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The WA offspinner will make his Australia A and MCG debut against India A with a Sri Lanka tour looming on his horizon

Alex Malcolm06-Nov-2024You needed your wits about you as the white balls pinged out of the MCG nets on Saturday during Australia’s training session. But in between the big swings and the flying white orbs there was an intriguing battle going on.A tall offspinner with lengthy blonde hair, who was not part of the ODI squad, was bowling with a red ball to Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. He had Australia’s bowling coach and New Zealand’s greatest ever Test spinner, Daniel Vettori, alongside him talking tactics and technique.Even if he’s not yet a recognisable face, Corey Rocchiccioli stands out in a crowd. His rapid rise up the ranks from being a grade cricketer who had never been in the pathway system, to a Sheffield Shield star, to an Australia A spinner has turned a lot of heads in Australian cricket.Related

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The 27-year-old is firmly on the radar to tour Sri Lanka with the Test team in the new year. It is for that reason he was flown to Melbourne for a chance to work with Vettori, and bowl to Smith and Labuschagne.”Hearing from a Test great about how to bowl offspin, particularly in Australia and in Asia, that’s something that I got really excited about,” Rocchiccioli said on Wednesday.”I had the opportunity to bowl to Smith and Marnus whilst he was standing next to me. To sort of really pick his brain on how to bowl to world-class batters was something that I took under my wing and wrote in my journal, making sure that I’ve got that for the back of my mind. Hopefully it’s not the last time we catch up. It was an awesome couple of days.”You couldn’t wipe the smile off Rocchiccioli’s face as he stood on the MCG ahead of his Australia A debut against India A on Thursday. Despite playing 27 Shield matches in the past four seasons and being contracted to both Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades in the BBL, Rocchiccioli has never played a game on the MCG.”I’m really excited,” Rocchiccioli said. “I have had the opportunity to run drinks here that many times, but to not play here yet, it’s a bucket list item. I have a little photo on my phone of when I took my old man out here after a Big Bash game. I’m looking forward to being able to step out and bowl on the MCG.”He also gets to bowl to India Test batter KL Rahul, who has been flown out at short notice ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to get a red-ball game under his belt in Australia before joining the main India squad in Perth. Rocchiccioli was asked if he had seen any weaknesses in the 53-Test veteran.”Nah,” Rocchiccioli said. “Probably just bowl your best ball for as long as you can. But he’s like any batter, on his day he’s going to score a hundred and then some days he makes a mistake.”I think he flew in yesterday, and that’s a pretty long-haul flight. So maybe he’s a little bit jaded and fatigued. But I think it’s really exciting that I get to go up another level and bowl to these type of batters. It’s on my path to mastery. I’ve been able to bowl to some really good batters in first-class cricket. Now I get this challenge to do it to Indian players.”Although Australia’s selectors have been keen to downplay the selection of the Australia A teams for these two games, particularly given the intrigue around the batting order, Rocchiccioli’s inclusion in the second game alongside an attack featuring Test back-up quicks Scott Boland and Michael Neser is instructive.When Nathan Lyon blew out his calf in the Ashes in 2023, it was Todd Murphy who was the like-for-like replacement. It was Murphy too, who was the second spinner picked in India.If Lyon blew out his calf at training next week ahead of the Perth Test, Murphy might not be the automatic selection despite being Australia A’s spinner in Mackay last week.Corey Rocchiccioli has taken the most wickets of any spinner in Shield cricket in the last four years•Getty ImagesNo spinner has even come close to Rocchiccioli’s 83 wickets in the last four Shield seasons. The next best is Mitchell Swepson with 50. Rocchiccioli has claimed 56 of those at the WACA ground 25.28 and a strike-rate of 53.6, a place where Murphy has one wicket in three innings at a cost of 189 from 45 overs.Bounce and overspin is Rocchiccioli’s biggest weapon. At 6 foot 3 inches, he is made to bowl in Perth where Lyon has an extraordinary record. He may enjoy bowling on the revamped MCG drop-in too, where former WACA curator Matt Page has brought the surface to life with pace and bounce. Although Murphy, with his flatter trajectory and ability to bowl with a square seam has averaged 17.50 in his two games there.”I actually think I have [square seam] in my armoury already,” Rocchiccioli said. “It’s just that I just don’t bowl it that often. I do bowl it a lot on day one at the WACA.”It’s something that I’m always going to have to develop. I don’t use it as often as what Murph does when he’s bowling out here and bowling at the Junction [Oval]. So it’s actually a really good chance. I’ve got this game. I’ve got a Junction game. I’ve got the SCG in a couple of games time. So I’ve got the opportunity to develop my square seam.”And he will need it if he is called on for the tour of Sri Lanka. He has done two tours to the MRF academy in Chennai in the last two year’s with a CA squad but unlike Murphy, Swepson, Matthew Kuhnemann, and Ashton Agar he has not played in Asia.He doesn’t view his one-off appearance for Australia A as a bowl-off against Murphy or any of the others for a spot on that Sri Lanka tour.”I hope they just take every offie available, to be honest,” Rocchiccioli said. “But no I don’t see it as that. I think it’s probably more the opposite. It’s really exciting the fact that Australian cricket has so many up and coming offspinners. I think you’ve got me, Murph, you’ve got Kuhney who took five, Ash is back playing Shield cricket. So yeah, I think it’s really exciting that we’ve got so many spin bowlers playing together, playing against each other, and we’re all lifting our own competition.”

