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It looked as if it would go right down to the wire, but Wrexham would clinch automatic promotion out of League One with a game to spare in the end.

The match that would finally seal their unbelievable leap up to the Championship was an unforgettable 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic, with the opening goalscorer on the day being midfield maestro Oliver Rathbone.

He cemented his place in Red Dragons’ history when powering home a fantastic effort early into the first half, and he will hope he can kick on in a Wrexham shirt even more when the challenge of the Championship officially arrives in North Wales.

That said, one new addition could potentially usurp him in that midfield pecking order…

Latest Wrexham transfer news

This off-season could see the Red Dragons conduct their business in a cutthroat manner, with goalscoring icon Paul Mullin rumoured to be on the move to Wigan Athletic, despite boasting a bumper 105 goals in total at the Racehouse Ground.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Welsh giants move away from solely relying on Rathbone for creativity in the middle of the park, with journalist Graeme Bailey now revealing that Wrexham are monitoring Tom Cairney’s situation as they hunt more second-tier-ready stars.

Bailey does suggest that Cairney’s preference is to stick it out with his long-term employers in Fulham, but Wrexham haven’t buried all their hope just yet when it comes to landing the skilful 34-year-old, knowing full well he would significantly enhance their options in the middle.

Rathbone, in particular, might need to watch out.

Why Cairney would be an upgrade on Rathbone

Wrexham entertained League One audiences all campaign long, as the likes of Sam Smith, Elliot Lee, and Steven Fletcher all stood out in the attacking positions.

Rathbone’s name will also be chucked into the mix as another captivating performer, with the former Manchester United youth product ending his own memorable individual season with eight league goals next to his name, which is the same amount both Fletcher and Lee managed, and was only bettered by 18-goal hero Smith.

Moreover, the 28-year-old would tally up a further three assists as a creative machine in the middle, alongside also showing off his grit and determination by averaging 5.3 successful duels per second-tier contest.

Whilst Rathbone is undoubtedly a gem in the lower reaches of the EFL, he hasn’t been as comfortable when jumping up to the Championship in the past, with just a mediocre eight goal contributions collected from 80 appearances at the level when on the books of Rotherham United. To further pile on the misery, he has also been relegated from the unforgiving division.

As a result, Phil Parkinson might well deem it necessary to seal an upgrade on Rathbone to win his team a more accomplished Championship pro centrally, with Cairney ticking all the right boxes.

After all, unlike Rathbone, Cairney has tasted lots of success at the punishing level in the past, with an unbelievable three promotions coming his way from his mammoth tally of 318 Championship outings.

He might just be what Parkinson’s men need to adjust to their difficult new terrain swimmingly, with the two-time Scotland international amassing a mightily impressive 96 goals and assists combined across his many seasons at the level too.

Hailed as “outstanding” by Scott Parker when the pair were together at Craven Cottage, Cairney has even kicked on to become a Premier League-calibre performer in West London, with two of his 16 goal contributions in the elite league coming about just last season, irrespective of the Fulham veteran now being 34 years of age.

Rathbone won’t be completely chucked to one side, but if it’s a toss-up between the 28-year-old starting or Cairney starting, the reliable Cottagers servant will come out on top every single time, especially as Wrexham aim to consolidate their status as a Championship-capable outfit.

Their next Paul Mullin: Wrexham in talks to sign "clinical" new striker

Wrexham can boost their attacking firepower even more by signing their next version of Paul Mullin.

By
Kelan Sarson

Jun 9, 2025

ESPNcricinfo experts Vettori and Chawla say they need to bat Stoinis higher, and Rahul says it could happen in coming games

Vishal Dikshit16-May-20226:49

Should Rahul bat more freely while chasing?

