French legend Zinedine Zidane wowed fans with his ball-juggling skills on his return to Bordeaux for their 100th anniversary match.
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It didn’t come without the signature Pakistan wobble, promising to derail the whole thing. But Pakistan got their tour off and running with what, in the circumstances, must be considered a clinical victory even if it did come in the final over. It came thanks to a glorious 86 at the top of the order from Imam-ul-Haq and a classy half-century from Mohammad Hafeez at the end in a chase that was – for 40 overs at least – scripted to perfection.South Africa appeared to have left some runs out there with some conservative batting, despite a century from Hashim Amla and Rassie van der Dussen’s 93 on debut. In an absorbing game of fine margins, that made all the difference in the end as Pakistan wrapped up a five-wicket win.Chasing 267, more than Pakistan have ever successfully overhauled against South Africa in South Africa, they began steadily enough, even if the out-of-form Fakhar Zaman was streaky for the duration of his cameo at the top. It was the partnership between Imam and Babar Azam that broke the back of the chase, the 94 runs they added keeping the asking rate in check. More importantly, they arrived in comfortable fashion, with none of South Africa’s storied fast bowlers able to make the slightest inroad, giving the impression this would be a cakewalk.It was the innocuous spin bowling of Reeza Hendricks that broke the pair up. It is safe to say Hendricks doesn’t bowl too many jaffas in a spell, but even by those standards, the ball which got rid of Pakistan’s best batsman was well below average. Hendricks had dropped one in far too short, and as Babar looked to guide it to third man for the single that would bring him a half century, he miscalculated the line, allowing it to crash into his stumps.Still, the ball wasn’t doing much and there was little South Africa could do to stop Pakistan keeping the asking rate under six. It was only when the chase came down to the final stages, and Imran Tahir’s influence began to grow, that Pakistan began to panic slightly. Once Shoaib Malik chopped Andile Phehlukwayo on with 49 needed, Pakistan began to feel the pressure and the dots grew more plentiful. Sarfraz Ahmed was struck in front and, shortly after, the asking rate rose to seven an over.Hafeez, however, was playing the type of innings he has so often throughout his career in the middle overs without quite getting the credit it merits. On a slow surface, he timed the ball better than almost anyone from either side – perhaps even Amla – regularly finding the boundary that would relieve the pressure. Twice, when he sought to go over the top, he did so effectively reading the pace and bounce off the surface. He might not have hit the winning runs, but when the last ball of the penultimate over was smashed to the midwicket boundary, bringing the scored level, he did all but.Hashim Amla shapes to drive through the leg side•Getty Images
In their innings, South Africa showed flexibility with the bat to construct a total of 266. Despite only losing two wickets getting there, the home side might have felt they could keep Pakistan at bay on a slow pitch. Amla’s 27th ODI century ran like a spine through the innings, with van der Dussen keeping him excellent company during a 155-run partnership.The nature of the pitch, better suited to spin than any other in South Africa, perhaps explained Pakistan’s selection. Imad Wasim operated as early as the seventh over, while Hafeez, Shadab Khan and Fakhar Zaman all got a bowl. It may also explain why Pakistan are yet to lose an ODI at this ground, winning all three games that produced a result.After choosing to bat, South Africa appeared to make preservation of wickets their central priority, with only one lost in the first 46 overs. With hindsight, though, there is little question South Africa were too conservative in spite of the challenges of the surface.Only a late flurry, with 76 scored off the last ten, got them close to the 275 they had seemed on track for throughout the innings. Pakistan’s bowlers made up with control what they had lacked in penetration, with Shadab and Hasan Ali the picks; South Africa’s scoring rate tailed off almost precisely when the duo were introduced in the 15th over.Amla averaged just 28.63 in 2018 but clicked back into gear here, his full repertoire available for the viewing pleasure of the Port Elizabeth crowd. The wristwork was a delight to behold, present in almost every one of the eight boundaries throughout his innings, his ability to spot even the slightest lapse in length or availability of width exceptionally early the marker of a batsmen whose form woes are behind him. When three figures were reached, they arrived with a six over cow corner to produce the loudest cheer of the afternoon.Van der Dussen alongside him initially appeared to have taken too much time to get himself set, but from the moment he reached his half-century with a six over midwicket, he caught up with the deliveries in quick time. The last 49 runs of his innings came in 37 balls; his first 44 had taken 64. In the end, it was a high full toss that he mistimed to mid-off that denied him a hundred on debut. But faced with the task to scoring quickly towards the end, there was no time for personal indulgence.There was little personal indulgence on Pakistan’s side either, with the chase being a true team effort. Two half-centuries and a 49 helped Pakistan get there, and for all the talk of the sour dressing room environment earlier on in the tour, there will be little but cheerful laughter emanating from it after a much-needed victory.
