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This was the second-highest attended Ashes of all time, viewing figures have been strong and Steven Smith has moved towards greatness. But much of the action was far from memorable

Daniel Brettig08-Jan-2018Were the 2017-18 Ashes reimagined as a major Hollywood film, its reviews might well term it “an impressive, popular technical achievement that lacks a compelling storyline – more Armageddon than Casablanca”. By most measures, this has been among the most successful Ashes series of all. For attendance, it is second to only one other in history. Yet it carries the unmistakable sense of something missing.When the SCG scoreboards flashed an official attendance of 17,174 for the 25th and last day of the series, it took the total to 867,002, the most in Australia since 957,550 witnessed the contest of 1936-37. Given similarly healthy television figures in Australia, this Ashes can undoubtedly be termed a “box office smash”. In recognising how it has been so well-attended, the story of the encounter 81 years ago is worth considering.For decades, that series has stood as the best-attended Ashes of all time, the apogee of Test cricket for the masses. The booming crowds were attributed to factors including Sir Donald Bradman’s comeback from illness, the end of the Great Depression, expanded capacity for the Gabba and the MCG, and the fact it was a series that could *only* be watched at the ground, predating television in Australia by 20 years.Significant, too, was a mightily compelling contest, in which the hosts came back from an 0-2 deficit to win 3-2, the only time such a feat has been achieved in Test match history. Each match was scheduled to be played to a finish, and two of them, in Adelaide and Melbourne, stretched into a sixth day. Given the heavily fractious nature of the previous Ashes down under, Bodyline and all that, the visiting captain Gubby Allen was eager to restore friendly relationships. Allowing Bradman’s Australia to come back from such a deficit, while eschewing the tactics of Douglas Jardine, went a long way towards doing so.By contrast, Australia’s 4-0 drubbing of England this summer will not go down as one of the most memorable in Ashes history, except in terms of the size of the crowds and the escalating greatness of the home side’s captain, Steven Smith. Having lost Ben Stokes and Mark Wood before the series, England arrived with plans to contain Australia and play within their limitations, but were not good enough to fully enact them. Australia have found enough supporting batsmen to help Smith in his quest for evermore runs and hours at the crease, while their bowling attack has shown a balance of threat and economy that England cannot match.”At times we had to bat for a little bit longer than we would have liked for the runs that we got,” Smith said. “So it was a series of patience and perhaps our batters just had some better patience throughout the series. Our bowlers had clear plans to the bottom four which worked more often than not, and the areas we bowled to the batters as well, we had pretty clear plans and a lot of them worked. England had their foot in the door in most Test matches but we won the key moments in the games which were really crucial and didn’t allow England back into the game.”Australian determination not to fall prey to English containment has led to a particularly sedate scoring rate – Smith and Shaun Marsh, the two leading run-makers, have both progressed at comfortably less than 50 runs per 100 balls. Likewise the Australian bowlers have prospered through patience, none more so than Nathan Lyon, hammering away at clearly defined plans for long periods. Lyon’s ability as both an attacking and defensive bowler has had flow-on effects for the rest of the attack, as all four of its regular members topped 20 wickets.”The cricket itself … apart from Adelaide it’s been really tough cricket, really attritional,” England’s vice-captain James Anderson said. “The batsmen who’ve been successful have been the ones that have been willing to bat for really long periods of time. A team’s never really flown away, the run rate’s never gone above three an over, and there’s never really been a massive collapse of wickets. It’s been pretty tough, attritional cricket.”

So conditioned are members of the public to flock to the Ashes, it matters no more now that the series features a compelling spectacle than it does for Melbourne’s spring racing carnival to have a thrilling Melbourne Cup run, or for Wimbledon to need an epic final

