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A teenager bats against county and Test pros and lives to tell the tale

Luke Alfred02-Oct-2016In my final year at school I was chosen to open the batting for the Transvaal Under-19 side with a big-hearted kid called Craig Norris from a neighbouring school. We had one mid-week warm-up game against a Transvaal Invitation XI at Morningside before flying down to Stellenbosch for the 1982 Nuffield Week, a tournament for South African high schools.I can’t remember exactly what we thought but I’m sure we assumed that the Invitation XI would be made up of ringers and sundry club unemployables of good standard. We’d negotiate past the fixture with the minimum of fuss and be on that plane down to the Cape in a jiffy.In those days, club cricket in Johannesburg was properly competitive. Several Premier League clubs employed English professionals like Richard Lumb or Ashley Harvey-Walker, sometimes called Ashley Harvey-Wallbanger by the wits of the local scene. Every so often you would encounter a Transvaal player on a soft club weekend, or a Transvaal B player trying to play their way back into form or fitness.Schoolboy cricket was hard-fought but genteel. You played on good wickets in front of gently appreciative fathers and mothers sitting in deck chairs; you wore your blazer to tea, didn’t argue with the umpire, and didn’t appeal unless you had a good chance of getting it right. Mostly they were heavenly days.

When Dilley and Radford came off, Page replaced them. He was slippery, darting it off the seam, thudding a couple into Craig’s midriff and hurting him on the juicy inner part of the thigh. Alvin Kallicharran watched it good-naturedly from the slips

As a younger boy, clutching my precious 12th-birthday bat and standing timidly knock-kneed in my recently scrubbed , I remember listening to Lumb and Harvey-Walker in a daze of wonder. If you were lucky enough, your headmaster might select you to attend one of their precious net sessions on Friday afternoons at Balfour Park. I didn’t learn many cricket lessons at these sessions, spending the afternoons in a funk of thwarted desire. Lumb, I noticed, was kitted out with St Peter equipment, down to batting mitts that shaped over his hands like boxing gloves. Only boys with rich parents could afford St Peter gear. The rest of us had to be content with sanding the edges out of our Gray-Nicolls bat (“sand the grain,” urged my dad), lovingly applying linseed oil in the long months before summer with a (rag) from the kitchen.Sometimes Lumb spoke about Geoff Boycott – or “Geoffrey” – his Yorkshire opening partner. It was usually in tones of mild derision, but he always managed to find space in his tales for a sort of reluctant admiration. Then he laughed and shook his big head of hair and went back to the far less perplexing business of leading the fielding drills.Harvey-Walker was a different proposition. He was clipped, speaking in a language I identified as English but only partially understood. We must have seemed retarded because we never quite understood what he was saying but didn’t have the courage to ask him to repeat himself. Sessions were conducted in a busy miasma of mutual incomprehension as he clucked at us in his Derbyshire accent, and we did the best we could to act on what we thought he’d said. Net sessions didn’t run particularly smoothly.It was only when Hugh Page came into the schoolboys’ dressing room as Craig and I were padding up after we “lost” the toss against the Invitation XI that we began to realise what we were in for. “You might want to wear this,” Page said to me kindly as he passed me his helmet, an outsized maroon number with a protruding visor that stretched all the way to the Zimbabwe border. I had never worn a helmet before. Mostly we just wore our caps. If you came upon anyone really quick in schoolboy cricket, you reeled in your shot-making and waited for him to blow himself out. This helmet was large and ungainly, with fiddly straps. It was like batting inside a hollowed-out watermelon.Richard Lumb bats against Essex at Lord’s, 1980•PA PhotosCraig, who was better than me and had played more regularly at a higher level – he was playing in the Transvaal “Mean Machine” side a year or two later – probably took first ball, but before long I was facing Graham Dilley, then opening the bowling for England.Dilley hammered his front foot down like some storybook Gulliver but also had a back-foot drag, so the two sounds arrived fractionally before his deliveries cannoned into the splice of my much-used old County bat. I hopped about the crease like a scalded rabbit, and didn’t score anything in front of square for the first hour as I flicked and glided and nudged.Neal Radford opened the bowling with Dilley, and when he realised he couldn’t get me to nick off, proceeded to cheerfully bounce me. The forward short leg probably got in on the action but I was too busy trying to survive to listen very carefully. When Dilley and Radford came off, Page replaced them. He was slippery, darting it off the seam, thudding a couple into Craig’s midriff and hurting him on the juicy inner part of the thigh. Alvin Kallicharran watched it good-naturedly from the slips. The wickets would come, his indulgent smile seemed to be saying, it was just a matter of time.After a while their pity hardened. Radford bounced us some more. A Warwickshire professional whose name I’ve forgotten started to get lippy. We couldn’t have been far from a hundred partnership – Alfred 40-odd – when I spooned an inelegant mistimed drive to mid-off. The Warwickshire pro went off, swearing like a sewer.As I walked back to the pavilion, struggling with my helmet, our coach caught my eye. “That wasn’t so bad,” he said breezily, and I could see the relief in his eyes.