Justin Langer hopes it will provide a genuine contest between bat and ball, but there is no guarantee it will prove much livelier than the one that was rated poor last year
Melinda Farrell at the MCG24-Dec-20182:06
‘Won’t be like Perth, but will have pace’ – MCG curator
Australia coach Justin Langer is hopeful the MCG pitch will provide a genuine contest between bat and ball, something he believes could secure the future of Test cricket.The nature of the MCG pitch is under intense scrutiny ahead of the Boxing Day Test, with a distinctly green tinge two days out, giving some hope but no guarantee it will prove much livelier than the dull surface that was rated “poor” after last year’s draw against England.”It’s great to see some grass,” Langer said. “I’ve played Shield cricket here over last six or seven years, seen the Test here, and I’ve said forever the most important thing in Test cricket – international cricket – are the pitches.”If you have great pitches you’ll have contest between bat and ball, then Test cricket will be alive and well. If we play on flat wickets then it becomes a really boring game and that’s from someone who loves Test cricket.”Hopefully it’s a contest between bat and ball because it’s really important, not just for this series but also for world cricket.”ALSO READ: Don’t judge MCG pitch by its grass cover – Marcus HarrisAfter the Ashes Test last summer the MCG curator, Matt Page, oversaw some changes to the block, including the addition of a layer of sand to allow better drainage of moisture and encourage the pitch to become more spin friendly on the later days of the Test.But Marcus Harris, who made 250 for Victoria at the MCG in a Sheffield Shield match, had earlier told ESPNcricinfo he expected any early liveliness provided by the grass would give way to a slow scoring surface that largely held together.Meanwhile, Langer, a native of Western Australia who played much of his domestic cricket at the WACA ground, claimed the pitch used for the second Test was the quickest he had ever witnessed in Perth.The ICC rated the Perth Stadium pitch as “average”, a decision that puzzled the Australia coach.”I was really surprised actually,” Langer said. “I guess a couple stayed low. But I thought it was such entertaining Test cricket – that was the fastest pitch I’ve ever seen in Perth and I’ve been there a long time.”I thought it was really exciting Test cricket, got a result on the fifth day. From a personal point of view I love seeing cricket played like that.
A hundred and thirty Tests between them, and the two managed to become involved in one of the most bizarre run-outs ever, even by Pakistan’s standards
ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2018It was a good thing Azhar Ali’s oldest son came to the ground only after his father had been dismissed. Run-out in the most ridiculous circumstances. No, really. It was so bad that Azhar feared “whenever I say something to them [his kids] they are going to come back to me about this run-out.”One hundred and thirty Tests, over 9000 runs, 25 hundreds, and over 20,000 balls faced between them, and you’d think one of them would make sure the ball had actually crossed the boundary before standing mid-pitch to chat.Yet, neither Azhar nor Asad Shafiq checked to see where the ball had stopped, leading to – even by Pakistan’s rich standards – one of most bizarre run-outs.It happened in the ninth over of the morning, and the 53rd of the innings, bowled by Peter Siddle. Off the third ball, Azhar edged a stroke through the gully region, just past Shaun Marsh.Once it went past him, Azhar assumed the ball would roll to the boundary. Presumably, professional cricketers are taught to make sure about these things from a young age, but Azhar also ignored the evidence of the last couple of days, when the outfield has slowed considerably.Azhar strolled a few yards out of the crease, and Shafiq came to meet him. There was a fist-bump. Maybe they talked about the weather. Unseen to them, the ball had stopped before the boundary and Mitchell Starc was chasing it down.
