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India lead the series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Chennai by 280 runs

Hemant Brar26-Sep-20242:23

Manjrekar: I will play Kuldeep Yadav in the second Test

Big picture: Another stern test awaits BangladeshBangladesh came into this series riding on the high of winning 2-0 in Pakistan. It peaked when they had India 144 for 6 in the first innings in Chennai. But then India once again showed why they are arguably the strongest home side in Test history and went on to steamroll Bangladesh by 280 runs.It was a show of India’s depth in both batting and bowling. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli managed only 34 runs between them across four innings, but India had three centurions and two half-centurions. When it came to bowling, their seamers shared eight wickets in Bangladesh’s first innings and the spinners nine during the second.Things will not get easier for Bangladesh in Kanpur, where New Zealand’s tail had held on to secure a draw the last time a Test was played here. There is also some uncertainty about the pitch. The ground staff were preparing two surfaces and, as of noon on the eve of the match, it was not clear which one would be used.Related

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Shakib 'eligible for selection' for Kanpur Test against India

Ravindra Jadeja, the quick and the deadly

Kanpur generally offers good Test-match pitches that help fast bowlers on the first morning before flattening out and assisting spinners on the last two days. However, the weather could be an issue this time, with rain forecast on the first three days. That could impact not just the pitch but also the toss decision and team compositions.But all is not bleak for Bangladesh. In their second innings in Chennai, their openers gave them a solid start, followed by Najmul Hossain Shanto’s return to form with 82. In their first innings, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz all got starts. But to be competitive against this Indian team at home, you have to be at your best for much longer periods. Can Bangladesh do that?Form guideIndia WWWWW (last five Tests, most recent first)
Bangladesh LWWLL0:48

Manjrekar: Bangladesh attack lacks quality and experience

In the spotlight: Shubman Gill and Shakib Al HasanShubman Gill knows his ceiling. Even after scoring 452 runs with two hundreds in the home series against England earlier this year, he recently said he was yet to fulfil his expectations as a Test player. Gill got out for a duck in the first innings of the Chennai Test against Bangladesh but scored a stroke-filled unbeaten 119 in the second. Given India are to face tougher opponents in the coming months – New Zealand and Australia – Gill would be keen to fine-tune his game at No. 3.When is Shakib Al Hasan not in the spotlight? While batting in Chennai, he was seen biting a black strap, wrapped around his neck, to keep his head from falling over. When it was time to bowl, there were murmurs about his workload, ineffectiveness and discomfort with the spinning finger. And after Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe confirmed Shakib’s availability for the second Test, he dropped a bombshell about his future on the eve of the match.Team news: Wait and watch?There was no indication from the Indian camp whether they would play three spinners. Even if they do, it may not be a straightforward choice. If the pitch is too slow, Axar Patel could be handy with his pace and attacking the stumps. But India already have a similar spinner in Ravindra Jadeja. In Kuldeep Yadav’s favour, this is his home ground. So he is a tempting option, too. If India play one of Axar or Kuldeep, Akash Deep could be the one to miss out.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 KL Rahul, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kuldeep Yadav/Axar Patel, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed SirajIf Bangladesh go with three spinners, Taijul Islam could replace Nahid Rana. That could also help with Shakib’s workload, if required.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Shadman Islam, 2 Zakir Hasan, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Mominul Haque, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Litton Das (wk), 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Hasan Mahmud, 11 Taskin AhmedGautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar inspect one of two pitches in consideration for the Kanpur Test•AFP/Getty ImagesPitch and conditions: Slow and low bounce?The red-soil pitch in Chennai had decent bounce for both seamers and spinners in the first Test. Kanpur will be different. The two pitches being considered for the match are black-soil surfaces. They are likely to be flatter, with lower bounce, and are expected to become slower as the Test progresses. All that could change if it rains as forecasted, and bad light could become a factor too towards the end of each day.Stats and trivia: Jadeja double on the cards For the first time in their Test history, India have more wins (179) than losses (178). Jadeja is one short of becoming the seventh Indian to take 300 Test wickets. When Jadeja gets there, he will also complete the double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets. If he does it in Kanpur, in his 74th Test, he will be the second fastest to do so after Ian Botham (72). Virat Kohli is 129 short of 9000 Test runs. Taijul is five short of 200 Test wickets. Only Shakib (242) has more Test wickets for Bangladesh. Quotes”We don’t particularly pattern bad pitches. But we try to make sure the conditions are tough enough so that the players are challenged. A lot of these guys have played for so many years. Only if they’re challenged are they going to get better. So sometimes the thought process is just to challenge them differently so that your game and you, organically and mentally, grow.”

