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If England are to defend their title, input from Stokes, Root, Buttler, Rashid et al will be key

Matt Roller08-Sep-2023It resembled an old-fashioned shoot-out. With the ICC final World Cup selection deadline looming, Harry Brook and Dawid Malan walked out to open the batting together in the Cardiff sunshine. Naturally, their first task was to help England beat New Zealand in the first ODI – but the subplot was clear.At least one of Brook and Malan will be in England’s 15-man squad for India, and possibly both. England are in no rush to make a firm decision – they have nearly three weeks to finalise their travelling party – and will hope that an obvious solution presents itself, whether through form or through injury.Malan made the stronger case, scoring a fluent half-century – the eighth time he has passed 50 in his 19 ODIs – but fell to Rachin Ravindra for 54 in the first over of spin bowled. Brook, who arrived in Wales late on Thursday night and played after Jason Roy suffered a back spasm, made 25 off 41 before gloving a sharp Lockie Ferguson bouncer behind.What did it all mean? Malan’s innings encapsulated the differences between T20I and ODI cricket. He has long insisted that 50-over cricket is his strongest format and he played several crisp cover-drives to get England up and running in the Powerplay, resembling a completely different batter to the one who lacked tempo in the preceding T20Is.Brook clipped the first ball of the match for four through fine leg but only managed one more boundary, playing second fiddle throughout an opening partnership worth 80. He was thrown in at the deep end, opening in a 50-over match for the first time; this was further proof that even the best young players will have the occasional off-day.In truth, the picture has hardly changed: Malan is still a consistent 50-over run-scorer; Brook remains a hugely exciting young player. There may be some concern over Roy’s fitness, having missed most of the Blast with a calf tear, but England have every reason to be cautious rather than risking players at this stage.Jonny Bairstow was rested as a precaution with a shoulder niggle. “We didn’t want to take a risk,” Jos Buttler explained. Mark Wood was not required either: “He’s still building back up… we don’t need to rush it. Getting him fully fit and ready for travelling to India is the priority.”Dawid Malan stole a march on Harry Brook in the fight for a World Cup squad berth•PA Photos/Getty ImagesIf anything, then, Friday was a reminder that the identity of England’s fringe players is unlikely to be the difference between success and failure at the World Cup. For all the intrigue around selection – and the interest in Brook specifically – major tournaments tend to be won by teams whose senior players perform.Four years ago, at the equivalent stage in their World Cup preparations, there were two spots for England to resolve in their squad: which reserve seamer would Jofra Archer squeeze out, and who should be their spin-bowling allrounder? They backed Tom Curran and Liam Dawson over David Willey and Joe Denly – and at the tournament itself, neither of them played a game.Careers can hinge on such decisions: Willey thought his days as an England player were over after his last-minute omission in 2019 and cherishes the medal he picked up as a member of last year’s T20 World Cup squad, despite the fact he did not make an appearance.But whatever England choose to do this time around, the performance of the players who are guaranteed to feature will be far more relevant to their progress in the tournament than decisions around who should be their spare batter or their sixth seamer.Related

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Take Joe Root. He struggled to get going on Friday, making 6 off 15 balls before slog-sweeping Ravindra to deep midwicket, and the next three ODIs will be vital match practice for him in a format he has hardly played over the last four years. Whether he scores 250 runs or 500 in the World Cup will make a huge difference to England’s hopes.Much the same is true of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, who slipped seamlessly back into 50-over tempo in a partnership of 88 off 104 balls. England would have been runners-up but for their 110-run stand in the final four years ago: “The thing about World Cups,” Stokes said on Thursday, “is they can come down to who can handle the pressure best.”England lacked a cutting edge with the ball, with Wood kept in mothballs ahead of more important tests to come and Adil Rashid unavailable to bowl due to cramp while Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell were building their unbroken, match-winning partnership of 180.Rashid’s eventual figures – 1 for 70 in eight overs – were ugly by the conclusion, but redeemed by the context, having to bowl to two set batters with the field up as England chased the game – that too at a ground with notoriously short straight boundaries. Again, England will not be worried so long as he comes good when it matters – as he did in Australia last year.It is not that England don’t care about results – they were rightly proud to beat Bangladesh 2-1 earlier this year, given Bangladesh’s formidable home record – but they have accepted these shadow bouts for what they are. “Of course, we’re disappointed,” Buttler said, “but there’s a lot of quality in the team.”Tom Latham, New Zealand’s captain, joked that these two teams are playing a five-match series: four September ODIs in England, then a fifth in Ahmedabad on the opening night of the World Cup in four weeks’ time. But England’s approach has long been attuned to the futility of modern bilateral series: these games will be quickly forgotten so long as they win on October 5 … and beyond.