But the lack of compelling cricket has been, to a large extent, incidental to the size of the Ashes as an event and a brand. If anything, the slower pace of matches stretching into a fifth day at all venues has aided administrators, broadcasters and sponsors in providing more Ashes “content” than in any series since 1994-95, the last encounter to run its full duration. That summer, the first in which the then Australian Cricket Board took over the marketing of the game from Kerry Packer’s PBL and turned far greater attention to Test cricket, can be considered the start of an upward trend in Ashes interest in Australia that has led to a point where the event does not sink or swim based only on the cricket alone.So conditioned are members of the public to flock to the Ashes, it matters no more now that the series features a compelling spectacle than it does for Melbourne’s spring racing carnival to have a thrilling Melbourne Cup run, or for Wimbledon to need an epic final. Capstones such as these are nice to have, but in the increasingly commercial realm of Cricket Australia, the quality of the contest is secondary to the Australian team performing well enough to win, and the game’s business arms mobilising to get as many people as possible to watch.The question for CA to weigh up now is whether it matters what they watch as much as how long they watch it for. Adelaide’s drop-in pitch, pink ball and day/night conditions produced the most even contest between bat and ball, the most undulating passages of play and also the earliest finish in terms of overs bowled. There was no more tense period in this series than the fourth evening and fifth afternoon, with all the wondering in between about whether England might challenge the target set by Australia – Smith admitted to needing a sleeping pill to be able to get through that night with a modicum of rest.Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney produced matches that stretched further, but offered up surfaces more drab than the players would have preferred. The MCG was of course the most egregious example, earning a “poor” rating from the ICC, but neither the Gabba nor the SCG provided enough in the way of assistance for bowlers until each match had progressed well past its midpoint. The CA chairman David Peever and his head of strategy, Kevin Roberts, will present to the MCC world cricket committee on four-day Tests this week, but none of these three surfaces would have afforded much opportunity for a result in the event of a day being shaved off each.Perth, meanwhile, bid farewell to the WACA Ground with an excellent pitch that provided pace and bounce before the cracks opened up later in the game to generate plenty of natural variation – just ask Mitchell Starc and James Vince. The new Perth Stadium across the Swan River sums up the journey of Australian Ashes cricket from beloved event to mass market entertainment in that its new drop-in pitch remains unproven in terms of being able to provide that sort of fire and brimstone environment for players, but a capacity in the region of 50,000 should mean that the next Ashes series in 2021-22 stands a strong chance of surpassing 1936-37 in the record books.And what better way to sum up the shift of the Ashes into mainstream event status, with all its kitschy popular appeal, than to describe the dais on which Smith accepted the urn? Wheeled out onto the SCG in the moments after James Anderson was winkled out, it featured an Australian hand holding up four fingers while England’s remained clenched in a fist, symbolising zero. It could have quite easily been drawn from the mind of Michael Bay.Scorelines other than 4-0 were of course possible leading into this match, meaning numerous versions of these props needed to be constructed. Where the alternative hand scores will end up, no-one can say, but it did recall the immortal line of Casablanca’s director Michael Curtiz: “Bring on the empty horses!”

ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2016England were in control when the first wicket fell inside five overs•Getty Images… Milinda Siriwardena, removed by James Anderson for his overnight 35•Getty ImagesIt was Anderson’s third wicket of the innings•Getty ImagesBut Dinesh Chandimal continued to play his shots•Getty Images… and was joined in a seventh-wicket stand of 116 by Rangana Herath•Getty ImagesChandimal brought up his sixth Test century with a steer through third man•Getty ImagesIt was his first outside of Asia and ensured England would bat again•AFPHerath made his second Test half-century•Getty Images… but was lucky to survive a drop at point on 46 by James Vince•Getty ImagesAnderson, however, returned to trap him lbw for 61•Getty Images… then bowled Shaminda Eranga to complete his five-wicket haul•Getty ImagesAnderson finished with 5 for 58, and 18 wickets in two Tests•PA PhotosStuart Broad claimed the key wicket, bowling Chandimal for 126•PA PhotosAlastair Cook then became the first England batsman to make 10,000 Test runs•PA PhotosA banner was unfurled in the crowd to commemorate the feat•PA PhotosChasing 79, Alex Hales was bowled by Milinda Siriwardana for 11•PA Photos… but Cook anchored the chase with an unbeaten 47•PA Photos… to set the seal on a nine-wicket win•PA Photos

Australian fans turned up in droves for their team’s SCG semi-final, dispelling pre-match fears that they would be drowned in a noisy sea of blue t-shirts and tricolour flags