A heaving home crowd and suffocating pressure exerted through MS Dhoni’s captaincy were an all too familiar sight for a hometown boy in visitor’s clothing

Arun Venugopal in Chennai26-Apr-20154:27

O’Brien: Everything went right for CSK

To watch Chennai Super Kings go about their business is to watch a group of fearless acrobats. Or a bunch of polished, eagle-eyed accountants. Or probably both. To watch it through the eyes of M Vijay is to capture the images seen by an insider. Vijay and two of his colleagues – captain George Bailey and Wriddhiman Saha – have been Super Kings in the past. They know how things work here.Vijay, fielding at long on, is at the receiving end of some affection from the crowd. He is the local boy after all. In the 16th over, MS Dhoni pushes the ball towards him and turns around for the second, daring Vijay to run him out.Vijay can’t prevent Dhoni. Neither can he stop the crowd’s roar from going a higher gear, much louder than the cheers they had reserved for him. Vijay watches Dhoni take on Mitchell Johnson the next ball. The latter homes in on the ball quickly enough, but his wide throw isn’t gathered and Dhoni steals another double.Vijay has already seen Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith tear into Kings XI Punjab’s bowling. He has seen Johnson drop McCullum and Raina. Now he sees Dhoni and Raina, and later Ravindra Jadeja run his team ragged. But he hasn’t seen it all just yet.Walking out to bat, Vijay is greeted cheerfully by Super Kings’ designated goodwill ambassador Raina. Given their all-consuming intensity on the field, however, Vijay might have well felt like a gangster, who has shifted to the rival camp, locked in a one-on-many combat with his old mates. Dhoni, meanwhile, is trigger-happy with his field placements. He shuffles his men at least thrice in the first over.First, he banishes Raina from the second slip and puts him at covers. Then he has two men populating the short third-man region. By the time the sixth ball is bowled, Virender Sehwag has chipped one straight to mid off.Ashish Nehra comes on at the other end. Vijay drives him through covers for four. Nehra turns to the slower ball soon after. Vijay, misreading it, plays an uppish drive. Safe. Raina & Co. are running to Nehra and clapping away loudly. Nehra has a devilish grin, Vijay a sheepish one.Vijay manages to cream a four and a six the next over, but the tap will soon run dry. In the sixth over, Nehra strikes Shaun Marsh on the pads, and appeals. Nay, roars for lbw. The crowd roars with him. Given. Eleven men in yellow wrap one another in clumsily coordinated hugs.Jadeja comes on and has Bailey edging behind. Dhoni leaps in delight. Jadeja has already sprinted away, with his equally delirious team-mates in pursuit. Vijay can only watch.Meanwhile, Ashwin has pulled off a brilliant save in the slips, falling heavily to his left. Dhoni bangs his gloves in appreciation. Raina runs in from cover to slap Ashwin’s back. There is searing energy everywhere, the frightening pack-like mentality Vijay is all too familiar with.Faf du Plessis is hurling himself on the field when he is not manically chasing a boundary-bound ball. Even Nehra is putting in the dives. It feels like the entire team has hovered around the batsmen, making them gasp for breath, and seek an escape route.Vijay can only watch. In awe. In helplessness. There is the familiar offbeat field-placement that Dhoni has patented. In comes Raina at leg slip. Jadeja fires the ball on leg stump and David Miller clips it. Raina swoops down in an instant and grabs the ball just before it kisses the floor. More clumsy hugs. More high-decibel cheering in the crowd.Vijay has been watching too many of these celebrations. He decides to counterattack, and charges Ashwin. He strikes the ball to deep mid-wicket. But there lies in wait Super Kings’ crowd-pleaser Dwayne Bravo. He holds on to the catch, and jives to the crowd’s soundtrack. Vijay, who has pulled off a few jigs himself – on one occasion even dropping the ball while doing so – isn’t even watching; he is walking back to the dugout.Thereafter Kings XI embrace slow death, their opponents revelling in their cohesive assault. They even afford themselves some fun in the last few overs, with Ashwin and McCullum humouring the star-struck crowd. Before long, there is more hugging and backslapping in the Super Kings camp. And there is the one sight that unfailingly makes their fans go berserk: that of Dhoni calmly picking up his stump souvenir and walking away without a care in the world.