Abdellah Ouazane’s move to Real Madrid collapsed after a failed medical, with Manchester United now expected to step up their interest.

• Ouazane failed his medical examination
• Initially chose not renew with Ajax
• United are interested in the okayer

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Ouazane had previously rejected a contract extension from Ajax, but following the collapse of his move to Real Madrid, the Dutch club are now hopeful of securing his renewal, according to

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• Getty Images Sport
  

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  The Moroccan midfielder underwent a second medical examination with the Amsterdam UMC which showed that he has in perfect condition but somehow Real were not convinced. With Madrid stepping back from negotiations, English side United are interested in the midfielder.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Madrid have already completed the signing of Alvaro Carreras from Benfica. Carreras was a product of the Real Madrid youth system that has now shone through.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR OUAZANE AND MADRID ?

  Ouazane will hope that his failed medical examination with Madrid was only a clerical error. Madrid, meanwhile, will look elsewhere to strengthen their youth team with players like Nico Paz and Carreras showing how their youth system is capable of churning out some real gems.

“There’s so much competition and that’s why I need to keep getting better and better”

Deivarayan Muthu19-Aug-2021After starting out as a wicketkeeper-batter in lower division cricket in Chennai, switching to medium-pace, and taking a crack at Tamil cinema, Varun Chakravarthy eventually found his true calling: mystery spin. The unique skill put him in the IPL spotlight and most recently in India’s T20I side in Sri Lanka, “a dream come true”.Chakravarthy revealed that he had a sleepless night before making his international debut, but he said that the nerves eased once he was thrown into the action at the R Premadasa Stadium. “Paras Mhambrey [bowling coach] gave me the cap and it was a very emotional moment for me,” almost-30 Chakravarthy told ESPNcricinfo. “It felt like it was a dream come true and it was what I’ve been wanting for a long time. Obviously, there was responsibility, but I wasn’t blinded by all those emotions and just kept myself in the present.Related

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• Kohli says 'no space for compromise' on fitness levels

“I had nerves at the start because it was my first match. I had a sleepless night before the match, but everything settled down once I got into the game.”Chakravarthy said that he had reached out to Dinesh Karthik, his mentor at Kolkata Knight Riders and at Tamil Nadu, before making his international debut. “I called him the day before the match and asked him because he was commentating on the England-Sri Lanka series also. He did give me a few inputs. He shared his observations on where to bowl and how to bowl and how the Sri Lankan players play and those kinds of things.”Charith Asalanka, who was also making his T20I debut in that game, initially went after Chakravarthy, pasting him for two sixes over midwicket. Chakravarthy, however, struck back with his carrom ball to have Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka stumped. Sure, Chakravarthy hasn’t been spotted celebrating too animatedly after picking up wickets in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and the IPL, but was the maiden international wicket somewhat special?”A wicket and a six are both results and not the process,” he said. “So, even if it’s a six off a good ball, I generally won’t react and even if it’s a wicket off a bad ball also, I won’t react. Anything can happen. As I said, I don’t see the wicket as how you told – I was happy that the ball I bowled landed in the perfect place and it turned out properly. Normally, if you see me also, I generally don’t react.”

“There’s so much competition [for the spin spots for the T20 World Cup] and that’s why I need to keep getting better and better. It’s not in a negative way; the competition is positive and healthy”Varun Chakravarthy