An all-time Test XV picked by readers

Anantha Narayanan08-Jan-2022Compiling lists is a common hobby. If I have some time and see the back of an envelope, I make lists of different kinds – the ten greatest Tamil films, Roger Federer’s greatest matches, a collection of match-saving Test innings, ten best songs sung by the magnificent Yesudas, and so on. You may throw the list away or keep it. That does not matter. It is the pleasure of listing your choices that matters.Cricket aficionados make lists often, and almost always they are all-time XIs. Once in a while, there come such compilations by cricket luminaries.A few months ago, I invited all the cricket enthusiasts who read my articles to submit their own all-time best XVs. Everyone was free to offer their lists. and all had the same rights, including myself. The only rider was that it was not just a matter of listing 15 names; they needed to make up a proper, balanced, Test team.It was an exhilarating exercise and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even when the programming became quite tricky, since I had to find ways of solving non-standard inputs from many readers. For example, there were seven to eight different ways in which Muthiah Muralidaran’s name was spelt.I received a total of 159 entries – 70 to the Talking_Cricket Group and my email, and 89 through the comments link to my pieces. Out of these, seven needed to be rejected for reasons given later in this article. I received the first entry, from Reuben Finklestein, within a couple of hours after I sent my email on September 5 last year. The last entry was received on the morning of December 16, from S Anand, making it a total of 152 entries: we got past Ian Botham but fell one short of Brian Lara and Kusal Perera.)The top 20 players readers voted for are:1. Muthiah Muralidaran – 135 votes
2. Shane Warne – 131
3. Don Bradman – 126
4. Garry Sobers – 124
5. Malcolm Marshall – 106
6. Sachin Tendulkar – 104
7. Wasim Akram – 97
8. Adam Gilchrist – 93
9. Brian Lara – 90
10. Sunil Gavaskar – 89
11. Viv Richards – 86
12. Glenn McGrath – 80
13. Imran Khan – 76
14. Jack Hobbs – 72
15. Jacques Kallis – 59
16. Dale Steyn – 51
17. Kumar Sangakkara – 51
18. Steven Smith – 45
19. Richard Hadlee – 43
20. Dennis Lillee – 40It is probably not a surprise that Murali leads the chart, featuring in 135 XVs. He finds acceptance across the globe. It is also not a surprise that Shane Warne comes in second, with four fewer votes. It might be a slight surprise that Don Bradman was not selected by 26 readers. This is possible because quite a few readers decided to stick only to players they have seen or followed. The popularity of Garry Sobers is revealed by the fact that he is only two votes behind Bradman. These four players received more than 120 votes each.Fifth place for Malcolm Marshall is quite unexpected. Who would have imagined that he would poll ahead of Sachin Tendulkar?There are the six players with over 100 votes. No one can be surprised at the next 14 selections. Barring Jack Hobbs, the other players – Wasim Akram, Adam Gilchrist, Brian Lara, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Glenn McGrath, Imran Khan, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn – have played in the past 50 years. Perhaps the only slight surprise is that I expected Imran to get a few more votes. Rounding out the top 20 are Kumar Sangakkara, Steven Smith, Richard Hadlee and Dennis Lillee.Related

