ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB is likely to reject NOCs to several all-format players for upcoming franchise tournaments

Danyal Rasool13-Jul-2024The PCB is set for a collision course with some of the biggest names in Pakistan cricket after deciding to refuse an NOC to Naseem Shah for the Hundred.ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB is likely to reject NOCs to several all-format players for upcoming franchise tournaments. While the Global T20 League in Canada has not yet been officially sanctioned by the ICC – without which the PCB cannot issue NOCs to centrally contracted players – it is believed Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam will not be allowed to play there either way, with workload management likely cited as the reason.The immediate implications of the decision mean The Hundred’s Birmingham Phoenix will lose out on Naseem next month, while Afridi, Rizwan and Babar will be unavailable for the Global T20 League Canada. Neither tournament directly clashes with any international cricket Pakistan play, but with a busy upcoming schedule for the national side, it is understood the PCB wishes to see their all-format players rest up ahead of Pakistan’s two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which starts on August 21.Related

• Shaheen, Babar, Rizwan denied NOCs to play in Global T20 Canada

• PCB mulls 'key changes', says domestic cricket 'compulsory' for players

• Wahab and Razzaq sacked from PCB selection committee

Though the GLT20 awaits official ICC sanction, the Pakistan players drafted were fully expected to be allowed to play the league; Afridi is scheduled to travel to Canada shortly, with the tournament officially slated to begin on July 25. Naseem, meanwhile was set to earn £125,000 for his time at The Hundred, which starts on July 23.This doesn’t necessarily mean no NOC requests will be entertained, with the latest NOC repressions likely to only affect those considered all-format regulars. Usama Mir, who had his NOC denied last month for the T20 Blast, will be allowed to play The Hundred, as will Haris Rauf.The NOC rejections are set to go further than just the leagues over the next month. Pakistan have a virtually non-stop cricketing schedule from October to May the following year. They play three Tests against England at home that month, followed by limited-overs series in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, a Test series in South Africa, a home Test series against the West Indies, a home tri-series featuring South Africa and New Zealand, a home Champions Trophy, and the PSL. It is understood the PCB will entertain no NOC requests during that period for all-format players, which coincides with a spate of T20 leagues.The three-year central contracts the PCB and the players signed last year allowed for two overseas franchise leagues per year, as long as those tournaments did not clash with the player’s international commitments. While the contracts do state the PCB has the right to refuse NOCs if they feel it is in the best interests of Pakistan’s international obligations, the decision to withdraw the players from leagues which do not directly clash with international cricket is set to cause discontent among players affected, and questions around whether the allowance made in central contracts is being respected in spirit.The past month has seen an uneasy quiet take hold after Pakistan’s disastrous T20 World Cup campaign which saw them exit in the first round. Initial reports suggested PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi wanted to enact “major surgery” on the side, but no immediate ramifications followed in the wake of the exit. Of late, however, there have been signs that events are beginning to gather speed, with Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq sacked from the PCB selection committee.

Chennai Super Kings signed off their home league campaign with a win, giving themselves a decent chance of coming back to Chennai for the last two playoff games. Despite losing their 11th toss out of 13 and being asked to field in the afternoon heat 40 hours after finishing their last match in Ahmedabad, the CSK bowlers used a slow pitch expertly to keep Rajasthan Royals down to 141, which they chased down with relative ease.The slow pitch was right up the home bowlers’ alley, and they kept Royals quiet in a wicketless powerplay after which Simarjeet Singh kept getting wickets every time Royals tried to push back. Royals never really succeeded in mounting an attack, which CSK’s New Zealand batters, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell, successfully did to put their chase on course with a Shivam Dube putting them on top.Related

• The CSK remix ft. Simarjeet Singh

• Samson: Losses make it 'challenging to focus on the controllables'

• As it happened – Royals slip to third straight defeat

The win took CSK up to 14 points from 13 matches, level with Sunrisers Hyderabad who have a game in hand, and two points clear of the nearest challengers outside the top four. Royals suffered their third straight defeat, which will be a cause for concern for them going into the playoffs, especially with Jos Buttler not expected to be available for the final week.RR’s power-less-play
These are the two slowest teams in the first two overs of the IPL. They like to suss the pitch out before they start attacking. Royals stayed true to form, scoring just seven off the first two, but they couldn’t kick on even after that with Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana and Shardul Thakur giving them nothing to drive. Their 42 for 0 was the slowest wicketless powerplay of IPL 2024, one run behind their 43 for 0 against Punjab Kings, but that came in a small chase.Simarjeet Singh exults after dismissing Jos Buttler•BCCI

