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Twelve months ago, Alex Hartley endured a debut to forget. But she’s kept the faith, and turned her fortunes around, to become an integral figure in England women’s World Cup bid

Raf Nicholson21-Jun-2017Alex Hartley is refreshingly honest about her England debut against Pakistan last June: “I bowled really badly.””Most people go into their debut thinking ‘This is going to be the best day of my life’ – and it was the best day of my life. But I was so nervous and my routines all went out of the window.” She finished the game wicketless and waywardly expensive to boot: “I thought my career was over before it had even started.”Coach Mark Robinson kept the faith and she eventually made the squad for England’s tour of the Caribbean – but three months after her disastrous debut it all went wrong again, in one of the tour warm-up games.”I had an even worse game than my debut. My first ball I got a wicket, but the ball bounced twice. My next ball was then four wides and then it was a no ball.””I had a complete meltdown, out there on the pitch.”No doubt many cricketers experience something similar at some point in their careers. The incredible thing in this instance is that, four weeks after her “meltdown”, Hartley was celebrating becoming England’s leading wicket-taker in a bilateral series, having taken 13 wickets at an economy rate of 3.4. England won the ODI series 3-2.Now, just a few months down the line, she will be taking part in her first Women’s World Cup, tasked with winning England’s first world trophy since 2009 at home. Her left-arm spin is likely to play a key role against the world’s top sides.It says something about the type of person Hartley is that the turnaround happened so quickly. “I’ve always been a bit of a fighter,” she admits. She has had to be. Kicked out of the England Academy aged 15, told that her batting and fielding would never be good enough for international cricket, she has spent the last eight years clawing her way back into contention.Along the way she has spent many hours driving to and fro along the M6 between her home in Clitheroe and North London, having joined Middlesex back in 2013 to ensure she could keep playing in Division 1 of the Women’s County Championship. It has been a hard slog but the support she has received at Middlesex has made it all worth it: “I owe them my career,” she admits.Alex Hartley was England’s leading wicket-taker in the Caribbean•WICB Media/Athelstan BellamyBeing accustomed to setbacks stood her in good stead out there in the West Indies. She can see, now, exactly what the problem was: “I just put too much pressure on myself. I want to be so good and want to do so well. Robbo [coach Mark Robinson] just said ‘calm down. It’s not going to define you as a person’. And at that moment it clicked. And I was like, you know what? Yeah. I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ll go into the series and show what I can do.”She went off by herself for the day, bowled at a friend, generally dialled things down and took the pressure off. In the first match she took 3 for 27 and the rest, as they say, is history.She seems now to be in a pretty good head space, but admits that it has been an “intense six months”. Coping with the pressures of professionalism has been a new challenge – both physically and psychologically. In December she was awarded a two-year central England contract, and in April she took part in a training camp in Abu Dhabi with the rest of the squad. “I remember my first week as a professional cricketer,” she laughs. “I thought: ‘is this what I want to do?’ I couldn’t even get out of bed! It’s tough, but it gets easier.”Psychologically she has protected herself since that first international outing by refusing to read about her performances. “I remember reading one comment about myself after my first game. Something like, ‘this is why Alex Hartley has never played for England before’. And I thought that’s it, I’m coming off Twitter.””You just don’t need to see stuff like that. Even positive stuff – your highs can get too high as well. I remember in the West Indies I really stayed off Twitter because I didn’t want to get too big-headed or be like ‘I’ve done really well here!'”Big-headed is one thing she certainly isn’t. Hartley knows she has got where she is through hard work and now is not the time to slack off. She has been working intensively on her batting and fielding (as well, of course, as her bowling) in the build-up to the World Cup and, as coach Robinson attests, is generally the last one to knock off at the end of a day’s training. “I’ve made a big stride from this time last year to where I’m at now,” she says. Her ambition for the future is clear: “I want to be the best left-arm spinner in the world.”In the short-term, she is looking forward to her first World Cup, confident that the squad have prepared well in the UAE and that captain Heather Knight – who sustained a metatarsal stress fracture in her left foot – will be fully fit come their first match against India on Saturday. On her own role she is equally confident: “I’ve bowled well for a few years now, so knowing that I can bowl well on English wickets and knowing that I can take wickets on English wickets is a real confidence booster.”One thing seems clear – last year’s “meltdown” is behind her. When I remind her towards the end of our interview about her status as England’s leading wicket-taker in a bilateral series (“I knew I’d broken a record but I couldn’t tell you what I did!”) her reaction is telling:”That is good. I’ll break it again though!” she grins.It’s hard not to believe her.