Like he often does for Knight Riders in the IPL, Chakravarthy fronted up to bowl in the powerplay as well as at the death on his first international tour. Having bowled the tough overs across two IPLs and the TNPL, Chakravarthy said he was prepared to bowl during any phase in T20s. “In professional cricket, you can’t say that I won’t bowl at powerplay or death. I’m now used to bowling in the powerplay and death,” he said. “I’m comfortable anywhere I get to bowl; it’s just about executing properly. It’s not about where you are bowling. If you execute properly, you will do well, that’s what I feel.”The preparation changes when I bowl at the death, obviously. The way the batsmen approach at the death will be different from the middle overs. So, in the middle, the field will be there to save the single and in the death, obviously, there will be some protection at the boundary line and you bowl accordingly. I focus on bowling more fuller and yorker balls in the death.”When Chakravarthy darted in a similarly full ball in the first leg of the IPL against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai, a red-hot Glenn Maxwell made that delivery look bad by ruthlessly reverse-swatting it over cover-point. Chakravarthy went on to concede 17 runs in that over, but said that he wasn’t perturbed by Maxwell’s inventive hitting. “I didn’t worry because it was a good ball and it was a good shot. Just because it went for six, you can’t worry about it. How much can you control? You can’t control much.”Chakravarthy said one of the key takeaways from his first international series was that there was no margin for error at the top level and that the “execution has to be perfect” at all times.”The World Cup is there on the back of my mind, but I’m not thinking too much about it”•BCCI”Obviously, in international cricket, the learning is to keep getting better with every game I play,” he said. “Another learning is you have to take full responsibility of what you are going to bowl. In the international level, every ball matters, so you have to take full responsibility for it and the execution has to be perfect. I just stick to my process – it’s a very cliched thing – but sticking to the process has become my process. That’s the only thing I think about a lot.”After returning from Sri Lanka, Chakravarthy, who has had issues with fitness in the past, went to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. “I’m at the NCA after the Sri Lanka tour. For the past one year, I’ve been training here at the NCA,” he said. “It’s going good and I’m working more on it [fitness] and I’m working on it in a holistic way. Let’s see how that shapes up.”He is due to return soon to the UAE, where he emerged as Knight Riders’ highest wicket-taker in 2020, with 17 strikes at an economy rate of 6.84. Is the T20 World Cup on the back of his mind?”The goal will be for KKR to qualify [for the playoffs] and I’m just focusing on that,” Chakravarthy said. “If I have to be picked in the World Cup, let that happen. If it has to happen, it will happen. The World Cup is there on the back of my mind, but I’m not thinking too much about it.”There’s so much competition [for the spin spots for the T20 World Cup] and that’s why I need to keep getting better and better. It’s not in a negative way; the competition is positive and healthy.”In the UAE, Chakravarthy will reunite with Sunil Narine, who recently reached 400 T20 wickets, in the Hundred competition – Chakravarthy had first worked with Narine when he was picked as a net bowler for the Knight Riders in the lead-up to IPL 2019.”Right now, I know whatever he does and he knows whatever I do,” Chakravarthy said of Narine. “So, there is not much brainstorming. In the first season itself, we had our discussions. Now, we just look at each other and we know what to do. If I do some mistake, he himself will walk up to me and tell me where I’m going wrong and it’s [our relationship] at that level. He is still the best and he’s a mentor to me.”Chakravarthy also revealed that he would unleash his new variation – something that he has been working on for a while, according to Knight Riders spin-bowling coach Carl Crowe – in the second leg of IPL 2021. A strong performance there could potentially push Chakravarthy into India’s squad for the T20 World Cup, which will also be held in the UAE – and Oman – though, as he himself pointed out, the competition for a limited number of spots has been fierce.

We’ve been here before – but not – because the Ageas Bowl was empty

Vithushan Ehantharajah20-Jul-20231:51

McGlashan: England’s Bazball finally hurts Australia

As sport continued through the Covid-19 pandemic, a quirk that emerged throughout was how much more attacking teams and players were behind closed doors. The lack of a crowd meant the pressure was a little less, the nerves a lot more manageable, and thus the barriers to accessing peak performance significantly reduced.The 2020-21 Premier League season was the first in any division in the top four tiers of English football history to see more away wins (153) than home wins (144) as teams felt more at ease in previously unwelcoming grounds. During the NBA bubble season, overall free throw percentages rose from 77.1 per cent to 80.6. Even Dwight Howard, regarded as one of the most unreliable shooters in the game, saw his free-throw numbers rise significantly from 49.4 per cent to 61.8. And in the 2020 English summer, Zak Crawley, a first-class average of 30.51 with just three centuries in 73 innings behind him, struck a ridiculous 267 against Pakistan at an empty Ageas Bowl.This was a 22-year-old Crawley’s eighth Test, and as with most of that age, experience and a middling domestic red-ball record, he came into the knock as a nebulous concept. Tall, languid, capable of timing the ball so well you could set your watch by his drives on the up. His Kent teammates spoke of a world-beater in the nets. Some of the wisest sages further afield reckoned he was the kind of opener capable of laying waste to opposition attacks. And that August, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Abbas and Naseem Shah, found out all about it.Related