As the cricketing world goes into a farewell frenzy, the city’s humble and school playgrounds that moulded Sachin Tendulkar into the cricketer he is today remain as simple and unpretentious as ever

Sidharth Monga and Amol Karhadkar13-Nov-2013They’re naming gymkhanas after him, they’re minting gold coins with his face on it, politicians are falling over each other to honour him, jealous administrators are trying to pull the rug out from under each other’s feet, but thankfully they have left alone the places that made Sachin Tendulkar, some of which were made by Tendulkar. More than any other cricketer of his era, Tendulkar has been about his fans. How nice it would have been had the politicians, businessmen and administrators running Indian cricket sent some of them to visit these places in the weeks leading up to his farewell.The unkempt maidans (fields), the unassuming school, the residential buildings, they all have something genuine to say about Tendulkar. Mumbai cricket even. Mumbai even. They don’t stand out or lose their simplicity just because Tendulkar was there. In the week in which Tendulkar will end his international career, it is business as usual in the places where Tendulkar has spent most of his life outside international cricket.Shivaji Park in Dadar has kids playing even at 11am because the Diwali holidays are on. Different clubs, teams and individuals own plots here, as on other maidans, where they hold their nets sessions, training and games. Some parts of the ground are bald, some have long, untended grass, and some are well taken care of. There is no boundary rope, and no white-paint markings anywhere, though. The young Tendulkar’s coach, Ramakant Achrekar, used to teach at the Kamat pitch. Not all the players here can point to it. It is not a patch of great interest.The Kamat pitch is close to the centre of the ground, leaning towards the northeast. Next to it, a serious match of cricket is on. The whites worn by the kids – no older than 15 – are immaculate, there is no sightscreen, the umpire moves to the other end at the end of the over, and the keeper wears a helmet. The field is pretty attacking, but there is no boundary here either. That’s the Mumbai way: you don’t think of hitting boundaries, you just bat. You have to run your runs, and are not allowed to hit in the air. “Hawet maaraycha nahee.” These kids have picked up a lot of mannerisms from televised cricket, but the coaches here are making sure they play proper cricket, at least in their formative years. The Bombay school of batsmanship lives on, at least for the time being. There is something peaceful about Shivaji Park despite its being bang in the middle of busy mid-town Dadar. You get to watch innocent cricket, sit in the shade of the many trees, eat (peanuts) and wonder what others whiling away their time here are up to. Some of them are fast asleep on the benches.Shardashram school teacher Ragini Desai flanked by a young Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar•ESPNcricinfo LtdAbout three kilometres to the southeast is Shardashram, Tendulkar’s school since 1984. Except you can’t spot it without having gone past it two or three times. The Shardashram residential society opposite the school is more prominent. The school doesn’t have a single photo of Tendulkar. The only signs that he – and others like Chandrakant Pandit, Pravin Amre, Vinod Kambli, Ajit Agarkar and more than 100 Ranji cricketers – studied here are the trophies in the cabinet in the principal’s office. The board outside is small, the front of the building is rented out to a bank and a gym, and its simple colour scheme makes it look every bit like a school meant for, as principal Krishna Shirsat puts it, the “lower-middle and middle class”.Shirsat used to teach maths and chemistry when Achrekar brought Tendulkar here in 1984. Cricket was the sole reason for his move from a school in his suburb, Bandra. Shardashram would even move its internal exams when they clashed with the cricket. And cricket was all Tendulkar did.”We used to win everything,” says Shirsat. “Harris Shield, Giles Shield, Vinoo Mankad, Matunga Shield… And because we won everything, there would be a first round, second round, third round, and so on. So as soon as the cricket season started in July, you would rarely see Sachin in school.” Shisrat would always be available to help Tendulkar, should he need help with maths and chemistry after school hours. When he was selected for Mumbai in 1988-89, the match clashed with a practical board exam, and Shirsat tried to use all his influence to make a special allowance for Tendulkar so he could take the exam after the match.About two years after Tendulkar enrolled, along came Ragini Desai, a physical training and Hindi teacher, a jovial woman with an expressive face and constantly moving eyes. Achrekar was Shardashram’s cricket coach, she was the team’s manager. She was present when Achrekar blasted Tendulkar and Kambli for batting on and on and putting on a 664-run partnership against a weak team. She knows of all the (a street food) escapades of the two friends, and she has a valuable notebook titled “Cricket”.When she went to matches with the team, Desai recorded brief scores in this notebook. She added clippings from newspapers next to the scores as the kids became more and more famous. She has preserved that notebook, and would love to show it to Tendulkar, but she hasn’t ever had the opportunity to meet him after he left school. She hasn’t tried to do so either. She would love to go to the Wankhede Stadium for Tendulkar’s last match, but she is not complaining about how the chances of getting a ticket are minimal.A view from the corridors of Shardashram Vidyamandir•ESPNcricinfo