Two years ago, when these sides last met, Sri Lanka were the buoyant side and England struggling. This time the roles are reversed and it will be a significant surprise if the result isn’t as well

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Headingley17-May-2016In the heady first half of 2014, Sri Lanka floated into England in the afterglow of Asia Cup and World T20 triumphs, won the limited-overs leg, then made James Anderson weep at the end of the Tests.In the doleful first half of 2014, nursing gashes from the tri-format flagellation in Australia, England sought to launch a “new era”. This promptly splintered and ran aground on Angelo Mathews’ rock-of-Gibraltar forward defence.Still, even in England’s bleakest hours, they had their defenders. Not so long after they had lost to Netherlands in the World T20, a noisy ex-player was happy to announce that Sri Lanka’s bowling was merely a “glorified county attack”. This year, it was a former Sri Lankan cricketer who made the wild predictions. The team he selects has the “best attack in the world” Sanath Jayasuriya, said. In two years, even the delusion, it would seem, has switched feet.Since that 2014 series, Anderson has reclaimed his snarl so completely that presently he seems more likely to produce swear words from his tear ducts, than tears. And it is England that came within a Brathwaite bat-breadth of claiming the recent World T20. England who – under the instruction of Trevor Bayliss, Paul Farbrace, and briefly Mahela Jayawardene, all of whom have been in charge of Sri Lanka in some way – have opened with spin, batted with adventure, widened their horizons.While they bristled with purpose, Sri Lanka have moped through some of their grimmest months this decade. The bowling has generally been heartening. The fielding and batting has not. At times, the catching has brought to mind slapstick acts at children’s birthday parties. At others the top order have played like balloon animals. In Tests, good match positions have been routinely traded in for substantial losses. That dynamism that used to make them greater than the sum of their parts has slipped, because occasionally the think-tank seemed to have taken leave of some of their parts – namely, their brains.And so it is that while Mathews’ stony batting and Rangana Herath’s lovable left-arm spin provide substance to this squad, many of their hopes lie with young players yet to fully bloom at the top level. How well will Kusal Mendis, who is so fresh from school the mental check between instinct and flowing cover drive has not yet taken hold, manage war-worn bowlers like Anderson and Stuart Broad? How will Dushmantha Chameera, tall and slim as a coconut tree, fare with Alastair Cook staring him down?There are also the repeat visitors to England. Dinesh Chandimal caught fire on his first trip to England, fizzled in his second, and now has recently rediscovered his spark. Mathews will look to him to liven things up at No. 4 if the top order gets stuck.Opener Dimuth Karunaratne had made flashy starts and got out when substantial innings beckoned in 2014. Now he seems to have the opposite dilemma, in that there are not many innings of note between towering Test scores. His partner Kaushal Silva hit twin fifties at Lord’s last time, but has since gone through a worrying dip in form, and a more worrying blow to the head. His innings usually have more leaves than a Banyan tree, though, so it is hoped he could be the trunk around whom the top order drops its roots in early-summer England.The hosts are smuggling inexperience as well, with batsman James Vince and seamer Jake Ball in contention for Test debuts. But even aside from Cook and Anderson – their most prolific Test batsman and bowler ever – there is a reassuring steadiness to their likely XI. Steven Finn, on a continued redemptive trajectory, is likely to produce the steepling bounce that so often troubles Asian sides in England. Broad’s average against Sri Lanka of 46.16 is his worst against any side, but his thundering spells can decide a series in a session.And then there is quite possibly England’s best player, Joe Root, who is set to begin the series at his home ground, and finish it at Lord’s, where runs stream more lavishly out of him even than abuse. The 2014 Sri Lanka side had absorbed many Root taunts through the series, then spat it all back at him on the decisive final day of that series. In a strange way, it might do Sri Lanka good if Root is mouthy again. They have in the past closed ranks and coaxed the best from themselves when a siege is on against them.The man who played the last shot in 2014, fired the first one this time around. Anderson has suggested his side were in the running for a 3-0 triumph. Sadly, for Sri Lanka, a whitewash does not seem a complete impossibility. That has been their fate in the last two away series.They have said in the past months and years that they are in transition. In this series, it is up to Sri Lanka to prove they are heading for happier times, and not just more months and years of “transition”.

