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There’s one batting spot in the XI to fill for Perth, and maybe a reserve player as well

Andrew McGlashan17-Oct-202410:42

Newsroom: How are Australia shaping up for the India Tests?

There have been a couple of key developments in Australia’s selection plans for the Test summer with Cameron Green’s back injury and confirmation that Steven Smith will move back down the order. But there remains a fascinating few weeks ahead with a combination of Sheffield Shield and Australia A matches for players to push their claims for a Test call-up.The likelihood is that the vacancy will be at the top of the order but there may also be a spot for another reserve batter in the era of concussion substitutes. Here’s a look at the runners and riders.Marcus HarrisHarris has started the season well with 143 and 52, albeit on a lifeless Junction Oval surface, and has been named in the Australia A squad. Before that comes a potentially high-octane Shield clash against New South Wales where he will face Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott and Nathan Lyon. Harris has spoken openly about his frustrations after being overlooked in recent times having been a long-term back-up around the Test squad, but he retains significant support within the set-up. He lost his Test place one game after an excellent 76 on a tough pitch against England at the MCG, but overall an average of 25.29 from 14 matches leaves plenty to prove if another chance does come his way.Related

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“It’s not like it’s going to be the first time I’ve ever played for Australia A before a Test series,” he said last week. “There’s obviously always a bit of attention around those games. Pressure wise, I’m not going to be trying to put the same pressure on myself as I had before. It will just be a great opportunity.”Cameron BancroftAs with Harris, we are back to where we were 12 months ago amid the debate about who would replace David Warner. As history shows, that took an unexpected twist with Smith’s promotion – a move which has proved short-term. So Bancroft’s name is firmly back in discussions. A pair in the opening game of the season hasn’t changed anything – “There’s plenty of batters that have managed to get a feather on an early Michael Neser ball,” chair of selectors George Bailey said – and over the last couple of seasons Bancroft couldn’t have done much more to push his claims. He has averaged 50.67 in the Shield over the last two summers (even including that pair) with last season’s runs being particularly hard to come by.Sam Konstas is the name on everyone’s lips•Getty ImagesSam KonstasHe is the 19-year-old new kid on the block and generating plenty of excitement. Konstas has been compared to Ricky Ponting and joined him as a teenager to make twin hundreds in the Sheffield Shield. Bailey was careful to temper expectations and it would be a very rapid rise – and against the grain for Australian men’s cricket – if he was catapulted into the Test squad in a few weeks.”He’s in the mix as are plenty of others,” Bailey said. “I certainly don’t want to single him out. Think the consistency of Cam Bancroft over a number of years, the consistency of Marcus Harris over a number of years, they’ve both had a look at Test cricket as well, so don’t think there’s a need at this stage to put any undue pressure or expectation on Sam.”But the opportunity is there for him to make the selectors think hard. He will face Scott Boland at the MCG from Sunday before what will likely be a strong India A side. Another couple hundreds against those attacks and the momentum could be unstoppable.Matt RenshawRenshaw was the reserve batter against West Indies and New Zealand earlier this year but has been overlooked for the Australia A squad. He made 6 and 15 in the opening round of Sheffield Shield against Western Australia. However, Bailey said that doesn’t mean the selectors have moved on from him, while also referencing a couple of other experienced domestic players who have had a taste of Test cricket.”We still really like Matt’s ability to play,” Bailey said. “As far as Australia A selection goes, part of the process around that is trying to identify opportunities that may come around in the short term but also making sure we do keep an eye on developing opportunities for those players who may become important in different roles in the future as well. Whilst there’s an Australia A squad there, I think Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, as three examples, are guys who we’ll continue to watch really closely in Shield cricket.”The other aspect is that even after the initial Test squad is named there will be three more rounds of Shield before the BBL for players to impress should back-up be needed during the series.Nathan McSweeneyThe South Australia captain would not be a contender to open the batting so a call-up for him would reopen the debate about an incumbent moving up to the top therefore appears an unlikely route, but McSweeney is very highly regarded, both for his run-scoring and his leadership. He will captain Australia A as he did last summer and has already started the season with an impressive match-saving 127 not out off 283 balls against South Australia.”I’m definitely confident in my game at the moment and if I were to get an opportunity I think I would be ready,” he said on Thursday. “But all I can do is to continue to focus on what I can control and that’s preparing well for South Australia and hopefully winning games for my state.”Beau Webster’s returns over the last two seasons have been outstanding•Getty ImagesBeau WebsterAn immediate question after Green’s injury was whether his replacement would be a like-for-like, or as close as could be found. That sounds an unlikely option with Bailey and Pat Cummins pointing out how often Australia have managed without an allrounder, while there remains confidence in Mitchell Marsh being able to bowl. Still, it is interesting to ponder the next in line given Green faces a lengthy lay-off.Webster, the Tasmania allrounder, has numbers that speak for themselves over the last two seasons. With the bat he has averaged 53.12 in the Sheffield Shield – including an opening-round hundred last week – while has taken 66 wickets with a combination of brisk medium pace and offspin. Add in bucket hands at slip and he’s an ultimate allrounder. The Australia A series is a chance for him to do it a level up and success there will keep him in the frame should there be a need for another allrounder down the track. His versatility could also put him in consideration for the Sri Lanka tour early next year.Aaron HardieAlongside Webster, Hardie is the other emerging allrounder and had an excellent limited-overs tour of England, especially with the ball whereas overall his batting is his primary suit. Bailey told that there had been consideration to trying to get Hardie one of the Australia A matches but with Green’s injury it was felt he would be needed through the ODI and T20I matches against Pakistan. There may be an opportunity for him to bat slightly higher in the order in the ODIs. He is due to return to Shield action at the weekend where he will be expected to slot in as part Western Australia’s top order. Hardie hasn’t scored a Shield century since his unbeaten 174 in 2021-22 final although did make one for Australia A in New Zealand a few weeks after that. In the last two seasons for WA he has averaged 31.45 so he may need a big season to push his case.And what about the bowlers?There is probably less mystery about who will be the back-up to the big three. It appears unlikely that Lance Morris will be in consideration amid his managed return from back problems (and a more recent thigh niggle) which leaves Boland and Michael Neser leading the way. Sean Abbott was part of the squad when India last toured in 2020-21 and, along with Neser, is someone who would bring some extra batting depth.

