Category Uncategorized

Team closes in on making a second final in three years after bowling Madhya Pradesh out for 170

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2023
They were thwarted by Madhya Pradesh in the semi-finals last year, but Bengal are on course for payback this time around, with a final appearance in the 2022-23 Ranji season almost theirs. Having opened up a 268-run lead courtesy a five-wicket haul by fast bowler Akash Deep, Bengal ended day three on 59 for 2 at the Holkar Stadium.MP’s hopes of clawing back hinged on getting as close to Bengal’s first-innings score of 438, but a regular stream of wickets thwarted their progress. Three of their batting pillars – Rajat Patidar, Aditya Shrivastava and the returning Venkatesh Iyer – managed scores of 0, 7 and 7 respectively as MP slumped to 101 for 6.Allrounder Saransh Jain, who was promoted up to No. 3 held fort to carve a fighting half-century, his third in first-class cricket, but lack of support from the rest of the batting group meant MP had conceded too much ground by the time their first innings ended. Shubham Sharma’s unbeaten 44 at No. 8 was merely academic.Akash, who has shouldered the responsibility of leading Bengal’s attack in Mukesh Kumar’s absence, ended up with his third five-for of the season to take his wickets tally to 36 in 15 innings at an average of 20.08. He was complemented by left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, who finished with 2 for 30.In their second dig, Bengal lost openers Karan Lal ans Abhimanyu Easwaran early, but will have Anustup Majumdar and Sudip Gharami, centurions from the first innings, resume in their quest to bat MP out of the match and seal their second Ranji final appearance in three seasons.

Pat Cummins previously presented Cricket Australia one of their most important balancing acts in managing a young player and now the Test captain has a front row seat to another as Cameron Green’s elevation into the higher echelons of the world’s stars continues.The flying visit to India for three T20Is last week may yet transpire to have been one of the most significant periods in Green’s career as he stamped his mark as an opening batter which has likely put huge dollar figures next to his name for the IPL.The carefully managed early stages of Green’s career due to his history of back injuries is now entering a critical phase as he emerges as a three-format player at time when Australia have a huge amount of major series and tournaments on the horizon, and now with the likelihood of franchises coming calling.While Green is not, yet at least, part of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad, his upcoming international schedule is packed: five home Tests against West Indies and South Africa, four Tests in India, the Ashes in England (plus a potential World Test Championship final) and then the ODI World Cup this time next year before another home summer. That list does not include other bilateral white-ball commitments, plus domestic cricket for Western Australia and Perth Scorchers, with Green having recently signed for the latter.Related

• Green's big year catches up with him, and there's more to come

• Cummins: Unrealistic to be only captain across all formats

• Is Green too good not to pick and who misses out for David?

• Green retained for West Indies T20Is as Australia take cautious approach ahead of World Cup

There remains caution around Green’s bowling workload – he was eased back into bowling on the Sri Lanka tour after a break and was rested against New Zealand recently after suffering cramp – and while in Tests he is now largely unrestricted, Cummins admitted it is something never far from his mind.”It’s one my first thoughts whenever I bowl him is we don’t want to burn him,” he said at an event to announce NRMA Insurance as new CA sponsor. “Think it’s been a huge win from the medical side of things to have him play as much cricket as he has over the last couple of years, fortunately he can fall back on his batting even if he’s not bowling.”Now he’s in and around three formats it becomes even more important. He someone who loves playing, even when he goes back to WA we have to manage that as well. There’s 15 Tests in the next few months plus a World Cup, lots of cricket.”And then there’s the call on his services from other teams. “You can’t really blame anyone for going in [the IPL],” Cummins said. “He’s going to have huge demand on him wherever he plays. Decisions will be made, there’s a lot of cricket around.”Cameron Green has quickly shown his skills across all three formats•BCCI

