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India are on a 11-match winning streak and one more victory will equal their best-ever T20I run

Ashish Pant09-Nov-20243:23

1st T20I Takeaways: Samson and spinners see India dominate in Durban

Big picture: Two contrasting T20I runsBoth India and South Africa had a sensational T20 World Cup 2024. They sailed through the group stage unbeaten and then topped their respective groups in the Super Eight before registering comfortable wins in the semi-finals. Even in the final, there was little to separate the two teams right till the end.Since then, though, their fortunes have taken different paths, especially in T20Is.Despite losing three big players to retirement after the World Cup triumph, India have enjoyed a seamless transition with Suryakumar Yadav taking over and the youngsters fitting in well. They are currently on a 11-match winning streak, which includes a series victory in Zimbabwe, series sweeps against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and a win in the opening game of the series against South Africa on Friday.Related

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Samson of 2024 meets Rohit of 2013

India have played 23 T20Is this year and won 22 with the only loss coming against Zimbabwe in the first T20I in early July. And critically, they have achieved a lot of these wins without their first-choice T20I players. They can equal their best-ever streak of 12 (which they have achieved twice), if they manage to win the second T20I against South Africa in Gqeberha on Sunday.On the other end, South Africa have struggled since that final loss. They lost 3-0 to West Indies in Tarouba, while their series against Ireland in Abu Dhabi finished 1-1. The Durban loss extends that run.One thing that helped South Africa dominate the T20 World Cup was how brilliantly the entire group gelled together. That’s one thing they have lacked in the last few T20Is. Their captain Aiden Markram has struggled with form while they have also missed a crux of their main players in the XI.Now down 1-0 in the four-match series, South Africa will be desperate to get back to winning ways at a venue where they have registered three wins in four outings, including one against India last year. Can they do that?Form guideSouth Africa LLWLL
India WWWWWArshdeep Singh is three strikes away from surpassing Bhuvneshwar Kumar as India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is among fast bowlers•ICC via Getty ImagesIn the spotlight: Gerald Coetzee and Arshdeep SinghWhile all the other South Africa bowlers were taken to the cleaners in the first T20I, Gerald Coetzee was the only one who provided a semblance of control. He was fiery, extracted good bounce and had the India batters on their toes. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, 14 of his 24 deliveries were either short or short of a good length and that helped him take wickets. The surface in Gqeberha is likely to assist his hit-the-deck style of bowling.Arshdeep Singh has been one of the key reasons behind India’s glorious T20I run in 2024. He’s played just 15 matches and already has 29 wickets, the second-highest for a player from a Full-Member nation this year. In Gqeberha, too, he has a few records in sight. Currently fourth on the list for most T20I wickets for India with 88, Arshdeep has a chance to go past Jasprit Bumrah (89) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (90) and rise to second place behind Yuzvendra Chahal (96). With India scheduled to play three more T20Is this year, he also has a chance to claim the record for the most wickets taken in a calendar year by an India pacer, currently held by Bhuvneshwar who scalped 37 in 2022.Team news: Will India hand Ramandeep a debut? Nqabayomzi Peter looked out of sorts in the opening T20I and could be replaced by fast bowler Ottneil Baartman. Reeza Hendricks missed the opening T20I due to illness, and if fit, is likely to slot back at the top. It remains to be seen if he comes in place of Ryan Rickelton or Patrick Kruger, who had a tough outing in Durban – both with bat and ball.South Africa (probable): 1 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 2 Aiden Markram (capt), 3 Tristan Stubbs, 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 David Miller, 6 Partrick Kruger, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Andile Simelane, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Nqabayomzi Peter/Ottneil BaartmanIt was slightly surprising to see India go with three spinners in Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakravarthy. In Gqeberha, where the surface is likely to aid more pace, they might look to bring in Ramandeep Singh, who can play the finisher’s role and provide a few overs of medium pace. India are unlikely to make any changes to their batting.India (probable): 1 Sanju Samson (wk), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Axar Patel/Ramandeep Singh, 8 Arshdeep Singh, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Varun ChakravarthyPitch and conditionsThere is a bit of rain in the air in Gqeberha, but it is unlikely to affect the match. The surface is likely to have plenty for the fast bowlers with good bounce and carry. The temperature is likely to hover around the low to mid 20 degrees on the Celsius scale.Stats and triviaHardik Pandya, currently on 87 T20I wickets, has a chance to leapfrog Arshdeep (88), Bumrah (89) and Bhuvneshwar (90) and move to second on India’s all-time T20I wicket-takers list. Sanju Samson became just the fourth batter to score successive T20I centuries in Durban. No batter has scored three consecutive centuries in T20Is to dateSamson’s strike rate of 180.66 is the highest for any Full Member batter in 2024 with a minimum of 300 runsIndia have a terrific T20I record against South Africa in South Africa: seven wins and three losses in ten matchesQuotes”When you’re playing an opponent like South Africa, we know the energy they bring with them and they have a really great team walking in and they play their cricket really aggressively. We just have to respect them and do what we are known for. We are the world champions at the moment, so I think we have to play like that and we just have to take care of what is in our control and just keep on looking to dominate in this format, which we have been doing for last one year.”
“We were just in the final of a T20 World Cup. Now is a new team. There is a World Cup coming up the year after, so we need new blood. There is plenty of talent, we’ve seen that. It’s just the boys need experience, need to sharpen their skills and we’ll be good to go.”