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When I looked at the top 15, I realised there were nine batters/allrounders (Bradman, Sobers, Tendulkar, Lara, Gavaskar, Richards, Imran Khan, Hobbs and Kallis), one wicketkeeper, three fast bowlers (Marshall, Akram and McGrath) and two spinners (Murali and Warne). It was clear that I needed to replace one from the batter/allrounder group with a pure fast bowler. It was quite handy that the last-placed batter was Kallis and the next player was Steyn, so it was an easy decision to replace Kallis with Steyn: a change that will likely receive the approval of almost all those who sent in entries. It can also be seen that I have made a single forced selection, swapping the 15th- and 16th-placed players, both coming from the same country. Imran has been treated as an allrounder and not as a pure pace bowler. So the final selection is the first 14 players plus Steyn.Only two of the players in the final XV will be certain to play – Bradman and Gilchrist. The reasons are briefly explained below.- Either Hobbs or Gavaskar could be selected and Gilchrist asked to open alongside. Quite unlikely, but within the realms of possibility.- Either Sobers or Imran could be selected depending on the bowling cover needed.- Either or both of Murali and Warne could be selected. The only certainty is that at least one will play.- Akram comes close to being a certainty because of his left-arm bowling skills. Still, I would say any two or three out of the four fast bowlers could be selected.This also made me select Bradman as captain.Is there any selection that is a big surprise? Not really. There is not a single player in the XV who could be deemed to be an unexpected pick. Readers have not gone overboard with players they have only heard or read about, nor have they been myopic and selected only players they might have seen in person or on television. On the whole, most selections have been pragmatic. There is excellent balance between the old, not-so-new and new, between right- and left-handers, and between the flamboyant and solid performers.The selection of batters has been along expected lines. Maybe Sangakkara could have found a place, but in place of whom? Gilchrist was the runaway winner in the wicketkeeper stakes. Among the fast bowlers, there is variety, and possibly Hadlee or Lillee could have made a claim to being in the final XV if they had received slightly better support. Among the famous allrounders, Imran, Botham and Hadlee found support, while Kapil Dev did not have many takers. What can one say about Murali and Warne – 117 readers selected both. Eighteen selected only Murali, and 14 only Warne. And there were three intrepid readers who felt they did not need either, despite the 1508 wickets that these two brought to the table. Two went with Indian spinners and the third with Wilfred Rhodes.All in all, this XV could not have been bettered.It is also relevant that no player who started his career in recent years has found a place. Smith is the highest-placed current player, in 18th position, with 45 votes.Barring the two new Test-playing countries, all other ten nations are represented.Anantha NarayananThe table above presents a summary of the career figures of the selected 15 players. I have also selected the XI for an imaginary Test at the MCG. I have to play three pace bowlers and one spinner. Warne gets the nod. Maybe Murali will get into the XI in England, and both might play in Asia. For variety in quick bowling, I have made sure that there is a combination of left-arm pace and two different types of fast bowlers. The rest select themselves.I have worked out a simplified Team Strength Index, ignoring the recent-form aspect and using Weighted Batting Average instead of the regular batting average. The TSI is a whopping 96.4. Not a surprise, considering that the top-six batters have averages of 50-plus. For comparison, the highest-rated team in Test cricket is around 85.Anantha NarayananThe 152 entries covered 2280 player selections. A total of 131 players were represented and the average votes per player works out to 17.4. As we have already seen, the highest number of votes for any one player was 135. There were 42 players with a single vote each and 18 with two votes each. Consequent to this wide distribution, the standard deviation is at a very high value of 31.6, leading to a high coefficient of variation of 1.82, a clear indication of the quantum of dispersal of the values. It might not have been such a widespread distribution if I had put in some restrictions. However, this is a totally democratic process and I needed to allow all readers their latitude. It has resulted in some gross outliers but these have been weeded out.No reader’s XV matched the final XV, but six entries had 14 correct selections each. Eleven readers (including yours truly) got 13 selections correct. At the other end, three readers got only four picks correct.First, some details about the six readers who got 14 players correct and their votes. The names below are in order of their Selection Index – sum of the player numbers. The selected XV has an SI value of 120 (15×16/2 – sum of first 15 numbers).Anantha Narayanan- Alan Sutherland from Melbourne went for an old master in Lillee instead of Steyn. There is very little to choose between the two. Both are aggressive fast bowlers and very tough to face in any location.- Rafath Khan from Slough, UK, went back over 100 years and selected Sydney Barnes for Steyn. Who can fault that pick? Barnes took 189 wickets at 16 and it is a surprise that he did not make it to the final XV.- Chaitanya Rao, also from Melbourne, went across the Tasman Sea and selected Hadlee for McGrath. Another tough selection. They are somewhat similar bowlers, with McGrath slightly faster.