As a dispiriting tour plumbs new depths, lessons need to be learned if England are to move on

Valkerie Baynes25-Jan-2025Amid England’s 2019 Ashes capitulation, Clare Connor, the ECB’s then managing director of women’s cricket, announced a wide-ranging review looking at preparation, selection and player development.The funds poured into the women’s game, and crowed about by the organisation after that 12-4 drubbing at the hands of Australia, have done wonders for the sport, and yet here we are.England are 12-0 down and staring down the very real prospect of losing 16-0 after next week’s Test and failing to register a point for the first time since the Ashes became a multi-format series in 2013.It took a while for things to change after 2019 but they did, for a time. The post-pandemic return series in Australia was beset by quarantine restrictions and bad weather which did little for the touring side’s morale as they again lost 12-4.But in 2023, under new coach Jon Lewis, England fought back from 6-0 down to draw 8-8 at home and Australia retained the Ashes by the barest of means. And that may just be England’s problem now.For all the controversy over England’s perceived fitness levels, much of their downfall appears to be to do with mental matters. There is little evidence that they have eradicated the fielding errors that contributed to their T20 World Cup exit in October, where they fell apart against West Indies in the group stage.Poor shot selection has been a running theme throughout this Ashes for a batting line-up which slumped to England’s second-lowest T20I total when they were bowled out for 90 and Australia romped to a 72-run victory in the third T20I on Saturday.After the result at Adelaide Oval, Lewis also said his bowlers had been “sloppy” in terms of line and length up to that point, when England’s spinners in particular restricted Australia to what he believed was a par score of 162 for 5.But Lewis didn’t believe that England’s ability to push Australia 18 months ago had made them over-confident heading into this series.”I think it may have raised expectation outside of the group,” he said. “I definitely don’t think it gave us too much confidence. It gave us some confidence. We were incredibly aware of how strong Australia are in this part of the world and everywhere else in the world.”They’re a really good cricket team. We knew that when we came in, we knew this was going to be a really hard-fought competition but also a really hard competition for us to come out on top in.”What I would say is I think our performance in England last time probably stimulated the Australians into making some decisions about how they wanted to play and they’ve come out and they’ve showed some changes in how they’ve approached their cricket and they’ve been really impressive. They’ve played better cricket than us and we are in this position for a reason.”Fielding errors persisted in Adelaide, alongside familiar batting errors•Getty ImagesEngland’s mantra under Lewis has been to “inspire and entertain”, so is it not reasonable that the public would expect a lot of their team, who in the aftermath of that 2019 failure have become a better resourced, highly professionalised outfit? Unlike Australia, who have responded to their 2023 wake-up call by coming up with all the answers before England have even thought of the questions, it seems their visitors aren’t learning their lessons.”There isn’t a lot of time between games to go away and think and work and make a change,” Lewis said. “We have pretty honest conversations behind closed doors. The players are really honest with how they’re going.”One of the things that stood out for me across this tour is actually we’ve practised really, really well but we haven’t played very well. So the bit that we’re missing is the bit when we cross the line as to how we go and perform.”We’ve got some really good players and we haven’t been able to transfer that onto the field, which is a great shame. There’s a great opportunity for us to show what a good cricket team we are and we haven’t been able to do that.”Lewis had expressed concern ahead of the tour about the tight schedule, but it is the same for both sides. Not being able to execute in pressure situations has only been an issue for one and all of the above speaks to mental over physical shortcomings.And while you’ll struggle to find a fitter side than Australia, you won’t find one tougher above the shoulders. Yes, they stumbled in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, and at the last Ashes, and yet here we are. Australia have learned, improved and then pulverised their opposition.”I feel like there’s been moments in those games where if we pushed home our advantage at certain points in the match we could have come away some points in probably the first three or four games,” Lewis said. “In fact the first five games I think we’ve been at times in positions to take some points.”But I feel like in the critical moments in the games the Australians have used their experience and their understanding of the conditions to play in a way that’s been able to get them across the line and you have to take your hat off to them. They understand how to win and we disrupted them a little bit over in England last time out and we came here with confidence that we could do the same here but they haven’t let us do it.”Related

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Australia have done so with captain Alyssa Healy and star allrounder Ash Gardner both out injured for all three T20s, which has only emphasised their depth. Beth Mooney has kept wicket with distinction in Healy’s absence and dominated the batting, her unbeaten 94 on a slow Adelaide Oval wicket the pinnacle.But England aren’t without depth. In Adelaide, they brought Alice Capsey in for Maia Bouchier, moving Sophia Dunkley to the top of the order with Capsey at No.3 as well as adding effectively to the spin-bowling ranks. They had quick Lauren Filer at the ready when Lauren Bell succumbed to a migraine and dropped legspinner Sarah Glenn for left-armer Linsey Smith to maintain their preferred line-up of three frontline spin-bowlers.But again Australia did better with only captain Heather Knight and Danni Wyatt-Hodge reaching double figures as each of the home side’s six bowlers took wickets, led by legspinner Georgia Wareham’s career-best 3 for 11.Lewis’s contention that the 2023 Ashes spurred Australia on to greater heights isn’t in dispute. Mooney said in her post-match press conference that after that tour and their T20 World Cup disappointment, “we probably just had been letting ourselves down a little bit in different areas of the game” and “we wanted to really put a marker out there and keep moving the women’s game forward”.The question now is, can this Ashes spur his side on in the same way?