Last week, there were two separate BCA training camps being run in Patna, one organised by former secretary Amit Kumar and another by president Rakesh Tiwary

Syed Hussain08-Oct-2024After much back and forth, there is finally an official Bihar team that will play the 2024-25 season of the Ranji Trophy. The 20-member squad will travel to Rohtak for Bihar’s opening game against Haryana starting October 11, but it was selected only after a lot of drama of the legal kind.On August 5 this year, the Patna High Court had appointed Justice Shailesh Kumar Sinha as the ombudsman to oversee the affairs of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA). Sinha subsequently re-appointed Amit Kumar – who had taken the matter to the court in the first place after being removed by current president Rakesh Tiwari – as BCA secretary and named a new selection committee. This committee, chaired by Zishan-ul Yaquin, selected a squad on October 7.But on Tuesday, October 8, the Patna High Court stayed its August 5 order, thus making the selection committee’s decision from October 7 null and void. It also meant that Kumar was not the secretary anymore, and the ombudsman was out. The squad, picked by a committee led by Madhusudan Tantubhai, announcement came on the back of these developments.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Kumar said, “I respect the court’s order, but after Dussehra [the Hindu festival on October 12], I will speak to my lawyer and if he agrees, I will take the matter to the Supreme Court.”The latest decision brings some respite to the Bihar cricketers, who were caught in the power struggle between former BCA secretary Kumar and current BCA president Tiwari. Even with under one week to go for the Ranji Trophy, two different training camps were conducted in Patna, similar to the incident in January 2024, when two teams from the two factions arrived for Bihar’s game against Mumbai at Patna’s Moin-ul-Haq Stadium. At the time, it needed intervention from the Patna High Court to put the official stamp on one of the squads.Zishan, the chairman of the previous selection committee that had announced the now-cancelled squad, said, “I respect the court’s decision. I was heading the selection committee only after the Lokpal [ombudsman] had given his order. I am happy that the dilemma of the players of Bihar has gone and finally they are going to Rohtak. I also like that many players from the team I had selected are also in this team. I have said it before and will say it again: I have nothing to do with any group; my aim is to make Bihar cricket better.”Meanwhile, the players who were in both squads have had to inform the BCA via email that they had no contact with Kumar and were not part of the camp organised by him. ESPNcricinfo has seen a copy of this mail.Bihar are part of a tough Group C for the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season, alongside Bengal, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. They finished last in Group B in 2023-24 with four defeats and three drawn games in seven matches.Bihar squad for Ranji TrophyVeer Pratap Singh (capt), Shakibul Gani (vice-capt), Bipin Sourabh, Akash Raj, Shraman Nigrodh (wk), Babul Kumar, Ayush Loharuka (wk), Raghwendra Pratap Singh, Mayank Choudhary, Himanshu Singh, Sachin Kumar Singh, Abhijeet Saket, Anuj Raj, Shakib Hussain, Shabbir Khan, Rishav Raj, Harsh Vikram Singh, Jitin Kumar Yadav, Yashpal Yadav, Rishi Raj

Fast bowler denied preparation time ahead of Lord’s farewell as rain wrecks day two