- Del Ribero from London and Amit Patil from Pune had identical selections. These are the only matching pair of selectors in this top group. Both went for Curtly Ambrose instead of Steyn. Anyone who was in Perth in 1993 or Bridgetown in 1990 would have had no hesitation in making this selection.- Kartick Narayan from Chennai went for Smith instead of Lara. How I wish I could play both of them. Maybe Kartick also feels that way.Now for those with 13 correct selections.- Amit Patel selected Smith and Kallis in place of Lara and Steyn.- Saagar Sinha selected Smith and Barnes for Imran and McGrath.- Abdul Khalid opted for one Indo-Anglian pair of Len Hutton and Virender Sehwag instead of another, Gavaskar and Hobbs.- Jayant Jape selected Kallis and Matthew Hayden for Imran and Steyn.- Siva Sooryah selected Kallis and Hammond for Imran and Richards.- Varun Mishra selected Sehwag and Hadlee for Hobbs and McGrath.- Bejoy Balagopal selected Lillee and Fred Spofforth for Akram and McGrath.- Padam Jain selected Kallis and Hadlee for Lara and Steyn.- Ashok Bhatia selected Lillee and Alastair Cook for Hobbs and Steyn.- Jaideep Reddy selected Smith and Ambrose for Imran and Steyn.Finally, coming to my own selections. I recorded them well before the end and was not unduly influenced by the subsequent summary work. I opted for the more rounded bowling skills of Hadlee over the faster Steyn. I felt that Hadlee was the better bowler overall. I also opted for the modern great, Sangakkara, instead of the allrounder Imran. I felt that would also provide additional wicketkeeping cover.Seven players – Murali, Warne, Bradman, Sobers, Marshall, Tendulkar and Gilchrist have been selected by all 17 readers mentioned above. For three of these readers, their 15th player was outside the featured list of players. Siva Sooryah selected Wally Hammond, Bejoy Balagopal opted for Freddie Spofforth, and Ashok Bhatia for Alastair Cook.Anantha NarayananIt is clear by looking at the players just outside the top 15 that there is an abundance of batters and pace bowlers. Until Shakib Al Hasan appears, there is a glittering parade of batters and fast men. Spinners are conspicuous by their absence. Shakib is in 39th position, with eight votes, and Bill O’Reilly appears a few places later, with five votes. One entry in this group surprises me – Sehwag, who managed to secure 21 votes. That shows how highly his attacking opening skills are rated. Not to forget that Matthew Hayden has even more votes.When we come to the right-most columns in the graphic above, we see the players with one or two votes each. I am surprised by the fact that players most of us would never associate with an all-time World XV – Ravindra Jadeja, Michael Hussey, Bobby Peel, Martin Donnelly, Mike Brearley, Brendon McCullum, Bobby Simpson, Sourav Ganguly, et al – have received a vote. At the same time, one might have expected Everton Weekes, Kevin Pietersen, Harold Larwood, Peter May, et al to receive more than a single nod.Many of these single selections are logical and it is a pity that they could not get more votes. However, some, like Jadeja, are quite strange. Still, that particular reader’s team is quite good (he has seven selections who were in the final XV) and I have accepted the selection. Another such example is that of Hussey. The person who selected him named six players who made it to the final XV, and I have accepted his selection. To round off such selections, the reader who selected Peel also had six in the final 15. Overall, that is fine.However, some selections were completely off. One reader selected Rohit Sharma. I have nothing against Rohit – after all, he has scored over 3000 Test runs. However, that reader also selected Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Glenn Maxwell, Shahid Afridi, Rashid Khan and Umar Gul. That entry was rejected. As was another entry that contained Mohammad Rizwan, Adam Zampa, Jos Buttler, Asif Ali and Shaheen Afridi. One had Bhanuka Rajapaksa, David Wiese, Andre Russell, Dewald Pretorious, Anrich Nortje et al. Another reader selected Aiden Markram, Liam Livingstone, Charith Asalanka, Moeen Ali, Marcus Stoinis and Wanindu Hasaranga in his team. It is possible that this was due to ignorance; they might have thought they were selecting a T20 team. It could also have been a deliberate attempt at tomfoolery. Another reader had nine Pakistan players in his XI. They were all wonderful players but I could not take that entry. In all, seven entries were rejected.A second XV, strictly in the order of selection and changed only when absolutely necessary, is below. Look at the quality of this team. It will certainly give a tough fight to the top team. Not one from among these 15 players would be out of place in the top XV.Len Hutton
Mathew Hayden
Virender Sehwag
Steven Smith
Ricky Ponting (c)
Jacques Kallis
Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
Shakib Al Hasan
Ian Botham
Richard Hadlee
Sydney Barnes
Curtly Ambrose
Dennis Lillee
Bill O’Reilly
Anil Kumble
My heartfelt thanks to all those who sent in their entries over the past three months. To see the final XI play at MCG, maybe against the second XI above, would indeed be any cricket enthusiast’s fantasy.Since this process involved many manual steps and I have done it all singlehandedly, it is possible I might have missed an entry or two. My sincere apologies to the readers if any entry is missing.The complete player-reader matrix has been encased inside an excel sheet that has been made available for readers to peruse. You can download the file here.Talking Cricket Group
Any reader who wishes to join the general-purpose cricket ideas-exchange group of this name that I started last year can email a request for inclusion, giving their name, place of residence and what they do.