Starc, incidentally, is suffering from a tight hamstring, so it wasn’t as if Azhar was up against Usain Bolt’s speed here. Tim Paine twigged to what was happening and ran up to the stumps to collect the throw. Azhar and Shafiq saw this but remained motionless, somehow between all their experience, failing to figure out what was happening.The throw came in, Paine whipped off the bails, and collectively the cricket world chortled.Azhar turned up gamely post-play, knowing that the run-out would be the only question he was asked. No they weren’t discussing the day’s menu or the weather in the middle.”We were just discussing that the ball was swinging a bit late. We both didn’t realise something like this could happen. We didn’t see anyone chasing that ball. When Starc threw the ball we still didn’t think anything was happening but when it landed in the glove of the keeper we realised something funny was happening. The way the shot was hit to a fast bowler and the edge flew I thought it reached the boundary. But there is no excuse. Everyone was pulling our leg in the dressing room but that moment it was a shock.”Azhar suspects he’s not going to hear the end of it even at home. “They’re going to speak about it for years.”Where does it rank in the canon of great Pakistani run-outs? Perhaps there’s too many to recall, though this from 2016 is a contender.
The booming cover drive was packed away as Dinesh Chandimal buckled up for the safety-first innings Sri Lanka needed
Andrew Fidel Fernando at P Sara Oval15-Mar-2017Dinesh Chandimal has a big, booming cover drive, and everyone knows it. Mahela Jayawardene had one that purred like the engine of a Jaguar. Kumar Sangakkara’s became so high class and epoch-defining he could have had the Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstasy installed on his forehead.Chandimal’s is more fast-and-furious than grace-and-finesse: a lowered Subaru Impreza with a flaming paintjob, blinding rims, and an exhaust pipe that could house a small elephant. I mean, just watch him in the shot. His head stays steady, but his arms are almost a blur – the backlift massive and menacing. He doesn’t stroke or hit the ball, he outright assaults it.Like the boy racers who take their cars flying around residential zones, though, Chandimal’s drives can be endlessly annoying when deployed in the wrong place. The tour of South Africa was like this. Repeatedly, coaches and captain would go on record pleading with batsmen to take care in their shot selections, to show a bit of patience, and please for the love of all that is good and holy, refrain from driving at the seaming bloody ball. Yet there Chandimal was, a senior man by number of Tests played, flashing giddily, sending balls to keeper or slip, bringing hundreds of thousands of palms to faces.When he was subsequently told by the chief selector to retune his game in first-class cricket, Chandimal seemed to radically alter his approach. His first innings at Galle last week was almost a self-flagellation for his South African extravagances – he spent 71 minutes and 54 balls at the crease, but scored only five runs. Had the long drought scrambled his mind completely? On as flat a surface as Sri Lanka has produced in a year, Chandimal’s was an innings so out of character you couldn’t help but wonder if he had lost a little bit of himself again, as he had once done in 2014.He made 50 not out in the second innings of that game, but this did not convince the doubters either, so easy had that half-century come. Sri Lanka were completely dominant when Chandimal came to the crease and, in an ideal world, would not have delayed the declaration long enough for him to get the milestone. What was the point of virtually gifting a Sri Lankan batsman a score, after all? Chandimal has come through one of the weakest domestic circuits in the world: he already has access to a lifetime supply of meaningless fifties.At the P Sara on Wednesday, however, he was suddenly everything fans wanted from a senior batsman. Chandimal put his fingers on the pitch and batted to its pulse, discerning early on it was more devious than it appeared. The scoring opportunities were not spurned altogether, but the brash strokes had definitely been locked up.
For one day, at least, Chandimal was the station wagon Sri Lanka needed, rather than a roaring Subaru
Today, it was his team-mates who were running themselves off the road and into bushes, or plunging off avoidable cliffs. Through most of the day, Chandimal kept his tyres on the tarmac, and just kept plugging on. His unbeaten 86 came off 210 deliveries, and featured four fours. Only one of those boundaries was the result of a drive – though this one was crisp rather than flamboyant, and hit further towards the centre of the batsman’s V than way out towards the badlands at deep cover.”We analysed that he’s got out a lot against seam bowlers, driving outside off stump, early on,” coach Graham Ford said of Chandimal after play. “That’s been his downfall a lot of the time. When he puts that lovely looking cover drive away and doesn’t use it early on, he gets big scores. When he hits it, it’s an exquisite shot, but it’s a high-risk shot in Test cricket, especially if he’s batting at No. 4 and getting in earlier.”It’s more about his mindset. He’s the first to admit that rather than getting himself in, he’s played a few ambitious shots trying to get himself moving or get the scoreboard going. But he’s come back and really thought about his game.”In fact, so responsible did Chandimal’s innings seem, that he even took on a role Angelo Mathews had turned into an art form: that of looking supremely pissed at the non-striker’s end at a team-mate’s loose dismissal. Chandimal raised palms up to ask Dhananjaya de Silva “why?” after he tried to hack Taijul Islam over midwicket and got himself bowled. He was visibly annoyed when Niroshan Dickwella had his stumps rattled playing a fantastically poor reverse sweep. Even Dilruwan Perera – whose major role is with the ball – got an eyeful of ire from Chandimal when he chased a wide ball and edged behind.Chandimal’s has been a rapid transition from wasteful talent to stern senior man, and to be fair, with him there is no telling when he will transition back again. But for one day at least, he was more station wagon than roaring Subaru. And man, did Sri Lanka need it.
Manchester United’s need for a new striker has become even more evident after the last few outings, none more so than the meeting with Arsenal in the FA Cup on Sunday evening.
Although the Red Devils managed to get through on penalties in the clash at the Emirates, their lack of threat in the final third was notable, only managing to register four shots on target in 120 minutes of football.
Rasmus Hojlund was the man chosen to lead the line but failed to register a single effort on goal, also losing 100% of his duels, before being replaced in the 80th minute.
The Dane has now failed to score a single goal in seven matches across all competitions, undoubtedly contributing to the club’s lowly tally of just 23 goals in the first 20 matches of the Premier League campaign.
His subsequent run could see the hierarchy delve into the transfer market to try and improve the current situation, including one player who could prove to be a bargain down the line.
Man Utd target move for £30m star this January
According to one Spanish outlet, United have been credited with an interest in landing Sporting CP striker Conrad Harder before the end of the January window.
The 19-year-old only joined the Portuguese side in September but has wasted no time in impressing, scoring seven times in 23 appearances since his move.
The report states that the Liga Portugal side don’t want to lose the youngster, but could entertain offers in the region of €35m (£30m), potentially opening the door to a move to Old Trafford.
It would be a surprise to see Ruben Amorim raid his former club after his comments upon taking the reins at United, but Harder could provide an option in the short and long term in forward areas.
He would also provide an upgrade on another player who’s been touted with a move to the club in recent days, with the hierarchy needing to chase the Dane over a move for a big-money talent.
How Harder compares to Kolo Muani
PSG forward Randal Kolo Muani has been a name constantly touted with a move to join United this month, but the Old Trafford side face serious competition from the likes of Juventus and Spurs for his signature.
The Frenchman, who cost the Parisians £76m in the summer of 2023, has only started two Ligue 1 outings during the ongoing campaign, opening the door for a potential exit.
Amorim’s side have constantly been linked, but given the recent rumours over a move for youngster Harder, the club should put their focus into a move for the Sporting ace, who would be a better fit, whilst also having the potential to improve further.
Games played
19
10
Goals & assists
10
3
Progressive carries
2.1
2
Progressive passes
1.7
1.2
Shots taken
4.6
3.8
Carries into the final third
1.7
1
Goals per shot-on-target
0.4
0.2
The Danish international, who’s already been dubbed “the new Gyokeres” by one analyst, has outscored the PSG man, whilst also averaging a higher goal per shot on target rate – demonstrating his clinical edge in the final third.
Harder has also managed more progressive carries and passes per 90 in 2024/25, having the all-round attributes to star as a superb leading talisman for Amorim for many years to come.
£30m may seem like a hefty sum for a player who’s in the very early stages of his professional career, but his talent is there for all to see, already outperforming one of France’s leading attackers.
It would be a shrewd investment for the present and the future, handing the new boss with all of the tools to build on his impressive start to life as manager in Manchester.
Huge upgrade on Zirkzee: Man Utd actively chasing £50m "future superstar"
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da roleta： A European giant are now in talks to sign one of West Ham’s first-team players this month as they look to raid Graham Potter’s side in the winter window.
Potter's West Ham debut ends in defeat
da 888casino： After taking over from Julen Lopetegui with West Ham sitting down in 14th in the Premier League, Potter’s first game ended in defeat as his side were knocked out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa.
Despite that, the new Hammers boss saw plenty of positives from that performance. “Our performance gave me a lot of encouragement, the way the players tried to do what we asked them to do. We’re just disappointed now because we’re out and wanted to go through.
“We just try to get the team into a good shape. The talent is there but it’s just about trying to get the team together as a collective. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
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However, the defeat is set to have longer-term implications for Potter, with Niclas Füllkrug having been substituted off after just 15 minutes through injury, and reports have claimed that he will miss up to three months after scans confirmed the significance of the issue.
That means that West Ham may well be forced into the transfer market, with Michail Antonio also sidelined indefinitely after a car crash last month, while Jarrod Bowen is still recovering from a broken foot, leaving Danny Ings as the only recognised option to lead the line.
But first, they will have to fight off interest in other members of their first team between now and the end of the January transfer window.
European club table bid for West Ham midfielder
Now, according to Fabrizio Romano, AS Monaco have made an offer to sign Mexican midfielder Edson Alvarez on loan this month.
The Ligue 1 side are third in France as things stand, and are looking to bolster their ranks to ensure that they qualify for the Champions League again this season.
To that end, they have made an offer to sign the West Ham man, tabling an initial loan offer for the 27-year-old for the remainder of the campaign.
Unsurprisingly, West Ham have rejected this offer, having signed Alvarez for £35m just 18 months ago and with the Mexican still having three and a half years left to run on his £100,000 a week deal at the London Stadium. He is considered an “important player”, as peer Romano, something that makes a move tricky for the Monegasques.
Handed a start in Potter’s first game in charge, Alvarez has been a regular when fit for the Hammers this season, starting 11 games.
Edson Alvarez in 24/25
Appearances
16
Starts
11
Goals/Assists
0
Yellow Cards
4
He could continue to figure for the new West Ham boss should he remain at the club. However, in news that may concern Hammers fans, Romano adds that talks continue “as Monaco want Alvarez and can offer UCL football”, while West Ham look on course to miss out on European football altogether barring a major turnaround in the second half of the campaign.
أعلن الاتحاد الدولي لكرة القدم، رسميًا، طاقم تحكيم مباراة ريال مدريد وباريس سان جيرمان في نصف نهائي كأس العالم للأندية، المقررة يوم الأربعاء في الولايات المتحدة.
ويعود سيمون مارشينياك، الذي يُعد من أبرز حكام العالم، مجددًا لإدارة مباريات ريال مدريد، بعد أيام فقط من قيادته لقاءهم أمام يوفنتوس في دور الـ16 من نفس البطولة، والذي حسمه ريال مدريد بهدف نظيف.
ويحمل تعيين مارشينياك طابعًا مثيرًا للجدل، إذ إنه الحكم ذاته الذي أدار ركلات الترجيح الشهيرة ضد أتلتيكو مدريد في دوري أبطال أوروبا الماضي، حين ألغى ركلة جزاء مثيرة لصالح جوليان ألفاريز.
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مارشينياك بات على موعد مع ثاني مباراة له مع ريال مدريد منذ ذلك الجدل، ما يفتح الباب أمام مراقبة جماهيرية حذرة وتحفز إعلامي لمراقبة قراراته في اللقاء المرتقب ضد باريس سان جيرمان.
حكم القمة النارية أدار 11 مباراة لريال مدريد سابقًا، حقق خلالها الملكي 6 انتصارات وتعادلين، مقابل 3 هزائم، آخرها كانت أمام بايرن ميونخ في نصف نهائي دوري الأبطال الموسم قبل الماضي.
أما بالنسبة لنادي باريس سان جيرمان، فقد أدار مارشينياك 7 مواجهات سابقة، انتهت بـ4 انتصارات وتعادل وخسارتين، وكان آخرها الفوز الكبير على مانشستر سيتي 4-2 في دور المجموعات في الموسم الماضي.
اللافت أن الحكم البولندي أدار أيضًا مباراة إنتر ميامي ضد بالميراس في دور المجموعات، ليصل إلى ثالث ظهور تحكيمي له في هذه النسخة من كأس العالم للأندية.
كل الأنظار الآن تتجه إلى ملعب نصف النهائي، حيث يقود مارشينياك مباراة قد تكون حاسمة في تتويج بطل جديد، وسط ترقب لمواجهة نارية بين كتيبة عثمان ديمبلي وكتيبة كيليان مبابي.
Newcastle United now hold a major advantage in the pursuit of an “extraordinary” defender, according to a report.
Eddie Howe keen to strengthen his backline
Bringing in a new defender is clearly one of Eddie Howe’s priorities this January, having identified Lens’ Abdukodir Khusanov as his top target.
Khusanov is open to a move to St James’ Park, with the Magpies now believed to be shifting their transfer policy towards signing players with potential rather than ready-made stars.