Sharda Ugra at the SCG26-Mar-2015Looks like Australia’s cricket fans paid attention to Michael Clarke.The fears of a 70-30 split in favour of an Indian audience had led the Australian captain to send out a tweet to the home audience: “”I call on all Australian cricket lovers to paint the SCG gold. We need your support. #goldout.” Steven Smith, next in line to be Australia’s captain, chipped in, “let’s fill the place with gold.”Two hours before the game, the only spectators milling around the ground who could be seen – and of course heard – were Indians in their blue T-shirts. Two Australians dressed in team colours replied to greetings from volunteers with a laugh, “we’re the only two going to be in there.”Not really. The crowd split was close to 50-50 between Indian fans and Australian fans. At best it could have been 55-45 India-Australia.The main point of distinction was the fact that almost every Indian fan was wearing blue and in the battle of the flags, the tricolor was winning. As the match ran its course, though, the sound of fans on both sides began to make itself heard. Matching the Indian fans cheering every fielding stop or well crafted over was the steady drumbeat of applause at every Australian four. India’s (we will win, brother, we will win) was met by “Cmon, Aussie, cmon”.The fears of a mysterious detachment of Australian fans from a World Cup they were themselves hosting arose when the quarter-final between Australia and Pakistan pulled in 35,516 but left many visible empty seats in the 50,000-capacity ground. When a news report two days before the SCG quarter final quoted organisers as saying 70% of the stands would be filled by Indian fans who had snatched up the tickets, the dread would have passed onto Australia’s cricket establishment.This sudden, ominous lack of Australian interest could have arisen from two quarters: the advent of the footy/rugby season was well under way, the summertime for paying attention to cricket had passed. Then there was the matter of an Australian trait – of paying attention to any major sporting events only a week or so before the main event. Several Indian generations brought up on the dreaded fear of ‘waiting lists’ – whether for telephone connections and flights in the past or train journeys and new models of cars even today – make a beeline for tickets they care about the instant they are available. In this case, the moment the quarter-final line-up became known, those Indians who wanted to turn up made all their bookings.The Australian team need not have feared, their fans came. In healthy, raucous and supportive numbers. Without as many flags or team jerseys as the Indian fans, but they were there. As Mitchell Johnson cleaned out 49 off the last four overs, the Australian cheering grew louder, and the Indians spent the evening listening to music and dancing instead.MS Dhoni raised the pulse of the Indian fans briefly, hitting two consecutive sixes off Watson, but once he was run out by one of two dead-eye direct hits, their energy leached out. In the blink of an eye, they began leaving the ground, and by time the Australians cleaned up the last three wickets, all that was left to be seen were healthy clusters of yellow shirts and green chairs.

A big hundred by Australia’s No. 3 even warmed England hearts

Bobby Edge-Partington22-Aug-2013Choice of game
As someone who lives in Cambridge, opportunities to watch international or even club level cricket come few and far between, so when the tickets to this game came on sale, I couldn’t possibly miss the opportunity to watch an Ashes Test match live. As it happened, after buying my tickets to the Oval Test, I got lucky in the Lord’s ballot and chanced upon tickets to that match too, but I still wasn’t going to turn down the chance to go to a second Ashes match in one summer.I had never been to The Oval before this match, and what better time for an inaugural visit to the ground than an Ashes game. Before I even saw the team sheet for the match, I knew that England would make some changes to the side. With the Ashes already won with an unassailable 3-0 series lead, why not give some young players a chance?Before the game, I expected Australia to come out and give it everything with England not fielding a full-strength team, including two debutants, Chris Woakes and Simon Kerrigan, and I was not disappointed.Key performer
The key man in this day’s play was Australia’s Shane Watson. Batting at No. 3, he came in with the score at 11 for 1, crucially needing to give a strong performance to save embarrassment for Australia. He certainly didn’t disappoint, racing to a half-century at almost a run per ball, and by the time he got to his hundred, even the England crowd were warming to him. When he was finally caught by Kevin Pietersen on the boundary for 176, he saluted us, and we responded by rising to our feet as one to salute this fantastic performance. Watson scored over half of Australia’s runs on day one and showed composure, confidence, and sometimes even arrogance from the start of his innings to the end, scoring 42 out of 50 of his first half-century through boundaries, with nine fours and one six, and giving us as spectators no choice but to feel warm admiration for this stunning feat.One thing I’d have changed about the day
I hate to even say I would’ve changed anything about the day, but it would have been to have a more vocal crowd. Believe me, I, of all people, understand that it is difficult to maintain vocal support when your team isn’t taking wickets and the opposition is scoring buffet runs, but I feel the England fans could have provided more support for their players during the long partnerships. In this respect, the Australian fans bettered the England fans today, remaining vocal and supportive of their team from the start to the end of the day.Filling the gaps
Surprisingly for me, I spent the lunch break talking to some of the Australian fans to learn about their Ashes experience. I had a very enjoyable time speaking with a couple who had come on a seven-week holiday to Europe, with the highlight being three weeks in England, attending all days of the Oval Test. I asked them what they thought made live cricket better than watching on a TV screen, or listening to on the radio, and they said that apart from the atmosphere, they think what makes it better is being able to talk to the fans and hear everyone’s opinion on what’s going on in the match, because however many people you speak to, you will always find that almost everyone has a different view. I think what they said captured the essence of live cricket, because as I learnt while talking to them about issues like Stuart Broad’s refusal to “walk” in the first Test, although we turn out in our thousands to share a collective love of cricket, we all have our own opinions on the controversial moments in the game.Wow moment
The wow moment of the day came 17 balls from the close of play when a diving Pietersen caught out Watson. From my vantage point in the stadium, I saw Stuart Broad running in and bowling a bouncer to Watson, who hooked it; the ball flew through the air towards deep backward square, and as Pietersen moved towards the ball, time almost seemed to slow down. KP was running full pelt, almost along the boundary, with the ball flying in front of him. When he hurled himself forward and rolled over, nobody on my side of the stadium knew if he had actually caught it or not. But as we saw the spectators on the opposite side rise, we rose too, and the crowd erupted into cheers of jubilance as Watson was dismissed. Video replays showed us that it was a matter of millimetres away from being a no-ball, and a collective “ooh” was shared as we realised how lucky we were.Crowd meter
I always find in live cricket the atmosphere swells towards the end of the day. The same happened again today. After around 5pm, some members of the crowd began to form beer snakes, outlawed from cricket, so when the stewards confiscated the snakes, the crowd booed as one, and chants of “feed the snake” echoed around the ground. The Barmy Army were also in full voice as we neared the close, the horn players playing the classic BA tunes such as “God Save the Queen”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “The Great Escape”, all of course with a cricketing twist!Fancy-dress index
There was a wide variety of fancy dress inside The Oval today, the most notable of these being two men dressed as Batman and Robin and a group of men dressed as English knights. The most comical of all the costumes today was a man who had come to the match wearing a blue dress and a Kate Middleton mask – the blue dress being an imitation of an iconic dress that the Duchess of Cambridge had previously worn. The winner of the best fancy dress prize however, was a group of ninjas, called Shaun and the Seven Ninjas.Marks out of ten
8. This day of cricket was mainly a display of some brilliant Australian batting, with Watson showing his talents all day long, Steve Smith scoring a half-century and even Peter Siddle with a brief cameo at the end of the day demonstrating Australia’s depth in batsmen. The sometimes funereal atmosphere created by the lack of noise from the crowd took some of the shine off an overall fantastic day of cricket, but the mere fact that Australia continued to give everything, even though some had argued that they might take their foot off the gas a bit with nothing to play for but pride, caused me to rate today as highly as I have.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the first day of the third Test between Australia and India in Perth

