Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal are reportedly keeping tabs on Newcastle United star Alexander Isak after Liverpool's transfer interest was rebuffed.
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He got there in 103 balls, breaking the record previously held jointly by Travis Head and N Jagadeesan in men’s List A cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff23-Oct-2024Chad Bowes scored the fastest List A double-century on Wednesday for Canterbury against Otago in the Ford Trophy. Bowes brought up the milestone in 103 balls, before eventually falling for 205 off 110 deliveries.The record was previously held by Australia’s Travis Head and India’s N Jagadeesan, who both took 114 deliveries each to get to their respective double-centuries. Head achieved the feat for South Australia against Queensland in the 2021-22 Marsh Cup, while Tamil Nadu’s Jagadeesan did it during his record-breaking 277 against Arunachal Pradesh in the 2022 Vijay Hazare Trophy.Playing his 100th List A match, Bowes hit 27 fours and seven sixes as he helped Canterbury post 343 for 9 after they were put in to bat at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.”It might sink in over the next day or two, but obviously a great day here at Hagley and a good occasion to do something special,” Bowes said after his innings. “These things happen naturally, organically. You don’t plan for it or try to do it, so I’m glad it was my day. Probably not [hit he ball] consistently that well, so it was nice to get most of them out of the middle and hit it around the park. It started off really nicely so I just kept going and it was working so I didn’t try to rein it in too much and just kept the foot on the gas.”The 32-year-old got off to a quick start and continued to show his aggression despite losing his opening partner Henry Nicholls for a five-ball duck in the second over. He got to his half-century in 26 balls and brought up his century in 53 deliveries. He took another 50 deliveries to complete his double, before being trapped lbw in the 39th over by Matthew Bacon, who registered a five-for. This was Bowes’ best List A score, comfortably going past his previous high score of 126.Only two other batters in Canterbury’s top seven reached double-figures, with captain Cole McConchie’s 40-ball 27 the next highest score. However, No. 8 Zakary Foulkes gave them a late boost with a 46-ball 49 to take them close to 350.Canterbury bowled Otago out for 103 to complete a 240-run win.
Jude Bellingham dropped a comment on girlfriend Ashlyn Castro's Instagram post as she ended her social media hiatus.
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“You don’t want to play with my colleagues and you want to play with me? It means I’m putting my colleagues down as well”
Nagraj Gollapudi16-Apr-2024Rashid Khan is “hurt” by Cricket Australia’s decision recently to indefinitely postpone Australia’s scheduled three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. In response, Rashid, who is currently playing for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024, will reconsider participating in the 2025 edition of the BBL.The T20I series, a part of the ICC’s future tours programme, was scheduled for August at a neutral venue, but CA said in January that it was postponing the engagement after consultations with the Australian government because of “a marked deterioration in human rights for women and girls” in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.”It does hurt you,” Rashid told ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday in Ahmedabad, where Titans will play their next IPL 2024 game, against Delhi Capitals, on Wednesday. “You do want to play against the best teams and that’s where your cricket is going to improve more and more. You only get the opportunity playing against them [Australia] in the World Cups, but not in bilateral series.”Related
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Rashid, who will lead Afghanistan at the 2024 T20 World Cup in June, said that playing against top-ranked teams would be hugely beneficial for the growth of his team. As an example, Rashid cited the three-match T20I series Afghanistan played this January against India, which they lost 3-0.”Recently, we played three T20s against India, and it helped us a lot,” he said. “We nearly chased 200 [212] against India. Imagine if you wouldn’t have played that, where would the confidence come from? Playing against big teams is huge for us.”This was the third time CA had chosen not to honour a bilateral engagement with Afghanistan: in 2021, what would have been the first Test match between the two teams, was postponed, and then, in 2023, an ODI series was called off.”As a player you can’t do much about it,” he said. “It’s the issue of governments to resolve. But what hurts me the most is when things like that happens, why it is hurting cricket [in Afghanistan]?”If something is [in the hands of the] governments, why is hurting cricket? Why it comes to cricket? Can cricket solve those issues? I think if cricket is solving those issues, then it’s fine, then I’m happy with it.”Rashid stressed that cricket was a “source of happiness” for Afghanistan, and that was something Australia needed to understand.”Cricket is the only source back home in Afghanistan which give people happiness,” he said. “And if you are taking that happiness [away] from the people as well, you are hurting more people as well back home. And that is something which I feel like is more hurting as a captain where you are so excited as a youngster playing against Australia and then this thing just happens.”Rashid Khan and the other Adelaide Strikers’ players high-five fans•Kelly Barnes/Getty Images
