Paddy Kenny has been left reacting to some Everton news that has now emerged on Richarlison ahead of the clash with Leicester City.
The Lowdown: Investigation
As per iNews, Richarlison is now being investigated by the police, after he threw a lit flare while celebrating his winning goal during the 1-0 win against Chelsea in the Premier League at Goodison Park last weekend.
The Brazil international is also at risk of disciplinary action from the FA, although they have paused their own investigation for now.
The Latest: Kenny reacts
Speaking to Football Insider, former Leeds United and Sheffield United goalkeeper Kenny has now given his reaction to the news, claiming he will be ‘lucky’ to avoid a ban, which will be a big ‘blow’:
“He will be lucky to avoid a ban for that, you can’t do it.
“I get that emotions get high. Everton are in a real pressure situation and everyone is stressed.
“There are processes in place for this. You leave the flare and a steward will come on and deal with it.
“I don’t know where Richarlison was trying to throw it. I’m sure he wasn’t trying to hit a fan.
“But he could have really hurt someone. Even after carrying it around, I’m not sure why he threw it into where people were sitting.
“He will be fined, there is no doubt about that. I think the FA would be well within their rights to ban him which would be a blow to Everton.
“He is the guy to score the goals to get them out of this so if he gets banned he will look very silly.”
The Verdict: Worrying
It certainly is worrying that Richarlison could now receive a ban for his actions, given that there are only a few games left of the season to go.
It is not clear how many matches he would be banned for, but starting with a trip to Leicester City on Sunday afternoon, the Toffees have some winnable fixtures coming up that will be crucial in getting them out of the relegation zone.
With four goals and one assist in his last six appearances in the top flight, including the winner against Chelsea last time out (Transfermarkt), Richarlison is a player on form, and so losing him will certainly hinder their chances of winning some of those remaining games.
In other news, find out what big Blues transfer boost has now emerged here!
Shane Bond, though, believes Ferguson could bring “intimidation factor” to New Zealand’s red-ball attack
ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2020Six New Zealand players who were involved in the IPL and will also feature in the upcoming series against West Indies are currently training in a managed isolation facility in Lincoln. With them are Shane Bond and Brendon McCullum, who were part of the coaching staff at the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders respectively, with New Zealand roping them in as guest coaches during the quarantine period.Fast bowler Lockie Ferguson is one of the players in this bubble, and he’s thrilled to spend time with Bond, whom he describes as “a hero of mine while growing up”.”We had a tour to the UAE with the New Zealand A side two years ago,” Ferguson said in a virtual media interaction. “He was the coach there and that’s the biggest stint I’ve had with him. [We have] similar ways of bowling – obviously he was super impressive. But we’ve had some great chats there. He was even asking [about] one of the plans, [which] was coming around the wicket so much and bowling short to guys. He asked me why I wasn’t doing it as much as I used to. So he remembers it as well. It’s been great to have him to bounce ideas off and get some notes on West Indies.”Ferguson will feature in the three-match T20I series against West Indies, but he isn’t part of the squad for the two Tests that follow. Ferguson is keen to make a return to the longest format, having had to endure a rough first stint in whites. Making his Test debut against Australia in Perth last year, a calf strain curtailed his bowling output to just 11 first-innings overs and ruled him out of the rest of the tour as well as the subsequent home Tests against India.While Ferguson was away, the towering Kyle Jamieson made his debut for New Zealand, picking up nine wickets across two Tests against India, including 5 for 45 in a Man-of-the-Match performance in Christchurch, while also contributing runs down the order. But Ferguson isn’t bothered by the competition, and is instead looking forward to “keep doing the work in the background”.”I think it’s a fantastic time to be playing for the Black Caps,” he said. “You see the depth – Kyle Jamieson, one of my good mates, coming through and taking his opportunity [and] playing very well. [This] puts pressure on all bowlers to perform well and he’s started the [domestic] season very well this year – he’s taken five-fors pretty much every game, so I think it’s great. For me, that means I’ll have to work hard to get an opportunity and have a chance in the side. And if that opportunity comes, I’ll do what I can to take with open arms.”… [Jamieson] certainly deserves a spot in that side. But having said that, the Test side is a tough team to make – there’s so much depth and obviously our big three (Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner) have been so successful for a long period of time. But you can only take it game by game – tough to look too far ahead.”Kyle Jamieson reacts after his five-for in Christchurch•AFP
