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Injured Everton centre-back Yerry Mina will be a ‘huge’ miss against Watford, according to Premier League pundit Paul Robinson. 

The lowdown: Mina becomes latest Blues casualty

Mina lasted only 18 minutes in Sunday’s 2-1 victory against Leicester City before sustaining an injury, with Michael Keane coming on in his place.

It’s the sixth separate problem the Colombian has encountered this season, limiting him to just 11 Premier League starts.

Left-back Vitalii Mykolenko, who scored the opener, also left the action midway through the second half after suffering from cramp.

Frank Lampard has now confirmed that the calf issue will sideline Mina for Wednesday’s trip to Watford, but Mykolenko is fine.

Everton head to Vicarage Road gunning for what could be three decisive points in the battle for survival. Victory would take them four points above Leeds United with just three games to play.

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The latest: Huge…

Robinson, speaking before the Ukraine star was passed fit, says both Mina and Mykolenko have been in excellent form recently, and thinks Everton could suffer from the former’s absence.

However, he’s confident that the Toffees have still done enough to survive.

“They really have been outstanding,” he told Football Insider.

“I don’t think their injuries will matter though. I think Everton are safe. The last two wins have done wonders for them.

“I truly believe it’s between Burnley and Leeds now. Everton have momentum after those two performances. They will take care of themselves now.

“Mina and Mykolenko will be huge misses but I think they’ve done enough. I’m sure they’ll be safe come the end of the season.”

The verdict: Another one?

Everton have been hit extremely hard by injuries this season, and that’s part of the reason why they’ve struggled.

As of 5 April, they had picked up more injuries than any other team in the Premier League (via Ben Dinnery).

For Mina in particular, it’s been a stop-start campaign, and he could leave the club with a decision to make.

Might it be wise to cash in on the £18million-rated 27-year-old if he’s so rarely available, and replace him with someone who’s comparatively bulletproof?

In other news, Robinson also reacted to links with this defender.

For the tenth time in 11 seasons, Celtic have done it, they are the Scottish Premiership winners and few can argue that the Hoops don’t deserve it.

When Ange Postecoglou arrived in Glasgow, the Bhoys were in disarray. Their fiercest rivals had won the title and it looked as though a number of players would depart.

Indeed, as the likes of Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer all headed for pastures new, the future looked rather bleak.

Yet, Postecoglou’s transfer policy and the way he’s crafted and fine-tuned players this season has been nothing short of sensational.

The rebuild had no right to be this quick but it’s a testament to his hard work at Lennoxtown. He is a Premiership title winner in his first campaign in Scotland and even if they could only muster a 1-1 draw with Dundee United on Wednesday evening, the performance of a certain Anthony Ralston typified the graft that some have put in under Postecoglou’s tutelage.

The full-back only played once in the league throughout the entirety of last season but despite the arrival of Josip Juranovic last summer, Ralston has become vital and is now rather surprisingly one of the most consistent figures at Parkhead.

This term, the Scot has featured on 27 occasions in the Premiership, scoring four times and registering eight assists, the last of which came at Tannadice on Wednesday.

It came from one of the defender’s seven crosses throughout the game as he put in a tantalising ball for Giorgos Giakoumakis to fire home and seal yet another league title.

Throughout the encounter, Ralston took a whopping 130 touches of the ball – the most of anyone on the pitch – and also amassed 87 accurate passes, the third most of any player on Wednesday.

The fact he was so involved is a credit to the confidence he’s taken on this term and as a result, he’s gone from a bit-part player to someone who will only become more important to Celtic as the years go on.

Described as a “ballet dancer” and “superman” by Dominik Diamond, he was also compared to one of the greatest passers of a football in modern football by the Celtic Way’s Tony Haggerty.

Writing in his post-match player ratings, the Celtic blogger said: “The right-back produced a sensational 60-yard Andrea Pirloesque diagonal cross-field pass to Forrest before blasting a left-foot shot over the bar in the opening exchanges. He marauded forward at will and had a lot of joy down the flank. It was no surprise when he stood up a brilliant cross from which Giakoumakis buried a header seven minutes after the interval.”

That typifies his all-action nature and also why he’s one of the manager’s greatest successes since penning terms at Paradise.