More broadly, Cummins cautioned CA to be aware of the rapidly changing landscape in the game despite international cricket, particularly Tests, remaining a strong format in Australia. The recently reported that Cummins had turned down a big-money offered from a city-based T20 league in India. It’s likely to be a topic discussed during the next MoU negotiations.”[They] have to be proactive, the world’s changing, almost every month now there’s new leagues and opportunities popping up around the world,” he said. “We are lucky in Australia that for all of us players and the fans, Test cricket is No. 1. Whenever there’s a Test tour on, that’s where all of us players want to be.”But we can’t take it for granted that will always be the case. Maybe [it’s] the way we structure contracts, manage different players because unfortunately, or fortunately, it’s the reality of the world.”In the short-term, Green offers Australia a ready-made replacement should they have to make an injury-enforced change ahead of the T20 World Cup. For all the clamour about finding him a place in the squad that is the only way he will break in for this tournament, although more substantial scores against West Indies next week will keep the topic front and centre of the build-up, particular if others are short of runs.”Think we are starting to just not get surprised whenever he takes another step up, he just looks at home straightaway,” Cummins said. “[It was] a new role opening the batting and to take on, play with bravery, that’s what you want to see from any young player. It’s a tight squad to get into at the moment.”And Josh Hazlewood revealed that even Green’s own team-mates have felt the full force of his batting “It was a bit scary, actually, the first net session in India, felt like you needed a helmet almost bowling to Cam Green,” he said. “He’s so imposing, such a big guy, full face of the bat back towards you, it’s pretty scary.”Australia’s T20 squad comes back together next week to begin their final lead-in to the World Cup with two games against West Indies on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane before three matches against England in Perth and Canberra. They then have one more warm-up match against India before facing New Zealand at the SCG on October 22.

Peter Moores admits England have to work fast ahead of the World Cup but there is an all-too-familiar sense of chaos about their planning

George Dobell01-Sep-2014It seems to be a characteristic of England cricket that, while other teams utilise the natural four-year cycle in the schedule to prepare their team for the next World Cup, the English react to the impending event like a long-married man who has forgotten his wedding anniversary.Oh, they may rush to the florist and scribble a card. But the end result still tends to look ramshackle and hurried with a sense that they are hoping, rather than expecting, that things will turn out all right on the night.The 2015 World Cup carries all the hallmarks, from an England perspective, of the five that preceded it. Six months out from the event, England are not sure of their tactics or their team. In a format of the game where role definition is so important, England do not know who will fill the allrounder positions – a month ago, you might have thought Ravi Bopara was a certainty. They do not know who will bowl at the death – the experiment with Chris Jordan may well be shelved. They do know who will bowl spin – Moeen Ali is likely to win another opportunity before the end of this series. And questions over the position of the captain will remain until Alastair Cook can start contributing more with the bat.Lagging behind? England have drafted in Alex Hales but Alastair Cook’s position at the top of the order continues to come in for scrutiny•Getty ImagesSuffice to say, after four ODI series defeats in five – and there is something of an irony in the fact that the series they won, in the Caribbean, came in a team sans Cook, when they were trying to provide extra opportunities to their T20 players ahead of the World T20 – they are not among the bookies favourites for the World Cup.Peter Moores knows all this. He knows that he did not inherit a hand bursting with aces, after the retirement of Graeme Swann, the banishment of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott’s illness. He knows the team are not playing well enough to win a World Cup. He knows he is running out of time.”We’ve got to work fast,” Moores said ahead of the fourth ODI of the series against India at Edgbaston. “We’ve got to accelerate the development of the team quicker than might be normal to get ourselves really competitive by the World Cup.”It was noticeable that, while Moores unambiguously backed Cook to lead England at the World Cup – “Yes, I’m confident he will” – he offered far less security to other players. In short, his message was, there are still places to be won in this side.”What we’re doing is we’re trying to find a balance for our team,” he said. “That’s part of the process we’re going through. We’re creating opportunities and, if you play well enough and you show you can score consistently enough, you get to stay in the team.”Our goal is to basically try to draw this series but also to prepare for a World Cup. To do that we’ve got to identify the right people in the right slots to play a brand of cricket that players feel they can deliver and be successful against the best teams.”There’s still time for people to force their way in. We’ve had a lot of change and that creates opportunity. We need to get enough experience in there but also there’s a chance to try some different things. We’ve looked at different options and that helps you evaluate a side to play in that World Cup and win.”A substantial part of their problem is the form of the captain. While the value of England’s ODI tactics can be argued either way – and the depth of feeling against their somewhat old-fashioned game plan does little to appreciate the danger of two new balls or England’s success up to the end of the Champions Trophy – there is no avoiding the fact that, if they are going to field two technically correct accumulators in the top three, one of them has to go on and contribute a match-defining total.It is not only 37 innings and 26 months since Cook made an ODI hundred, he has not reached 80 in that time either. If a player is going to devour the number of deliveries, particularly Powerplay deliveries, that Cook tends to devour, they really do have to produce something at the end of it.

