Big picture: Defending champions vs Serial winners

For probably the first time in the franchise’s young history, Gujarat Titans will be feeling the pressure in a knockout game. Freshly jolted by a defeat in Qualifier 1, this is the first time they’re ever playing an IPL game to stay alive. The best team from the league stage didn’t really play like it against Chennai Super Kings to the point that it suddenly seems like they aren’t entirely sure of their best XI. Getting that wrong in the playoff stages usually proves expensive.On the other hand, Mumbai Indians are peaking at the right time. They produced one of their most complete performances in the Eliminator to go with four wins in their last five games in the group stages. From the batting point of view, everyone has unlocked the most dangerous version of themselves, and among bowlers, Piyush Chawla and Jason Behrendorff are doing enough for Akash Madhwal to shine at the death.Related

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Mumbai beat Titans the last time the two sides met in IPL 2023, and purely based on recent results and recent vibes, Mumbai would appear to have the edge. Their bowling unit has been red-hot of late but that wasn’t quite the case early on in the tournament. Titans on the other hand have proven performers with the ball, including the season’s top two wicket-takers. How Madhwal and co can match up to Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan may well decide the outcome of this game.Titans’ batting though, at least in the present moment, lacks the clarity their bowling has. They need to figure out if Dasun Shanaka is offering enough. And also do more to ensure Vijay Shankar bats when he can have the most impact. Most of all, they have to find a way for Hardik Pandya – the batter – to make the best use of his skills. If that clarity is there, Titans will feel that the Qualifier defeat was a mere blip on their journey towards defending their IPL title. It won’t come easy against a side that just knows how to win crunch games.

Form guide

Gujarat Titans: LWWLW
Mumbai Indians: WWLWW

Team news: Worry for Titans seamers?

Titans played Darshan Nalkande against Super Kings for Yash Dayal, but Nalkande was hobbling after his bowling spell. If Nalkande is unfit, one could see Dayal coming back in. Titans could also bring in Josh Little as a replacement, but that would see Shanaka dropped. Little is a frontrunner for his experience and better bowling numbers compared to the uncapped Indians, more so in a knockout game.With Tilak Varma returning to their side against Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai have no injury concerns.Nehal Wadhera scored quick runs coming in as an Impact sub•AFP/Getty Images

Impact Player strategy: What will Mumbai do?

Mumbai could use an extra batter – like in the Eliminator with Nehal Wadhera – and sacrifice an extra bowling option to give their first-innings total a push if they bat first. Otherwise, the default route is Suryakumar Yadav being used as an Impact sub for an Indian bowler.Mumbai Indians (probable XII): 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Cameron Green, , 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Tim David, , 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Jason Behrendorff, 11 Akash Madhwal, 12 Kumar KartikeyaTitans are likely to go with Vijay as the Impact Player in a chase or bring in a fast bowler if they are defending.Gujarat Titans (probable XII): 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Hardik Pandya (capt), , 5 David Miller, 6 Sai Sudharsan/Abhinav Manohar, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Noor Ahmad, , 11 Mohit Sharma, 12 Mohammed Shami.

Stats that matter: Watch out for Rohit vs Rashid

• Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav have contrasting numbers against Rashid Khan. Rohit has been dismissed four times in six innings, but Suryakumar has scored 67 runs in 47 balls without ever being dismissed in the IPL.
• Titans and Mumbai are the two best chasing sides in IPL 2023, having won six of their nine chases.
• In IPL 2023, Hardik averages 40 at the No. 3 position in eight innings, but at No. 4, he struggles, averaging 11.4 in five innings.
• Mumbai’s powerplay bowling has steadily improved. In their first ten games, their powerplay economy of 9.2 came with an average of 54.9. In their last five games, their powerplay economy has dropped to 8.2, with an average of 27.3.

Pitch and conditions

It has touched 43 degrees in Ahmedabad. Curators have covered the pitch to ensure it doesn’t break down abnormally. The pitch for the game is among the least used strips – the centre has nine surfaces – and is being brought in to seemingly provide a run fest.It has been watered adequately to ensure some amount of moisture helps bind it underneath. The curator expects good pace and bounce like all season. Dew isn’t expected to be a major factor, helped by the chemical they use to prevent its formation.