Last year, Rashid had threatened to withdraw from the BBL, but changed his mind and entered the BBL draft, before missing the tournament because he had to undergo a back surgery. Rashid said that CA’s latest move had again forced him to reassess his stance on participating in the BBL, where he has represented Adelaide Strikes since 2016-17.”Lots of things come in the mind,” he said. “Like, if you don’t want to play against my team, then why you want me to play in your country? Because I’m not allowed then in your country as well to play cricket.”You don’t want to play with my colleagues and you want to play with me? So what’s the difference? It means I’m putting my colleagues down as well. My country down as well. So if I’m playing there, if money in these things comes, nothing is bigger than my country. Money will just go and come. That’s not the point.”If they play with us and we play against them, that’s the only way we can play there as well. That’s the only solution for this problem to be solved.”
Hardik Pandya’s calculated aggression against Australia on Sunday proved his adaptability and maturity. In the long run, it could give an already formidable India an extra bowler without compromising on the batting
Arun Venugopal in Chennai18-Sep-20172:43
Gambhir: A long way to go before comparing Pandya and Stokes
The crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium had finally sputtered to life. Forty-eight legal deliveries had not yielded a single boundary, making voice-boxes somewhat redundant. But Hardik Pandya was up to something, smashing a second successive six off Adam Zampa to bring up his half-century in the 37th over. The fans instinctively lapsed into the chant they are most familiar with: “Dhoni…Dhoni…Dhoni.”The man they were invoking, however, was at the non-striker’s end, and walked up towards Pandya. MS Dhoni is Pandya’s first international captain, senior statesman, and the original badass finisher – a role Pandya is currently auditioning for. And when Dhoni speaks, you listen. Typically, Dhoni’s (advice) appeared to the point, accompanied with minimal animation.Whatever Pandya may have gleaned from the conversation seemed to have little bearing on the next ball. He got his front leg out of the way and swatted one wide of long-on. That shot helped him record a unique achievement: it was the fourth time this year that he had hit three consecutive sixes in international cricket. He had done it twice against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy and against Sri Lanka in a Test in July.The manner in which Pandya struck those sixes – creating a strong base and not losing shape – was breathtaking to watch. But it was the grunt work that he did on either side of the glamour shots that ultimately stood out. A calculated method that married mad rush.
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Natural gameDuring India A’s tour of Australia last year, Pandya broke free from the clutches of a cliché that has had plenty of airtime in cricketing discourses over the years. He learned something that changed the way he approached batting. That Pandya did it on a tour he wasn’t originally meant to be a part of – he was picked after an injury to Tamil Nadu allrounder Vijay Shankar – only made it more fascinating. A poor IPL – he averaged 6.28 with the bat and took only three wickets – resulted in his exclusion from the India side for the Zimbabwe tour. The high-profile A tour was a chance to make himself relevant again.Heading into the second unofficial Test in Brisbane – the last game of the tour – Pandya had produced an average performance with the ball. He hadn’t made too many runs either, but knew a crucial performance in the final game wouldn’t go unnoticed.Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid, the India A coach, had debunked the “natural game” theory in his conversations with the team, making it clear that players can’t hold up natural game as an excuse for rash cricket. The message was simple: play according to the situation and the needs of the team. Pandya could probably identify with it given his struggles adapting to a different role at Mumbai Indians, where he was slotted in at No. 3 in the 2016 season.In Brisbane, when Pandya walked out to bat with the score at 46 for 6 in the first innings, he decided to put the lessons into practice. The pink ball was swerving around, but Pandya gritted out the first day and returned the next day to finish with 79 off 116 balls and steer the team to a respectable, even if ultimately inadequate, 169.Associated PressThe game ended in a draw. It was, however, a long-term victory for Pandya even if he hadn’t recognised it then. With Dravid’s mentorship to tap into, the crinkles in his regimen were smoothed over. There was greater emphasis on fitness, eating right and sleeping on time, which is now an indispensable part of his routine. His flamboyant
“West Indian-from-Baroda” persona mellowed down, too, without the loss of competitive zing.