Australia quick feared his Test career was over after injuring his hamstring last year, but worked his way back to take his team closer to a 2-0 Ashes lead

Andrew McGlashan06-Dec-20251:21

Neser: Starc ‘the greatest leftie of all time’

Michael Neser admitted he feared his Test career was over after badly injuring his hamstring last season, but can now say he produced the spell that sparked Australia’s push towards what will be, barring an England miracle, a 2-0 Ashes lead and the urn being nearly retained.England had motored to 90 for 1 in their second innings, making significant inroads into Australia’s lead of 177, when Neser bagged two return catches in the space of four overs to remove Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley. From there, Australia sensed their moment and their pressure was rewarded with a collapse of 3 for 7 which, briefly, threatened a three-day finish before the visitors limped to the close.Neser, who played his previous Test three years ago, was a last-minute and controversial selection for this match when he was preferred over Nathan Lyon on the morning of the game. He was not part of the original squad for the opening Test in Perth, only drafted in after injuries to Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott, but has fully justified the selectors’ call on his home ground.Related

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He was in the frame as back-up for last summer’s series against India, but badly damaged his hamstring playing for Australia A against India A at the MCG which kept him out for 12 months. He was only back to peak fitness for the start of this summer having opted to stay home rather than return to county cricket earlier this year.”To be honest, after last season when I thought I was bowling superbly…and I did my hammy really badly, I thought that could have been my chance [gone],” Neser said. “I’ve always dreamed about playing for Australia. It’s something that I live and breathe, is cricket. So to be given another chance, I’m very honoured.Michael Neser ripped out two caught-and-bowleds to dent England•AFP/Getty Images”It was a long recovery, think it was 12 weeks out of it, and I may have come back a week or two quicker than I should have. I probably wasn’t 100% [fit] at the back end [of last summer]. I chose not to go to county cricket and focus on getting my body right for the start of the season and really focus on Australian summer. A big pre-season did me wonders. I feel strong again and I feel like my hammy is back to where it was.”In the first innings at the Gabba, Neser broke a 117-run stand between Crawley and Joe Root when the former was caught behind, but a brace of return catches is a somewhat more unconventional route to claim back-to-back wickets for a new-ball pace bowler. However, Australia’s quicks have been on alert given how England go hard at the ball and drive on the up.Mitchell Starc held a stunner in Perth to remove Crawley in the second innings and other chances have flown past face and hands, including one to Neser offered by Ben Duckett before the two which stuck.”They obviously try to put you under the pump the way they bat,” Neser said. “They’ve given us a couple of opportunities with caught and bowleds. Most of them we’ve dropped because they’ve been hit so hard, but thankfully those two seemed to stick.”One of the notable features of this Test has been how much time Alex Carey has spent stood up to the stumps to Neser, as he was for Crawley’s wicket on Saturday, and as he had done during Neser’s previous Test against West Indies in 2022. Carey’s glovework has been outstanding and Neser said it helped build pressure on batters, but conceded it had been a tactic that did not initially come naturally to him.”I know the role I play is very different to the other quicks,” Neser said. “Being a shorter bowler, maybe not as quick, it’s a way for me to keep the batters on the crease and bring the stumps into play. I’ve done it a lot in the past.Zak Crawley rues his shot selection after falling to Michael Neser•AFP/Getty Images”The first time I did it, I definitely didn’t want to do it as a fast bowler, but Uzzy [Usman Khawaja] taught me to just put the ego aside because it’s beneficial for you. We’ve seen Vernon [Philander] do it a lot in his Test career, successfully, so it’s something I’ve brought in later on in my career.”At the other end of the pace scale to Neser in the Australia attack has been Starc, who followed his 77, the top score in Australia’s innings, with two more wickets including that of Root which was the biggest blow to England’s hopes. Starc is putting together one of the great all-round performances.”He’s a special player,” Neser said. “He doesn’t like to admit it, but he is the GOAT, the greatest leftie of all time. He does it with the ball [and] with the bat and to be next to him witnessing what he does is just amazing.”The longevity of his career, it is something you’ve got to admire. Someone who can bowl 140-plus; I think that last spell today was probably his quickest spell the whole game which just shows what sort of athlete he is and what a competitor he is. He’s amazing.”Starc and Neser are virtually the same age: the former is playing his 102nd Test, the latter his third. Neser’s trio of outings have all come with the pink ball but, even with the prospect of Pat Cummins returning in Adelaide, he hopes he can be more than a day-night specialist.”I do love the red ball as well,” he said with a smile. “I’m very fortunate and privileged that I’ve been given the chance with the pink-ball Tests. Obviously, it’s a dream to play more Tests and red ball, pink ball, I love it all.”