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2015David Warner, though, remained unfazed and punished the short-pitched bowling by using the pull to maximum effect•Getty ImagesHe raced to 100 off 92 deliveries•AFPSteven Smith provided ample support at the other end, as the pair added 260 runs, Australia’s highest ever ODI partnership•Associated PressDavid Warner’s 178 was the highest individual score by an Australian in World Cups•Getty ImagesAfghanistan finally saw the back of David Warner when he skied a Shapoor Zadran delivery to Mohammad Nabi, but he had laid the platform for a late flourish•AFPSmith too fell five runs short of his fourth ODI ton, as Afghanistan looked to limit the damage•Getty ImagesBut that was always going to be difficult once Glenn Maxwell got going. He smashed 88 off 39 balls, entertaining the WACA crowd to a range of innovative shots. Australia compiled 417 for 6, the highest score in a World Cup•Associated PressAfghanistan failed to gather any momentum in the chase, and lost half their side for just 94 runs•Getty ImagesNawroz Mangal gave the Afghanistan fans something to cheer about when he hit back-to-back sixes off Mitchell Marsh•AFPBut he had to depart after Finch pulled off a stunner at slips•Associated PressMitchell Marsh and Steven Smith narrowly avoided a collision while taking a catch at third man•Getty ImagesNo Afghanistan batsman offered a resistance, as Australia wrapped the game up with 12 overs to spare, winning by 275 runs, the second largest margin in ODI history•Getty Images

It may be the first of many England versus Australia clashes over the next few months but both teams have their eyes on the initial prize at Edgbaston

George Dobell07-Jun-2013And so it begins. Not just the Champions Trophy campaigns of England and Australia, but a saga that will see these two sides play up to 66 days of cricket against one another across 26 matches within the next 34 weeks. It may well prove, in time, that such exploitation of this fixture damages “the brand” but, for now, Edgbaston is a 25,000 capacity sell-out and this event has the high profile it required to capture the public imagination.This will be the 100th international match – including women’s games – at Edgbaston. If it lives up to some of the previous encounters involving Australia – the World Cup semi-final of 1999 and the Ashes Test of 2005, for example – then it will prove to be quite an occasion.It says much for how the balance of power has changed between these two nations that England go into Saturday’s game as favourites. Despite Australia having won both the two previous Champions Trophies and despite England having just lost an ODI series against New Zealand, England are still expected to prevail. It was no doubt a slip of the tongue when Alastair Cook delivered the faint praise that his side would have to play “close to their potential” to win, but there may also be some truth in that.While Australia make-do without their captain and finest batsman, Michael Clarke, all 15 of England’s squad are fit for selection. And while there is a doubt over Tim Bresnan’s availability due to his wife’s impending labour – she was due last Monday – both Steven Finn and Stuart Broad have returned to something like full fitness and are highly likely to play. The final selection decision will almost certainly come down to a choice between Ravi Bopara and Bresnan.Bearing in mind the fine weather and excellent batting surface expected for this match, then Bopara has a decent chance of playing. England have based many of their plans around the idea that two new balls in English conditions will aid the seamers and require technically correct top-order batsmen. That may still prove to be true but in an attempt to cover their options, Bopara may well come into the side in order to not just strengthen the batting, but provide a little more freedom to Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler. Besides, Bopara is a much-improved bowler over the last 18 months and has an ability to work on the ball and help his colleagues gain reverse swing.Certainly Cook admitted that the white ball might not provide as much help to bowlers in such fine conditions and agreed that England may alter the balance of the side to reflect that.

