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The allrounder had held out hope of a recall but the selectors went for youth on the Sri Lanka tour

AAP12-Jan-20250:40

Connolly: ‘I like to be aggressive while I’m playing red-ball cricket as well’

Glenn Maxwell has admitted he would have made the same call as the Australian selectors as he reflected on their decision that’s likely ended his Test career.Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh were among the high-profile absentees from the 16-player squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, with uncapped 21-year-old Cooper Connolly picked ahead of the experienced allrounders.Related

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Maxwell, who last played first-class cricket 18 months ago, had been eager to add to his seven Test appearances. But the 36-year-old holds no grudges over selectors looking to the future, with Australia’s spot in the World Test Championship final already secure.”It’s just selection,” Maxwell said. “There’s always going to be people wanting to be there and I made no secret that I desperately wanted to be on that tour, but I can completely understand their reasoning.”The fact that they’re already in the World Test Championship final, they’ve got a couple of Tests in Sri Lanka and there’s going to be some sub-continent tours over the next few years, so they get to look a few new guys in those conditions.”What an experience for those guys to go over there – Cooper Connolly on his first Test tour – I certainly would’ve made the same decision as they have.”Glenn Maxwell’s form has help keep Melbourne Stars’ season alive•Getty Images

Maxwell has not played Test cricket since 2017 and appears unlikely to regain his spot in the national side in the longest form of the game.All of his Test appearances have come in Asia, with selectors previously valuing his spin bowling and ability to bat against the turning ball.Maxwell would have almost certainly gone to India for the Border-Gavaskar trophy series in 2023, but broke his leg at a friend’s backyard party only months before.But he was in no mood to make a big call on his Test future after blasting 90 from 52 balls in Melbourne Stars’ BBL derby win over Renegades.The result kept Stars’ finals hopes alive with one regular-season match left to play, against Hobart Hurricanes on Sunday.”I’m not making any future plans right now,” Maxwell said. “I’m looking forward to a week off and Sunday.”

Afghanistan allrounder had said in November last year that he would not play ODIs after the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2025Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi may not retire from ODIs after the upcoming Champions Trophy as previously planned and harbours hopes of playing international cricket along with his son Hassan Eisakhil.In November last year Nabi, 40, said he would quit ODIs at the end of the Champions Trophy but is now “still thinking” about his future.”These might not be my last ODIs, I will probably play less ODIs and give chances to the youngsters to build experience,” Nabi told the ICC. “I’ve discussed with the senior players and in the high-level games, maybe or maybe not, we’ll see. It will depend on my fitness.”Nabi’s 18-year old son, Eisakhil, is a batter who represented Afghanistan at the Under-19 World Cup in 2024 and his father hopes they will play together for the country soon. “It’s my dream. Hopefully we can do it. He is doing very well … he is a hard worker and I’m also pushing him to do work.”I want him to make his own goals, if you want to get to be a high-level cricketer, you have to work hard. It’s not enough to make 50 or 60, you have to score 100-plus. He’s listening and pushing all the time. When he can talk to me, I try to give him advice to give him confidence for the game.”Related

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Afghanistan are in Group B in the Champions Trophy along with England, Australia and South Africa. It is their first appearance in the tournament after finishing among the top-eight teams (sixth place) at the 2023 ODI World Cup. They were semi-finalists at the 2024 T20 World Cup too.”The preparations for the Champions Trophy have been good,” Nabi said. “I’ve been busy playing in the Bangladesh Premier League, was a champion over there. I did three sessions with the national team in Abu Dhabi so I’m in good shape.”Winning the BPL gave me more confidence, from a tough position in the final. In the whole tournament, we did really well and my performances were good as well, bowling and also batting, I helped finish the job in four or five matches.”Afghanistan had to make one change to their 15-man squad for the tournament, replacing the injured AM Ghazanfar with left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote. “He’s a youngster, who has been doing really well over the last two years,” Nabi said. “He’s a very good spinner but he’s a good fielder as well. He bowled really well against South Africa and Ireland in Sharjah.”Afghanistan begin their Champions Trophy campaign against South Africa in Karachi on February 21 before travelling to Lahore to play England and Australia on February 26 and 28.