Ralston has gone from underused and underappreciated to one of the real heroes of their title success in 2022. What a story.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Jota: Ange can form scary Celtic duo by signing “dangerous” £15m machine…

Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia came away with victories as the selectors watched closely

Andrew McGlashan24-Oct-20240:56

Steven Smith: ‘Bumrah is the complete bowler’

Openers stall

You may have noticed, but Australia’s specialist openers are not banging down the door. Marcus Harris dug in for two hours at the MCG but was then undone by Mitchell Starc. Cameron Bancroft’s nightmare start to the season continued and his returns now read 0, 0, 8 and 2 – three times caught behind nibbling outside off then top-edging to fine leg. Matt Renshaw collected 2 and 21 against South Australia. Sam Konstas showed some promising signs in the second innings against Victoria before giving it away against Todd Murphy. It’s hard to know who, if anyone, is leading the race.Related

• Victoria steamroll New South Wales but Starc primed for India

• 'A right-handed version of Warner': Josh Inglis launched into opening debate

• David Warner's latest headline grab has underlined Australia's opener problem

• Labuschagne: 'Anyone's guess' who will open, but Smith at No. 4 'pretty simple fix'

Steven Smith’s lean outing

We know he’s moving back to No. 4, but Steven Smith cut a frustrated figure at the MCG. Caught down the leg side off Fergus O’Neill in the first innings he was then less-than-impressed by the lbw decision against Scott Boland although there didn’t seem much wrong with it. “I actually felt pretty good out there, to be honest, for the 3 that I scored,” he said with a hint of a smile after the first innings. It now seems likely that the rest of Smith’s build-up to India will be against the white-ball with a One-Day Cup match against Victoria then the ODI series against Pakistan.

The McSweeney solution

Nathan McSweeney has made an excellent start to the season – scores of 55, 127 not out, 37 and 72 – to build on his success of last summer when runs were hard to come. He is certainly in the mix for Test selection; beyond who opens there will also need to be a spare batter in the squad. Despite the quick abort of Smith opening, there is a world where the selectors again go down the route of non-specialist which could open a space for McSweeney in the XI. He captains Australia A next week against India A.Nathan McSweeney has started the season strongly•Getty Images

Keepers flying

Might Australia’s most in-form player heading into the Test summer be their No. 7? Alex Carey is churning out the runs following his successful return to the ODI side in England last month. He has now crunched two centuries and a 90 in four innings this season. Remember he also finished the New Zealand series in March with an unbeaten 98. Talk about his form feels a long time ago. But he’s not the only gloveman in fine fettle.Josh Inglis has played superbly for Western Australia and, like Carey, has two hundreds in two matches. If you were looking at the best six or seven batters on form, he’d be there. There is recent precedent for Australia playing two wicketkeepers in their Test side: Matthew Wade featured alongside Tim Paine from 2019 to 2021, including during India’s last visit when he also opened the batting for two Tests.Josh Philippe (45 not out and 88) also continued his impressive start to the season on a tricky MCG pitch after the move to New South Wales and Jimmy Peirson (94) led a Queensland fight back against South Australia. Both are in the Australia A squad.

Starc looking good

Now, this looked encouraging. Mitchell Starc hit his straps at the MCG, finding swing at high pace. He could easily have had more than one wicket in the first innings then collected six in the second, although it wasn’t enough to turn things around for NSW. However, he produced some crackerjack deliveries and was gliding smoothly to the crease in his first red-ball outing since March. “Wickets aside, I think the rhythm was there,” Starc said. “I felt probably the best I have felt for a while actually. Across the two innings, it feels like it’s in a good spot.” In the last series at home against India he averaged 40.72 so will hope to improve on those numbers.Alex Carey has been prolific early in the summer•Getty Images

The ones we aren’t talking about (much) – Khawaja, Labuschagne, Marsh, Lyon

It’s easy to forget, given all the chatter, that most of Australia’s squad for the first Test is locked in. It was a relatively lean week for Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne (who is bowling a lot of medium-pace bouncers) although the pair made runs in the opening round. Mitchell Marsh fell cheaply twice against Tasmania and didn’t return to the bowling crease as he had previously suggested he would. Nathan Lyon got through another 41 overs of work against Victoria. In the same game, Boland finished with the fewest wickets of the home side’s quicks (three) but was shaking off the early-season rust nicely. His around-the-wicket spell to Nic Maddinson was classy. His likely challenger as the back-up Test quick, Michael Neser, picked up four wickets against South Australia while Sean Abbott produced a reminder that he should remain in the conversation. Nathan McAndrew may not be a million miles away, either.

What’s next?

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will feature for NSW in the One-Day Cup match against Victoria on Friday. Then the focus turns to the first Australia A vs India A match in Mackay which begins on October 31 and runs concurrently with the next round of Shield. Konstas, Harris, Bancroft and McSweeney are in the Australia A squad as is allrounder Beau Webster. Boland and Neser will also suit up in one of the matches. Of those left in Shield cricket, Renshaw and Maddinson will be in action in Sydney as NSW face Queensland. Lyon is expected to play that game, too, as his last outing before the Test series.

