any batsman can get out. In the heat of the moment, I must have thrown my bat as well. It was all part of the game, because it was a very hostile series and we badly wanted to beat England.We managed to claw our way back after that. Rangana Herath played a massive part by batting so well at the other end [Mathews and Herath put on 149 for the eighth wicket, of which Herath scored 48]. He managed to hold on at one end. I was able to play my natural game. We got a fairly decent lead.When I got out, I was thinking, “Oh no, we should have got more runs.” But it worked out pretty well, because we only won that match off the penultimate ball, so looking back, the timing worked.Dhammika Prasad reduced England to 52 for 4 as they looked to chase 350 at Headingley•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesWhat I remember of that innings was you clobbering boundaries even when they had the field back to defend against that. You’ve now played over 100 Tests. Where does that 160 rate for you?
Right at the very top. It was foreign conditions, and playing that English team was a massive challenge. It was a 160 in a winning effort, which was the important thing. It wasn’t just the match, winning the series and creating history was special.You said you had a go at Dhammika Prasad, but then later that day he took four wickets and set Sri Lanka up for the win. Have you ever spoken to him about what happened for him that evening?
We’ve had that conversation quite a bit since then. Yes, it stirred him up a bit. We know that Dhammika can also bat and score some runs, so that’s what we were expecting. Anyone can get out, it’s just the way he got out at the time [ramping a short ball and holing out to deep third]…But he got very fired up coming out to bowl, and I personally say that’s the best spell I’ve seen him bowl. It was quite a flat wicket at the time. We were into the last session of the fourth day. The balls that he bowled to that top order were unplayable. We both agree that it’s one of the best spells that cricket has seen.Late in that Test, Moeen Ali was batting very well, and James Anderson seemed to have his defence in order at No. 11, when you were one wicket away. You’d toiled for wickets all day. Were you preparing yourself emotionally for a draw at any point?
It was a rollercoaster of emotions. At one point, in my mind I kind of gave up [when] Anderson and Moeen Ali batted for quite a while. But then another part of me kept telling me we were going to win. We threw all our options out. I was going to bowl someone else for that last over, but in the last moment I gave it to Shaminda Eranga. Looking back, everything worked perfectly. But at some moments I did think I’d tried everything I can… but we kept trying every single trick. Anderson and Moeen batted for more than an hour before that final over. You crammed the infield with fielders because Anderson was on strike. Do you remember where you were standing for that?
Yes, I was at leg slip and Rangana was next to me at leg gully. And it popped out to Rangana. Anderson was playing really well and he never gave up. They showed a lot of grit as well. That last-wicket pair batted for a lot of overs.Mathews rates his 160 at Headingley: “Right at the very top. It was foreign conditions, and playing that English team was a massive challenge”•Ben Radford/Getty ImagesWhen that ball popped up, did you have any doubts about what was going to happen next?
No doubt at all, because all 11 of us were expecting that to come to us. I’m sure any of us would have taken that with our whole body – it was that important. We were waiting for even a quarter of a chance – not even half. I’m a 1000% sure Rangana was never going to drop that.Shaminda had bowled extremely well to get that wicket. All the bowlers had bowled so well. They bowled their hearts out.At that stage, you had won the Asia Cup, the T20 World Cup, and then this Test series in England, all in the space of a few months. What do you remember about the celebrations?
I keep saying 2014 was the best year of my career so far. The England series was the icing on the cake. The team was very confident. The way we’d played leading up gave us a huge boost coming into that series. When you keep winning, you tend to think you can beat any team in any conditions. That was our mindset. We lived up to those expectations.From the current squad touring England for three Tests, you, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne played in that series. Have you been speaking to others about 2014 ahead of the series?
Yes, absolutely. We’ve been sharing about 2014, because it gives us hopes. We can say, “Yes, we’ve done it before, and we can do it again.” Now the team is different and the team we’re playing is different, but it’s been done before. If we play to our potential in this series, we can beat them again.Shaminda Eranga breaks James Anderson’s 55-ball vigil and seals the series win for Sri Lanka at Headingley•Dave Thompson/Getty ImagesIn 2014, you had a very heavy year in terms of your workload – playing all formats and bowling as well. And then you had an extended period of injury. Do you have any regrets about that period?