Jude Bellingham is expected to start from the bench in England's Word Cup qualifier against Serbia. Thomas Tuchel is set to name a strong starting lineup, with Morgan Rodgers retaining the No.10 position ahead of the Real Madrid star. Bellingham was left out of the German's squad during the October international window, after he missed the opening months of the season following shoulder surgery.

Tuchel sticks with Rogers

The Aston Villa midfielder has had a run of games in Tuchel's Three Lions side, starting as an attacking midfielder during October's wins over Latvia and Wales, and the September victory over Serbia. Rogers has enjoyed his time in the national setup since the start of the 2025-26 season, scoring a goal and logging an assist. 

Bellingham has repeatedly been deployed as a No.10 in the England side, but was not included in the October squad. Tuchel said the 22-year-old needed to get his "rhythm" back. Bellingham missed the first four games of the domestic season for Los Blancos, starting for the first time in Real Madrid's 5-2 loss to inter-city rivals Atletico on September 25. There are signs that the former Borussia Dortmund superstar is returning to his best, bagging a goal and an assist in last month's El Clasico. 

AdvertisementGetty Images SportRogers and Bellingham competing for starting role

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the ex-Chelsea, PSG and Borussia Dortmund coach said both players are competing for the same berth in his team, and that he would want to deploy his players in their best position rather than force them into the side. 

“Rather than finding the best players a position to just have them on the field, it’s maybe better to put everyone in their best position and have a competition. At the moment, the competition is between the two of them,” Tuchel said.

 “They are friends so it can also be a friendly competition. They don’t have to be enemies. They don’t have to hate each other. They are respectful. They are friends with each other and they fight at the moment for the same position.

“Can they play together? Yes, but in a different structure and at the moment it’s not the moment to change our structure.”

Tuchel: Kane, Foden and Bellingham cannot play together

Tuchel continued to lay down his vision for his England side in an interview with talkSPORT The German was asked whether Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane could all exist within the confines of his team. 

"At the moment, if we keep the structure, they cannot play," Tuchel replied. They can, but not in the structure. Not for the balance that we developed, and not for structure that comes also with wingers who are like specialists in their positions. We play at the moment with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine."

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AFPCan tactical approach win England a World Cup?

Tuchel's approach to team-building rails against previous managers' attempts at bringing glory to the Three Lions. Sven Goran Eriksson struggled to find a formation that could include all four of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes and David Beckham, with Scholes shunted to the left-side of a flat midfield during his tenure. Sir Gareth Southgate's side scrapped their way to a finals berth in Euros 2024, despite the apparent struggles of Foden, Kane and Bellingham to bring the best out of each other in Germany. 

Prioritising a style of play, and a functioning tactical system, rather than concede to the demands of name power has certainly worked for the 52-year-old so far. England have already qualified for next year's expanded World Cup in North America, winning all six of their games in their group without conceding a goal. Granted, the level of opposition has hardly challenged his supremely talented squad. 

Bellingham's ongoing 'exclusion': first from the squad following his injury, and now from the starting eleven, does carry risk. The 22-year-old is a fiercely competitive and proud operator that will view himself as a nailed on starter in any side. Many England fans will share that opinion. Whatever happens, there will certainly be plenty of debate about Tuchel's management of one of his most high-profile players ahead of a make or break tournament for this crop of England players. 

There were no bigger sellers at the MLB trade deadline than the Minnesota Twins. Identifying a seller’s market and with solid assets to offer to contenders, the Twins unloaded the roster in hopes of building the foundation for a better future.