India vice-captain says the team’s depth in batting also frees up the top order

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Mar-20252:26

Gill: ‘The way Rohit and I play in powerplay quite different’

There are two ODI greats in India’s top three. There is batting down to No. 8. And almost all the batters have got runs in this Champions Trophy. This India batting order, said team vice-captain Shubman Gill, is better than any he’s previously played in.”This is the best batting line-up that I have been a part of. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli I think are the all-time one-day greats in the world. Rohit , one of the best openers in white-ball cricket and Virat , I don’t think I need to say anything about him. He is one of the best ODI batters ever. I’m batting in between the two, and then below we have Shreyas [Iyer] who is in such good form, then KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja.”Although India are playing in Dubai, which has been a lower-scoring venue compared to others in the tournament, each of India’s top seven has a top score of more than 40 in the tournament. Jadeja, who typically comes in at No. 8, has only been required to bat twice in four games. That kind of depth and form has had an effect on how the top order plays as well, Gill said.Related

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• Rohit and Kohli, making each other greater

• Trial by spin on slow Dubai pitches a key step in Gill's evolution

• Iyer's fire: the point of difference in India's middle order

“The depth in our batting helps free up the batters at the top. We can play freely because we know we have the depth. This is one thing we used to struggle with earlier. We didn’t have the batting depth, so the pressure on the top order was more to score more and stay longer. But I think the depth allows us to play more freely.”Gill, whose tournament top score so far has been 101 not out in India’s opener against Bangladesh, said that for him, however, batting more freely did not necessarily mean taking more risks – it’s more about being smart about when to hit out.”I honestly don’t really think about whether I need to take more risks or less risks,” Gill said. “I think it’s more about me being in my zone and taking calculated risks. I take more risks at the right point, when I feel the bowler is under pressure.Shubman Gill tries to tune his game to various match situations while training•ICC/Getty Images

“Most of my batting is instinctive. I don’t pre-plan, and I don’t play any shots that are pre-planned. When you are playing on the wicket, you kind of have an idea what kind of total you’re looking to make on that wicket. And then you add 15 to 20 runs to give that extra cushion to the bowlers. And that’s what I think of when I’m batting.”Gill then elaborated on what he meant by batting “in his zone”. For him, a lot of it comes down to preparing with match intensity.”Whenever I’m batting in the nets, I feel for me it’s about me trying to play as close to as how I would play in the match. And that is the zone for me. Sometimes we bat in the nets and we aren’t really thinking about the situation. We just want to bat well.”But more often than not, in an important match, there might be a chance that you’re not hitting the ball well. How would I want to score runs then? If it’s hard for me to hit boundaries, then how would I take those singles and put the pressure off of me in a powerplay? So, these are the things that I try to do in the nets.”I think it’s easy to hit boundaries. It’s easy to hit sixes. But doing these small things are, I think, more difficult. And that’s why it requires a lot of repetitions for me. And I think that’s what helps me in the match to stay in my zone.”

Foxes canter to target after below-par batting efforts from visitors Worcestershire