The last time Lucknow Super Giants won a game while chasing was more than a month ago, on April 7 , when it was only the second week of IPL 2022. Now with barely a week left for the league stage of the tournament when teams are expected to fine-tune their plans for the playoffs, a glaring weakness has emerged for Super Giants: they can’t ace their chases.Even though Super Giants were chasing 179 on Sunday, which might have appeared to be below-par because of how Rajasthan Royals were looking set for 200-odd at one point, KL Rahul ‘s team stumbled to 34 for 3 in the powerplay and left too much to do for the middle order that neither had the experience like their top order nor the hitting abilities of their lower order.Related

• Scenarios: Despite losing to Royals, Super Giants comfortably placed for playoffs

• Padikkal, Boult and Ashwin help Royals leapfrog Super Giants to No. 2

Rahul admitted after their loss that they had to get “smarter” while batting and “needed to work hard” on their game because it was the fourth time in a row that they went down in a chase.”It was a gettable target. It was a good pitch, there was a bit in there with the new ball. We were backing ourselves to get that target, but we couldn’t execute our plans and once again the batting group…we haven’t been able to collectively perform as a unit in a few games,” Rahul told the host broadcaster at the presentation. “We need to go back and work on our game, work on being smarter when we’re in the middle and try and get a win for the team.”Pune was a lot harder, there was a lot more on the pitch there. This (Brabourne Stadium) was a really good pitch, there was seam movement early on, quality bowlers like Trent [Boult] and Prasidh [Krishna] were hitting hard lengths, getting to move it just a little bit. They bowled in good areas and when you lose two wickets in an over that puts pressure on you and it has happened a couple of times with us where we’ve lost the game in the powerplay, as a batting we’ve lost three-four wickets which is obviously very hard to come back from. We need to work hard on our game and make sure when the ball is moving and when there are quality bowlers, you find a way to stay in the game and give your team a good start so that in the back end, we can always get runs.”Super Giants are now second on the list to lose the most number of wickets in the powerplay in this IPL, only behind Kolkata Knight Riders. On Sunday, Boult and Prasidh rocked Super Giants early with the back-to-back wickets of Quinton de Kock and Ayush Badoni in the third over followed by Rahul’s departure for a laborious 10 off 19 in the sixth over.Deepak Hooda struck a 33-ball fifty at No.4 on Sunday•BCCI”If we can hold our nerve in the middle while we’re batting and give ourselves a chance to play out the new ball or play out a good spell even when there are just 120 balls,” Rahul further said. “If you can get through that spell then you always have enough time to make up and win the game from there. We’ve got power in our batting; people do hit the ball really far, and they can hit sixes and get a big over, so it’s just about being smart and playing out the good spells.”One way for Super Giants to succeed on Sunday would have been to take the game deep because Royals have had issues with their death bowling and still have the worst economy rate in that phase. Maybe, the Super Giants think-tank held Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder back for that phase, but their decision to promote Badoni to No. 3 backfired as he fell for a golden duck.Their bowling coach Andy Bichel told the host broadcaster Star Sports early in the chase that Badoni was promoted because he had been batting well in some of their practice games, and Rahul revealed after the game that they could bat Stoinis up the order in the coming games.”He (Badoni) has been batting well,” Rahul said at the press conference. “In the last four-five games, we felt like we could have used him slightly differently, so we tried playing him top of the order.”On Stoinis’ batting position, Rahul said: “What we’re trying to do is utilise players who will best suit the situation and for us, Marcus is one of those players who has brute force, and we know that he can be really dangerous at the back end, so we’ve tried to hold him back a little bit. We’ve kept it slightly flexible with the batting roles, and this is the role we’ve picked him for, the finisher for us and even today, he batted really well.

