All posts by n8rngtd.top

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is probably feeling pretty satisfied with his decision to start Cody Bellinger in left field during Sunday's Subway Series showdown against the New York Mets.

With Jasson Dominguez getting the day off, Bellinger took over in left field on Sunday and ended up making one of the most crucial plays of the game during the seventh inning.

With one man on and no outs in the inning, Juan Soto sent a blooper towards left field. Bellinger charged in on it and reached all the way down in order to pluck the ball out of the air just before it hit the ground. He then turned and fired it in to first base, where Paul Goldschmidt made a catch to double off Francisco Lindor.

That ball was centimeters away from dropping for a hit, and it could potentially have gotten past Bellinger and rolled all the way to the wall had he not made the extremely narrow catch.

Have a look at the web gem double play:

Failing to make that catch would've resulted in Lindor likely scoring and Soto getting on base with Pete Alonso due up. That's not a situation fans would be optimistic about given the recent struggles of the Yankees bullpen.

New York was able to get out of the inning unscathed and maintain their two-run lead heading into the eighth.

Chelsea have had their ups and downs over the past decade, but the strength of the Cobham academy has remained a satisfying constant throughout.

Whether talented hopefuls are integrated into the Stamford Bridge set-up or sold for pure profit, it’s a model that has served Chelsea well and has bred trophy-winning success with comparative consistency.

Enzo Maresca demonstrated throughout the first year of his tenure a willingness to promote youth. In fact, Chelsea fielded one of the youngest average line-ups in the Premier League last year, securing their place in the Champions League with a top-four finish.

That emphasis has carried into the new season, with the Londoners’ strategy seeing them field a younger average XI than any other team in the division.

This thread has only strengthened during Maresca’s second year in the dugout, with a few of England’s most talented rising stars under the Italian tactician’s wing.

Chelsea's next England stars

Chelsea don’t just promote internally; they sign exciting rising prospects too. And this summer, Jamie Gittens was added to the ranks, having been hailed as a “really sharp” and “electric” winger by his teammate Tyrique George.

George, for that matter, is another of the Blues’ most exciting young players, having graduated from Cobham to make his professional debut at the start of last season, featuring against Servette during Chelsea’s Conference League qualifiers.

The duo have struggled for minutes in Maresca’s team so far this term, but they have showcased an intriguing partnership on international duty with England U21 over the past week, Gittens demonstrating his balletic movement to slide past defenders and play through the 19-year-old George, who rifled his strike into the roof of the net.

Gittens spent some time with Chelsea during his formative days, but the bulk of his development was played out at Reading.

There’s no question that the 21-year-old is a talented winger, but he hasn’t started as strongly as he might have liked after arriving from Borussia Dortmund for about £52m in July, having started only twice in the Premier League so far.

The teenage George is earlier in his development, but given that he started up top as Chelsea beat Benfica in the Champions League last month and replaced the injured Liam Delap just 16 minutes into Chelsea’s clash against Fulham at the end of August, with Gittens staying on the bench, it’s clear Maresca values him.

Both fleet-footed stars typically play off the left flank and have shown signs of potency at different stages, but the nature of Chelsea’s system suggests both could be superseded by an even bigger talent in the coming years. Indeed, there’s a new Cobham up-and-comer who’s storming his way to the first team.

Cobham's biggest English talent

One thing’s for sure: the Cobham production line will continue to churn out exciting prospects. And latest on the belt is Shumaira ‘Shim’ Mheuka, who, aged 17, is already demonstrating significant potential as a centre-forward.

Poached from Brighton & Hove Albion following impressive performances at U14 level, it has been reported that Mheuka is ‘one of if not the most regular’ academy players to train with Maresca’s first team, and all the pointers lead to further opportunities to showcase his potential within the senior Blues fold.

This season, the youngster has scored ten goals and assisted one more across just ten appearances for Chelsea’s U21 outfit, fast-tracked from the U18s to the club’s senior development side in age-belying fashion.

It bears testament to the rangy forward’s potential and the awe he has collected from observers already that he has played 32 times for the U21s, but only 24 times for the U18s. Again, he is 17 years old.

In fact, so exciting is Mheuka’s name that he has been described as “the future of Chelsea and English football” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, and it feels certain that he will start earning regular minutes in Maresca’s senior system.

Because, of course, Mheuka featured four times in the Conference League last year and made his Premier League debut as a late substitute against Southampton in February, during a 4-0 win.

Mheuka is tall, but he is also mobile and sharp when in possession and through his movement when on the ball. A devastating blend of physicality and technical ability marks the perfect profile for Maresca’s set-up, and he might just come to leapfrog over Gittens and George, especially with the latter earning opportunities as a central striker for club and country this season.

Instinctive in front of goal, the teenager is also maturing physically and ticking all the boxes as he looks to nail down a position in the Chelsea first team.

The youngness of Maresca’s project will not be lost on Mheuka and his representatives, nor the fact that he has already been entrusted with opportunities across the 2024/25 campaign.

Considered a leader by example more than a vocal enforcer, the fast-improving number nine is proving his worth at Chelsea, alright, and there’s every chance that his journey will take him up and up and beyond that of George and Gittens, who are fine players in their own right but are already encountering difficulties in breaking into the starting line-up at Chelsea.