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This was quickly turning into a forgettable Sunday for the Chepauk faithful, who had turned up in thousands. The dismissal of a set Kedhar Jadhav left India half their side down for 87, with nearly 30 overs remaining after opting to bat on a tricky surface. In came Pandya at No. 7, but you couldn’t tell which Pandya was walking out. Was it the late-game slugger from Birmingham or the lone ranger from The Oval. Regardless of how long he lasted, his modus operandi, you felt, was going to be slam-bang. Pandya, however, activated a slightly different mode: controlled explosion.One of his early acts was more restraint and less offence. Marcus Stoinis bowled a bouncer and Pandya shaped up for a cute ramp but bailed out in the end. Not for the last time, substance had trumped style. From there on, there were backfoot punches, nurdles, clips and dinks, and in general, percentage cricket. His strike-rate, though, consistently hovered around the 80s and 90s. There were barely any twitchy fingers waiting to pull the trigger. The Delhi game against New Zealand last year, where Pandya came close but couldn’t go the distance, must have served as a timely reminder.Dhoni’s presence at the other end must have helped, too. He knows how the long game is played and imparted some crucial on-the-job training to Pandya. Lesson one: don’t overreach. By Pandya’s own admission, they would have been happy with a total of 230. Together, the pair lay in prowl for a bowler who could provide them with the release they sought.Once Pandya identified Zampa as the target, he went after him the way Dhoni often did in his prime. India blasted 50 runs between overs 36 and 40, Pandya going from 35 to 77 and Dhoni quietly trudging from 28 to 35. When Pandya eventually fell to Zampa, he was out trying to do what he did all innings: pick a target and tear him down. By that time, he had added 118 runs with Dhoni, and finished with 83 off 66 balls, including five fours and five sixes. To rub it in, Pandya claimed two wickets, including that of Smith, and fractured Australia’s pursuit.The victory will be sweet for Virat Kohli. More important, though, is the larger implication of Pandya’s all-round punch. In the past, Kohli has backed Pandya to play the role Ben Stokes does for England. Now, there is more evidence that he can live up to the billing. Not only could Pandya take over the finisher’s mantle from Dhoni at No. 6, he could also give India the luxury of playing five bowlers, a strategy Kohli has aggressively pursued in Tests. As Pandya matures, Kohli can afford to go the way other top teams have and ensure India don’t go one bowler light without compromising on the batting core. With less than two years to go for the World Cup, Pandya’s rise has given an already formidable India side much-needed all-round ballast.
All the stats and records from West Indies’ forgettable night in Dubai.
Sampath Bandarupalli23-Oct-202155 West Indies’ total against England is the third-lowest for any side in the men’s T20 World Cup. Netherlands recorded the top-two lowest totals – 39 all out in 2014 and 44 all out on Friday, both against Sri Lanka. West Indies did not have a sub-100 total at the men’s T20 World Cup before this game.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2 The 55 all-out score is the second-lowest T20I total ever by West Indies. Their lowest was 45 all out, also coming against England, in 2019. West Indies have made consecutive T20I totals of 55, 71 and 45 against England, the top three lowest T20I totals against England.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 England have beaten West Indies for the first time at the men’s T20 World Cup. West Indies were victorious in their previous five meetings, including twice in the 2016 edition.