ECB Reporters Network01-Jul-2024

James Anderson’s preparations for his farewell Test, at Lord’s next week, suffered a setback after rain washed out the entire second day of the Vitality County Championship match between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire at Southport.Despite early showers, umpires Martin Saggers and Tom Lungley initially decreed that Lancashire would resume their first innings at 12.30pm, but prolonged rain returned to scupper that plan and the officials finally pulled the plug on the day’s cricket at 4.05pm.The abandonment was a particular disappointment to spectators who had travelled to Trafalgar Road in the hope of seeing Anderson bowl in his first game of the season, and what might yet be his last game for Lancashire.He is due to play his 188th and final Test match against West Indies at Lord’s, starting on July 10, and though he had previously indicated that he would be keen to continue his county career, Rob Key, England’s director of cricket, confirmed on Monday that Anderson is to stay on with the England team after the Lord’s Test, to fulfil a new role as a fast-bowling mentor.Should play be possible on Tuesday, Lancashire will resume on 344 for eight with skipper Keaton Jennings on 188 not out.In the nine games played at Southport since first-class cricket returned to the ground after a 12-year absence in 2011, this is only the second time in 31 days that play has been completely abandoned.

Despite concerns that they may lose their Europa League spot, Crystal Palace are pushing ahead with their transfer business and have now reportedly joined the race to sign a £150,000-a-week midfielder.

Latest on Crystal Palace's Europa League status

Crystal Palace not only sealed history by defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, they also sealed their place in next season’s Europa League. Or so they thought. The Eagles could yet have their bubble burst by UEFA, whose rules state that owners cannot have multiple clubs in the same competition.

John Textor is the majority owner of Lyon, who qualified for the Europa League in France, and the solution to the matter is a complicated one. The South London club are also unable to drop into the Europa Conference League after David Blitzer, who owns a stake in both Palace and Danish side Brondby, saw the latter qualify for UEFA’s third competition.

UEFA has reportedly rejected Crystal Palace’s offer to place Textor and Blitzer’s shares into a blind trust – following the route that Manchester City and Manchester United took to avoid the same situation – after those at Selhurst Park missed the deadline to register the trust.

Whether a solution comes to the fore remains to be seen. Chairman Steve Parish and Textor reportedly held a meeting with UEFA on Tuesday in an attempt to reach a resolution but, as things stand, Crystal Palace’s European place is at serious risk.

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The part that UEFA’s verdict could play both on and off the pitch for Palace is undoubtedly important. Without their Europa League place, the Eagles will undoubtedly struggle to welcome the same calibre of stars and may even lose some of Oliver Glasner’s key men. Whilst the situation rumbles on, however, so is their transfer business.

Crystal Palace battling to sign Kalvin Phillips

According to Caught Offside, Crystal Palace are now battling to sign Kalvin Phillips from Manchester City this summer. The midfielder is once again on the move – this time potentially permanently – and could finally revive his career following mixed fortunes on loan at West Ham United and Ipswich Town.

Selhurst Park could make perfect sense too. Rumours have been coming thick and fast regarding Adam Wharton’s Crystal Palace future and they’re only likely to intensify if the Eagles lose their Europa League place. The South London club must, therefore, prepare for the worst and that’s where Phillips could prove to be a top candidate to arrive, especially since he reportedly wants to leave The Etihad this summer.

An experienced midfielder who even has two Premier League medals to his name, the main stumbling block for Phillips this summer could be his reported £150,000-a-week salary. What may make those negotiations easier, however, is the fact that Phillips is represented by the same agency as Palace shot-stopper Dean Henderson.

Liverpool are pushing to make a series of sweeping changes to Arne Slot’s squad nice and early, thus allowing themselves to kick their feet up and bask in the sun after winning the Premier League.

It’s been a terrific season for the Reds, whose dominance in the top flight established a commanding lead before Christmas, which was held confidently across the latter half of the year.

Only after the Premier League was wrapped up did Liverpool ease their trademark intensity – and by quite a bit at that. Only two points were claimed from a possible 12 to see out the season, with the last taste of victory, a 5-1 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur, securing gold with plenty of room to spare.

Slot has been against heavy rotation for the majority of the campaign, but he has dished out the changes over the past month. However, Darwin Nunez was still limited to cameos, last making a league start on Boxing Day.

The Uruguayan striker is set to leave the club this summer, and rightly so. Everyone wanted it to work out, but he pales in comparison to his predecessors at number nine.