Aston Villa are now reportedly racing to sign Oscar Mingueza alongside Premier League rivals West Ham United as those in the Midlands look to land a La Masia graduate.

The Villans turned on the style against Bournemouth, bouncing back from defeat at Anfield to head into the international break with a convincing victory under their belt. Emiliano Buendia’s free-kick was undoubtedly the pick of the four goals that Unai Emery’s side scored, as he continued his recent, much-welcomed resurgence.

After a tough start to their campaign, Villa now sit seventh and Emery admitted that his side “are recovering from a bad start”, telling reporters: “I am very happy with the win.

“We are recovering from a bad start to the season. The effort physically was huge and to manage the squad with different players, with the effort we needed, we can feel proud after the game.

“This is the level of the players. We are trying to set our standards in everything [we do], every day how we prepare for the game, and the quality of the players is important.”

Qualifying for European football, whether it’s the Europa League, Europa Conference League or in the best-case scenario, the Champions League, is more important than ever in the Midlands. Those at Villa Park can’t afford to miss out and run into more problems with PSR limitations as a result.

Their poor start to the season stemmed from a disappointing summer transfer window and the chaos of potential sales that never arrived. This time next year, they must be in a better position on that front.

Fixing their PSR problem would see Emery’s side reach another level entirely and could finally see long-term target Mingueza arrive.

Aston Villa racing to sign Mingueza

According to reports in Spain, as relayed by Sport Witness, Aston Villa are now battling to sign Oscar Mingueza from Celta Vigo alongside the likes of West Ham and Newcastle United. The Villans have been admirers of the La Masia graduate for some time, but have consistently failed to secure his signature.

Capped four times by Spain, the defender has also played twice for the national team of Catalonia, who are not recognised/affiliated with FIFA or UEFA due to their status as one of Spain’s regional football federations.

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Recent reports have indicated that Aston Villa would be keen on signing Porto forward Samu Aghehowa.

By
James O'Reilly

Nov 5, 2025

Emery will be hoping that 2026 is finally the year that the right-back arrives, given that he’s on course to become a free agent next summer and any transfer complications will suddenly become far easier to navigate.

Former Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman once predicted that the Spaniard would have a “great future” and that could yet arrive in the Midlands, where he’d compete for a place with Matty Cash, who is in excellent form.

When compared, it’s clear that Mingueza and Cash have different qualities. Whilst the former is arguably better going forward, the Villa star has been a more well-rounded player so far this season – impressing in and out of possession.

What is clear is that Mingueza’s arrival would add vital depth to the right-back role for Emery, even if he’s forced to provide backup for Cash.