A seventh win for the Outlaws puts them in a strong position to claim a quarter-final place

ECB Reporters Network20-Jun-2023

Joe Clarke hit three sixes in a 41-ball 72 and Colin Munro 28 off 17 as a blistering start by the Outlaws proved to be enough to set up a 22-run North Group victory over Leicestershire Foxes in the Vitality Blast.The Outlaws were 78 for 1 after eight overs having opted to bat first, and though the Foxes came back strongly with the ball to restrict the visitors to 165 for 8, their efforts with the bat proved woefully inadequate.Nick Welsh (32 from 30) and Peter Handscomb (28 from 30) put on 63 for the first wicket but despite Wiaan Mulder striking 38 from 26 balls late in the innings, the Foxes fell 23 runs short of their target, Steven Mullaney taking 3 for 18 from his four overs, leg spinner Calvin Harrison 2 for 14 and Shaheen Shah Afridi 2 for 28.Pace-bowling all-rounder Tom Scriven took a career-best 4 for 21 for the Foxes in only his fifth Blast appearance, backed up by 3 for 22 from canny left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson, while Mike Finan equalled the county record for the format with four outfield catches.Yet they ended on the losing side again as their side suffered their ninth defeat from 11 matches to remain rooted to the bottom of the group.A seventh win for the Outlaws puts them in a strong position to claim a quarter-final place, although they suffered a double blow on the night with overseas star Munro unable to field after suffering what looked like a hamstring injury while batting, and veteran all-rounder Samit Patel leaving the field with an apparent ankle injury after the fourth ball of his third over.The Outlaws were 60 for 1 after an eventful powerplay which saw Parkinson dismiss Alex Hales for the fourth time in five seasons but then drop one of two catching chances the Foxes failed to hold.Munro was put down at short fine leg on five off left-armer Finan before Parkinson spilled an easier one at short third man as Clarke, on 26, went for the ramp against Matt Salisbury, Munro finishing the over with four and six. The Foxes were generally sloppy in the field in the powerplay.Munro needed lengthy treatment in the seventh over, was able to continue as Colin Ackermann’s first over went for 15 but fell in the ninth as he mistimed a lofted drive against Rehan Ahmed to be caught at long on, two tidy overs from the leg-spinner checking the Outlaws’ progress a little as they reached the halfway point at 91 for 2.Clarke stepped on the accelerator, adding sixes off Finan and Scriven to an earlier maximum off Ackermann as the next 22 balls saw the Foxes leak 41 runs but the shape of the Outlaws innings then changed dramatically with the loss of three wickets in seven balls.Scriven, hammered down the ground for six by Clarke the previous delivery, took revenge when the Outlaws’ leading run-scorer miscued high in the air to backward point, before Parkinson struck twice in five balls, having Matt Montomery caught at long off before trapping Tom Moores leg before on the back foot.Notts had slipped from 133 for 2 to 136 for 5, a triple blow that cost them all their momentum with only 29 added in the final five overs as Scriven rounded off a fine performance with three wickets and just eight runs conceded in his two death overs.Samit Patel holed out to long off and Finan became the third Foxes player – along with Arron Lilley and Wiaan Mulder – to take four outfield catches in a single Blast innings by safely pouching Shaheen Afridi and then Mullaney in the deep on the leg side.Foxes openers Welch and Handscomb were not able to match the Outlaws’ explosive start but did not lose a wicket in posting 42 runs from the powerplay, although the Australian would have been run out on seven had a Hales’ throw hit.Yet they struggled to find any acceleration and were already lagging behind the required rate at 74 for 1 after 10, having by then lost Handscomb, stumped going down the pitch to Mullaney, as Moores made amends for missing him off Samit Patel the over before.Rishi Patel announced himself with a pulled six off Calvin Harrison but perished in the next over, well caught on the extra cover boundary as a reverse-sweep went wrong and Mullaney claimed a second wicket.Next over, Welch holed out to Hales at deep midwicket before Ackermann departed in the most bizarre fashion, handing Mullaney a caught-and-bowled chance which he dropped but claimed at a juggling second attempt as the ball bounced back to him off the chest of Mulder, who was standing a yard from him at the non-striker’s end.By now, the run-rate was beginning to look beyond the Foxes, who lost Ahmed caught behind as Harrison completed the stricken Samit Patel’s unfinished over before Scriven found Hales on the long-on boundary, with 70 needed from 27 balls.Mulder launched back-to-back sixes off Jake Ball but they were no more than a consolation with 29 needed off a final over in which Shaheen bowled him and Finan in the space of four balls.