Liverpool's longing for an elite striker

Nunez has the minerals to be a world-class player, but, frankly, he’s failed to bring it all together and must be sold. Such an argument is certainly reinforced when flicking back over some of the contemporary strikers the Merseysiders have been treated to.

Luis Suarez being chief among them, with the Uruguayan, Nunez’s countryman, only surpassed by Mohamed Salah in terms of efficacy and consistency in front of goal at Liverpool, across the past several decades.

However, would it be fair to say Suarez failed to capture the fanbase’s adoration quite to the same level as Fernando Torres in his prime?

It just might. Torres signed as a Liverpool player in 2007, aged 23. The package was worth £20m, and it was widely accepted that Rafael Benitez had scored the Premier League giants a bona fide bargain.

If Liverpool could sign their next version of the Spanish World Cup winner, they may well be laughing all the way toward a successful Premier League title defence.

And they might just be in the race for such a player.

Liverpool moving to sign new Torres

According to Spanish outlet Marca, Liverpool are firmly in the race for Atletico Madrid centre-forward Julian Alvarez, who left Manchester City to play under Diego Simeone in an £82m deal last summer.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

Liverpool have reportedly ‘sounded out a move’, but Arsenal and Barcelona are also interested, with the Gunners understood to have the lead in the race at this stage.

Los Colchoneros don’t want to sell their talisman, of course, but they would entertain offers that exceed what they paid to City one year ago. He supposedly has a £126m release clause, but this might prove a tad steep.

Why Alvarez could be Slot's own Torres

Liverpool would do anything to have a striker in the same vein as Torres back in the mix, and Alvarez truly could be that man.

This season, the “ridiculous” forward – as he’s been called by Statman Dave – has been a revelation for Atletico Madrid, scoring 29 goals and adding six assists across all competitions, including a seven-goal haul from ten matches in the Champions League.

This newfound level of potency marks progress from his days under Pep Guardiola’s wing, perhaps because he has been upgraded to a berth of greater importance.

River Plate

122

54

31

Manchester City

103

36

19

Atletico Madrid

53

29

6

Argentina

44

12

33

Journalist Roy Nemer even made the bold statement that Alvarez has been “the best forward in the world” this season, with his 29-goal return in Simeone’s Atletico team making a convincing comment on his qualities and indeed capacity to reach even higher in another system.

Slot’s system? Just imagine. Alvarez is sharpening his developing prolific sense at the front of Liverpool’s team, backed up by the likes of Salah and Florian Wirtz, with Bayer Leverkusen receiving an official proposal from the Anfield side on Monday.

There’s a real chance that Slot’s creative capacity would know no bounds with such players threading passes in toward a mobile and dynamic focal point such as Alvarez.

As per FBref, the Argentina star ranks among the top 6% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues this season for all of shot-creating actions, passes attempted and progressive carries, as well as the top 8% for progressive passes and the top 12% for successful take-ons made per 90.

All told, he’s the “complete player”, as described by Marca editor Matias Wodner. And in a way, this suggests he could become Liverpool’s new version of El Nino, especially given that Liverpool would be reeling him in from Atletico Madrid.

When Torres arrived at Liverpool, his prowess was undeniable, but there was clearly room for improvement. This was perfectly enforced. Before leaving contentiously for Chelsea, the iconic striker scored 81 goals and added 19 assists across just 142 fixtures in a Liverpool shirt.

His pace, sharp movements and lethal finishing led one Steven Gerrard to describe him as the “best striker in the world” back in 2009, with something in the Anfield air eliciting the finest form of the Spain star’s career, vindicated upon a high-profile move to Stamford Bridge which stocked Torres’ trophy cabinet but failed to yield the same prolific results.

If Alvarez were to make the move to Merseyside this summer, though, you could envisage a long-term future in Slot’s squad to be sure.

The 25-year-old has already won the Premier League twice, posting 31 goal involvements across his two campaigns despite only starting 44 matches in total.

He’s the real deal, and with rumours surfacing that Atletico are interested in talking to Liverpool about the potential signing of Nunez, this might be one to keep a close eye on.

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Aston Villa sporting director Monchi has held talks over a move for a £10m+ player this week, according to a new update.

Villa transfer rumours heat up as Emery pushes for Champions League football

Unai Emery and his Villa side still have so much to play for between now and the end of the season as they look to qualify for the Champions League once again.