Peter Moores on…

Using analysis: “The brain of a top-flight player is a fantastic bit of kit. It works fast, it takes bits of information, it sees things that sometimes a computer might not. We have to use that. The best players in the world have the ability to adapt quickly on the field, more than off the field. If analysis is being used to add clarity and help people develop their thinking, great. If it’s there to replace their thinking then it’s flawed.”
Eoin Morgan: “I’m not saying whose place is safe or not safe but Eoin is frustrated he hasn’t got a score. His skill, once he gets up and running, is that he’s hard to bowl dots to and he can attack pretty well any sort of bowling. I see him as a real key component as we go forward.”
Playing Moeen Ali and James Tredwell: “We could play both. Probably two offspinners in the same team wouldn’t normally be your absolute ideal. Moeen’s not had much opportunity yet. We saw him rapidly develop as a Test match bowler and we want to create opportunities for him at some point, to look where he’s at. We’ve seen always in international cricket some people grow very fast and that’s what we have got to find out.”

But despite Cook looking in wretched form at Trent Bridge, Moores insisted the captain was inching his way back to his best. “I think his form is going the right way,” Moores said. “If you come out of a Test match series averaging just under 50, you know you’re starting to get back into some sort of form.”He’ll be the same as everybody else, in that in the last two games – after we’ve got off to two good starts – he’ll be disappointed that he personally couldn’t push on and get a more significant score. But he’s hungry and his form is coming back. He’s starting to hit the ball better.”When he’s in form, he’s got his way of playing that can be effective in one-day cricket. It doesn’t mean he’s exactly where he wants to be, and I don’t think we are as a side.”That is true. But Moores remains confident that it is not England’s tactics that are flawed as much as their current failure to execute them. He remains unapologetic about preferring batsman such as Cook and Ian Bell to the likes of Jason Roy and James Vince.”When you bat in any one-day international, the second part of it is when you increase your scoring rate,” Moores said. “We have to score at the right rate for the pitch. There’s been lots of talk about scoring 300, but that doesn’t happen all the time. In different conditions you have to score what is a winning score on that pitch.”You’ve got to have a balance in your team of people who strike the ball and also people that rotate, that’s part of the job. You need to know you can create situations when some of your strikers, the Jos Buttlers of this world, have the freedom to play that sort of game.”We know we have people who can score at a very high rate. Alex Hales at the top, then Eoin Morgan and Buttler. But to get to that point, you’ve got to get in and build an innings.”The very best in the world are striking at 88, 89 in 50-over cricket. You can’t really go much above that, unless you’re batting in the bottom part and you’re whacking it from ball one. Fifty-over cricket isn’t quite the same as people just walk out and whack it. The best sides don’t do that either.”This pitch should suit England. It has not been used for 14 months and is expected to provide little assistance to spinners and a bit more to seamers. With a 10.30am start in a distinctly autumnal September, though, it may well prove to be a bowl-first surface. The large crowd – more than 20,000 spectators are expected – might want to arrive in good time to see what may prove the key passage of play.England’s safety-first approach might not be popular but, on a seaming pitch in Birmingham, it may prove ideal. You might ask whether that bears any relation to the conditions anticipated in Australia, in particular, at the World Cup. But a drowning man probably doesn’t worry about his pension.