One of their biggest deadline deals was trading away electric closer Jhoan Duran to the Philadelphia Phillies. Duran is a flamethrower, and his aura was all the greater thanks to the electric entrance that the Twins had put together for him when he took the mound.

It wasn’t clear how that entrance would carry over to Philadelphia, but when Duran stepped up for his first career save as a Phillie over the weekend, the lights went down, the phones came out, and the bell of the Undertaker tolled.

It was epic.

How were the Phillies able to recreate the magic of Duran’s entrance? Mostly thanks to the Twins. As Matt Gelb reported in a story for , the Twins had worked with the Phillies, providing digital assets and music, to ensure that his first moment on the mound with his new team was a memorable one.

Dustin Morse, the Twins vice president of communications, had asked Duran what he wanted to do regarding his entrance shortly after news of the trade broke, and the closer said it was simply too good to give up. Morse agreed, and took the idea to the rest of the team’s top officials. Not long after, they were trading emails with their counterparts on the Phillies to make sure they could put together a similar entrance at Citizens Bank Park.

“We collectively thought, ‘This is for the greater good of baseball fans,’” Morse told Gelb. “This is a fun atmosphere. All baseball fans should get to see it and experience it. We all know that the atmosphere at Citizens Bank is already nuts. This would go over well.”

It certainly did. A crowd of 43,241 Phillies fans roared for Duran in his debut, and he secured the save with just four pitches.

Morse texted Duran after the save congratulating him on his success, and noting that the entrance still looked great. “Thank you so much, Dustin,” Duran replied. “Thank you for being a part of that creation.”

Duran’s first few days in Philadelphia have already been memorable. On Sunday, he was able to secure another save for the Phillies, this time on the airwaves of ESPN, and threw a few of the fastest pitches in team history in the process. The entrance still looked stellar.

The Twins certainly didn’t have to do what they did to help the Phillies recreate Duran’s theatrics—the entrance represented hundreds of hours of work Minnesota’s team put into ideation, creation and execution. But as Morse said, it was a move that was made for the greater good of baseball fans, and that truth has already been proven plenty after just a few days in Philadelphia.

England scored 153 runs in the 28 overs of the middle session to hurt India

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Aug-2025

Harry Brook made a 91-ball ton after coming in at 106 for 3•Getty Images

Tea A stunning partnership worth 195 between Harry Brook and Joe Root put England on the cusp of a series-sealing win at The Oval. India had taken control of the fifth Test when Brook walked out to bat at No. 5 with 268 runs still required, but he seized the moment with an audacious 91-ball hundred, his tenth in Tests and his first in the fourth innings of a match.Brook was given a life late in the morning session, picking out Mohammed Siraj at long leg with a miscued pull shot only for Siraj to tread on the advertising toblerone on the boundary rope. Rather than prompting a change in approach, the reprieve led Brook to double down, slapping India’s seamers around as he raced to 38 off 30 balls at lunch.If he rode his luck at times, his attacking intent worked in his favour: soon after lunch, Prasidh Krishna drew a thick outside edge which flew away between the solitary slip and gully, with the field spread to try and keep a lid on England’s scoring. He continued to bludgeon anything short through the leg side, but rotated the strike with ease through the afternoon.Brook’s celebrations are typically restrained but he showed his emotion when sprinting back for two to reach three figures, pumping his fists, swishing his bat and throwing his head back in relief. He was out seven balls later, losing his bat as he attempted to swipe Akash Deep for a third boundary in a row, but the damage had been done.Root, meanwhile, played in Brook’s slipstream, ticking over with few qualms and occasionally freeing his arms – including belting Ravindra Jadeja back over his head for four, and swinging a high full toss over midwicket. India could not dislodge him, reviewing unsuccessfully after Siraj trapped him on the pad on 88, and he responded with back-to-back boundaries to reach 98.India’s session was personified by the exhausted Akash Deep: he attempted to stop a boundary by sticking out his boot, only to divert the ball back over the rope, and then lost his footing when Jacob Bethell skewed a caught-and-bowled chance back to him. Siraj kept charging in, bowling 17.1 overs in the first two sessions, but could not conjure up another game-breaking moment.

Sibley, Burns add fifties as champions push into dominant position after even first-innings tussle

