Rayan Cherki has laid out his ambitions after joining Manchester City and has set his sights on winning the Ballon d'Or.
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Steven Smith’s suggestion to Hardik Pandya is to simply “block out” the boos and the abuse he has been copping from fans at the IPL so far.Smith, target of constant heckling across the globe a few years ago for his role in the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering scandal, said that Hardik needed support from his team-mates at Mumbai Indians, including from Rohit Sharma, who Hardik replaced as captain ahead of IPL 2024 after a 11-year stint.”I’d try and just say, to block it out, it’s all irrelevant,” Smith said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “No one outside knows what you are going through. No one [from outside] is in that change room.”Related
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Smith was handed a year-long ban by Cricket Australia after admitting to “leadership failure” in the Newlands Test, and was also forced to “step down” as Rajasthan Royals captain in IPL 2018. He said he had treated the heckling he had experienced – including at the 2019 ODI World Cup in England where fans chanted “cheat” – as “white noise”.But can the abuse from fans, coupled with criticism of his captaincy in Mumbai Indians’ back-to-back losses in IPL 2024 by pundits, impact Hardik adversely?Smith suggested that Hardik might have been surprised at the reception because it is not often India’s top players are booed by fans. It is not unprecedented, though, with Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri being at the receiving end at various points in their careers.”Personally, for me, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care. I don’t pay any attention,” Smith said. “You know it’s all white noise, but certainly players do hear things and everyone’s entitled to their own emotions and how they respond to those.”So is it affecting him [Hardik]? Maybe. It’s possible. He probably hasn’t experienced that before in, in any walk of life. So it’s natural, I suppose, and particularly being in India and a star Indian player, to be in that position where some fans are booing you, it’s certainly something he wouldn’t have experienced.”
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It has been a poor start for Mumbai Indians to IPL 2024, where they have suffered two defeats in two games, first against Gujarat Titans in front of a near sellout crowd in Ahmedabad, and then in Hyderabad where Sunrisers Hyderabad registered the highest IPL total, which Mumbai lost by 31 runs. Smith said that while he could understand the Ahmedabad crowd coming down heavilty on Hardik as he left Titans to rejoin Mumbai Indians. However, he failed to get the “context” of why fans in Hyderabad joined in.Hardik Pandya did not get a warm reception in either Ahmedabad or Hyderabad•AP Photo / Mahesh Kumar
Hardik was picked by Titans and appointed captain immediately after Mumbai Indians released him ahead of the 2022 mega IPL auction. Titans won the IPL in their maiden season and reached the final in 2023, establishing Hardik as a successful leader. Last November, though, Mumbai Indians pulled off a coup of sorts by bringing Hardik back into their fold via a monetary trade, details of which have remained a source of intrigue. Immediately after that, Hardik was appointed captain.In his first media briefing, responding to a query on whether he had spoken with his predecessor Rohit, Hardik was vague, triggering a critical response including vitriolic trolling on social media.In 2017, Smith was installed as captain at Rising Pune Supergiant replacing MS Dhoni, who had then recently retired as India’s white-ball captain. It was a challenging moment for Smith, but he said that Dhoni had supported him all the way.”It was an enjoyable season and we had some success that year [2017], I suppose, which helped as well,” he said. “But MS was great with everything that he did. He was supportive, he helped me in any way that he could. He was great behind the stumps, obviously. He’s got a great view of what’s going on in the game and the angles that sort of take place on the field, and was able to sort those out and get people in the right areas.”Hardik is in the middle of a challenging time, losing the first two games their IPL season. It’s a big one for him. He’s filling big shoes with Rohit Sharma, who’s been the most successful captain [with Dhoni] in IPL history, lifting five titles, and it hasn’t started well for him.”So he’s under a little bit of pressure at the moment and it’ll be interesting to see what the reception’s like in their first home game at Wankhede in a couple of days’ time. We have heard a few boos going around at the grounds, which… that’s been disappointing from my aspect. But I’m intrigued to see what the reception’s like in Mumbai. We know how big a star Rohit is and how much he is loved inside that stadium.”2:25
Should Hardik have reassessed his plans?