"Best in the league" – Media stunned by "aggressive" Aston Villa star vs Bournemouth

Oval Invincibles, the most successful franchise in the Hundred, will be rebranded as MI London from 2026 onwards, after Surrey and Reliance Industries Limited concluded their protracted negotiations in the wake of this year’s equity sale.The name change brings the men’s and women’s teams in line with the rest of the Ambani family’s Mumbai Indians stable which, in addition to its flagship team in the IPL, includes MI Cape Town in the SA20, MI Emirates in the ILT20, MI New York in Major League Cricket, and Mumbai Indians women’s team in the WPL.The announcement marks the last of the eight deals that emerged from the ECB’s sale of equity stakes in the Hundred earlier this year, and comes almost five months after the first six of these were tied up. Reliance secured a 49 per cent stake in Oval Invincibles, having valued the franchise at £123 million – the second most expensive behind the Lord’s-based London Spirit, at £295 million.The delay in the announcement reflects a reluctance at Surrey to relinquish a brand identity that had tied the teams to their home ground at the Kia Oval, and which had delivered five titles in as many years of the competition – with the women completing back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, before the men sealed their third win in as many years this summer, in their victory over Trent Rockets at Lord’s.However, Surrey chairman Oli Slipper acknowledged the strength of the MI brand in confirming the team’s rebranding, with its haul of 13 titles across competitions in the 17 years, including five IPL titles and at least one in every other competition in which it has competed.Akash Ambani, Mumbai Indians co-owner, chats to Jordan Cox after Oval Invincibles’ victory in the Hundred final•Philip Brown/Getty Images

“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with the Reliance team over our partnership in the Hundred franchise team,” Slipper said. “Reliance bring a significant depth of cricket and business expertise and have had great success with their franchise teams in India and around the world – there’s no doubt that they are here to win. They are passionate cricket people and together we will continue the success of our two teams.”We have worked very closely with Reliance over the name of the new team and believe that MI London will give us the best opportunity to build the fanbase at home and across the world. We also believe that the team brand will help to grow the commercial value of our franchise, in turn boosting investment into the long-term sustainable growth of Surrey and of cricket in our community.”Mrs Nita M. Ambani, co-owner of Mumbai Indians, said: “We are delighted to welcome MI London into the #OneFamily and take the MI legacy to new frontiers. London holds a special place in the heart of cricket, and we are honoured to be part of its rich heritage. Together with Surrey, we look forward to nurturing young talent, engaging diverse communities, and uniting fans through their shared love of the game.”Mr Akash Ambani added: “We are happy to welcome MI London into the #OneFamily, marking a new chapter in our journey of uniting cricket fans, nurturing talent, and growing the game across continents. The Invincibles’ winning record and spirit of excellence perfectly embody the MI ethos of passion, resilience, and teamwork. Building on our shared passion for cricket, we look forward to collaborating with our partners at Surrey CCC and building on the legacy of The Hundred’s most successful team.”The eight partnerships combined represent a valuation for the teams of over £975 million, with over £500 million is now set to be invested into English and Welsh cricket. This includes a £50 million commitment to grassroots cricket, with the remainder set to be distributed to professional counties.Vikram Banerjee, Managing Director, The Hundred, said: “It’s an exciting moment to now have all eight deals complete. The world-leading partners we now have on board will help us take The Hundred to the next level and establish it as the unmissable summer event.”We’re already working closely together as we aim to make the 2026 season of The Hundred the best yet. It’s also an important moment for the whole of the game in England and Wales, unlocking significant investment to support the game at every level.”

انتقد سام ألارديس مدرب إنجلترا السابق، جيمي كاراجر وتصريحاته حول محمد صلاح، جناح ليفربول الإنجليزي، ووصفه بأنه مثير للشفقة، وهاجمه هجومًا لاذعًا.

وأشار كاراجر في تصريحات مؤخرًا بعد خسارة ليفربول أمام آيندهوفن 4-1، إلى تراجع مستوى محمد صلاح.

وقال كاراجر: “العوامل المحركة لليفربول في بداية المسيرة مع يورجن كلوب في 2018 كانت أليسون، فان دايك وصلاح، أليسون الآن يتعرض للإصابات كثيرًا ولا يشارك كثيرًا، وفان دايك ليس نفس اللاعب الآن، وصلاح يبدو أن قدميه فقدتا قوتهما”.