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay09-Sep-2025Ollie Pope’s quickfire 56 not out underlined a dramatic second day turnabout in fortunes with Surrey taking charge of their vital Rothesay County Championship match against Warwickshire at the Kia Oval.Dom Sibley also made an unbeaten 64 as Surrey cruised to 181 for 1 in their second innings, helping Pope add an unbroken 89 after initially featuring in a 92-run opening partnership with Rory Burns, who scored 54 before being bowled through the gate by Ethan Bamber.The efforts of Surrey’s top three, indeed, had wrenched a previously hard-fought contest Surrey’s way on a clearly easing pitch for batting, with Pope’s runs taking him just 78 balls while Sibley’s 160-ball knock anchored the innings perfectly.Both Pope and Burns made their second fifties of the match and by stumps Surrey had moved ominously into an overall lead of 179 after earlier in the day bowling out Warwickshire for 248 to keep themselves in the game.Gus Atkinson led a first session fightback with the ball with 3 for 53 as Warwickshire failed to capitalise fully on an overnight 132 for 4 in reply to Surrey’s first-innings 246, although Tom Lawes’ 4 for 42 earned him the best figures following his stellar three-wicket burst late on day one.New Zealand Test batter Will Young top-scored for Warwickshire with 72, while Ed Barnard also reached a half-century and last man Nathan Gilchrist hit an unbeaten 25 to earn the visitors a slender two-run halfway lead.Will Young frustrated the Surrey attack•Getty ImagesYoung and Barnard, who had put on 85 in defiant style towards the end of day one, added just four more runs to their overnight partnership before Atkinson had Barnard caught at the wicket for 50 with a magnificent delivery, lifting and leaving the bat from just short of a length on the line of off stump, that the Warwickshire allrounder did well to touch.Atkinson, bowling with pace and control, was a difficult prospect although Young did slightly top-edge a pulled six wide of long leg before pulling more confidently through midwicket for four to reach an excellent half-century.At 174, though, Dan Mousley’s 44-ball 19 ended with an edge to second slip off Jordan Clark and Atkinson, recalled for a second spell before lunch, responded by removing Michael Booth with his first ball back.Booth, on 10, pushed at a sharp, rising delivery and Pope held on to his second catch of the morning at second slip before Atkinson, in his next over, also had Bamber comfortably caught at midwicket for 2 by Lawrence as he flapped an attempted pull.That left Warwickshire 204 for 8 and, in the fifth over after lunch, it became 216 for 9 when Young’s superb innings was finally brought to an end by a quite brilliant catch by Surrey keeper Ben Foakes.Diving low to his right, Foakes somehow managed to get his right glove underneath a dipping edge off Dan Worrall and it was no surprise that Young, having batted for four and a half hours and faced 166 balls, took several disbelieving backward glances at replays on the big screen as he left the field.An assault by Gilchrist on Clark, taking four fours in an over via an outside edge, an inside edge and then two perfectly-struck drives either side of cover, took Warwickshire into the lead but – two runs short of a first batting bonus point – Lawes fired a low full toss through Olly Hannon-Dalby’s effort to flick it away to have him leg-before for 7.

Middlesbrough’s search for their new manager looks set to be over, with a significant update emerging regarding the club’s process to replace Rob Edwards.

The exit of Edwards to Wolves has hurt Boro at a key point in the season where they are sitting second in the Championship table and pushing for promotion. He sent a message to the supporters upon leaving for Molineux, wishing the club well.

“This has been one of the toughest decisions of my career. In truth, I wouldn’t have considered leaving Middlesbrough for any other club. Wolves is a special club for me. It’s where I grew as both a player and a coach, it’s still where my family calls home. It has always been my dream to come back and these opportunities do not come around too often.

“Middlesbrough is an incredible club, with a fantastic owner, staff and passionate supporters. I want to thank everyone at the club for the opportunity to lead this squad, it is a great group of players that I genuinely hope and believe will deliver success this season. I could not be prouder of the environment we built together and how it all gelled together so quickly – the players, the staff, and the fans, who drive it all. I sincerely wish everyone at Middlesbrough all the very best for the rest of the season and beyond. Rob.”

It’s now a case of Boro nailing Edwards’ successor at the Riverside Stadium, and it looks as though their new boss may have been found, following a big new claim.

Middlesbrough reach verbal agreement with Kim Hellberg

According to Fotboll Skanalen, Middlesbrough have now reached a verbal agreement with Kim Hellberg over a move to the club, seeing him as the right man to come in for Edwards.

Boro look set to swoop in from under the noses of Championship rivals Swansea City, with the club having a meeting with Hellberg’s representatives in London.

Hellberg may be something of an unknown to some Boro supporters, considering he is only 37 and hasn’t managed in Europe’s top leagues yet, but he looks like an exciting young choice.

IFK Varnamo sporting director Enes Ahmetovic, who worked with the Swede in the past, has said of him: “An incredibly skilled football coach. He spends a huge amount of time on every detail. I’m completely convinced that Hellberg will coach much bigger clubs than IFK Varnamo.”

"Impressive" manager now interested in taking Middlesbrough job after talks

Would he be the right man to replace Rob Edwards?

ByHenry Jackson Nov 16, 2025

The 4-2-3-1-playing Hellberg is something of a gamble, at a time when promotion has to be the aim for Boro, but assuming he is the choice to come in, it will be fascinating to see how he fares.

How Middlesbrough feel about Raphael Wicky as Swiss manager holds Riverside talks

Wayne Rooney has slammed Liverpool's 'leaders' after the Reds fell to a disappointing 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Murillo, Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White condemned the Premier League champions to a sixth league defeat of the season as their title defence lies in tatters following another subpar showing.