KP’s comeback

Kevin Pietersen may take the next step on his return to cricket in a second XI county game where he would be allowed to bat but not have to field.
He trained with England at Edgbaston on Thursday and could still play for Surrey against Sussex at Arundel on June 12.
Pietersen is reluctant to hurry back too soon and may well wait for Surrey’s trip to Headingley on June 21. That would leave him with only one further first-class match, for England against Essex, before the first Ashes Test on July 10.

“Last year we played some one-day cricket when there was some rain around and the ball did a lot for a long time,” he said. “But thankfully we’ve got some good weather and in England that normally determines what the ball does.”We are thinking about the balance of the team. I think it’s a good position to be in. It’s nice that the option of having three seamers and one spinner, with the fifth bowler being Ravi and Joe Root, has worked well. So it gives us the option. We can change the way we play, which we probably haven’t been able to do in the past. It gives us a selection headache in one way, but a good one.”It will not be helpful for either side to look too far ahead. While there may be some truth in the suggestion that previous limited-overs encounters – the Champions Trophy semi-final encounter at this ground in 2004, for example, or the T20 match at the Ageas Bowl in 2005 – have proved important blows in establishing dominance in subsequent Ashes series, this event deserves to be treated as important in its own right.England are the only side in this tournament who have never won a global 50-over event. They know that the habit of defining success by the results against just one other side has led to underperformance in limited-overs competitions for decades. The Ashes may have tradition and a marketing industry all of its own, but in terms of global appeal, the Champions Trophy could arguably be defined as more important. Indeed, you could argue that England’s obsession with the Ashes was unhealthy for a long time.”The Champions Trophy is such an important event in itself,” Cook agreed. “Clearly everyone is going to talk about us playing Australia with the Ashes coming up. But I think both sides will be seeing it just as a game they need to win to get the tournament off to a good start rather than anything else.”We’ve spoken about trying to win a 50-over tournament. This is an opportunity to do that. Alongside the World Cup in 2015, it’s a very important tournament. We know what we can do. It’s about us delivering it in these two weeks.”Cook also dismissed the relevance of the warm-up match against India in which Australia were bowled out for just 65.”Those warm-up games are irrelevant,” he said. “You’re not going to be remembered for what happened in the warm up games. You’re going to be remembered for what happened in the actual tournament. Just like what happened to us against New Zealand. In the ideal world, we’d have beaten New Zealand in that series. We didn’t play as well as we could have done, but that will count for nothing when we start this game.”

Sri Lanka laid out a royal feast of bad bowling on day one at Cape Town. Jacques Kallis and Alviro Petersen tucked in and chalked up important runs.

Firdose Moonda at Newlands03-Jan-2012If two men are hungry, they can only eat if food is plentiful. Luckily for Alviro Petersen and Jacques Kallis, Sri Lanka brought everything from the placemats to dessert and laid out a royal feast.Petersen admitted that South Africa were “surprised” that Sri Lanka asked them to bat, on a pitch that looked “quite dry”. At first, they may have suspected a poisoned apple but no such dangerous food emerged. All that lay before them was a land of milk and honey: batting paradise with the chance for the two at the crease to prove their differing, but equally important, points.Petersen’s need to make a statement is obvious. He has just been recalled to the national team after being dropped, for no real doing of his own, but the hard-to-ignore form of another – Jacques Rudolph. If there was any glaring fault in Petersen’s previous nine Tests it would be that he failed to notch up milestones often enough. His century on his debut Test was memorable but fifties against West Indies and Pakistan were achieved against forgettable, below-par opposition or in equally forgettable batting-friendly circumstances.His last series, against India, was characterised by difficult opening partnerships, on both sides, as the hosts prepared seamer-friendly pitches as part of a ploy against the sub-continental side. He was dropped, despite managing 77 in the first Test, because Rudolph was the popular choice, having made a stirring comeback to South African cricket.