Simarjeet cashes in
Usually CSK go to Ravindra Jadeja in the seventh over, but perhaps because of the right-left combination, which didn’t let their orthodox spinners bowl in their last match against Gujarat Titans, they bowled Simarjeet in the seventh over. Playing only his third match this year, Simarjeet had ground to make up after going for 60 in that Titans match. On this slow pitch, he was immediately on target: hard lengths and no room. When Yashasvi Jaiswal tried to take him on, the ball got big on him and resulted in a skier to cover. In his next over, Simarjeet became the beneficiary of an odd shot from a frustrated Buttler: a ramp on a slow pitch with fine leg back on the fence.With Royals’ only left-hand top-order batter gone, Jadeja rattled through his four overs for just 24 runs to go with Theekshana’s four overs for 28. Sanju Samson just kept looking for singles while Riyan Parag tried the odd boundary. It seemed as if Royals had decided they needed to get somewhere around 160 and not aim too high.The final kick doesn’t arrive
Even to get to 160, they would need two a ball for the last six overs after getting to 89 for 2 in 14 overs, which is when the spinners bowled out. Royals were banking on cashing in on pace, but just when they tried to go hard they handed Simarjeet another wicket: Samson caught at mid-off. Again Royals were pushed back.Deshpande and Thakur stuck to their plans in the death overs, and Royals never got the big overs. Only Parag’s 47 off 35 took them to 141, which was 23 less than the lowest total successfully defended in this IPL. Royals attacked just 30 balls in their innings, the sixth-lowest figure this season in non-all-out innings when setting a target.Shivam Dube played a crucial cameo after CSK had gone 39 balls without a boundary•Associated Press

Ravindra, Mitchell get chase going
CSK have been the only team slower than Royals in the early goings but they were mindful of not letting the bowlers settle into their defence. Ravindra flicked Sandeep Sharma for a six over midwicket in the second over, and went after compatriot Trent Boult in the third. Even though R Ashwin got Ravindra out in the fourth, Mitchell kept up the intent. Their 56 for 1 was their fourth-highest powerplay of this IPL.Royals claw back but Dube breaks chase open
In the middle overs, Royals clawed their way back. Yuzvendra Chahal got Mitchell, the spinners kept Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad quiet, Moeen got out for 10 off 13, and 39 balls went without a boundary. Still it was 50 needed off seven overs. This was when Ashwin came on to bowl his last over with Dube on strike. Dube took the veteran spinner on for 6, 4, 4, with a leg-side wide in between, and while Ashwin came back with Dube’s wicket, CSK needed 35 off the last six.Captain Gaikwad stayed true to his anchor role for this chase, and saw his team home despite Jadeja getting himself out obstructing the field.

After the chaos and jubilation of Thursday night, Manchester United returned to their usual selves on Sunday afternoon, as the Red Devils slipped to a 15th Premier League defeat of the season at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

In many ways, it was the same old story for the hosts at Old Trafford, with Ruben Amorim forced to watch on as his lacklustre side squandered a litany of chances, before being punished late on by a sublime Pablo Sarabia free-kick.

Indeed, on a different day, Alejandro Garnacho could well have walked away with a hat-trick of assists, having picked out both Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount inside the box, while also seeing Rasmus Hojlund come agonisingly close to getting on the end of his clever pull-back.

The struggling Dane – who has scored just once in all competitions since mid-December – also failed to pick out Kobbie Mainoo when advancing into space in the second-half, with Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer subsequently stating that the “damaged” 22-year-old “isn’t ready” to be United’s starting striker.

24 goals in 88 games for the Red Devils makes for grim reading for the £64m man, with it no surprise that the addition of a new centre-forward is high on the agenda this summer – alongside the capture of Wolves talisman, Matheus Cunha.

Latest on Man Utd's search for a forward

With all of United’s eggs now in the Europa League basket, there remains an anxious wait as to whether or not INEOS will have a Champions League budget to work with next season, with so much resting on success on the continent.

Regardless of what happens between now and the end of May, however, it does appear that the Old Trafford hierarchy are intent on adding Cunha to their ranks, with Fabrizio Romano outlining that the Red Devils are leading the race for the Brazilian’s signature.