They put in an incredible second-leg display against Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals earlier this month, winning 3-2 at Villa Park, however, they were knocked out 5-4 on aggregate. Villa also have the chance to win silverware in the FA Cup, with a semi-final against Crystal Palace at Wembley this weekend.

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It promises to be a dramatic end to the campaign, and talking about Villa’s plans to get into Europe once more, Emery spoke after Villa’s Champions League exit.

“It is now most important to get Europe again. The most important competition is the Champions League. The challenge we have for the last six matches is to try and get Europe and the Champions League. The players showed their capacity to compete at this level. Hopefully we can come back quickly to play in the Champions League. This is our objective and to play in the FA Cup as well for a trophy.”

Should Villa qualify for the Champions League, it could help Monchi when it comes to summer signings. One of those heavily linked with a move to Midlands has been Rosenborg star Sverre Nypan. There have been claims that Villa have made an offer to sign Nypan in a deal that could be worth up to £12.5m, with Fabrizio Romano adding that the Villans are looking to win the race for the in-demand teenager.

Now, a new update has emerged on Aston Villa’s pursuit of Nypan.

Monchi holds new Aston Villa talks to sign Nypan

According to reports in Norway, relayed by Sport Witness, Monchi was spotted in Norway watching Nypan in a 2-0 win for Rosenborg over Valerenga.

Monchi and scout Alberto Benito held talks with Nypan’s father before the match to discuss terms of a transfer, however, the Villa chief refused to comment when quizzed by newspaper Nettavisen at the hotel where he was staying.

Further developments are expected in the coming days or weeks when it comes to Villa’s move for Nypan, and by the looks of things, Villa could be getting a future star who is being likened to Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.

Nypan’s stats for Rosenborg

Games

63

Goals

14

Assists

11

Norwegian football expert Jesper Mathisen said last year: “Sverre Nypan is extremely exciting. I get a bit of the same feeling as when I saw Martin Odegaard break through as a boy.”

India batted for just 52 overs in Kanpur, but just as crucial to their against-the-clock win was the fact that their bowlers picked up 20 wickets in just 121.2 overs

Alagappan Muthu01-Oct-20241:26

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There is always noise at a cricket ground. Horns blaring. Drums beating. The occasional flirting. “!” A lot of this is just the fans having fun. Often enough, it has no connection to what’s going on in the middle.And then he gets the ball.All of a sudden there is a hush around Green Park. They wait for him to reach the top of his mark. Tap, tap, tap comes the sound of the bat hitting the ground as Mehidy Hasan Miraz takes strike. Twenty-thousand pairs of eyes turn towards Jasprit Bumrah as he starts his run-up. The silence is about to shatter. And this time it’s not just noise. It’s music.”Whoooooohhhhhhhh” goes the crowd as Bumrah begins to accelerate. “Oooooooohhhhhh” they sigh as Mehidy reacts well and dabs the ball to point. They don’t need distractions to keep themselves occupied now. Gautam Gambhir is right. This guy has become a cultural phenomenon.Related