Kallis had three forgettable innings and would have had a fourth if Chanaka Welegedera had caught the pull he played. He showed Sri Lanka what happens when you give one of the world’s best players a second chance.

Petersen always knew that if he continued grinding away at the domestic scene, the pendulum would have to swing back in his favour. “I always believed I had the chance to get back and I had a few good performances at domestic level,” he said. “I always believed I could do it. It all depended on me getting runs on the board.” Since being dropped, he has scored three first-class hundreds, showing his patience, maturity and composure and forcing his way back into the national team.Even that was not enough for vindication. Like Ashwell Prince, who scored a century in the opening position in 2009, Petersen had to be able to show that he was good enough, not just anywhere but in an international match. He realised the value of a big score and adopted the same attitude as he has had in domestic matches this season to get there: the wait, watch and then stealthily attack. “A hundred is a big milestone and it was quite satisfying to get to that,” he said. “In other games, I got to 30 and 40 and I was a bit disappointed. For me, it’s about pushing the bar and would have liked to have scored more.”It was an innings that could be remembered as being a turning point in Petersen’s career because it has likely bought him time and flights to New Zealand and England next year. South Africa’s opening pair has long been a conundrum but Petersen appears to have solved that, with the help of the opportunities he was fed by the Sri Lankan bowlers.Kallis is on the opposite end of the spectrum. After 150 Test matches, some may think Kallis has nothing left to achieve. They would be wrong. Before today, he had not scored a century against Sri Lanka, the only Test playing nation he had not managed three figures against. Perhaps more fresh in his mind was the pair he suffered last week at Kingsmead, something that was foreign to Kallis, who had gone 16 years in international cricket without ever enduring a duck in both innings.Combine those two factors with Kallis’ age and the need for him to come good emerges. He is now 36 years-old – not yet old enough to be hard of hearing – so would have picked up the whispers in the wind that are suggesting he is getting on and that team management should start considering his future. His recent vulnerability against the short ball, particularly against Patrick Cummins, highlighted those very things Kallis would have wanted to remain in the dark: signs of age.He had three forgettable innings against Sri Lanka and would have had a fourth, if Chanaka Welegedera had caught his top-edged pull. At that stage, Kallis was on just one. But, like Kumar Sangakkara in the last match, he showed Sri Lanka what happens when you give one of the world’s best players a second chance and went on to record a magnificent 150, in perfect symbolism with his 150th match.As the run machine rolled on, Sri Lanka continued to pepper Kallis with short balls. “We were surprised at the lines and lengths bowled,” said Petersen. By then, Kallis had adjusted to keeping the pull down and went on to record one of his classiest knocks. In the process, Kallis owns Newlands the way Mahela Jayawardene does the SSC in Colombo and Graham Gooch did Lord’s. He passed 2,000 runs on his home ground, a sign that the grass really is greener for some at Newlands.

Repeated bunglings by WICB officials have embarrassed West Indies cricket

Tony Cozier13-Apr-2008
Jerome Taylor has his name spelled incorrectly during the first ODI against Sri Lanka © AFP
The West Indies Cricket Board made its draft strategic plan public last week. It is a weighty document, full of grandiose plans and expectations – and good intentions.It is, president Julian Hunte stated in his foreword, “intended to elucidate and operationalise our vision of the future, a future in which the West Indies will once more be a major, if not the dominant, force in world cricket”.”The one thing the plan recognises is that we need the support and active participation of all sectors of Caribbean society if we are to succeed in restoring the pride in our cricket,” he added.The president must know that all with the well-being of West Indian cricket close to their hearts, share such hopes. But the WICB won’t get “the support and active participation of all sectors of the Caribbean society” if the functionaries employed to administer the plan continue to embarrass West Indies cricket with their repeated gaffes.If they cannot get team shirts with the correct spelling of their players’ names, or any name at all, on the back; fail to raise an XI to fulfill a scheduled fixture against the visiting international team, cause play to be delayed in a ODI for lack of a computer with the details of the essential Duckworth-Lewis system and fluff any one of the dozens of their simple chores as they have done in recent years, how can they be expected to manage a programme of development the strategic plan estimates will cost US$138 million over the next five years?The sight of our premier fast bowler, with one of the most common surnames in the English language, running into the batsman with “Tayrol” written across his back during the first ODI on Thursday was demeaning – unless Jerome Taylor was now sponsored by the newest miracle cough mixture.As he delivered, a fielder crouched at slip had the back of his top swathed in as much plaster as to treat an Iraq war veteran. He was, we were made to understand, Devon Smith who had to borrow Sewnarine Chattergoon’s shirt because his was not ready. And this for a match programmed for months.Later, as play was about to resume after lunch, there was a delay of a quarter-hour while someone tried to get the Duckworth-Lewis details for match referee Chris Broad. And so on and so forth, ad infinitum.”What do we say to those who state that all this is just nit-picking,” Fazeer Mohammed asked rhetorically on his radio/TV show during the week.What we say is that nits can make life very uncomfortable and a plague of them has undermined West Indies cricket for too long.