“We need to go back and work on our game, work on being smarter when we’re in the middle and try and get a win for the team.”KL Rahul

“He’s showing that he can really win us games single-handedly, but you need someone to support him at the other end and he needs, and the team needs the top order to set up the game for someone like Stoinis and Jason to come in and finish games which hasn’t happened, unfortunately. Having said that, we might even see Stoinis batting up the order in the next game or the coming games where we give him more overs to play and give him a chance to go out there and be the dangerous Stoinis that he is.”Daniel Vettori and Piyush Chawla, experts on ESPNcricinfo’s show T20 Time Out also expressed that Super Giants need to bat Stoinis and Holder higher, before Krunal Pandya, who batted at No. 5 on Sunday.”Honestly, they are heavily dependent on their top three,” Chawla said. “In the middle order, you just have Marcus Stoinis, who comes quite late, and if you see the other batters, they don’t have much experience. The whole middle order has been exposed for Lucknow in a couple of games especially.””We’ve had it on numerous occasions that quality, proven, generally international batsmen have been left to Nos. 5, 6 and 7 or left too late and then unproven domestic batsmen or even unproven international batsmen are batting ahead of them,” Vettori said, “and it seems to be counterintuitive to have that kind of set-up because Stoinis has batted on numerous occasions up the order and Krunal Pandya hasn’t; he has mostly batted at No. 6 or 7. It feels like they’ve got their roles mixed up, and also Jason Holder, who is one of the best middle-order batsmen, has the potential to go up.”Vettori further said there was no need for Super Giants to experiment with Badoni at No. 3 when Deepak Hooda had been excelling there earlier. “You want your best batsmen out there to take it on because Hooda has batted at three on numerous occasions now, and he has looked like KL Rahul in a lot of ways. I don’t believe there’s any need to protect your best batsmen.”

Bumrah chooses to stay “stable,” and when he doesn’t have the results to show for his work, he doesn’t get too down on himself

Sidharth Monga12-Jul-20224:32

Is Jasprit Bumrah the best all-format bowler in the world?

A lot of fast bowlers build themselves a character. Curtly Ambrose never did interviews while he played, almost becoming this mythical, impenetrable figure immune to human failings. Mohammad Asif almost always sounded contemptuous of batters in his interviews, once famously ruing that AB de Villiers got out too early, thus denying him the joy of a full set up and the payoff. Most often, they are the rockstars of cricket: eccentric, individualistic and definitely not pop. They make you believe nothing is beyond them.After a point, fast bowling becomes a way of living. They don’t stop being a fast bowler after six hours of play. Like the old-time professional wrestlers who never broke kayfabe. No wonder a lot of fast bowlers like pro wrestling. Big Boss Man, this big monster heel in kayfabe, once smashed the door of his car’s boot on his hand in the presence of fans. He showed no pain. When Jake “The Snake” Roberts was a kid, his father Grizzly Smith used to tell him how he was planning to take the family out of town because his wrestling adversaries were coming after him. Then of course the Internet broke down the fourth wall to usher in the Reality Era where wrestlers hardly stay in character outside the shows.Related

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Bumrah takes career-best 6 for 19 as India skittle England

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Stats – Bumrah reaches new high as England sink to new lows