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay15-Jun-2025Leicestershire Foxes bounced back from defeats to Yorkshire and Derbyshire on the road with a comfortable home victory over Worcestershire Rapids to keep themselves among the North Group contenders at the halfway point of the Vitality Blast campaign.Chasing a modest target of 151, the home side were victorious by six wickets with 17 balls to spare. Sol Budinger made 30 with three of his team-mates contributing 26, captain Louis Kimber’s coming off just 12 balls and including the winning runs.Allrounder Ben Mike, making a belated start to his Blast campaign after suffering an injury in April, was impressive in taking 3 for 14, with left-arm spinner Liam Trevaskis picking up 2 for 25 after Gareth Roderick had top-scored with a career-best 49 off 29 balls in a below-par effort by Worcestershire, who have two wins and four defeats so far.Rapids’ disappointing show with the bat followed a curious opening powerplay that included a wicket-maiden from Mike but nonetheless rewarded the visitors – missing captain Brett D’Oliveira with a foot injury – with a score of 54 for 2 after opting to bat first on a green-tinged pitch.Jake Libby was caught at midwicket off Mike after Ed Pollock, having struck Matt Salisbury for two towering leg-side sixes, had ran himself out, stranded by such a distance as Libby wisely chose not to chance a single to backward point that there was time for the ball to reach the bowler via the wicketkeeper and still beat his dive, but Roderick found some momentum.Having supplemented an early scooped six off Logan van Beek with seven fours, he was one short of a first fifty of the season when leg before in the 10th to Trevaskis, ending a 53-run stand with Adam Hose.Roderick thus looked to have given the Rapids innings a decent platform, yet they spiralled from 87 for 2 to 118 for 7.Hose miscued Trevaskis to extra cover, Mike dropped Matthew Waite at deep backward square on 1 but then dismissed Ethan Brookes and Ben Dwarshuis with consecutive balls, the former brilliantly caught by Rishi Patel on the fine leg boundary, the latter straightforwardly at mid-off, before Tom Hinley was bowled by Rehan Ahmed. Tom Taylor’s unbeaten 20 dragged the total to 150.Australian left-arm quick Dwarshuis was lifted effortlessly over the leg-side boundary by Patel and powerfully over long-on by Budinger but had the latter caught behind off a slower ball as Leicestershire emerged from the opening six at 50 for 1, substitute wicketkeeper Henry Cullen wearing the gloves after Roderick suffered an injury batting.Patel, Shan Masood and Rehan found fielders, at long-off, mid-on and deep extra cover, respectively, after matching Budinger in making starts but failing to go on, yet the Foxes were always comfortably ahead of the game, with just 26 needed from 29 balls after Rehan’s demise.Kimber and Ben Cox required only 12 of them to get the job done, the captain hitting the winning boundary.

“It is still no excuse for some of the decisions we made with the bat. But this pitch is not up to international standards”

Mohammad Isam20-Jul-2025One game into the Bangladesh-Pakistan T20I series, the pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium has come under the scanner as expected.While Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson admitted that his batters hadn’t read the pitch correctly, he branded the surface as “unacceptable” for international cricket, after Pakistan were bowled out for 110.Related

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“I think (the pitch) is not ideal for anybody,” Hesson said. “Teams are trying to prepare for the Asia Cup or the (T20) World Cup. It is not acceptable. It is still no excuse for some of the decisions we made with the bat. But this pitch is not up to international standards.”Pakistan had slipped to 46 for 5 by the eighth over, with most of their batters falling while going for big shots. Pakistan’s cause wasn’t helped by three run-outs either, as they eventually folded in 19.3 overs.”We got off to a little bit of a flyer. Fakhar Zaman played four or five shots. It gave us a false indication about how the surface was playing,” Hesson said. “We didn’t help ourselves through the middle. We chose some poor options. When the ball started to nip through, and bounced steeply, we probably didn’t assess that it was a bit more challenging to play high-risk shots. Couple of run-outs also didn’t help.”Bangladesh opener Parvez Hossain Emon, however, disagreed with Hesson’s assessment of the pitch. Emon said that Bangladesh winning comfortably – by seven wickets and with 27 balls to spare – was an indication that the surface wasn’t all bad.”We didn’t feel (it was a bad pitch) as we chased it down in less than 16 overs,” he said. “We could have scored 150-160 runs if we batted the full 20 overs. It may be so that they couldn’t adjust to the pitch. We adjusted better than them. The Dhaka pitch usually benefits the bowlers. We tried to assess the wicket quickly. It was our first plan.”Hesson, though, felt such pitches wouldn’t help even Bangladesh prepare for sterner tests away from home.”You need good cricket wickets to develop cricketers. There was some good wickets during the BPL, to be fair. It is not up to the standard when international cricket is being played.”I don’t think it helps them when they leave Bangladesh. But I think also batting first in these situations is challenging. When you aren’t quite sure whether 100 or 130 or 150 is good enough. I don’t think (the pitch) is good for anybody. It still doesn’t take away the fact that you have to perform better in any surface. We will look at it as a team.”