England coach gives qualified backing to seamer following below-par return to Test whites

Vithushan Ehantharajah27-Feb-2024As England nursed the collective disappointment of their series defeat, head coach Brendon McCullum defended Ollie Robinson after a tough first outing in India. But Robinson finds himself at another juncture in a Test career only in its third year, with questions remaining about his robustness.Robinson had been primed for a pivotal role during the backend of this five-match series, and England pulled the cord for the fourth Test in Ranchi after impressive showings in the nets. The selection did not pay off.Despite starting the match with a maiden Test fifty, which helped propel England to a first innings of 353, Robinson disappointed with the ball. His average speed was in the late 70s mph – at one point, he dipped into the 60s – and there was nowhere near the level of incisiveness that 76 Test wickets at 22.92 show he can provide. He also bowled six no-balls, continuing a difficult relationship with that front line.Related

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Robinson sent down just 13 overs in the match, all of them in the first innings, before dropping Dhruv Jurel on 59, which allowed India an extra 41 runs in their reply. He was subsequently hidden in the field, and went unused in the second innings as England tried in vain to defend a target of 192. It was a chastening return to action after almost eight months.Speaking after the match, Ben Stokes said Robinson was fit to bowl and that a spinning track was the reason he was not utilised. But considering he has previously shown excellence on a variety of surfaces, along with his self-stated desire for the heat of the battle, it felt like a loss of faith from the England captain towards a player he had seemingly coaxed out of a funk in his first summer as Test captain.McCullum, however, revealed Robinson was carrying an injury he picked up while batting, which explains his listless spell with the ball: “He actually twinged his back while batting in the first innings, which is why in those initial couple of spells, he was down on pace. We saw the following day when his back improved a little bit his pace got up to where it normally is.”The head coach went on to vouch for Robinson, whose last competitive match was the summer’s third Ashes Test at Headingley – where his involvement was curtailed by a back spasm – but seemed at a loss to explain how such a well-planned selection had backfired.”I don’t think it was too soon, it was seven months since his last Test so if anything, it’s probably too long between,” McCullum said. “Everything he did leading into the Test match suggested we’d see not just the Ollie Robinson we’d seen previously but a better version of it.”For one reason or another it didn’t quite work out for him and obviously he’s not just as disappointed as everyone else, he’s the most disappointed out of everyone. Our job is to make sure we get around him and make sure we give him as much support and confidence to be able to go again when the next time arises. It’s just sport right? You have great expectations and sometimes you’re not quite able to deliver.”The player himself seemed primed for a big impact in India, arriving fitter and raring to make amends for a disappointing three Tests against Australia last summer. He has trained well throughout but there remains a sense he could give more.Ollie Robinson suffered a back strain while batting in Ranchi•Getty Images