The 25-year-old has scored 14 goals in the league this season – including against Amorim’s side on Boxing Day – with The Athletic previously outlining that he is viewed as a solution for one of the two number ten berths in the 3-4-3 set-up.

Transfer Focus

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

That same report had indicated that Ipswich Town starlet, Liam Delap, is being considered as a potential upgrade at centre-forward, although the Englishman is evidently not the only candidate, as revealed by Manchester Evening News journalist, Samuel Luckhurst.

As Luckhurst has noted, United have remained in contact with the agent of RB Leipzig sensation, Benjamin Sesko, having previously missed out on the Slovenian superstar back in the summer of 2022.

The interest in the 6 foot 5 striker – who has a £58m release clause in his current deal – appears to extend even further back than that, with prior reports outlining that the Red Devils rejected the chance to sign him for just £2.5m from NK Domzale as a teenager back in 2019.

This summer could then finally see the 21-year-old arrive at the Theatre of Dreams, with Sesko potentially set to represent the perfect upgrade on both Hojlund and Delap.

How Man Utd could upgrade their centre-forward ranks

For all United’s success in Europe – as they currently remain unbeaten in the Europa League – the fact of the matter is they have been simply abject domestically, having found themselves just two points above 17th-placed West Ham United.

A key issue has been the club’s woes at the top end of the pitch after scoring just 38 times in 33 top-flight games – almost half of what champions-elect Liverpool have recorded at the summit (75).

With Hojlund and the now stricken Joshua Zirkzee scoring just six league goals between them, the need of a new number nine is bordering on desperation – enter, Sesko.

Described as a “monster” of a striker by analyst Ben Mattinson, the 41-cap international has enjoyed another fine campaign in Germany, netting 20 times in 41 games in all competitions, including four goals in eight Champions League appearances.

Including his time at sister club Red Bull Salzburg, Sesko has now scored 12 league goals or more in each of his last three seasons. The 22-year-old Delap, for instance, has only broken into double figures for the first time in 2024/25, in what is his first campaign in a top-tier league.

Games (starts)

29 (27)

32 (29)

Goals

12

12

Big chances missed

10

10

Goal frequency

182mins

198mins

Assists

5

2

Big chances created

5

3

Key passes*

0.6

0.6

Pass accuracy*

67%

62%

Successful dribbles*

1.3

1.2

Aerial duels won*

56%

45%

As indicated in the table above, it is the Leipzig star who comes out on top too across a string of attacking and defensive metrics, showcasing just why United have been wise to maintain contact with his representatives in recent years.

A player with “incredible potential” – in the words of Jurgen Klopp – what particularly stands out is Sesko’s venomous shooting ability, having already chalked up a stunning catalogue of long-range, pinpoint efforts in his career thus far.

While there may be fears over enduring something of a Hojlund repeat, considering the potential price tag and age of the Slovenian hero, Sesko – unlike the current United man and Delap – has proven himself at the elite level over a number of seasons now.

He would represent the high-potential talent that Amorim and co are craving, who can make an instant impact.

For the third campaign in a row, the Red Devils look set to dip into the market for a new number nine – they simply can’t afford to get it wrong again…

He's a lot like Cunha: Man Utd hopeful of signing "frightening" £50m star

Manchester United are eyeing up a deal for a star who could be their own Matheus Cunha.

ByDan Emery Apr 21, 2025

حقق الفريق الأول لكرة اليد بالنادي الأهلي، الفوز على سيدني الأسترالي، في أولى مبارياته ببطولة العالم لكرة اليد للأندية.

وتُقام جميع مباريات بطول كأس العالم للأندية في الفترة من 26 سبتمبر إلى 2 أكتوبر 2025، على صالة العاصمة الإدارية الجديدة.

وتمكن الأهلي من تحقيق الفوز على سيدني الأسترالي بنتيجة 41/14، علمًا بأن الشوط الأول انتهى بتقدم الأحمر بنتيجة 20/6.

طالع.. تاريخ مشاركات الأهلي في كأس العالم لأندية اليد

ويشارك في البطولة 9 أندية مقسمة على 3 مجموعات، وهي الأهلي، الزمالك، برشلونة الإسباني، فيزبريم المجري، سيدني الأسترالي، ماجديبورج الألماني، كاليفورنيا إيجلز الأمريكي، الشارقة الإماراتي، توباتي البرازيلي.