I’m extremely honoured to play any game for Sri Lanka. Ten years ago I was 27 and I wanted to play every single game – not that that’s not the case now. But the amount of cricket we play now is a lot. When you age you have to manage your workload. Back then I didn’t even think of workloads. I just wanted to play for my country in any format, and try to win every single game, with the bat or the ball. Maybe that led to injuries, but I have no regrets. I got injured while playing for my country.Will we see you bowling in this series?
I’m pretty much undercooked with my bowling. Since the LPL, I haven’t been bowling that much. I have been preparing myself a bit to bowl. Even in these conditions it’s not easy to walk into the field and start bowling, and I haven’t had much bowling under my belt for a while. Let’s hope I will bowl.Some of your most memorable spells have come in England, though. There must be some good vibes for you here?
I haven’t got a lot of pace, but I land it on the spot most of the time, so that gives me an opportunity to get wickets in a place like England. Looking back, even in the 2009 T20 World Cup semi-final, I got those three wickets in the first over and helped my team to victory. And then in the 2019 ODI World Cup against West Indies, I hadn’t bowled for about eight months, but I used my experience to get the team over the line. I do have fond memories bowling in England.
Captain MS Dhoni says the “players have taken more responsibility” this season
ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-20214:14
Stephen Fleming: We were really sure about what style we were going to play this year
A “change in attitude” in dealing with the various challenges posed by playing during a pandemic has resulted in a change in fortunes for the Chennai Super Kings, according to captain MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming.Six months ago, the Super Kings left the UAE having endured their worst-ever showing at the IPL, not making the playoffs for the first time since the tournament’s inception in 2008. Now, they are back on a familiar perch, top of the points table six games into IPL 2021, having completed another convincing victory, this time against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.Speaking at the post-match presentation in Delhi, Dhoni elaborated. “One of the facts was, five to six months we were out of cricket [before IPL 2020]. Nothing was really allowed. It was not like you could go and practice on your own, that also makes it slightly more difficult. Then the change of venue [from India to the UAE], and you know quarantine, it was a slightly longer quarantine, people were not used to it. There were quite a few factors that could have resulted in that [poor showing].Related
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“But overall, I think to really sum it up nicely, the players have taken more responsibility this year – you will be facing adverse things but ultimately it boils down to how each and every individual rises to the occasion and does that 10% extra for the team.”At the post-match press conference, Fleming spoke on similar lines. “It was tough in the UAE. We had a pretty bad run. A lot of things went against us, which we didn’t make too much of at the time. We got a pretty big knock at the start of the tournament for a number of reasons, but [during] the last part of the tournament we were really comfortable. We made some changes around our attitude towards what we were doing, and then we were really sure [of] what style we wanted to play going into this year’s IPL.”The Super Kings had a rocky start to IPL 2020, with more than ten of their contingent testing positive for Covid-19, and their batting mainstay over several seasons Suresh Raina returning home for personal reasons before the tournament began. While nothing more on the matter has been officially revealed, it is understood that he had told the team management that he had issues with staying in the bio-secure bubble.The Super Kings subsequently did not seem to be able to fix on a playing XI in the early part of the season, fielding 17 players across the first six matches and winning only two in that period. Eventually, they would go on to play 20 players across the season. By comparison, this year they have fielded 13 players in the first six games – with nine playing in all the matches so far – and have won five of these.Both Dhoni and Fleming admitted this clarity over the XI was a plus. “Whenever you start a tournament, you may or may not face some kind of issue with the playing XI,” Dhoni said. “If there are a few issues, the earlier you settle it, the better it is, because it gives some sort of a settled view to the team-mates.””The challenge we had – and most franchises had – was that we weren’t sure where we were going to play,” Fleming said and added the team worked towards correcting this in the latter part of the 2020 season, with an eye on IPL 2021. “We worked really hard on that in Dubai. It wasn’t that we just ran the season out, we made sure we made the most of every opportunity we had. We finished that well. To be honest, we were only one, maybe two, games away from getting through [to the qualifiers]. So it wasn’t actually a disaster – the finish was really good.”So we took a lot out of that, and in the off season we just looked at players that could fit and do a job – not just in Chennai but in conditions that were still a bit foreign. We needed to play a faster game, we needed to keep evolving if we were not in Chennai. And that’s what we are trying to do; we are not the finished product by any means, but we’re playing well at the moment.”That said, Dhoni had a special word of praise for the players who have not got their chance yet. “For the last 8-10 years we’ve not really changed a lot of players in our squad, and also we appreciate the ones who are not playing a lot,” he said. “Keeping the dressing-room atmosphere healthy is very important. I think the individuals, we need to credit them, because those are the persons who need to [not take sitting out personally and] really digest it, because it’s not an easy thing – when you are at the top level you want to play. I feel we need to give extra credit to the players who have not played so far.”