Amid a sea of multi-year central contracts, Robinson’s 12-month deal was aimed at motivating him to show he was worthy of a longer-term investment in the next cycle. Now a player who was supposed to replace Stuart Broad – even usurping Broad at points during his first 18 months as a Test cricketer – may find himself further down the pecking order, though McCullum suggested he retains his faith.”It’s a tough game for him no doubt and he’s hurting a lot. We’ve all seen Robbo bowl better than what he did and he’ll be the first to admit that. We’ve just got to get around him and make sure he chisels out a few of those things that didn’t work well this week. We know he’s a very good bowler. His record suggests he’s got talent and it’s just making sure that we can release the talent so he can get to the levels he wants to get to.”We know how skilled he is and we know his high release point and ability to move the ball off the seam and the skills he possesses are good enough for this level. We’ve just got to make sure we find a way to get the best out of him.”England are not blameless. They know he is a bowler who needs overs to be fighting fit, especially considering the lengthy gap between appearances.The tourists opted against warm-ups and engaged in what was a hugely positive pre-season camp in Abu Dhabi. But in hindsight, it would have been beneficial to get Robinson time in the middle, which could have come with England Lions. Their third match against India A in Ahmedabad started the day before the second Test in which James Anderson played as the lone quick in a spin-heavy attack.The management were also blindsided ahead of the tour when Robinson announced a new podcast with his partner, Mia Baker, a golf influencer. The pair have recorded episodes throughout the tour and, while largely innocuous, England, who exercise a degree of creative control over the extra-curricular activities of their contracted players, have been irked by some of the content, particularly when Robinson mentioned the ECB had initially made an error with his visa application. The revelation came at a time when the governing body was scrabbling around to sort Shoaib Bashir’s visa issue, which resulted in the Somerset offspinner arriving a week late, missing the first Test.The sixth episode, released this week, in which Robinson discussed the team’s mid-series break in Abu Dhabi, has subsequently been removed.Robinson’s previous Test appearance came during the Ashes in July•AFP/Getty Images

Whether Robinson plays the fifth Test in Dharamsala remains to be seen. Conditions more amenable to seam suggest he could get a shot at redemption, though it seems likely England will stick with Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley along with Anderson, who is two away from 700 career wickets.One guarantee McCullum did offer was Jonny Bairstow will earn his 100th Test cap. It has been a challenging series for the 34-year-old, but scores of 38 and 30 on a tough pitch in the last Test has McCullum believing Bairstow will mark the occasion in style.”Yes he’ll be playing his hundredth Test. We expect a good Jonny. Jonny loves a milestone too. He won’t shy away from that. He’ll play. It’ll be really emotional for him.”Everyone knows Jonny’s story and as you guys will know he is quite an emotional character at times and big milestones like that do mean a lot to him. It’ll be a really emotional time for him and we look forward to sharing it with him.”The majority of the squad headed to Bangalore on Tuesday morning to get their golf fix. A smaller group – including Stokes – will make their way to a resort in Chandigarh on Wednesday, with the only concrete plan a trip to the cinema to watch . They will meet back up together in the foothills of the Himalayas next Monday, ahead of the start of the concluding Test on March 7.While England will look to take a creditable 3-2 scoreline home, McCullum hopes it will be the start of a new, more ruthless chapter for his charges. Having spurned opportunities in the Ashes and now again here, the time has come to learn from those mistakes.”We weren’t quite good enough when it mattered – or they were better, to be honest, than us being not quite good enough. Against Australia, we had our chances and weren’t quite able to get across the line. This team is still developing as a team. We’re a good cricket team. I think we’ve got the opportunity to be a really good cricket team.”There’s times in games where we haven’t quite screwed down on our method just yet. I still think sometimes we get outside the element of what needs to be done in the moment… or we have too much noise in our mind, so we need to find a way to be really totally present when those times arrive, identify that this is a crucial moment in the game, and try and strip away all the external stuff and just make a decision, and make it work.”If we do that, I think we’ll see this team go to the next level. We’re going good. We’ve lost this series and we didn’t win the Ashes – but we’re a better cricket team than we were 18 months ago. And we’ve got the opportunity in the next 18 months to do some pretty special shit.”

Bayern Munich’s loan approach for Midtjylland striker Franculino has been turned down, with West Ham, Como and Villarreal also keen on the youngster.