LtdThis school-playground duo is complemented by the tag team of Sahitya Sahawas and MIG cricket club, further north, in Bandra East. Along the way you pass two other influences on Tendulkar’s life: the Siddhivinayak temple where he sneaks in to pray late in the night, and St Michael’s church in Mahim, where his wife, Anjali, lights a candle for him every week.Sahitya Sahawas literally translates to “literature living together”. A building in Worli where Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar lived is named Sportsfield. Sahitya Sahawas is the Sportsfield of Marathi literature. It is where Tendulkar lived as a child. The Tendulkars have neither sold their house here nor rented it out. The guard – stern but not rude – says it will take an application to the secretary of the building a day in advance for him to even point to the window of the Tendulkars.A stone’s throw away, MIG is more open to intruders. A huge Tendulkar mural has come up only a couple of days ago on its main wall. So close to his childhood home, in a city with houses with no outdoor spaces to play sport in, MIG has been Tendulkar’s personal laboratory. Over the years – 25 to be precise – MIG has fulfilled his odd wishes, says Aashish Patnakar, the club’s secretary.Before going to Australia, Tendulkar would practise on half-pitches with rubber balls; he got that here. Before going to England he wanted to bat against wet balls on moist, grassy pitches; he got that here. When he was recuperating from a back injury, he wanted to jog here, but not during the day; they would open up for him at 4.30am. During the busy season when all grounds are occupied, Tendulkar can come to MIG and expect to get a proper facility during the lunch break, which is extended to one hour for his benefit.The Sahitya Sahawas colony, where Sachin Tendulkar lived as a child•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt is here that Tendulkar and his friend Atul Ranade used to do what technology has just started doing: simulate different bowling actions and release points on a bowling machine. Ranade was a master at doing impressions, and he would run in imitating different bowlers and help Tendulkar prepare for different actions. Even when Tendulkar moved to Bandra West – closer to the sea, posher – he would come here to practise.In Bandra West, Shirsat went to meet Tendulkar about five years ago at his residence in his new building, La Mer. “I told his PA I wanted to meet Sachin,” Shirsat says. “His PA said I would have to wait for 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, he came and told me Sachin was too busy. I got angry, and asked the PA to tell Sachin that Shirsat sir has come, does he want to meet him?”And Sachin came running like a four-five-year-old kid comes running to his parents. And then we spoke for 15 minutes with him looking down. Even in school he would look down after saying something “Tendulkar has now given up that apartment for a bungalow of his own, not too far away, in the same suburb. A police van outside the bungalow is a permanent presence nowadays. He is also a member of parliament, although the other day he drove himself far into the north of the city, to the suburb of Kandivli, for a Mumbai Cricket Association function. The bungalow now looks like a fortress.When he was desperate to move in here, he got the workers to do double shifts. The noise in the night obviously disturbed the neighbours. The neighbours were each given a handwritten letter from Tendulkar, asking for their co-operation with the Tendulkars who needed to shift there as soon as possible. No one complained after that.It’s back in south Mumbai that the boy became a man in the world of cricket, playing Kanga League matches in senior sides on wet pitches at Oval Maidan, Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan. His debut as an 11-year-old came for a side housed at Azad Maidan, which is equally well known for being a venue for strikes and agitations. Two days before Tendulkar starts his final Test, about three kilometres from here, fasts until death are being observed for 100% subsidy by the higher-secondary school committee, for railway admissions under notification 1/2007; and an indefinite protest – among others – for an 8% reservation for a particular community. Big photos of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Che Guevara abound.Many such protests would have been on when Tendulkar went into the tent of John Bright Club in 1984. These maidans are all heritage sites, so no club can build permanent structures here. The notices outside clearly ban any kind of commercialisation in the form of posters, banners or advertisements on the fences of the maidans; cooking, hawking, peddling et cetera are outlawed; water connections can only be used by proper authorities for “in general, only cricketing activities”.Tendulkar’s next club, SF Sassanian, is like John Bright in betraying no signs that Tendulkar was first seen by the cricketing world while playing in the Kanga League for them. All it has for a dressing room is six ramshackle benches and a few cupboards.All this, Tendulkar’s world before he scored a century on first-class debut, hasn’t changed much over the years. Everywhere you go, Shivaji Park, Oval Maidan, Azad Maidan, Cross Maidan, you can imagine that curly-haired boy squeaking away – he was quiet only while teachers were around, every teacher of his says – from net to net, from to riding pillion on Achrekar’s scooter, having fun with not a bother in the world, eating , going to school once in a while.You can find a bit of Tendulkar all over Mumbai. And you don’t need plaques, commemorative coins or extravagant felicitations to establish that bond.