Centre-forward has long been a contentious area of the field in west London, but Mheuka could be the long-term solution for a side returning to the very summit of English and European football.

After Estevao: Chelsea have signed another "future Ballon d'Or winner"

Chelsea has another sublime youngster they’re ready to unleash, who could be as jaw-dropping to watch as Estevao.

By
Kelan Sarson

Oct 14, 2025

The rich just keep on getting richer.

The Dodgers fortified their bullpen on Tuesday, agreeing to a three-year contract with standout closer Edwin Díaz. The contract is worth $69 million, and Díaz will make an average of $23 million per season.

After winning back-to-back championships in 2024 and ‘25, Los Angeles went and successfully plugged the only hole on its roster by signing, once again, the best player available. The team’s spending habits defy anything previously seen in MLB, as the Dodgers are totally unafraid to make a financial commitment to a player if it means improving their roster. As the super-team continues to improve throughout the offseason, fans are growing increasingly frustrated.

The team ended the 2025 season with a payroll exceeding $330 million, the highest in MLB, and they’ll field an even more expensive team in 2026 after signing Díaz. The frightening reality is that they’re probably not even done making offseason additions yet, either.

Baseball fans have been frustrated by the Dodgers’ endless spending, and the addition of MLB’s best relief pitcher didn’t help in that regard. MLB fans had plenty to say about the Dodgers’ deal with Díaz on Tuesday.

Can anyone stop the Dodgers at this point?

The Boston Red Sox are releasing veteran pitcher Walker Buehler, according to a report from Chris Cotillo of

Buehler, who signed a one-year deal worth over $21 million last offseason, struggled to a 7-7 record with a 5.45 ERA in 112.1 innings pitched. Buehler was recently demoted from the starting rotation to the bullpen due to his inconsistency from start-to-start. But his first relief appearance on Aug. 24 yielded two earned runs allowed in 2.1 innings pitched in relief.

Boston is pushing for a playoff spot, having just completed a 7-1 road trip. Entering Friday, Boston is sitting at 75-60 on the season, and 3.5 games out of first-place in the AL East.

The players will want to play their part in making it an experience of a lifetime

Shashank Kishore in Jammu19-Feb-2020The Gandhi Science College ground in the heart of Jammu is nestled inside the 120-year-old campus of the institution formerly known as Prince of Wales College. Here, students casually stroll across the huge lawn, play cricket or football in vast open areas, eat (scrambled eggs) and drink in one of many small shacks that have set shop inside the campus. Some sit and study.In general, there’s a casual vibe. It’s a throwback to olden times. Since mobile internet is non-existent, after all, despite restrictions having been lifted, people are actually seen talking to each other.Suddenly, though, things go quiet. Somewhere close by, there are police vehicles, one can hear the sirens. Nothing to worry about – a security drill is being conducted in the campus and police vehicles, armed security officers and around 100 policemen are present, entrusted with looking after the two teams – Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka, the Ranji Trophy quarter-final contestants. But if you wanted to see the players – Manish Pandey is the big star – you weren’t going to be denied.Irfan Pathan, the former India allrounder, continues to draw his fair share of attention and adulation. To many of the locals, he’s one of their own. Irfan is a “man of the masses”, as a J&K Cricket Association official puts it. Soon after the team finishes training, he calls the group for a mid-pitch meeting and gives them a pep talk. After they disperse, he begins his own fitness session by first doing a few stretches and then having a bat in the nets. The fans who had earlier made a beeline for Pandey are now cheering for Irfan. The security presence notwithstanding, everyone gets a slice of the players. Some even get to click selfies with their stars.ALSO READ: Mission Jammu-Kashmir – when ‘champions’ play, anything can happenJKCA is anticipating a good crowd for the historic Ranji Trophy quarter-final•Shashank Kishore/ESPNcricinfo LtdOutside the ground, different corners of the campus are being spruced up. The huge open area is dotted with pots of plants along the driveway. The fence surrounding the ground receives a fresh coat of paint. (tents) are erected in one corner to seat VIPs and former J&K players, all special invitees. The JKCA is going out of its way to ensure it’s all systems go for what their captain Parvez Rasool calls the “biggest match we are hosting”.This is still a small venue but the excitement is palpable. The main pavilion block smells of fresh paint and the players’ and match officials’ area “has never been so clean”, a local officer says. The dressing rooms, which were earlier under a tent, have been redone. Fresh massage tables have been put in place and orders have gone out for several kilogrammes of blocked ice to facilitate ice baths.Until today, the main players’ block had just two operational toilets that were in such a state that people had to hold their noses when they went in, according to a player. That’s changed. Or, as someone jokingly put it, they have been “inaugurated”.The biggest issue, however, was in installing a big enough sightscreen. Rasool says that as players, they have never been finicky of the white patch of cloth behind the bowlers’ arms. Sometimes, play has carried on even after the screens have blown away. Here, efforts are on to weld two solid frames, much bigger than usual, to accommodate for any extra covering players may need.There’s a special medical tent set up, not just for players, but for the spectators too, because they expect students and fans, in general, to turn up in large numbers. “As many as 1000 spectators can sit under tents with chairs, if we get more, we will increase it,” a venue official said.The JKCA has made every effort to spread the message it’s not often such a big game comes to Jammu and that entry is free. News that the local team is in the quarter-final only for the second time in Ranji Trophy history has found its way into living rooms as special shows have been lined up on local television.In short, you get the feeling of a big North Indian wedding, where you’re never truly set and ready until the bride and groom walk in. Many J&K players have never seen this much attention to detail previously for a home game. The grandeur, the effort to make this a spectacle, has blown them away. Now, they will want to play their part in making the spectacle an experience of a lifetime for the locals.