His tendency to play most lengths from spinners off the back foot has brought him high control percentages but it can also get him into trouble

Karthik Krishnaswamy10-Oct-20251:35

Aakash Chopra: Sai Sudharsan would be ‘kicking himself’ for missing a hundred

It would come as no surprise to anyone that Shubman Gill and KL Rahul, who ended the recent tour of England with averages of 75.40 and 53.20, also had the best control percentages of all of India’s batters on the trip.Guess which India batter had the next-best control percentage? You’ve seen the headline of this piece, so no prizes for guessing, but would you, otherwise, have imagined it might have been B Sai Sudharsan, who scored all of 140 runs across six innings, at an average of 23.33? That too on a tour that brought so many other India batters so many runs?Depending on your philosophical leanings, you might conclude either that this fact shows us how unreliable averages are, or how unreliable control percentages are.If you followed that tour closely enough, you would have watched Sai Sudharsan play innings after innings of promising beginnings and puzzling endings. You would have watched him defend and leave good-length balls in the business area around the top of off stump with great assurance, playing close to his body at most times, and almost always having time for late adjustments. You would have watched him get out to the most unthreatening deliveries, with half-volleys angling down leg proving particularly hazardous.At the end of it all, you might have wondered what to make of it all.Selectors and coaches often place great emphasis on the eye test. Sai Sudharsan had clearly passed this when India called him up to their Test squad. He averaged less than 40 in first-class cricket, and the last frontline batter to make a Test debut for India without having passed that benchmark was another Tamil Nadu left-hander, WV Raman, all the way back in 1988. And Raman’s first-class average was partly a function of his having begun his career as a left-arm spinner who batted down the order.At the end of that England tour, the enigma of Sai Sudharsan confronted the world all over again: eye test passed, average of 23.33.He had, of course, only played three Tests, so you couldn’t read too much into that average. But then came Ahmedabad last week, and a score of 7 when the rest of India’s top six made 36, 100, 50, 125 and 104*. One of those scores came from a promising wicketkeeper-batter who was playing because India’s regular keeper-batter was injured; many viewers began having visions of both playing together, one of them as a specialist batter.And how would India possibly accommodate both in their XI? Well, there’s this guy at No. 3 with an average of 21.00 after four Test matches…It was against this backdrop that Sai Sudharsan batted against West Indies in Delhi. On the one hand: day one on a flat Indian pitch, a modest attack, and so much to gain. On the other: refer to last week’s scorecard for evidence of how little all those ingredients can still amount to.As Sai Sudharsan settled into his innings, he showed no sign of being in any way conscious of this backdrop. He had faced a certain degree of criticism in Ahmedabad for his tendency of playing most lengths from spinners off the back foot, and had been out doing so, lbw while looking to pull Roston Chase off a ball that didn’t seem short enough to merit that response. He continued, here in Delhi, to play most lengths off the back foot against West Indies’ spin trio, but showed he had ways of forcing them for runs without adopting the horizontal bat.By the time he had scored 26, he had hit four back-foot fours off the spinners with a straight or straight-ish bat, three of them down the ground. Two of them were contenders for shot of the day: both times, he rocked back to Jomel Warrican’s left-arm spin and punched him against the turn into the narrow gap between mid-off and short extra-cover.Both times, the ball was only marginally short of a good length, and turning into his stumps and theoretically cramping Sai Sudharsan for room. But he manufactured just enough room by using the full depth of his crease and opening up his hip, with his front leg skipping nimbly to the leg side, and manufactured a remarkable amount of power through his strong, whippy wrists.Sai Sudharsan showed complete faith in this back-foot-dominant game against spin right through a second-wicket stand of 193 with Yashasvi Jaiswal, whether while playing attacking shots or while defending good-length balls attacking his stumps.Every now and again, this technique contributed to moments that jolted viewers out of the reverie that big first-day partnerships on flat Indian pitches can induce. One ball would turn a little more, or skid through a little quicker, or keep ever so slightly low, and yank Sai Sudharsan out of his bubble of self-possession. On 52, he jammed his bat down just in time to save himself from what looked like a certain lbw against one such ball from Khary Pierre.B Sai Sudharsan is back-foot oriented against spin•AFP/Getty ImagesBut this was still a batter in full control. Almost literally. Until he was dropped on 58 – he closed his bat face too early against the medium-pace of Justin Greaves and popped a leading edge towards Warrican at short midwicket – off the 107th ball he faced, Sai Sudharsan hadn’t played a single false shot all innings.And his eventual dismissal on 87 came off the only false shot he played in 125 balls against spin.Inevitably, it was a good-length