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He says he waits patiently for his chances and, at the Wankhede, he made the most of the one he got – despite only five minutes’ notice

Firdose Moonda22-Oct-2023Five minutes before Aiden Markram walked out at the Wankhede to toss in place of Temba Bavuma, Reeza Hendricks found out his name had been added to the team sheet. That’s not an exaggeration for dramatisation’s sake. That is exactly how it happened, according to the man himself.”It was literally five minutes before the toss; coach came up to me and said, ‘You’re in,’ and I said, ‘I’m in! Okay cool, let’s go,’ and that’s exactly how I found out,” Hendricks told the media afterwards. “I obviously had to scramble and get myself into a good mindset to play the game.”There are unanswered questions about why Hendricks was unaware that Bavuma was not well and why he wasn’t put on standby before the team arrived at the ground, or at some point during the warm-ups, which Markram said Bavuma tried to brave through. If Markram knew Bavuma was struggling, it would seem only reasonable that the player who would have to replace him – Hendricks – should have known that too. Especially given the importance of the match, which was South Africa’s fourth of the group stage and first since losing to Netherlands.Perhaps in the coming days we will know more about the sudden onset of Bavuma’s illness and its seriousness. What we know for now is that he had to leave the ground about an hour into the game and watched a match that took place at a venue he dreamt of playing in from the team hotel. He will get another opportunity to emulate his idol, Sachin Tendulkar, if he is well enough on Tuesday, when South Africa play Bangladesh at the same ground.We also know that Hendricks, who was drafted into the side at the last of last minutes, was able to compose himself quickly enough in the circumstances to score a confident 85 in his first fifty-over appearance in over a month and only his fourth ODI this year. “It was quite challenging,” Hendricks conceded. “I felt everything was quite rushed for about an hour and a half. I had to somehow try to calm myself down and obviously they bowled well upfront so that didn’t help either. Luckily I got settled and then things started to fall into place quite easily.”Hendricks watched as Quinton de Kock slammed the first ball through point for four and then nicked behind off Reece Topley the next ball. He watched Rassie van der Dussen come in, under some pressure after playing a reverse sweep straight to a Dutch fielder a few days ago, and approach England’s bowlers with caution. He watched 13 balls before he scored his first run, a stunning square drive to get his first runs of the tournament. There would be more, including the first six of the innings, off a Mark Wood cutter, and two down the ground off Joe Root, as well as a pantheon of pulls. Together with van der Dussen, he laid the launchpad for Heinrich Klaasen and the rest… well, you know what happened.That Hendricks can play is obvious to anyone. How long he will continue to play in the ODI team is the point of discussion.Historically, South Africa have applied a principle of preferential treatment for the incumbent, which means if a player missed a match, a series or even a few months with an injury or illness, they slot back into the starting XI when available. Keshav Maharaj is the most recent example and re-established himself as the first-choice spinner after returning from a ruptured Achilles. That means when Bavuma recovers, Hendricks will be back to the bench.That’s not an unfamiliar position to him after there was also no space for him in South Africa’s T20 side at last year’s T20 World Cup, despite him scoring four successive half-centuries in the format three months before the tournament. The reason? Bavuma returned from an elbow injury and, as the appointed captain, had to take his place in the team.Then, the situation was tense because Bavuma was in poor T20 form and has since stepped down from the leadership of the T20I side. Now, it is not quite the same. Bavuma averages 63.27 in ODIs this year and has scored three hundreds in crucial games. His World Cup returns so far are modest – 59 runs from three innings – but he led South Africa to two wins in their first two games. Although he lacks experience in India and has only played four ODIs in the country, he approaches the game as a scholar and his tactical acumen as captain has been widely praised. He is expected to be back in the side as soon as he returns to full health and, for now, there isn’t much arguing against that.Hendricks’ position is further complicated because South Africa have no other way to make room for him. The balance of the current side cannot accommodate seven specialist batters without leaving them a bowler short no matter which way you try to juggle it. They need Marco Jansen in the allrounder role at No.7 with three quicks and a spinner or two of each. While Markram is a bowling option, South Africa are unlikely to go in with four specialists and expect a full 10 overs from him in every match and Hendricks, who also bowls offspin, has only sent down seven overs in his ODI career.At least, this is not something Hendricks is completely unused to. He has never been a regular in the team and has become accustomed to his role as a back-up and approaches it philosophically. “It’s challenging but you have to make peace with the situation and see how things unfold. I have to try and control what I can and that means me being ready when the opportunity arises,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how it comes but I’m training every day, making sure I am on top of my game, controlling what I can and making sure I wait patiently for the opportunity to come. There’s no point beating around the bush and being hard on yourself. I try to stay in a good frame of mind and, when the opportunity comes, to make sure I am on top of my game.”On that front, he gets full marks. With a five-minute warning, he played an innings that set the tone for a statement win over England and put South Africa in a situation most teams would be only too happy to deal with: a problem of plenty. How they solve it could define this World Cup campaign.