Partex Sporting Club get out of relegation zone with dramatic win while Rakibul Hasan and Nahid Rana shine with the ball

Mohammad Isam27-Mar-2025Key takeawaysAbahani Limited have taken the lead in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, as it goes into the Eid break. Abahani are now on 14 points, while Gazi Group Cricketers and Mohammedan Sporting Club are on 12 points each. With eight rounds of matches complete, Abahani have taken a significant step towards defending their title.It was a good week for Prime Bank Cricket Club and Mohammedan Sporting Club, who like Abahani won both their matches this week. Mohammedan sealed a seven-wicket win against Shinepukur Cricket Club, but their regular captain fielded for just one over and was rushed to a hospital after suffering a heart attack.Best battersGazi Group’s Anamul Haque reached 500 runs in a Dhaka Premier League season for the seventh time, and became the first to cross the landmark in the 2024-25 season. He struck an unbeaten 149 against Mohammedan last week, following it up with an unbeaten 144 against Gulshan Cricket Club this week. Anamul started the season with two ducks, but now has scored at least a fifty in five of the last six innings, with his other score being 48.Best bowlersLeft-arm spinner <Rakibul Hasan and speedster Nahid Rana took four-wicket hauls against Dhanmondi Sporting Club in Abahani's five-wicket win in Mirpur. Due to workload management, Rana is playing only selective matches for Abahani this season, but he has made an impact. Rana has nine wickets from his four outings, while Rakibul leads the wicket-takers with 17 scalps.Best matchPartex Sporting Club dragged themselves off the relegation zone (bottom three) in dramatic fashion, beating the high-flying Agrani Bank Cricket Club by one wicket. Their middle-order batter Mohammad Rakib was the hero, remaining unbeaten on 80 off 103 balls with five sixes and as many fours. Rakib kept his cool as four wickets fell in the last four overs. With ten runs required off the last over, Rakib first struck a boundary before getting dropped at long-on. He struck another straight boundary before No 11 Abdul Gaffar took a cheeky single off the last ball to win the game.Points to ponderAgrani Bank and Dhanmondi lost both their matches this week. Though Agrani Bank remains in the top six, the big-budgeted Dhanmondi slipped to No. 8 in the points table. Shinepukur and Rupganj Tigers remain at the bottom with just two points each.Players to watchSamiun Basir became only the third bowler in Bangladesh's List-A history to take a five-wicket haul on debut. He took 5 for 27 playing for Legends of Rupganj against Rupganj Tigers in Mirpur. Samiun has a classic left-arm spinner's action, and likes to float the ball to the batter. He also can spin the ball, which would be an asset going forward.

With the Champions Trophy almost here, it is only natural for thoughts in the country to turn to the World Cup hosted there 29 years ago

Danyal Rasool16-Feb-2025″The worst experience,” Aaqib Javed says without hesitation “was Bangalore.”We’re standing behind the practice nets at the National Cricket Academy in the Gaddafi Stadium. A young hopeful from regional Punjab is trying to impress Aaqib, Pakistan’s interim head coach. It’s a lovely winter’s day, the sun washing over the ground without yet carrying the oppressive potency it will gain in a few weeks. There’s machinery and construction equipment all around. Pakistan’s most famous cricket stadium, with its iconic Mughal façade, is being torn down and rebuilt to service the demands of the 21st century and of the upcoming Champions Trophy.It’s a fitting time to reminisce, and Aaqib is thinking about 1996 quarter-final. “If you look at the stadium,” he says, about the Chinnaswamy, “the stands are right on top of you. If there was any flashpoint, or if anything notable happened, the din was unimaginable. It was so loud that our ears continued ringing the next day.”Related