Sidharth Monga at the WACA13-Jan-2012The welcome
The WACA bounce is the stuff of legends. People have usually heard thousands of stories before actually coming to the ground. How exactly is the WACA? Gautam Gambhir found out first ball. It was just back of a length and straight. He thought he could trust the WACA bounce, and leave it on length. The ball, though, reared up and hit him in the chest. Morning everyone.The selection
The legend of the WACA, and the colour of the pitch, made both captains venture out of their comfort zone. On the match eve, Michael Clarke did say that he felt uncomfortable going into a Test without a specialist spinner, or bowling first. The pitch and India’s trouble against fast bowlers so far proved temptation enough, and Clarke gave in. Not only did he pick four pacers, he also inserted India.The bigger surprise, perhaps, was that India went in with four seamers as well, for the first time since the SCG Test of 1991-92. That also meant they dropped R Ashwin, who might not have been impressive with the ball but was India’s second-highest run-getter in the first two Tests.The shot
Sachin Tendulkar began his innings with a straight drive for four. On air, Ian Chappell was put in the mind of the straight drive he played to bring up his hundred at the same venue in 1991-92. Chappell remembered the bowler too, Craig McDermott. Channel 9 dug into the archives, and Chappell was correct. The only difference was that the 1991-92 drive was slightly to the leg side of the stumps.The miss
It might even have been a leg-stump half-volley, but an uncertain Rahul Dravid turned it into a yorker, fell over while trying to play it, and watched it dribble off his pad, from outside leg, onto the stumps. Peter Siddle didn’t mind it.The innings
When Zaheer Khan’s turn to bat arrived, we got a proper old-fashioned tailender’s innings. He never wanted to get in line, and just kept swinging vaguely at what he thought was the line of the ball. Such innings can be fun. This one wasn’t. It lasted only 11 balls.The 12th man
David Warner was blazing hotter than a hot Perth day when he got hit in the helmet by an Umesh Yadav bouncer. It needs mentioning here that he was through his shot already when the ball hit him. Anyway, that encouraged Yadav to bowl more short deliveries. The first was upper-cut for four, and then second pulled wide of midwicket. When he cut the third one in front of square, India found extra help as the ball hit a bird around the extra-cover area, and went for only two. What India wouldn’t do for a hawk to catch one for them?