Plymouth Argyle have been rewarded with a fifth round FA Cup tie against Manchester City after knocking out Arne Slot's Liverpool.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• FA Cup draw made on Monday
• Plymouth to face Man City
• Holders Man Utd up against Fulham

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Plymouth produced the shock of the FA Cup fourth round by dumping out Liverpool with a 1-0 win on Sunday. The Devon-based side will now face Premier League opposition once again in round five after being drawn against Pep Guardiola's side. Elsewhere, holders Manchester United will take on Fulham, while Newcastle United are up against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Advertisement

• Getty
  

  THE DRAW IN FULL

  Preston North End vs Burnley

  Aston Villa vs Cardiff City

  Doncaster Rovers or Crystal Palace vs Millwall

  Man Utd vs Fulham

  Newcastle Utd vs Brighton

  Bournemouth vs Wolves

  Man City vs Plymouth

  Exeter City or Nottingham Forest vs Ipswich Town

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Plymouth are this year's FA Cup giant-killers after knocking out Premier League side Brentford on their own patch before pulling off the mother of all upsets at home to Liverpool. In a time where many have questioned the so-called 'magic' of the famous old competition, cup runs like Plymouth's show why this tournament still has merit. Whether they can beat City remains to be seen.

• AFP
  

  WHAT NEXT?

  Plymouth, United and the other sides left in the tournament will play their fifth round FA Cup ties between February 28 and March 3.

Lauren Bell is relishing her chance to join England Women’s next generation of fast bowlers as attention turns to the ODI leg of the multi-format series with South Africa.Bell finds herself at the forefront of England’s succession planning, forming part of a new-wave pace attack with Issy Wong during the recent drawn Test, which kicked off the series in Taunton last month.Both impressed sufficiently there to hold their places in the squad for the three ODIs, which also includes veteran Katherine Brunt, who has retired from Tests but is aiming to play a part in England’s white-ball fixtures this summer. England will, however, be without Anya Shrubsole, who retired from international cricket after the World Cup final in April.”Anya and Katherine have been so amazing for so many years now, but I think it’s really exciting that there’s a group of us coming through,” Bell said. “Me and Izzy and Freya [Davies] are all in the same situation, we’re all trying to break into the squad and doing everything we can so it’s really nice to have other people in the same situation.”Obviously, there’s that natural competition but it’s exciting for England cricket and it’s great to have so many options and so many youngsters coming through.”Related

• Lizelle Lee retires from international cricket

• Issy Wong, Lauren Bell seize chance to shine

• Four-day cut-off robs yet another women's Test the room to thrive

• Alice Davidson-Richards, Lauren Bell in England ODI squad

Bell took two first-innings wickets and played a part in reducing South Africa to 45 for 4 before Marizanne Kapp’s 150 rescued the tourists’ Test hopes and, while she went wicketless in their second innings, she only conceded 26 runs from 14 overs at an economy rate of 1.85.Wong, meanwhile, took three wickets in all, including two in as many overs late on the third evening to leave the Test intriguingly poised before rain ruined the final day.Wong received her Test cap in a stirring presentation by Brunt, and Bell said she had been moved after receiving her cap from Shrubsole, her team-mate at Southern Vipers, having joined as a player and bowling coach for this season, and at Southern Brave, where they will be reunited for a second season of the Hundred.”She’s been amazing,” said Bell who, like Shrubsole, can threaten with her inswing. “At training I could just learn so much and she was so invested in chatting to me.”Having her at the Vipers has been so great because it’s like she’s experienced everything that hopefully I can do in my career and it’s someone who understands what I’m going through, has probably been there and done what I might be struggling with or going through. It’s really great to have her around with a great perspective on everything.”Bell was also looking forward to the chance to play alongside Brunt during the ODI series, which opens in Northampton on Monday.”Everyone missed Katherine at the Test match, she’s got such an energy about her and it’s great to have her back,” Bell said. “In training she just wants to give off all of her knowledge and just share everything she’s got on to me and Izzy Wong, for example. She’s got a real energy about her and even though she’s played for quite a while now she still just loves it.”Bell’s Test call-up came after she toured Australia with the England Women’s A side during the Ashes at the start of the year and went on to New Zealand as a travelling reserve for the World Cup. As a result, she said she felt settled within the England set-up ahead of what she hopes will be her maiden ODI appearance.”We spent a lot of time with each other,” she said. “It’s a very open group but I feel really comfortable here now and I feel quite settled into this squad. It really helped being around and seeing how the system works, so I think it’s put me in a good place to hopefully put my hand up to make my debut.”