Eight regional sides put out to tender with first-class counties, MCC invited to bid for 2025-28

Valkerie Baynes01-Feb-2024″Show us your vision.” That’s the challenge the ECB has sent down to the 18 first-class counties in a second major overhaul of its professional women’s playing structure in five years.Invitations to tender for one of eight women’s professional “Tier 1 Clubs” are being sent to the counties and the MCC on Thursday. It is a move away from the current regional structure which began in 2020, whereby teams contesting the 20-over Charlotte Edwards Cup and 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy fall under central ECB control and largely encompass more than one county.By aligning teams more closely with existing counties – and their men’s teams – from the beginning of the 2025 season, the ECB is seeking to address an identity crisis that has afflicted some of the regional teams. The expanded marketing of the domestic women’s game will shift ownership, responsibility and governance to the clubs.The eight teams will compete in the top level of an expanded three-tier women’s domestic structure and while it is expected that they could still compete for trophies bearing the same names, one possible scenario is for those matches to be played as part of the Vitality T20 Blast and Metro Bank One Day Cup – which are currently men’s competitions – with the scope for some fixtures being played as double-headers.In October 2019, the ECB announced its ‘Inspiring Generations’ strategy for 2020-2024, aimed at making cricket a gender-balanced sport. That included introducing full-time professional contracts for women playing domestic cricket, the eight regional teams and the domestic 20-over and 50-over women’s competitions. It came after England had been soundly defeated 12-4 in a home Women’s Ashes series in 2019 and the ECB vowed to do better in the wake of Australia’s then-superior domestic structure.Related

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• Women's Hundred to receive £800,000 salary boost from ECB

But last summer’s report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket concluded that there was still much work to be done to correct deep-seated discrimination within the game, particularly on the grounds of race, class and gender.Beth Barrett-Wild, ECB Director of Women’s Professional Game, said that while the initial revamp was aimed at professionalising women’s cricket on-field, the next phase had more of a commercial focus. It was hoped that aligning with the counties would help grow audiences, boost teams’ visibility and offer the women’s teams a sense of stability and inclusion, which would in turn attract sponsors to the counties themselves.”The regional model was launched in 2020 with a very clear remit to professionalise women’s cricket domestically on the field as quickly as possible and I think it’s done a brilliant job at that,” she said. “We are now up at around 88 professional female cricketers across those eight teams, over 100 coaching support staff, 102 fixtures this year and they’ve gone up year-on-year.”I spent a lot of time speaking with the players. I think there is an element at the moment with the way the women’s and men’s professional games are set up, they are slightly separate, and there is this sense of otherness around women’s teams. It will give us a better platform to commercialise the women’s game.”I also truly believe that it allows us to protect and enhance revenue streams for the first-class counties themselves. We’re increasingly seeing brands and commercial partners are no longer prepared just to invest in male-only sports properties. Being able to co-present men and women together is crucially important.”The existing regions – South East Stars, Thunder, Sunrisers, Central Sparks, Western Storm, The Blaze, Northern Diamonds and Southern Vipers – will remain for the 2024 season.There is an underlying sense that some of the teams for 2025 and beyond are foregone conclusions (South East Stars, which currently draws players from Surrey and Kent, is expected to become Surrey Stars, while Thunder are likely to become Lancashire Thunder), Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, warned against counties assuming that would be the case.”We need to make sure that we use the right partners,” Gould said. “People that have got the best facilities, who will show the most love, have got the biggest fan base, are going to be at an advantage, but it’s going to be a mix between the financial and the feeling… who really is going to make their best efforts to try and drive this forward. So you may get a very large club that doesn’t treat the tender process as seriously as they think they should. Well, that will be a mistake.”Surrey chair Oli Slipper recently told members the club intended to bid for the Stars and was exploring opportunities to develop a second ground to address “space and pitch capacity limitations we have at The Kia Oval, particularly as the women’s game develops and its audiences grow”. Essex, who along with Middlesex are represented by the Sunrisers, have impressed during early talks on facilities.Meanwhile, Southern Vipers is a strong existing brand, based at Hampshire and built via the Kia Super League, which could mount a strong argument for retaining its identity. Barrett-Wild said team names would be decided on a case-by-case basis once the successful tenders were known.”We are looking at the three key objectives,” she said. “How are they going to deliver quality cricket? How are they going to grow their fan base? And how are they going to return on that investment from a commercial lens? But for me, actually, the bigger point – and this is the fourth, overarching point – is around show us your vision, show us your ambition, show us how much you care about this. What impact will this have on your organisation?”Because I think that depth of feeling and that sense of belonging, along with cash investment – clearly money matters, money is needed – but it’s that depth of feeling and that ambition, which is the bit that I’m most excited to see.”Southern Vipers are a successful brand•Getty Images