Highlights of the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy’s Super League and Plate matches

Cricinfo staff05-Dec-2008
Brothers in destruction: Maharashtra paid for the Pathans’ reunion in the Ranji Trophy© AFP
Too moved, and too honest
Mahesh Rawat, the Railways and Rajasthan Royals wicketkeeper, had landed in Mumbai for the Champions League the night terror struck the city. He declined to go to the hotel, spent the night at the airport, and took the first flight back. Two days later, he was training for the Ranji match against Uttar Pradesh. At a time when everybody questioned the relevance of cricket, but nobody spoke openly of it, Rawat had different views. “If I was in any position of authority, I would’ve stopped this match from happening,” Rawat told the . “It’s been over 48 hours and Mumbai is still burning. How can we, as Indians, concentrate on playing, when one of the biggest tragedies is being played live on TV even as we speak?”He’s injured, he’s not
Plantular faciatis. Forget the pronunciation – it is a type of a heel injury, the kind that was supposed to have kept VVS Laxman out of Hyderabad’s game against Mumbai. If Kanwaljit Singh, Hyderabad’s coach, and Vijay Bharatiya, the physiotherapist, are to be believed, that is. Apparently Laxman had aggravated the injury during the game against Rajasthan, where he cracked 224; Kanwaljit also talked about how Laxman had used a runner during the final leg of his long innings. Sounds fairly straight, but for the small matter of Laxman’s not agreeing to these facts.Miffed at media reports, he called a few journalists for an explanation of what they had reported. And lo and behold, the next day Kanwaljit and Bharatiya apparently didn’t know of any such injury or comments made. The rule of the thumb is, when in hot soup, say you were misquoted.Laxman, meanwhile, explained the reason for him missing the game: “I had written to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) about my unavailability for the match as I wanted to be with my wife during the delivery of my second child. I had missed the birth of my first one, and hence wanted to be with the family, particularly because it turned out to be a premature delivery.”All in the family
If you have UP playing Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium, it all gets a bit mixed up. Take the case of Mohammad Kaif’s father, Mohammad Tarif, who is an absolute legend at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Tarif moved to Railways from UP in the intial stages of his career. Then there’s Aamir Khan, the UP wicketkeeper who works for Railways. And you have Karan Sharma, the Railways middle-order batsman and legspinner, who is from Meerut, and played Under-14s for UP. All you need to do is to throw in a few Railways fan, who are from UP, and mixed loyalties are not far away.Bose’s double
With a devastating five-wicket haul in his first spell in the Plate League Group B match against Tripura, Ranadeb Bose became the 84th man to have taken 200 wickets in the Ranji Trophy. It is a spin-dominated club, with the most wickets taken by a pace bowler being Madan Lal’s 352. Madan has 11 spinners leading him and Rajinder Goel’s 637 wickets look almost untouchable.”I owe this success to my coach Gopal Bose, and my father,” Bose told the Kolkata-based Telegraph. “I want to continue playing… My job is to take wickets, and I’d love to go on doing that.”Fernando? Absent
Dilhara Fernando, the Sri Lankan fast bowler, has been ruled out of Baroda’s Ranji Trophy campaign for this season because of an injured ankle. Fernando was set to play for Baroda following Sri Lanka’s tour of Zimbabwe, but now the Baroda will have to find a replacement. Their selection problems increase with Munaf Patel’s inclusion in the Indian squad for the Tests against England. “They [selectors] will think over combination of team in next two days,” Bardoa Cricket Association chairman Atul Bedade told Sri Lanka’s newspaper. “They have to think over replacement for Munaf Patel.” With only one win from four games, Baroda are currently placed fifth in their Super League group, but have a match in hand.What’s up with the Karnail Stadium?
It is situated in one of the busiest localities, but once you get there it’s pretty peaceful inside. Which makes it quite surprising that people lose their cool so easily at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Two weeks ago it was Irfan Pathan flinging a ball dangerously towards Sanjay Bangar’s head, after having fielded it in his follow-through. That earned him a 100% match-fee fine.Now, the Railways-UP game was full of incident too, though only two walked away with 50% match-fee fines this time: RP Singh and Murali Kartik for showing dissent to an umpire’s decision. Wonder whether the slow, lifeless pitch had something to do with it. And if that is the case, Railways’ opponents stand no chance, as the home team have in their ranks two of the broadest bats and most patient heads, those of Yere Goud and Bangar. The good news is, they are yet to put together a big partnership at the Karnail Singh Stadium this year.Surprise surprise
A day before their postponed match against Hyderabad, Mumbai got a surprise visitor to their nets: none other than Mumbai’s most famous son, Sachin Tendulkar. He was there for his indoor training session when he decided to surprise his Mumbai mates.”I did not expect him to be here. Obviously, his presence is an inspiration to our players,” Wasim Jaffer, Mumbai’s captain, said. “If the Test series is not taking place I would speak to both Sachin and Zaheer [Khan] to play the game against Punjab [later this month]. In fact, it will be good for Indian cricket if all the players are available to play in Ranji Trophy. It will make it more interesting.”Not that Mumbai missed the two when playing Hyderabad, whom they beat by an innings and 108 runs.Brother power
Baroda haven’t really had the Pathan power this year. First Yusuf was taken away for national duty, and then Irfan too. Result: three matches, three draws, five points. But for their fourth match, they got both of them back, an upshot of the cancellation of the England one-dayers following the attack on Mumbai.And what a difference they made. Irfan’s 5 for 54 bowled Maharashtra for 228. Then the brothers scored fifties to take Baroda to a 77-run lead. The game wasn’t over yet, as both of them took a wicket each in the second innings, and Maharashtra set them 227. Soon they were 75 for 5, bringing together the brothers of destruction again. Yusuf smashed 100 off 109 balls, Irfan scored an unbeaten 50, and Baroda kept themselves alive in the Ranji Trophy.Shane Warne’s boys’ corner
Rawat and Yusuf kept the Rajasthan Royals flag flying high. In the first innings, against Railways, Rawat scored 39, and in partnership with Goud, took them just past the follow-on target. Railways hadn’t yet assured themselves of a point from the match. In the second innings, they were 77 for 7, chasing 297 with close to two sessions still left in the game. Out walked Rawat, suffering from viral fever, with his concerned father in the stands. Rawat’s partnership with Bangar lasted 40 overs, and they saved the match and earned a point for Railways.