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Five weeks ago, Bumrah was at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology in Chennai for freshers day and they cooked for him. His reveal on stage was pretty much on par with anything the movies do with mass heroes. He was sat on a throne. It faced the wrong way. The whole place went dark. The number 93 started flashing. The whole place started to shake. The throne spun, in slow motion, and there he was, sat like a king. A sheepish one.It is because of people like Bumrah that India could believe a result was possible in Kanpur. At the start of the fourth day, the first innings was still going on. India had laid out plans to push the game forward but there were no guarantees that it would all work out. Rohit Sharma, at the post-match presentation, said they were prepared to be 200 all out. They weren’t, of course. They scored 285 and declared in 34.4 overs. Then they picked up two second-innings wickets before stumps, to add to the seven from earlier in the day. India played the fourth day full throttle. The fifth – towards the end especially – became about soaking in all that they had managed to do.R Ashwin leaves his post at mid-on to come over and put his arm around Bumrah as he returns to his mark. It looks like a very one-sided exchange. In order to make it end, Bumrah brings both his hands up, palms pressed to each other rather like how people say hello or goodbye. Ashwin doesn’t listen. He continues to hype his bowling partner. From mid-off, Axar Patel chimes in as well. Both of them clap Bumrah on right through the 37th over when it’s becoming very clear that the improbable result India had set their sights on was within reach.”Whoooooohhhhhhhh” goes the crowd as Bumrah begins to accelerate again. Mehidy is unable to deal with this one and ends up caught behind. Bumrah tests the newcomer Taijul Islam with a couple of short ones and sneaks a full one in between, and then collects his cap to walk back to his fielding position. As he looks up, he sees Ashwin slow-clapping him. He offers him a salute in return. This is a special day for India. They are doing special things. The extent to which they had beat the odds makes it all the more fun for them. They seem joyous. Mischievous.Jasprit Bumrah finished Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s resistance•Getty ImagesRishabh Pant spends the final few seconds of the drinks break hanging around by the stumps, fiddling with something. A little red light flashes. He was fiddling with the bails. He had flipped them to see if that might change India’s luck. The first hour of play had only offered one wicket. The next one yields seven. Perhaps it’s the bails that did it. Or perhaps it has something to do with Ravindra Jadeja’s introduction to the attack.He was the last bowler India turned to in every innings of this series. Bangladesh being a left-hander-heavy side might have had something to do with it. Jadeja takes one of them out with his second ball. It breaks a period of play where Bangladesh made 55 runs in 13.4 overs and heralds one where Bangladesh lose seven wickets for 55 runs. India are doing so many amazing things in this game. Scoring at almost 9 runs an over. Taking a first-innings lead in three hours of batting. Breaking the taboo of bowler vs batter match-ups.Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets in three overs•AFP/Getty ImagesJadeja goes on to dismiss another left-hander, Shakib Al Hasan out tamely, caught and bowled. But see, that ball, it has all the hallmarks that make it hard to face Jadeja, no matter your orientation. Sure, you’re able to hit with the turn if you’re left-handed, but he complicates that by bowling around the wicket. He creates an angle that is going against you. Also here, he managed to get the ball to dip on Shakib so all of a sudden there’s distance between a bat that is pushing forward to milk a single to long-on and the ball. That’s where all the magic happens. The dip allows for the grip that turns a shot without no risk into one that will now attract ridicule. Shakib is left in utter disbelief at what he has done; or maybe what he has been made to do. The rest of Kanpur erupts. Horns blaring. Drums beating.A Test-match win after only 52 overs of batting and 121.2 overs of bowling. That’s something to savour and savour they do.

Phoenix victories and success of home-grown stars are helping to draw in new fans

Matt Roller16-Aug-2022There is a huge cheer as Moeen Ali walks towards the South Stand at Edgbaston. A sprawling queue has formed at the end of Birmingham Phoenix’s seven-wicket win against Trent Rockets, all desperate for an autograph or a selfie with the captain and talisman. “Super, super Mo, Super Moeen Ali,” has been ringing out around the ground all evening.Half an hour earlier, Moeen’s devastating assault on Lewis Gregory – whose third set of five cost 23 runs – had removed any scoring pressure from Phoenix’s chase as the men closed out their sixth win from six at Edgbaston. The result completed a Phoenix double after Amy Jones – like Moeen, born and raised in the West Midlands – closed out the women’s chase alongside Ellyse Perry.”It’s something that we thrive off and buzz off,” Moeen says, after being pulled away from his fans to speak to the media. “It gives you a lift as a team. When the crowd is chanting your name and you get that support, it is awesome.”The reason we’re playing the Hundred is to attract a new audience and to make it simple for them to understand and enjoy games like this. Our jobs are not just about trying to win games – it’s about trying to inspire the next generation.”The West Midlands is home to a number of the UK’s bellwether political constituencies, where local results over a number of general elections have been mirrored by the outcome at a national level. Nuneaton, 25 miles east of Birmingham, has voted in line with the country as a whole since 1997; Worcester, 40 miles south-west, has done so since 1979.In a similar vein, the West Midlands might be seen as a bellwether for the Hundred. A short-form competition at the height of summer was always going to work in London, where there is always a huge demand for tickets, but Birmingham is a different kettle of fish. Edgbaston has hosted – and sold out – T20 Finals Day every year since 2013 but the Blast’s group stages have proved a harder sell.In 2019, the final pre-Hundred season with full crowds permitted, their average attendance across seven home games was around 9,500. “It’s a very diverse, industrial city,” Stuart Cain, Warwickshire’s chief executive, says. “You have to work hard to get people to spend money. Not because they’re tight, but it’s well-earned money. You have to give them a good day out.”The kids at Edgbaston get into the action during the Men’s Hundred•PA Images via Getty ImagesIn its first season, the Hundred came to life at Edgbaston. Phoenix’s women came from nowhere to qualify for the knockout stages, while the men were unbeaten at home on their way to top spot in the group stages. The second season has started brightly, too: Will Smeed hit the Hundred’s first hundred last week and so far the home teams have won three out of three.Crowds last year were significantly higher than in the Blast, with an average attendance of 15,500, and the Hundred managed to draw significantly more interest from Birmingham’s South Asian communities than the Blast ever had. “The new concept and the freshness has appealed to everyone,” Cain says, “so by default, if 40% of your city is South Asian, you’re going to get more people coming in from those communities.”Whether by chance or design, Phoenix’s squads have featured several British Asian players who have become an integral part of the new teams’ attempts to create an identity: Moeen, Issy Wong and Abtaha Maqsood. “Moeen is a local lad and Issy has come up through the ranks from the age of 10 or 11,” Cain says. “Abtaha was recommended to us and it has been awesome to send out the message that you can be a practising Muslim, wear the hijab, and be a professional cricketer.”Warwickshire have taken significant steps to make Edgbaston a more inclusive ground, particularly in its attempts to crack down on crowd abuse. “I think that’s the best way to give any community faith that it’s OK to come here,” Cain says.The Edgbaston app has been updated to allow quick, anonymous reports if fans experience any issues, while the installation of a high-definition camera facing the Eric Hollies Stand facilitated an arrest after allegations of racist abuse during the England-India Test earlier this summer. A man has since been charged with a racially-aggravated public order offence.The attendances for Monday’s double-header were impressive – 9,859 for the women’s game (on a weekday afternoon) and 15,800 for the men’s – not least given the numbers of events Edgbsaton has hosted this year: a Test, a T20I, seven Blast group games, Finals Day, and the Commonwealth Games. The swathe of bright-orange merchandise in the crowd suggested an affinity with Phoenix, even at an early stage of their existence.Related