The ECB will invest a minimum of £1.3 million per year into each of the eight Tier 1 teams, a proportion of which will be ring-fenced for player salaries, sports science and medicine and talent pathways. There will be no mandated minimum financial commitment sought from the counties, who will be expected to outline their projected investment as part of the tender process.The deadline for submitting bids for Tier 1 teams is March 10. First-class counties not awarded Tier 1 status, plus all National Counties, will then be invited to take part in a process to determine the make-up of Tiers 2 and 3, which is expected to be finalised by September. Tier 2 is expected to comprise 10-14 teams and Tier 3 16-20 teams.Between the start of 2025 and end of 2028 those tiers will remain “closed” with no promotion or relegation. Counties awarded Tier 1 teams will also be expected to work with Tier 2 and 3 teams in their area to develop effective talent pathways.

The game was not without controversy though, with Soumya Sarkar’s not-out decision leaving the visitors fuming

Mohammad Isam06-Mar-2024

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto’s half-century helped Bangladesh level the series against Sri Lanka as the hosts completed a comfortable win in the second T20I in Sylhet. The visitors faltered in the middle overs with the bat before Bangladesh’s top four got all the runs.The game was not without controversy though. Soumya Sarkar’s not-out decision during the chase left Sri Lanka fuming, after the third umpire ruled that there was a clear gap between bat and ball, even though Ultra-edge showed a clear spike.Sri Lanka lose regular wicketsWhen Sri Lanka were put into bat for the second game in a row, Kamindu Mendis and Kusal Mendis took charge of the Sri Lanka innings from the fourth over after Taskin Ahmed removed Avishka Fernando for a duck. The duo took Sri Lanka to 49 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. However, following Kusal’s dismissal in the ninth over, Sri Lanka started losing wickets regularly.Kamindu was run out in the tenth over and Mustafizur Rahman removed Sadeera Samarawickrama in the 13th. Charith Asalanka walked back the following over, after hitting three sixes and a four in his 10-ball stay, bowled by Mahedi Hasan.Sri Lanka’s experienced duo of Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka then combined for a half-century stand. They struck five fours and a six in this period and pushed the total to 165.Angelo Mathews scored 32 off 21•Getty Images