Eng vs SA fixtures

• 1st ODI – July 11, Northampton

• 2nd ODI – July 15, Bristol

• 3rd ODI – July 18, Leicester

• 1st T20I – July 21, Chelmsford

• 2nd T20I – July 23, Worcester

• 3rd T20I – July 25, Derby

England have also retained Test debutant Emma Lamb, who was composed opening alongside Tammy Beaumont in Taunton, although she could move down the order depending on whether England decide to play Danni Wyatt as an opener or finisher. Alice Davidson-Richards, who made a century on her Test debut against South Africa, will be available for selection upon rejoining the squad after playing for South East Stars in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on Saturday, scoring 42 and taking three wickets in a losing cause against Southern Vipers.Emily Arlott, another tall quick like Bell, was not considered for selection in the ODI squad as she continues her return to fitness following a bout of Covid-19. Davies, part of the Test squad but overlooked on match day, also missed out on the ODI squad and was instead part of the England Women’s A side which beat South Africa by seven wickets in their 50-over warm-up match on Thursday.Laura Wolvaardt, who fell to Wong twice for just 16 runs each time in the Test, and Kapp both made fifties in the warm-up while Chloe Tryon, who didn’t play in the Test, made 43.The tourists will be without batter Lizelle Lee, who announced her immediate retirement from international cricket on Friday having played 184 matches for her country, 100 of them ODIs.Bell expected South Africa, who won their group-stage fixture at the World Cup before England turned the tables in the semi-final, to prove “a real challenge” in the 50-over format.”They hadn’t played a Test match for many years and they were a little bit less experienced, but South Africa have played plenty of one-day cricket and are really, really experienced in this format,” Bell said.

Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney was blown away after seeing his team score a late winner to beat Crawley Town 2-1 in League One.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Two late goals in dramatic Wrexham win
• Red Dragons come out on top
• McElhenney thrilled by victory

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Phil Parkinson's side bounced back from a shock home defeat to Stevenage last time out by beating Crawley Town 2-1 on Saturday. Matty James had put the visitors ahead but they looked set to drop points again when Crawley equalised in the 90th minute. However, Wrexham refused to be denied and hit back with a winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time through Elliot Lee.

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  It's a much-needed win for Wrexham after a tricky patch of form and means they now sit four points off Wycombe in second place in the table. Leaders Birmingham remain favourites for promotion as they are eights points clear of the Welsh side and have two games in hand on both Wrexham and Wycombe.

• WHAT MCELHENNEY SAID

  He posted on Instagram: "That was incredible! Up the town reds!"

  Instagram

• Getty Images Sport
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR WREXHAM

  Wrexham now turn their attentions back to the Football League Trophy and a third round clash against Port Vale on Tuesday.

أعرب عماد النحاس، القائم بأعمال المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بالنادي الأهلي، عن سعادته بالفوز الذي حققه على المصري برباعية مقابل هدفين في المباراة التي جمعت بينهما ببطولة الدوري الممتاز.

والتقى الأهلي مع المصري، على أرضية استاد برج العرب بالإسكندرية، في الجولة الخامسة من المرحلة النهائية لتحديد بطل الدوري المصري الممتاز.

وقال النحاس في تصريحات خلال المؤتمر الصحفي: “أهنئ اللاعبين على الأداء الرجولي والفوز الكبير، وأؤكد على أهمية الاستمرار في هذه السلسلة من الانتصارات رغم ضغط المباريات، فنحن نخوض مباراة كل 4 أيام، مما يفرض علينا ضغوطًا كبيرة، بخلاف بعض الفرق الأخرى، لكن عزيمة اللاعبين وروحهم العالية هي سر النجاح”.