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Crawley's run-a-ball 189 propels England into lead

For a bit, anyway. It did not take long for Crawley to return to being a concept. Someone else’s idea of excellence that the rest of us were too dumb to see. A self-driving car of a batter who could change your world, just ignore those false starts and crashes among the 29 caps leading on from that knock and into this fourth Test against Australia. A period which did house two more centuries but, more pertinently, a damning average of 24.34.And while there were flashes of bits here and there, such as the 77 in the second innings at Sydney in the 2021-22 Ashes, each innings beyond that Pakistan knock gave further cause to regard it as an anomaly. If Zak Crawley scores 267 at the Ageas Bowl and no one’s around to see it, does it actually count?However, since the start of last summer, things have been a little different. The change of captain and coach was not just in personnel but in attitude. Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum align on many things, but most important was the need to strip away the bits of being an English Test cricketer that had weighed heavy on so many. Messaging became more positive and selection less about immediate judgement and more about loyalty. As far as scrutiny, there was little inside the walls of the dressing room and anything outside was dismissed out of hand. Ignore the noise, ignore the trolls, ignore your own numbers. Ultimately, bat like no one is watching.Zak Crawley launches another boundary down the ground•Getty ImagesNo player was given as much of all that as Crawley. Indeed there were times it felt the bigger decisions made – dropping Alex Lees at the end of the 2022 summer when he averaged (slightly) better than Crawley; bringing Jonny Bairstow back in as wicketkeeper at the expense of Ben Foakes when someone else could have averaged the 25.86 Crawley did coming into this summer under Stokes – were made for the Kent batter’s benefit. Sure, high ceilings, a streaky player, capable of taking the game away from teams and blah, blah, blah. But when do we see this upside? Having paid out in instalments over the last few weeks, with solid starts and nothing more, when was the jackpot going to hit?Well here, today. Thursday, July 20, to be exact. Day two of this fixture, when England had to best Australia and the weather to keep the Ashes alive and Crawley emerged as this freakish elemental presence. A devastating 189 from 182 deliveries making both factors obsolete and with a kind of other-worldly domination of an Australian attack that we have not seen since Kevin Pietersen first strolled onto the scene.Crawley did it in the way they told us he would; 24 boundaries, most struck with a degree of permanence. Some were scuffed just past his stumps or beyond the grasps of wicketkeeper Alex Carey or those in the slips. He was given out leg before on 20 but saved himself with a review. Reminders of who we knew him to be, and how this could be fleeting.Except it wasn’t. It kept going, on and on and on, laying waste to a vaunted attack, as they said he would. An innings of ludicrous harmony and infectious rhythm that kept the crowd at a peak for the entire last two sessions, as if they were listening to their favourite song on repeat. A song made up entirely of drops and choruses.

“It’s fair to say that under any other coach or captain I probably wouldn’t be playing this series,”Zak Crawley knows how lucky he is