Sarkar, Litton deal in foursOpeners Sarkar and Litton Das then got Bangladesh off to a solid start, scoring 63 runs in the powerplay which was laced with a combined total of nine fours.Sarkar survived the controversial third umpire decision at the start of the fourth over, when he was on 14. He then hit a couple of fours in that over, while Litton hammered the first six in the sixth over.Sarkar was however not able to capitalise much on the extra life, mistiming a pull off Matheesha Pathirana to Mathews at midwicket in the seventh over. Pathirana then returned to remove Litton, who was caught at square leg in the ninth over for 36.Easy chase for BangladeshShanto and Towhid Hridoy made sure there were no more blemishes. The pair rotated the strike while hitting at least one boundary in every over. They went through the 15th and 16th overs without boundaries, but Shanto struck Shanaka for a four and six in the 17th over to bring the equation down to less than run-a-ball.Hridoy hit a six off the last ball of the 18th over, and with two runs required off the last two overs, Shanto smashed the first ball of the 19th over for a six to complete his half-century and in turn also seal the win for Bangladesh.

Will Pucovski’s sent a timely reminder with a drought-breaking century in his Sheffield Shield return as Victoria climbed all over NSW before rain intervened at the SCG.Back in the fray after an 11th concussion in a 2nd XI game last month, Pucovski showed patience and poise on Sunday on his way to his first Shield century in more than three years.He ground out 131 off 302 balls, going from 58 to triple figures without a boundary before getting creative with ramp shots and late cuts as the Bushrangers put the foot down.Related

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He staved of the best efforts of Nathan Lyon before eventually holing out to the Test offspinner, having earlier shared a 200-run stand with Peter Handscomb.Aided also by Nic Maddinson’s blazing 108 a day earlier, Victoria declared at 454 for 6 for a first innings lead of 202. NSW were 40 for 3, still 162 shy of making Victoria bat again, before rain brought stumps about an hour early on day three.It was Pucovski’s seventh first class century but first Shield hundred since November 2020 – before his solitary Test in January 2021 – for the man long touted as a future red-ball Australian star.He took time away from the game in 2022 for mental health reasons but has played five Shield matches for the second-placed Victoria this season.Following opener David Warner’s recent Test retirement, the century was a timely reminder of Pucovski’s class in just his 35th first-class match since debuting in 2017.”It’s always nice to get amongst the runs,” he said.  “A lot of hard work goes into what you do on the field and it was good to bounce back after the little hiccup a couple of weeks ago with the concussion.”They had the greatest spinner of all time [Lyon] in their attack and he bowled a lot of overs. The plan was to nullify him as best I could and trust my defence.”He’s just incredibly high quality; doesn’t give you much to hit and toys around with you a bit. You want to challenge yourself against the best and he’s the best. So it’s good to be able to succeed against someone like him.”Australian Under-19 star Sam Konstas and veteran Moises Henriques survived until the rain arrived on Sunday.Scott Boland had Blake Nikitaras trapped in front for six then had Daniel Hughes caught behind for a golden duck, while Will Sutherland added a sixth wicket for the match in the form of Matthew Gilkes.”It was about putting them under pressure as much as we could,” Pucovski said of Victoria’s declaration. “It paid off tonight – 3 for 40 – but we would have liked to stay out there for that last hour or so.”

Former Manchester United goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek stood up for Marcus Rashford and fired back at the critics of the new Barcelona player.

Rashford completes his move to BarcaEnds miserable spell at Man UtdHoek gives verdict after working with attackerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Former United goalkeeping coach Hoek, who was part of Louis van Gaal's staff at Old Trafford and oversaw the rise of Rashford from the academy to the first team, has come out publicly in support of the new Barcelona player. He admitted that the treatment Rashford received from the Red Devils in recent times was beyond him.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Rashford rose through the ranks at Carrington and broke through into the first team in the 2015-16 season under Van Gaal, scoring twice in his debut after starting in a Europa League round of 32 second leg tie against Midtjylland. Three days later, he scored twice and assisted one goal in a 3-2 win over Arsenal, marking his Premier League debut in style. He emerged as a star and was handed the iconic No.10 shirt after Zlatan Ibrahimovic's departure. After scoring 30 goals in a season for the first time in the 2022-23 campaign, his output declined dramatically, scoring just 15 goals in the two seasons since. Last season, he was frozen out by new manager Ruben Amorim, and was even loaned out to Aston Villa in January, where his performances improved.

WHAT FRANS HOEK SAID

Speaking in an interview with , Hoek was asked what really happened with Rashford for United to stop counting on him. The Dutchman replied: "Marcus is a great footballer, a very good forward, but as a player he needs to feel supported and valued. In that sense, I don't understand the criticism he has received from his club in recent seasons."

He added: "Rashford is a great player and now he has to fight to earn a place at Barca. Lamine [Yamal] is a great player, Raphinha is very good and I've always liked [Robert] Lewandowski, but there will be minutes for everyone because with only three top-level strikers you can't compete. Barca's forward line is very good and Rashford will have to work hard to have a presence in the team."

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR MARCUS RASHFORD

The Englishman was officially presented as a new Barcelona player on Wednesday. He will be wearing the No.14 jersey and will be part of the pre-season squad that will tour Asia.

At the 2024 T20 World Cup, 10-overs-a-side needed to constitute a completed knockout game instead of the usual five

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2024The stop clock to help speed up over rates will become a permanent feature in men’s ODIs and T20Is between Full Members from June 1, the ICC announced after its board meetings in Dubai this week.According to the rule, which has been trialled in international cricket since December last year, the fielding side must be ready to start an over within a minute of the previous one ending. If they fail to do so, they will be allowed two warnings by the umpires, after which a five-run penalty will be imposed for the third offence and every subsequent one.”The results of the stop-clock trial were presented to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC), which demonstrated that around 20 minutes per ODI match had been saved in time,” an ICC said in a statement laying out the reasons for making the rule permanent. During the trial period, no team was found to have exceeded the one-minute limit between overs three times in an innings, and so the five-run penalty has not yet been imposed for this offence.In addition to the stop clock, there are two other penalties that can be imposed to police over-rates in limited-overs cricket – a fielding penalty and monetary fines.The fielding penalty is laid out as follows: if the fielding side fails to begin the final over of the innings by the stipulated cut-off time, after accounting for delays, they will have to bring an extra fielder into the 30-yard circle for however many overs are remaining in the innings. So they will be allowed only four fielders outside the circle, instead of five, for the duration of the penalty. This rule, introduced in early 2022, applies to both men’s and women’s limited-overs games.The monetary fine includes a 5% cut in the team’s match fee for every over they are short of the minimum required over rate, after the umpires have taken into account allowances for unavoidable delays. The fine for the captain is double that of his team-mates, and the fines are capped at 50% of the match fee.2024 T20 World Cup: 10 overs minimum for knockout gamesThe 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies in June will have reserve days in place for the semi-finals and final, in case of delays and interruptions. And each of those knockout games will require a minimum of 10 overs per innings to constitute a completed game. For the group stages, the minimum requirement remains five-overs-per-side to constitute a match, as is the norm for T20 cricket.2026 T20 World Cup qualification at stake in 2024 editionThe 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, like the upcoming edition, will comprise 20 teams, with 12 automatic qualifiers: the two hosts India and Sri Lanka as well as the other teams that make the Super Eights at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Then, two to four teams (it will be fewer than four if India or Sri Lanka finish outside the top eight in 2024) are decided by who are the next highest-ranked teams in the ICC’s T20I rankings on June 30, 2024. The remaining eight spots for 2026 will be decided through the usual regional qualifiers pathway.

MLS is in a “healthy” state and can survive without Lionel Messi, says Terry Phelan, but the Saudi Pro League does remain a problem.

• Argentine GOAT moved to America in 2023
• Brought more eyes to the domestic game in U.S.
• Questions being asked of his future in Florida

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Argentine GOAT Messi moved to America in 2023 when linking up with Manchester United legend David Beckham at Inter Miami. He helped to deliver a historic Leagues Cup triumph within weeks of his arrival.