England batter withdrew from IPL after death of grandmother; Root also likely to play early-season

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Mar-2024Harry Brook will play for Yorkshire in the early stages of the County Championship season, after withdrawing from the IPL in order to be close to his grieving family.Brook, 25, was due to play for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 after he was bought for INR 4 crore (£380,000) at December’s auction in Dubai. But he pulled out of the tournament earlier this month following the death of his grandmother Pauline, with whom he shared a close relationship.He is yet to play any competitive cricket in 2024, having also withdrawn from England’s recent Test tour to India. But he will now tune up for June’s T20 World Cup by playing for Yorkshire in the County Championship, with their head coach Ottis Gibson suggesting he will be available from the outset.Related

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Yorkshire’s opening match of the season starts on April 5 at Headingley against Leicestershire. “Now that Brooky isn’t going to the IPL, I suspect he’s going to be available for us for the first few games, including [against] Leicestershire,” Gibson told the Yorkshire website.Brook said in a statement when pulling out of the IPL that “nothing is more important to me than family”. His decision to withdraw will enable him to be with them in Yorkshire while still playing competitively.Gibson also hinted that Joe Root will be made available for some early-season fixtures by the ECB, having opted out of IPL 2024 himself. “He [Brook] loves playing for us, and Rooty is also going to be available for some games in that early period,” Gibson said. “Having those two playing for us would be special.”

How good is your knowledge of previous editions of the tournament? Find out

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2018

GOAL US writers discuss the crucial club season for top USMNT players in Europe ahead of the 2026 World Cup

It's all about anticipation. It's a massive club season for the entire world, especially ahead of the 2026  World Cup. But for U.S. internationals playing in Europe, it's more than just performing for their clubs – it's also the opportunity to send a message to Mauricio Pochettentio as they jostle for positions on the World Cup squad.

Multiple players have transferred in hopes of bolstering their status and elevating their games – notably, Tim Weah joined Marseille, Johnny Cardoso moved to Atletico Madrid, Matt Turner went on loan to the New England Revolution and Malik Tillman joined Bayer Leverkusen. Others such as Gio Reyna and Josh Sargent, both of whom are expected to move, have yet to secure transfers.

For now, though, the focus is the 2025-26 European campaign, which has already started in some leagues and fully kicks off this weekend.

GOAL US writers debate expectations for Americans Abroad in the latest edition of… The Rondo.

Getty Images SportWhich USMNT player has the greatest expectations?