Takeaways from the six matches that India played against New Zealand and Sri Lanka this month

Deivarayan Muthu25-Jan-20232:10

Takeaways for India: Malik, Gill stand out but Kishan underperforms

.Siraj leads the attack in Bumrah’s absenceMohammed Siraj has cemented his position as one of India’s premier fast bowlers – with or without Jasprit Bumrah. When there is juice in the pitch, he gets the new ball to swing and seam, and when there isn’t, he unleashes his wobble-seam variation which has proven even harder to handle. His 14 wickets in five ODIs against Sri Lanka and New Zealand even helped rise to No.1 on the ODI bowlers rankings.”The more cricket he [Siraj] has played, he has become better in terms of understanding his bowling,” India captain Rohit Sharma said. “In this game it’s about understanding what you can do, what is your ability, the moment you understand that you can be more effective for the team… Siraj has exactly done that in last couple of years that he has played whichever format be it. He has done really well, he understands what the team is expecting from him: to come and take the new ball, swing the ball, get early wickets, in the middle overs.”3:45

Rohit on Gill: ‘He has great maturity, the way he thinks about and approaches the game’

Gill locks in his opening spotBefore the start of India’s home season, there were questions around Shubman Gill’s place at the top because an ODI double-centurion had to make way for him. Now he himself is an ODI double-centurion, the youngest in the history of the format. His coming of age was always on the cards but nobody expected this.”Honestly, the way he was batting in this series, [and] even before the series, I don’t think much needs to be told [to him],” Rohit said. “He understands his game very well, he paces his innings very well. That is what you want in one-day cricket, you want big [scores], you want to go deep into the game. He has shown it, he has got big hundreds, no matter how flat the pitch is to get a double-hundred is not easy. It shows he was calculative and he understood [that] he needs to bat deep. The set batsman needs to bat as long as possible. That is what the reason we got 350-plus total in that game. He has got great maturity in the way he thinks about the game and the way he approaches the game. That is all I can say. I have not had played lot of cricket with him but from the first time I saw him in Australia in Test series, we all know how he batted at that Test match at the Gabba.”3:05

Can Thakur be India’s third seamer at the World Cup?

Thakur is back and how!After being left out of the side for the Sri Lanka ODIs, Shardul Thakur proved his all-round value against New Zealand, strengthening his case to be India’s No. 8 at the World Cup. In the first ODI, Michael Bracewell gave India an almighty scare by taking New Zealand from 131 for 6 to within two sixes of levelling their score (349). And it was Thakur who closed that game out by trapping Bracewell with a dipping yorker. Then, in the third ODI, on a ground with 60m boundaries on all sides, Thakur proved the difference between the two sides by breaking the back of New Zealand’s middle order all in the space of 10 balls.”He has got the knack of taking wickets at crucial times for us,” Rohit said. “We have seen it, not just in ODI cricket but also in Test cricket. There are so many instances that I remember [when] there is a partnership building from the opposition and he came in and got us through. He is very critical to us, we know where we stand as a team, what he brings to us is very critical. I just hope that he keeps putting up performances like this and it will only do good for the team.”He is very smart, he has played lot of domestic cricket, he has come up through the ranks, and he understands what needs to be done. In this format you need to use your skill and Shardul definitely has some skills. He has a good knuckle ball; he bowled it to Tom Latham today, that was nicely planned in the middle by few players and I was not included in that (laughs). It was Virat, Hadik and Shardul; so it was a good plan. At the end of the day, if a plan works for the team, we all are happy.”1:08

Jaffer pleased with India’s aggressive batting approach

India rack up dew-proof totalsIndia batted first in four of the six ODIs against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, piling up totals of 373 for 7, 390 for 5, 349 for 8 and 385 for 9. Wary of the effect of dew later in the evening, they showed greater attacking enterprise to combat the conditions.Rohit himself has been at the forefront of India’s new, gung-ho ODI approach by going much faster and harder in the powerplay. “If you see, we have scored perhaps four times in excess of 350 in these six games, so it tells you that we want to play with a specific approach,” he said. “When you want to achieve all of those things, you are definitely not going to look at those numbers. Even if you are on 99 and if the ball is there, you should go for it. That’s the kind of message, thought-process and the mindset I want the guys to have. It’s important to play fearless cricket but at the same time, you need to show smartness. You cannot heave wildly. We need to be smart and at the same time not be afraid of taking risk.”It is going to be Yuzvendra Chahal vs Kuldeep Yadav from now on•BCCIKuldeep keeps himself in World Cup mixAfter Yuzvendra Chahal suffered a shoulder injury during the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Kuldeep Yadav stepped off the bench and put in a Player-of-the-Match performance at Eden Gardens. The left-arm wristspinner’s 3 for 15 restricted Sri Lanka to 215 and served a reminder that he could still cut it in ODI cricket.In the absence of Chahal, Kuldeep also had his moments in the first two ODIs against New Zealand before the duo were reunited for the third match in Indore. Despite the tiny boundaries there and dew making it hard to grip the ball, Kuldeep kept creating opportunities for India and kept beating the New Zealand batters in the air.The third ODI was a rare instance of India fitting both the wristspinners in their XI and testing them out in tough conditions. With the team set to play at least one fingerspin-bowling allrounder in the World Cup, the narrative will shift to Kuldeep vs Chahal once again during the three-match ODI series against Australia in March.