With the completion of an innings victory over Hampshire at Bournemouth, Glamorgan took the pennant to Wales

Paul Edwards07-May-2020August 24, 1948
Scorecard”That’s out, and we’ve won the Championship,” said Dai Davies when Charlie Knott was leg before wicket to Johnnie Clay at Bournemouth in August 1948. Davies was quite correct in both respects, of course, but the rich spice of this famous story is that he was the umpire sending Knott on his way and thereby sealing Glamorgan’s first title. The official later protested he had merely raised his finger but there were plenty of witnesses and Knott confirmed that Davies was the guilty – some might say ‘innocent’ – party.It is a fine tale, charmingly suited to one of the grander and more unlikely triumphs in the Championship’s history. Glamorgan had never finished higher than sixth in any of their 21 previous seasons, some of which had seen the county struggle to survive, let alone prosper. So no one blamed Llanelli-born Davies in the slightest. He had played for Glamorgan in the 1920s when the county had needed to run whist drives and dances in order to soothe the imbalance in the books. He was also a regular in the 1930s when the county’s finishing position in the 17-team table was in double figures far more consistently than some of their batsmen. Moreover, he was only one of thousands of Welshmen at Dean Park that Tuesday afternoon. Many supporters had booked holidays on the South Coast and some had been among the ten thousand or so who watched Glamorgan beat Surrey at the Arms Park in their previous game.There were other respects in which this was a deeply Welsh success. No county has the same national responsibilities as Glamorgan and it was therefore fitting that the players who won the title came from most areas of Wales. The skipper, Wilf Wooller, whose leadership was a mixture of brotherhood and bollockings, was born in Rhos-on-Sea; Willie Jones, whose two double-centuries in the space of ten June days set up victories against Kent and Essex, hailed from Carmarthen; Clay was from Usk, while the side’s most stylish batsman, Gilbert Parkhouse, had his home in Swansea. The offspinner Len Muncer, who took 139 Championship wickets in 1948, and the strike bowler Norman “Pete” Hever, who picked up 77, may have been vital recruits from Middlesex but it was only to be expected that victory over Hampshire would be followed by emotional anthems from the valleys. This was a hymns and arias day, no matter that Max Boyce was still a toddler in Glynneath. Never had genteel Dean Park radiated with quite so much .ALSO READ: The greatest Championship finish of them all?“Our leading cricketers nowadays rarely seem addicted to song,” noted John Arlott drily in 1975. “But anyone who heard the Glamorgan team burst into ‘Land of My Fathers’ after they won the Championship at Bournemouth in 1948 would have thought they were a male-voice choir.”It was just a shame that Allan Watkins missed the game against Hampshire after injuring his shoulder in the final Ashes Test at The Oval. Indeed, Watkins only heard news of Glamorgan’s vital game against Surrey from the stop press scores in the hourly editions of London’s evening papers. “Nobody spoke to me,” said Watkins after his first experience of an England dressing room. “There was no joy in the side at all.” This was particularly noticeable, of course, given that Glamorgan’s dressing room at this time was filled with noise and argument, most if it involving Wooller. In fairness to his England colleagues, Watkins might have realised that Arthur Morris and Ray Lindwall generally did little for their opponents’ joie de vivre.None of which overly concerned Glamorgan’s players as they travelled to Dean Park, knowing that if they beat Hampshire and neither Surrey nor Yorkshire achieved victories, they would be champions. Glamorgan had won that previous game against Surrey in Cardiff by an innings after Wooller had shrewdly opted to bat first on a wet pitch and let his opponents make what they could of Clay on a drying one. The answer was not very much. Surrey were not quite the power in the land they were to become a few years later and Clay – shades of Arthur Mailey – returned match figures of 10 for 66.Wilf Wooller batting at Lord’s•PA Images Archive/Getty ImagesIt was still very much the era of three-day cricket on uncovered pitches. If you had a useful attack, the loss of six hours’ play did not end any chance of a result. So even when only 10 minutes’ cricket was possible on Saturday at Bournemouth, Glamorgan supporters had reason to hope something could be conjured. It was also a more God-fearing era, albeit most Glamorgan fielders found facing Wooller when they had dropped a catch to be a sufficient Day of Judgement. But Sunday remained a day of rest, not that many people noticed the difference in Bournemouth. So the Welsh supporters thronged the chapels and prayed for resilient batsmen and deadly spinners in that order.Someone may have been listening. Fifties from Emrys Davies, Arnold Dyson and Willie Jones allowed Glamorgan to post 315 all out on Monday and Wooller exhorted his men to their greatest efforts in the hour or so that remained. “We want five of them out tonight,” he told them, “We’ve got to get after them, I want to hear the ball hit Haydn [Davies]’s gloves every time you return it whether they run or not.” A brilliant short-leg catch by Parkhouse disposed of Neville Rogers in Wooller’s second over and Hampshire ended the day six down. It was entirely typical of Glamorgan’s cricket during a summer in which the skipper had demanded his players become the best fielding side in the land.”He’d always seen fielding as a prerequisite of success,” wrote David Foot of Wooller. “His intrepid leg-side fields brought a new fashion to county cricket. The forward, square and backward short legs seemed to hold on to everything, without flinching. Wooller led by example in the forward position, wearing the bruises like a Pontypool prop’s battle-scars. In some respects, he never spiritually divided the two games [rugby and cricket]. They were both physical, quite apart from the additional subtleties of cricket that he readily acknowledged; both were about courage and stuffing the opposition.”Chickens apart, “stuffing” was not really Bournemouth’s style but Glamorgan did it to Hampshire all the same. “Hang on to Yorkshire, we can win here,” read the telegram Wooller sent to George Woodhouse, his Somerset counterpart, at Taunton. “We will beat Yorkshire. Good luck!” was the reply. As it turned out, the match at the County Ground was drawn but that made no difference to Glamorgan. Asked to follow on 231 runs behind, the home side managed only 116 in the second innings, Clay taking 6 for 48. At Lord’s Middlesex dispatched Surrey by an innings and Glamorgan were champions.Amid the fizz and frolics the long moment of triumph was not lost on Clay; nor did it ever lose its significance. Glamorgan’s success was wreathed in rich emotional contexts and many of them involved him. In 1948 Clay was the 50-year-old honorary secretary of the club. In the post-war team photograph he looks more like a prudent treasurer, which was precisely the role he had undertaken in 1933 when his beloved county was on its uppers. Before that, of course, he had played for Glamorgan during 1921, its first year in the Championship. In that season he had been a fast-medium swing bowler in a struggling side; later he decided his height and build were better suited to the slow stuff.Allan Watkins•PA Images Archive/Getty Images”In what dark winter shed or sunny autumn field he practised and perfected this mutation, I do not know,” wrote RC Robertson-Glasgow. “Perhaps it was a throwback to schooldays and ballistic experiments against forbidden walls. Perhaps some slow bowler had taken a wicket and Clay, weary of his own fast-medium strivings and envious of the other’s facile success, put those long fingers round the ball, trundled down a vast off-break, and saw the light.”Clay had been cajoled by Wooller into playing five games in 1948; he took 27 wickets. Another spinner, the left-armer Stan Trick, could only be spared from his father’s garage for seven matches, but he dismissed 36 batsmen, 22 of them in the two games at Swansea. It was all so very Glamorgan, as was the welcome the team received at Cardiff General Station when they returned late that Tuesday evening and found thousands waiting to greet them. Wooller had already gone to London to play for the Gentlemen of England against Australia but Clay, urbane and thoughtful, offered other speeches to follow those he had made at Dean Park.”This victory for Glamorgan will do a lot of good not only for cricket generally but for similar counties like Warwickshire and Hampshire,” he said. “No longer is the Championship the monopoly of the few.”It was a wise saying albeit not a completely accurate prediction. Glamorgan had become only the third county outside the so-called Big Six (Surrey, Middlesex, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire) to win the title. They followed Warwickshire in 1911 and Derbyshire in 1936, whose successes were, if anything, even more unlikely than Glamorgan’s. It would be another 13 years before a tenth county, Hampshire, joined the list but Wooller’s men had shown the way. Probably none of which troubled them late that August evening as they hightailed it to the Cardiff Athletic Club, where the celebrations continued. indeed. Match from the Day