ويتأهل أول كل مجموعة إلى نصف النهائي، حيث سينضم إليه أفضل فريق يحتل المركز الثاني في المجموعات الثلاث، وستشارك الفرق الخمسة المتبقية في مباريات تحديد المراكز.

Tom Blundell has also been drafted in for the five-match series for which New Zealand were already missing a dozen players

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2024Finn Allen and Adam Milne have been ruled out of New Zealand’s tour of Pakistan raising concerns as to whether they will be fit for the T20 World Cup.Allen suffered a back injury and Milne picked up an ankle problem during training ahead of the team’s departure for the five-match T20I series.Related

Pakistan finally gear up for some cricket after plenty of off-field turmoil

Michael Bracewell to lead New Zealand in Pakistan T20I series

Tim Robinson: 'I love hitting sixes…it's addictive'

Munro 'potentially still an option' for New Zealand's T20 World Cup squad

Pakistan call up Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim for New Zealand T20Is

Tom Blundell and uncapped allrounder Zak Foulkes have been called in as their replacements. Tom Bruce was considered but made himself unavailable due to family reasons and to continue his county deal with Lancashire.Allen, the powerful opening batter who has a T20I strike-rate of 163.60, would be certain of his place in New Zealand’s T20 World Cup squad. Milne, who has had an injury-hit career, is less assured of a spot in the final 15 for the USA and Caribbean depending on how many quick bowlers are taken.”We feel for both Finn and Adam, suffering injuries so close to the start of the tour. They have been strong performers for us in the T20 format since the last World Cup,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said.”Our support staff and medical networks will be working closely with both players over the next few weeks to complete plans for their treatment and subsequent return to cricket.”The 21-year-old Foulkes took 14 wickets at 16.28 for Canterbury in the 2023-24 Super Smash and had a batting strike-rate of 150. Blundell, New Zealand’s Test wicketkeeper, has previously played seven T20Is.”Zak has had an impressive season for Canterbury including being their leading wicket taker in all three competitions,” Stead said. “He has displayed impressive skills with the ball, particularly in T20 cricket for the Kings. We also know he has skills with the bat and it will be an excellent opportunity for him to be part of the group.”New Zealand were already without nine players for the Pakistan tour due to IPL commitments while Will Young (county cricket), Tom Latham (paternity) and Tim Southee (strength and conditioning) were also not available.Allrounder Michael Bracewell will captain the side with the squad also including uncapped batter Tim Robinson.The initial T20 World Cup squad needs to be named by May 1 but can be freely amended until May 25.

The coach made a significant departure from his “character over cover drives” mantra, homing in on issues of batting technique