We find out by using a model that looks at how much the top batsmen and bowlers outperform the average player by

Himanish Ganjoo23-Oct-2020Virat Kohli averages 38.6 over 186 matches in the IPL (as of October 20, 2020), striking at 131, to go with a mountainous 50.8 average in T20 internationals. This frequently earns him a mention among the best T20 batsmen, according to many watchers of the game. It is no surprise, then, that a recent article examining Kohli’s anchor role, and questioning whether an anchor is needed at all in modern T20, was met with widespread uproar across the internet.Kohli does have almost unparalleled conventional stats, resulting from his strategy of knocking singles and doubles around before a final phase of risky hitting. This gets him high scores in some instances, but what of the times he cannot transition to that big-hitting stage of the knock? His slow approach leaves his team behind the ideal run rate. Kohli spends the first half of his innings minimising risk. If he gets out early, he has consumed deliveries and scored slowly, but he has not survived often enough to make up for it adequately. His net worth is a tug of war between how frequently he crosses the barrier, beyond which he starts scoring faster, and the slowness of his early innings.How can we gauge such a player’s gross impact over a whole season? Do his half-centuries and centuries cancel out the detriment he causes an innings when he gets out in his early phase? We can answer this using a contextual measure of runs, called the Runs Above Average (RAA). This quantifies how much the output of a batsman is better or worse compared to the average score in a given “situation”, which is defined by the innings phase, wickets lost before the ball is bowled, and ground.ALSO READ: Which current player is No. 2 among Test batsmen of all time when measured against the performances of the average player?Considering all IPL matches played since 2015, an average runs-per-ball score is calculated for each situation. For instance, the average runs scored per ball at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi in the powerplay with one wicket down in this period is 1.25. If a batsman hits a four in this situation, his RAA for that ball is 4 – 1.25 = 2.75. We can compute RAA for one innings, or a whole season, and it tells us the player’s contribution in comparison to an average player, had he played in the same situations.Looking at data from the IPL from 2015 onwards (until the KXIP vs DC match on the 20th of October), Kohli’s average RAA per innings by phase puts him in the “average” category before the death overs: -0.14 RAA in the powerplay, -0.41 in the middle overs, and 2.85 in the final four overs. He scores below the average batsman’s output in two out of three phases. He has a positive RAA at the death; how often that nullifies his below-par scoring early on can be quantified by his innings RAA. If this number is positive, he has made up for whatever he does early on, by making a net-positive contribution to the innings.Kohli’s mean innings RAA is 0.42, and he has a positive RAA in 44% of his innings. So despite scoring faster than most in the death overs, he does not enter that phase often enough to have a very high net-positive effect compared to the average batsman. In comparison, AB de Villiers has a positive contribution in 60% of his innings, and his mean RAA per innings is 5.8. The following plot shows Kohli’s runs against his RAA for all innings in the IPL since 2015. Many long innings have a negative RAA, which means that he wastes a large number of balls staying under the “average” expected scoring rate.Himanish GanjooHis season-wise RAA totals show his contributions over a whole season. Even in 2016, his bumper year, he scored only 40 runs over the average player in total. In the last two seasons, 2020 included, he has been a shade under average. His long innings do not make up for his sedate beginnings.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn comparison, here is the plot of runs vs RAA for Rishabh Pant. He too is slow at the start, but only two 20-plus run innings of his have a negative RAA. He does not cost his team runs if he gets a start, and most of his innings yield positive returns, accounting for context.Himanish GanjooThe average innings RAA (IRAA) tells us the typical innings-wise contribution of a batsman, and the average accumulated RAA value after facing ten balls in the innings (10RAA) tells us how quickly the batsman starts at the crease. Here is a plot of the two values for the 50 highest scorers in the IPL since 2015. Players with a 10RAA value of less than zero start slow: Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill are the “anchors” who make up this category. Shane Watson and Chris Gayle are notorious for starting slow (even if by powerplay standards), and MS Dhoni’s weakness against spin when he walks in is on display in his very low 10RAA score.Players who have a higher IRAA than 10RAA make up for their slow starts, but even among those, Dhoni, Gill and Pandey have a negative IRAA. Andre Russell, Pant, David Warner, de Villiers and Jos Buttler make up an elite cluster: they start in the positive and improve upon their contribution as the innings progresses. Interestingly, Sunil Narine loses relative value if he stays at the crease for longer: his 10RAA is very high, but his IRAA is lower.Himanish GanjooThe same metric can be used to tell how many runs a bowler concedes relative to the average bowler in a given situation. In a bowler’s case, a negative RAA is better, because it means he has saved runs compared to the expected rate. The following table lists the 15 players with the best average RAA values for bowlers, among those who have bowled 600 or more legal balls in the IPL since 2015. In Jofra Archer’s case, it effectively means that he concedes 5.39 runs fewer per innings than the “average” bowler would, bowling in the same situations.