Midtjylland have rejected a loan bid from German sideBayern's proposed deal for Chelsea's Jackson collapsedWest Ham and Villarreal are also interestedFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Danish club Midtjylland have rejected a surprise loan bid from Bayern for 21-year-old striker Franculino Dju, according to reports from Danish outlet . The Superliga side promptly turned down the offer, maintaining their stance that the prolific forward is not for sale.

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Bayern's late approach for Franculino comes as the club scrambles for attacking reinforcements after a proposed deal for Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson reportedly collapsed. The Guinea-Bissau international has attracted widespread interest, with West Ham, Como and Villarreal also monitoring the situation. Midtjylland have already turned down a significant permanent offer from Villarreal, reported to be worth around £17 million ($23m).

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Franculino is the current top scorer in the Superliga and has been in sensational form this season, scoring eight goals and registering three assists in just six appearances in the competition.

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Despite Midtjylland's firm position, Franculino and his representatives are reportedly keen on a move to a bigger European league. With the player having signed a contract extension until 2029 late last year, it would likely take a substantial transfer fee to persuade the Danish club to sell. For Bayern, the search for a striker continues after being rebuffed in their attempts to sign both Jackson and Franculino, though their hopes of signing the Chelsea star may have been revived.

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O Estádio Nilton Santoscomeçou a passar por mudanças nesta segunda-feira. Nas redes sociais, foram divulgadas nesta segunda-feira (16) imagens e vídeos da remoção do gramado natural. O último jogo do Botafogo antes desta troca de gramados aconteceu no domingo, na derrota por 1 a 0 para o Audax, ao estrear no Campeonato Carioca.

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O gramado natural é todo retirado para a implementação do piso sintético, que foi definido pela diretoria alvinegra.O LANCE! informou nos últimos dias que Botafogo vinha realizando um planejamento para começar o Brasileirão com o gramado novo. Este é o primeiro passo para que os botafoguenses possam jogar em um campo com grama sintética logo na competição nacional.

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A perspectiva é que as obras no Nilton Santos durem três meses. O Botafogo ainda pretende fazer reformulações nas partes internas do estádio. O clube quer construir um novo espaço para as coletivas de imprensa, que são concedidas com frequência pelos treinadores nos fins das partidas.

يستعد محمد صلاح نجم ليفربول الإنجليزي لبدء موسمه الجديد مع الريدز، ويدخل النجم المصري موسمه التاسع مع الفريق منذ انضمامه في 2017 قادمًا من روما.

وخاض محمد صلاح مع ليفربول 402 مباراة وسجل 245 هدفًا وصنع 113 هدفًا، وحقق المصري 8 بطولات مع الريدز من بينهما دوري أبطال أوروبا موسم 2018-2019.

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وإلى جانب هذا اللقب حقق محمد صلاح الدوري الإنجليزي مرتين وكأس إنجلترا مرة وكأس الرابطة مرة وبطولة الدرع الخيرية مرة، والسوبر الأوروبي وكأس العالم للأندية مرة واحدة.

وقامت شبكة “بي بي سي” البريطانية بإنتاج فيلم وثائقي عن محمد صلاح يحمل اسم: “محمد صلاح، ملك مصر”.

وكتبت الشبكة: “محمد صلاح أحد أبرز وأهم رموز كرة القدم المصرية، لقد قام جون بينيت، أحد الصحفيين في الشبكة، بزيارة قريته نجريح للقاء الأشخاص الذين ساهموا في تشكيل مسيرته الكروية المبكرة”.

وأضاف: “وليرى أثره الذي لا يزال يخلفه في مجتمعه في مصر، يستكشف بينيت رحلة صلاح من نجريح إلى القاهرة لتحقيق أحلامه ويكتسب خبرات ممن عملوا معه عن قرب، ما دفعه إلى النجومية العالمية”.

واختتم: “مع اقتراب كأس الأمم الإفريقية وكأس العالم خلال الـ12 شهرًا القادمة، نقيم ما إذا صلاح بحاجة إلى النجاح مع المنتخب المصري لتعزيز اسمه في وطنه”.