They will sometimes miss an edge or two, and sometimes it will happen in clumps, but that doesn’t make a bad umpire

Sidharth Monga05-Dec-20213:16

Vettori: It was fairly obvious Kohli had nicked it

When TV commentators and fans start to psychoanalyse umpires, you know it is a declaration day. It can be tough to watch for a spectator, but any top-level sport is a competitive pursuit first and through that it becomes a spectacle. It is a spectacle because it is competitive, and not competitive because it is a spectacle.Watch live cricket on ESPN+ in the US

India vs New Zealand is available in the US on ESPN+. You can subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to highlights of day three of the 2nd Test in English or in Hindi.

So India chose to bat on in order to deny New Zealand even the slightest of sniffs and to not lose the advantage of bowling last. They could have enforced a follow-on, and probably would have finished the Test by now, but they have nowhere to go after finishing early. They will be stuck in the bubble for the South Africa tour anyway so why not make sure you take the extra day and be absolutely ruthless?Besides, India had a couple of batters who could do with some time out in the middle. Plus, Axar Patel said at the end of the day’s play that they used their batting innings to simulate a fourth-innings chase on a turning pitch out in the centre.It doesn’t make for engaging viewing especially when the opposition doesn’t have the bowlers to compete in these conditions. Will Somerville, one of the four specialists that New Zealand played in both Tests, has gone wicketkless in the series. Only seven bowlers in the history of the game have conceded more runs in a series without taking a wicket.In such circumstances, except for those personally invested in the runs, say, Virat Kohli scores, spectators find it difficult to stay engaged. So out comes the usual punching bag, the umpires. Not that the umpires weren’t pilloried before Covid-19, but the latest fad is to criticise home umpires because the authorities deem flying in neutral umpires unnecessary during the pandemic. This is the worst slander of professionals in an era where they are professionally evaluated. It is ludicrous to imagine an umpire will carry a bias in front of all high-res, high frame-rate cameras, which can curtail his own career.The umpires have been in the spotlight in Mumbai•BCCIIf there can be a bias, it won’t even be visible to those who build such lazy narratives. The bias can be in the conducting of the game, in how much they let someone sledge, whom they pull up for bad behaviour, how much they let a team play in wet conditions etc. Even bad light doesn’t fall under such bias because it is objectively measured. Aside from the odd off-the-record murmur, there hasn’t been a big issue on this front either.Unfortunately, former cricketers, often known to be at odds with umpires when they played, are at the forefront of this vilification. During this Test, for example, Shane Warne picked out one isolated few-seconds-long clip of the Kohli lbw in the first innings and ruled it “simply not-out”. He went on to suggest that third umpires frequently misinterpret the technology without ever considering the possibility that it could have been pad-bat-pad. After all, there was a point when the bat was slightly behind the pad and UltraEdge still picked up a sound signature. In the second innings, when the bat was merely an inch or two further ahead, Kohli was ruled not out in near-identical circumstances.The same people disregard technology when it comes to low catches because technology hasn’t played Test cricket and those who have played Test cricket know that every low catch is out even though there is new evidence on display.Before you know, 20 media organisations are quoting Warne and the umpire is not allowed to defend himself. Even when he does, it never really sticks. Kumar Dharmasena, an excellent umpire, a former ICC Umpire of the Year, provided an excellent explanation for his umpiring error in the 2019 World Cup final. In public perception, it was firstly assumed that a professional of such high acclaim didn’t even remember the overthrows law.India belt out what turned out to be a successful appeal against Will Young•BCCIDespite Dharamsena explaining that it was physically impossible to know where the two running batters were in relation to each other at the exact moment when the fielder released the ball from 60 yards away, people ignored another playing condition and asked him why he could not check with the third umpire. The issue here is that playing conditions allow umpires to check only dismissals and boundary saves with the third umpire. That the MCC rewrote the law was an admission it could not be enforced in the form that it was.Just do a search on any platform for “Dharmasena final”, and you will know how much we care about the actual profession of umpiring and the process of decision-making, which is why one of the dominant discourses on a slow day was about the umpires in this series when they haven’t really been bad. They will sometimes miss an edge or two, and sometimes it will happen in clumps, but that doesn’t make a bad umpire. Moreover, we have DRS to eliminate those these days.You watch out for those who make bigger, conceptual errors, such as this. There are certain lbw calls that are of concern: basically those where it’s physically not possible for the ball to strike a batter within the stumps and also hit the stumps. If you falter on these, it might suggest you get affected by other things such as the strength of an appeal.There was only one call in this series that was remotely close to this category when R Ashwin got a decision with a big offbreak that hit Will Young on the front foot, a rarest of rare dismissals in cricket. However, the low bounce probably clouded everyone to the point that even the batter didn’t review it. There have been marginal lbws missed by the umpires in this Test that didn’t even elicit a decent appeal from the bowlers. It is because three sets of professionals out there didn’t think it was out, and high-res super slow-motion replays showed the ball to be missing the edge or kissing the boot on the way to the inside edge. To use them to beat up umpires is an unfair battle that they can never hope to win.There are many things that are wrong with the umpiring discourse, which will take way more than this space (you can do worse than to read this), but a slow day is a good time to remind yourself of how good the umpires today are and to remember to use the same empathy we use for the athlete when we come across the occasional error.