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe RAA does not consider the effects of preserving or losing wickets, because it seeks to quantify the player’s individual output in the context of the average player, and the ultimate currency of wins and losses is runs. Wickets affect team scoring in highly complex, non-linear ways that are beyond the scope of simple models.The RAA is useful to analyse a player’s career, or season, or a single innings. Can it be used to gauge a player’s contribution to a team’s winnings over a season? Can we calculate how much a player is worth in a team, relative to the average player? The Wins Above Average (WAA) metric does this, by effectively translating a team’s aggregate runs scored and conceded into win probability.ALSO READ: What is the template for a successful chase in the IPL?Using data of team performances over a season, a relationship can be formulated between the runs scored and conceded by a team and its win percentage. It must be noted that teams that chase and win score limited runs: they don’t need to score more than the target. To rectify this, the runs conceded and scored are adjusted in the case of chasing wins, where a margin of wickets and balls remaining is converted into the extra expected runs the winning team would have scored had they completed their innings. This ensures that all win margins are homogenised into units of runs scored, and a run tally that rewards teams for chasing wins can be calculated for every teamThe win percentage of a team in a season follows a “logistic” relationship with the ratio of the total runs scored to the total runs conceded*, which is represented by a curve shown in the following graph. Each dot represents one team in one year of the IPL since 2015. (As a sanity check, the curve shows us the logical result that a team that concedes as much as it scores should win 50% of the time, on average.)Himanish Ganjoo/ESPNcricinfo LtdHow is this useful in judging a player’s worth in terms of wins? We can replace a chosen player by an “average” player, by subtracting the chosen player’s RAA from his team’s run tally for bowling or batting. This replacement changes the team’s win percentage, in accordance with the relationship above. This difference in win percentage over a typical 14-match season is defined as the player’s WAA. Positive RAA values for batsmen, and negative ones for bowlers, correspond to positive WAA – these contributions are beneficial for their team results. This way, a player’s output in each season can be expressed in terms of their WAA, while accounting for the situations they have batted or bowled in. How many wins has a player contributed to in a 14-match season, over and above the average player’s contribution? The WAA depends not only on the player’s individual output, but also the quality of his team. A player in a weaker side has a higher WAA compared to another in a stronger team with the same RAA, because the former relatively contributes more to each win.Excluding the 2020 season, the best individual season for a batsman in the IPL is Pant’s 2018. He scored 684 runs, but his RAA was 168, which corresponded to 1.4 wins for his team. Pant, Warner and de Villiers feature repeatedly on the list of top batting seasons, all having at least one season with a WAA of 1 or more.ESPNcricinfo LtdAmong bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah has two campaigns at the top, with a WAA of 0.92 in his best season. He is followed by his Mumbai Indians team-mate Lasith Malinga, which shows why Mumbai have been generally successful over the past few editions of the league. Mustafizur Rahman comes fourth with his 2016 season, and it is no surprise that the Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged champions that year, with Warner’s season ranking fourth in the batting RAA table and Bhuvneshwar Kumar also featuring among the best efforts by bowling RAA. Narine, Archer and Rashid Khan make up the rest of the top ten.ESPNcricinfo LtdHere is the leader board for the current season, until October 20. Nicholas Pooran has been the most valuable batsman in a mostly lacklustre Kings XI campaign, his contribution being worth 1.37 games over the average player. Shikhar Dhawan’s rich vein of attacking form puts him in second place. KL Rahul, despite being the top run scorer, has a season RAA of just 5.8 because of his largely sedate approach, while Virat Kohli is at -2.9. Aaron Finch (-0.37), Dhoni (-0.26) and Kedar Jadhav (-0.25) have the worst season WAAs.ESPNcricinfo LtdAmong the bowlers, Rashid Khan and Archer are on top. Delhi’s Axar Patel, along with pace duo Anrich Nortje and Rabada are vital instruments in their roaring campaign, which is reflected in their places on the table. Chris Morris, the go-to death bowler for RCB this season has saved 40 runs over the season compared to an average bowler, given that he bowls in the toughest phase. Bumrah, after a cold start, has come back to his dependable ways. Surprisingly, Russell finds a place in the top ten with his crucial death bowling for KKR.ESPNcricinfo LtdMore complex methods that incorporate wicket-taking and wicket-saving ability are natural extensions to this model, but this serves as a first stepping stone to comparing player performances with the typical player in the league, contextualising their run outputs, and reading them in the language of wins for their team.* The log odds of victory taking all non-tied matches with results were fit to the ratio of the adjusted runs scored and conceded. The model parameters were significant at the 99% significance level, with an R2 of 0.59