The chase became nervy but his 90-run partnership with Asalanka turned the tide in their favour

Madushka Balasuriya31-Aug-2025Where Zimbabwe had faltered on Friday, Sri Lanka followed through in consummate fashion. Set a target of 278 in the second and final ODI in Harare, the visitors tracked it down with five wickets and three deliveries to spare. And with it, they swept the series 2-0.Similar to the first ODI, this too went down to the wire, and like that game on Friday, the chasing side seemed in control right until the last. But here with wickets in hand, and a deep batting line-up, Sri Lanka held firm and saw the game through.That said, Sri Lanka perhaps made life more difficult for themselves than they needed to. They did not score a boundary in the final powerplay until the 48th over – two ended up coming off that one, to leave the equation at 12 needed off 12 – but it meant the game was heading for yet another final over finish.In the penultimate over, Charith Asalanka got a boundary after deep midwicket had misjudged a skier, but was caught a ball later, having scored a crucial 71 off 61. Then, Kamindu Mendis defied space and time to inside edge an attempted reverse lap sweep for four, off a pinpoint Ngarava yorker to bring the equation down to 6 off 2. After that, the rest was a formality.Nissanka found boundaries to keep the required rate in check•Zimbabwe Cricket

The scorecard might indicate that the game was closer than it might have been, but with the chase anchored around Pathum Nissanka’s seventh ODI hundred – as he shared successive stands of 48, 20, 78 and 90 with Nuwanidu Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama and finally Asalanka – the visitors were always in control.It was in that final stand with Asalanka that Sri Lanka would say they broke the spine of the chase, with their partnership, at a touch over run-a-ball, ensuring the scoring was brisk through the middle overs.Indeed, this period was one of the main points of differentiation between the two sides. Where Zimbabwe scored 139 runs for the loss of four wickets between overs 15-40, Sri Lanka struck 27 more runs and lost one less wicket in the same period.It meant heading to the death overs, the scoreboard pressure was minimal for Sri Lanka, who were left needing just 67 off 60, with seven wickets in hand. Zimbabwe, by comparison, had scored 83 at the death just to push their total to competitive territory.Perhaps if a straightforward chance off Nissanka, when he was on 78, had not been spilled, Sri Lanka might have had a tougher time. In the end, however, they saw the game through to victory with minimal peril – even if ideally it should have been wrapped up sooner.Sikandar Raza was crucial to Zimbabwe’s batting effort•Zimbabwe Cricket

Nissanka’s innings of 122 off 136 was exactly what was required in a chase of this variety. It earned him both the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards. His frequent boundaries during the opening powerplay ensured the lack of strike rotation was not as keenly felt, and then, through the middle overs, his ability to find boundaries to punctuate lulls in play meant Sri Lanka never let the required rate get out of hand.Once Asalanka joined him, the boundary scoring burden was alleviated somewhat, with the Sri Lanka skipper willing to up the ante when required – most notably, with a trio of boundaries in the 40th over off Blessing Muzarabani.The target, however, had always seemed a touch below par on a fresh surface that was expected to suit the batters. Zimbabwe, having been put in to bat, did reasonably well at the start and end of their innings, but Sri Lanka controlled the middle overs to restrict the hosts to 277 for 7.That they got even that much was down to an unbeaten 59 off 55 from Sikandar Raza, as part of 76-run sixth-wicket stand with Clive Madande (36 off 36), and then smaller stands with the tail-enders.Ben Curran top-scored for Zimbabwe•Zimbabwe Cricket