It started, in earnest, once he had reached his half-century from 67 deliveries. He needed just 26 more to move to a fourth Test hundred and in turn, the second-fastest century by an England opener. The first? That belongs to him as well, after an 86-ball effort on the opening day of the first Test in Pakistan back in December.The beginning of that move from 50 to 100 real quick was set off by a slog-swept six. A second – off the same shot – brought up a century stand with Joe Root from 82 deliveries. The third, a KP-esque short-arm pick-up over wide long on off Mitchell Marsh, who dismissed Crawley twice at Headingley, took England into the lead with a statement. This isn’t about you. None of this is about you.It’s worth noting those sixes were Crawley’s first of the Bazball era. For a player encouraged to dominate, he has never been asked to veer from his natural game to do so. Indeed, the only time McCullum has challenged Crawley is when he fell to a sweep against Keshav Maharaj during the first South Africa Test at Lord’s last summer. McCullum’s issue was this was not a shot he has seen Crawley practice.Therefore it was neat to see Crawley move to fifty with a reverse sweep off Travis Head’s off spin, a shot he has dedicated huge amounts of time to in the nets. Yes, he has been cut a lot of slack. But it’s important to note, even if it may not be relevant to your own opinions about Crawley, that he has been desperate not to waste it. He knows just how lucky he is.”It’s fair to say that under any other coach or captain I probably wouldn’t be playing this series,” said Crawley at stumps. “So, to be backed by them gives me a lot of confidence. They’ve always said not to worry about being consistent, just to go out and try to win games for England. It would be really nice if we win this game and I’ve contributed to that but there’s a long way to go.”That England already look like dwarfing Australia’s 317, leading by 67 with Stokes and Harry Brook set at the crease going into day three, is largely down to him. Particularly a second session of 25 overs in which Crawley conducted the mother of all assaults. England scored 178 for 1, at a strike rate of 7.12 an over, heading into tea trailing by 78. And guess who scored 106 of them? Off 82 deliveries, no less.The way he dovetailed with Moeen Ali for 121, then Root for 206, spoke in its own way of Crawley’s feel for the game. The latter of the two stands was when he felt most comfortable; a period after the century was brought up in which he found new levels of liberation.He apologised for any arrogance when stating “it wasn’t actually that easy to score at times”, wary it sounded a lot like a humble brag after you’ve strummed England’s highest individual score in a home Ashes Test since Nasser Hussain doubled up in 1997. Especially as he battered one of the most remarkable pace attacks in the world, making a group of six-foot-plus quicks sending down near-ninety miles of heat his way look too samey.By the end, Pat Cummins looked like a man desperate for the ground to open up and swallow him, though there was no guarantee Crawley wouldn’t hit one hard enough to find him down there.Pat Cummins grimaces as Zak Crawley powers past 150•Getty ImagesCrawley acknowledged that luck was on his side, but it’s worth looking around that for now because he did so. He has developed a knack of ignoring the noise, even if there have been the odd jibes at punters and their opinions on his underperformance heading into this series. On 93, he drove loosely over the slips to oohs, before eliciting aaahs with a stunning cover drive on the up to move to 97.A scuffed shot over cover for two brought up the century, which was not greeted with much beyond a sheepish grin and dollops of relief. Root was quickly on the scene to embrace his partner, before giving him room to further salute a crowded balcony and an Emirates Old Trafford ground with everyone on their feet having been glued to their seats. He batted like none of them were watching, and in doing so gave them one of England’s most dominant days in any Ashes series.It is rare the upside is as good as they say it will be. Rare such investment reaps such spectacular dividends when you need it most.Only a fool would say this is the beginning of something special. Because by all accounts, this kind of special wouldn’t be that if we expected it every time. And fundamentally, yesterday’s Crawley is not today’s Crawley.But today’s Crawley has put England in a commanding position to make it 2-2 in the Ashes and given all who were here memories to carry into tomorrow and beyond.

MatériaMais Notícias

da fezbet： Quinta-feira (19) tem Tombense e Vila Nova em jogo importantíssimo para as equipes. A partida é válida pela 33ª rodada do Brasileirão Série B. A partida está marcada para às 19h (de Brasília), no Almeidão.

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da apostaganha： Com 28 pontos, a Tombense é a 18ª colocada na tabela de classificação da Série B, tendo empatado com o Juventude na última rodada. A equipe mineira pode se colocar mais perto de sair da zona de rebaixamento em caso de vitória sobre o Vila Nova, que briga pelo G4.

+A sua carreira no futebol pode começar hoje. Garanta a sua vaga no curso Gestor de Futebol e capacite-se!

+ Athletico-PR consegue virada no fim e vence o Grêmio fora de casa pelo Brasileirão

Querendo se aproximar do quatro primeiros, o Vila Nova tem 51 pontos, e está a cinco pontos do Juventude, último time dentro do G4. Nesta quinta, o Tigre quer ter a chance de encostar de vez nos gaúchos e acirrar a reta final. Na última partida, o Vila venceu o Botafogo-SP por 3 a 1.