The new policy means Newcastle are also keen on signing players with Premier League experience, potentially making Barcelona’s Eric Garcia an intriguing option given his time with Manchester City.
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Newcastle are looking to strengthen their defence in 2025.
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Marc Guehi was of interest to Howe back in the summer, but Crystal Palace’s asking price proved to be a major stumbling block. However, a much cheaper option appears to have now been identified.
According to reports from Italy (via Sport Witness), the Magpies are leading the race for Milan defender Fikayo Tomori – and they now hold a major advantage in the race for his signature.
A number of Serie A clubs have also been showing interest in Tomori, with Napoli making contact over a deal, but as per Gazzetta dello Sport, Milan would prefer not to sell him to a direct rival, potentially opening the door for a move to Tyneside.
Encouragement has been handed to Howe’s side in their pursuit of the centre-back, and reports also suggest he could be an affordable option, with the Italian club potentially willing to sanction his departure for a fee in the region of €25m (£21m).
Fixture
Date
Manchester United (a)
December 30th
Tottenham Hotspur (a)
January 4th
Wolverhampton Wanderers (h)
January 15th
AFC Bournemouth (h)
January 18th
Southampton (a)
January 25th
Tomori struggling for game time
Milan may be willing to get Tomori off the books this January as he has fallen down the pecking order considerably at the San Siro, failing to start a Serie A game since the beginning of October.
That said, the 27-year-old has impressed for the Italian club in the past, receiving high praise from former Milan executive Ivan Gazidis back in 2022, who said:
“Fikayo has been extraordinary during this season. He is absolutely one of the pillars of this team, he is one of those players around whom we want to build our team. He has great dedication on and off the pitch.”
Newcastle’s new transfer policy dictates that players with Premier League experience are preferable, and the Canada-born defender ticks this box from his time with Chelsea, albeit never managing to cement himself as a key, long-term player.
Even though Tomori has fallen out of favour with Milan recently, his previous exploits indicate that he could be a solid signing for Newcastle, and it is an added bonus that he may be available for the relatively low fee of £21m.
The promotion of Rehan Ahmed to the Test squad might have seemed a bit last-minute. But a day after Ahmed was informed by head coach Brendon McCullum of his selection for the tour of Pakistan, men’s director of cricket Rob Key revealed that that had been the plan all along.A 15-man Test squad was picked in October without Ahmed’s name, which instead appeared in the Lions squad. A training camp in Dubai, and involvement in the ongoing warm-up match in Abu Dhabi between the Test squad and the Lions, was to be followed by a secondment on the Test tour to continue his development.And while that would not necessarily have prevented Ahmed from being selected, particularly under captain Ben Stokes whose tenure has involved changing the way things used to be done, the fact that his call-up has been made official in this manner, a week out from the first Test, is due to careful, necessary planning.”The plan for Rehan was that we always looked to bring him into the squad,” Key said in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. “This is the best way to aid his development. He is a serious talent, but he might be four or five years off being the finished product. He is nowhere near the finished article at the moment.”But we just hope that being involved with the Test squad, with McCullum and Stokes and the mentality they have … bowling at Joe Root. He becomes a full member of that squad, he’s not just a net bowler. If needed, we believe he can play and do a good job for us with bat and ball. It’s a chance to put him on a path that will get the best out of him.”Credit to the Test set-up, we feel that is the best group of people to aid his development and get him to where we think he can be quicker, by being involved with not just the captain or Brendon, but every one of those players has a part to play in his development.”Having sent down eight wicketless overs for 73 runs as the Test “XI” racked up 501 for seven on day one of this mooted three-day tune-up at the Tolerance Oval, Ahmed helped provide the exclamation mark of the Lions’ reply. His brisk 26 off 10 deliveries included three fours and two sixes, both off Liam Livingstone, who responded in the same over by feigning a run-out at the non-striker’s end, before eventually bringing about his end by more conventional means. It meant that the Lions closed day two on 411 for nine. Haseeb Hameed’s composed 145 and 82 from fellow opener Tom Haines provided the guts of the innings.Ahmed’s innings – bold, care-free, very much what you’d expect from an 18-year-old teeming with confidence – can perhaps be extrapolated to the impression he has made on McCullum, who was understood to be reticent about selecting Ahmed before he had seen or fully interacted with him. He has evidently been impressed over the last 48 hours.Nevertheless, the duty of care towards a kid with just three first-class appearances for Leicestershire, who only turned 18 in August, was always part of the consideration.Rob Key (right) and Brendon McCullum, who has evidently been impressed by Ahmed since his arrival in the UAE•Getty Images
“How we’ve done it, we wanted it to be more of a soft launch, rather than just announcing him in a squad and away you go, with all the media speculation,” Key revealed. “He has been able to come out here, we have had a look at him. Mo Bobat [ECB performance director and head coach of the Lions] knows him very well and has had a big part in his development since being a young kid. Every one of these young players has come through that pathway with Bobat, David Court [Player ID Lead]. They have a good read on these people, they have been in touch with the families and all that stuff. That was the best way we felt we could have that soft launch, so he was around a bit before he finds out he’s been picked in the squad.”There is another, intriguing element to Ahmed. Even with a century and five-wicket haul with the red ball, both picked up in a County Championship match against Derbyshire at the end of the 2022 season, his white-ball game is clearly a little further developed. So much so, that he had offers for franchise cricket this winter. Had the schedules aligned differently, he would have almost certainly played in England’s ODIs in Australia that immediately followed the T20 World Cup, having trained with the limited-overs squad during the summer.Key cedes Ahmed “is going to have decisions going forward in his career and life”, around which colour ball takes his fancy at various points of the year. And he has no qualms in admitting this exposure to Test cricket can sow a sizeable seed in Ahmed’s head.”He arguably could be thinking about franchise cricket but we’ve given him an offer he can’t refuse really – a chance to be involved in Test cricket as the pinnacle. If you can play this form, you can play anything.”That last bit is a principle Key swears by, and forms the basis of his work so far at the head of the English game, as far as on-field matters are concerned. Even from his days in the commentary box with Sky Sports and others, he has long held a view the old and new worlds can sit comfortably together, with a little give and take along the way.Jofra Archer is a more developed example of this. Having made a return to bowling in a match for the first time since July 2021, he will play in the SA20 franchise competition for MI Cape Town. The stint forms part of the gradual build-up of Archer’s workload – he will then move on to the ODI series in South Africa – and is probably the most open indication of co-operation between two entities with differing priorities, at least on the face of it. And, no doubt, it was set in motion following a chat in the summer between Key and Graeme Smith, commissioner of the SA20.Haseeb Hameed made a century for England Lions in Abu Dhabi•ECB Images
“He’s a wildcard pick,” Key said. “You talk to the franchise owners and you come up with a plan so we are aligned. They want the same thing, which is Jofra Archer not getting injured again for a long period of time. It’s handy that he can bowl four overs in two games for them, then go into the 50-over stuff, so he has competitive cricket and a build-up. The way the world works now, you have to work with these teams and all you have to be aligned and want the same thing, to make sure Jofra can play to his potential for as long as he can. The only way it works is if you all work together.”You could extend all this to include the employment of Luke Wright as England selector. Wright will begin his tenure in March 2023, once he fulfils his contractual obligations with Auckland Aces as their performance and talent coach.At 37, and having just retired from a playing career primarily with Sussex across 20 years as a professional, he is wired into the game, both with contacts and his understanding of an ever-evolving ecosystem. He has experience across the world, in a variety of domestic and franchise competitions. Beyond his undoubted personability, Key will lean on his rare nous.Related
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“Things like shaping central contract decisions, all those things he’ll be involved with, and he understands better than I do because he’s played franchise cricket and knows what it’s like to be a player, and the decisions they’ve got to make because these decisions are coming now for the players. They’re not coming in five years’ time. This is coming now. Which franchise do they want to play for? What format do they want to play? Do they want to play in that series or is it going to collide with something else? Luke Wright’s across all of that.”Of course, a lot of this is a very English luxury, be it guaranteed interests in Test cricket from participants and punters, or simply the finances to ring-fence their assets to a point. Key acknowledges all of that, especially at a time when franchise competitions are only growing in number and pull.”We are so lucky in English cricket but our summer doesn’t get decimated by all of these leagues. You can see why Rahul Dravid said how they can’t let their players play in these franchise leagues, because all these leagues would just decimate the Ranji Trophy.”We’re in a very fortunate position but we’ve got to realise that we’ve got to work these people and put ourselves in the player’s shoes and think about ‘what decision would I make here?’ You’ve got to be fair and make sure everyone benefits. As expected, it’s just come quicker than I thought.”