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Crucially, some of the Hundred’s audience appear to have become hooked. Blast crowds this season were “slightly ahead” of 2019 figures despite the tournament being played earlier in the summer, and Edgbaston sold over 1,000 white-ball season tickets, granting access to every Blast and Hundred matchday.”This debate about ‘is the Hundred going to kill the Blast?’ is the wrong one: the genie is out of the bottle,” Cain says. “”I don’t agree that the Blast is for one audience and the Hundred is for a different one. There are people that love cricket and are coming to both, but there are some that love the Blast and will never come to the Hundred, and some that will come to the Hundred and will never come to the Blast.”Any new concept that brings in new crowds, new sponsors, free-to-air broadcast – I can’t see what there is to dislike. If you look at other sports – golf, tennis, hockey – they must be sitting there now in absolute envy about what cricket has done, to find a format that the BBC, Sky, fans and sponsors are all engaged in.”You’ve got to respect members’ opinions. Our job is to make sure we don’t lose the history and tradition of red-ball cricket but, at the same time, try and move the game on in a way that acknowledges the world is changing. We’re not trying to downgrade Championship cricket. We’re trying to find new ways of reaching audiences in a world where time, money and attention spans are tight.”The Hundred and its knock-on effects on the rest of the summer schedule remain hugely divisive, but it is clear that in its bellwether region, it is doing something right. As Cain summarises: “the second the sport stops criticising itself and doing itself down, the better off we’ll be.”

The IPL offers a chance for established players to reinvent themselves and fit into new roles

Dustin Silgardo31-Oct-2020The IPL offers a platform for unknown players to establish themselves, but it also allows established players to reinvent themselves and fit into new roles. Here are five names who have done exactly that this season.Suryakumar Yadav
Yadav has been a key player for the Mumbai Indians since 2018, but while he passed the 400-run mark in both 2018 and 2019, he struck at just over 130 in those years, giving him the reputation of an anchor. Yadav’s role was to build the innings steadily and ideally get dismissed before the death overs, allowing Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya to up the scoring rate. This season, Yadav has not just averaged 40.22, he has scored at 155.36. He has counterattacked in the powerplay and also shown an ability to accelerate in the death overs. He has struck at 235 between overs 17 and 20 this season, faster than Pandya and just a shade off Pollard, who has struck at 241.09 at the death. Yadav has all the textbook shots and scores a lot of runs with drives through the off side, but he has also used the lap and ramp shots effectively, scoring nearly half his runs behind the wicket this season. The change in gears is significant for Yadav’s India hopes, as the national side has a stacked top order but needs middle-order batsmen who can score quickly in the middle and death overs.Shikhar Dhawan