The search for young batsmen who display the virtues of patience, concentration and lengthy attention spans has gathered steam, and Azhar Ali, so far in his two-year career, has shown signs that he is one such player

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Pallekele11-Jul-2012When Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international cricket a few months ago, a pall of gloom descended over cricket. It wasn’t necessarily because of the departure of a great player. It was partly because of the uncertainty around whether the next generation have it in them to sustain Test cricket, because it is common opinion that the last generation of quality Test players is slowly slipping away. That they are being replaced by batsmen loaded with skill sets needed for Twenty20 cricket, but are rather lost in Tests. The search for young batsmen who display the virtues of patience, concentration and lengthy attention spans has gathered steam, and Azhar Ali, so far in his two-year career, has shown signs that he is one such player. He showed it at the SSC in this series and, again, at Pallekele, shrugging off his first-innings duck to get to a century in the second.Azhar knows a thing or two about occupying the crease and wearing the opposition bowlers down. His job is to hold one end up so that another player can adopt a more aggressive approach, especially if there is scoreboard pressure. When Azhar walked to the crease late on the third day, Pakistan had just begun their task of erasing a first-innings deficit of 111 and setting a target that would give them a chance to level the series.The momentum was firmly with Sri Lanka at the end of the third day. Pakistan had to practically double their first-innings effort to give themselves a realistic chance of fighting back. Adding to the pressure was an inconsistent middle order, a half-fit Adnan Akmal, and the seaming conditions witnessed over two completed days.Pakistan, perhaps, were fortunate that the harsh sun had evaporated whatever moisture there was on the surface, making batting considerably easier on day four. There was no exaggerated movement in the air or off the pitch to test the technique of either Mohammad Hafeez or Azhar. Both had to ensure they batted an entire session, to gain psychological points over the hosts. Azhar, true to requirements, cut out the extravagance, only playing balls within his reach.He was particularly impressive through the covers, pounding anything with width. Mahela Jayawardene maintained attacking fields for a while during the morning session, packing the slip cordon, but Azhar ensured he drove off the full face of the bat, exploiting the big gap between mid-off and cover, and also straight down the ground. He was judicious with deliveries that honed in on his off stump, preferring to leave them alone. His defence was solid too, and he found opportunities to pick up quick singles.There may have been a case to accelerate post lunch, but the quick departures of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq forced Azhar to revert to a watchful approach. He had Asad Shafiq – the last recognised, fit batsman – for company, and the pair created some anxiety in the Sri Lanka camp with a stand of 100 for the fifth wicket. Prior to that, Azhar had shared stands of 94, 48 and 18. His was the prized wicket.When Azhar reached his century, shortly after tea, it was his third in Tests for the year – the most by any batsman. It should silence his detractors, who in the past have pointed to his poor conversion rate – he had 13 fifties and only three centuries coming into this game. Another impressive feature of his innings was his stamina, converting twos to threes each time he exploited a big gap. The bowlers needed a mistake on his part and he obliged on 136, chasing a wide Fernando delivery. It was a rare lapse in concentration, after hours of hard work.”Asad and I were aiming to play till the end of the day, so I was a bit disappointed to get out. I was disappointed to leave him alone,” Azhar said. “Hopefully he can string together a good partnership tomorrow morning.”Reflecting on his good form in 2012, Azhar said that the England series in the UAE, during which he scored a career-best 157, convinced him that he belonged at the highest level. “I’ve been playing well over the last few Test matches,” he said. “The England series especially gave me a lot of confidence. I am carrying on from there.”The batting conditions, he said, had eased. “On the first day, the first couple of hours were difficult for the batsmen. It was doing a lot for the seamers. It has settled down now and got a bit slower. But I feel that if a bowler puts in an effort, he can get something out of this pitch.”Though Azhar failed to bat out the day, he helped give Pakistan a fighting chance: their lead stands at 188 with two wickets in hand and Shafiq at the crease. He was confident his team had sufficient runs to create pressure. “We came into this Test with the intention to win and level the series. We have the runs on the board to put pressure on Sri Lanka. I don’t think we need to rely only on the seamers. Saeed Ajmal is a world-class spinner and I think he can change the game for us in one spell.”