Ben Curran top-scored in the innings with a 95-ball 79, but unlike Nissanka later in the day, he was unable to be around for the final overs. Where the Zimbabwe innings lost their way was losing wickets at crucial points through the middle overs.After Zimbabwe’s fast start – scoring 55 inside the opening powerplay – the entry of a rusty Brendan Taylor allowed Sri Lanka to apply the brakes on the scoring. Taylor and Curran put on a stand of 61, but since it came off 84 deliveries, it allowed Asalanka to sneak in several overs of the fifth-bowler quota.Taylor laboured to 20 off 37 during this period, while Asalanka snuck four of his own overs in for just 17 runs. With six more fifth-bowler overs remaining, Asalanka brought on Janith Liyanage, who dismissed Taylor in his second over, as the experienced batter mistimed a scoop to short fine while seeking to up the scoring.Sean Williams then entered, and all it took was one monster strike down the ground for Liyanage to be removed from the attack. With Williams generally looking to attack, both Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera kept things tight during this period.Dushmantha Chameera was the pick of the bowlers•Zimbabwe Cricket

Curran had done well up until this point, but his nine boundaries had come early on. His rhythm too had been interrupted by the lack of strike rotation during his partnership with Taylor – something perhaps impacted by a seeming hamstring niggle Taylor picked up during the innings.With the pressure building, the expensive Asitha Fernando was brought back and he delivered instantly, bookending his over with the wickets of Curran and Williams – both succumbing to short deliveries, with the former top edging one and the latter a delivery dragging on to the stumps.At 155 for 4, this shifted the momentum decisively in Sri Lanka’s favour. Liyanage was allowed to bowl a few more cheap overs to complete the fifth over quota, and while both Raza and Tony Munyonga struck boundaries following a couple of overs of consolidation, Madushanka returned to dismiss the latter.It was at this point that Raza took the lead, setting the tone with a pair of boundaries – the first a deft late dab, the second of inside out lofted cover drive – to signal Zimbabwe’s late charge.While boundaries weren’t as frequent in the following overs, the running between the wickets – a highlight of Zimbabwe’s chase in the first game – was once more exemplary. Despite scoring just six fours and a six in the final ten, they managed to score at beyond eight an over in the death overs, and with it, put up a fighting total. In the end, however, it wasn’t enough.

Reunited with RCB director Mo Bobat after making the switch from Trent Rockets

Matt Roller03-Oct-2025Andy Flower has been appointed men’s coach at London Spirit, reunited with director of cricket Mo Bobat after they took Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their maiden IPL title earlier this year. Flower takes over from Justin Langer after his side finished seventh out of eight in his first – and only – season in charge.Bobat was appointed director of cricket earlier this year by Spirit’s new owners and opted not to renew Langer’s contract. He has instead convinced Flower to leave Trent Rockets after a five-year association – which featured a title-winning season in 2022 – on a multi-year contract ahead of the 2026 season.MCC and the ‘Tech Titans’, a consortium of high net-worth individuals including the chief executives of Google, YouTube, Microsoft and Adobe, took operational control of the Spirit earlier this week. They will run the franchise as a joint-venture, with MCC retaining a controlling 51% stake and four out of seven board seats.”I’m delighted that we’ve been able to secure Andy’s services as our men’s head coach,” Bobat said. “Andy and I have enjoyed a strong working relationship in the past, and I’m looking forward to building something special with him at London Spirit as we enter this new and exciting phase for the franchise.”Related