Bond believes it won’t be long before Ferguson is back in the Test side despite having fallen behind in the queue.”He’s sitting in behind – you’d argue – three, maybe four or five [bowlers], with Matt Henry around as well,” Bond said. “I think everybody is more than aware of what he can do in terms of pace. He offers an intimidation factor, he’s just part of our wider Black Caps bowling squad. So when he gets his chance to play four-day cricket for Auckland, it’s just [about] continuing to bowl well and put in good performances. And either through retirements, injuries or his own performances, he’ll get his chance sometime in the future perhaps.”What Ferguson can bring to the Test attack, Bond says, is the “intimidation factor”, which can be especially useful against the lower order.”I think we’ve seen that in Australia over the past period of time, where they really do clean up the tail through using their fast bowlers and intimidating sort of from [number] eight down,” Bond said. “Because no one wants to face the sort of pace that Lockie bowls, particularly when he loves to bowl around the wicket as well, it’s pretty horrible.”Ferguson, Bond says, could be especially useful on the flatter pitches in New Zealand, particularly in the second innings.”Wickets in New Zealand are flat, they’re generally green at the start, they flatten out, they don’t turn, they become a sort of run fest in the second innings in particular, so if you use him in those short, sharp spells, then he can come on and create some chaos through the middle there, and particularly in the back end where people just don’t want to face that stuff, that can make life easier for the rest of the order. “Bond also credited the New Zealand management for investing in Jamieson.”I thought last season he was sensational,” Bond said. “He’s certainly taken his game to another level, and I think that’s a sign of the investment New Zealand Cricket have put in him – the value of those A tours, programs, what he’s learned about travelling and what’s required to be at the top.””And then the second part is the credit to Kyle himself for going away and continuing to improve on areas that he had to to be successful. So he’s a hugely exciting talent, obviously offers multi-skills, and just offers that point of difference with his height and his bounce as well.”Despite Jamieson yet to make his T20I debut, Bond already foresees an IPL opportunity for him and is looking forward to him playing T20 cricket.”I’m looking forward to see how he goes in T20, and there’s always opportunities in the T20 game as well,” he says. “With another IPL around the corner, who knows what can happen. Things in this game can change pretty quick, so looking forward to seeing what he can do.”While New Zealand’s IPL contingent have cleared two Covid-19 tests, they will need to take a third one before being allowed to join the rest of the squad ahead of the T20I series starting November 27.
Manchester United continued their pre-season preparations with a fairly drab 0-0 draw against fellow Premier League side Leeds United on Saturday.
Ruben Amorim’s side featured two new signings in Diego Leon and Matheus Cunha, whilst the Red Devils are still finalising a deal to sign Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford.
Whilst there will be a lot of focus on who Manchester United bring in to bolster their squad during the summer transfer window, the club also need to move on the players who are not going to be involved under Amorim next season.
One of those players, Marcus Rashford, appears to be on the verge of a move away from Old Trafford, as Barcelona have agreed a deal to sign the England international.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona are set to sign the 27-year-old attacker on a season-long loan, with an option to make the deal permanent next summer.
David Ornstein has added that the Spanish giants are also set to pay 100% of the forward’s wages during that loan spell, in what will come as a welcome relief to Manchester United.
Why Rashford to Barcelona is a good move for all concerned
Rashford is reportedly on £300k-per-week at Old Trafford, as per Capology, and that equates to around £15.6m per year, which shows that the club are set to save a huge amount of money as part of this deal.
Whilst it is not set in stone that the winger will sign for Barcelona on a permanent transfer next summer, as it is only an option, United can be thankful that they are not paying his enormous wages next season, given that he was not a part of Amorim’s thinking.
Rashford
It is money that could be allocated elsewhere, potentially to bring in further attacking reinforcements, as Rashford has not been consistent enough in the final third to prove that he is worth spending that kind of money on.
The England international was sent out on loan to Aston Villa for the second half of the 2024/25 campaign, which shows that Amorim did not see a future for the academy graduate in his side.
24/25 (Man Utd & Villa)
11
£15.6m
£1.4m
23/24 (Man Utd)
8
£15.6m
£1.95m
22/23 (Man Utd)
30
£10.4m
£346k
21/22 (Man Utd)
5
£10.4m
£2.08m
As you can see in the table above, Rashford has failed to hit double figures for goals in two of the last four seasons in all competitions, and has only cost under £1.4m per goal scored in a season in one of the last four.
These statistics suggest that it is for the best that the English forward joins Barcelona on loan, with his wages paid in full, because United will be offloading a player, even if potentially just for next season, who has not justified his cost.
His exit will also create a space in the squad for United to bring in a replacement for him before the end of the summer transfer window, and the club are reportedly eyeing a star who could be an upgrade on him.
Man United make contact to sign Ligue 1 star
According to Foot Mercato, Manchester United are interested in a deal to sign Paris Saint-Germain’s versatile attacker Randal Kolo Muani.
The reporter claims that the Red Devils have already made contact with the Ligue 1 champions, as they pursue a potential transfer for the France international.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
Aouna adds, though, that Newcastle United have also made contact with PSG over a potential deal for the forward, which means that there could be stiff competition for his signature this summer.
The journalist’s article on Foot Mercato also reveals that Juventus are interested in a deal to bring him back to Turin, after he spent the second half of last season on loan with the Italian giants.