If he ever were to be a pro wrestler, Jasprit Bumrah would belong to the Reality Era. When he does well – sorry, when the result on the day is good, as Bumrah would, and others should, describe it – and when the accolades are flowing, Bumrah doesn’t add to any myth-building. Instead, he chooses to stay real – stable, in his words. When Bumrah doesn’t have the results to show for his work, he doesn’t get too down on himself.Only last Monday and Tuesday, Bumrah was part of an attack that failed to defend 377 in the fourth innings of a Test. They didn’t even come close to threatening England. He himself went at 4.35 runs an over. A week later, against the same batters, Bumrah has six wickets in a little over seven overs in an ODI. Of course, Bumrah bowled beautifully at The Oval, swinging the ball mesmerizingly and also getting seam movement from the pitch, but what he tried wasn’t much different to what he does on his worst days.”This is the beauty of cricket, isn’t it?” Bumrah said when asked how he reconciles with such wildly swinging fortunes when it comes to the results. “One day you will see everything is going in your favour. Another day you can try whatever you want, but it doesn’t work for you. That is exactly why you need to keep a stable head.”Every day is a new day. There will be days when you will get the edge first ball, there will be days you will bowl similarly all day but not get a single edge. You don’t want to get desperate in these scenarios. That is why I rate stability a lot. Because at the end of the day there is very little in your hand. Once a bowler has let the ball go, there is nothing in his control.”Sometimes you will bowl well, get the edge, but the catch will be dropped. Sometimes the ball will pass over the stumps. Sometimes a full toss will get you a wicket. That doesn’t mean you bowl more full tosses. So I only try to prepare what I can. And not think of what is not in my hand. After that whatever is the result, I accept and move on.”Jasprit Bumrah picked up career-best figures of 6 for 19•Associated PressThen it is probably not a good idea to ask Bumrah if this was as well as he has bowled. “I don’t look at end results and judge my bowling,” Bumrah said. “There have been instances when I have bowled so much better than this and not gotten wickets. But I always looked at following the same routine. Yes, today was a day where the white ball swung and there was some seam movement. So yeah, I wanted to exploit that.”When we started the innings, we saw there was some seam and swing. So [Mohammed] Shami and I had a conversation and decided we should bowl a little fuller and try and bowl the Test-match length. It was a good day that we got the wickets. And there was some help in the beginning, and the wicket was also on the softer side.”

“Today was a good day. It will bring a lot of praise. But neither do I get too happy with praise nor do I get too down with criticism.”Jasprit Bumrah

Fast bowling is a tough job but it is also an optimist’s job. You are, after all, cheating your body into performing acts it was not built to do. Accordingly, many fast bowlers internalise that they are the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. Bumrah? He doesn’t even take it seriously when a respected pundit such as Nasser Hussain calls him the best bowler across formats today.”I don’t focus on these things,” Bumrah said. “Today was a good day. It will bring a lot of praise. But neither do I get too happy with praise nor do I get too down with criticism. I don’t look at it this way: I am here, I am very good in all formats. I enjoy every format. I try to do what I can. I respect what people say but I don’t take it seriously. Very grateful for the applause you get but I always try to keep a stable head. That’s how I will always be.”This is how cricket is, and will be. Most cricketers and fans don’t like talking about luck and conditions because of the popular perception that luck or reliance on conditions is the opposite of skill. It couldn’t be farther from the truth.This has been a weird year in England in which the Dukes Test balls have moved less and gone soft sooner than usual, but the white Kookaburra has been swinging more than it does and for longer. On top of that Bumrah got a green pitch on a muggy afternoon. That he said made his job easier: he just had to bowl line and length and let the ball do the rest as opposed to making things happen on flat ODI decks. The edges came readily, none fell short, and half chances stuck.This is a real description of the events at The Oval. And also, by extension, at Edgbaston. This is Bumrah’s description. A Reality Era description.

We are backing the Rangers Monday night on the run line vs. the Angels. These two AL West teams are trending in opposite directions despite both pushing their chips in at the trade deadline, and we have an opportunity to capitalize.

The Rangers’ arrow is pointing upward as Texas has won eight of their last 10, and have a 2.5-game lead over the Astros in the AL West.

The Angels, by contrast, have won only three of their last 10, and are 11.5 games behind the Rangers.

For the month of August, the Rangers have scored 5.25 runs per game, while the Angels have mustered only 3.5.

Here are some more interesting stats: The Rangers have the best record against the spread when at home this season, covering the spread 63.3% of the time (38-22). Across all games played, the Rangers have covered the spread 59.3% of the time (70-48), which ranks third in MLB.

The Rangers will want to make sure they maintain their distance and don’t lose any ground on the Astros tonight, and with Los Angeles starting lefty Patrick Sandoval, they should be able to get the job done. Sandoval has been good for Los Angeles this season with a 3.86 ERA; however, the Rangers are especially dominant vs. left-handed pitching. Their .825 OPS, .470 SLG, and .355 OBP and 173 RBIs all rank second in MLB, while their .186 ISO is tied for sixth. Even if Sandoval is able to keep the Rangers at bay, the bullpen is unlikely to hold up, as they have a disastrous 6.11 ERA for the month of August.