The former England captain and well-known psychoanalyst talks about Bazball, the current England side, and his new book
Paul Edwards18-Apr-2024Last September, Mike Brearley travelled to Old Trafford to watch Middlesex play Lancashire and to promote his memoir . As part of the visit he was interviewed for Lancs TV by Paul Allott, who made his Test debut under Brearley’s captaincy against Australia in 1981. Naturally, their conversation turned to Bazball and the ways in which Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have transformed the attitudes of England’s players and the results of the team. Midway through their chat, Allott asked his old captain whether he’d have enjoyed captaining the current England side with McCullum as its coach. The answer came back in a trice. “Yes, I think I’d have loved it”.Now it is six months later and Brearley is sitting at his kitchen table, sipping coffee and eating an almond croissant. His answers to a different set of questions are more measured and invitingly nuanced but the enthusiasm for this England team’s approach is no less keen than it was before they lost 4-1 to India. He likes the idea that Stokes’ players have been liberated by possibilities rather than constrained by expectations, and he admits that some England teams during his career suffered from the latter limitation.”I couldn’t imagine anyone changing the team’s morale and performance overnight in the way McCullum and Stokes have done, and you don’t do that by accretions of technique or little nudges this way or that,” he says. “You do it by changes of heart and attitude, and these seem to have released people from their inhibitions and tensions and the view that you must never get out playing an attacking shot if you could have defended the ball. The changes have been very much for the good.”Related
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Typically, Brearley traces Bazball to one of its sources: McCullum’s resolve to change the culture of the New Zealand team he captained in 2013, a few days after they had been bowled out for 45 by South Africa in Cape Town: “Just because there is more at stake now doesn’t mean you should lose the innocence of why you played the game in the first place,” said McCullum in an interview. “For a long time we had lost that, and I think our team had lost it… We expected the game to owe us something. We almost felt entitled… There was no soul about our cricket… It sounds a bit corny, but we talk about the playful little boy who fell in love with the game. When you have that mindset you can be positive and aggressive because you’re thinking about what can go right rather than what might go wrong.”Brearley identifies examples of the changed approach in many areas, not least selection, and talks with fascinated delight about the success enjoyed by Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed in the Test series against India.”The old spinners like Fred Titmus and Ray Illingworth would have completely pooh-poohed the idea of anyone playing Test cricket after playing half a dozen [first-class] games, and I think I would have done too, but I thought the three young spinners kept at it and they did remarkably well,” he says. “Rehan Ahmed reminds me of Warne with his strong shoulders and his busy, energetic, strong action. He certainly has chutzpah.”
“Winning is essential to a game. I’m very suspicious of the attitude expressed by some people that they don’t mind losing”Mike Brearley
As so often with Brearley, there are links with his working life as a psychoanalyst. One of the abundant joys of is to see how its author’s profession informs his understanding of the game he has been passionate about since the age of four. For example, the chapter “Prophet to a Profession” pays tribute to the psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion, a figure who is probably well known only to specialists. For Bion, the essence of psychoanalytic treatment is “to introduce the patient to that person with whom he has most dealings in his life, namely himself”. Brearley takes to the suggestion that Bazball has introduced cricketers to the players they could be if they weren’t so burdened down with precedent and expectation. “I think it’s true of sides who could have a distinctive way of playing the game, just as orchestras could have a distinctive way of playing music,” he says. “Stokes and McCullum introduced their England team to the team it could be.”Yes, but acquainting oneself with new ways of thinking can produce strange decisions. I challenge Brearley about Stokes’ declaration near the end of the first day of last year’s opening Ashes Test, when Joe Root was 118 not out and Australia’s attack seemed to be flagging. It was a decision Brearley has described as bizarre. Or what about Root’s own comment to his overnight batting partner, Ollie Pope, that he would reverse-scoop the first ball of the fourth morning’s play? How can that be squared with Greg Chappell’s statement, quoted in , that “premeditation is the graveyard of batting”?”Well, I wouldn’t have declared when Stokes did and I don’t advocate it, but I don’t necessarily blame him because it was part of his overall approach, in which I still believe,” says Brearley. “And Bazball has