وقال ألارديس عن كاراجر، في تصريحاته خلال بودكاست بحسب ما نشرت شبكة “ليفربول”: “كفى، يجب أن يكون أكثر وعيًا، هذا تصريح مثير للشفقة تمامًا، لكنه جيد في هذه التصريحات، أليس كذلك؟ يجيد فقط إطلاق مثل هذه الكلامات ليحافظ على شعبيته، ليبقى في دائرة الضوء”.

اقرأ أيضًا | مفاجأة.. تقارير تتنبأ بـ وجهة غير متوقعة لـ محمد صلاح بعد رحيله عن ليفربول

وأضاف: “هذا عار، قدماه لم تفقدا قوتهما، كيف يمكن أن يفقدهما بعد ما فعله الموسم الماضي، مع فترة راحة في الصيف، ثم تفقدهما هذا الموسم؟ هذا لا يحدث بين ليلة وضحاها”.

وأتم: “كيف يعرف ذلك على أي حال؟ ماذا يعرف؟ هو لا يتدرب معه، لا يراه يتدرب، فقط يشاهده يلعب، قد لا يكون في أفضل حالاته، لكن هذا ينطبق على العديد من لاعبي ليفربول، ألكسندر إيزاك لم يقدم أداءً جيدًا، فهل فقدت قدماه قوتهما أيضًا؟”.

Rashid picked up his sixth five-for in ODIs after Zadran’s 95 helped Afghanistan to 190

Mohammad Isam11-Oct-2025

Afghanistan completed their third successive ODI series win against Bangladesh, all in the last three years, as they defended a modest 190 in the second ODI in Abu Dhabi. It was the lowest first-innings total at the Zayed Cricket Stadium but in response, Bangladesh folded for a mere 109.Just like the first ODI, the Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan combination wrecked Bangladesh. Omarzai took three early wickets before Rashid’s 5 for 17 blew away the Bangladesh middle and lower order. It was his sixth five-wicket haul in ODIs.Afghanistan’s series win is a comeback after their early exit from the Asia Cup and the 3-0 loss in the T20I series against Bangladesh. Even though they dropped a few experienced players for the series, they had plenty of top performers in the side.Ibrahim Zadran’s 95 was an invaluable contribution, especially when the rest of their batters couldn’t muster up enough runs. Omarzai failed with the bat but showed his worth by contributing with the ball. He did the early damage by having Tanzid Hasan caught at fine leg when the left-hand opener top-edged in the first over. Najmul Hossain Shanto was next to go, run out trying to complete a second run.Saif Hassan once again threw away a good start. He made 22 off 23 balls but having hit Omarzai for a four and a six of the previous two balls, he went for the uppercut and was pouched by Bashir Ahmad at the deep third. Omarzai’s third wicket was Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who was trapped lbw for 4.Ibrahim Zadran top-scored with 95 off 140 balls•Afghanistan Cricket Board

Towhid Hridoy offered a semblance of hope before playing a needless slog sweep against Rashid to be bowled in the 17th over. He made 24 with four boundaries, but the dismissal betrayed his earlier approach. Nurul Hasan played the same shot in the 23rd over and missed the googly. He, too, was bowled.Next ball, Rashid had Tanzim Hasan Sakib lbw. Rishad Hossain used the review to deny Rashid the hat-trick after he too was ruled out lbw. Jaker Ali fell in the following over as Bangladesh lost three wickets without adding a run. Tanvir Islam fell for a duck, lbw to Rashid, before Rishad was stumped in the 28th over.Earlier, Zadran held Afghanistan’s innings together after they decided to bat. He made 95 off 140 balls with only four boundaries while wickets kept tumbling at the other end. He started with a straight six off Mehidy before hitting two more fours within the first 13 overs. His only other boundary came in the 30th over but his strike rotation kept Afghanistan going for most of the innings. He fell in the 44th over when Mehidy had him caught at deep midwicket.Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal paid for their aggression, falling inside the first nine overs. Rahmat Shah’s calf injury, too, disrupted Afghanistan. Hashmatullah Shahidi and Omarzai also fell cheaply, and in quick succession, to leave Afghanistan at 79 4.Mohammad Nabi and Nangeyalia Kharote offered a bit of support to Zadran before No. 10 AM Ghazanfar, whose 22 consisted of two fours and a six, helped the side get closer to 200.