Jacob Schneider: It has to be Christian Pulisic. There is not another possible answer. He is the "face of the franchise" and the player with the highest of expectations in the player pool. With no European football this season, he will be able to focus on the domestic competition and domestic play for AC Milan, meaning congestion won't be as big a factor. And he will look to raise the bar in both goals and assists. This is his biggest year as a professional. Can he still be a star for Milan and the USMNT?

Tom Hindle: Pulisic. Every campaign is pivotal for the “LeBron James of soccer.” But this one could be particularly spicy. It’s a World Cup year, of course, and he’s had a tricky summer for reasons pretty much of his own making. Is all of the expectation on him fair? Not at all. But the USMNT needs their main man fit, firing, and winning stuff. 

Alex Labidou: It has to be Pulisic, especially coming off a summer in which he controversially decided to skip the Gold Cup with the USMNT. Whether the public angst was warranted or not, the reality is U.S. Soccer and its fans are going to paying even more attention to his form with AC Milan. If he gets off to a slow start after electing for a longer break, the critics will reemerge.

Ryan Tolmich: Step right up, Christian! Obviously, standards are high after his performance last season, in which he established himself as the guy for Milan. Pulisic, though, is under a new sort of microscope after skipping out on the Gold Cup. As a result, there's a lot of weight on his shoulders, both from the U.S. and Milan, as he looks to help push the club back to where it belongs: towards the top of Serie A.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWhich USMNT player has the most to lose?

JS: It's Gio Reyna. As things stand, he's not in the player pool for the World Cup, but these things can change. The names on the U.S. roster will fluctuate over the next 10 months, and there's always a chance to raise your stock. However, for Reyna, his stock is already so low – and he has yet to secure a transfer away from Borussia Dortmund. If he doesn't secure a move that allows him to flourish in the midfield, while getting regular first-team minutes, it will have all been for nothing. Time is being wasted. He's missing out on crucial preseason minutes, and he's not doing anything to boost his player value to the national team.

TH: See above. Also, Ricardo Pepi could do with finding a scoring touch early on. We were told last January that he was in the running for a (relatively) big Premier League move, and then he injured his knee. Struggle this year, and that might vanish. The soccer world forgets very, very quickly. 

AL: Folarin Balogun was hailed as a major coup for U.S. Soccer when he committed to the national team in 2023. But outside of being one of the few bright spots at the Copa América, he has struggled with injuries and inconsistent form. With the World Cup less than a year away, the starting striker role remains wide open. Balogun’s chances of claiming it are as good as anyone’s, but he needs to find a sustained run of form – something that has eluded him since joining Monaco. Rather than leading the line in Ligue 1, he has slipped to third choice, with Monaco showing they can win without him. As talented as he is, if Balogun isn’t starting regularly in France, he could be on the outside looking in next year.

RT: It might just be Yunus Musah. It's very clear now that midfield spots are up for grabs and, if Pochettino needed to pick a World Cup team right now, Musah probably wouldn't be in the starting XI. That can change quickly, but not unless Musah really steps up this season. Four years ago, it was unthinkable that he would need to fight for a place. That's reality, though, for a player who needs to show he can take that leap forward.

AFPWhich USMNT player is under the most pressure?

JS: The striker core of Sargent, Pepi, and Balogun. There is still no starting striker for the USMNT. Both Pepi and Balogun are coming off injuries and played limited minutes in the past six months. Sargent continues to score for Norwich, but for the life of him cannot find the back of the net with the senior team. Others such as Damion Downs and Patrick Agyemang are in the picture, but there's no pressure on them to succeed. They're here because they earned it. For the trio above, the pressure is on them to perform – because the USMNT needs them to, and because they need to prove they have what it takes to be handed the reins to the No. 9 position. 

TH: Pulisic is the obvious one, but that’s nothing new. A weird shout might be Balogun. He’s still living off the goodwill from one(!!) good season in Ligue 1 three(!!) years ago. Time to start finding the net, or he will certainly lose his spot through the middle. 

AL: Tillman commanded the second-highest transfer fee for an American player, behind only Pulisic – and with it comes a similar level of scrutiny. The 23-year-old enjoyed a breakout 2025 Gold Cup under Pochettino and now joins one of Germany’s biggest clubs in Bayer Leverkusen, ensuring more eyes than ever on the attacking midfielder. But his path won’t be simple. Tillman is stepping into the shoes of Florian Wirtz, the talisman who led Leverkusen to a shock Bundesliga title two seasons ago, and he will play under Erik ten Hag – a manager whose time at Manchester United hardly inspired confidence. Considering Tillman could have enjoyed a comfortable role had he stayed at PSV, there are fair concerns about how he’ll perform if things unravel in Leverkusen.