The New York Mets significantly overhauled their bullpen on Wednesday, reshaping their set of relievers ahead of the MLB trade deadline.

With two trades, they beefed up their setup corps for closer Edwin Diaz. But both deals were costly. All-in-all, New York sent six prospects out to bring in Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley. We're going to combine them into one big deal for the purpose of grading the moves.

In the first deal, the Mets landed Rogers from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for righty Jose Butto, outfield prospect Drew Gilbert, and right-handed pitching prospect Blade Tidwell. Butto is a solid relief arm, while Tidwell has made his big league debut this season, and Gilbert is close. All have their warts, but are also likely to provide solid value.

In the second, the Mets sent three prospects to the Cardinals: shortstop Jesus Baez, right-hander Nate Dohm, and right-hander Frank Elissalt. Baez was New York's No. 8 prospect, and the 20-year-old has shown some serious power in A-ball, while also having a feel for hitting and a strong arm in the field. Dohm is New York's No. 14 prospect, and the 22-year-old has a 2.62 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts) at High-A ball this year. Elissalt was a 19th-round pick in 2024 and is 4-5 with a 3.04 ERA in 20 appearances across two levels this season.

New York Mets: B

The Mets certainly upgraded their bullpen, which was a need, but both players they received were rentals, and they gave up six players to get them. On top of that, neither of the guys they landed will be closing, though both probably can in a pinch.

Helsley is the reigning NL Reliever of the Year, but hasn't reached the same highs this season. He's 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA, a 1.39 WHIP, and 41 strikeouts in 36 innings. He has walked 14 and allowed 36 hits in those 36 innings, while also blowing five saves in 26 chances. He dealt with a toe injury early in the season but has been healthy lately. He'll be an excellent setup man for Diaz.

Rogers is enjoying what might be his best season in the big leagues. He's 4-3 with a 1.80 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and 38 strikeouts against only four walks in 50 innings. The 34-year-old submariner just gets people out, though his 2.68 xFIP suggests some regression is likely to come. He's still a really nice pickup for the relief corps.

The amount the Mets gave up and the fact that both guys are rentals hold these deals back from getting a better grade.

Liverpool have now received the green light to make their move for a defensive reinforcement in the January transfer window, according to reports.

Slot: Teams "think they can get a result" against Liverpool

It wasn’t a disaster at Anfield as Liverpool came from behind to rescue a draw against Sunderland, but it was hardly an inspiring performance from the Premier League champions yet again.

Despite breaking their transfer record to sign Alexander Isak in the summer, the Swede was back to his subdued ways just days after netting his first Premier League goal for the club against West Ham United. And whilst Florian Wirtz at least played a part in the equaliser and looked bright throughout, Liverpool’s attack was a far cry from their scintillating best of past campaigns.

What should concern Arne Slot the most is his own admission that teams now believe they can “get a result” against his Liverpool side. That should never be the case at the home of the champions, but the Dutchman also denied that Anfield’s fear factor has evaporated this season.

He told reporters: “No, not Anfield. For sure. But it’s clear that teams that play us now think they can get a result. Not only think, because that has been shown this season.

“And even in the games we’ve won, they also fuelled the confidence for other teams like, ‘Hmm, something is possible’ because the wins we had at the beginning of the season weren’t easy ones as well.”

The only positive for Slot to take from the Sunderland game is that his side, whilst found wanting in attack, were harder to break down defensively. With fixtures coming thick and fast, that defensive foundation will be important but so will any depth that Liverpool add in that area in January, especially if they sign Joel Ordonez.

Liverpool receive green light to make Ordonez move

As reported by TeamTalk, Liverpool have received a green light to make their move for Ordonez after maintaining contact with the defender’s camp. Racing alongside Tottenham Hotspur in pursuit of the Club Brugge defender, the Reds could land an ideal alternative for Marc Guehi.

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Despite reportedly reopening talks to sign the Crystal Palace man, Liverpool may be forced to wait until next summer when his contract expires to secure his signature. If that does prove to be the case, then those at Anfield should turn to Ordonez.

Although Como scout Ben Mattinson aired caution around Ordonez’s “aggressive” nature last year, it’s the exact trait that Liverpool have been lacking this season. The Reds have been physically outmatched and the arrival of the 21-year-old would go a long way towards solving that problem.

Jamie Carragher slams £280k-p/w Liverpool star who had no "excuses" vs Sunderland

Steven Smith had his first hit against bowlers since the Hundred finished in late August on Tuesday, but declared he was already “ready” for the Ashes after his break in New York.Smith, who is set to captain Australia in the first Test due to Pat Cummins’ back injury, returned to Sydney last week and had three nets against throwdowns before facing the New South Wales attack during training at Cricket Central as he ramps up towards the start of the Ashes.Related

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He will play two Sheffield Shield matches – against Queensland at the Gabba and Victoria at the SCG before facing England – but believed he was already good to go having in recent times found downtime from the game more profitable than endless training or extra matches.Unlike earlier in the year when he was recovering from a finger injury sustained in the World Test Championship final and left the tour of West Indies, Smith did not hunt out a baseball cage in New York and only picked up a bat on his return home.”Honestly, it takes me two hits to get sorted,” Smith said. “I feel like I’m ready to go now. I feel like I’m moving really nicely. I feel in a good place.”I’ve been training quite hard. I’ve been doing a lot of lifting, trying to get a bit stronger. And I did all my strength tests yesterday and they’re all as good as they’ve ever been. So I feel like I’m going good.”Cummins has yet to be officially ruled out of the opening Test, but time is quickly running out and Smith said on Tuesday that he had still yet to start bowling. “Things can turn around pretty quickly so we’ll see where everything lands with him,” Smith said.”He’s obviously got a few things to tick off and get into his bowling, but he was in good spirits and the team’s obviously better with him in it for sure. Hopefully he can get right and if he plays three Tests or five Tests or two Tests, as many as we can get out of him, it’s the best for the team.”Steven Smith speaks to reporters as he ramps up his Ashes preparation•Getty Images