This latest report does not outline how much money it would take to strike a deal with PSG for Kolo Muani, but a price tag of £50m was mentioned earlier in the summer.
Why Man Utd should sign Randal Kolo Muani
The Red Devils should push to win the race for his signature in the coming weeks because he could arrive at Old Trafford as an upgrade on Marcus Rashford.
Like the soon-to-be Barcelona player, the French attacker is a versatile talent who can play out wide on either flank or through the middle as a centre-forward, which would provide Amorim with a plethora of ways in which to utilise his qualities.
In fact, France teammate Kylian Mbappe described Kolo Muani as being a “very complete” forward, and United could benefit from his brilliant all-round play as their new centre-forward, if they can secure a deal for him this summer.
The 26-year-old star scored eight goals and provided one assist in 16 matches in the Serie A during the second half of last term, whilst Rashford only scored six goals in 25 outings in the Premier League.
xG
0.36
Top 41%
Goals
0.62
Top 9%
Shots on target
1.08
Top 27%
Successful dribbles
1.39
Top 20%
Touches in opposition box
6.03
Top 20%
Interceptions
0.31
Top 14%
As you can see in the table above, the Juventus loanee produced high quality in a host of key metrics, as he excelled as a dribbler and a goalscorer, whilst also putting in hard work to win the ball back for his side.
Whilst, with one assist, the creative side of his game was not on full display, Kolo Muani did assist 17 goals in 46 games for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2022/23 campaign, which shows that he can be a fantastic creative threat when at his best.
The £50m-rated star, who scored two goals in three games at the Club World Cup, has delivered at least ten goals in all competitions in each of the last five seasons, whilst Rashford, as aforementioned, has only managed that in two of the last four years.
Kolo Muani could arrive as an upgrade on the England international because of his impressive form for Juventus in the second half of last season, as well as the almost guaranteed goals that his record suggests that he would provide in the final third.
Amorim's own Rodri: Man Utd agree personal terms to sign £26m sensation
Manchester United are starting to make things happen in the summer transfer market.
Not even Pep Guardiola can boast the same level of success as the under-appreciated Italian, who is bidding to win his fifth European Cup as a coach
When Arrigo Sacchi and Carlo Ancelotti spoke the morning after Real Madrid had knocked Bayern Munich out of the Champions League semi-finals with two late goals, the older man was still suffering the effects of the nerve-shredding nature of the victory.
"Carlo, I had a really bad time watching that game!" Sacchi said with faux fury. "Arrigo, it's a tactic," Ancelotti dead-panned. "We pretend to be dead and then, suddenly, at the end of the match, we rise again and win!"
The Madrid boss was obviously joking, but there are those that seriously believe that Ancelotti is a man without a plan; all vibes, no tactics. Indeed, his critics see him as some sort of Italian Harry Redknapp, nicking a living for years at some of Europe's elite clubs by simply telling Cristiano Ronaldo & Co. to "just f*cking run about".
Such a view does Ancelotti a great disservice. After all, we're talking about a man who has a strong claim on the title of the greatest manager of all time.
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War for football's soul
The likes of Fabio Capello and Jorge Valdano have long argued that, for better or for worse, Pep Guardiola has become the biggest influence on the coaching world. The Catalan clearly won the war with Jose Mourinho for football's soul while his beautiful Barcelona side collided with the Portuguese's pragmatic Real Madrid in one toxic Clasico clash after another more than a decade ago.
Consequently, Guardiola's followers are now everywhere. Arsenal clearly felt that the only way to compete with Guardiola was to hire one of his proteges in Mikel Arteta. Following the shock loss of Jurgen Klopp, who simply ran out of energy trying to keep up with the relentless winning machine Guardiola constructed at the Etihad, Liverpool have turned to a self-confessed super-fan of the Man City boss in Arne Slot.
And only this week, Bayern Munich gave one of the biggest jobs in the world to Vincent Kompany, a recently-relegated coach that appears to have only one qualification: he once played under Pep. Chelsea, meanwhile, are set to appoint another of Guardiola's disciples and former assistants, Enzo Maresca, in the coming days.
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'Football for me is not complex'
In that sense, Ancelotti is something of an anomaly in the era of footballing philosophers and tormented tacticians. He is not wedded to one single way of doing things. He was once, many, many years ago at Parma, when he felt the 4-4-2 he had learned under Sacchi was sacred, but turning down the chance to sign Roberto Baggio made him see the error of his ways.
Consequently, he has "never cultivated an ideology, like Guardilismo or Sarrismo", meaning he doesn't obsess, and he doesn't stress.
"Football is my passion but I try to manage things in the simplest way possible," he recently told Valdano. "Football for me is not complex, it's simple, even in strategy. Creativity is needed to attack; to defend, you need organisation. I can teach you more about the second one, but you don't teach creativity."
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Only 'two types of players'
Consequently, his attacking players are afforded a level of freedom that is the antithesis to the micro-management and automatism now prevalent in the modern game. But Ancelotti doesn't care.