ball that Sai Sudharsan looked to defend off the back foot, except this ball from Warrican turned prodigiously and skidded onto his back pad before he could bring his bat down fully. Like the rest of his innings had done, like his dismissal in Ahmedabad had done, it fuelled debate over his method.Ball-by-ball data from Test matches in India since 2022 tells us that, on average, batters only negotiate around 14% of balls that spinners land in the 4-5m length band (the fuller side of the spinners’ good length) off the back foot. Sai Sudharsan, in this series, has gone back to just under 38% of balls pitching in that band.Is that… good or bad?Well, first of all, our reactions to technique tend to be informed by what we’re used to seeing. We’re used to watching batters defend balls off the front foot when spinners land on the fuller side of a good length. Any other response looks unusual, and to many viewers, suspect. And if you believe this, that belief is only strengthened when that unusual method contributes to a dismissal.Sai Sudharsan was out playing back to a ball most batters would have gone forward to. But he had employed the same technique until that point while achieving a 100% control rate over 124 balls against spin.B Sai Sudharsan seemingly misjudged the length and fell lbw to Roston Chase in Ahmedabad•Associated PressWhat do we conclude, then? We might want to listen to India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, who provided a superbly nuanced take in his press conference at the end of the day’s play.”See, Sai, obviously, coming from Tamil Nadu, they play a lot on turning wickets. He’s pretty good against spin,” Kotak said. “I think his back-foot game, and some shots he plays on the back foot, not many players play, because a lot of balls which he negotiates on the back foot, most of the players would negotiate it on the front foot.”The only thing we talk about is, some of the very full balls also, sometimes he plays on the back foot, so we’re trying to cut [down] on that. He very much knows that, and he tries. And obviously the line [matters]; if the line is outside off stump, the same length he could easily go [onto the] front foot and play, then impact [on the pad] would be outside off stump.”So all that we discuss. But his overall game against spin is a lot more on the back foot than front foot. And with his bat-swing, the way he bats, the amount of power he generates on the back foot is also amazing. Some of the shots through mid-off, extra-cover, through midwicket and all, that is his strength.”To boil that down: Sai Sudharsan is unusually back-foot oriented against spin, and he plays shots off the back foot – like the two mentioned above against Warrican – that not too many others can play. This method can, however, get him in trouble against certain lines and lengths, and judicious use of front-foot play can help him round out his game.Kotak’s observation about going on the front foot when the ball pitches outside off stump, to take lbw out of the equation, illuminates one advantage of front-foot play: it can keep the percentages in batters’ favour even when they aren’t in control. Defending off the back foot, however, tends to be more binary: you are usually either able to adjust to vagaries of turn, pace and bounce and defend with the middle of your bat, or the ball behaves so unusually that you are left without any protection against dismissal.Kotak spoke about Sai’s mental strength too, and the self-belief that allowed him to bat the way he did on Friday, seemingly impervious to all the noise swirling around him.India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak rates B Sai Sudharsan highly•PTI “Sai, we all know how talented he is. [We don’t always just] look at the [batter’s] score; [we] look at the batsman, how he’s batting, how he’s pacing his innings, what kind of shots he plays,” Kotak said. “Sometimes, one or two innings, anybody can fail. But he batted brilliantly today.”He is someone who is mentally very tough, you’ll never see him change his style of playing. He always plays on the merit [of the ball]. So the same way he batted today. [You might have thought] he might be thinking, [what happens] if I get out early again? But if you see his innings, [did] you ever feel from ball one that he’s thinking that? Obviously not. So that’s why we know [what a] quality [player] he is.”Sai Sudharsan’s innings reflected all the strengths Kotak enumerated, but also the security he feels in a team that believes fully in his ability, ignoring his first-class record, his early Test numbers, and the knee-jerk reactions of the outside world to success and failure. It was the innings of a hugely talented player but also the innings of the system that produced him and nurtures him.It felt sobering that this innings came against the West Indies team of 2025. Is Sai Sudharsan, in raw-material terms, a better batter than Tagenarine Chanderpaul or Alick Athanaze? Who can say. Do they have the infrastructure, technical expertise and support system that gets the most out of Sai Sudharsan’s talent? Most definitely not, and for no fault of theirs. If you think cricket is at its healthiest if it offers its young talent the best possible opportunities to flourish, you can’t be happy with the way it currently works.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have now registered their interest in signing Real Madrid forward Gonzalo Garcia on loan in the January transfer window, alongside a whole host of rival Premier League clubs.