With KL Rahul’s stellar form in T20s and upcoming talents such as Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Sanju Samson impressing every IPL season, Dhawan might have been worried that he would lose his place in India’s T20I squad. While he has been consistent in the IPL, scoring 350-plus runs every season since 2016, his season strike rates have at best been in the mid-130s. This season was a similar story six games in – his strike rate was 122.22. Then he switched gears, scoring two fifties and two centuries in his next four games, all rapidly, to leave him with a strike rate of 147.64 for the season, his best in IPL history. What has been most impressive is that Dhawan has not adopted the approach he and most other openers usually do, which is to begin cautiously and then accelerate. He has instead attacked in the powerplay, scoring at 154.92 in the first six overs since the Delhi Capitals’ seventh game. Remarkably, he has managed all this without significantly increasing his six count, instead using timing and placement to strike fours.Fading force? Chris Gayle begs to differ•BCCIMohammed Shami
During his time at the Delhi Daredevils, Shami struggled to become a regular member of the playing XI due to a combination of injuries and being seen as a Test and ODI specialist. Since joining the Kings XI Punjab last season, he has changed that perception. Shami finished with 19 wickets last season and already has 20 this season after 13 games. Where he has improved further this season is in his death bowling. He was expensive at the death in 2019 and continued to be so in the early part of this season. However, he turned things around in one Super Over, against the Mumbai Indians. Whereas earlier Shami had relied on short-of-length deliveries and changes of pace at the death, here he bowled six straight yorkers to defend just five runs and force a second Super Over. Since then, he has become more confident in bowling his yorker at the death and has developed into a threat both early and late in the innings.Chris Gayle
This season Gayle has put paid to two caricatures: that he is a fading force and that he cannot succeed anywhere but in the opening position. Once regarded as the world’s best T20 batsman, in recent years an ageing Gayle has shown signs of slowing down. He has not been able to score quickly with the consistency he once did, and his poor fielding and running between the wickets have made sides doubt whether he merits a place in their XIs. In the 2018 auction Gayle received just one bid – and that was after his name came up the third time. While he did average 40-plus for the Kings XI in 2018 and 2019, between the last IPL and this one he had averaged 24.40 in 20 T20s and struck at 137.46. With KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal getting runs at the top this season, it looked unlikely Gayle would get many games. However, in dire need of points, the Kings XI took a gamble on him at No. 3, though Gayle had only played six innings there in his 405-match T20 career. In six innings so far, Gayle has hit three fifties and played a key role in his team’s comeback from the brink of elimination.Ben Stokes
The most expensive player in the 2018 auction, Stokes underwhelmed with the bat that year and in 2019, averaging less than 20, with no fifties. This season, the Royals sprang a surprise by casting Stokes in the role of opener – where he had batted just five times in his 113-match T20 career. Stokes is seen as a finisher in white-ball cricket, but batting in the middle order, he often struggled to get going early against spin. Opening has allowed him to start against pace, and the results have been two match-winning knocks: 107 not out off 60 balls against the Mumbai Indians and 50 off 26 against the Kings XI. Those two innings have kept Rajasthan in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Shortly after Shohei Ohtani crushed his 28th home run of the season on Thursday, MLB announced that the Los Angeles Dodgers star will be the starting designated hitter at next month's All-Star Game. Not surprisingly, Ohtani earned an automatic bid for receiving the most votes in the National League.

For the American League, New York Yankees' Aaron Judge earned the most votes in MLB and also received an automatic bid to start at outfield.

Last week, the league announced which players had received the most votes per position in each league, and Judge had the most votes overall and the most in the AL, while Ohtani had the most votes in the NL and the second-most votes overall.

This is Ohtani's fifth consecutive All-Star bid. This is Judge's seventh overall All-Star bid, and he's started in six of those appearances.

Phase 1 of All-Star voting ended on Thursday as the finalists for each position will be named that night. From there, the top two vote-getters in each position, as well as the top six outfielders, will move on for Phase 2 voting, which closes Wednesday, July 2. The winners of each position will be named that night. More explanation on All-Star voting can be read here.

The 2025 All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday, July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta.