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Deportivo Alaves striker Joaquin Panichelli is set to sign for French club Strasbourg after an outstanding spell on loan at Mirandes.

Joaquin Panichelli on the verge of moving to FranceStrasbourg has finalised a deal with Deportivo AlavesVillarreal were interested in signing PanichelliFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to , Strasbourg have reached an agreement with Alaves to sign their star striker, Panichelli, who had an impressive loan spell at Mirandes last year in Spain's second division. The French club will reportedly pay around €16.5 million (£14m/$19m) to secure the Argentine striker's services; however, this fee can increase up to €20m (£17m/$23m) if the striker able meets certain targets in his contract.

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Panichelli joined Alaves in 2023 and played eight La Liga games for the Spanish club. His breakout season came last year on his loan spell at Mirandes in Spain's Segunda Division, where he scored 21 goals and registered eight assists, taking the team to the cusp of promotion playoffs. The 22-year-old was the second top-scorer of the league behind Almeria's Luis Suarez and was the club's top scorer during the 2024-25 campaign.

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Several teams were on the lookout for Panichelli, with Villarreal being the closest to monitoring the striker with reports suggesting the club wanted to spend the money received from Thierno Barry's transfer to Everton to bring the Argentine to Estadio de la Ceramica. However, Strasbourg's aggressive bidding and their relentless pursuit by hiking their bid from initial fees of €15m (£13m/$17m) to later agreeing on €16.5m showed their determination and was attractive to Panichelli's camp, who were quick to agree on personal terms.

AFPWHAT NEXT FOR STRASBOURG?

Liam Rosenior's side have had a busy transfer window. The French club qualified for the Conference League last season and have been bringing in reinforcements to secure their spot in the upcoming season. The Ligue 1 club has signed Pape Demba Diop, Maxi Oyedele, and loaned several players from sister club Chelsea like Mike Penders and Kendry Paez. Chelsea players Marc Guiu and Aaron Anselmino have been linked with temporary moves to the French team.

Manchester United are close to matching Bryan Mbeumo's asking price after placing an improved bid with Brentford.

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• Man Utd close to Brentford's asking price
• Brentford come up with new demands
• Mbeumo wants to join Man Utd

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  After seeing their first bid of £45 million with £10 million in add-ons for Mbeumo getting rejected by Brentford, United have now come back with a new and improved bid of £60 million ($81m), £55m up front and £5m in add-ons. The second bid is much closer to the Bees' asking price for the player, at around £62.5m, the amount the Red Devils had paid for Matheus Cunha, according to .

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  Brentford have the upper hand in the transfer negotiations as they have the option to extend the player's contract by one more year when it expires in the summer of 2026. While United remain firm favourites to secure the transfer as the Cameroonian's preferred destination is Old Trafford, the Bees could welcome a bidding war with Tottenham also in the race.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Spurs have already identified Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze as an alternative if they lose the battle for Mbeumo to Manchester United.

• AFP
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR MANCHESTER UNITED?

  United players are currently on holiday after a hectic season and tour in Malaysia and Hong Kong. The squad will reconvene in late July before heading back to Asia for the first part of their pre-season schedule.

If the captain isn’t the best man to open the innings, who is?

Shiva Jayaraman15-Apr-2018T20 is more of a team game than cricket’s longer formats. Teams only have 120 balls to play with, and are required to optimise the use of resources (read: batsmen) to give themselves the best chance of maximising totals. Teams run out of deliveries more often than they run out of wickets: on an average, only six wickets are lost in a T20 innings. Consequently, batsmen who play the anchor – a valued role in the longer formats – are redundant more often than not. There is less premium placed on the ability of the batsmen to play a long, steady innings in T20s.Rajasthan Royals are facing this unique problem, with their captain Ajinkya Rahane using up deliveries for minimal returns, thus pulling down the rest of the batting unit. ESPNcricinfo examines the issue and prescribes possible solutions.
How do Royals make the best use of Rahane?That is where Royals seem to have got their tactics wrong. In playing Rahane at the top of the order, they are not making the best use of the batsmen in their team. In fact, Royals are perhaps over-valuing Rahane’s contribution as an anchor, given the composition of their squad. Six out of Royals’ top-seven batsmen, excluding Rahane, are capable of batting out an entire T20 innings on their own based on current form. The following table lists the strike rates and average balls per dismissal for the seven top-order batsmen that Royals fielded in their previous match.

The combined dismissal rate is such that they could be expected to bat through most of the 20 overs in an innings on a given day: the balls per dismissal of the other batsmen add up to 117 deliveries. So, on an average, Royals just need Rahane to bat those three extra deliveries out of the 20 overs. Why does it have to be Rahane and not someone else? That is because Rahane has the lowest strike-rate of the seven batsmen, and so the team would be best-placed to maximise their score if all the other batsmen have a go ahead of him.Rahane costs Royals five runs on an averageWith Rahane opening for them, Royals stand to lose five runs per innings on an average. Here’s how: the combined strike-rate of Royals’ top order, excluding Rahane, works out to 140, which is nearly 20 more than the rate Rahane strikes at. In other words, the other six batsmen in the Royals top order score 20 runs per 100 balls more than Rahane. So, the additional 24 balls he faces on an average (given Rahane gets dismissed once in 27 deliveries) by batting at the top costs Royals five runs per match. In matches where the gap between Rahane’s strike rate and others’ tends to be higher, the cost to the team will only increase.That is not to say that Rahane has no value as a batsman in the team. But, unless he finds ways to score faster, he contributes only on the odd occasion when there’s a collapse, or the playing conditions are tough enough to reduce the gap between Rahane’s scoring rate, compared to the rest. But, given that T20 favours the batsman, those occasions will be too few.Whom should Royals open with?If not Rahane, who is best-suited to open for Royals? They have a range of options. The compulsion to make the best use of their captain has led to them not opening with Rahul Tripathi.Tripathi made some impactful contributions opening for Rising Pune Supergiant in the previous season. Numbers vouch for the soundness of that strategy. ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats show that Tripathi is Royals’ best option to bat in the Powerplay. Tripathi’s Smart Strike Rate of 201.82 is the best out of the five opening batsmen in Royals’ team. D’arcy Short comes second, so these are the two batsmen Royals should look to bat in the Powerplay to maximise their scoring potential.

Moreover, Tripathi’s Smart Strike Rate after the Powerplay, which is only marginally better than Rahane’s, indicates that he should not be one of Royals’ options to bat through the middle and slog overs. Smart Strike Rate numbers of Royals’ batsmen in the middle and death overs tell us that they should look to send Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson, in that order, to maximise scoring after the Powerplay. This will change if they lose early wickets, in which case Samson could be their No. 3.

In T20s, the position at which a player bats is dictated by how the team can make the most of the 120 balls that are available, and not by where that batsman can be made use of best. Royals will need to rethink their strategy of opening with their captain, and shuffle their batting order to give themselves the best chance. For his part, Rahane will have to find ways to score fast, and pull his own weight in Royals’ batting line-up.

He’s not quite been himself since returning from his ban, and he’s been weirdly subdued in the Powerplay. But he’s still the same player deep down

Jarrod Kimber20-Jun-2019David Warner and Ed Cowan met mid-pitch to discuss a bowling change. This was the WACA in 2012, and India seamer Vinay Kumar was about to bowl his first ball in Tests. Australia had dismissed India for 161, and now the openers were looking to make it to stumps. After five overs, Warner had pushed Australia to 30, and now the two batsmen were chatting about the new bowler.They agreed that they should take a good look at Vinay. Cowan worked one into the gap. Warner played out two dot balls with three slips behind him. The next ball, Vinay bowled a slightly overpitched ball around off stump that curved into the stumps. It was a perfectly acceptable Test ball, it could have been punched back down the ground, or defended into the covers. Warner launched it back over Vinay’s head. Cowan went down to him and asked why he’d played that shot.”It was in my wheelhouse.”

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“You’re going to the cricket ground, aren’t you? Yeah, you may be able to help me; whatever happened to those cheating Aussie guys? Was it Warner?” my Uber driver asked on the way to Bristol to cover Australia’s first match at this World Cup. The driver wasn’t a cricket fan, and he couldn’t even remember what they had done wrong, but still, David Warner was on his mind.WATCH on Hotstar (India only) – How Australia cut looseWhether it is people in cricket asking me what it was like to work with him at St Lucia Stars, the media asking if he will enjoy the booing, or fans asking about his batting, I spend most of my time talking about David Warner.Steven Smith’s seen as a pure cricket nerd swept up in the desire to win, Cameron Bancroft as an ingenue, and the rest of the team at Newlands as clueless spectators. David Warner’s role as pantomime villain is now so entrenched that he’s seen as the evil mastermind stroking his white cat with a piece of coarse sandpaper one of his minions found.David Warner takes a selfie with a fan•Getty ImagesThe Warner we have seen at the World Cup has been different. Gone is the brash young guy slapping Dale Steyn into the Southern Stand, he no longer uses doubled faced bats, and he’s probably not been in a Walkabout since he hit the UK.In this tournament, his Powerplay strike rate is 68, the third-slowest on any player with 50 or more runs in that phase of the innings.Warner dismissed this, after Australia’s win against Bangladesh. “I don’t mean to go out there and bat slow, I am trying to get a calculation on how many fielders I’ve hit in the first ten. It gets frustrating, you sort of middle one and it goes full pace to the fielder, and you can get off strike. I got frustrated against India, and against Afghanistan.”He was more dismissive of the notion that he’d been trying to go slow than he’s been with most of the balls in the Powerplay.The bull, the reverend, Davey, whatever you call him, looked timid.Some of these changes happened before the sandpaper incident. He’s developed into an incredible runner between wickets, his placement when looking for twos on the leg side is surgical, and he makes sure he bats deep now. But since he has come back into the Australia team, there has been a timidity, a lack of certainty.Against Afghanistan, some said he looked like he hit the fielders a lot. But he had a bowler with a seven-two field bowl two straight maidens at him. The West Indies brought out an odd off-side shot that found point. With Australia chasing India’s 352, he struck at only 66, and scored 16 off 34 balls from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. When he made his hundred against Pakistan, it was slower than a run a ball, and, despite coming on a postage-stamp ground, contained only one six. And his innings against Sri Lanka finished with a strike rate of 54, and from Australia’s opening partnership of 80, he made 26.It didn’t seem to matter that Warner had won two Man-of-the-Match awards; everyone was asking what had happened to Warner.On his elbow was the kind of device your auntie uses to further her amateur tennis career into her 60s. There’s also talk of his shoulder. From the Australian camp came whispers of mixed messages, and even advice taken too literally. Some said it’s as if Warner’s been told to bat through the innings, and he was doing it as diligently as a prepper who believes in the apocalypse.David Warner has survived the hell out of the World Cup Powerplays.David Warner cuts a loose ball•AP PhotoAfter 18 balls today, he had ten runs, and sliced another nothing shot towards point, where Sabbir Rahman dropped him. There were also inside-edges close to the stumps. It was the same start we’ve seen from Warner repeatedly in the tournament. Then Finch told him to “bat deep and bat time”.Warner took the advice and kept working the ball around the field. Then Shakib Al Hasan came on. He’s probably the only thing saving this World Cup from the unscheduled monsoon season. Warner showed him the respect his bowling’s deserved. And then Warner got down on one knee and hit him 94 metres over deep midwicket. Michael Slater on commentary said, “That’s the Warner we know.” We knew once.At times he was almost the player Slater lusted over, backing away and trying to flat-bat over mid-off. The muscle shots of his early career. There was the dominant straight drive that cleared the boundary by a distance. He took on a Mustafizur Rahman’s short ball for a hooked six. A knee-high full toss was helped over the short fence. There were plenty of boundaries, and he had a strike rate of better than a run a ball against all but one Bangladesh bowler.But most of these runs and boundaries came late. He was 77 off 96; he batted deep, as he was asked to do. And then he made 89 off his last 51 balls.The most dramatic of his shots may have come when Shakib was so out of ideas that he tried a wristspinning delivery, which looked like a fan had wandered onto the field to deliver. Warner saw the short, slow filthy ball early, rocked onto his back foot, and pulled it high into the stands 92 metres away. Had Warner held Shakib above his head while saying, “I was wondering what would break first, your spirit, or your body,” before dropping him on his knee, it would not have been more brutal.The hero of Bangladesh never delivered another ball. Warner made 166.

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Warner made a joke in the press conference about how his team-mates call him “humble” now.When Warner was out, there was a similar smile on his face. He’d just got into the flow for the first time since his return, and realised he had a chance of making 200. He was unbalanced, having tried to uppercut a slow bouncer two feet above his head. The ball floated gently to the fielder; he bent over at the waist.It wasn’t the Warner of old; it’s not just his nickname that changed. At the change of innings, he said, “I felt a little bit bogged down there and again frustrated. I managed to hang in there and build a good partnership with Finchy and Uzi [Usman Khawaja] as well. When you’re deep into your innings you’re a bit fatigued. I was just trying to give our fast bowlers as many runs as possible to come out and start well.”He also said, “We’re just trying to make up for that year.”He was talking about the runs he’s not made. From wheelhouse to doghouse, and back again.

Delhi Capitals couldn’t have asked for a better start in their home stretch. They saw off the Mumbai Indians quite comfortably courtesy half-centuries from Meg Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues, before all their bowlers enjoyed a wonderful evening out. They’re now perched at the top of the standings with eight points and a healthy net run rate that increasingly looks difficult to catch.The match had plenty of moments: dropped catches, stunning wrist work, cuts with precision, a world record broken and prodigious swing from a veteran. The result, though, was mostly one-way traffic, with Mumbai left to regroup quickly after a demoralizing defeat.Related

• Innovative Jemimah Rodrigues makes it count with boundary-laden half-century

• Shabnim Ismail bowls fastest recorded ball in women's cricket

Ismail shatters record on return

It was a loud thud into Lanning’s pad in the third over. The umpire was unmoved and Ismail had hands on her head. Unknowingly, though, Shabnim Ismail had shattered the record for the fastest recorded delivery in women’s cricket. It was clocked at 132.1kph. The same Ismail, who was walking with a slight limp four days ago in Bengaluru, was firing away.

The drop, shovel and send-off

Ismail should’ve had Shafali Verma in the same over, when she miscued an attempted cross-batted swat to mid-on, but Saika Ishaque grassed the opportunity. Ismail was seething. But there was more agony in store, when Shafali hit her for back-to-back sixes in the next over; the bottom-handed shovel down the ground like a body blow. But Ismail had the last laugh when she had Shafali nicking off next ball. Ismail roared, gave Shafali a mouthful along with a send-off. It broke a dangerous opening stand as the Capitals ended the powerplay at 56 for 1.Meg Lanning hit two sixes in her 53•BCCI

Lanning comes into her own

Early in her innings, Lanning connected a full-length ball Nat Sciver-Brunt served up. It went soaring over the long-on boundary and Lanning held her shape until the ball bounced onto the seats. It told you how much she enjoyed it. It told you Lanning was in the mood, an avatar of hers we hadn’t seen yet in WPL 2024.After the first six, her range of shots got better. The trademark cuts were there, she pulled well, even to deliveries that hardly bounced, showing how much control she had and how well she was maneuvering the low bounce, and in general, seemed to enjoy taking the spinners on.She was particularly severe on legspinner Amelia Kerr, taking her for a sequence of 4, 6, and 4 in the 12th over. Soon enough, she raised her third half-century of the season off 36 balls with her patented cut. She fell playing a pull, brilliantly caught at deep midwicket by Kerr.

The Jemimah Rodriguesshow

When Lanning was dismissed, Rodrigues was on 8 off 8. And going into the last five overs, she was on 13 off 14. Then she flicked a switch. She decided it was time to go, and she took down the bowlers by following a simple mantra. She set her base by shuffling outside off, crouching low and then allowing herself to react.When Ismail went slow and full outside off, Rodrigues swung her cleanly into the midwicket fence. When she went wide yorker, Rodrigues scythed her over point. And when Pooja Vastrakar bowled short, Rodrigues helped her along to the fine leg boundary.There was more in store, as she sliced and lofted Sciver-Brunt for 17 off the penultimate over, accessing all corners of the field. The last five overs produced 69, and Rodrigues finished 69 not out off 33 balls; quite an astonishing acceleration after failing to connect early on in her innings.

Mumbai flattened early

Yastika Bhatia was out in the first over, defeated by Marizanne Kapp’s skid to be bowled. Sciver-Brunt was castled in the second, playing all around a Shikha Pandey inswinger. When Harmanpreet Kaur fell in the fourth, getting a leading edge to point off Kapp, it was nearly curtains for Mumbai.They kept hurtling from one wicket to another from there on, with only Amanjot Kaur and S Sajana offering some kind of fight to make 42 and 24 not out respectively to reduce the margin of defeat that puts Mumbai in a slightly precarious position with three league games remaining.Jess Jonassen, who forced her way into the XI three games ago, seems to have now made the allrounders’ spot her own, having now picked up eight wickets on top of the leaderboard.

MatériaMais Notícias

da bet vitoria： Depois do empate entre Magallanes e Botafogo por 2 a 2 na Sul-Americana, Marçal e Luís Castro concederam uma entrevista coletiva para imprensa. O lateral reconheceu que houve um descuido da equipe alvinegra ao longo da partida e afirmou que foi um resultado justo.

-Acho que o resultado poderia ter sido positivo para a gente, até pelas estatísticas, mas futebol é assim. Teve um momento de descuido da nossa equipe e pronto. Também não foi um resultado injusto.

+ATUAÇÕES: Tchê Tchê, Gabriel Pires e Di Plácido vão mal em empate do Botafogo

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasBotafogoCom a presença do filho de Loco Abreu, Botafogo divulga lista de inscritos para a Copa Sul-AmericanaBotafogo06/04/2023BotafogoConfira os novos benefícios dos planos de sócio do BotafogoBotafogo04/04/2023BotafogoCBF se manifesta sobre ausência de Júnior Santos no confronto do Botafogo com o MagallanesBotafogo05/04/2023

da realbet： + Eduardo lamenta empate sofrido: ‘Estávamos com um homem a mais’

O Glorioso entra em campo no próximo domingo, diante do Audax, às 16h, no Raulino de Oliveira (Volta Redonda) pelo segundo jogo da final da Taça Rio. Depois da vitória no duelo de ida por 2 a 1, os alvinegros precisam apenas de um empate para se sagrarem campeões.

The 14-member squad also includes the returning Daryl Mitchell and Scott Kuggeleijn

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2024

New Zealand captain Tim Southee and his predecessor Kane Williamson are set to play their 100th Tests together during the upcoming home series against Australia. March 8 will mark the occasion, the start of the second of two matches in the series, which follows a set of three T20Is.The 14-member Test squad also includes Daryl Mitchell who has been on the sidelines recently tending to a long-term foot injury. Scott Kuggeleijn gets a look in as well, replacing Kyle Jamieson who has picked up a back problem and is looking at a year out of the game.The NZC press release with the squad which arrived on Saturday also said, “Trent Boult, who will feature in the T20I series against Australia, was not considered for Test selection due to minimal recent red ball cricket – his last Test coming in June 2022 against England in Leeds.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Southee and Williamson grew up playing cricket alongside each other, rising up the ranks from the Under-19 levels to become their country’s second-highest wicket-taker and leading run-scorer respectively. The two of them had also played their 50th Test together, against Zimbabwe in 2016, and will join Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor as the only other New Zealand men with 100 Tests to their name.”Their achievements at Test level speak for themselves,” head coach Gary Stead said, “And they are undoubtedly two of the greatest players to have ever worn the New Zealand Test shirt.”Southee will follow Taylor, Virat Kohli and David Warner as just the fourth player in history to have played 100 matches in each format.The first Test will begin on February 29 in Wellington and will signal the return of a vital member of this team. Mitchell has become such a dependable fixture in this Black Caps team that among those who have played 20 Tests, the only person who averages more than his 53.46 is Williamson with 55.90.”[Mitchell] is a key member of the group and has proven, with his performances over the past 12 to 18 months, how much value he adds to the Test team,” New Zealand selector Sam Wells said. “Daryl will keep focusing on his rehabilitation over the next week and will be fit and ready for the first Test in Wellington.”Kuggeleijn has been picked on the back of his performances for New Zealand A against Australia A last year, including match figures of 9-113 and an unbeaten 101 to lead the team to victory in the first four-day game. The Northern Districts seamer has continued his form in the Plunket Shield, leading the bowling charts with 22 wickets at 16 from the first four rounds.Will O’Rourke retains his place after leaving one of the more lasting first impressions – the 22-year old quick claimed the best match figures by a debutant for New Zealand when he picked up 9 for 93 against South Africa in Hamilton earlier this week.Mitchell Santner continues as the specialist spin bowling option, while recent Test double-centurion Rachin Ravindra and allrounder Glenn Phillips lending support.Meanwhile, Matt Henry and Tim Seifert have been ruled out of the T20I series. Their replacements will be Ben Sears and Will Young.Henry suffered some hip soreness following the second Test against South Africa and will undergo a short period of rest and strengthening ahead of the Test series. Seifert has been withdrawn due to a torn abductor suffered while training for Northern Districts earlier in the week.”Matt’s understandably disappointed, but a break for the T20s will ensure he’s fully fit and ready to go for the Tests against Australia later this month,” said Stead. “We’re gutted for Tim who has been a strong performer over recent series and is an important part of the squad.We’re hopeful he’ll make a swift recovery ahead of an important period of T20I cricket for the team.”New Zealand Test squad vs AustraliaTim Southee (capt), Tom Blundell, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will YoungUpdated New Zealand T20I squadMitchell Santner (capt), Finn Allen, Trent Boult (games 2 & 3), Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee (game 1), Will Young

Granit Xhaka is in talks to leave Bayer Leverkusen this summer as the Bundesliga club face a major overhaul.

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Xhaka in talks to exit LeverkusenVeteran midfielder's contract runs until 2028Several international clubs interestedFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to , the 32-year-old midfielder is reportedly evaluating his options as Leverkusen undergo a wave of key departures. Talks are already underway between the player’s camp and interested clubs, with several sides, possibly from Saudi Arabia, showing serious interest.

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The former Arsenal star played a central role in Leverkusen’s double-winning campaign last season and still has three years left on his contract. However, with manager Xabi Alonso gone and midfield sensation Florian Wirtz set to depart, Xhaka could be the next big name out.

It is the latest development in a chaotic season for the German club. Notably, after leading Leverkusen to an invincible season last year, Alonso departed for Real Madrid, while defender Jonathan Tah joined Bayern Munich. Jeremie Frimpong has completed a move to Liverpool, with Wirtz also expected to join the Premier League champions. Xhaka's potential departure comes as Leverkusen undergoes a significant squad overhaul. The 32-year-old midfielder has been a key figure since joining from Arsenal in 2023, making 99 appearances.

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While there were initial assumptions that Xhaka might return to Swiss club Basel, that option appears off the table, according to . The Swiss international had expressed his desire to return to his boyhood club during his brother Taulant's appearance in final Super League match, but Basel are reportedly not considering him as part of their current plans.

AFPWHAT NEXT FOR XHAKA AND LEVERKUSEN?

Xhaka is currently on international duty with Switzerland for the international friendlies and World Cup qualifiers. He is expected to be in action when the Swiss take on Mexico on June 7. The midfielder is likely to make a final decision on his club future after the conclusion of Switzerland’s international fixtures. Meanwhile, Leverkusen, under new manager Erik ten Hag, have begun reshaping their squad, with Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken the first signing of the summer.

One of the advantages of a long-drawn league phase is that teams have an opportunity to make up for indifferent starts. But New Zealand are finding out the converse can be true as well. A third straight loss amid a series of injuries in the camp threatens to throw their World Cup campaign off the rails.Related

• Henry ruled out of World Cup, Jamieson named replacement

• Matt Henry joins New Zealand's mounting injury list; Jamieson called in as cover

• South Africa smash England's World Cup six-hitting record

If the loss to Australia in Dharamsala was heartbreaking, this one to South Africa in Pune was outright demoralising. The bowlers were sent on a leather hunt as Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen plundered centuries, and David Miller added more salt to the wounds with a blistering 30-ball 53 not out as South Africa posted 357 for 4; the last 10 overs alone brought them 119 runs.In reply, New Zealand’s top order unraveled against South Africa’s quality pace attack under lights. Marco Jansen’s extra bounce accounted for Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, Will Young was out nicking behind off Gerald Coetzee, and Kagiso Rabada had Tom Latham chipping one to cover.Daryl Mitchell kept hope flickering, oozing class and confidence as he played a couple of gorgeous on-drives, but his dismissal while looking to hit out against Keshav Maharaj in the 19th over opened the floodgates. The game became staggeringly one-sided as New Zealand petered to 167 all out, with only Glenn Phillips offering any resistance to make 60.The defeat, and the quantum of it, was massive from a tournament’s standpoint, with New Zealand now slipping back to potentially enter a logjam for fourth place, which Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are all eyeing. Few would have expected New Zealand to cave in the manner they did, even after South Africa had set them 358.Quinton de Kock ane Rassie van der Dussen added 200 for the second wicket•ICC/Getty Images

New Zealand’s capitulation was a sharp contrast to how things panned out for South Africa after they were put into bat.Temba Bavuma was the early aggressor, crunching two cover drives off Matt Henry in the fourth over to kick the innings into gear. De Kock was largely subdued and fidgety early on, and even copped a blow to the shoulder from a Trent Boult bouncer in the ninth over. At that point, South Africa’s innings had barely gotten out of second gear. Having roughed up de Kock, Boult had sent Bavuma back with a sucker ball, a full one that had him nicking low to Mitchell at slip.It could have been wickets in back-to-back overs for New Zealand had Phillips latched on to a screamer at backward point off Tim Southee. That we’re even talking about it being a chance was down to his brilliance – anticipating de Kock’s cut and taking two steps to his right before flinging himself full-stretch to go one-handed. De Kock was on 12 off 24 at that point.At the other end, van der Dussen helped himself to a pull to begin proceedings as Southee, coming in for the first game of his fourth World Cup, seemed erratic and down on pace to begin with. For much of the first 100 runs in their 200-run stand, de Kock and van der Dussen were steady and calculating, playing themselves into a position from which they could tee off in the back 15. It’s a plan that worked to the T for them, and perhaps much more easily than they may have anticipated because New Zealand had a massive hole to fill midway through.Henry pulled his hamstring halfway through his sixth over, the 27th of the innings, to leave Ravindra, James Neesham and Phillips to bowl 14.3 overs between them. De Kock and van der Dussen accelerated knowing fully well that New Zealand needed to back-load their part-timers.Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj and Temba Bavuma celebrate Daryl Mitchell’s wicket•AFP/Getty Images

The first sign of de Kock breaking the shackles came in the 16th over when he got stuck into Southee. He followed an imperious pull in front of square for four by walloping a six over the bowler’s head. De Kock had another slice of luck soon after when he chipped Phillips into the leg side, with the ball falling between three fielders. De Kock soon brought up his half-century off 62 deliveries and van der Dussen followed suit, getting there off 61.New Zealand’s cup of woe was far from over. Neesham, one of the part-timers called on to make up overs, suffered a blow of his own when he was struck flush on the thumb by a de Kock straight drive. On 95, de Kock should have been run out off the same delivery when he was sent back even as the ball deflected to Mitchell Santner at cover. The batter had given up hope when Santner fired a throw at the bowler’s end, but it missed the stumps. De Kock soon brought up his hundred – his fourth of this World Cup, which left him one behind Rohit Sharma’s record of five in a single edition – by getting inside the line and helping a pull deep beyond the fine leg fence for six. He reached the century off 103 balls, and seemed to be revving up for a big finish.At the other end, the industrious van der Dussen brought out cute reverse paddles and sweeps to throw New Zealand’s spinners off gear. The second-wicket pair had added 200 at better than a run-a-ball when de Kock picked out point to give Southee a wicket in the 40th over. It’s at this point that South Africa pulled out a surprise move, pushing Miller up the order, seemingly to keep the left-right combination going, and he tore into the bowling at the death to get to his half-century in 29 balls. Neesham went for 69 off his 5.3 overs, and conceded 18 in the 50th.While New Zealand walked off knowing they had a big chase, there was a sense that the game was still in the balance given how well they had batted in big chases against England and Australia. But their hopes were dashed by a South African attack that made you wonder if this was the same surface New Zealand had bowled on.After the top order was blown away, Phillips delayed the inevitable, getting in some batting time amid a lower-order collapse. By the end, New Zealand were so desperate to minimise the damage to their net run rate that an injured Henry hobbled out to bat and gave Phillips company for 5.1 overs, in the process adding 34 for the final wicket. However, even that didn’t quite diminish the magnitude of the defeat, which, all told, was a proper pasting.

Tom Hartley, Gus Atkinson also receive first call-ups for five-Test tour starting in January

Matt Roller11-Dec-2023

Shoaib Bashir, the 20-year-old Somerset offspinner with 10 wickets in his first-class career, has been named in England’s 16-man squad to tour India for a five-match Test series in early 2024. He is one of three uncapped players included along with left-arm spinner Tom Hartley and fast bowler Gus Atkinson, who have both represented England in limited-overs cricket.England’s captain Ben Stokes, who underwent surgery on his left knee last month, is included in the squad as expected, though will not be fit to bowl. Ben Foakes is also recalled after he was dropped for the Ashes, while Jack Leach and Ollie Pope both return to the squad after back and shoulder injuries during the English summer.Related

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Rehan Ahmed, who took seven wickets on Test debut in Karachi a year ago, is one of four specialist spin options alongside Leach, Hartley and Bashir. There are only four frontline seamers in the squad, with James Anderson and Ollie Robinson complemented by the pace of Atkinson and Mark Wood – meaning no place for Chris Woakes.But it is Bashir’s inclusion that stands out. He made his professional debut in June after signing a professional contract with Somerset and has played only six first-class matches, but was the outstanding spinner on England Lions’ recent training camp in the UAE, taking match figures of 6 for 42 in a three-day fixture against Afghanistan’s A team.Rob Key, England’s director of cricket, said that Bashir’s natural attributes, including a high release point, had encouraged the selectors to look beyond his modest first-class figures, and added that the upbeat environment fostered by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes would help bring out the very best in his abilities.”I think we focus more on what style of cricket we want to play and what do we think is going to go out there and win,” Key said. “It’s about ‘what is someone’s upside?’ It’s very hard, especially for spinners in English cricket, to judge them on their numbers as such. You’re not going to expect your spinner to average 24 with the ball in county cricket, you’re trying to see something else and back their character.”You want to see how the ball comes out of their hand – you’re going more to the art of selection, rather than the science of selection – and you back that environment that Stokes and McCullum have created with all the other players, to get the best out of these people. With Stokesy’s captaincy in particular, your bet is often that he’ll be the one who can get something out of these players. You just want to create an environment where you think they can thrive, which is no mean feat when you’re talking about a Test tour of India.”Hartley has a modest first-class record for Lancashire, with 40 career wickets at 36.57. But England believe that he also possesses attributes – he is 6ft 4in, and regularly bowls at speeds of 60mph/97kph or more – which will make him well-suited to replicate the role that Axar Patel has performed in Indian conditions.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

With Stokes unlikely to bowl a ball – “we never had him down to be bowling in India,” Key said – England will have difficult decisions to make over the balance of their side, not least over the identity of their wicketkeeper. Key hinted at the end of the World Cup that Bairstow had been told to work on his fitness – “he needs to actually get himself into a position where he can go and take on an Indian Test” – but insisted that they have not made a call.”[It is a] decision to be made and it hasn’t been made yet,” Key said. “A bit like the Ashes, we will get to the point where we feel like we have to make that decision. A lot can happen between now and then. That will come down to Brendon [McCullum] and Ben balancing the side, all kind of things. It’s a different place to keep than England. That decision will be made nearer the time.”Along with Woakes, who hinted at his likely non-inclusion earlier this year, other notable omissions include Dan Lawrence, Liam Dawson and Will Jacks. Lawrence was the spare batter throughout the Ashes but has been squeezed out of the squad, while Dawson and Jacks both have contracts to play in South Africa’s SA20, which clashes directly with the tour.Liam Livingstone, who made his Test debut in Pakistan a year ago, was not included and will instead play franchise cricket, while Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue – who picked up an injury on the Lions’ training camp in the UAE last month – are among the seamers on the periphery.England’s squad will travel to the UAE for a preparatory camp in mid-January and will arrive in India shortly before the first Test in Hyderabad on January 25. An England Lions squad, which is yet to be named, will also travel to India to shadow the main tour.England Test squad: Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Ben Stokes (captain), Mark Wood