"I would be an idiot if, with a striker like Vinicius, who has a scooter under his feet, I didn't focus on the counter-attack," he argued in an interview with the . "If I have (Luka) Modric and (Toni) Kroos, I can't expect to press high.
"And I'll give you one last example: if I have (Cristiano) Ronaldo in front of me, I study how to get the ball to him often. I don't ask him to tire himself out by tracking back. The same with Ibra (Zlatan Ibrahimovic). Essentially, there are two types of players: those who make the difference and those who have to run."
GettyImage
'Big bear'
Such thinking sounds archaic in the current climate, at the very least, overly simplistic. And yet it works. Ancelotti is adored by nearly every single player that's ever played under him – perhaps because he was a world-class talent himself back in the day, a key member of Sacchi's era-defining and game-changing AC Milan.
But there's clearly more to it than shared experiences at the highest level. Ancelotti is renowned by rival coaches for his humility, humour and warm personality, and it's telling that Vinicius Jr and Toni Kroos both say that they just like talking to the Italian (and not even about football), while Cristiano Ronaldo famously compared him to a big cuddly bear.
"He's so nice, so sensitive," the Portuguese told . "I wish every player could have the opportunity to work with him because he is a fantastic person, a fantastic coach and I miss him a lot, because we won many trophies together."
And that's the thing, while Ancelotti's coaching acumen often goes unrecognised – and is even sometimes ridiculed – his record is remarkable.
He's the only man in history to have won all five of Europe's 'big' leagues (Serie A, Premier League, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La Liga), while he's won a record five Champions Leagues as a coach after Madrid saw off Borussia Dortmund on Saturday at Wembley. When it comes to major titles, nobody else comes close.
"Both Pep and Sir Alex (Ferguson) are a part of history, but let’s look at what Ancelotti has achieved," Ruud Gullit recently argued. "He's the king of kings, better than anyone else."
He will have an x-ray and a scan on Monday, CSK coach Stephen Fleming said
ESPNcricinfo staff05-May-2019
BCCI
With the World Cup less than a month away, Kedar Jadhav has presented India with a worry, picking a shoulder injury while fielding during Chennai Super Kings’ game against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL on Sunday. According to Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming, Jadhav will not be available for the remainder of the IPL.”Kedar Jadhav’s getting an X-ray and a scan tomorrow,” Fleming said after the match. “We’re hopeful for him. I don’t think we’ll see him again in this tournament for us. So now his attention will turn to what it looks like for the World Cup.”He’s in some discomfort but we just need to be accurate with our assessments tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it’s nothing too serious but it didn’t look that good.”Jadhav was fielding on the leg-side boundary when he injured his left shoulder while diving to stop a ball. It was the 14th over, bowled by Dwayne Bravo, and Jadhav dived to his left while trying to stop an overthrow from Ravindra Jadeja. Jadhav stopped the ball, but immediately clutched his arm, and walked out to be attended to by Super Kings physio Tommy Simsek.Jadhav did not take the field for the rest of the innings with M Vijay coming in as the substitute. To add to Super Kings’ woes, Vijay spilled a straightforward catch at point from Nicholas Pooran the very next delivery.The Indian team management and selectors will hope the injury is not too serious, considering that the squad will leave for the UK on May 22 with India playing their first group match on June 5 against South Africa. Jadhav is among four allrounders in India’s World Cup squad, and if his injury rules him out of the tournament, the selectors will look at the back-up pool of Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel.Jadhav had picked up an injury during the IPL last year too. He had sustained a hamstring tear in the tournament opener against Mumbai Indians and was then ruled out of the remainder of the tournament. This time, the injury will make him miss the playoffs for Super Kings.Jadhav has had an unimpressive IPL, scoring only 162 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 96 and average of 18, with one half-century. And he hasn’t bowled at all. All nationals teams for the World Cup can make changes to their preliminary squads by May 23 as per ICC tournament rules.