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Bangalore’s crowd on the day will take that as a compliment, and in truth, they had much to shout about that night. India beat Pakistan in a feisty encounter, ending Pakistan’s defence of their World Cup title and their dreams of lifting cricket’s biggest trophy on their own patch, at the Gaddafi Stadium, where the final was held.The 1996 World Cup was perhaps the last major cricket tournament of a sepia-tinted era, before modernity arrived on cricket’s doorstep at the turn of the century. Aaqib, and Pakistan, look upon it with a special kind of fondness for a very particular reason: it remains – at least until the Champions Trophy kicks off on 19 February – the last ICC event Pakistan has hosted.”I have good memories of that WC,” Aaqib says. “We played a few matches in Lahore. It was completely normal in terms of security, both in India and Pakistan. When we went to India, it was all very relaxed there too.Aaqib has good reason for his happy memories. Pakistan were among the strongest starters in the tournament, and played all their group matches at home. They won all four games he played in, losing just the one to South Africa where he was absent, and finished second in their group.Aaqib Javed, Pakistan’s white-ball coach, doesn’t have fond memories of the 1996 quarter-final In Bangalore, where Pakistan were knocked out of their home World Cup•AFP via Getty ImagesMuch of the feel-good factor had little to do with the cricket itself but where it was played. The subcontinent was a nascent cricketing power hub at the time. Pakistan and India co-hosted the 1987 World Cup; this time around, Sri Lanka joined them. Pakistan’s fans had begun to enjoy the taste of high-profile cricket they were getting, Lahore, Karachi and Gujranwala were packed to the brim; according to Aaqib, there wasn’t any standing room left. Pakistan believed the floodgates would open in the years that followed. A parching drought, instead, has seen them go more than a generation without a similar event, to the extent that most Pakistanis have no memories of what hosting such a tournament is like.Ehsan Mani, a recent PCB chairman and former president of the ICC, does. He was directly involved in the management of the 1996 World Cup. As a member of the Pak-Indo-Lanka Joint Management Committee (PILCOM), the advisory committee for the tournament, he has fond memories of what he remembers as a constructive relationship with his counterparts in India and Sri Lanka.”In 1987, India took the lead,” he says. “In 1996, Pakistan took the lead. We played a big part in actually getting the hosting rights. The difference at the time was, India wanted to work with us, and there was a lot of mutual respect between us. The world was different. India-Pakistan matches were the largest in the world then too, but India didn’t have as much money in those days. In fact, Pakistan was more or less equal in reserves and profits to India. The dynamics were very different.”Mani views his partnership with the late Jagmohan Dalmiya as instrumental to the success of that 1987 tournament, recalling they used to speak “four or five times a day”. Dalmiya worked on the commercial side and Mani handled the media aspect. The tournament ran into headwinds early, with an issue Pakistan have over the years become accustomed to needing to handle: security concerns.Back then, though, those concerns affected Sri Lanka, which was in the midst of a civil war, with Australia and West Indies refusing to send their teams to the country. Mani recalls how Pakistan and India stood up for South Asia’s new emerging cricketing nation.In February that year, Pakistan and India put together a joint team – six Pakistanis and five Indians, captained by Mohammad Azharuddin, who played an ODI against a Sri Lankan XI in Colombo, to show how safe the country was for cricket.Work on the Gaddafi Stadium’s renovations races against time early in February 2025•Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images”It was about personal relationships with our counterparts” Mani says. “We got on well with each other. There were certain government policies that made things complicated, but when you get on well at board level, it eases things.”In the end, Australia and West Indies didn’t go to Sri Lanka anyway, but the tournament ticked along nicely. Sri Lanka won their other three matches and eased into the quarter-final, as did Pakistan and India, who met each other in that Bangalore cauldron. Pakistan captain Wasim Akram famously pulled out of that match.”Pakistan were looking very strong at the time,” Aaqib says. “In that India game, Wasim Akram dropping out at the last minute was a huge blow. We found out at the toss he wasn’t playing. When your captain, and a bowler like Wasim Akram, is suddenly unavailable, it has a huge effect on morale because we had no strategic or mental way of preparing for it. I don’t understand what happened there but it definitely hurt us.”There was a further flashpoint when Aamer Sohail sledged Venkatesh Prasad during a strong Pakistan response to a stiff target, only to be cleaned up next delivery and for Pakistan’s chase to eventually fall apart. In Akram’s absence, Aaqib says ” we just conceded too many runs. 280-odd was too much. We could have coped around 250-260 – at the time that