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• Getty
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The Herons have savoured Supporters’ Shield glory since then, with Messi claiming MVP honours, while also gracing the FIFA Club World. Questions are, however, being asked of how long their iconic No.10 will be sticking around.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Messi is yet to trigger a 12-month extension option in his contract, taking him through the 2026 World Cup, with speculation building regarding a potential move elsewhere – with big-spending teams in the Saudi Pro League reportedly ready to reunite him with eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

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  WHAT PHELAN SAID

  The riches on offer in the Middle East are making it hard for MLS teams to compete for the biggest of names, but Terry Phelan believes more stars will head to the States. A man that spent time with Charleston Battery in his playing days, speaking with bookmaker , told GOAL when asked if the MLS bubble will burst without Messi: “I don’t think it bursts. You have had [Didier] Drogba over there, you’ve had [Thierry] Henry, had Beckham over there. It never burst.

  “I think MLS is healthy. Look at the numbers, if you look at the attendances, it’s healthy. They have got the World Cup coming next year. I think it’s in a healthy state.

  “There will always be one or two stars. You might get a [Robert] Lewandowski over there, coming to the end of his career. There are still those players about at the end of their careers that might go over there – like [Luis] Suarez has gone over there at the end of his career. You will always pick somebody up like that who will regenerate and excite the fan base.”

Three Australians named among Five Cricketers of the Year following compelling Ashes summer

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2024

Pat Cummins and Nat Sciver-Brunt have been named as the Leading Cricketers in the World in the 2024 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, published on Tuesday.Cummins, Australia’s fast-bowling spearhead and captain across formats, guided his side to victory over India in both the ICC World Test Championship at The Oval in June, and the 50-over World Cup in Ahmedabad in November. He also oversaw his side’s successful defence of the Ashes, in last summer’s enthralling 2-2 drawn series in England.He is the first Australian man to be named as Wisden’s Leading Cricketer since Michael Clarke in 2012, and succeeds his England counterpart Ben Stokes, who had claimed the honour three times in four years, in 2020, 2021 and 2023.Lawrence Booth, Wisden’s editor, said: “After captaining Australia to success in the World Test Championship, Pat Cummins retained the Ashes – thanks in no small part to his late-order runs in the First Test at Edgbaston – then led Australia to victory in the World Cup final in India. In 2023, no other seamer in world cricket took more than his 42 Test wickets.”Sciver-Brunt, meanwhile, has been recognised as the pre-eminent women’s cricketer of the moment, particularly in light of her starring role in the Women’s Ashes, in which she produced back-to-back ODI centuries to take the multi-format series to the wire.She followed those performances with an England-record 66-ball hundred against Sri Lanka, while her global appeal was recognised by Mumbai Indians at the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction in February, where her £320,000 price tag made her the UK’s best-paid female team athlete.The thrilling nature of both the Men’s and Women’s Ashes, which were played concurrently in June and July 2023, is reflected in the Anglo-Aussie flavour to Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year – an honour a player can only win once in their career and which is judged by their performance during the English home season.Nat Sciver-Brunt was the stand-out performer in women’s cricket in 2023•Getty Images

Three Australians are named among the Five, including the allrounder Ashleigh Gardner, whose 12 wickets in the one-off Women’s Test at Trent Bridge were instrumental in her team’s retention of the Ashes. She is the tenth female recipient of an honour that dates back to 1889, and the first Australian woman to be named as a Cricketer of the Year since Ellyse Perry in 2020.The other Australians in the Five are Usman Khawaja, the leading run-scorer in the Men’s Ashes with 496 runs at 49.60 including a series-defining hundred at Edgbaston, and Mitchell Starc, the leading bowler with 23 wickets at 27.08, who also claimed 16 wickets in the World Cup triumph.Harry Brook, England’s break-out star of the 2022-23 winter, is also named alongside Mark Wood, whose selection for the third Test at Headingley last summer was the catalyst for England’s stirring fightback in the series.”Wood turned the Ashes on its head,” Booth said. “He topped 96mph, took five for 34, and pushed Australia on the back foot, literally and figuratively. In all, he claimed 14 wickets at just 20 apiece as England came from 2-0 down to square the series.”Travis Head, meanwhile, has been awarded the Wisden Trophy for the year’s best Test performance, following his match-seizing innings of 163 from 174 balls in the World Test Championship final. He succeeds Jonny Bairstow as the second winner of Wisden’s newest award, with the trophy having previously been contested during England-West Indies Test series from 1963 to 2020, until it was succeeded by the Richards-Botham Trophy.The other notable award in this year’s publication goes to the West Indian Hayley Matthews, who is the first female to be named the Leading Twenty20 Cricketer, after a run of eight consecutive T20I match awards, in which period she averaged 88 with the bat, at a strike-rate of 144, and 12 with the ball.The compelling nature of the Ashes battle is an enduring theme of this year’s Almanack, with Booth making the point in his Notes by the Editor that England’s ultra-attacking “Bazball” approach to the series has already ramped up demand for this summer’s Test series against West Indies.”Amid the gloomy outlook for Test cricket, here was a glimmer of hope: proof that if you put on a show, bums will fill seats,” he wrote. “And the 2023 Ashes were a show all right, up there with 1981 and 2005. But for rain in Manchester, it might even have rivalled Australia’s Don Bradman-inspired 1936-37 victory, still the only series in Test history won by a team who had trailed 2-0.Ashleigh Gardner became only the second woman to pick eight wickets in a Test innings•Getty Images