It’s happening again, you know. England’s impressively woeful record in the Caribbean is in serious danger of another four-year extension, after one of the most outstanding team performances ever put together in West Indies’ long and illustrious history.It’s not often that a spell of 5 for 4 in 27 balls can be overshadowed in the final analysis of a glorious Test win. But such was West Indies’ collective brilliance in Barbados that Kemar Roach’s finest hour was only the third-most stunning statistical feat of the game, behind Jason Holder’s wonderful double-hundred and Roston Chase’s web-weaving eight-for in the fourth innings.Throw in the gut-busting efforts of Shimron Hetmyer (whose first-innings 81 was arguably – arguably! – the most agenda-setting performance of the match), Shane Dowrich’s share of a record-breaking 295-run stand on that incredible third day, and some brilliant but under-rewarded old-school fast bowling from Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph in particular, and the net result was a performance that England – in a glorious, throwback-to-the-1980s fashion – simply found too hot to handle.Make no mistake: even allowing for the shifting sands of the Test game, and the increasing propensity for teams, of all nationality, to fold like badly-erected beach umbrellas when the pressure is cranked up and the prospect of salvation is lost, this was a battering – with bat and ball – that could hardly have been bettered by Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall, or Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose.From an England perspective, the Barbados post-mortem zeroed in on two key shortcomings. The selection of the wrong team, with Sam Curran’s inclusion ahead of Stuart Broad and Adil Rashid’s anonymity as the second spinner, left them toothless at crucial moments of both innings, most spectacularly when Holder and Dowrich started teeing off in the second.But pitch mis-readings can happen. The less-forgivable shortcoming was England’s fatuous, almost blasé, attitude to their tour match at the 3Ws Oval. CWI had hoped for a proper four-day contest, not least to justify pulling so many players out of domestic competition. Instead, England insisted on two two-day warm-ups, glorified nets sessions against opponents who were visibly less than thrilled to be used in such a capacity. It provided, you suspect, further fuel to West Indies’ fire when it came to the main event.Stuart Broad walks out of the England dressing room•Getty Images
England will not make either mistake again. Broad, with his shorter, Richard Hadlee-inspired run-up, is sure to play at Antigua, while England are sure to have the match readiness for this second Test that they so palpably lacked for the first. But having blinked first in a three-Test series – and let’s face it, it was more of a bout of narcolepsy than a momentary nodding-off at the wheel – England face a massive challenge to get their series expectations back on course.For starters, there’s the Antigua factor – an island synonymous with some of West Indies’ most towering feats in the past, particularly against England. From Richards’ 56-ball hundred to Lara’s twin world records, and more recently to a pair of epic rearguards in 2009 and 2015, it’s an island where England have never yet tasted victory.Admittedly, the actual venue has shifted in recent years from the legendary ARG to the less-storied stadium in North Sound, and there has to be a first time for everything. But if West Indies can come close to matching the intensity they displayed in Barbados, it will be a challenge for England simply to stay with them, let alone better them.But whatever transpires, this series has already confounded expectations, and revived memories of past West Indian glories that, all too often in a troubled couple of decades, have threatened to consume rather than inspire their current and coming generations. Barbados was a performance around which the whole of the Caribbean was proud to rally. Bring on the next instalment.
Form guide
West Indies WLLLL (completed matches, most recent first) England LWWWW
In the spotlight
How does any player follow up a performance quite like that, let alone a young captain who is, at long last, starting to get the respect his talent and dignity have earned? Jason Holder produced a Test match for the ages in Barbados, smoking a quite brilliant double-century – his first in front of his home fans – while bowling with brilliant, understated control, and marshaling his resources with a deft touch. In the course of his endeavours, he rose to become the No.1 allrounder in Test cricket – West Indies’ first such incumbent since the matchless Garry Sobers. His challenge this week is to lift his side to do it all again, and secure a series win that Sobers himself would have been proud to play a part in.Joe Denly looks on during a net session•Getty Images
England confirmed on match eve that Joe Denly will complete a remarkable journey to Test recognition – one that stalled way back in February 2010 but was unexpectedly revived in a Man-of-the-Match display of legspin in a one-off T20I in Sri Lanka before Christmas. At the age of 32 and 321 days, he will be the oldest batsman to debut for England since Allan Wells in 1995 (not that he’d want to emulate that particular England career…) Opening the innings will be a stiff challenge for Denly, whose return to recognition stemmed from his middle-order contributions for Kent over the last two summers. But he’ll have streets of experience to fall back on, and who knows, his wristspin might be a handy option for Joe Root too.
Team news
Why change a winning formula? Assuming there are no lingering fitness worries from Barbados, then West Indies are set to name an unchanged XI. That said, Gabriel was troubled by a bruised toe during the second innings at Bridgetown, while Joseph has been prone to back stiffness on his return from a stress fracture. Dowrich, who handed the wicketkeeping duties over to Shai Hope after picking up a niggle during his batting heroics, is fully recovered and ready to resume his role.West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 John Campbell, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Shannon GabrielKeaton Jennings has paid the price for his terrible display in the first Test, with Denly to make his Test debut, almost ten years on from his first appearance in England’s one-day set-up. Broad is also slated for a comeback, with England seemingly committed to a solitary spinner this time around – Adil Rashid has been left out of a 12-man squad, with Jack Leach coming into contention. Moeen Ali’s bowling was scarcely any more economical than Rashid’s in Bridgetown, while his pair spoke of a batsman whose form has fallen off a cliff, and Leach is an option who is sure to provide control. Ben Foakes was fearing for his place after a double failure in Bridgetown, but both he and Sam Curran have credit in the bank after their first taste of defeat in an England shirt.England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Joe Denly, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson
Pitch and conditions
Two days out from the Test, there was still a fair amount of live grass on the wicket, but with a bit of a haircut and another day of Caribbean heat, it ought to be a fairly dry surface come Thursday morning. It might prove to be a touch quicker than in 2015 but in essence, it is a good batting wicket.