was what was considered chase-able.”While any animosity between the two sides remained on the field, Mani believes all of that had changed markedly by the time he became chairman in 2018. “Our relationship aged poorly. When Sourav Ganguly became BCCI president, we felt he was effectively a frontman for Jay Shah [who served as the Asian Cricket Council president at the time]. Things were not very good.”The PCB was awarded the 2025 Champions Trophy weeks after Mani left the PCB. Pakistan had also put in a joint bid for a T20 World Cup with the UAE, as well as for the 2031 ODI World Cup with Bangladesh, but neither ultimately ended up successful. It is something Mani says he’s disappointed the PCB did not actively follow up on after he left.Ehsan Mani (second from left) remembers a more cordial age of India-Pakistan cricket relations: “It was about personal relationships with our counterparts”•Getty ImagesAs a result, the PCB, as well as Pakistan at large, have thrown their entire investment – financial and emotional – into the Champions Trophy. Though stadium upgradations were left until the 11th hour, no expense was spared in razing Gaddafi Stadium to the ground and building it anew, while renovations of varying degrees have taken place in Karachi and Rawalpindi. At the same time, the PCB pushed India harder than they ever have in the past in an attempt to ensure the entire tournament took place in Pakistan.It didn’t ultimately happen, and the UAE had to be roped in as a venue for all of India’s games. As such, Pakistan find themselves in a farcical situation: Lahore hosted the 1996 World Cup final, a tournament Pakistan co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka, but may not host the final of this event, officially awarded solely to Pakistan.”As soon as the ICC awarded events to India and Pakistan, the ICC should have got involved,” Mani says. “It [the negotiation about India] should have nothing to do with the PCB. It was an ICC event. Greg Barclay [then ICC chairman] should have dealt with it.”If you remember, Pakistan and India were not playing cricket before 2004 for many years. Pakistan had Mr Shaharyar Khan as the chairman, who was highly respected by the BCCI and everyone else. I went to India as ICC chairman and said we should not mix cricket with politics. And when I went to meet the ministers in India, the BCCI board members used to come with me to these government meetings and support what I was saying. It was a different world.”Though 1996 remains Pakistan’s most recent reference point, Aaqib in his position as the current side’s coach cautions against assigning too much weight to it. “The biggest mistake you can make in such an event is when you start treating it as a special event. You end up making the wrong team and break your continuity. Look at the T20 World Cup last year – we brought back players who haven’t played in ages. Mohammad Amir came in, Imad [Wasim] came in, Shadab [Khan] batted at four, Imad at five, it became a bit of a mess.”When we were kings: 1992 marks a high point in Pakistan cricket that remains a magnet for nostalgia•PA Images via Getty ImagesIn a quirk of fate, Pakistan are official hosts of an event they go into as defending champions, just as they were last time around, in 1996. And though Pakistan have long viewed that ’90s side as something of a quixotic ideal, Aaqib thinks at least part of the reason why it is regarded that way is nostalgia.”That side had bigger names,” he concedes. “Those huge names are absent from our current side. But when Wasim didn’t play that quarter-final, there was a huge drop-off in terms of quality. Now you won’t feel one absence forces you to drop so far down skill-wise. Javed Miandad and Saleem Malik were fading away, and that was an ageing team that hadn’t been refreshed after 1992.”It is also the time, perhaps, from which disillusioned Pakistan cricket followers hail in their greatest concentration. Pakistan is a young country; the average age is less than 21. Stories of Pakistan’s cricket team from the ’90s – one of cricket’s most charismatic and enigmatic sides – are often filtered through the lenses of former fans, who rode the high of ’92, enjoyed the optimism of the rest of the decade, and signed off when it became clear Pakistan were not so much on the cusp of a golden age as on the crest of a wave that was soon to crash. Current fans have heard, but cannot verify, that that was when following Pakistan cricket was truly worth it.The 1996 World Cup, when cricket came home, is perhaps something of a psychological shortcut to that time, one not available to those who came after. “I think cricket fever is just as high now, if not higher,” Aaqib says. “Especially with social media and the hype that it can create. And the average fan’s cricket sense has increased. When cricket’s on, everything else shuts down, TV dramas, other programmes and all the rest.”And unlike those who saw that tournament through a heady, optimistic lens of what the future held, Pakistan now know how rare these moments are. There isn’t another men’s ICC event slated in the calendar for them to host, and each one invariably comes with the added complication of India’s refusal to travel.So if Aaqib believes Pakistan shouldn’t treat it as a special tournament, he will have his work cut out convincing everyone else.