AFPLiverpool enduring a difficult campaign

Liverpool were already eight points off league leaders Arsenal heading into the weekend's action and they needed a victory over Sean Dyche's Forest side in order to kickstart a comeback in the title race. However, they could be 11 points behind the Gunners should Mikel Arteta's men claim all the spoils in the north London derby against Tottenham on Sunday.

The Reds have now lost as many games as newly-promoted Leeds ahead of their meeting with Aston Villa today and the Merseyside outfit are struggling to match last season's expectations that saw them secure a first Premier League title since 2020. The tragic passing of Diogo Jota combined with player upheaval has contributed to a poor opening few months of the campaign.

And former Manchester United and Everton striker Wayne Rooney tore into the Reds on Match of the Day on Saturday night, with the ex-England hero pointing fingers at the club's 'leaders' in the dressing room as a reason behind the poor form.

AdvertisementThe leaders need to pick the players up, says Rooney

In the post-Liverpool vs Forest segment on Match of the Day, Rooney said: "Liverpool are a very good team and they're going through a very difficult moment. They've been going through a tough time all season really. Even at the beginning of the season, they won games, but they were struggling with performance. Throughout the season, it's those leaders in that dressing room that have to pick the players up."

Rooney added that unless the club can sort themselves out in the coming weeks, then they'll be the latest Big Six side to drop down the Premier League table, continuing: "We've seen it over the last few years with Manchester United and we've seen it last year with Tottenham, they can slip down the table."

United endured their worst ever Premier League finish under Ruben Amorim last season, as they finished 15th. Combined with a Europa League final loss to Tottenham, the Red Devils are going through a campaign without any European football of note.

Spurs, meanwhile, ended their lengthy wait for silverware as they beat United 1-0 in Bilbao in May, but the league form suffered as the north London side prioritised the Europa League, which meant they finish 17th on 38 points.

Getty Images SportLiverpool boss Slot laments 'another big disappointment'

Liverpool boss Arne Slot admitted after the loss to Forest that the result itself was "another big disappointment" with the Reds now on a run of six defeats in their last seven league outings.

"Another big disappointment," Slot started after Saturday's defeat. "We started off quite well for the first half an hour. We conceded the 1-0, and we weren’t able to play the way we did in the first half hour.

"If things go well or things go bad, it’s my responsibility. We weren’t able to create enough. I tried to adjust a few things, but it didn’t work out. We were unable to score a goal. You never know in this stadium, if you score a goal, then things can work out."

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Getty Images SportReds not up to 'battles, challenges, the fight' states Van Dijk

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk also claimed that the club are not up to the "battles, challenges, the fight" as the Dutchman discussed the performance with Premier League Productions.

"We concede too many easy goals," Van Dijk started. "They scored obviously from a set piece again. You can ask if he was in front of Alisson, but it counted, so we’re 1-0 down. We were not good in terms of battles, challenges, the fight, too rushed. It’s a very difficult situation at the moment.

"There was nervousness after we conceded, but not before. We tried to rush things and that’s human when you’re in a difficult moment. We cleared the ones before and in the end, we’re in a very difficult moment. We don’t get out of it by just speaking about it. It will take a lot of hard work.

"It’s a problem. Everyone in the team has to take responsibility as well. Football is a team and everyone has to take responsibility. We have to digest this and take it on the chin. We need to work harder. We have to keep going."

The Reds skipper continued "We concede too many easy goals. They scored obviously from a set piece again. You can ask if he was in front of Alisson, but it counted, so we’re 1-0 down. We were not good in terms of battles, challenges, the fight, too rushed. It’s a very difficult situation at the moment.

"There was nervousness after we conceded, but not before. We tried to rush things and that’s human when you’re in a difficult moment. We cleared the ones before and in the end, we’re in a very difficult moment. We don’t get out of it by just speaking about it. It will take a lot of hard work.

"It’s a problem. Everyone in the team has to take responsibility as well. Football is a team and everyone has to take responsibility. We have to digest this and take it on the chin. We need to work harder. We have to keep going.

"I can’t decide what the supporters are doing if they leave early. I know the fans have been through thick and thin with us. They will be there with us when we come out of this because we will come out of this."

The South Africa and MI Cape Town batter talks about his start in the game, his successful 2024, and about being mentored by Hashim Amla

Firdose Moonda08-Feb-20256:28

Ryan Rickelton: “With T20s, there’s a lot more pressure on every delivery”

Players often remind us that Test cricket is thus named because of the challenges it poses, but for Ryan Rickelton there was something more difficult: T20s.South Africa’s first Test double-centurion since 2016 found scoring those runs easier than the 303 he compiled in seven innings for finalists MI Cape Town in this season of the SA20.”I grew up wanting to be a Test player and thought that in T20, you can just whack a few, but T20 cricket is flipping hard. It’s different, but it is harder,” Rickelton says.Related