Stats and trivia
England need to win this Test to have any hope of improving a woeful series record in the Caribbean, in which they have won a solitary series (in 2004) in their last nine attempts since 1968.
After his scores of 4 and 22, Root’s Test average has dipped below 50 for the first time since August 2014, when he scored an unbeaten 149 against India at The Oval.
If they are reunited with the new ball, James Anderson (570) and Broad (433) will become only the third bowling partnership to take the field with a combined 1000 Test wickets behind them, after Glenn McGrath (563) and Shane Warne (708), and Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Chaminda Vaas (355).
Ben Stokes passed 3000 runs at Bridgetown, making him the fifth England allrounder to complete the 3000 runs and 100 wickets double, behind Ian Botham, Tony Greig, Andrew Flintoff and Broad.
Quotes
“We’re definitely still the underdogs in this series. We’re ranked eight and they’re ranked two or three.” “It’s a very determined group of players who have had a bit of pride dented last week and know that’s not a good enough performance for what we’re capable of. This is our first opportunity to put things right.” Joe Root believes his side are ready to bounce back
The opener has withdrawn citing personal reasons, and has been replaced by Kieran Powell and Nicholas Pooran in the ODI and T20I squads respectively
ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-20181:50
Evin Lewis, devourer of India’s bowling
Opener Evin Lewis has withdrawn from the limited-overs leg of West Indies’ tour of India, citing personal reasons. Kieran Powell will replace him in the ODI squad while Nicholas Pooran, who last played for West Indies in 2016, will take his place in the T20I squad.
West Indies’ updated limited-overs squads
ODI squad: Jason Holder (capt), Fabian Allen, Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kieran Powell, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Oshane Thomas, Obed McCoy T20I squad: Carlos Brathwaite (capt), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Obed McCoy, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Oshane Thomas
Lewis’ absence is a major blow to the ODI line-up that does not include Chris Gayle or Andre Russell. Gayle, who is currently playing in the Afghanistan Premier League and will join the T10 league after that, had made himself unavailable for selection for the India and Bangladesh tours. Russell was picked for the T20Is but not the ODIs because he “has been ruled out of all 50-over cricket due to injury”.Lewis had turned down a white-ball contract offered to him earlier this month, before being named in both the ODI and T20I squads for the India tour. Powell’s ODI record, meanwhile, isn’t encouraging: he has 901 runs in 38 innings at an average of 23.71 and a strike-rate of 78.27.Left-arm quick Obed McCoy, who found a place in the T20I squad, has now been added to the ODI squad as well, as cover for Alzarri Joseph, who “remains under observation for his return to full fitness” according to a Cricket West Indies release. Joseph continues to recover from a stress fracture of the back suffered late last year.McCoy’s left-arm variety and slower cutters stood out even as the rest of the St Lucia Stars faded away in the CPL earlier this year. He played only seven games for Stars but ended as their joint-highest wicket-taker, with nine wickets at an economy rate of 7.8.Pooran, Lewis’ replacement in the T20I squad, had a productive CPL 2018 as well. He had scored 267 runs in 10 innings for Barbados Tridents at an average of 33.37 and a strike-rate of 144.32.The limited-overs series begins with the first ODI in Guwahati on October 21.
They will go into the final on Saturday as the favourites, having topped the league stage and brushed aside Delhi Bulls
Aadam Patel03-Dec-2021For Mushtaq Ahmed, it is a third season in the hot seat at the Deccan Gladiators and perhaps, it is a case of third time lucky for the former Pakistan spinner. In 2019, the Gladiators fell short at the final hurdle, and earlier this year a tame effort saw them eliminated before the play-offs.This time around, things are a little different. They will go into the Abu Dhabi T10 final on Saturday as the favourites, having topped the league stage and brushed aside Delhi Bulls in the first qualifier.Led by the experienced Wahab Riaz and a bowling attack that possesses international quality in Tymal Mills and Wanindu Hasaranga, they have managed to bowl out three sides and taken 61 wickets across the ten-game league stage. Their West Indian allrounders, Andre Russell and Odean Smith have both picked up regular wickets throughout the tournament, as well as starring with the bat.Hasaranga is the joint top wicket-taker this season with a tally of 19 and has resumed exactly where he left off at the T20 World Cup, baffling the opposition with his variations. In a format that strongly favours the batters, the Sri Lankan has had the chance to bowl five hat-trick deliveries thus far. With 5 for 8 against the Bangla Tigers in the league stage, Hasaranga now also has the best bowling figures in T10 history.With the bat, they have had contributions across the order. At the top, the three Toms in Kohler-Cadmore, Moores and Banton have all played match-winning knocks. Kohler-Cadmore’s 96 has undoubtedly been the knock of the tournament and is also the highest score in T10 history.Going into the final, Mushtaq insists that his message will remain simple to the players.Wanindu Hasaranga has picked up where he left off at the T20 World Cup•ICC via Getty”Remember your strengths first of all. We’re lucky to have a very good analyst [Prasanna Agoram] and he gives the team lots of information on the opposition, in terms of bowling variations and the strengths and weaknesses of batters. That’s why analysts