Outside of the noise, Smith said that Hardik had erred tactically against Titans as well as against SRH.”I feel like he’s under a little bit of pressure. I think he’s made a few tactical errors in the first couple of games: batting himself a little bit low, probably in the first one, is my assessment. And then, in particular in the second one, [Jasprit] Bumrah only bowling one over in the first 13 overs was in my mind just a little bit mindblowing,” Smith said. “He [Bumrah] is the best bowler in the world and to have only bowled one over when the team’s got 173 on the board in the 12th over, I was in disbelief, to be honest.”I’m sure he is going to learn from that. As a captain, you have to have plans in place for the start of the game. And clearly the plan was to bowl Bumrah straight up to Heinrich Klassen. But you’ve got to shift your plans when things aren’t going well. And it didn’t look like they shifted. They sort of just kept doing the same thing. It was a bit of a blunder in his first outings.”Now then, can Rohit do for Hardik what Virat Kohli did for Smith in 2019?Five years ago, during the World Cup match against Australia at The Oval, Kohli put an arm around Smith during the game and asked Indian fans, who had been heckling Smith, to stop booing.”It was lovely, wasn’t it? I remember that game and Virat – I walked past him and sort of gave a little fist bump, I think, from memory. It’s nice when someone does something to… you are in the middle of a game, you are playing against an opponent. I thought it was really nice gesture.”Maybe someone can do something [similar for Hardik]. Maybe it’s Rohit Sharma. Maybe he stands up and says, ‘guys, what’s going on, let’s support this guy’. I don’t know. That could happen, I suppose. Well, we’ll wait and see.”
For someone who has identified his role as being partly to “irritate the opposition”, the South African opener had been unusually subdued in the first two Tests. On day one at Newlands, he was back to his immovable, in-yer-face best
Firdose Moonda in Cape Town22-Mar-2018In all the niggle of first two Tests, something was missing. Or rather someone.While David Warner and Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada and Steven Smith and even Mitchell Marsh had plenty to say, Dean Elgar had been quiet. For someone who has identified his role as being partly to “irritate the opposition”, Elgar was doing anything but, especially with the bat. He had made single-digit scores in three out of four innings, and the 57 he scored in Port Elizabeth was subdued, albeit an important exercise in absorbing pressure.But two days after assuring the media he had actually been “giving it out in all the right measurements”, Elgar saved his best dosage of the last six months for today. But it was not as much as South Africa needed.On one of the flatter pitches of the summer, a surface even Elgar was able to find fluency on, South Africa’s middle and lower order crumbled against the old ball to all but undo Elgar’s efforts. And the “even” is not meant to be an insult.Elgar, like Graeme Smith, like Steven Smith, is not an easy player to watch a lot of the time. His innings are about struggle and survival. They are very seldom about what Elgar called “smoothness”, and though this seemed one of the smoother innings he has played, Elgar insisted it was not as free-flowing as it looked.”Smoothness in my batting is never going to be something that I am going to try to achieve. It’s always going to look a little… there is a word I want to use but I won’t because this goes on TV…” Elgar said. “My fluency was maybe there, I was maybe a little more positive. I was trying to score, which is something that I have done in the past but I haven’t done leading up to this series. I was trying to be a bit more positive.”Most notably, even though Elgar took the fight to the Australian attack, he did it with a measure of deference, especially against the new ball. Only 15 runs came from his first 53 balls, before he had the gumption drive Josh Hazlewood through mid-on. Elgar showed restraint and resolve in equal measure and was careful not to make the mistakes of the previous two Tests.When Elgar spoke before the match, he was harsh in his self-assessment and called his dismissals “silly” and “stupid”, and his handling of Nathan Lyon, who had him caught and bowled twice, “crap”. Today, he faced 68 balls from Lyon and scored 24 runs, including his most impressive shot, a shimmy down the track for a six over long-on. “I was very mindful of his threat. He is a quality spinner and I needed to find a way to be better than him. It’s a tough challenge when you are facing a good bowler,” Elgar said. “It was nice to have one up on him.”The victory Elgar believes he has earned over Lyon is not limited to the fact that Elgar survived more than 11 overs of Lyon’s bowling but also a catch. Elgar was on 53 when he should have been caught by Lyon at backward point.Perhaps he had a point about the imperfection of the innings, then. He also offered a chance when he edged beyond the reach of Steven Smith at second slip to enter the nineties, where he spent the tea-break.Getty ImagesWhat followed after the interval was a beautifully-timed drive through the covers off Mitchell Starc and then a mow through midwicket to bring up his century. As a contrast, those shots showed the artistic and the agricultural side of Elgar and his celebration was as raw as the stroke that took him to three figures.Elgar found himself almost at square leg as he ran, arms outstretched, open-mouthed, and then almost helmet-butted AB de Villiers. This century meant a lot, because it came after an impressive 2017, in which Elgar finished as the third-highest run-scorer for the year, but a stop-start 2018, with an unbeaten 86 against India and the half-century from a Test ago the only shadows of his previous feats.”I didn’t think I had accomplished what I wanted to as a player for the side so it was important for me to try and do it in the first two Tests against Australia. Slowly but surely, I started finding myself again with regards to preparation and becoming the player that I know I am,” Elgar said.The batsmen who came in after de Villiers might want to start thinking about the players they know they are, and want to be, too. Elgar’s initial assessment that a first-innings score of “380-400” at tea is now out of the question, because his team-mates did exactly what Elgar knew they could not risk doing. “We can’t afford to play loose cricket,” he said.Though batting was not easy for the incoming batsmen, some of the shot selection, like Quinton de Kock’s pull and Keshav Maharaj’s gift to extra-cover, was questionable.But at the end of the day, Elgar was never going to be one to slag off his own team-mates and empathised with their undoing. “I know the players in our side are trying their backsides off to contribute,” he said. “I am aware of the difficulties of this format. Certain moments in Test cricket can set you up for a few very good days.” And on the first day of the third Test, Australia had more of those moments.
With the season gradually coming to a close and Rangers’ managerial decision therefore approaching, Ibrox legend Ally McCoist has had his say on one candidate who he believes would make every game a “fight”.
Rangers' search for a permanent boss continues
This time last season it looked as though Philippe Clement had all the tools to become a successful manager at Rangers. He had pushed Celtic all the way without taking charge of a full campaign so, naturally, similar progress was expected at the start of his first full season in the Ibrox dugout. Fast-forward almost a year, however, and the Belgian is out of a job and Rangers have been out of the Scottish Premiership title race for some time.
Since appointing interim boss Barry Ferguson too, things haven’t got much better for the Scottish giants, who lost three consecutive top flight games at Ibrox before holding on for a draw against Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League.
Whether they advance past the La Liga side in the second leg or not though, Rangers look unlikely to hand Ferguson the job on a permanent basis.
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Instead, names such as Rafa Benitez and even Jose Mourinho have been mentioned as potential candidates in recent months. The latter, in particular, would certainly provide plenty of box office moments, but it remains to be seen whether the Gers can lure the so-called Special One away from Fenerbahce.
Away from two experienced candidates, meanwhile, Ally McCoist believes that one “interesting” manager who has not received many mentions would get Rangers fighting again.
McCoist: Sean Dyche would make Rangers "fight"
In an exclusive chat with Football FanCast, Rangers legend McCoist had his say on the Gers’ manager race, speaking highly of Sean Dyche in particular.
Out of a job since being shown the door at Everton in January, Dyche could certainly do with another opportunity to step into the dugout and one that is away from the troubles that the Toffees often had during his reign.
The Rangers job would undoubtedly be the biggest job of his career so far too, having previously taken charge of sides who were expected to scrap away in the bottom half of the Premier League.
Whilst Dyche’s Everton spell has mixed reviews, Rangers should look towards his time at Burnley, in which he took the Clarets into the Europa League on a minimal budget, as an example of what he is truly capable of.
Crystal Palace’s wait to learn whether they can participate in the Europa League next season has been extended. A decision from UEFA, initially expected on Friday, has been pushed back to Monday at the earliest, prolonging the uncertainty surrounding the club’s European campaign. At the heart of the inquiry is Palace’s ownership structure and whether it violates UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership.
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UEFA's CFCB is still investigating Palace's caseOwnership issues with Textor have put Palace under scannerAmerican businessman insists that he is not guiltyFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
According to the delay stems from an ongoing investigation by UEFA’s independent Club Financial Control Body (CFCB), which is tasked with upholding the integrity of club competitions. The issue arises due to American businessman John Textor, who holds significant stakes in both Crystal Palace and French side Olympique Lyonnais. UEFA regulations prohibit any single person or entity from holding “decisive influence” over two clubs competing in the same UEFA competition.
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Palace secured their Europa League spot by winning the FA Cup, while Lyon also earned a place in the same tournament. This dual involvement triggered the UEFA probe into Textor’s holdings. Textor owns approximately 43 per cent of Palace through Eagle Football Holdings, while simultaneously controlling Lyon. While he is a major investor, his role at Palace is not one of sole authority, something both he and Palace chairman Steve Parish have argued strongly to UEFA.
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During a recent meeting at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, both Textor and Parish presented their case to the CFCB. They emphasised the shared governance model at Palace, where board-level decisions require consensus among four key stakeholders, Textor, Parish, and co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, each holding an equal 25% influence. Parish is also the active executive running the club’s day-to-day operations. Their argument is that such a structure means Textor does not have unilateral control over Palace, and therefore does not breach UEFA’s rules.
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Further muddying the waters is Lyon’s precarious financial state. The French club has been forcibly relegated from Ligue 1 due to ongoing financial issues, casting serious doubt on their ability to compete in European competition at all. Lyon have indicated they will appeal their demotion, but their immediate future remains uncertain. If Lyon are officially removed from European competition, that could potentially simplify the case for Palace. However, UEFA has not commented on whether Lyon’s demotion would impact their assessment of Palace’s eligibility.
‘I’ve been around long enough to know how it works,’ captain says, after emphatic win over Oman
ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jun-2024Jos Buttler, England’s captain, praised his players for blocking out the noise and focussing on the task of beating Oman in style, as the T20 World Cup defending champions produced a command performance that has put them back on course for Super Eight qualification.England needed a grand total of 99 deliveries to beat Oman in the first of two must-win matches in three days, with Buttler himself striking 24 not out from eight deliveries to hunt down a victory target of 48 in just 3.1 overs.In so doing, England transformed their net run-rate from -1.8 to +3.08, placing them ahead of Scotland’s figure of 2.16, meaning that they will progress at the Scots’ expense from a tightly contested Group B if there are no more upsets or washouts in the remaining fixtures.Though the speed of England’s chase was a key factor in the NRR boost, the match was set up by a thrilling bowling display, led by Adil Rashid’s 4 for 11, with Mark Wood and Jofra Archer both returning the excellent figures of 3 for 12.”I thought the tone was set really well by the bowlers,” Buttler said at the post-match presentations. “We managed to pick up those early wickets and restrict them and knock them off, so job done today and we’ve got another big game in two days’ time.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Asked if he had been surprised by the mood around England’s campaign, after one washed-out contest against Scotland and a poor display against Australia in Barbados, Buttler smiled and acknowledged that he’d seen it all before.”I’ve been around long enough to know how it works,” he told Nasser Hussain, who was conducting the post-match interviews. “How guys like you make some comments, so that’s fine. That’s part of your job. I don’t mind. We know what’s going on in the dressing room. We have lots of confidence in our team and we have another huge match to come.”That match is against Namibia on Saturday, at the same venue in Antigua, which ought to suit England’s bowling attack given the steep bounce on offer for the quick bowlers and the sharp spin that Rashid extracted in the course of his four superbly executed overs.”I thought they bowled brilliantly,” Buttler said. “[Reece] Topley with his height, Jofra Archer with that high release point as well. They were really challenging bowlers on that surface. I thought they bowled a really good line and length.Related
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“I don’t think any of us expected the wicket to probably play like it did,” he added. “It looked a really good surface. But yeah, [Rashid] found spin and obviously you know what a threat he is. He bowled fantastically well.”England’s run-chase was ignited by Phil Salt’s volley of two sixes from the first two balls – the first such instance in a T20I since Spain versus the Isle of Man in February 2023, and sealed 17 balls later by Jonny Bairstow’s second four in as many balls.”Just be ultra-positive,” Buttler said, when asked what his message to the batters had been. “We’ve spoken in the lead-up to this about we have to win games, and if we get a chance we have to try and take advantage with the net run-rate, and we managed to do that today.”We can only focus on ourselves. We’ve got a huge game against Namibia and all focus now is on that.”
Third fifty of this campaign sees her side home by six wickets at Lord’s
ECB Reporters Network06-Jun-2024
Paige Scholfield on her way to fifty•Getty Images
South East Stars 118 for 4 (Scholfield 50*, Grewcock 2-18) beat Sunrisers 116 for 8 (Miller 39*, Jones 2-13, Stonehouse 2-17) by six wicketsPaige Scholfield continued her rich vein of form as South East Stars cantered to a six-wicket win over hosts Sunrisers at Lord’s to remain unbeaten in this season’s Charlotte Edwards Cup.The South African-born allrounder – currently only able to bat because of an ongoing niggle – and who had made two half-centuries already in the campaign, made her third in finishing 50 not out, reaching the landmark with the winning hit, her eighth four.In truth, the chase for 117 was not an arduous one, Sunrisers having earlier been restricted to 116 for 8, Emma Jones with 2 for 13 and Alexa Stonehouse with 2 for 17 the principal wicket takers, while teenage starlet Tilly Corteen-Coleman got a wicket with her first ball of the game for the second time in the tournament. Flo Miller produced the only resistance with 39 not out from 45 balls.Sunrisers were soon in trouble. Shortly after steering the first boundary of the innings through third, skipper Grace Scrivens slashed one from Stonehouse straight to point.Corteen-Coleman bowled Alice Macleod and Sunrisers’ leading scorer in the tournament Jo Gardner then spooned Stonehouse to Sophia Dunkley at cover to depart for only 1.Mady Villiers sparkled briefly with two fours and a five from an overthrow in her 14, but when she chipped Jones to Phoebe Franklin at midwicket the hosts were in disarray at 27 for 4.That they mustered any sort of score was largely down to Miller, who played the only of innings of substance, sending a full toss from Franklin to the fence before later pulling a short one from Jones down to the Tavern boundary.Others came and went. Jodi Grewcock contributing to her own downfall with a sloppy piece of running which saw her run out by Corteen-Coleman’s direct hit, while Jones picked up a second wicket with a caught-and-bowled to see the back of Eva Gray.Dunkley (24) was quickly into stride, caressing one through the covers in the opening over of the Stars’ reply before dancing down the pitch to strike the spin of Villiers back over the top.Skipper Smith, scratchy at first, caught the mood, twice depositing short balls from Gray to the midwicket boundary. However, both departed in the same over from Grewcock, Dunkley stumped by Amara Carr as she again ventured down the wicket, while Smith nicked one through to the keeper.Jones, promoted to four, should have departed in the next over, only for two fielders to collide meaning a simple catch at mid-on was grassed. The Cambridge University student of veterinary surgery failed to profit from the life, holing out in the deep soon afterwards.Stars, though, were ahead of the rate and simply needed a steady hand on the tiller and not for the first time in the campaign that proved to be Schofield, who swept and pulled with authority in another sparkling knock. And while Phoebe Franklin departed before the end, Stars sauntered home.
Missing from the squad are experienced seamer Dushmantha Chameera, who is out with injury, and batter Shevon Daniel
Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Mar-2024Fast bowler Lahiru Kumara is back in the ODI XI, while batting allrounder Kamindu Mendis also makes the squad, as Sri Lanka aim to continue their rebuild after a disappointing World Cup, against Bangladesh. Missing from the squad are experienced seamer Dushmantha Chameera, who is out with injury, and batter Shevon Daniel, who was part of Sri Lanka’s last two ODI squads, but has only played one game.Kumara has been showing decent form in domestic cricket, having taken nine wickets in his four most-recent List A matches. Kamindu has made it to the ODI squad after impressing in the T20Is.ESPNcricinfo LtdAlso in this squad are opening batter Pathum Nissanka, who has recovered sufficiently from a hamstring complaint, and offspin-bowling allrounder Sahan Arachchige, who has been having a good domestic season with the bat as well. Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva remains omitted from the ODI squad, and Daniel – who had made the last two ODI squads – has been left out in favour of Kamindu.While Kumara is the most experienced quick in the attack, Sri Lanka have plenty of seam options, though they do not have the slingers Matheesha Pathirana, or Nuwan Thushara, despite the latter having been outstanding in the third T20I against Bangladesh. They instead have Pramod Madushan, left-armer Dilshan Madushanka, and all-round options Chamika Karunaratne and Janth Liyanage. There is no Dasun Shanaka.On the spin front, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana are expected to be the bowlers likeliest to play in the XI, but Akila Dananjaya is also in the mix, as is left-arm spinning allrounder Dunith Wellalage.Related
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Sri Lanka have won both their ODI series this year, at home against Zimbabwe, then Afghanistan. This is their first overseas series in 2024. The first of three ODIs will be played in Chattogram on Wednesday.Sri Lanka squad: Kusal Mendis (capt.)(wk), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Kamindu Mendis, Akila Dananjaya, Sahan Arachchige, Chamika Karunaratne
Despite earning promotion to the Premier League, Leeds United could be set to lose one of Daniel Farke’s key men amid reports that a European club have now opened talks in pursuit of his signature.
Leeds United's summer plans after promotion
With the Championship season concluded, and the title secured, Leeds have instantly turned their attention towards the summer transfer window ahead of their Premier League return. Those at Elland Road will be desperate to avoid the same mistakes as those promoted before them in recent years, who instantly suffered relegation, and the ambition of the 49ers may well ensure that they do exactly that.
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Chairman Paraag Marathe reiterated the 49ers’ desire to turn Leeds into a top club once again rather than simply just survive in England’s top flight. He told reporters once promotion was sealed: “Two years of getting to this point, but all that hard work and all that difficulty makes this much more rewarding and makes this so special,” said Marathe on the bus.
“This is a journey and this is not the end. We have to keep going. This is what Leeds does. We are going to have some difficulties, but we are going to get where we want to go and we are going to be one of the best clubs in all of Europe.”
While talk is often cheap, reports suggest that the Leeds owners are ready to put their money where their mouths are this summer, with links to the likes of Kostas Tsimikas already emerging.
The Liverpool left-back has reportedly attracted the interest of those at Elland Road fresh from becoming a Premier League champion at Anfield and could be on the move.
As the Reds’ second-choice behind Andy Robertson, the Greek international may yet decide to call it quits in Merseyside in pursuit of a starting place. Following the latest update on Junior Firpo’s Elland Road future too, Leeds would be an ideal destination this summer.
Lazio in talks to sign Firpo from Leeds
According to Corriere dello Sport, as relayed by Sport Witness, Lazio are now in talks to sign Firpo at the end of his current Leeds deal next month. The left-back is in talks over putting pen to paper on a new contract in Yorkshire, but the prospect of his Elland Road exit is now a growing possibility.
AC Milan and Atlético Madrid have also been linked with Firpo, and his agent has offered the left-back to Lazio after meeting sporting director Angelo Mariano Fabiani.
An experienced defender, who earns more than £3m-a-year at the club, Leeds should feel frustrated by Firpo’s likely exit after securing promotion to the Premier League. It goes without saying, however, that it’s one they must get over quickly before finding an instant replacement.
In what looks like his final season at the club, Firpo received high praise from Farke. The Leeds boss told reporters in September: “If I’m honest I haven’t thought about this scenario so far because it was such a difficult summer for other things.
“You know how much I rate Junior [Firpo] and Sam [Byram] and how important they are for us. Junior played a really good game against Burnley, after long travel, improved defensive skill and turning into a leader. Great will to improve further.”
Is the Sri Lanka allrounder such a poor runner that the selectors’ decision to drop him, despite him being the most consistent ODI run-maker in the side, defensible?
Fidel Fernando, Shiva Jayaraman and Srinath Sripath02-Oct-2018Angelo Mathews’ recent fall in limited-overs cricket was dramatic. Following Sri Lanka’s embarrassing Asia Cup exit, Mathews was first stripped of the captaincy, then dropped from the one-day team altogether, only 10 months after the same coach and selectors had requested him to lead the team. Chandika Hathurusingha and chief selector Graeme Labrooy have since attempted to publicly explain the decision to axe him, and have landed on three inter-related reasons:a) Mathews is not “cricket fit”, in that they are not confident he can field for 50 overs, then be relied on to bat effectively for 30 or more overs.b) Mathews’ running between the wickets in particular is affected by this lack of “cricket fitness”, and he has run out an unusually high number of partnersc) As a result of the two reasons above, Mathews’ presence in the side creates a less-than-ideal “team dynamic”Hathurusingha spoke most strongly about reasons b) and c), stating that: “Running between the wickets is a very big concern for the whole team at the moment…If you look at his record, he has been involved in about 64 run-outs, and 49 times the opposite guy got run out. That’s a world record.” So do Hathurusingha’s claims stack up? Is Mathews such a poor runner that the selectors’ decision to drop him, despite being the most consistent ODI run-maker in the Sri Lanka side, defensible?At first glance, Hathurusingha may be on to something. No batsman has been involved in as many run-outs as Mathews since his debut in 2008. In fact, no one even comes close. Mathews has been party to 65 run-outs over his career, across formats – 35% more than the next-worst offender in the time period, which is surprisingly AB de Villiers. Of that total, 42 of the run-outs involving Mathews have come in ODIs.Also note MS Dhoni’s presence at No. 3 on this list – that will become relevant later in the story.Most run-outs across formats•ESPNcricinfo LtdMathews has not only racked up a high volume of run-outs since his debut, but it also translates to a high percentage of his partnerships being ended by a run-out. More than a tenth of Mathews’ ODI partnerships have been brought to a close by a run-out. Just to contrast, the overall run-out percentage in ODIs since Mathews’ debut is 6.19%.A 4.2% run-out percentage change between Mathews’ partnerships and your average ODI partnership does not seem like much, but do keep in mind that run-outs are largely seen as a completely avoidable form of dismissal. Also, remember what Hathurusingha said about Sri Lanka’s “team dynamic”. From a batting partner’s perspective, you are roughly 60% more likely to have your present partnership ended by a run-out if you are batting alongside Mathews, rather than your average ODI batsman.De Villiers is again the second-worst on this statistical measure, while Shane Watson, Eoin Morgan and Martin Guptill have had the lowest percentage of their ODI partnerships end in run-outs in this period.Where does Mathews rank among the worst ODI runners?•ESPNcricinfo LtdWe can now be sure that Mathews has registered an unusually high volume and percentage of run-out involvements over a 10-year career, but Hathurusingha’s other point was that the run-outs Mathews was involved in have overwhelmingly led to the dismissal of his partner, rather than himself. This was certainly the case in the recent Asia Cup, where Mathews was party to two running mix-ups in successive games, and was largely to blame for the dismissal of his partner on both occasions.Overall, his statistics suggest this is a trend for Mathews. In fact, not only is his involvement in dismissals of his partner unusually high for his own playing period, it is the highest – in terms of percentage of overall run-outs – in the last 30 years. In nominal terms, Mathews has been party to a run-out of his partner 50 times, across formats. Which means that of the run-outs he has been involved in, it’s his partner who has lost his wicket 77% of the time.
Although based on the statistics it now seems irrefutable that Mathews is an unusually poor runner, there are some considerations that may temper this view.First, glance up at the graph above. The top 10 features Michael Bevan, Chris Harris and Dhoni – three batsmen in Mathews’ exact class: finishers who bat in the lower-middle order. These batsmen often go to work in the most frantic stage of limited-overs innings (the vast majority of the run-out involvements these players have accrued have come in limited-overs games), and also must frequently bat with the tail. Hashan Tillakaratne, another on that list, was also a lower-middle order man for the majority of his career, even if no one will quite call him a finisher.Not only must batsmen like Mathews take many more running risks in trying to retain or regain strike – and in generally trying to score as many as in the death as possible – they are also often justified in letting their partner suffer the dismissal in a run-out situation. For the majority of his career, Mathews’ wicket has been much more valuable to the team in the last quarter of a limited-overs innings – more so than any other Sri Lanka batsman you might care to name, tailender or not. He has also run out partners in the course of playing some of his greatest innings, so although some of these statistics appear damning, they do not reflect the particular match situation Mathews was required to deal with. A decision to safeguard his own wicket may have made good cricketing sense on a number of these occasions.Finally, we will address Hathurusingha’s comment about Mathews’ run-out stats being a world record. Strictly speaking, this is untrue, as the graph below lays out.
In terms of pure volume, Mathews does not even crack the Sri Lanka top five in run-out involvement (across formats, last 30 years), with Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Marvan Atapattu, and Kumar Sangakkara having been involved in more, albeit during longer careers. Rahul Dravid has been involved in more run-outs in this period than any other batsman, but note that does not necessarily make him a poor runner – many other batsmen had a higher percentage of their partnerships end in run-outs. Wasim Akram, for example, had over 12% of his partnerships end in run-outs.For Mathews, this means that although he is one of the worst runners of his era, he is not a historically terrible runner. And that although the statistics might just support his temporary omission – particularly for the purpose of sending him a message about getting his fitness in order – they don’t conclusively suggest he is so poor between the wickets that his place should be in danger based on his running alone. Plenty of great batsmen have been worse than Mathews, and have enjoyed longer careers.For now, a temporary omission is in fact all Hathurusingha and Labrooy are suggesting, with Hathurusingha having said he wants Mathews “back as fresh as possible”. It is also worth remembering that Hathurusingha played a role in removing Shakib Al Hasan in 2014, again in order to deliver a message to the player about the primacy of the team, and in order to make changes to the team culture. Shakib returned to the fray soon enough.Perhaps Hathurusingha is thinking along similar lines once more.