Fosun would’ve been hoping Rob Edwards could breathe new life into a Wolves side that have massively disappointed so far this season, but the manager was on the receiving end of a defeat in his first match in charge, with Crystal Palace emerging as 2-0 winners at Molineux on Saturday.

Edwards’ side actually looked better from an attacking point of view, recording an xG of 1.79, compared to 1.27 from the Eagles, but they were unable to take their chances, with both Jhon Arias and Ladislav Krejci squandering big opportunities.

Things are looking bleak for the Old Gold, who are still searching for their first win of the Premier League season, and now sit nine points from safety, given that they have the worst attacking and defensive records in the top flight, scoring seven and conceding 27.

As such, if the Wanderers are to stand any chance of avoiding the drop, they may need to make major improvements at both ends of the pitch in the upcoming transfer window, and they have now made an approach for a new centre-forward.

Wolves make approach to sign Gonzalo Garcia on loan

According to journalist Pete O’Rourke, in a report for Football Insider, Wolves are one of a number of clubs in the race for Real Madrid forward Garcia this January, although it remains to be seen whether they will be willing to sanction a departure.

The Spanish side are concerned about a lack of attacking depth, which means they may not be willing to let the 21-year-old leave, despite several English sides queuing up to get a deal done, with O’Rourke saying: “If Real Madrid are willing to loan him out, I’m sure it’s more than just Leeds will be interested in him. I believe Brighton, Villa and Wolves have all registered interest.

“A lot will depend on Real Madrid. If there’s any injuries to their forwards then it might mean there’s no chance that Garcia goes out and loan.”

Hailed as a “goal machine” in the media, the youngster clearly has a lot of potential, having starred for Madrid at the Club World Cup in the summer, bagging four goals and an assist in six outings out in the USA.

Wolves are in dire need of a fresh injection of quality in attack, having failed to score in four out of their last five Premier League games, with Jorgen Strand Larsen failing to impress, finding the back of the net just once in 10 top-flight outings.

As such, a move for Garcia would make sense, but it will be strange if the Real Madrid ace is willing to move to a club in huge danger of relegation, given that there is likely to be plenty of other options on the table.

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Posts ByTom Cunningham Nov 22, 2025

Lancashire have said they are investigating the incident at Old Trafford

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2025Lancashire have said they are investigating after an incident in which a fan attending the fourth Test between England and India at Old Trafford was asked to cover up the Pakistan shirt they were wearing.The fan, named in Pakistani media as Farooq Nazar, posted a video on social media documenting the request, initially from a member of the security staff at the ground, that he cover the shirt, a replica of Pakistan’s traditional green limited-overs kit.The security guard, who identifies himself as working for Lancashire, says: “I’ve been asked by control if you can cover that shirt up, please.” Later on, a steward can be heard saying the shirt “might be considered nationalistic”.Related

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In the video, Nazar can be seen becoming increasingly agitated amid repeated requests to cover up. Eventually, he is approached by a police officer, who asks to continue the conversation away from the stands. According to reports, Nazar then opted to leave the ground rather than hide his shirt.Political relations between India and Pakistan, frosty for years, have been at their most tense this year, following a brief military skirmish between the two countries in May. Those tensions have filtered into relations between the BCCI and PCB; the two sides have not played a bilateral series since 2012-13 and no Test cricket since 2007-08. Their participation in ICC events hosted by either country has also recently become problematic, with a neutral venue added in to stage their games as part of a hybrid solution to the issue.It is unclear on which day of the Test, which ended in a draw as India batted their way through five sessions, the incident took place but Lancashire confirmed they were looking into it.”We are aware of the incident referenced and are taking steps to understand the facts and context surrounding the matter fully,” a Lancashire spokesperson said.In recent years, Lancashire have openly spoken of building their links with India. The Hundred team based at the ground, Manchester Originals, are set to become 70% owned by Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG group, which runs Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, while Lancashire’s chief executive, Daniel Gidney, has suggested giving the BCCI a stake in the 100-ball tournament.