Captain attracted criticism for bowling first but is now 1-0 up after another memorable victory

Matt Roller24-Jun-20251:53

Did we see a refined version of Bazball?

Ben Stokes had the last laugh at Headingley. “It’s a good job Test cricket is played over five days, isn’t it?” he said with a smile, when asked if he had ever doubted his decision to bowl first on winning the toss was the right one as India raced to 430 for 3 in their first innings. “Imagine thinking that way at the end of day one, before we’ve even had a chance to bat.”His decision paid off in style: while England had anticipated more assistance from the surface on the first morning, Stokes’ call was also informed by the characteristics of the venue and his team’s own success in run-chases. The result was a cruise to victory with 14 overs to spare and five wickets in hand on the fifth day, making light work of a 371-run target.England became kings of the fourth innings during the heady winning run in their 2022 home summer. They successfully hauled in targets of 250-plus in Stokes’ first four Tests as full-time captain, culminating in his declaration that England would “have a chase” when winning the toss against India at Edgbaston and then watching his batters reach 378 with seven wickets in hand.Related

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They had only once chased 250-plus in the intervening years, a three-wicket win over Australia, also at Headingley in 2023, and have fallen to some big defeats when set even bigger totals – for example, by 434 runs in Rajkot last year. But their win in Leeds this week was their sixth successful chase of 250-plus since Stokes took over; no other team has more than two.It was vindication for Stokes’ decision to field first, a choice he has already made more often than any other England captain. This was the 11th time that Stokes has opted to bowl first, and England have won eight of those games; they have lost only twice, a narrow defeat at Lord’s in the 2023 Ashes and a 423-run hammering in Hamilton late last year.Their record owes in no small part to the nature of English Test surfaces: all six 250-plus chases have been at home, and this week’s pitch laid bare how much things have changed. The trend at Headingley for nearly a decade now has been for scores to go up and up with each innings; rather than deteriorating, the Leeds pitches seem only to flatten out as each match wears on.The flak that Stokes received on the first day reflected the truism that batting first is invariably the best option at the toss, with captains who decide otherwise generally criticised far more than their bowling attacks: it was two decades ago that Ricky Ponting chose to bowl at Edgbaston, and even longer since Nasser Hussain did at Brisbane, yet neither man can escape association with those calls.ESPNcricinfo LtdStokes did seem to admit that things had not quite gone as he had anticipated when asked to elaborate on his toss decision: he said that it was informed more by a desire to exploit the “top moisture” in the first session than the expectation of setting up a run-chase. But his logic made sense: his inexperienced attack needed all the help they could get from the pitch.He also believes that England’s early success in run-chases under his and Brendon McCullum’s leadership has helped his team stay calmer in the fourth innings. “We’re a very simple-minded pair,” Stokes said. “Everyone knows what cricket’s about: it’s about scoring more runs than your opposition, when you strip it all back.”When you’re chasing down totals like that, how you are in the dressing room is very important because lads have got jobs to go out and do. Keeping the calm, relaxed vibe as much as we can is so important for the mindset… Cricket’s about taking wickets and scoring runs, but also the mindset you’re able to get your players into.”Stokes’ public indifference towards the draw has also provided clarity: there has never been any prospect of England dropping anchor and looking to block out a stalemate. “Everyone goes out there with a pretty clear mind about what we are trying to do,” he said. “Time wasn’t really an issue. It was pretty simple yesterday: if we bat the overs left in this game, we will win this game, just because of how quick the ground has been for scoring.”2:38

Is Stokes’ bowling workload a worry?

Ben Duckett’s 149 provided England with the perfect platform for their run-chase, and also reflected the best of their method with the bat under Stokes: soaking up pressure when facing Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj’s new-ball spell under thick clouds, and then putting it back onto Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja when England were on top.Duckett was not part of England’s run of successful chases in 2022, but said that he and his team-mates never panicked on the final day at Headingley. “It felt really calm in the dressing room,” he said, before paying tribute to another common thread of England’s fourth-innings success: “It’s pretty easy to be calm when Rooty [Joe Root] is at the crease.”It was Jamie Smith who hit the winning runs off Jadeja, but Root’s unbeaten half-century was hugely valuable and took him past Alastair Cook to become England’s leading scorer in successful chases. Under Stokes’ leadership, he has walked off unbeaten in six out of the eight fourth-innings wins that he has batted in, and with at least 50 runs to his name on five of those occasions.But whether the primary reason for this is pitches, mindsets, or individual brilliance, one thing is clear: England’s fourth-innings successes over the last three years mean that Stokes deserves the benefit of the doubt the next time he wins the toss and chooses to bowl.

His stocks dipped with lean IPL and domestic form across 2024 and 2025, but he seems to have rediscovered his groove since his return to Delhi

Daya Sagar01-Sep-2025Nitish Rana marked his return to Delhi cricket with a statement performance in the crunch games of the Delhi Premier League (DPL), leading West Delhi Riders to the title. In the three playoff matches, he produced one century and one half-century, finishing unbeaten each time with scores of 134*, 45*, and 79*. It was a decisive response from a player who had been searching for form across the past two years and had started the tournament poorly. His unbeaten 134 off 55 balls in Qualifier 1, with eight fours and 15 sixes, was the defining knock of the tournament.”In big matches, it is very important for big players to perform because there is a lot of pressure in these games,” Rana said afterwards. “Big players know a little better how to handle pressure, and I place myself in that category of players who can steer the game under pressure situations.”As an experienced player, you know whether you are in good touch or not. I knew I was batting well, but the runs were not coming. I continuously backed myself. I knew I was only one big innings away, and luckily it came when the team needed it most. Now we are champions.”Related