The flawed reverse-sweep will not stop replaying in Younis Khan’s head for a while. It will haunt

Sidharth Monga at the P Sara Oval14-Jul-2009Eat your heart out KP. Fret not, Misbah, you have company. For years to come, Younis Khan’s reverse-sweep will be discussed, debated, derided, and blamed for the final collapse that cost Pakistan the match and the series. By the time you read this, shot would have played thousands of times on the loop, reminding everyone of what could have been.Consider the circumstance: Pakistan staged a comeback in true original style. After getting bowled out for 90 on the first morning, they bowled incredibly well to keep the deficit down to 150 following which the debutant Fawad Alam, opening for the first time in first-class cricket, scored a big century. Along with Fawad, Younis had added 200 for the second wicket to stretch the lead to 135. The bowling seemed at their mercy, a big target was on the cards, and the momentum was theirs.Then the rush of blood to the head. Perhaps over-confidence against the spinners. It was the first ball of a part-time spinner’s spell, and Younis inverted his stance. Out came a full toss outside leg, which he chased and connected with. On many occasions it would have lobbed behind the wicketkeeper but today it ricocheted off his right shoulder and went straight to the wicketkeeper, much like Kevin Pietersen’s sweep off Nathan Hauritz in Cardiff last week. Pakistan duly collapsed, losing nine wickets for 35.”Yes [it’s replaying in my head]. I am still thinking if I hadn’t played that shot, we would have been in a completely different situation,” Younis said after Pakistan squandered all the hard work over the last two days.It didn’t answer the questions. Was he not thinking when he played the shot? Was he thinking too much? Did he feel he needed to dominate? Did he not know his undercooked team was prone to collapsing? The truth perhaps is that when you are batting in full flow these thoughts don’t cross your mind. This was after all the same shot that he had so effectively employed repeatedly against the same team during his triple-hundred in Karachi earlier this year. Only against a much better spinner – Muttiah Muralitharan.Still, Younis cannot hide. This shot will not stop replaying in his head and, for a while, it will haunt him. It will also probably hide the other factors responsible for the defeat. What, for example, of the rest of the batsmen, experienced campaigners most of them? For the third time in a row, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal were part of a collapse. That somehow will be forgotten when we look back at this Test two years from now.”I have been saying for the last four-five years that if one person commits a mistake, the others shouldn’t,” Younis said. “If we hadn’t added 200, then what would have happened? I don’t point fingers at anybody – I never blamed Salman Butt [for throwing his wicket away in Galle]. This is a team game.”Or what of Daryl Harper’s umpiring errors, which could make a case for hurrying in the era of umpire review systems? Or, for that matter, carrying reserve umpires on tours to replace a man in poor form. Harper didn’t have a special Test in Galle, and today two of his four lbw calls looked decidedly wrong, and two appeared to have enough doubt.It is also worth noting that the pitch did not have any monsters in it, which would mean that a set batsman didn’t need to take risks and could think of playing out the game. The other argument would be that the pressure had already been lifted and put on the opposition. Logic will also suggest that for once the other batsmen should have fought the momentum swing. Allowance will be made for the way Shoaib Malik got out – many stronger blows to the stumps than this flying kiss have failed to dislodge the bails. In the end, though, we will come back to the shot Younis played.We remember Sachin Tendulkar’s attempt at an inside-out shot off Saqlain Mushtaq at Chennai in 1999, not the last three wickets falling for four runs. Pietersen’s shot is still being talked about in greater length than England’s toothless bowling. It’s a cruel sport, and Younis will be reminded time and again of a task that he started so well but left unfinished because of a cute shot. One shot. No retake.