We are still several months away from the World Cup taking place in America in 2026 and while the play-offs to finalise the final few places at next year’s tournament are yet to take place, we now know who England will be facing.

Thomas Tuchel was brought into the Three Lions setup by the FA with one goal. To win the next World Cup.

Well, he can now begin to plot out the route it will take to make the final and potentially lift football’s biggest prize.

Can England end over 60 years of hurt? Time well. Here’s who they’re set to face in the USA next summer and how the rest of the draw played out.

Who are England facing and when?

England were drawn in group L, the final group. They were drawn against Croatia, the nation that beat them in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and Panama, a side they also faced back in 2018, demolishing them 6-1 in the group stages. Rounding off that group is Ghana who were one of the last balls to come out in the draw.

England’s World Cup group

Opponent

Date

1. Croatia

Wednesday 17th June

2. Ghana

Tuesday 23rd June

3. Panama

Saturday 27th June

What is the rest of the draw?

The first match of the tournament sees joint hosts Mexico take on South Africa, a repeat of the first game of the 2010 World Cup. They will also face Korea Republic and await the winner of a play-off to determine their other match.

Fellow hosts Canada take on Qatar and Switzerland while awaiting another play-off winner while USA face Paraguay, Australia and a play-off winner.

We all love a group of death and next year’s looks as though it could well be Group I which sees France, Senegal, Norway and a play-off winner compete for a place in the knock-out stages.

England's route to the final

Providing England win their group, then they will face a team that finished third in the group stages in the last 32 of the 2026 World Cup.

Awaiting them in the last 16 could be host nation Mexico, before a possible quarter-final awaits against Brazil. In the semi-finals it’s likely they would have to face France. Talk about a tough route.

In the final, it could be a repeat of the showpiece event from the last European Championships, where either Spain or Argentina could await if everything goes according to the script.

Could Messi and Ronaldo face each other?

Well, Messi’s Argentina are set to face Algeria, Austria and Jordan in group J and if they finish top, then their likely route to the final would see them face Saudi Arabia or Uruguay in the last 32.

A tie against the USA or Egypt could await in the last 16. Portugal or Colombia are expected to be their quarter-final opponents before they could face one of Brazil, the Netherlands or Tuchel’s Three Lions in the semi-finals.

As for Ronaldo, his final chance of winning a World Cup will see him face Uzbekistan, Colombia and a play-off winner in the group stages before potential matches against Croatia or England in the last 16 and France or Messi’s Argentina in the quarter-finals await.

A turning point, or another false dawn at Liverpool?

The relief was palpable when Cody Gakpo swept home at the London Stadium on Sunday, confirming in the late stages Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over West Ham United, arresting a landslide in form that had seen nine defeats dished out across 12 matches in all competitions.

Arne Slot is still a man under pressure, and no mistake. But it’s important to remember the Dutchman has FSG’s backing at this stage. That could change, however, if the Reds sink back into negative habits over the coming weeks, and that win over the Hammers stands as a lonely winter outlier.

The latest on Arne Slot's future at Liverpool

Slot definitely has credit in the bank after his incredible Premier League triumph last season, taking Jurgen Klopp’s squad and fashioning them into champions once again.

However, the owners’ leniency will only stretch so far, and forthcoming Premier League fixtures against Sunderland (H) and Leeds United (A) feel significant. Liverpool won at West Ham, but they must prove that they have stopped the rot.

And if this doesn’t prove the case, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola has been earmarked as the perfect successor.

As per Spanish reports, the 43-year-old Spaniard is very much on FSG’s radar, and, moreover, he would consider an approach from the English champions.

Bournemouth would require compensation for Iraola’s departure, but if push does come to shove, he might be the perfect option for Richard Hughes, formerly sporting director at the Vitality Stadium, to lure to Anfield.

Why Liverpool are considering Andoni Iraola

Iraola’s Bournemouth system is built on high-energy, aggressive principles. These are key tenets of his philosophy.

This bespeaks his players’ elite physicality, and that is a product of his schooling.

This young manager is the real deal, and if Liverpool were to complete his signing, they would land themselves the next version of Mikel Arteta, who is working wonders with Arsenal in north London.

Praised as “the best coach in the Premier League” by journalist James Horncastle, Iraola might not have the same calibre of players as teams like Arsenal and Liverpool, but he’s whipped his Cherries into shape, alright, creating a front-footed and aggressive outfit that rival the Gunners for actions in the offensive third.

Man City

9095

2463

Liverpool

9001

2410

Arsenal

8384

2348

Bournemouth

7977

2191

Nott’m Forest

7927

2127

Indeed, Iraola may hail from the same Basque region as Arteta, but there is also a likeness in regard to the managers’ respective tactical visions and the way they tackle obstacles in the Premier League.