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The Qualifier also featured an exchange of words with South Delhi Superstarz spinner Digvesh Rathi, which went viral online. Rana did not want to linger much on the episode. “It would be very unfair if I only share my side of the story and Rathi doesn’t get to say anything,” Rana said. “All I can say is that he started it and poked me, so I replied. I was born and raised in Delhi, and I have hot blood too. If someone pokes me, I am not the kind of person to stay quiet… He got disturbed in his line and length, and I responded with sixes.”The DPL title followed one of Rana’s toughest periods. In 2024, despite Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lifting the IPL trophy, injuries and team balance meant he featured in only two matches. His domestic returns were no better. For Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy that season, he was dropped after scoring just one fifty in six innings. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that followed, he averaged 13.88 with a strike rate of 114.43 across nine games, while in the Vijay Hazare Trophy he was left out after one game. In IPL 2025, playing for Rajasthan Royals, he scored two half-centuries but made six single-digit scores in 11 innings. Soon after, Rana returned to Delhi for the 2025-26 season, citing family reasons.Nitish Rana takes a selfie with his UP team-mates after a win•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt was not his first setback. In 2022-23, he scored only 71 runs at 17.75 in the Ranji Trophy and was dropped after three games, prompting a move from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh in search of opportunities. Looking back, Rana said: “I went to Uttar Pradesh because I thought maybe I would play better in a new place. But it didn’t work out that way. Now I have left those things behind and returned to the same Delhi dressing room where I learned to score runs. It’s not that I had to prove something, but personally, these DPL innings are very important for me.”Cricket is a game of experience. When you grind yourself, go through bad times, it becomes very important to try to learn from those situations. I too have had many bad patches, I have fought with myself, punished myself too. But I trust myself a lot. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail. But all this is part of the game.”In the seven seasons from 2017 to 2023, Rana was one of a few batters to score at least 300 runs in every IPL. In 2021, during the Covid-19 period, he earned an India call-up, playing one ODI and two T20Is in Sri Lanka. Since then, the door to the national side has stayed closed, though he has remained a regular contributor in domestic cricket and has on occasion captained his Ranji and IPL teams.For now, he is not looking beyond the immediate. “There are a lot of things to think about,” Rana said. “I also want to make a comeback to the Indian team, but by thinking about it, I will only put pressure on myself. That’s why I don’t think too much now. I only focus on things that are in my control. Right now, my cricket is in my control, and I am only focusing on that.”

Pakistan won the toss in each Test, rebuilt after one early wicket for a big second-wicket stand, and benefitted from SA’s largesse in the field

Danyal Rasool20-Oct-2025The sun was all orange and prepared to turn in for one more day. The supporters had thinned out long ago; having clustered into the Pindi cricket ground to watch Babar Azam bat, most had filtered out when his now-habitually brief stay at the crease came to a tepid conclusion. On the field, it looked as if the Test match was tying up loose ends to leave things in shape for tomorrow. But in the last half hour on day one, Pakistan and South Africa were locked in a battle to claim just enough of the spoils to each declare victory.Kagiso Rabada, second new ball in hand, had brought it in masterfully to trap Mohammad Rizwan, whose review had the jeopardy of appeals to higher courts in an autocracy. Pakistan had demonstrated themselves vulnerable to lower-order collapses in each innings of the first Test, losing their last five wickets in 55 balls in the first innings, and their last six in 36 in the second. With 37 balls still to go following Rizwan’s dismissal, both sides recognised the importance of what would follow.Ultimately, Salman Ali Agha and Saud Shakeel held out for an uneasy stalemate, sending the sun down the sky without further damage, but it illustrated how, initially almost imperceptibly, the tenor of the day had changed. For the best part of it, Pakistan appeared to have stuck day one Gaddafi into a high-quality photocopier for the resemblance between the starts of each Test is uncanny.They won the toss both times, rebuilt after one early wicket for a huge second-wicket stand, and benefitted from South Africa’s largesse in the field, who dropped chances for fun. With the wicket invariably worsening for batting with each passing hour, Pakistan looked to be sealing South Africa’s fate once more.That remains, odds on, the likeliest outcome. Keshav Maharaj spoke of the need to break the sixth-wicket stand in the first session on Monday, which he called, moving session. But, as long as this Test appears to hold faithful to its predecessor, Pakistan did find themselves on wobbly ground at the fall of their fifth wicket in Lahore – on 199 – before a 163-run sixth wicket stand took the game away from the visitors.Related