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Flower said he was “deeply grateful” to have spent the last five years at the Rockets and “hugely excited” to join the Spirit. “It’s a real privilege to be part of such an iconic venue and organisation. I’m also thrilled to be working once again with Mo, and for the first time with both MCC and the Tech Titans.”The Spirit were women’s champions in 2024 but have consistently underperformed in the men’s Hundred. They have won just 12 of their 38 completed matches, with five of those coming in 2022 when Eoin Morgan captained them to the knockout stages for the only time in their short history.Langer brought in Kane Williamson as captain this year and recruited David Warner alongside him at the top of the order, but they only won three out of eight matches to finish second-bottom.MCC have also appointed Donna-Maria Cullen to the Spirit’s board, after she stepped down from her role as an executive director at Tottenham Hotspur FC. Cullen joins Julian Metherell, Rob Lawson and Morgan as MCC’s representatives, with Nikesh Arora (Palo Alto Networks), Satyan Gajwani (Times Internet) and Egon Durban (Silver Lake) taking the Tech Titans’ board seats.The franchise have confirmed that they will play under the same name next year, but are planning a major brand refresh over the winter which could see them incorporate MCC’s egg-and-bacon colours into their kit – most likely as detailing, rather than the primary colour.Six of the eight deals in the Hundred’s new ownership structure were signed off in July, with Nottinghamshire (Cain/Ares) and Surrey (Reliance) expected to confirm their respective deals for Trent Rockets and Oval Invincibles next week ahead of a Hundred board meeting later this month.

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In Benjamin Mendy’s absence, Pep Guardiola has commonly deployed centre-back Aymeric Laporte at left-back as cover for the France international.

However, the entire time that the Spaniard has been doing this, he has a ready made replacement right under his nose and a player that could even replace the misbehaving Mendy in the long term; Oleksandr Zinchenko.

What does he offer that Mendy doesn’t? 

Well, the pair are fairly similar when it comes to their style of play. Both players are left-footed, both enjoy bombing up and down the left flank, and both are equally dangerous crossers of the ball and are always looking to get involved in the attack.

Be sure to check out the incredible story of the man who rose from a Tanzanian refugee camp to become one of Australia’s biggest football stars in the video below…

What Zinchenko offers that Mendy does not, however, is a much more professional outlook on the game. Just last week, Pep Guardiola was told that the World Cup winner had tagged Hong Kong airport as his location on Instagram, when he told his boss that he was heading to Paris.

Whilst that may not seem a big deal, the former Barcelona boss has already had a few run-ins with the former Monaco left-back, notably after the 24-year-old turned up late for a physio session.

In stark contrast, Zinchenko has only made four Premier League starts all season, but has sat patiently on the sidelines and always been ready to take his chance when it comes.

What are the chances of Zinchenko becoming first choice?

Due to the fact that Mendy cost the Citizens a huge £52m fee when they signed him back in 2017, it is unlikely that Guardiola would drop such a huge asset and damage his value.

On just his fourth start in the league this season, however, Ukrainian international Zinchenko recorded his second and third assists of the campaign in the 6-0 win over Chelsea; he was certainly a candidate for the Man of the Match award.

When Mendy returns from his latest knee issue, one would assume that Guardiola would throw him straight back into the starting line-up. However, one more slip up from the social media bandit, and Zinchenko could stake a real claim for his spot in the team.

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Leeds United earned a draw against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium in dramatic circumstances on Saturday, as Kalvin Phillips headed in an equaliser for the Whites in the 11th minute of stoppage time. 

The point took Marcelo Bielsa’s side back to the top of the Championship table. However, the Argentine coach will know, although a draw was a fair result, it was for from a perfect performance from his side. 

Leeds wasted plenty of goalscoring opportunities and at times struggled to be effective on the ball. A number of players looked fatigued and out of ideas, none more so than right-back Luke Ayling. 

The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…

The 27-year-old has been in fine form this season but could do with some time out of the firing line now. What’s more, 19-year-old Jamie Shackleton has impressed this season and could offer Leeds a new dimension if given the chance to fill in for Ayling at right-back for a while.

If Bielsa is to guide his side successfully to promotion he must rotate his ranks smartly, bringing in Shackleton for Ayling would be doing exactly that.