Invincible Rickelton gives his international cred a shot in the arm

Rickelton's marathon 259, Verreynne century thump hapless Pakistan

Ryan Rickelton, the new showstopper at Newlands

“Test cricket is very hard, but with T20s, there’s a lot more pressure on every delivery. In Test cricket, you can bide your time and work your way through it at a lower intensity. In T20s, you’ve got to score [off] every ball. There’s always pressure on you, internally, externally, there’s more detailed analysis on you as a player, and against your opposition. They’re always trying to hit your weaknesses. There’s a lot more to it than it seems.”And it took some time for Rickelton to work that out. While he has largely consistently averaged high in first-class cricket, he had a pronounced blip in T20s a little over three years into his career, after which his average came back up to 25 and his strike rate to over 130 last year. He finished as the top scorer at the 2023-24 SA20, which was around the time that he began to think about how to change techniques for different formats after talking to Hashim Amla, his batting coach at Lions and MI Cape Town.Related

Invincible Rickelton gives his international cred a shot in the arm

Rickelton's marathon 259, Verreynne century thump hapless Pakistan

Ryan Rickelton, the new showstopper at Newlands

Amla was once regarded as a red-ball specialist but he broke the record for being the fastest player to 5000 ODI runs and ended his career with the most hundreds in the format for South Africa.”I spend a lot of time with Hash,” Rickelton says. “He was a phenomenal player and a calm guy in the way he dealt with his success and his failure, so that’s awesome. It’s just hard to obviously deal with both sides of the spectrum, but he was an incredible player and he’s a very good coach.”Batting is very relationship-based, and having spent three years with him, I can trust his eyes and his perspective as a coach. It’s also nice to have someone that’s around frequently. Even when I move up into the Proteas space, he’s still the guy I call back. He’ll watch [me play] and I’ll toss some thoughts to him. It doesn’t mean that I disregard anyone else’s [views], but the guys that can see little intricacies coming into your game or what you’re thinking behind the scenes are the kind that can relate to you a little bit more.”Under Amla’s guidance, Rickelton had the best year of his career in 2024, bookended by topping the SA20 run charts and scoring his first Test hundred, against Sri Lanka in December. Suddenly, high-level cricket in any format seemed fairly easy for a batter who wasn’t even sure South Africa was where he wanted to carve out his career.Growing up as the son of the director of sports at one of the country’s most prestigious schools, St Stithians, Rickelton finished school with no idea what to do next, so he moved to New Zealand to try and play for New Zealand, he says.”My dad’s best mate worked for Wellington Blaze. He called my dad and said, ‘Why don’t you just send Ryan over?’ I was young, so I went.”Rickelton’s 259 against Pakistan is the joint seventh-highest Test score for South Africa•Rodger Bosch /AFP/Getty ImagesHe describes his New Zealand stint as something of a gap year, where he discovered how little he actually knew.”I still don’t understand why I went. I think it was just that I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I wanted to go to Stellenbosch [university] because all my mates were going there, but I think that could have derailed a few things. It was one of those things where I thought: let me just go have a look. We chatted to Grant Elliott [former Wellington and New Zealand allrounder] as well, and he said [it’s] a great set-up at Wellington – and it was. Maybe if I went two-three years later, I would have probably stayed there. But I was just a kid. All my mates were on this side, having a good time, my whole family was on this side, and I’m 12 hours ahead in Wellington, not really sure who to talk to or what to do. It really forced me to grow up quite quickly.”Though Wellington offered Rickelton the opportunity to come back for another season, he decided to stay at home and started studying at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2016. The coach of the university cricket team, Richard das Neves, the current Titans interim head coach, knew Rickelton from the Johannesburg club cricket scene and took him under his wing.”I did a finance degree through UJ for three years, played my Varsity Cup, and I always kind of said to myself at the end of this degree, I’ll know if I’m good enough or not. I’ll give it these three years, I’ll be in and around the Gauteng system. I got an amateur contract and gave myself three years to have a full crack at it. And if it worked, cool. If not, I didn’t want to be just plodding about. It was either going to work or it wasn’t.”It worked. By the time Rickelton graduated, he was upgraded to a professional contract. And so began the journey to try to earn national honours.He was third on the One-Day Cup batting charts in 2019-20 and fifth in the 2021-22 first-class competition. In March 2022, he got his first call-up to South Africa’s Test squad, for a series against Bangladesh. Several first-choice batters were unavailable since the series clashed with the IPL, so Rickelton played both games and went on the 2022 tour to England, where he played one match.Rickelton (seated, first from right) was part of the South African side that reached the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup final•Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty ImagesHe scored 224 runs at 22.4 from his first seven Tests and did not look convincing.”I was just trying to make it work and I had played a little bit of county cricket, but the conditions where I played [Northamptonshire] compared to that Test match [at The Oval] was chalk and cheese,” he says. “I was facing Stuart Broad and Jimmy [Anderson] at a packed house in The Oval on a green one, and that was always going to test me. Obviously, we got hammered in that Test and it wasn’t pretty. But you look back and say, well, at least I got the opportunity. I could physically learn and see for myself.”Rickelton was ruled out of South Africa’s Test tour to Australia in December 2022 as the board’s medical team was concerned about a bone spur in his ankle. He says he chose not to have surgery for it at the time under the advice of his own physiotherapist, who said he could go two years without having surgery and could keep playing for the summer, one Rickelton said he “was not willing to miss.”The physio’s advice seemed justified when Rickelton scored four hundreds across formats in five weeks while South Africa crashed and burned in Australia. “It looked like a tough tour,” he says.He eventually had the surgery in April 2023, which ruled him out of county cricket that summer but also gave him the best chance of playing for South Africa. However, he had to bide his time. Rickelton has mostly been seen as the reserve batter and only got a regular run this summer after Wiaan Mulder broke a finger in the Durban Test against Sri Lanka.Fortuitously, in Gqeberha, Rickelton was also given the chance to play higher up the order, which is what he prefers, so he knew it was his time to shine. The pressure he always feels in T20 was on him.In three SA20 seasons so far, Rickelton has scored nearly 1000 runs at a strike rate of 161.28•SA20″I’d only played seven games at the time and there was that question mark over me from you guys [media] and from myself as well: ‘Can he do it?’ So when I walked in there, I locked in. I was chatting to Hash about just trying to watch players and how guys aren’t sticking to their strengths, and trying to emphasise what I do and do it well for the whole day, if not the next day as well. It was very against how people think I play, but I can do that as well and spend lots of time out the crease and score slowly if it’s needed.”In the end, he described the knock as one of relief, not celebration, and it was followed by three low scores. Then came 2025 and the 259 at Newlands against Pakistan and Rickelton is starting to realise his life has changed.”To get 250 is definitely not something I would have thought of, but as I walked off, KG [Rabada] gave me a hug and he said, ‘This is so massive. This is huge.’ And I told him I actually [didn’t] understand it. Maybe you don’t know what it really means until late in your career,” Rickelton says. “It has maybe increased my profile and it was incredible to be part of history. I can’t remember too much, but I can remember the roar for both the hundred and the double. It was spectacular.”The accolades have kept coming. At Newlands, Rickelton has established himself as one of MI Cape Town’s darlings and his opening partnership with Rassie van der Dussen is the most reliable in the competition. His three half-centuries in this SA20 have been scored with freedom and confidence, the signs of a player who is comfortable in his own game, and it’s a feeling he hopes to take into his first IPL later this year.”I’m not sure what to expect. I’ve chatted to lots of guys about the IPL and you hear all these things and you think, ‘This is big boy stuff.’ I’m probably a little bit nervous of how the whole two or three months are going to play out. But you never know if you have a good two months here anything can happen.”That is how Rickelton is approaching things from now on: being open to the possibility of achieving things he didn’t dream of. “I’ve got a big six months ahead. If I can get a bit of the rub of the green, work hard and things can go my way, a lot can change quite quickly. I know I’m going to fail along the way. It’s normal, but just try and balance it out and say, you know what, in the bigger picture, if I have a good six months now, anything can happen. A year ago, I wasn’t sitting near here. Today, after one tournament, everyone says: this guy knows what he’s doing.”However difficult or easy it is.