There’s also Iraola’s ability to craft a special, close-knit feeling at his club, something Arteta has masterfully achieved at the Emirates, so miserable were Arsenal at the end of Unai Emery’s tenure.

Liverpool are already known admirers of Bournemouth talisman Antoine Semenyo, and Milos Kerkez was purchased from the south coast side this summer.

Whether the Redmen manage to string together a run of consistency under Slot’s wing remains to be seen. Fans will reserve judgement until the win over West Ham is followed by a series of wins that propel the Merseysiders back into something resembling the ascendancy.

But Iraola could be the perfect fallback, if things don’t improve. He is young and hungry, and the tactical similarities with his Basque peer Arteta suggest he could be the long-term solution at Liverpool, a club looking to cement their position at the very top.

Gakpo upgrade: Liverpool open surprise talks to sign "magic" £70m PL star

Liverpool are planning to strengthen their flanks after a tough start to the season.

1 ByAngus Sinclair Dec 1, 2025

NEW YORK — Carlos Correa is not the first person in history to suggest shortening up with two strikes, but a week after he discussed his approach in a hitters’ meeting, his new—and old—teammates are still marveling at his turn of phrase. 

In those counts, he told them, “I’ve lost the right to slug.”

So they were utterly unsurprised that in his seventh game back with the first-place Houston Astros, his first against the rival New York Yankees, as fans booed and the game hung in the balance, Correa lined a 10th-inning, 1–2 single to center to drive in the go-ahead run. 

“He walks his talk,” says center fielder Taylor Trammell. “He’s a winner.”

The Astros did indeed win that game, as Correa knew they would, even as a 2–0 lead evaporated and he strode to the plate to lead off the 10th against Devin Williams, who was the best closer in the game before struggling mightily this year. Extra innings, two strikes, a man in scoring position as 46,027 people jeer their hearts out for you?

“I love it,” Correa says. “I live for it.” 

He doesn’t quite prefer hitting with two strikes—”I’d rather get a hit on the first pitch,” he says with a grin—but he knows he thrives in those moments, mostly because they don’t frighten him. “Once you have two strikes, I’m never thinking I’m gonna get out,” he says. “I’m always thinking of positive outcomes. So I think that’s half the battle. And then, you know, you gotta be mechanically clean, and you gotta feel good at the plate and have a good approach, but the mental is the most important thing.”

Nearly four years after they let Correa sign with the Minnesota Twins in free agency for what eventually became seven years and $235 million, it was that attitude the Astros wanted back. 

“One of the big things with Carlos is his leadership,” says general manager Dana Brown, who nabbed Correa, 30, at the July 31 trade deadline for a pitching prospect and the promise to pay $70 million of the $103 million Correa is due over the next two and a half seasons. “That’s probably the biggest thing with him for us. We knew in acquiring him that we were getting more than just a really good player. [He’s] a leader in the clubhouse, and a guy who's won before. He’s a winner.” 

Australian slams 25-ball half-century after Linsey Smith, Lucy Higham tie down Phoenix

ECB Media15-Aug-2025Northern Superchargers soared to the top of the women’s Hundred table with a commanding victory over Birmingham Phoenix at a sun-drenched Headingley.A third win in four matches for Hollie Armitage’s team was built around a miserly performance from their slow bowlers, Lucy Higham and Linsey Smith, who each picked up two wickets to stem the Phoenix’s flow.Their intervention was perfectly timed, after the visitors had begun brightly. On 44 for 1 from 30 balls with Emma Lamb and Marie Kelly going well, Phoenix lost five wickets in 20 deliveries, with captain Ellyse Perry’s unfortunate run out – Annabel Sutherland diverting a straight drive from Kelly onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end – summing up the Phoenix’s misfortune.From 59-6, Em Arlott and Sterre Kalis rebuilt the innings impressively, putting on an unbeaten 57, the highest stand for the seventh wicket in the history of the Hundred’s women’s competition.On a beautiful batting track, it nonetheless felt under par. The Superchargers openers, Davina Perrin and Alice Davidson-Richards, were both dropped early on – Perrin before she had scored when Hannah Baker palmed a pull shot over the rope for six – and their stand of 27 ensured that the home side were always ahead of the game.Australian superstar Phoebe Litchfield, having started this year’s tournament quietly, roared back into form with a stunning assault against Baker in particular, drilling the spinner for a trio of consecutive boundaries to settle any concerns in the home dugout.With her compatriot Sutherland at the other end, the pair cruised to the finish line with only one alarm when Litchfield, on 48, was dropped at deep extra-cover by Baker. Litchfield brought up her second half-century in the competition from just 25 balls, as Superchargers’ overseas stars wrapped things up with a whopping 26 balls to spare.Litchfield was named the Meerkat Match Hero: “That was good fun out there. Every time we play here at Headingley we know it’ll be a good pitch and you saw that even when Davina and ADR came out, and then especially Bellesey [Sutherland] at the end there.”Litchfield was also full of praise for Superchargers’ spinners, Smith and Higham. “They hit their lengths and kept the stumps in play and forced the Birmingham batters to try something else, and we backed them up in the field. Our two little spinners have done wonders for us for a few years now and they showed it again today.”We’ve had this group together for three years now, it hasn’t changed much, and the vibes are good. We had a pretty average game last time out, but we tried to park that and came out with a positive mindset.”