طالع أيضاً.. هاني رمزي ينتقد مدافع الأهلي: مسؤول عن هدف المصري.. وإمام عاشور أفضل لاعب في مصر

وتابع: “حتى وإن غابت الجماهير عن المدرجات، إلا أن وجودهم الدائم خلف الفريق يعد دافعًا كبيرًا لنا، لتحقيق الفوز في كل مباراة ولرد الجميل على هذا الدعم المتواصل من جمهور الأهلي العظيم”.

وأضاف: “دخلنا المباراة متأخرين بهدف مبكر للمصري، لكن تعامل الجهاز الفني بهدوء مع الوضع، وخبرة اللاعبين ساعدتنا على العودة السريعة وفرض سيطرتنا على مجريات اللقاء”.

وأوضح: “نعتمد على الضغط الهجومي وصناعة الفرص باستمرار، وهذا ما أثمر عن تسجيل الأهداف، كما أن لدينا مجموعة مميزة من اللاعبين في كل المراكز، وهو ما يجعلنا دائمًا في وضع قوي ويساهم في تشكيل ضغط متواصل على المنافسين”.

واختتم: “بدأنا تجهيز البدلاء مبكرًا في الشوط الأول تحسبًا لأي تراجع فني، لكن اللاعبين استعادوا زمام الأمور بسرعة ونجحوا في إنهاء المباراة لصالحهم بأداء مميز”.

كشف إيمان شاكر مديرة مركز الاستشعار عن بعد بالهيئة العامة للأرصاد الجوية، موقف مباراتي الأهلي وبتروجيت وبيراميدز أمام حرس الحدود، في ظل التحذيرات الجوية بسبب هبوب عاصفة ترابية اليوم الأربعاء.

ومن المقرر أن تقام اليوم الأربعاء مواجهات الجولة الثالثة من مجموعة حسم اللقب بالدوري المصري هذا الموسم.

ويواجه حرس الحدود نظيره بيراميدز على ملعب استاد المكس في تمام الساعة الخامسة مساءً، فيما يلاقي الأهلي منافسه بتروجيت في تمام الساعة الثامنة.

وقالت إيمان شاكر في تصريحات تلفزيونية عبر قناة ام بي سي مصر2: “لا نستطيع اتخاذ القرار، لأن هذا ليس من صلاحياتنا، نحن نصدر التحذيرات ونرسلها إلى جميع الجهات الرسمية، وكل جهة تبدأ باتخاذ قرارها بناءً على معطياتها، على سبيل المثال، وزارة التربية والتعليم اتخذت قرارًا بتعطيل الدراسة، وكان هناك تنسيق معنا وتواصل، وقد استشارونا في الأمر”.

وأكملت: “أما بالنسبة للمباريات، فقد تم التواصل مع هيئة الأرصاد الجوية، وهناك دراسة جارية للوضع حتى الآن، وأنا لا يمكنني اتخاذ القرار، بل نوضح لهم الصورة ونزودهم بجميع المعلومات، وسيكون هناك تواصل غدًا على مدار اليوم، ومتابعة مع كل الجهات المعنية”.

طالع.. تشكيل الأهلي المتوقع أمام بتروجيت في الدوري المصري

وأردفت: “من المقرر إقامة مباراتين غدًا، واحدة في الإسكندرية، والأخرى في القاهرة، الإسكندرية ستكون أقل تأثرًا بالعاصفة مقارنة بالقاهرة، وقد لا تتأثر المباراة هناك، وهذا ما سنؤكده غدًا”.

واستطردت: “أما القاهرة، فستكون أكثر تأثرًا بالرياح المحملة بالأتربة، وخاصة في شرق القاهرة، والمباراة مقررة في الساعة الثامنة مساءً، ومن الممكن أن تكون العاصفة قد انتهت بحلول ذلك الوقت، وبناءً عليه سنتخذ القرار، ومن الوارد أيضًا أن تتأخر العاصفة قليلًا وتستمر حتى الساعة الثامنة”.