Sign up for ESPN+ and catch the Men’s T20 World Cup live in the US. Match highlights of England vs West Indies is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).
4 for 2 Adil Rashid’s bowling figures during West Indies’ innings, the best in men’s T20Is for England. The previous best was 4 for 6 by Chris Jordan, also against West Indies, in 2019. Only one player before Adil had a four-wicket haul for England at the men’s T20 World Cup – 4 for 28 by Jordan against Sri Lanka in 2016.ESPNcricinfo Ltd70 Balls to spare when England reached the target of 56 runs, the first time England won a T20I with ten or more overs to spare. It is also the first time West Indies lost by such a margin. England chased a target of 72 against West Indies in 2019 with 57 balls to spare, the previous biggest T20I win in terms of balls to spare for England, also the biggest defeat for West Indies previously.2 Runs conceded by Adil Rashid for his four wickets against West Indies, the cheapest four-wicket haul in men’s T20I cricket. Steve Tikolo also took four wickets for two runs, in 1.2 overs against Scotland in 2013.2 West Indies’ 55 all out is also the second-lowest T20 total ever recorded in the UAE, behind Netherlands’ 44 all out on Friday against Sri Lanka in Sharjah. The previous lowest T20 total in Dubai was 59 all out by Lahore Qalandars against Peshawar Zalmi in 2017.
Still on the hunt for attacking reinforcements, Manchester United are now reportedly open to offering Joshua Zirkzee in a summer swap deal to sign one particular target worth a hefty £85m.
Whilst their recruitment of Matheus Cunha gave them plenty of hope that last season’s failure wouldn’t stand in the way of much-needed additions this summer, Viktor Gyokeres and Bryan Mbeumo could quickly flip that narrative.
It’s a fairly open secret that the Red Devils are in pursuit of the duo, with Fabrizio Romano even going as far as to suggest that they’ve been constantly contacting Gyokeres, but that pursuit could yet end in failure.
Thomas Frank’s move to Tottenham Hotspur has suddenly seen the North London side come sprinting into the race for Mbeumo’s signature and reports are claiming that the Lilywhites have met the forward’s £70m price tag. United, meanwhile, have already seen one bid rejected for the Brentford star.
Losing out on two attacking targets would be a frustrating blow for United, but losing out to two rivals in Arsenal and Tottenham would add further salt to their wounds.
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Those at Old Trafford may have no choice but to dust themselves off and go again, however. Just who they turn to if they miss out on Mbeumo and Gyokeres is the big question. On that front, names such as Antoine Semenyo and an impressive £85m striker have already been mentioned among those that United may begin to chase.
That £85m name is of course Hugo Ekitike. According to Caught Offside, Manchester United are now open to offering Joshua Zirkzee in a swap deal to sign Ekitike. Eintracht Frankfurt reportedly value the Frenchman at €100m (£85m), but the inclusion of Zirkzee in any deal could help bring that hefty figure down.
|
League stats 24/25 (via FBref) |
Hugo Ekitike |
Joshua Zirkzee |
|---|---|---|
|
Minutes |
2,563 |
1,402 |
|
Goals |
15 |
3 |
|
Assists |
8 |
1 |
|
Expected Goals |
21.6 |
4.8 |
Whilst there may well be a concern over just how much Ekitike has underperformed when it comes to matching his expected goals, there’s no doubt that he’d be an instant upgrade on Zirkzee for Ruben Amorim this summer.
The Dutchman struggled to leave his mark in his debut season, making it harder and harder to justify his £105,000-a-week salary. Now, just one year later, he could find himself replaced and shown the exit door in one swift move.
Described as “strong” by analyst Ben Mattinson, who was full of praise for the Frenchman back in March, Ekitike is undoubtedly one to watch this summer. He won’t come cheap, but if Manchester United can find a way past the forward’s hefty price tag, then he is one that they should prioritise.