Jadeja attributes his success with the bat to having a set position at No. 6

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-20252:08

Chopra: Jadeja’s game against fast bowling ‘has improved leaps and bounds’

Shubman Gill has hailed India’s “near-perfect game” after they kicked off their home season with an innings-and-140-run win against West Indies inside three days in Ahmedabad.”Three centurions in the game and I think we fielded really well in both the innings, so honestly don’t really have any complaints,” Gill told the host broadcaster after India’s win. “I’ve lost six tosses in a row, but as long as we keep winning the matches, it doesn’t matter for us. I’m very happy with the win.”India had bowled out West Indies for 162 on the opening day with Mohammed Siraj leading the way with 4 for 40. Then, KL Rahul (100), Dhruv Jurel (125) and Ravindra Jadeja (104*) scored centuries before India declared on 448 for 5, with a lead of 286. It took India less than two sessions on the third day to wrap up the game with Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar sharing seven wickets between them in West Indies’ second innings.Related

Jadeja, Siraj wrap up India's innings win inside three days

Gill replaces Rohit as India's ODI captain

“When you’ve got quality spinners like them, it’s difficult to be able to rotate,” Gill said. “But it’s good to have an option of too many rather than not having any. But that’s the challenge and that’s the fun of playing in India. There would always be someone who would be out there ready to get the job done.”Gill has enjoyed a productive start to his stint as Test captain. After India drew the five-match Test series in England 2-2, they started their home season with a bang.”It’s hard to pin down to one or two things that I learned, but I think over a period of two years, how we bonded as a team and how we got ourselves out from tough situations and difficult situations,” Gill said. “That was really pleasing for me to see. We are still a learning side and I think as long as we keep learning from our experiences that we have, I think we’re going to be on the positive side of the match.”