New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham believes the NZ20 – the country’s first proposed T20 franchise tournament – is a “great initiative” and will be “hugely beneficial” for cricket in the nation. Even though the NZ20 idea is yet to get approval from New Zealand Cricket (NZC), plans are underway to launch the six-team competition for men in January 2027 and for women later in the same year. Once underway, it will replace the Super Smash, New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition.”I think you look at the NZ20 possibility, I think that’s a great initiative,” Latham said in Wellington a day before the second Test against West Indies. “When you look at the way that cricket’s moving around the world – I think we’re the only Test-playing nation that doesn’t have a franchise competition. But what it will bring to the country, to cricket here in New Zealand will be hugely beneficial, having international players to boost the standard of cricket. I think we’ve got a great standard of cricket here and I think the Super Smash has produced great cricketers for us up to this point. But I think being able to push the game forward here in New Zealand will only do great things for the cricket here.”The proposed tournament originated from former New Zealand players such as Stephen Fleming who then engaged with the New Zealand Players Association (NZPA] to check the feasibility of a franchise-based competition in New Zealand. The tournament model is set to be based on that of the CPL in the Caribbean and is looking to get private investment as one of the sources of funding.Related

• Plans being developed for NZ20 league in January 2027

When asked if Latham was hopeful of the tournament getting off the ground, he said: “Certainly hopeful. I would love to see it happen and I’m sure you talk to a lot of the players that will be in the same camp. A lot of the guys have played franchise cricket around the world these days and been able to mix with overseas players that have had great international careers that don’t play international cricket now but still play in franchise cricket…To learn off the likes of those sort of guys will be hugely beneficial not only to the guys that play cricket for New Zealand but also to the younger generation coming through here in New Zealand.”You talk to a lot of guys that play franchise cricket around the world, they have a lot of fun, they learn a lot from different players and in different conditions. So as I said earlier it’s a great initiative and hopefully one that can get off the ground.”Latham himself has not featured in any T20 franchise tournament around the world but did play for Birmingham Bears in the Vitality Blast in the English summer this year, which was the off season for New Zealand. In his last game there, he smashed a 51-ball 104 against Derbyshire. However, it is during the New Zealand summer that a lot of top players from New Zealand choose to play T20 franchise cricket – such as the BBL, SA20 and ILT20 – over the Super Smash back home.”I would much rather see have our own competition here where we’re using all of our talent as best we can to boost cricket here in New Zealand,” Latham said. “And I think that’s a really good opportunity to do that.”The ILT20 and SA20 – both into their fourth season – already face a calendar clash with the BBL. The ILT20 started early this time to be played from December 2 to January 4, while the SA20 will run from December 26 to January 25 and they both will overlap with the BBL from December 14 to January 25.

Weatherald fell for 0 in the last over of the day after Victoria were bowled out for 256 with Webster taking a wicket on return

Alex Malcolm28-Oct-2025Australia Test allrounder Beau Webster took a wicket and got through 12 overs on return from an ankle injury but Tasmania team-mate and Test hopeful Jake Weatherald fell for a duck late on another day dominated by the bowlers at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.Eleven wickets fell on the opening day. Riley Meredith and Gabe Bell took three wickets apiece for Tasmania as Victoria were bowled out for 256 before Weatherald was caught behind off the bowling of Mitchell Perry in the last over of the day. Tasmania finished 4 for 1 at stumps following a nasty two-over batting stint in the late evening sun.Weatherald’s untimely duck adds to Australia’s Ashes first Test squad intrigue when other opening contenders Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw and Sam Konstas did not get a chance to bat at the Gabba as day one of the clash between Queensland and New South Wales was washed out.Webster’s return, however, was a positive for Australia’s selectors. He has not played a Sheffield Shield match so far this season due to an ankle injury he sustained while training ahead of Tasmania’s first match against Queensland. It had led to some concerns about his readiness for the first Test against England as Australia’s selectors ponder the make up of the top six and the need for two allrounders in the same side.But after chair of selectors George Bailey confirmed Webster was a lock for the squad in Perth, Webster made a solid return with the ball after opening the bowling for Tasmania when the coin fell Jordan Silk’s way.Webster initially bowled a five-over spell with the new ball before picking up the wicket of Marcus Harris in his second spell with a cracking delivery that pitched outside leg and nipped across the left-hander to scratch his outside edge.Beau Webster took a wicket on return•Getty ImagesHe bowled four spells across the day and finished with figures of 12-4-26-1. He also took a catch at slip but dropped another off Oliver Peake. He was fortunate that didn’t cost more after Peake and Peter Handscomb combined for a 100-run stand to rescue Victoria after Meredith, Bell and Webster had reduced them to 55 for 3.The pair batted exceptionally well in tough conditions. Handscomb continued his outstanding form grinding 48 from 157 while Peake played a gem in the conditions, striking seven boundaries in his 46. Both players opted to play off the back foot predominantly and Peake showcased some excellent cuts and pulls. But shortly after he offered a life to Webster at slip, which was a pretty straight forward chance that Webster would normally hold, Peake fell for a trap holing out to deep square of Keiran Elliott.Meredith then pinned Handscomb with an excellent inducker although the Victoria veteran might have got the 50-50 call go in his favour on height on another day. Meredith bagged two in three balls when Sam Harper meekly popped a catch to short leg.Victoria’s tail wagged with Perry, Will Sutherland and Fergus O’Neill all providing excellent contributions. O’Neill was unorthodox in his unbeaten 35 but he continued to show how valuable a competitor he is for his state.The innings dragged on long enough to frustrate Tasmania but was short enough to leave Weatherald and Caleb Jewell 12 balls to negotiate before stumps. Jewell got through the first six from O’Neill unscathed but Weatherald only survived two from Perry. The third pitched outside his leg stump, back of a length, and darted across him as he tried to work leg side. The thin edge was taken by Sam Harper.