The Pakistan left-armer talks about his time at the T20 Blast, and his batting ambitions

Interview by Matt Roller07-Oct-2020Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim played nine Vitality T20 Blast matches for champions Nottinghamshire this season, taking eight wickets at an economy of 7.21. In this interview, he talks about becoming a new-ball bowler, developing a new delivery, and wanting to be recognised as an allrounder.You arrived in England in June ahead of the Test series and won’t go home until October. How have the last few months been for you?
It’s been great. I worked really hard during the Covid lockdown, so it feels like it’s paying off. I have family with me for this part of the trip, . It was tough for three months not having my family around, but it is what it is for everyone, so no complaints. I’m going back home next week to play domestic cricket – I’m missing a couple of games of the National T20 Cup but then will join my team [Northern], so I’m looking forward to playing that. And then the PSL knockouts – it’s going to be a really tough four or five months, but I’m excited to be back in Pakistan.You’ve had a strong season for Nottinghamshire, with Dan Christian using you as a new-ball bowler in the powerplay. Have you enjoyed it?
It’s been a really good season, my second year with Nottinghamshire. Dan is a really good captain. He’s been playing for a long time and he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s used me in different conditions and at different times, depending on the situation and the opposition, but it’s been spot on.You have become one of the world’s most experienced T20 spinners over the last five years. How did that role come about?
When I was playing domestic cricket, sometimes I would bowl an over in the powerplay – the fourth or the fifth. But when I became captain of my domestic team, it came to my mind that I should bowl the first over as well. And in first-class cricket, I would sometimes take the second new ball. It started like that and I was getting wickets regularly, so I thought: why shouldn’t I do that with the white ball as well? I started doing it in white-ball cricket and it paid off. In international cricket they gave me the new ball because I’d had a great Pakistan A tour bowling with the new ball [in 2015 against Sri Lanka]. And from there, you become a new-ball specialist just like that.