are playing a huge role in cricket,” Mushtaq said. “When you prepare to win a tournament like this, a lot of it is very simple – you have to aim for less dot balls and more boundaries with the bat and vice versa with the ball. In this format, you need a bit of a luck too, but that you can’t control. I tell the boys to make sure they control what they can.”In an interview with Ten Sports, Prasanna spoke about how much he has been impressed by Smith, who he believes “has all the ingredients to succeed” and become “the next Andre Russell.” He added how Kohler-Cadmore was one of the first names he recommended to Mushtaq and that given his wide range of shots, an England debut can’t be far off.Mushtaq certainly appreciates and values the role of the analyst in modern-day cricket, yet as part of a generation that grew and developed without such assistance, he insists that players need to trust their own instincts too.”The analyst helps you to execute plans better, but in my time, we used to use our own brain. I was saying to the guys the other day, we didn’t have an analyst but we used to read the opposition ourselves. If you can feed lots of things into that laptop or computer, you can feed your own programme too if you concentrate on the opposition and that’s why cricketers in the 80s and 90s were very very smart. They could read a batsmen while they were fielding and waiting to bowl.””Now, all of the teams rely on analysts to get information, which is rightly so, but at the same time, sometimes young cricketers don’t rely on their own thinking and their own brain and that’s why sometimes the process of becoming a better cricketer comes later.””In my era, I think we were more street-smart, because we didn’t have those sources. We had to assess the conditions very quickly. Using your own brain allows you to make mistakes and that helps you to learn and improve quicker and I think that’s a big difference between now and when I played.”In Hasaranga, Mushtaq believes that the Gladiators possess one of those street-smart players. “He reads batters so quickly, in terms of who is looking to hit him where and he is very proactive with his variations. I’m very impressed.”The Sri Lankan has been the standout bowler of the Abu Dhabi T10 and if the Gladiators again deploy his weaponry well in the final, his two overs could end up being the difference between another final defeat and a first ever T10 title for the franchise.
He’s up there with the likes of Hutton, May, Gooch and Cook. Like his team-mates seem to think, might he be the greatest of them all?
Mark Nicholas07-Jun-2022These past four days the United Kingdom has celebrated the 70-year reign of Her Majesty the Queen with gusto. There have been numerous parties in her name since she ascended to the throne in the cold February of 1952, but this platinum jubilee has been the mother and father of them all. Happily, yesterday’s finale coincided with England’s thrilling Test match victory at Lord’s. It had not been 70 years since England last won but it felt a bit like it – a long ten months let’s say.In the summer of 1952, England played four Test matches against India, winning the first three comprehensively and watching the rain fall for much of the fourth. At the top of the batting order was Len Hutton and at three, four and five in the first two matches were Peter May, Denis Compton and Tom Graveney, each of them wizards in their way. Hutton was technically close to perfect and, typically of Yorkshiremen, resilient. Bowlers used to say that they felt any ball bowled to May could have been hit for four; the only other batter I’ve heard that said of was Viv Richards. Compton had hints of genius in him, created by quicksilver feet, an eager eye, and the most splendid expression. Graveney was elegant beyong imagination and blessed with extraordinary powers of concentration. These were wonderful batters during something of a golden age for English cricket, and the legend of each lives on in the hearts of those for whom cricket is so much more than just a game.None of them, however, were better than Joe Root. The current players like to refer to Root as the best English batter of all time. I don’t know about that, and nor, really, do the players, but they are hugely proud of him. Root is a man of great dignity and no little modesty. He would rather they didn’t fuss but, then again, it is a fine thing to be so appreciated by your peers.Related
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'England's most complete all-round batter of all time'
Batting is a craft that has evolved over a couple of centuries. Film of WG Grace in the nets does not tell us much, other than how different the game was back then. The same can be said about grainy footage of Jack Hobbs, though 197 hundreds must count for something. Photographs at the MCG of Walter Hammond and Bill Ponsford remind us that many of the pitches of the day were barely identifiable from the outfields and therefore the balance between bat and ball was far less weighted in favour of batters than it is today. In 1937, the lbw law changed so that bowlers could trap a batter in front by pitching the ball outside off stump and bringing it back into his pads. Previously the ball had to pitch on the stumps and be going on to hit them, which takes some bowling.Tom Graveney was among those who bucked the trend of predominantly playing back on the pitches of his day•Getty ImagesOf course, batting is a subjective skill and has changed considerably even in the relatively short time that I have been involved with the game. On uncovered pitches and before the introduction of helmets, the tendency was to play back. This allowed more time to react to the uncertain bounce of the ball and more time to respond to its speed. The clarion call on uncovered pitches was for “soft hands”, meaning a loose