Liam Dawson continues prolific form with another five-wicket haul

ECB Reporters Network20-Apr-2024Liam Dawson claimed his 10th first-class five-wicket haul but Hampshire and Warwickshire’s Vitality County Championship clash slowed to a glacial pace on day two at Utilita Bowl.Left-arm spinner Dawson had five five-fors this time last year, but after a personal best season with 49 scalps, he now has double that number after chipping away at the Bears on a flat pitch.His five for 146 stopped Warwickshire at 455 before Fletcha Middleton and Nick Gubbins unhurriedly scored half-centuries in reply.The duo put on 124 together for the unbroken second wicket to get Hampshire to 140 for one – 315 behind the visitors – at the end of the day.Warwickshire resumed to find a pitch that had become slow and harder to score quickly on – the rate dropping from 3.5 runs per over on the first day to 3.1 on the second – but equally tricky to find breakthroughs with the ball.Nightwatchman Danny Briggs was a particular frustration for his former county as he stoutly kept Dan Mousley company for almost an hour, in a 46-run stand.His wicket, bowled about his legs by Dawson, wasn’t enough to give the hosts more than one bowling bonus point, while Warwickshire fell nine runs short of 400 in their quest for a fourth batting point.The switch back to Dukes balls hasn’t seen a marked difference to what was seen in the fixture with Lancashire, but Hampshire did get through five balls during their bowling effort as the ball regularly found itself out of shape. Warwickshire also needed to replace their original ball in the 40th over.Mousley was given a life on 32 when Ben Brown couldn’t stump him quickly enough, but Tom Prest’s leg-side line tactic had him bowled three balls later.Jacob Bethell got a start before chasing Mohammad Abbas outside off stump only to edge to Brown.Either side of lunch, Hasan Ali chipped Dawson to mid-on, before Michael Burgess returned from the interval to lose his middle stump to a nip-backer from James Fuller.Dawson ended the innings when Olly Hannon-Dalby advanced, swung and was castled. Dawson has already bowled 535 balls this season, only Simon Harmer has delivered more – and the Essex man has bowled in all three fixtures.Hannon-Dalby was rhythmic, accurate and impossible for Ali Orr to get in against. Orr managed one boundary but otherwise was pinned down against the tall seamer for 22 balls before he was lbw to a ball which nipped back.Gubbins almost followed Orr straight back to the Rod Bransgrove Pavilion but was spilled at second slip, before he and Middleton found a defensive groove.It was rarely an attractive watch from either batter but none of the seven bowlers used by Warwickshire could find a chink in their defences.Middleton was the fastest to fifty in 129 balls – the fifth time he had reached the milestone in the Championship since making his debut at the start of last season.Gubbins followed him there for the 57th time in his first-class career in 104 balls as he and Middleton serenely reached close in the spring sun. Gubbins ended the day on 67 and Middleton on 61.