“I am an allrounder. I’m ranked No. 3 in the world [in ODIs]. I don’t want to be considered a bowler. I just want to become a allrounder”

What are the keys to successfully bowling spin in the powerplay?
With the new ball, you can’t defend. You just have to attack. You try to take wickets early on to put the opposition on the back foot straightaway. If you try to defend, they’ll get away in the powerplay – if not against you then against the other bowlers. So my role is just to go out and attack in the first couple of overs I bowl and to pick up wickets. I don’t worry too much about the runs. The next two overs, you’re looking for defence as well, depending on the situation. But with the new ball, I just try to hit the stumps and leave the rest to the batsmen. If they play a good shot, they play a good shot, but for me, it’s a “you miss, I hit” kind of thing.Even when you don’t take wickets, your economy rate is generally very good. Does that help you create pressure at the other end?
Definitely. Partnerships are the most important thing in cricket – batting or bowling. When you’re out there, your partner has to understand your game as well. Wherever I go, most teams think I’m an aggressive option, so the other bowler might think differently, which is a very good thing. I don’t think there are many aggressive spinners in the powerplay. After the powerplay, yes, there are a lot of aggressive spinners, but in the powerplay, there aren’t a lot around the world, so I’m really happy that teams think I am one of them.Do you think batsmen have started to attack you less, knowing your success in that role, and are instead starting to play you out?
Not really. You make your game plan against any bowler, of course, but the number one thing you should do as a bowler is focus on your strength. Don’t worry about what the opposition will do too much. Just stick to your strength and see how it goes from there. Obviously there will be times when you get smacked, but if you stick to your strength, you’ll be successful 60 or 70 times out of 100, which is a very good ratio in international cricket. My advice: don’t do anything different if something is working for you. For me, that is to take wickets and be aggressive.ESPNcricinfo LtdInside the powerplay, do you think lines and lengths are more important than actually trying to spin the ball?
With the new ball, I try to take the pace off, but don’t try to spin the ball. It’s really hard with the new ball, especially with only two fielders out. I get my basics right. After six overs, I’ll start to spin the ball – and I’m developing a new ball, which hopefully you’ll see next time I play international cricket if I keep working hard on it. I want to learn new balls that make me a different kind of a bowler outside the powerplay.There is more analysis available than ever in T20 cricket in particular. Some players spend hours developing specific plans based on an opponent’s strengths. Are you one of them?
I really don’t care about what’s happening outside of me. Because I’ve played a lot of international cricket, I know what opening batsmen’s strengths and weaknesses are, but I don’t think about that much. I just go out there and bowl. I have my processes, my repetitions, and I don’t worry about the batsmen. If they hit me, they hit me, but I want them to hit me with a good shot rather than me giving them a bad ball. You have to respect good shots, which do happen, but I just try to do one thing with the new ball: hit the stumps.When you were growing up, you would have watched Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis opening the bowling for Pakistan. Did you ever think that would be something you would do?
Never. I never expected it, or even thought about that in my life. Even in franchise cricket – I never expected it. God has given me this. It’s not something spinners usually do.You were stuck down at No. 8 or No. 9 for most of the T20 Blast with Nottinghamshire, and your record with the bat is much better in 50-over cricket than in T20.
I don’t think I’ve got the opportunities I want. I got them in the World Cup. In one-day cricket I’ve had the opportunities and my performances have been not bad. I’m really happy in one-day cricket with where I am, but I want to express myself more. I have more to give my country with the bat. There have been glimpses in world cricket of me doing good things as an allrounder, but in T20, I haven’t got the opportunities like that anywhere in the world. I’m really working hard on my batting. Someday I could win a big game with my batting and then people will start thinking about me as an allrounder in T20 as well as one-day cricket. I’m really hungry to score runs for my country and for franchise teams.So you consider yourself Imad Wasim, Pakistan allrounder, not Imad Wasim, Pakistan bowler?
No, no, no! I am an allrounder. I’m ranked No. 3 in the world [in ODIs]. I don’t want to be considered a bowler. I just want to become a allrounder. I’m working hard and the rest is up to God. Whenever God decides to give me fame as a batsman, just like in bowling, it will happen, .

Mohammad Amir, Usman Shinwari, Laurie Evans among overseas players to make the XI

Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Dec-2020After 23 matches, the Jaffna Stallions came out as the inaugural Lanka Premier League champions. Here, ESPNcricinfo picks the team of the tournament.Danushka GunathilakaNo batsman was anywhere near as good. Gunathilaka made 187 more runs than the next-highest run-scorer in the league, and repeatedly dragged the Galle Gladiators to respectable totals in the league stage. What was especially impressive about his batting was his decision to tailor it to this particular tournament. He noticed early on that the outfield at Sooriyawewa was spectacularly fast, and that the boundaries were short. So he decided to focus on hitting fours, rather than take on deep fielders. His tally of 67 fours is by a huge distance the highest in the tournament, with Dinesh Chandimal’s 35 the next best. He only hit eight sixes. Nine other batsmen hit more, without getting close to his run tally.Niroshan Dickwella (wk) (He had a slow start with the bat, but found his touch in the middle of the tournament, and made strong contributions in each of his last five outings, hitting two fifties through that run. Kusal Perera and Chandimal also had decent tournaments with the bat, but Dickwella was the best wicketkeeper on show – his sharp stumping of Shoaib Malik in the semi-final a particular highlight.Laurie Evans Evans produced three big innings, including the league’s only century – his dazzling 108 off 65 against a strong Stallions attack (which was only missing Usman Shinwari from the frontline crew). He seemed to be hitting serious form just as the knockouts approached, but was injured for the semi-final, which his team failed to win. Although he mostly opened for the Colombo Kings, he is used to batting No. 3 for his Blast team. He was good in the field throughout.Dasun Shanaka Shanaka’s batting provided the Dambulla Viiking early momentum, and though he only struck two fifties, he continued to make a substantial impact in the death overs. He has become more of a batting allrounder in the last few years, which sets up fascinating competition for white-ball places with Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews. Shanaka also marshalled the spin-heavy bowling resources at the Viiking’s disposal nicely through the latter half of the tournament. He was expensive with the ball at times, but he is the tournament’s third-highest run-scorer.Thisara Perera Without question the most brutal finisher in the LPL, with 19 sixes, and the best strike rate of anyone, with more than 75 runs. He very nearly made a T20 hundred from No. 7, when he bludgeoned 97 not out off 44 balls against the Viiking early in the tournament. He went cold with the bat through the back-end of the league stage, but rebounded spectacularly for the final, clobbering 39 off 14 balls. His bowling was sporadically useful through the campaign.Andre Russell hit a 14-ball half-century early in the tournament•LPLAndre Russell Unsurprisingly, Russell produced the most devastating and most memorable innings of the LPL, when he came in to open a rain-reduced five-over match, and stomped around like a giant at a kindergarten, bludgeoning six fours and nine sixes in a 19-ball 65 not out. He didn’t play any other big innings with the bat, though there were a few death-overs bursts. He was more consistent with the ball, but with his fitness still a concern, he didn’t bowl every match.Asela Gunaratne (nine wickets, economy rate 7.53, 168 runs, strike rate 141)The only Kandy Tuskers player to make this side, Gunaratne was not only miserly through the middle overs with his right-arm schmooglies (official terminology for his style of bowling), he also frequently claimed wickets. He hit one half-century as well, and very narrowly beats out Dhananjaya de Silva and Samit Patel out for this spot.Wanindu Hasaranga The best bowler in the tournament by both wickets and economy rate (by a distance), and despite Gunathilaka’s batting heroics, a straightforward choice for the LPL’s MVP. Hasaranga bowled in ten innings, and did not fail to take a wicket in any – even the rain-curtailed match in which he bowled just one over. His legbreaks were accurate, his googly was frequently devastating, and there was even the odd, dangerous flipper. He only once conceded more than 30 in his four overs, and even then, he gave away just 31. With the bat, he played a number of decent cameos, including a 41 off 23 against the Kings. His fielding was mostly excellent.Dhananjaya Lakshan Largely unknown before the LPL, 22-year-old Lakshan made a huge impression with the substantial inswing he generated to the right-hander when the ball was moving, but perhaps more impressively, the back-of-the-hand slower balls he was able to deliver consistently and accurately. He also picked up at least one wicket every time he bowled, and in fact claimed the best figures of the final with 3 for 36. His 31 not out off 23 balls helped take Gladiators home in the semi-final.Dhananjaya Lakshan picked up 13 wickets in the tournament•AFPMohammad Amir It was Amir’s 5 for 26 (the only five-wicket haul in the tournament) that helped jump-start the Gladiators’ ailing campaign, and set them on course for a place in the final. Amir was especially good when the ball was swinging, as usual, but also effective when it was not, after the Gladiators found two local seamers – Nuwan Thushara and Dhananjaya Lakshan – to support him. He was at the receiving end of some bad catching, or his wicket tally would have been higher. As a result, he also provided some of the LPL’s most memorable angry looks.Usman Shinwari (nine wickets, economy rate 7.52)Good through the middle overs and the death, and possessed of a mean bouncer, Shinwari was a vital component of the Stallions’ championship run, without drawing a lot of attention to himself. He began the tournament with successive three-wicket hauls, and made important contributions through the rest of the campaign, largely coming to the bowling crease through the back half of the innings. Also effected two superb direct-hit run outs in the semi-final.