grip and a gentle method of letting the ball come to you before dropping it safely at your feet. If you study footage of Compton against Keith Miller, for example, or of the Australians being bowled out by Jim Laker at Old Trafford in 1956, you will see them play back almost exclusively. Just occasionally a player emerged to buck the trend and foremost among those was Graveney, who was best known for his cover drive but became much admired for his ability to hook and pull off the front foot.Root appears to have all these skills and more. He is, as they say these days, a 360-degree player, and more remarkably in an age when batters come so hard at the ball, he is that player off both feet. Picking a signature shot is difficult, though the cut might be the one. He has the ability to score without being noticed and to change the tempo of a match while doing so. The pitch at Lord’s was tricky, offering swing and seam to the bowlers and suggestions of uneven bounce and pace. Footwork was crucial, as proven by the fall of those who stayed trapped on the crease, as was Root’s ability to play the ball late enough to flow with its movement in his strokes or watch it fly by.For much of the first act in this Root exhibition, he simply hung around at the other end while Ben Stokes went about justifying his pre-match rhetoric. Of the 90 runs they added together the new captain made 54 – a dazzling array of the ridiculous and sublime – and the old one 30-odd. When Stokes went, the second act began as Root upped the ante in a manner that took courage and all of his skill. Far from dropping anchor to ensure that one wicket didn’t bring two, he began to look for scoring opportunities with an increased sense of urgency and purpose. This caught the New Zealand players off guard and whisked away their potential for momentum. Root knew that the sunlit Saturday evening – play had been extended to 7pm after morning rain and a generally slow over rate – with the pitch drying, the ball soft, and the opponents wilting, was England’s moment. All the best players can sense this and most move in for the kill.Which one’s better?•Philip Brown/Getty ImagesWhen stumps were drawn that evening, England needed just 61. Ben Foakes had become to Root what Root had been to Stokes. When cricketers use the phrase “bat in partnerships” this is exactly what they mean. In that final hour’s play on Saturday, Foakes made 9 of the 57 he and Root put on together in 15 overs: runs that negated the likelihood of New Zealand dragging the game to the point at which they could use a second new ball on the fourth morning and, to some degree at least, allowed the England dressing room to sleep easy.For sure, England got lucky when Colin de Grandhomme overstepped the popping crease by less than a centimetre to give Stokes a reprieve early in his innings, but it is said, better to be lucky than good. Or just be Joe Root.As it was, New Zealand bowled poorly on the fourth morning but Root deserves the credit for that. He simply outplayed them. The innings was a masterpiece, one of which any player, from any age, would have been proud. He had rescued the Stokes-McCullum dream start from ignominy, and gave the country a wonderful sidebar across a weekend in which joy and celebration were the national mood.How good is he? Well, the line of exceptional English batting began with Grace and moved through such players as Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe, Hammond, Hutton, Compton and May, Ted Dexter, Colin Cowdrey, Ken Barrington, Geoff Boycott, Graham Gooch (latterly), David Gower, Graham Thorpe, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook. Root is as good as any of them and better than most. You could make a shortlist of five, I reckon, but I’ll leave that to you. Suffice to say that the lad from Sheffield with 10,015 Test match runs to his name is amongst them and that no one is happier about that than his successor as captain.
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has revealed why he wanted to sign Manchester United outcast Marcus Rashford on loan this summer. The German also delivered his verdict on ex-United star Jesse Lingard ahead of Barca's pre-season friendly clash with FC Seoul.
Flick revealed why he wanted Rashford
Admitted he followed his performances for Man Utd
Barcelona to face Lingard's FC Seoul
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WHAT HAPPENED?
Rashford has joined Barcelona on a season-long loan deal and the Catalan giants have an option to make the transfer permanent for €30m (£26m/$35m). Flick has admitted that he has been following Rashford's games at United for many years and believes that the England international can shine at Barca, despite his poor form in the last couple of seasons at Old Trafford. Rashford made his unofficial debut for Barcelona in their first pre-season friendly against Vissel Kobe in Japan last week, where he played for just 33 minutes.
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WHAT FLICK SAID
Speaking to reporters about Rashford, the German coach said: "Marcus is a great player. I’ve been following him for many years, since he started his career at United. He has a lot of quality, and we hope he can show it this season with the team."
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
Ahead of facing Lingard's FC Seoul in their upcoming friendly in South Korea, Flick added: "Lingard is a great player, we know him from his time in England, but we focus on his team… Seoul is working well and will be our second challenge."
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WHAT NEXT FOR BARCELONA?
The reigning La Liga champions will face Lingard and Co in a friendly clash at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Thursday. Barca are due to kick off their new domestic campaign away at Mallorca on August 16.