AC Milan are looking to pluck Kyle Walker from the transfer bargain bucket, with a discount being requested on Manchester City’s asking price.

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• Defender moved to Italy in winter window
• Permanent purchase option for the summer
• Man City expected to agree reduced terms

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The experienced England international made his way to San Siro in January as an emotional farewell was bid to the Etihad Stadium. The expectation was that the Premier League and Champions League title winner would remain in Italy beyond the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

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  A purchase option was included in the deal that took Walker to Milan, with City reportedly asking for €5 million (£4m/$6m). Even that would appear to be out of reach for the Rossoneri, who are seeking further talks.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  According to , the Serie A giants are looking to pay just €3.5m for Walker. There is said to be confidence that City will agree to the reduced terms as they are already in the process of identifying reinforcements at right-back.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR KYLE WALKER?

  Milan boss Sergio Conceicao is ready to make Walker a regular starter in his plans next season alongside the likes of Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao, with the 34-year-old seeing his early impact in Italy hindered by untimely injury setbacks.

MatériaMais Notícias

O técnico Rogério Ceni era só elogios à atuação do São Paulo na goleada sobre a Inter de Limeira por 5 a 1, na quarta-feira (15), no Morumbi, em duelo válido pela nona rodada do Campeonato Paulista. E pediu para elenco e torcida comemorar o resultado. Confira:

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Juventus are unlikely to let Douglas Luiz leave the club on loan this summer, despite strong interest from Premier League sides Nottingham Forest and Everton. Luiz endured a nightmare debut campaign in Turin after leaving Aston Villa last summer, as the Brazilian started three Serie A matches. The midfielder now wants to return to England but his move is being blocked by the Italian giants.

• Juventus won't let Luiz leave on loan
• Everton & Forest want to sign Luiz
• Split up with Lehmann earlier this year

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Luiz has been linked with a move away from Turin since the start of the summer transfer window after a forgetful debut campaign with the Serie A outfit. Premier League clubs like Everton and Forest have shown an interest in signing the Brazil international, but Juventus are unwilling to let the out-of-favour star leave on loan, according to the . 

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  The report adds that while the English club are willing to push for a loan with an option or obligation to buy next season, the Bianconeri are firm on their stance on selling the player for a transfer fee in the region of £26 million ($34.5m). Last month, Luiz failed to report back at Juventus on the first day of pre-season and for that, he is likely to face punishment.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Apart from his on-field struggles in Italy, Luiz also endured personal problems as he broke up with long-term girlfriend Alisha Lehmann. The Swiss footballer followed her boyfriend from Aston Villa to join Juventus last summer. However, in May 2025, it was reported that the couple had split up.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR JUVENTUS?

  Igor Tudor's side will face Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta in pre-season friendlies before kicking off the new Serie A season against Parma on August 24. 

يفتتح فريق ليفربول موسم الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز 2025-2026 بمواجهة أمام بورنموث يوم الجمعة المقبل، ويتطلع المصري محمد صلاح لكتابة فصل جديد من الأرقام القياسية.

ليفربول هو بطل الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز لموسم 2024-2025، وتوج محمد صلاح هدافًا للبريميرليج برصيد 29 هدفًا.

سجل محمد صلاح أكبر عدد من الأهداف في افتتاحية الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، أكثر من أي لاعب آخر، بواقع 9 أهداف.

وشارك محمد صلاح في أكبر عدد من الأهداف بين تسجيل وصناعة (14)، فقط بول بوجبا لاعب مانشستر يونايتد السابق، لديه تمريرات حاسمة أكثر من المصري (يملك 6 تمريرات حامسة مقابل 5 لصلاح).

اقرأ أيضًا | أجويرو يتوقع الفائز بلقب الدوري الإنجليزي موسم 2025-2026.. ونبوءة بشأن محمد صلاح

كما سجل صلاح 105 أهداف في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز على ملعب آنفيلد، ولم يتفوق عليه في التسجيل على ملعب واحد بتاريخ المسابقة، سوى سيرجيو أجويرو (106 أهداف في ملعب الاتحاد) وتييري هنري (114 هدفًا في هايباري).

وأحرز محمد صلاح أهدافًا في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز ضد بورنموث أكثر من أي لاعب آخر (11 هدفًا).