TOMBENSE X VILA NOVA
33ª RODADA DO CAMPEONATO BRASILEIRO DA SÉRIE B

Data: 19 de outubro de 2023.
Horário: 19h (de Brasília).
Local: Estádio Almeidão, em Tombos, Minas Gerais
Árbitro: Maguielson Lima Barbosa (DF)
Assistentes: Lucas Torquato Guerra (DF) e Luis Filipe Gonçalves Correa (PB)
VAR: Philip Georg Bennett (RJ)
Onde assistir: SporTV e Premiere

Tom Brady has been told that he has two golden boys at Birmingham, with Jay Stansfield and Kyogo Furuhashi being tipped for a top scorer battle.

Blues have continued to spend bigImpressive firepower at St Andrew'sTaking aim at another promotionFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The Blues have completed more notable transfer business during the summer of 2025. They smashed recruitment records in League One 12 months ago, with £15 million ($20m) being invested in England Under-21 striker Stansfield.

AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Ex-Celtic frontman Kyogo has been returned to British football in a £10m ($13m) deal, with the 30-year-old Japan international expected to take the Championship by storm. Birmingham could take some stopping if their frontline clicks and fires early.

DID YOU KNOW?

Plenty of second tier rivals also boast impressive firepower – with Wrexham another of those to be spending big – but Stansfield and Kyogo are considered to be leading contenders for Golden Boot honours.

Amazon Prime VideoWHAT BOYD SAID

Former EFL striker Kris Boyd shares that opinion, with the ex-Scotland international telling : "I think there are a few candidates to top score next season, and Kyogo is definitely one of them. His partner at Birmingham, Jay Stansfield, is another one with a chance. There are always some obvious tips to be the top scorer in this league at the start of the season, but there’s always a challenger who comes from left field too.

"If Birmingham can create chances for either of their players, they will smash them in. But there are obviously other strikers in the league who you can say the same thing about. I think with a strong squad and good attacking players, Southampton will be feeling the same, as will Leicester if they get players in.

"Sheffield United have still got players who can score freely, so it’s a difficult pick, but you know from Kyogo’s time in Scotland that he converts chances if he’s given them."

South Africa will rest several first-choice players on their tour of the UAE this month, where they face Afghanistan and Ireland in white-ball matches, as their Champions Trophy preparation gets underway. None of Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Gerald Coetzee, David Miller or Heinrich Klaasen will feature in either the ODI or T20I squads. The management has widened the player pool instead with some fresh names.Allrounder Jason Smith, who made his T20I debut in West Indies last month, has been given a maiden ODI call-up alongside legspinner Nqabayomzi Peter, who has recovered from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the Caribbean tour. The other new face is 21-year-old seam-bowling allrounder Andile Simelane, who has been part of South Africa Emerging and ‘A’ sides recently and has been named in both the ODI and T20I squads against Afghanistan.South Africa ODI squad vs Afghanistan, Ireland•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Lungi Ngidi, who suffered a right calf injury during the Caribbean tour, has recovered and is expected to lead the attack but Quinton de Kock, who has not confirmed his retirement from T20Is, does not feature. Kwena Maphaka, who made his debut against West Indies, has not been included as he completes his final school examinations. Donovan Ferreira is the only other player from the West Indies T20I series who will not be on this tour, while Matthew Breetzke has been included in the T20I squad.Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks and Simelane are part of the ODI squad against Afghanistan, but not for the ODIs against Ireland. Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton are present only for the Ireland ODIs.South Africa T20I squad vs Ireland•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“We have decided to give opportunities to some of the fringe players as well as those who have impressed in recent weeks and months,” Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, said in a statement. “This has been a deliberate move from management, in line with our goal of building a wider pool of players to choose from, as we prepare for the major ICC tournaments taking place over the next 18 months, with a long-term view on the 50-over World Cup in 2027.”South Africa ODI squad against AfghanistanTemba Bavuma (capt), Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Nqabayomzi Peter, Andile Simelane, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams.South Africa T20I squad against IrelandAiden Markram (capt), Ottneil Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Patrick Kruger, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton, Andile Simelane, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs, Lizaad WilliamsSouth Africa ODI squad against IrelandTemba Bavuma (capt), Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams

A new film about the No. 1 Test side of the early 2010s looks at what pressure does to a team