changed. For example, when Stokes first came to Bazball, he got out wildly in Pakistan, running down the pitch and slogging. That was a result of his determination to lead by example, but he did modify his approach.”As to Root’s reverse scoop, it’s got to be almost regardless, hasn’t it, and he did it for a while and had some considerable success. I have seen people readjust from a reverse scoop but I haven’t seen many do it. And what Greg Chappell would allow is that you could look for something; you have in your mind where you’re going to score runs off a certain bowler. Where might I get a four off Joel Garner, say?” Brearley smiles wryly at the memory. “There’s a difference between looking to do it and absolutely determining to do it.”So in addition to welcoming the change in England’s approach to Test match cricket, Brearley is fascinated by the way in which that approach might evolve after a series in which England’s 4-1 defeat hardly reflected the balance of the five games, which were played on very fair pitches.Brearley suggests that Stokes and McCullum have opened the England players’ eyes to who they could potentially be•Getty Images”I was sad that we didn’t get to two-all but I thought India were the better side and they deserved to win,” he begins. “I was disappointed that we didn’t take advantage of the positions we were in during one or two of the earlier matches, and particularly so in Pope and [Ben] Duckett, who both made huge hundreds and then got worse rather than better.”Pope looked just as jumpy even after making that wonderful 196 in the first Test, and Duckett played that extraordinary innings of 153 and yet lost it against Ashwin and Kuldeep [Yadav]. By the end he didn’t want to block, yet he didn’t want to lap. I thought [Zak] Crawley played extremely well and moderated his style but was unlucky to get good balls, and I was glad to see Root come back and play in his old way.”Brearley’s knowledge is as deep and his observations as informed as one might expect, yet is also notable for its author’s continuing enthusiasm for the game and his youthful, wide-ranging desire to find out new things and learn more. Brearley’s wife, Mana, says that he is more relaxed in the company of cricketers, and his editor, Andreas Campomar, believes he writes with more spontaneity on the game than on psychoanalysis, albeit that he has written a “memoir of the mind”.”Cricket is something that I feel I know more thoroughly but it’s also more limited than psychoanalysis, which is about the whole of life and you’re less likely to think you know it,” Brearley says. “There are people still doing psychoanalysis who are more renowned and better at it than me. And after having played for all those years, it is easier to write than to play. I was more anxious because of my limitations as a batsman at the highest level, so I was more liable to get tense about batting than I am about writing or psychoanalysis. Now I’m not answerable to anyone and I still sometimes have strong views about cricket, whereas I’m still a practising psychoanalyst and I’m in the thick of it.”But what does Brearley make of the times when sport and psychoanalysis overlap? I’m not thinking about captaincy here, an area in which his expertise has frequently been explored, but more about the purpose of playing games at all and the satisfactions to be derived from them. In , Brearley references the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga’s famous book and also quotes Bion, for whom play was easily contaminated by the will to win, or paradoxically in Brearley’s case, by his ability, which led to his being considered for a leadership role. For example: “Excellence meant that the prospect of captainship began to appear over the horizon. That would mean that the prospect of games for the sake of games would no longer be a feasible aim.”Little, BrownPrompted by such thoughts and connecting them to current debates, I ask Brearley whether the health of a country’s sport should be judged by the health of its national team.”That does seem to happen,” he acknowledges. “If you have a view of cricket like Bion or Huizinga’s, you would think that if the game is played in its purest spirit, it doesn’t matter who wins. The purity of the game is in the spontaneous, playful enjoyment of it – just as young lions play without hurting each other. You do it for its own sake. I hope we never lose that, and it’s actually what Stokes and McCullum are trying to achieve. But I do think winning is important – the rules of a game determine what a win is and winning is essential to a game. I’m also very suspicious of the attitude expressed by some people that they don’t mind losing.”It is nice if the national cricket team does well, especially if they play in the right spirit, as they have been doing. And there’s no other way of learning how to get there, except through county cricket. So it is a function of the county game that it should produce players of international standard, just as it’s a function of club cricket that it should produce players who are ready to go into county second teams and the first-class game. If you don’t have those stepping stones and strengthen them, then you don’t get the top level either.”Turning Over the Pebbles