Michail Antonio was on top form on his return to action with two goals for West Ham United U21 as he continues his recovery from a horrific car crash.
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Fans of both Ted Lasso and Mumford & Sons were taken by surprise as an unexpected collaboration took place on stage during a Kansas City concert.
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Wicketkeeper insists team will continue to ‘inspire and entertain’ despite insipid Ashes showing
ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2025Amy Jones has insisted there’s still a “lot of love” for Alex Hartley within the England Women’s squad, as she sought to play down the row over Hartley’s claims that she has been “given the cold shoulder” by certain players during her duties as an Ashes broadcaster.England go into Thursday’s second T20I in Canberra needing nothing less than a win to maintain their hopes of salvaging a drawn series after four consecutive losses. But their on-field struggles have been overshadowed by the team’s alleged response to Hartley’s criticism of their fitness levels, which began with their T20 World Cup exit in October.Speaking on a BBC podcast on Monday, after Australia’s 57-run win had confirmed that they will maintain their decade-long hold on the Ashes, Hartley claimed that Sophie Ecclestone had refused to do a TV interview with her, and that other members of the squad were no longer talking to her on the boundary edge.”The reason I said that they were not as fit as Australia is because I want them to compete with Australia,” Hartley had added. “I want them to be better than Australia, and I want them to win Ashes and World Cups. I’m giving my opinion, and I’ve been given the cold shoulder from the England team ever since.”Replying to the row, Jones acknowledged that the squad had fallen well short of its own expectations during the Ashes, but denied that the players had taken Hartley’s comments personally.”I don’t think it is the case,” Jones said. “I think we all respect that commentators have their own opinions and it’s Alex’s job to say how she feels. And I think we all respect that. Hartley’s a great personality, and we have a lot of love for her within the group. So, I definitely don’t think that’s the case.”Jones herself has been a qualified success in a misfiring batting line-up, making three 30-plus scores in four innings to date, including an unbeaten 47 in a low-scoring ODI in Melbourne.Related
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However, England’s missed opportunities in this series were epitomised by Jones’ glaring lack of game awareness at the culmination of that Melbourne innings, when she failed to run on a free hit that could have kept her on strike going into the penultimate over of the innings. No.11 Lauren Bell was bowled one ball later to condemn England to a 21-run loss.”That one in particular was hard to take, for many reasons,” Jones said. “I felt emotionally drained afterwards [because], with the obvious mistake at the end, you definitely feel responsible for the loss. But the support from all the girls and the staff emphasised that long games don’t often come down to one specific moment, so I guess that definitely helped.”I’ve obviously made contributions along the way, but as a player, you definitely judge yourself on matchwinning contributions. I’ve been lucky to be in a position where I could have really helped influence a few of those games, especially in the ODIs, and I’m disappointed not to be able to get the team over the line. There’s a lot of learnings in there.”Alex Hartley claims she has been given the ‘cold shoulder’ by England players•Getty Images
Even with the series all but lost, Jones says that the squad will be sticking to the same mantras and methods that have been in place since the start of Jon Lewis’ tenure as head coach, in particular their desire to “inspire and entertain” – traits that have arguably been in scarce supply in a dispiriting campaign.”We’re still working hard at training and in team meetings to try and put our best foot forward,” Jones said. “We’ll be very excited to come out play tomorrow, and hopefully get some points on the board.”There was a bit of reconnection after the second ODI about how we want to play, making sure we’re still trying to inspire and entertain,” she added. “That’s worked really well for us in the past, and it’s something that all of us connect to really well.”It brings out more of a fearless playing style, which suits us. I think we’ve lifted a bit away from that, and so reconnecting to that is important for us. We play our best when we take the game on, put their bowlers under pressure with the bat, and have a wicket-taking mindset with the ball. In the field, it’s around energy and enjoyment. When all those things come together, we’re obviously a very good side.”