Matt Roller22-Jul-2019Judged solely as a documentary about England’s Test team between 2009 and 2013, is surprisingly light on detail. The journey undertaken by Andy Flower and his side is depicted like a fairground high striker, with a firm whack preceding an immediate rise to the top and a dramatic fall.Of course things were never that easy. The off-field tension of the spot-fix series against Pakistan is conspicuous by its absence, as is the whitewash in the UAE; there is no hard-fought draw in South Africa, no clinging on in Auckland; and Flower’s final frontier, the 2-1 win in India, gets less screen time than Kevin Pietersen’s drunken dancing in the SCG changing rooms.But to care about any of that is to miss what this documentary hopes to reveal. It is a film about pressure, and the immense mental toll that constant touring has on a group that lack the means to process the expectations placed upon them. It is a film about preparation, and the difference between rigour and overload. Flower’s masterplan is held up as a triumph, but recollections of Jonathan Trott’s net sessions ducking 95mph bouncers over and over again strike a cold note.First and foremost it is a film about people: the confident but complicated, victorious but vulnerable players who populated England’s dressing room over a five-year period. And it is a film that eschews the binary judgements we tend to rush into forming about cricketers.You know what Matt Prior was all about, don’t you? A good batsman, decent wicketkeeper, but not the sort who needs reminding to affix his own oxygen mask before helping others, goes popular opinion. But sorting people into categories rarely enhances our understanding of their character. “Life as a professional sportsman doesn’t necessarily lend itself to you being a good person,” admits Prior, “because it’s about winning.”I had a three-inch tear in my Achilles tendon that no one knew about. I played with that for about five months. A place I wouldn’t want to go back [to being in] is sat at Lord’s in the dressing room, by myself, in tears, knowing that I was going to have to make a decision to not play cricket for England. It… just… was awful. And lonely.”How about Steven Finn? A classic story of unfulfilled talent, who messed about too much with his action and lacked the necessary mental resilience to play international cricket – right?”I just got in a really bad place,” he recalls. “I’d always been resistant, really, to sports psychologists, or people to talk to about that stuff, because I felt as though I would learn more from dealing with those problems by myself.”The doctor would ask me: ‘How’s the bowling going?’ [I’d] just burst into tears. I was trying so hard to get it right, and not to let myself down, I suppose.”Definitive verdicts about personalities miss the blurring of lines between black and white.Most haunting of all is the starring role of Trott, who is choked up and tearful when trying to pinpoint what it was he would miss about top-level cricket.”Going out to bat I felt my movements were restricted,” he remembers, describing his torment at the Gabba in 2013. “I was very rigid. I was tense. It was really frightening.”Concentration is the absence of irrelevant thought. When I was really struggling internally, then things started getting in. You’re just in tears on the field. I almost think I blacked out as I was walking off, just from the banging that was going on in my head.”There is something surreal, and perhaps overblown, about the shots of Trott marking his guard in a wheat field in Suffolk, and of him dropping through a water tank fully padded up, but the emotion in his voice is not lost in the image, and it is complemented by a stirring soundtrack, courtesy the Maccabees’ Felix White.Musically, the film’s greatest triumph is the drumming that accompanies Kevin Pietersen’s 149 at Headingley in 2012. Each shot is displayed as a release of his frustrations with his schedule, with his team-mates, and with Flower; an opportunity to breathe against the stifling demands placed on him.Pietersen comes out well here, though we are left none the wiser about the truth behind the whole saga of his fall from grace; given the confines of a 90-minute film, perhaps we were never likely to. One senses that Sky’s documentary series this summer will be the time for revelations on that front.The film starts off light-hearted, with the dry humour of James Anderson, Andrew Strauss and Tim Bresnan shining through. Despite the physical and psychological challenge of the boot camp in Bavaria before the 2010-11 Ashes, the cracks only truly become apparent after England beat India at home to go No. 1.Strauss recalls: “Holding that mace, to say we’re No. 1 in the world – it was a bit of an anti-climax.””It was like – f***, now what?” says a typically deadpan Bresnan.Things fall to pieces as Flower demands more and more, desperate to sustain the side’s success, and therein lies the impossibility of Test cricket: with no single tournament to win, just a never-ending string of bilateral series, there is no euphoric moment, as with a World Cup victory.The only way is down. And by the time Shane Watson is grinning, Peter Siddle is screaming, and Michael Clarke is preparing them for a “broken f****** arm”, don’t England know it.The Edge
Noah Media Group, and Heavy Soul Films
Released July 22