“I’ve been batting at No. 9, No. 8 a few years ago, but now I’ve got my number… No. 6”Ravindra Jadeja

Jadeja, who was named Player of the Match for his unbeaten century and his match haul of 4 for 69, has said that working on his fitness and skills during the off season at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru has paid off. Jadeja has been one of India’s premier spinners at home for a long time and has also stepped up with the bat. He was the fourth-highest run-getter in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with 516 runs in ten innings at an average of 86 and has carried his form into the home season.”I’ve been batting at No. 9, No. 8 a few years ago, but now I’ve got my number… No. 6,” Jadeja said. “So I have time to prepare myself and I can pace my innings. I don’t need to hurry. I don’t need to rush [and play] unnecessary shots. I just, I can go out there and take my time and just pace my innings.”Jadeja was also excited about playing on a red-soil surface in Ahmedabad, which offers more bounce and grip for spinners and is equally good for the batters.”Playing on a red soil [pitch], it’s fun because as a spinner, you get more turn and bounce,” he said. “As a spinner, you always want that. I was enjoying and as I got to know that we are playing on a red soil wicket, I thought, okay, for batting as well and for bowling as well. If the wicket is flat, you can score runs. If the ball is turning, then you can enjoy bowling on the red soil [pitch].”India are currently third on the World Test Championship table and will next face West Indies in the second Test in Delhi, which gets underway on October 10.

Sometimes a win is just that, but other times it feels far more consequential, as was the case for Chelsea on Tuesday night.

Enzo Maresca’s side were handed the challenging task of hosting Spanish champions Barcelona in the Champions League and blew them away.

The Blues emerged 3-0 winners, but so dominant was the display that they could have probably scored another three on a different night.

It also felt like a statement performance from the young Estêvão, so fans should be delighted that the club have already signed another prospect who could be just like him.

Estêvão's statement performance vs Barcelona

As he started Saturday’s Premier League game against Burnley on the bench, there were question marks over whether Estêvão would be given the nod in what should have been such a challenging game.

Fortunately, Maresca opted to hand the youngster his third Champions League start on the bounce, and it was in part thanks to him that the match was so one-sided.

The former Palmeiras gem was a constant threat for the Blues, darting out wide and into the middle with ease, making life particularly nightmarish for Alejandro Balde.

Moreover, it was the 18-year-old who scored the club’s all-important second goal to take the game well and truly away from Hansi Flick’s ten-man side.

It was a sensational effort as well, one that saw him get the better of two defenders with quick footwork before burying the ball into the roof of the net.

However, the “ridiculous talent,” as dubbed by one content creator, did more than just score a goal.

In his 83 minutes of action, he produced an expected assists figure of 0.35, played three key passes, created one big chance, was accurate in 100% of his long passes, took 47 touches, completed two dribbles, and recovered the ball four times.

Minutes

83′

Expected Goals

0.13

Goals

1

Expected Assists

0.35

Big Chances Created

1

Key Passes

3

Long Balls

1/1

Shots

2

Touches

47

Recoveries

4

In all, it was the sort of performance that felt like a statement, as if Estevao was announcing his presence on the world stage and as someone who will be considered among the best in years to come.

So, fans should be delighted that Chelsea have already signed another youngster who could become the next Estêvão.

Chelsea's next Estêvão

It’s no secret that Chelsea have been spending big on some of the most exciting young talents from around the world in recent years.

Chalkboard

The likes of Deinner Ordonez, Kendry Páez and Dastan Sätpaev, for example, could all develop into serious players for the Blues over the next decade or so.

However, arguably the most exciting of the lot, and the one who feels like he could start emulating Estêvão the quickest, is Geovany Quenda.

The West Londoners signed the 18-year-old for an eye-watering sum of £44m in March of this year, and so to say that there are high expectations for him would be an understatement.

Fortunately, the Portuguese gem, whom respected talent scout Jacek Kulig describes as “one of the most exciting teenagers in World football,” already looks on his way to meeting them.

For example, so far this season, he has scored four goals and provided seven assists in 19 first-team appearances, totalling just 1078 minutes.

Moreover, the incredible talent also amassed 11 goal involvements for the senior side last season, and, as journalist Bobby Vincent points out, is on his way to “emulating CR7” at the Lisbon side.

Appearances

19

Starts

10

Minutes

1078′

Goals

4

Assists

7

Goal Involvements per Match

0.57

Minutes per Goal Involvement

98′

Points per Game

2.32

In fact, he actually took Ronaldo’s record of being the youngest player to score in the country’s top flight when he opened his account last year.

Finally, despite being just 18, the game-changing winger has already won 12 caps for Portugal’s U21 side, during which he’s scored five goals and provided five assists.

Ultimately, it’s still early in his career, but Quenda looks like another world-class talent and, in the words of one Chelsea content creator, it’s easy to imagine him having an impact “just like Estêvão” next season.

As good as Estevao: £60m star is on his way to becoming "a Chelsea legend"

Estevao was the star of the show as Chelsea beat Barcelona in the Champions League.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Nov 26, 2025