Cruz Beckham has fiercely defended his father David after Cristiano Ronaldo claimed he was physically superior to the retired Manchester United legend. The Al-Nassr star is still playing at the age of 40 and boasts an impressive physique, an area he feels he has the beating of Beckham. But the ex-England captain's youngest son has hit back at the Portuguese in savage style.

Ronaldo puts down Beckham's 'normal' body

The Portugal icon spoke with journalist Piers Morgan about his career, his future, and much more during a lengthy chat earlier this month. In that conversation, ex-Man Utd and Real Madrid man Beckham, 50, was also briefly brought up. Ronaldo was asked who he thought was the better-looking of the two, with the veteran striker not mincing his words. 

"His face is beautiful, yeah, handsome face," he said. "The rest is normal, like it's normal. I'm not normal. I'm perfecto. For me [good] looking is not only the face but the whole package. Imagine Cristiano and a normal guy with red speedos on the Copacabana, you think I am not going to have a chance with nobody."

When asked who would get more attention walking across the Copacabana, Ronaldo boasted: "Me, 100 per cent," before adding, "He's [Beckham] looking good. I like him, he is a guy who speaks good, I like him."

The former Juventus star also suggested he is the most famous person on the planet.

"We'll do a debate for the world: who's the most famous? Me or President Donald Trump? I think, in the world, even in small islands, they know me more than him," he said.

AdvertisementCruz sticks up for father David Beckham

In response to this, the 20-year-old Cruz referenced Ronaldo's "rest is normal" comments and put together a side-by-side shot of the Portuguese when he signed for United as a teenager in 2003; in addition to one of David in his 20s. In that image, Beckham appears to have the edge.

Instagram

Beckham still got it

A few months before he turned 50, Beckham was on the front cover of Men's Health. The Inter Miami co-owner revealed that to this day, he still does two exercises: push ups and pull-ups. But it wasn't always something he enjoyed. 

He told the magazine in February: "I hated pull-ups with a passion. I could literally only do two or three – three at most. Bob decided to focus on press-ups and pull-ups. I hated both, and now we do them most days. I didn’t have pecs until I met (trainer) Bob [Rich]. You could say I’ve gone up a few cup sizes as a result. I never really had a desire to, either. I wanted to be as lean as I could. But since retiring, I’ve put a bit of meat in my pecs."

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Getty/GOALWhat comes next for Ronaldo and Beckham?

Aside from physique wars, Beckham will be focusing on Inter Miami's Major League Soccer Eastern Conference final clash against New York City on Saturday, which will see Lionel Messi take centre stage once again. Ronaldo, meanwhile, will be hoping his Al-Nassr side can beat Istiklol in the AFC Champions League 2 on Wednesday.

MatériaMais Notícias

Novorizontino e Corinthians se enfrentam nesta segunda-feira (22), pela fase semifinal da Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior. A partida eliminatória será disputada na Neo Química Arena, em São Paulo. 

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➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

O Timão se classificou após vencer o América-MG pelo placar de 2 a 0. Já o Novorizontino surpreendeu a todos e eliminou o Athletico-PR, ganhando o jogo por 3 a 1. Veja todas as informações sobre o jogo da Copinha.