Daniel Brettig in Abu Dhabi20-Oct-2018For all the statistical measures of Australia’s batting decline, nothing has spoken as loudly as the philosophical shift in focus suggested by Australia’s coach Justin Langer at the conclusion of his first Test series in charge. Talking technique may not sound like a big deal for the head coach of the national team, but coming from Langer it was a marked departure from much of what he is known for.Over comfortably more than a decade, Langer has been synonymous with the phrase “character over cover drives”. So much so that it could easily be the title of one of his books. His achievements as a batsman and as a coach of Australia’s domestic sides have appeared to go hand in hand with a philosophy grounded in personal discipline and growth, as much if not more so than the MCC coaching manual.But since his appointment as the national coach in May, Langer has seemed to be wrestling with the loss of plenty of former certainties as the sheer complexity of his task has become clearer. In the aftermath of Australia’s 373-run hiding in Abu Dhabi to lose the UAE series to Pakistan, he made a significant departure from that “character over cover drives” mantra, homing in on issues of batting technique as the key to arresting Australia’s wretched recent history of collapses.In assessing how the touring team’s two first innings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi essentially cost them any chance of winning the series, Langer pointed out that in the concurrent Sheffield Shield round, a host of other batting collapses had also taken place, and recalled a conversation with the former professional golfer Lyndsay Stephen about mental skills being subservient to technical limitations.
“If you look at this round of Sheffield Shield cricket, I know a number of the states have also had some big batting collapses as well,” Langer said in Abu Dhabi. “I’ve been in the State system for a long time and I’ve watched this and I think what I’m really intrigued about is you’re not allowed to use the word technique anymore.”Lyndsay Stephen, the golfer, I remember having dinner with him and everyone says it’s all mental, it’s all mental. It’s all about the mental side of the game and I thought that’s interesting, yeah that’s what everyone says. But Lyndsay Stephen told me, ‘I’d rather have a guy with a good technique who is a bit softer mentally, than a guy who is really mentally tough with a really bad technique’. This is in golf. I said ‘what do you mean?'”He said, ‘If you’ve got a good technique, you’ll hit most balls down the middle of the fairway and over time you’ll develop some confidence and you can learn concentration and that’s how you get mental toughness. If you’ve got a bad technique and you’re hitting the ball behind the trees or in the rough, it doesn’t matter how mentally tough you are, eventually you’re not going to be able to hitting it into the hole that often’.”Haris Sohail takes a catch at first slip to dismiss Shaun Marsh•Getty ImagesTurning his focus from golf to cricket, Langer indicated that it was now necessary for many Australia batsmen to look more closely at the technical underpinnings of their approach to batting, in a manner that would allow them to retain the skills that would keep them in the middle for long periods against a moving ball. In this, Langer essentially suggested that many players in the current system were playing for their state and country without the basic fundamentals that were once self-evident.”I was brought up in Australian cricket where we did a lot of bowling machine work and we did a lot of talk on technique,” he said. “Technique to me is about footwork patterns and playing forward when it’s full, and [playing] back when it’s back. So they’re just really basics of the game particularly in footwork patterns and you talk about the great Australian players [how] they moved their feet like boxers, every one of them. They had footwork patterns and then from there you have the skill of run-scoring. And it’s a really important thing.”The technique is really important and I think now there’s a lot of talk because of white-ball cricket that you just have wide stances and you just stand and deliver. Well that’s okay, but even in T20 cricket or one-day cricket and most certainly first-class cricket and Test cricket when the ball starts moving around, if you don’t move your feet, then you’re going to come unstuck. And that’s something we all have to do in Australian cricket. There wouldn’t be a state coach out there who would be saying it’s all rainbows and butterflies out there after this weekend’s cricket, because of the collapses.”In charting a path forward, Langer argued that all players needed to learn to become better problem-solvers, aware of the intricacies of their own methods and able to tinker with them whenever problems arose. “After day two, I was up until about midnight watching batting videos, looking at ways we can get better,” he said. “What I know about Test cricket, I’ve been through all this before in a sense as an individual player. You come in, it’s really hard, and the only way you work it out is by problem-solving, and working hard.”That was my formula as a player, and all the great players, the great players I’ve been lucky to play with, they’re just really good problem-solvers, they work it out, they work really hard, and they’re brilliant at concentration, so if I can take the lessons I learnt as a player into problem-solving of making the team better, then hopefully we’ll go okay.Aaron Finch gets forward to defend•Associated Press”There’s certainly some focus we have to have. As we see just this week. We’ve got to work out, we’ve got a Test match here, first-class cricket, some T20s coming up. Then there’re some one-dayers. So the schedule is what it is. But the great players are able to adapt and most of them have got a good batting technique and the skill of scoring runs, so we can’t sugarcoat it any longer. If I’m a young batsman in Australia, it’s a pretty exciting time. If you work really hard on your basic game and you learn how to make runs, then there will be a huge opportunities in the Australian cricket team.”Assessing the performances of Australia’s batsmen, Langer was warm in his praise of Aaron Finch, Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja in particular. We’re in a much different stage of Australian cricket history, aren’t we,” Langer said. “You guys have heard me say it before, it’s usually harder to get out of the side than it is to get into the side. It used to be a beautiful thing, if you were the hunter, it used to be a shocking thing when you were playing. If you were the hunted, well that’s sort of good, but you knew there were hunters coming at you all the time. There was always pressure.”And in this instance, I thought Finchy played pretty well, he did really well, and he’ll learn a lot from this series. I was really impressed with Finchy. I thought Marnus played particularly well in this innings. He had a brainfade in the first innings. You’ve never seen anything like it. Two in two days. I’ve seen some stuff on the cricket field, but I’ve never seen that ever.”And Marnus knows, so I’m not burning him, it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in my life until what happened yesterday. I thought Marnus played well, and his leg-spin was a real revelation for us. As a young leg-spinner, there’s huge upside to that. Obviously Uzzy played really well, and he’ll have his knee operated on, hopefully sooner rather than later, so hopefully he’ll be right for the first Test match [against India in December].”When he reached Travis Head, one of three Australian debutants in Dubai, Langer returned to his technical theme, by noting how much he could see the young South Australian evolving in his first Test series. “What I liked about Travis Head is his development – he’s working hard on his game,” Langer said. “The way everyone used to say he can’t play spin, well he has worked hard on that. He played a cut shot today. I’m getting a bit technical here, but we’re talking batting here, which I love.”I love batting, that’s why it’s killing me at the moment. But he usually plays his cut shot from leg stump, today he played a beautiful cut shot, [like] Sir Donald Bradman, he got right across, he played that late cut for four. And obviously Shaun [Marsh] and Mitch [Marsh] haven’t had their best series, but we also know they’re good cricketers who have had a tough time. So there are opportunities for guys in the team, and there are opportunities for guys who are good blokes and make a lot of runs.”