Cook and Westley back young batsman to build on impressive Test debut campaign

Andrew Miller31-Mar-2021After the challenge of withstanding R Ashwin and Axar Patel on an Ahmedabad dustbowl, it will be back to a trial by seam and swing for Dan Lawrence next week, as Essex begin their defence of both the County Championship and the Bob Willis Trophy with a season-opening encounter against Worcestershire at Chelmsford.But while Lawrence’s profile may have gone up several notches during a tough debut tour of Sri Lanka and India, the man himself says his appetite has merely been whetted by his experiences this winter.And, having bookended the trip with hard-fought fifties in his first and last outings at Galle and Ahmedabad respectively, Lawrence believes he’s proved to himself, first and foremost, that he belongs at the highest level, and is hungry to get another bite of the action as soon as possible.”It’s hard to know for sure, because it feels different when you are batting yourself to when you actually watch it back,” Lawrence said. “But I did actually [feel like I belonged]. I really enjoyed it. It’s something I always wanted to do, and I really relished the challenge all winter.His debut came in the first Test of England’s winter, against Sri Lanka at Galle, where he was presented with his cap by his former Essex captain, James Foster, and immediately showed his mettle with a gritty innings of 73 in support of his England captain and double-centurion, Joe Root. Lawrence then held his nerve in the second innings, to seal an anxious run-chase in partnership with Jonny Bairstow, to complete a hugely composed first outing for England.”It’s quite a big one for me, to get the monkey off the back and actually play a Test match is something I’ve always wanted to achieve,” he said. “I’ve had a little taste of it and hopefully I can carry on playing.”It’s obviously completely different conditions, coming back from playing in Asia all winter, with the ball nibbling at Chelmsford in mid-April. But I’m really hoping I can get loads of runs on the board at the start of the year, help Essex win some more trophies, and push my case to play the first Test this summer.”In the final analysis, Lawrence’s figures from his maiden England winter don’t especially stand out – 248 runs at 27.55 in five Tests and ten innings show promise rather than fulfilment. But, having been shunted around the order – as high as No.3 and as low as No.7 – to fit with England’s evolving plans on an arduous tour, he now knows, without much doubt, that there aren’t many harder places than Asia for a young English batsman to succeed.”If I’m selected for England, I’ll bat anywhere, and I’ve said that before,” he said. “But I’ve accepted that I don’t think cricket can get more challenging than what I experienced in those Test matches in India and Sri Lanka.”Playing in England, you don’t face a lot of quality spin, because it’s not really needed. So it’s lovely to be challenged against that and to be able to deal with the pressure, just knowing that if things do get really tough, that I’ve actually got a plan, and the sort of tempo and a mindset that hopefully can work at Test level.”Dan Lawrence is still only 23, but very much a senior player within Essex’s ranks•Getty ImagesThe next step for any young England player is often the hardest – second-season syndrome has afflicted many rising stars in the past. But after a two-week break at the end of the India tour, Lawrence was back in the nets at Chelmsford last week, and has thrown himself into Essex’s pre-season with a vigour that has reassured the senior batsmen around him that a big follow-up to his winter exploits is on the cards.One man who knows better than anyone about such heightened expectations is Sir Alastair Cook, whose own breakthrough winter came in India in 2005-06, with a century on debut in Nagpur aged 21.”He’s in a quite a hard spot because he’s so desperate to play for England, you can worry about all kinds of stuff which are totally out of your control,” Cook said. “Ultimately, he needs to make sure his focus is on the next ball. If he does that, which I’m sure he will, everything else will take care of itself.”He’s in a good space with his game, coming back from India, and mentally he seems in a good spot too,” Cook added. “He’s hit probably the most balls out of any batsman coming back, and he’s been doing extra sessions too, all the hard graft which will only bode well for him.”Just because he’s played for England, that doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to score runs, it’s not as easy as that. There are some very good bowlers in county cricket that know what they’re doing, and he knows that too. But he looks in a good space, and that can only be a good thing for Essex. We’ve got a guy who’s desperate for higher honours, and knows that he needs to score runs to get there.”The one thing that Lawrence can be sure of is that further success for Essex will earn the recognition he craves, given that the club is the pre-eminent force in county cricket at the moment – thanks to two County Championship titles in 2017 and 2019, and last season’s success in “The Bob” when Covid-19 forced a rejig of the season.Related

• Ollie Robinson senses Test cap is close

• Lean Toby Roland-Jones means business again

• All sights on September for Tom Westley as Essex begin twin title defence

• 'Pitches need to produce good cricket' – Fraser

And Lawrence knows, from the manner in which the club has nurtured its young players in the past, that he’ll be given all the support he needs to take his next steps, both in his England development and in graduating to a more senior status within the county as well.”We’ve got really good things going on at the club at the moment, with a brilliant mix of younger and older players, and a really good management and support staff,” Lawrence said. “We’ve got a formula that’s proven, and we know how to win a lot of games of cricket, so I’m really excited to get stuck in with the boys.”It’s not only with me, but a lot of the older guys do try their utmost to help out any young players coming through,” he added. “With the atmosphere that we have at this club, and being a really close knit group, and a really honest group, it really allows young players to develop quicker than they would at other counties. They know where they stand with us and we really try our best to get around them.”So if any young batter or bowler needs any help, it wouldn’t only be me, but I think everyone would be queuing up to help them, and I think that’s a big part of why we are so successful.”Tom Westley, Lawrence’s captain and de facto house-mate, now that the pair are living in the same bubble, shares Cook’s belief in the progress of their young team-mate.”He knows his game, he’s mature,” Westley said. “Even though he’s young, he has been around for a while. But he’s a stand-up guy and he’s an outstanding professional cricketer.”It has been very refreshing, with him coming back. He’s not a guy who’s going to be complacent, he injects energy and positivity into the squad, and wants to get better himself – even if it’s a warm-up game, he wants to score hundreds. He wants to go to the indoor school to work on his own game, he’s a role model for younger cricketers on how they should go about their cricket, and I think he will slot in like normal.”With Dan, I’ve always said it’s more a matter of when he’ll play for England, and when he will be successful, rather than if.”He’s had a taste. And I hope, and think, he will be successful for England for a number of years. And if he is, that’s going to be good for Essex. He’s very level-headed, he knows how hard it can be, and that there will be ups and downs, but the one thing he has got is complete confidence in his ability.”And already it seems that Lawrence’s game brain is in gear for the new season. He captained the side during their pre-season outing against Lancashire last week, and with a pair of exploratory visits to the middle he feels sufficiently grooved to take what’s coming in an extended run of early-season Championship fixtures.”I got myself in trouble [in the past] with thinking too far ahead,” he said. “So now I’m really focused on taking it game by game and helping Essex win games of cricket. Whether that’s batting a long time or whether it’s the team needing me to score quick runs, it’s about making sure my process and training is right before each game and see where it leads me.”