RT: Take your pick among the strikers. The race for those spots will be tight and, ultimately, it will be defined by who scores the most this season. Pepi, Balogun, Sargent, Agyemang, Downs, Haji Wright – all will need to score in bunches if they want to go to the World Cup. Pepi learned that lesson the hard way last cycle. This time around, at least a few of those names will be left off. In the end, it will likely be those that don't score on the road to the World Cup.

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Getty Images SportWhich USMNT player has the best chance to win silverware?

JS: It's either Pulisic at Milan, or Chris Richards at Palace. The Eagles lifted the FA Cup last spring, and recently the Community Shield vs. Liverpool – and now will compete in the Conference League and the domestic English competitions. For the UECL, they have to be looked at as a contender, even if they lose Eberechi Eze to a transfer. The , meanwhile, should be looked at as favorites, under Max Allegri, to compete for the Coppa Italia. In terms of regular-season glory, Pepi and Sergino Dest will help PSV fight for their third straight Eredivisie title.

TH: No one? It’s not exactly a season rife with opportunity. Perhaps the most obvious is Downs, only because Southampton are going to be way too good for the championship. Tinpot trophy allegations aside, he will have a winner’s medal around his neck come May. 

AL: Cardoso's move to Atletico Madrid is massive, not only because he gets to learn under Diego Simeone, but the fact the Argentine manager has his club contending for trophies every season. While La Liga is likely out of reach, would anyone put it past Simeone to win the Copa Del Rey, or maybe have a surprise run in an open Champions League?

RT: Realistically, it's the PSV duo of Dest and Pepi as they look to make it three titles in three years in the Eredivisie. You could also go with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty to run through the Scottish league once again at Celtic. Bold prediction, though? Let's back one of Serie A's all-time great winners, Allegri, to whip Milan into shape as Pulisic and Musah become the latest to finish up Serie A's merry-go-round as champions.

No play possible on final day at Grace Road after heavy showers

ECB Reporters Network15-Apr-2024Frequent heavy showers killed off any prospect of a positive result from Sussex’s visit to Leicestershire in the Vitality County Championship, meaning no play was possible at all on the final scheduled day of their Division Two clash.Skipper John Simpson’s maiden double century had put Sussex in a strong position on day three, which ended with Leicestershire 270 in arrears at 86 for 1 in their second innings after Sussex had declared at 694 for 9 just after tea, a lead of 356 on first innings.But after a saturated outfield delayed the start on day four, the combination of more showers and the safety issues raised by trying to remove the covering sheets in winds gusting to gale force gave umpires James Middlebrook and Paul Pollard little option but to abandon the match as a draw shortly before 1pm.Related

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“It’s disappointing, but looking at it another way, we’ve had three days of good cricket,” Paul Farbrace, Sussex’s coach, said. “The groundstaff did brilliantly to get us on considering the outfield is very soft and they’ve had a lot of rain here, like everywhere else… it was a shame for both sides that it couldn’t be finished in the way both sides would have wanted, but I guess that’s cricket in April.”We can take a lot of positives from the game. We played good cricket last week and couldn’t quite get over the line, and here we’ve bowled the opposition out for 330 and then batted ourselves into a position where there was only one side going to win the game. In both the first two games we’ve been in with a good chance of winning going into the last day, which is what we’ve talked about doing.”Alfonso Thomas, Leicestershire’s coach, said that his side’s bowling attack was “undercooked” with Josh Hull yet to return from injury, Rehan Ahmed on a pilgrimage and Chris Wright absent for “personal reasons”.Thomas said: “We knew it would be hard work for the bowlers. They stuck at it well for a long period of time but they were probably a little bit undercooked after the pre-season we have had, not the best of pre-seasons.He also called for the ECB to reconsider their decision to introduce the Kookaburra ball for four rounds of the Championship season. “There has been a lot said about wanting to get rid of average bowlers in the English game but what the Kookaburra has done when it has been in use here is make average batters look very good,” Thomas said. “Is that good for the game? Probably not.”Would you rather have a guy like [Chris] Rushworth taking 70 wickets with the Dukes, or average batters making hundreds? And in a Test match played in England in English conditions I would back a Rushworth to bowl a team out but I probably wouldn’t back a lot of the batters who’ve got runs against it here to go to Australia and score hundreds.It means both sides have two draws from two matches so far, with Sussex the more frustrated, having seen a winning position come to nothing against Northamptonshire at Hove last week, with weather again having the last word.Sussex take 14 points from this match, giving them 29 from two, with Leicestershire taking 12 to swell their early-season total to 25.