While Afghanistan coach Trott believes “pressure is on South Africa,” SA coach Walter says burden of past losses should not be borne by current crop of players

Sidharth Monga26-Jun-20243:14

Rob Walter: ‘Getting over the line in close games gives us confidence’

At the risk of navel-gazing and giving too much importance to mainstream media, it is hard to contemplate team representatives outnumbering the press at a press conference before a World Cup semi-final. South Africa’s head coach Rob Walter arrived with their media officer and security officer to speak to a total of one member of the press. This is not the first time it has happened with South Africa during this World Cup – they kicked off their campaign on Long Island similarly – but there is something eerie about a semi-final creating no buzz in one of the most passionate centres for cricket at the T20 World Cup 2024.Well, almost one of the most passionate centres. For this ground – Brian Lara Cricket Academy – is located 50km from Port-of-Spain, on the outskirts of San Fernando. The Queen’s Park Oval, owned by a private club, has refused to upgrade with the times and has been left behind, but taking such a showpiece event away from the historic venue in the heart of Port-of-Spain to a ground that doesn’t necessarily hold more people is akin to cutting the nose to spite the face.Then comes the schedule, which doesn’t even give teams the time to train. South Africa at least held an optional training session after having arrived on Monday night, but Afghanistan finished their qualification well into the wee hours of Tuesday for a match on Wednesday. So excuse them for not training a day before the semi-final.Related

Tactics board: Rashid, de Kock, Gurbaz-Ibrahim and Maharaj – the key factors

New beginnings promise new endings for un-South Africa

Not just another piece of content, Afghanistan have been a headline-grabbing act

Tarouba venue guide: High-scoring game on even covering of grass with cracks

Not that the ICC would have thrown open the gates to the public to watch the training anyway. There are lessons to be learnt from MCG in Melbourne and Eden Gardens in Kolkata, two of the few international grounds where people can come and watch the nets.Despite all this and other problems, the World Cup has been a roaring success. On TV, that is. Perhaps that’s the future of the sport? The fans at the grounds are just not worth the bother. The carnival atmosphere that World Cups of sports carry doesn’t seem to be a prerequisite for the cricket one to be a success.Not that South Africa mind. They allegedly freeze under the spotlight so perhaps it is best to stay under the radar? “This is an empty hall, which is a good sign, I think,” Walter joked when asked if it felt like a semi-final. Before he put the press in its place: “It’s not really about the press but about the occasion, isn’t it?”Walter did say that you can’t mislead yourself into believing it is just another game. Better to embrace it and the emotions that come with it. How does it manifest? Do you train differently? Do you not sleep well?2:11

Fleming: How Klaasen plays spin could decide the game

Walter again joked he is not the best person to talk about the quality of sleep since his is never “very good”. “I think there’s always an energy that you can feel that’s tangible when it comes to a semi-final,” he went on to say. “There’ll be a mixture of emotions which is with anxiety but excitement and I think anyone in any sport, if they get to this phase of a competition, feels that. And so really, it’s just acknowledging that and accepting it and then just understanding what you’ll do with that. We still want to play our best cricket in the key moments of the game tomorrow.”It is being said that this South Africa is different because it has been winning close games, but is a convenient, almost unfalsifiable claim: if they fail to win the title, it will again be said that they failed to win “when it mattered the most”. Walter chose not to argue that point but said whatever near misses have taken place, in the past, the burden is not theirs to carry.”The near misses in the past, they belong to the people who missed them,” Walter said. “To be honest, this team is a different team. We own whatever is ours to own. And so, our nearest reflection point is this tournament where we’ve managed to get over the line. So that’s what we think about.”That is exactly what another South African by birth, Englishman by nationality, and Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott is focussing on. “We go into the semi-final with no scarring or no history with regards to semi-finals,” Trott said minutes after winning against Bangladesh. “This is uncharted territory for us. We’re just going to go out there and give it our all. There’s no preconceived ideas on it all, or history of failure or success in semi-finals in past years. For us it’s a new challenge, and I think that makes us dangerous in the semi-finals as a side with nothing to lose and obviously a lot of pressure on the opposition.”Now that feels like a semi-final-level attempt at needling.