“The scoreline was almost secondary. For the first time since English cricket vanished behind a paywall, it felt like the people’s sport: Bazball was on their lips and, before long, in the Collins Dictionary.”Fittingly, the series was capped by the last hurrah of one of the most enduring Ashes competitors of modern times, Stuart Broad, who claimed his 604th and final Test wicket with the last ball of the series to bow out on a high. In his Notes, Booth salutes him as “England’s maker of memories”.”The best players don’t simply rack up the numbers (though his final tally made you tired just thinking of it),” Booth wrote. “They leave an impression. Even more than [James] Anderson, Broad was England’s maker of memories, the curator of the family album. A rule of thumb emerged: if Broad’s knees were pumping, so was England’s blood.”Elsewhere in his Notes, Booth appeals for a reappraisal of the so-called Spirit of Cricket, a concept that came under intense scrutiny following Bairstow’s controversial stumping during the Lord’s Test, and criticises the game’s administrators for undermining the competitive nature of international cricket with an increasingly inequitable split of the ICC’s revenues.”In the era of global television, the West Indians have been hardest hit among the major Test teams,” Booth wrote. “India’s slice of the pie had grown from less than 25% to 38.5%, or close to $230m a year … West Indies receive 4.58%, or $27.5m.”Yet this is where cricket finds itself, in dreary thrall to the notion that market forces must be obeyed, while patronising the West Indian game with back-handed compliments, when what it needs is hard cash. There’s plenty of that in cricket’s central pot. Is it really beyond the wit of the administrators to distribute it according to need, not greed?”

This will be the England fast bowler’s first IPL stint

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2024Mumbai Indians have signed English left-arm fast bowler Luke Wood as a replacement for the injured Jason Behrendorff for IPL 2024.Wood has been signed for his base price of INR 50 lakh.Wood has 147 wickets from 140 T20s, including five matches for England. While he has featured in several T20 leagues like the BBL, PSL and BPL, apart from The Hundred, this will be his first IPL stint.Behrendorff was ruled out of the IPL after he broke his leg in a freak accident while training in Perth last Thursday just before leaving for India.The injury to Behrendorff, who returned 14 wickets from 12 games last season, compounds problems for Mumbai in their fast-bowling department. Sri Lankan left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka picked up an injury during the second ODI against Bangladesh which has likely ruled him out from the initial stages of IPL 2024.Related

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South African fast bowler Gerald Coetzee is also recovering from a pelvic inflammation and could be unavailable for Mumbai’s first few matches.Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Madhwal, Nuwan Thushara and Arjun Tendulkar are the other fast bowlers in Mumbai’s roster, while their new captain Hardik Pandya has confirmed that he is fit to bowl in the tournament. They also have Romario Shepherd as a seam-bowling allrounder.Star batter Suryakumar Yadav, who is recovering after two surgeries, is also a doubt for Mumbai’s opening match against Gujarat Titans.