Meanwhile, Max Scherzer gets the start at home for Texas and he has been strong since joining the club, allowing only four earned runs across 13 innings pitched for Texas. Since the All-Star break, Scherzer has looked more like himself, with an ERA of 2.70. This scuffling Angels offense is unlikely to put a lot of runs on the board vs. Mad Max, and the Rangers bullpen has also settled down of late, boasting the third-best ERA (1.72) for the month of August.

Put all these things together, and we will grab the value for a plus-money payout for Texas to cover the run line at home tonight.

The Bet: Rangers -1.5 (+115)

Manchester United will have to pay €75 million (£65m/$85.5m) plus add-ons if they want to sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig this summer.

United interested in SeskoHave approached Leipzig over a dealBundesliga club set price for strikerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Per , Leipzig have set an asking price of €75m for Sesko's signature. They are also keen to receive add-ons, and a sell-on clause, with Newcastle and the Red Devils involved in a tug-of-war over the Slovenia international, who scored 21 goals in 45 games in all competitions last season.

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United are reported to have made contact with Leipzig over a deal to sign Sesko and Newcastle have also made him a priority. In addition to a pursuit of the 22-year-old, Ruben Amorim's side are also said to hold an interest in Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins. Sesko's current deal runs until 2029.

DID YOU KNOW?

While Sesko enjoyed a prolific season overall, he has only played two full seasons in the Bundesliga, scoring a total of 27 goals in 64 games. Nevertheless, United have placed him at the top of their shortlist of attackers as the club aim to revamp their frontline.

AFPWHAT NEXT?

United face Bournemouth in their next pre-season friendly on Thursday. They will hope to have a deal wrapped up in time for their Premier League opener against Arsenal on August 17.

Stats highlights of a career which has been exceptional, and is still improving

Shiva Jayaraman25-Feb-2021If you fed a selection of R Ashwin’s bowling statistics to a clustering algorithm, chances are that he would be grouped with fast bowlers rather than spinners. Over the years, Ashwin’s numbers in Test cricket have taken a shape that fast bowlers would envy. A career strike rate of 53 puts him between Brett Lee and Morne Morkel among bowlers to take at least 300 wickets in Tests. Out of the 35 bowlers to have taken 300 or more wickets, 24 have an inferior strike rate than Ashwin and 16 of them are fast bowlers. No spinner has a better strike rate than he has. Muttiah Muralitharan comes the closest with a strike rate of 55.0. The race to 400 wickets
Ashwin has taken 21,242 balls to take 400 wickets, which makes him the fourth-quickest bowler ever to the landmark. Only Dale Steyn, Richard Hadlee and Glenn McGrath have got to 400 wickets in fewer deliveries. Rangana Herath is the quickest spinner after Ashwin, having taken 23,835 deliveries.The figure for Richard Hadlee is a range, since exact numbers are not available•ESPNcricinfo LtdIn terms of matches taken to take 400 wickets, only Muralitharan was faster than Ashwin because of having averaged higher number of balls per match than Ashwin. Ashwin has reached the milestone in his 77th match, which is three matches fewer than the next quickest bowler among the 15 bowlers who completed 400 wickets before him.ESPNcricinfo LtdAshwin is also the second-quickest in terms of time taken from making his debut, having reached the milestone in 9 years and 110 days since making his debut (days to the start of the match in which the milestone was reached). McGrath took just 8 years and 341 days, and is the quickest among all bowlers.The new-ball specialist
Ashwin’s effectiveness with the new ball makes him a unique spinner whose utility transcends the limit imposed by the skills of a spinner. He has some nifty tricks up his sleeve, not the least impressive of which is the drift he is able to get with the new ball with the seam upright that – but for the lack of pace – mimics the inswinger bowled by a fast bowler to right-hand batsman. Coupled with intelligent use of the crease, Ashwin is adept at beating both the edges of the bat.With variations like these in his armoury, Ashwin has taken 59 wickets in the first 15 overs of the innings in Tests at a strike rate of 47.4. Among ten bowlers to take at least 50 wickets in the first 15 overs since his debut, Ashwin is the only one with a strike rate under 50. Steyn just misses the cut-off in the period since Ashwin’s debut. But even Steyn – admittedly on the decline in the latter half of this period – took 53.2 balls on an average to take a wicket.ESPNcricinfo LtdAshwin hasn’t been effective with the new ball only in the second innings when the pitches would’ve deteriorated so much that spinners were into play early. He has taken 25 wickets at a staggering average of 16.04 and a strike rate of 41.1 in the first innings as well. No other bowler – pacers included – has taken 20 or more wickets at a better strike rate than Ashwin. Kemar Roach is the next best bowler having taken 35 wickets at a strike rate of 45.9 in the first fifteen overs.Ashwin is the highest wicket-taker for India in the first 15 overs of the innings since his debut. Ishant Sharma, who has taken 50 wickets with the new ball is the next prolific bowler for India in this period. Among spinners, Herath is next with 45 wickets. India’s de-facto spearhead
Since Ashwin made his debut, India’s bowlers have taken 1312 wickets in Test cricket in matches he played. Ashwin has contributed 30.5% of those wickets, which is the fourth highest among 35 bowlers who’ve taken at least 300 wickets in their career. For India, only Anil Kumble has contributed more wickets, but only by a fraction more. Kumble took 30.7% of wickets by India’s bowlers in Tests in which he played.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn fact, before 2018, when India’s fast bowling riches materialized at the Test level, Ashwin had contributed nearly a third of India’s wickets (32.9). That was the third highest ever among bowlers with 300 or more wickets till that time, next only to Muralitharan (40.4) and Hadlee (35.7). Scourge of left handers
Ashwin’s excellent record against left-hand batsmen is well known. No one in the history of Test cricket has dismissed most left-hand batsmen. However, if you think that Ashwin has dismissed as many left-handers just because there are more of them in Test cricket now than ever, then consider the following.There have been 601 innings – till the time Ashwin took his 400th wicket – by left-handers in the matches when Ashwin has played. The 204 dismissals he has inflicted makes that a percentage of 33.94. Among bowlers with at least 200 wickets in Tests, only Alec Bedser has ended a higher percentage of left-handed batsmen’s innings. In the last fifty years, only Muralitharan comes close to Ashwin, having ended 191 of 624 innings by left-handers.ESPNcricinfo Ltd Towering overs others at home
With 278 wickets at an average of 22.19, and a five-wicket haul in every other match in Tests in India he is a champion bowler at home. But helpful conditions don’t guarantee wickets by default. The best bowlers make use of the conditions to the fullest, which Ashwin has done well over his career. In matches Ashwin has played at home, the other bowlers have averaged 34.1. The difference of 11.9 between Ashwin’s average and the match average of other bowlers is the third highest for any bowler to have taken at least 200 wickets playing at home. Only Muralitharan and McGrath have out-bowled other bowlers by a bigger extent.ESPNcricinfo LtdMoreover, Ashwin has built this gap between him and others largely in the presence of Ravindra Jadeja, who himself has excellent numbers in India (Jadeja averages 21.06 in Tests in India). Improving performance in SENA countries
Ashwin’s indifferent numbers in the SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) do take some sheen off a record that otherwise would place him among the pantheon of all-time great bowlers. He has taken 63 wickets at an average of 40.11 in Tests in these four countries, which pales in comparison to his record elsewhere. He concedes nearly 15 runs more on an average to prise out a wicket in these countries when compared with his overall career. Among India spinners to take at least 20 wickets in these countries, only S Venkataraghavan and Venkatapathy Raju have a higher average than Ashwin.However, these countries are tough for all spinners, not just Ashwin: none of the active spinners average sub-30 bowling in Tests in the SENA countries. Among them is Yasir Shah, who has struggled in these conditions: his 46 wickets have come at 55.08 apiece.Any spinner worth the name from India can’t escape comparisons to the likes of Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Erapalli Prasanna. Bedi took 90 wickets in England, Australia and New Zealand at an average of 30.98. Prasanna’s 78 wickets came at 29.94 apiece and Chandrasekhar, whose average is closest among the three to Ashwin’s but still a good nine runs better, took 71 wickets at 31.33. Chandrasekhar took six five-wicket hauls in 19 matches in the SENA countries, while Ashwin is yet to take one from 20 Tests.However, to be fair to Ashwin, he hasn’t bowled as much on tours to these countries. He has been on nine tours but has played just 20 Tests – an average of 2.2 matches worth of bowling per tour. In comparison, Prasanna averaged 3.3 matches per tour, Bedi 3.1, and Chandrasekhar 2.7 matches per tour. This discounts the bowling time they would’ve got in the tour matches, which players don’t get in these times of packed cricket calendars.Ashwin has shown that this effectiveness in conditions increases with his experience of bowling in them. It was on evidence in the first Test of India’s England tour in 2018, when he took seven wickets at an average 17.28. He had gained invaluable experience bowling for Worcestershire in the county the previous year.ESPNcricinfo LtdAshwin’s ability to adapt is clearer when we look at his performances in Australia over the years. He has been on four tours to Australia and on evidence from the last tour, has worked out how to deceive batsmen without help from the pitch. He’s played three Tests on three of the four tours. On the first tour in 2011-12, he took nine wickets at an average of 62.77; he improved to 12 wickets at 48.66 on his next tour in 2014-15. On his last tour, Ashwin out-bowled Nathan Lyon – bettering the Australian bowler at the skill of getting overspin and use of the crease on Australian pitches, taking 12 wickets at an average of 28.83. This was against a full-strength Australian batting line-up, in condition that weren’t particularly helpful to spinners.Not too long ago Ashwin wasn’t the first choice spinner when India played outside the subcontinent. Ashwin’s recent track record in Tests has shown he’s coming up with ways to take the pitch out of the equation, and could well prove to be the bowler India would turn to in all conditions.

Hampshire’s quarter-final hopes look thin after two wins and five defeats

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2024Visa issues have prevented Ottneil Baartman, the South African fast bowler, from joining Hampshire for the rest of the T20 Blast.Baartman, who made six appearances at the T20 World Cup during South Africa’s run to the final, was due to play for Hampshire in their final six group games. But his arrival was delayed due to unspecified “visa issues” and the club announced on Friday that, with their quarter-final hopes thin, his deal has been cancelled.”We would like to wish Ottneil all the best and hope to see him in a Hawks shirt in the future,” Hampshire said in a club statement. Baartman initially signed as a replacement for Naveen-ul-Haq, who pulled out of his contract with Hampshire citing “personal reasons” and is instead playing for Texas Super Kings in Major League Cricket.After two wins, three no-results and five defeats, Hampshire sit seventh in the nine-team South Group of the Blast heading into Friday night’s fixture against Gloucestershire at the Ageas Bowl. With the top four teams qualifying for the quarter-finals, they may need to win all four of their remaining fixtures to progress.”We’ll have to do some maths to see if we can still qualify,” Adi Birrell, their coach, said after their most recent defeat to Sussex. “I can’t really think that two wins out of ten gives us a chance of getting through to the quarter-finals but we’ll have to have a look at it.”We had three rained-off games, which has given us a few points, but we’re not really playing well enough to go through… we were a bit off in all departments [against Sussex], as we have been throughout the campaign. We haven’t really put in a good performance in all departments.”

Ashley Young could be set for a surprise return to his boyhood club Watford, with the Championship side looking to re-sign the 40-year-old veteran. The former Manchester United and England star is a free agent after leaving Everton and wants to finish his career where it began. Watford have no concerns over his age or fitness, and talks are reportedly ongoing.

Watford consider re-signing 40-year-old YoungVeteran full-back left Everton after two-year spell Young hopes to finish career at boyhood club Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Championship side Watford are said to be interested in bringing Young back to the club, as per talkSPORT. The 40-year-old left Everton after the end of the season after two years with the Toffees, and has been looking for a new club this summer. Head coach Paulo Pezzolano will reportedly decide whether to move forward with the deal.

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Young made 70 appearances for Everton over the past two seasons and became the fourth-oldest Premier League scorer last season. Meanwhile, Watford finished 14th in the Championship, and they believe that they could use his experience in the upcoming campaign as they look to return to the English top tier.

DID YOU KNOW?

Young started his career at Watford and played over 100 games for them before moving on from the Hornets. He has had a long and successful career with stints at Aston Villa, Manchester United, Inter Milan, and Everton. Despite turning 40, he is still fit and wants to keep playing.

GettyWHAT NEXT FOR YOUNG?

Talks are expected to continue as Watford decide on bringing Young back to the club this summer. The 40-year-old is reportedly open to returning and ending his career at Vicarage Road, and a final decision is expected before the new season begins.

Babar Azam will lead a Pakistan side for the third successive time at the T20 World Cup when he will fly out with the 15-member squad for the tournament next month. The PCB neither named a vice-captain nor any traveling reserves even though the World Cup will be played in the USA and the Caribbean over almost a month.In an announcement that came hours before the ICC deadline to submit the final squad, there were a few surprises with Pakistan sticking to the touring party they chose for the T20Is in Ireland and England. No one from outside that group was selected. Hasan Ali, who was released back to Warwickshire earlier this week, missed out, alongside Irfan Khan and Agha Salman.Abbas Afridi made the final cut, meaning Pakistan go into the tournament with five specialist fast bowlers. Imad Wasim, who came out of retirement for this tournament, was the left-arm spin option, with Abrar Ahmed the only specialist legspinner.Pakistan’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2024•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“This is an extremely talented and balanced side that has a mixture of youth and experience. These players have been playing together for some time and look well prepared and settled for next month’s event,” a statement attributed to the selection committee in a PCB release said.”Haris Rauf is fully fit and bowling well in the nets. It would have been nice if he had gotten an outing at Headingley [in the first T20I against England which was washed out], but we remain confident that he will continue to maintain an upward trajectory in the upcoming matches, as he will have an important role to play along with other strike bowlers in the T20 World Cup.”ESPNcricinfo learnt that an initial squad was finalised and sent to PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi on May 23, but a conflict around due process emerged, with certain members of the selection panel feeling they had not been consulted properly. Naqvi asked to see the minutes of the meeting and voting patterns of prior meetings, which had not been recorded.As a result, the squad was rejected and returned to the selection panel, with Naqvi insisting the members achieve consensus on the squad and the meeting minutes be recorded. The PCB rejected any notion of the chairman interfering in specific selection decisions, and that the reason for the initial squad being rejected was the failure to follow due process as set out for the selection committee.Pakistan had opted to not announce a provisional squad at the start of the month, something most other sides did. In the end, they were the last team to officially confirm their final squad, with all 19 other teams having submitted theirs a few days ago.Pakistan are currently in the middle of a T20I series in England, with the second match in Birmingham on Saturday. They fly out to the USA after the series concludes, with all four of Pakistan’s group stage matches in the United States. They don’t play any warm-up games before the big tournament.Pakistan begin their T20 World Cup campaign against USA in Dallas on June 6 before they play India in New York on June 9. Pakistan will stay in New York to face Canada on June 11 and then travel to Lauderhill to play Ireland on June 16 for their final group game.

Pakistan squad for T20 World Cup 2024

Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

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