A look at the Deccan Chargers’ fairytale ride through ESPNcricinfo’s T20 stats metrics

Sampath Bandarupalli22-May-2021All-round Symonds proves to be the MVP
The Deccan Chargers started IPL 2009 with four consecutive victories, two more than what they managed in 2008. But things went downhill after that with the Chargers suffering a hat-trick of losses before they beat the Mumbai Indians. With six matches left in the league phase, Andrew Symonds joined the Chargers, boosting the team in all departments.ESPNcricinfo LtdDespite winning only two of their last six league matches, the Chargers went on to lift their maiden title. Symonds came to the rescue in the final against the Royal Challengers Bangalore with a 21-ball 33 and the wickets of Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli in the 15th over when the required rate was well under eight per over.His all-round show in the final was valued at 127.09 impact points, the highest for the Chargers as per ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. Even in the semi-final against a star-studded Delhi Daredevils, Symonds gave away only 20 runs in three overs and dismissed Virender Sehwag. Symonds earned 541.59 impact points through the tournament and was ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats MVP for securing 67.7 points per game.ESPNcricinfo LtdSymonds scored 249 runs at a strike rate of 150 in the eight matches he played. With the ball, he struck seven times and had an economy rate of 6.66. On four occasions he had an economy rate of under six. Matthew Hayden, the orange cap winner, is second on our MVP list. He scored 572 runs from only 12 matches, earning a total impact score of 743.93 and a per-match impact of 62.52.Another player from the Chennai Super Kings, Suresh Raina, occupies third place with an average of 55.61 points per game. Raina scored 434 runs and claimed seven wickets to have a total impact score of 772.97 points, the highest for any player in IPL 2009. Two members from the title-winning team, Adam Gilchrist and Dwayne Smith complete the top five for the tournament.ESPNcricinfo LtdSmith, like Symonds, played only eight matches but had several impactful knocks. He had four scores of 35 or more, all of them coming at a strike rate of over 145. In one of the games, he conceded only 25 runs in four overs while bowling to the likes of Sehwag, AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik. The entry of Symonds ruined Smith’s chances of making it to the XI as Herschelle Gibbs and Ryan Harris took up the other two overseas spots.Gilchrist’s surge in Smart Runs
The top five run-getters of IPL 2009 retain their position when it comes to the Smart Runs leaderboard for the season, though the difference between the runs and Smart Runs varies. Hayden, who was consistent throughout the tournament, ended up as the only player to breach the 500-run mark. In terms of Smart Runs, though, two batters breached the 600 mark. Hayden’s Smart Runs tally of 663.36 was 91 more than his actual 572 runs.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe gap for Gilchrist was 113 runs – 495 actual runs versus 608.13 Smart Runs, thanks to his exploits at the top. His strike rate in the tournament read 152.30, the highest among players to have faced at least 150 balls. Gilchrist, the actual Player of the Tournament, often wrested the advantage in the powerplay with his aggression: he scored 382 runs during this phase, more than 100 clear of the next best, while striking at 165.36.Indian bowlers dominate Smart Wickets leaderboard
RP Singh won the purple cap for his 23 wickets, two more than Anil Kumble who took a four-for in the final. Singh was also the topper in terms of Smart Wickets, but the gap between them was much narrower. Kumble’s bowling effort in the final was worth a six-wicket haul as per Smart Stats, which gave him a slender lead over Singh before the Royal Challengers’ chase but Singh eventually overtook Kumble. The seamer’s 23 wickets were worth 25.78 Smart Wickets and his 11 powerplay wickets were the joint-most by any player in the tournament.ESPNcricinfo LtdKumble picked up 16 wickets of the top six batters. He bowled effectively in all three phases, providing the breakthroughs alongside an excellent economy rate of a run a ball. This helped Kumble in attaining the highest bowling impact (623.49) and the highest bowling rating (38.97) of the tournament as per Smart Stats. While only two players took 20 or more wickets in the tournament, Smart Stats adjusts it to five players with 20-plus Smart Wickets including four Indians.ESPNcricinfo LtdPragyan Ojha, whose 16 out of 18 wickets were of the top six batters, earned 23.79 Smart Wickets. Ashish Nehra, who had nine wickets of opening batters in his 19 tournament scalps, finished with 23.18 Smart Wickets. The 15 wickets of Dirk Nannes were worth 20.82 Smart Wickets as 14 of his actual wickets were of top-order batters, with eight of them coming in the powerplays.