✅ FICHA TÉCNICA
⚫🟡 Novorizontino x Corinthians ⚫⚪
Semifinal – Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior

📆 Data e horário: segunda-feira, 22 de janeiro de 2024, às 21h30 (horário de Brasília).
📍 Local: Neo Química Arena, em São Paulo (SP).
📺 Onde assistir: Cazé TV (YouTube).
🟨 Arbitragem: Guilherme Nunes de Santana (SP).
🏳️ Auxiliares: Ítalo Magno de Paula Andrade e Leonardo Tadeu Pedro (ambos de SP).
📺 VAR: Marcio Henrique de Gois (SP).

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⚽ PROVÁVEIS ESCALAÇÕES

CORINTHIANS ⚫⚪ (Técnico: Danilo)
Felipe Longo; Léo Mana, João Pedro Tchoca, Renato e Vitor Meer; Ryan, Breno Bidon e Pedrinho; Kayke, Higor e Arthur Sousa.

🚑 Sem desfalques para a partida

NOVORIZONTINO ⚫🟡 (Técnico: Rafael Stucchi)
João Scapin; Pedro Rinaldi, João Araújo, Dantas e Luisão; Messias, Miguel Contiero e Lucas Café; Romário Pelin, Tavinho e Diego Galo.

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🚑 Sem desfalques para a partida

Tudo sobre

Copinha 2024CorinthiansNovorizontinoOnde assistir

Hughes, Ibrahim fall early but Hudson-Prentice fifty delays the inevitable

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay01-Aug-2025

Yorkshire 545 for 9 dec (Revis 152*, Lyth 115, Wharton 85) beat Sussex 222 (Lamb 48, Coles 47, White 3-25) and 195 (Hughes 57, Hudson-Prentice 52, Ibrahim 51, Milnes 5-31) by an innings and 128 runsYorkshire completed an innings and 128-run victory over Sussex midway through the fourth afternoon at Scarborough to hoist themselves out of the bottom two places in Division One, in turn dragging their visitors into the Rothesay County Championship relegation fight.Sussex started the final day of this 11th-round clash on 115 for three in their second innings, trailing by 208.On a deteriorating North Marine Road surface, their fate was obvious inside the day’s opening 20 minutes as they lost three wickets for the addition of two runs in the opening 26 balls, teetering on 117 for six.So it proved, even though their resistance through to mid-afternoon was impressive. They were bowled out for 195, including five for 31 from 16.4 overs for new-ball seamer Matt Milnes – his first five-for in the Championship since September 2021 following injury. Fynn Hudson-Prentice finished 52 not out off 156 balls.Yorkshire’s third win yielded 22 points, Sussex’s fourth defeat handing them only two.The gap between the two sides is now just a solitary point ahead of the September run-in. The pair meet again at Hove midway through next month, one of three remaining games.The White Rose have been replaced in ninth place in the table – second-bottom – by Durham, who were beaten at home by Surrey this week. The gap between the two is 12 points.Yorkshire would even go above Essex should their game with Warwickshire at Chelmsford finish drawn.In their last three games, Yorkshire not only face Sussex but Durham as well. They meet at Headingley in the final match of 2025.The hosts made the ideal start to the day.Danial Ibrahim and Daniel Hughes fell, the two not out batters overnight, for 51 and 57 respectively added to the departure of captain John Simpson for a duck.Milnes claimed the first two. Ibrahim was caught low down at second slip by Adam Lyth before Hughes was bowled playing back to one which kept low and scooted through.Simpson was then bowled as he tried to leave alone one angled in from Milnes’ new-ball partner Jack White.Danny Lamb was next to go, caught behind off Will Sutherland’s seam – 143 for seven.Lamb fell chasing a wide ball having added 26 with fellow all-rounder Hudson-Prentice. Sussex needed much, much more.Sussex reached lunch at 166 for seven, Hudson-Prentice with 32.He played handsomely down the ground off seam, even using his feet against White on couple of occasion to find the boundary wide of mid-on.Hudson-Prentice was excellent in becoming Sussex’s third half-centurion of the innings, this coming off 138 balls. By the time he got there midway through the afternoon, Sussex were 188 for seven with 48 overs remaining in the day.He shared 47 for the eighth wicket with Jack Carson, who was the eighth man to fall when caught by diving Lyth at slip low down to his right – 191 for eight.Replays suggest Carson was unfortunate to be given out, confirming the initial impression given by the batter stomping off the field.Things happened quickly from there, with Sussex falling almost 44 overs short of survival.This was Milnes’ first five-wicket haul for Yorkshire as he comes to the end of his third year with the club. His last was for Kent. He has since suffered a nightmare with multiple back stress fractures.But he was excellent here, polishing things off by getting Grinder Sandhu caught at point and then Henry Crocombe caught behind with a beauty for a golden duck.In all, Milnes claimed seven wickets in the match.