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But South Africa did learn the value of not going searching from that game. When they took the fifth wicket in Lahore in the 60th over, they went on to concede those 163 in 42.1 overs, just a shade under four runs per over. In that evening session, Agha and Rizwan had fed off South Africa’s urgency, plundering 114 runs before stumps were called. In Pindi, the visitors would not make that mistake, using Maharaj to hold up an end even before the wickets came. The final two sessions cost just 164 at under 2.7 runs, South Africa choosing patience over keenness.It is an approach Pakistan have adopted for their opening batter Abdullah Shafique, whose lack of form for over two years has not been punished with the same alacrity as the PCB can deploy in such matters. Shafique, in turn, chose to return the favour by trying to focus exclusively on time at the crease rather than run-scoring, his strike rate of 39.04 the lowest of any batter on Monday. He finished with a half-century but that did not necessarily mean he has a foundation to build on now. Shafique had three chances put down during a painstaking innings that should have had him back in the first half hour when he inexplicably chose to shoulder arms to Marco Jansen coming around the wicket, the ball tickling the off stump without rousing the bails.”You have to be slightly lucky on the day in international cricket sometimes,” he would later say, somewhat understatedly.Abdullah Shafique rode his luck and also made a half-century•Associated PressThat the day ends even is, in itself, something of a victory for South Africa. Pakistan had the fortune of the toss and their opponent’s generosity in the field all while batting in the best conditions. Shafique said the pitch hadn’t quite slowed up and yet, his team finished the day without having utilised that template to pull clear.It may all not matter in the bigger picture: hot takes on first day tend to be ice cold by the fourth day. Pakistan are within ten runs of the highest total of this series outside their own first innings effort in Lahore; all this may mean is they get there a little later than they might have planned or preferred.But for all that, this purported to be carbon copy of Lahore’s opening salvo could just as easily be seen as an extension to the end of the first Test: South Africa continuing to understand the conditions better, constantly making the tweaks that keep Pakistan reined in for as long as possible. The visitors have refused to give up, and in that sense, perhaps today in Pindi closely resembled not just the first day in Lahore, but every other day on this tour.One year ago, in the second Test against England in Multan and the first Test which kicked off Pakistan’s ongoing experiment with spin-friendly surfaces, they finished with the same slight uncertainty that has characterised on Monday. Pakistan’s score, as the two sides walked off, was 259 for 5, precisely what it was on Monday.Perhaps all days, as Pakistan look to whip every home surface into spin-worthy shape, are rather alike in Pakistan after all.

On the eve of Mushfiqur Rahim’s 100th Test, take this quiz on his career milestones

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Former England captain feared missing out on World Cup, but is back in situ after patient rehab

S Sudarshanan01-Oct-2025Imagine the dread. The one thing you worked for so dearly is threatened to be snatched away from you. Imagine the fear. Of missing out of an event you so looked forward to.Imagine being Heather Knight in May.Having relinquished England’s captaincy after nine years, she was looking forward to a summer of cricket back in the ranks, with the goal of the Women’s World Cup at the end of it. She remained a vital cog for England under the new leadership of head coach Charlotte Edwards and captain Nat Sciver-Brunt. But an innocuous turn for a single threatened to ruin it all for her. She heard something pop while batting in the 19th over of a T20I in Chelmsford but did not walk off the field until the innings ended.Knight had suffered a right hamstring tendon tear, in which the tendon had detached from the bone. Recovering from such injuries takes anywhere between four to six months; the World Cup was only 17 weeks away, with England’s departure for a pre-tournament camp in Abu Dhabi a week ahead of that. Opting for surgery would have definitely put the former captain out of the competition. So, alongside England’s team of physios and doctors, she decided to try the rest-and-recovery method.”She’s very, very passionate about playing cricket for England and very passionate about the World Cup,” Angela George, National Lead for Physiotherapy – England Women, tells ESPNcricinfo. “So we knew that it was quite simple for us, really, that we needed to explore the conservative management. And we knew also that, if it wasn’t going to work, we would know about it and at least we would have tried. We went for the conservative option, which if you looked at the injury at the time, was about 50-50 as to whether it would be better to surgically repair or more conservatively manage.”Knight had already suffered a hamstring tear on the same leg in 2013. So that left her slightly more prone to injury. The other factor was an increase in her workload. England’s new regime places an importance on players’ participation in domestic cricket, with Knight featuring in the Women’s One Day Cup for Somerset. Of course, she was not left unmonitored. England use a workload monitoring system called Insights 360 that helps to mitigate injuries. But not all injuries can be predicted, let alone prevented.Knight made 37 against India as she continued her comeback•Getty Images”Her feedback to us around April was that her hamstrings had been in the best place that they felt for a long time,” George says. “We’ve done a lot of work on strength, motor control, hip mobility and just making sure that her hamstrings are in tip-top shape. But she probably had played a bit more cricket domestically than she had done at this point. So we knew we were on a bit of an edge with it, but fundamentally, sometimes these things just happen. The human body is so complex that, we can’t just say, right, that’s going to go at that point, so stop doing that.”The limited time added to the challenge. There were periods when they could push but also time they had to bide their time in order for her tendon to heal. There were no shortcuts. It was not just about getting Knight fit to board the plane; it was about making sure she was at her best for the World Cup.”As week by week went, we were quite slow to start off with and that caused a bit of frustration for Heather because she just wanted to get going,” George says. “She wasn’t looking for us to take shortcuts because, fundamentally, she has a lot of trust in our team to look after her. Whenever we debated something, we came back to the point that, if we push too early and things break down, she was not going to be happy.”Although Heather was coming to us with frustrations – as I would expect her to, as I would hope her to – and wanted to push us as fast as she can, we were always able to justify our decisions that fundamentally, the body needed to heal and put that part of the tendon back onto the bone.”Related