India A were in trouble against a fired-up SA A attack on a green seamer before Jurel’s lower-order rearguard steadied the innings

Shashank Kishore06-Nov-2025Dhruv Jurel’s recent form has been hard to ignore. Scores of 124, 44, and 6* against West Indies showcased his consistency and growing maturity as a batter. With Rishabh Pant’s return to the Test fold imminent, Jurel is now making a strong case to be considered purely as a specialist batter.That scenario might soon become reality if India decide to strengthen their middle order with a specialist No. 6 instead of an allrounder. The tussle for that spot could well come down to a battle between Jurel and Nitish Reddy.On Thursday, with India A in deep trouble against a fired-up South Africa A attack on a green seamer at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, Jurel’s lower-order rearguard not only steadied the innings but also helped steer them to respectability. En route, he brought up his fourth first-class century – remarkably, three of those have come since June.Only a couple of months ago, he compiled a brilliant hundred against Australia A in Lucknow on a turner. This one in seaming conditions was equally masterful in the way he helped steady a floundering innings. From 124 for 7, he helped add 131 for the last three wickets as India A ended 255 all out at stumps. Jurel was 132 not out, an innings that comprised 12 fours and four sixes.Jurel’s other competitor for a middle order berth in India A’s XI on Thursday, Devdutt Padikkal, managed just 5 – his third-straight single-digit score. Padikkal, like Jurel, had impressed against Australia A and in the Ranji Trophy, but may have slipped behind in the race for a recall after having most recently played for India last November in Perth.Rishabh Pant bowls during tea break•PTI The morning began with Abhimanyu Easwaran bagging a three-ball duck – missing out yet again for India A, after he played down the wrong line to a nip-backer from Okhule Cele that trapped him plumb in front. KL Rahul, his opening partner, tucked himself to three boundaries in a single over – a cover drive, glide over the slips and neat leg glance – but fell chasing an away-going delivery that he tried to drive on the up off left-arm seamer Tiaan van Vuuren.B Sai Sudharsan looked tentative once again. On nought for 12 deliveries, he was finally off the mark when he laced a half-volley through the covers to pick up a boundary. Troubled by the moving ball, Sai Sudharsan stood well outside the crease and then tried to advance further down to negate the late movement – something that often got him into trouble.He was eventually felled by Subrayen, the offspinner, when he played for the skid, only to see the ball rip away to beat the outside edge and hit his back pad. Sudharsan made a 52-ball 17 to go with scores of 32 and 12 in the first four-day fixture last week.Coming off a 90, Pant seemed intent on taking the attack to the bowlers from the get-go. He charged out of the crease off his very first delivery, and hit Subrayen for a slog-sweep and lofted hit off consecutive balls – the highlights in his 20-ball 24 – before he was out looking to clear the infield.Van Vuuren challenged batters both off the inside and outside edges by getting the ball to move late and then seam off the surface, one such delivery accounting for Harsh Dubey as he was early into the flick only for the ball to bobble off the back part of the bat onto the body, and eventually the stumps.Kuldeep Yadav suffered an early concussion scare on 2 when the wicketkeeper ran into him and had him land awkwardly on the floor with his helmet bouncing up. After a few uncomfortable moments, he regained composure and battled his way against some quality seam bowling. Reprieved on 7 by Zubayr Hamza in the slips just before tea, Kuldeep helped add 79 for the eighth-wicket with Jurel, who was solid, showed patience and didn’t play a rash shot at any stage as he brought up a 62-ball half-century.Jurel was equally adept both off the front and back foot against the moving ball, cutting and driving imperiously. The secret to his knock lay in playing late and getting a big forward stride off the seamers to cover for any late movement. After initially playing with his bat close to the body, and keen on crease occupation, Jurel seamlessly switched gears to put away the bad balls, eventually bringing up his century off 146 deliveries to single-handedly bail India A out on a bowling day.