واختتمت: “سنتابع على مدار اوضاع الطقس بحد أقصى الساعة الرابعة عصرًا قبل مباريات الغد”.

Backs Eoin Morgan’s captaincy as Brendon McCullum enters frame as potential head coach

Matt Roller10-May-2022

Rob Key, the ECB’s new managing director of men’s cricket, has given the first clear outline of his vision for England’s white-ball sides by throwing his weight behind Eoin Morgan’s captaincy while underlining that he is not looking for a “facilitator” white-ball head coach during the ongoing interview process.Key has largely focused on England’s Test side since his appointment due to the proximity of the first Test of the summer against New Zealand on June 2 and the abject run of red-ball results across the last year. But speaking to his former colleague Nasser Hussain in an interview for Sky Sports, Key said that he expects the white-ball teams to “keep evolving” under their new specialist coach.Interviews for the coaching roles – which will be split along format lines – are ongoing at Lord’s after applications closed last Friday. Brendon McCullum, Morgan’s close friend, is among the most prominent names linked with the white-ball role while Paul Collingwood, Richard Dawson and Marcus Trescothick are current ECB employees who could fill the position.”Whoever comes in on that can’t just be a facilitator coach who is just going to think: ‘There you are, Eoin, all yours. I’ll throw a few balls and do all that type of stuff.’ They’ve got to have one eye on the fact that this team’s got to keep getting better,” Key said.”Like the Australians would have found when you [Hussain] were playing, everyone’s trying to catch them up. What the great teams are good at is [to] keep evolving. Whoever that coach is has to know – you’ve got the best side or one of the best sides in the world at the moment and you’re a good chance of winning the World Cup, but you’ve got to maintain that and you’ve got to keep evolving with it.Eoin Morgan has been England’s white-ball captain since 2014•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“I don’t think anything is unstoppable. I think if you take it for granted then all of a sudden it sorts of hits you and you don’t realise where that’s come from. What [Australia] did so well is they changed the culture or the mentality of the way they played that game. They focused on that brand of cricket, that mentality, and that’s why it’s lasted longer. We’ve got to keep evolving that.”Morgan has been England’s white-ball captain since December 2014 but his role came under scrutiny last year following a lean run with the bat which saw him make a solitary international half-century across formats and finish the T20 World Cup with a strike rate of 119.29.But Key – who first worked with Morgan in 2009 when he appointed him as his England Lions vice-captain on a tour to New Zealand – stressed that Morgan’s future as captain was in his own hands and that he would “do the best thing for English cricket”.”I’ve spoken to Eoin quite a bit,” Key said. “He’ll always do what’s right for English cricket. He’s pretty clear on that himself. For me personally – and I’ve captained in T20, not at that level – if you’ve got a great captain, which Eoin Morgan is, that’s like playing with 12. As a captain, you impact every game, more so than some of the great, great players.”You get an overseas batsman to come in and play a T20 franchise [tournament] and he might come off three out of eight times. As a captain, you [make an] impact with your decision-making: every decision you make, within a ball, you will know if that’s been the right decision or not and Eoin Morgan is the best in the world at that. I’m sure at some point, as Eoin will probably tell you himself, if he feels he’s not that then I’m sure he’ll do the best thing for English cricket. He always has done.”Related

England to split coaching roles between Test and white-ball teams

Rob Key: Chance to have 'skin in the game' made England director role irresistible

Rob Key brings sense of calm at turbulent time for English cricket

Key also confirmed that he will not stand in the way if England’s new white-ball coach wants to work at the IPL. The ECB have avoided any overlap between England’s limited-overs fixtures and the IPL’s window in recent years and have previously allowed support staff from the white-ball set-up to fill roles with franchises: analyst Nathan Leamon, for example, has spent the last two seasons with Kolkata Knight Riders.”You have to move with the times, don’t you? At the moment, there’s no international cricket on during the IPL,” Key said. “I would much rather have the best person for 10 months of the year than someone not as good for 12. I would say that it’s a pretty good field of candidates we’ve got and nearly all of them are like, ‘I wouldn’t be going for this if it was one [job].”

da luck： Chelsea through the years have been seen as a ruthless club, discarding both players and managers if things aren’t going their way.

da stake casino： A relentless pursuit for success has its casualties; youth players being sold, club legends being phased out, and elite managers having their time cut short. Chelsea would do whatever was necessary to chase instant success in the past, even if it led to some uncomfortable conversations and decisions.