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Progress was slow for the first three months. They used MRI imaging at every step of her recovery. Knight worked on her upper body strength and on her other leg in this period. They finally pushed forward mid-August.”That was the time that the MRI started looking really good and we were happy that anything that we were putting through her body, the tendon wasn’t reacting to it.”Knight’s work with London Spirit as a team mentor also kept her occupied. Two weeks before England were to depart for Abu Dhabi, they accelerated her recovery through increased workload.”When we brought back a lot of cricketing skills, that’s when she could really show herself that her hamstring did not let her down,” George says. “We knew that because we’d done a lot of work, but she needed to show her own body that, actually, everything was fine.”Throughout the recovery, England’s management remained adamant that, if fit, Knight would be in straightaway for the World Cup. A lack of game-time was not considered a hindrance, given her previous form in the domestic season and the T20Is against West Indies.”We knew that she would not need an awful lot of game-time to get back to her very best,” George says. “Her hamstrings were in such a good place that, actually, we sort of knew that we could afford not to push the playing beforehand. That didn’t sit all that well with Heather because she just wanted to get playing, but we knew we had it in the back of our locker, really.”In her first knock after recovery, Knight made a 48-ball 41 in England’s unofficial warm-up match against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi, and a fluent 37 in the official warm-up against India in Bengaluru.Imagine the dread in the opposition. Imagine a fit Heather Knight at her best at the World Cup.

Glasgow Rangers are concerned about Youssef Chermiti and could let him leave in January for another Europa League side.

Chermiti's time at Rangers so far after £8m transfer

Things haven’t gone to plan for Chermiti at Ibrox so far following his £8m move from Everton in the summer, making him the club’s second most expensive signing in history.

Rangers’ most expensive signings of all time

Rank

Player

Fee

Signed from

Year

1

Tore Andre Flo

£12m

Chelsea

2000

2

Youssef Chermiti

£8m

Everton

2025

3

Ryan Kent

£7m

Liverpool

2019

4

Michael Ball

£6.5m

Everton

2001

5

Mikel Arteta

£6m

Barcelona

2002

On £30,000-a-week, Chermiti has scored just one goal for the Gers, coming in Danny Rohl’s first Scottish Premiership win in charge against Kilmarnock.

Both supporters and those inside Ibrox were ideally hoping for more from the forward following glowing praise from ex-manager Russell Martin back in September.

“It’s a long-term investment for the football club, I think it will be a brilliant investment for the football club. I think he’ll do extremely well for us. There won’t be any expectation on him in here, I’m sure externally maybe that changes.

“He wants to learn, he wants to grow and he wants to help the team. Youssef has tools that you’d really want in a number nine. Good athleticism. Great kid. Wants to learn. Brilliant record at youth level.

“He hasn’t really had the chance he probably wanted at first-team level yet. Obviously in the toughest league in the world as well.

“We’ll judge him on here and now and what he does for us. We’re really excited to have him in because he’s a seriously talented player and also there was a lot of interest throughout Europe in top leagues for him.”

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Chermiti’s is contracted in Glasgow until 2029 and so far, he has made £300,000 in wages, working out at £60,000-a-week for every start he has made for the club in the 10 weeks he has been at Ibrox.

Rangers concerned and could loan Chermiti to Europa League side

Now according to a report from Ibrox News, Rangers have been left concerned with Chermiti’s performances and could now loan him out in January.

Europa League side Braga are eyeing up a temporary deal for the forward in the New Year, whereas clubs in Turkey could also make a move.

Should Chermiti leave Scotland for the second half of the 2025/26 season, Rohl would be left with Bojan Miovski and Danilo as his centre-forward options.

The 49ers Enterprises may then need to recruit another attacker in the winter window, and right now, the £8m fee on Chermiti isn’t looking like a smart piece of business.

Danny Rohl now orders Rangers to make three January signings, priority revealed