Arsenal have endured some bad luck this campaign that has derailed their title challenge, leaving supporters frustrated due to their unusually high volume of muscle injuries.

Arsenal's hard luck story this season under Mikel Arteta

At the start of the campaign, Mikel Arteta would’ve been optimistic that his side could finally claim the Premier League title under his reign after steadily building a squad capable of fighting on all fronts.

Stylistically, an aggressive focus on set-pieces alongside signings such as Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori appeared to have added extra steel to the flair present in the Gunners’ attack. However, their season hasn’t gone the way many envisaged.

Crashing out of the EFL Cup and FA Cup to Newcastle United and Manchester United put an end to dreams of domestic cup silverware, while their inconsistent run of form in the Premier League compared to Liverpool has become a bitter pill to swallow for an expectant support.

Nevertheless, Arsenal have been subject to an injury crisis that has left them with a major shortage of bodies in forward areas throughout the second half of 2024/25. Unfortunately, recognised strikers Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are still ruled out, leaving square pegs in round holes through the middle.

Bukayo Saka has been the main absentee of a long list for the Gunners, taking their tally of players who have spent time on the sidelines to 18 across this term. Returning during the week, the England international fired his side to a 2-1 victory over Fulham at the Emirates Stadium.

Other incidents such as Declan Rice’s harsh red card at home to Brighton & Hove Albion set an unwanted tone early on, culminating in a series of unfortunate events that have left the North Londoners feeling short-changed despite still being on course for a respectable second-place finish.

£84m striker really wants to join Arteta with Arsenal "top" of his list

The Gunners are now favourites.

By
Emilio Galantini

Apr 3, 2025

In a seemingly never-ending cycle of setbacks, Arsenal have fallen victim to yet another body blow ahead of their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

Arsenal's Grade 3 hamstring tear statistical anomaly

Arsenal have now suffered three Grade 3 hamstring tears in one season, following confirmation that Gabriel Magalhães has been ruled out until next term with an injury of that description. Saka and Havertz comprise the other two who fit the criteria.

According to a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, in a 20 year-period of Premier League football (from 2001/02 to 2021/22) only 3 per cent of hamstring injuries were Grade 3, making suffering three such problems in the space of six months a truly rare phenomenon that has barely been witnessed in football history.

Ultimately, many contributing factors play their part in a club falling short of their objectives. In this case, Arsenal have a right to feel that injuries have definitely altered the course of a season that was destined to deliver so much promise.

His sublime skills with the new ball ensure he will go down as one of the finest exponents of seam bowling

S Rajesh22-Jan-2020There are few bowlers, if any, who have exploited seam-bowling conditions more effectively than Vernon Philander. His ability to pitch it on a coin ball after ball, coupled with the skill to move it both ways, meant there was no respite for batsmen: both edges of the bat were under threat with the ball seaming in or out, and the lengths he bowled coupled with a relatively low-arm action meant that lbw and bowled were also regular dismissal options for him.Philander’s overall Test numbers are a testament to his skills: an average of 22.32, at an economy rate of 2.63. Among bowlers with at least 150 wickets since Philander made his Test debut in November 2011, no bowler has a better average, and only one fast bowler, James Anderson, has a better economy rate. Five bowlers had better strike rates – Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Mitchell Starc, Mohammed Shami and Kemar Roach – but then Philander’s forte was his relentlessness, not the ability to blast batsmen out.ESPNcricinfo LtdEven in the all-time list of bowlers with 200-plus Test wickets, Philander is right up there: among the 76 bowlers in this list, Philander is ranked eighth in terms of average. In fact, the average of 22.32 and the economy rate of 2.63 are very nearly identical to the numbers for Richard Hadlee, another bowler who operated in much the same way as Philander.