This was a successful method for the Blues over the years, winning five Premier League titles, two Champions League trophies, and five FA Cups, along with two Europa League trophies, and three League Cups.

That said, they’ve not always got it right in the transfer market. Current Arsenal star Kai Havertz is a fine example of that.

Kai Havertz at Chelsea

Chelsea signed Havertz in the summer transfer window during 2020 under then-manager Frank Lampard at the time. Havertz cost Chelsea around £71m and in the process became their second most expensive signing ever behind Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Havertz made 139 appearances for the Blues in all competitions, scoring 32 goals, providing 12 assists, and totaling 9,022 minutes played.

This includes scoring one of the biggest goals in Chelsea’s history, with the only goal in the 2021 Champions League final, in which the Blues were victorious, beating Manchester City 1-0.

However, as time went on, the London outfit struggled to find the goals upfront, with Havertz being used more often as a number nine than a midfielder under Thomas Tuchel, which saw the German leave for Arsenal in 2023 for a fee of around £65m, allowing Chelsea to recoup most of what they spent on the German.

Other midfielders signed in the following years, including Atletico Madrid loanee and then World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez.

Saul struggled for game time while Fernandez has at least become a regular. That said, at a similar time they could have brought one of the game’s global superstars to the Bridge.

When Chelsea tried to sign Jude Bellingham

According to talkSPORT, Chelsea worked ‘tirelessly’ to try and tempt Jude Bellingham away from Birmingham way back when most of England’s top clubs were ready to fight for the young midfielder.

Despite putting in lots of background work, Dortmund signed Bellingham for around £25m in 2020, Chelsea then moving onto Havertz and acquired him instead.

Bellingham is regarded as one of the best players in world football now, having moved from Dortmund to Real Madrid last summer, for a whopping £88.5m initial fee, with huge add-ons, which could see the deal become worth £115m. So staggering has the English talent been in Madrid that his market value has now increased to a remarkable £152m, as per Transfermarkt.

Comparing the seasons of both players for the 2020/21 campaign, it is important to note that Bellingham was only 17 years old at this point but he still put up some phenomenal numbers, and as we all know, he has now become a truly special player.

Bellingham vs Havertz (2020/21)

Stats (per 90 mins)

Bellingham

Havertz

Goals

0.13

0.35

Assists

0.13

0.24

Progressive Carries

1.32

3.01

Progressive Passes

4.87

4.41

Shots Total

1.57

1.94

Passes into Final Third

4.15

2.15

Shot-Creating Actions

2.08

3.01

Tackles

2.75

1.37

Blocks

2.11

1.29

Interceptions

1.18

0.52

Stats taken from FBref

Back in 2020, Bellingham was in a more box-to-box role, compared to Havertz who was more of an attacking midfielder.

You can see their different qualities and roles, with the English superstar averaging better passing metrics, due to his deeper positioning and responsibility to progress the ball, as well as his extra defensive responsibilities, averaging more tackles, blocks and interceptions per 90 minutes.

Havertz had more G/A output, boasting a higher shot volume and a better progressive carry rate at the time but Bellingham has now morphed into a complete midfielder over the years, learning to use his body even better, increasing his carrying capabilities to the highest level.

He is a brilliant asset for duels due to his height and frame, but also adding more goals and assists, having scored 23 goals and provided 13 assists for Madrid last season. If Chelsea had gone all in for Bellingham, things could be very different now, that’s for sure.

Related Lukaku arrived instead: Tuchel wanted Chelsea to sign star now worth £152m

It’s safe to say the club made a huge error in not securing a move for the talent.

Posts ByEthan Lamb Sep 18, 2024