The duo have worked well as a captain-vice captain combination with Smith standing in on six occasions since Cummins’ promotion, winning five of those Tests. His tactical nous has particularly come to the fore on the subcontinent and, although Smith himself played it down, his head-to-head with Ben Stokes looms as a fascinating aspect of the early Ashes exchanges.Even if unable to play, Cummins is expected to travel with the Australia squad and Smith was confident the change of leadership would prove smooth but added he would do things in his style.”It’s nothing out of the ordinary,” Smith said. “I know how the team operates. We’re in a good place. So if it happens, I’ll look forward to it. I think the important thing is doing it my way. I think when I get out on the field, I’ve got a certain style and the way I like to do things and I need to be authentic.”I think it’s worked well when I’ve stood in over the last few years. It’ll just be a seamless sort of transition if that comes around.”Smith has rarely had a problem with the dual responsibilities of captaincy and batting: his average when captain is 68.98 against 49.90 when in the ranks. One of the six Tests where he has filled in was during the 2021-22 Ashes when Cummins was a Covid close contact in Adelaide with Smith making 93 in the first innings.”It’s interesting how the brain works, I suppose,” Smith said when asked whether he’s aware of how the captaincy makes a difference. “I feel like I kind of go to another level and try and set a standard.”I think I’ve chilled out a lot over the last probably four or five years, just a bit more relaxed out in the middle and maybe not as cranky at times. I like to listen to people, get their opinions, and then obviously make a decision when I’m in charge.”In terms of losing Cummins’ bowling, Smith was of little doubt that Scott Boland could fill the breach. “I mean, we’ve got a pretty good replacement in Scott Boland who I think is arguably one of the best bowlers in the world,” he said. “His record in Australia is outrageous, so we’re good there.”Then the other two [Starc and Hazlewood] obviously have done a wonderful job for a long time as well. So I don’t think it disrupts too much.”

While Chelsea made plenty of good signings in the summer, it would be fair to say that they’ve had mixed starts to life in West London.

Joao Pedro, for example, might have slowed down a little in recent weeks, but has already amassed an impressive tally of seven goal involvements.

On the other hand, Jamie Gittens has largely struggled this season and looks quite some distance off being good enough to start week in week out.

Someone who falls somewhere in the middle is Liam Delap, but if he doesn’t start performing soon, one of Cobham’s most exciting prospects could eventually take the nine shirt off his back.

Delap's start at Chelsea

When Chelsea were the ones to secure Delap’s services for around £30m in the summer, there was an understandable level of excitement from the fans.

After all, here was a young, physically imposing centre-forward who, in his first proper season of top-flight football, had just scored 12 goals and provided two assists in 37 appearances for a poor Ipswich Town side.

Expectations remained high at the Club World Cup as the former Manchester City academy ace provided an assist against LAFC and scored his first Chelsea goal against Esperance.

However, it would be fair to say that, so far, those expectations have not been met this season, as in six games, totalling 227 minutes, the 22-year-old has failed to score a goal or provide an assist.

Now, he was unfortunate to pick up a hamstring injury in the game against Fulham, but in the other games he has appeared in, he has not looked particularly threatening.

Moreover, upon his return from injury against Wolverhampton Wanderers, he stupidly got himself sent off, picking up two yellow cards in the space of 22 minutes.

With all that said, there is still plenty of time for Delap to turn things around and make this season a successful one.

However, should he continue to underwhelm, he could eventually see one of Cobham’s most exciting prospects take the nine shirt from him.

The Cobham gem who could replace Delap

When it comes to producing Premier League-quality prospects, few academies can truly rival Chelsea’s Cobham.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

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There are, once again, several youngsters in the setup who could see themselves become first-team regulars over the coming seasons, and the one who could rival Delap for the number nine shirt is Chizaram Ezenwata.

The 17-year-old gem joined the Blues from Charlton Athletic in October 2023 and has established himself as one of the most dangerous attackers in the academy.

For example, in just eight appearances this season, totalling 641 minutes, the Bexley-born marksman has already scored seven goals and provided one assist, which comes out to a goal involvement every game, or every 80.12 minutes.

The youngster isn’t just on a hot streak either; in 20 appearances last season, totalling 1,279 minutes, he managed to score 12 goals and provide three assists, which works out to an average of a goal or assist every 1.33 games, or every 91.93 minutes.

Ezenwata’s U18 record

Appearances

26

Minutes

1913′

Goals

19

Assists

4

Goal Involvements per Match

0.88

Minutes per Goal Involvement

83.17′

All Stats via Transfermarkt

With numbers like that, it is easy to understand why U23 scout Antonio Mango has told Chelsea fans to “get excited” about his development, and why Como scout Felix Johnston has described him as someone who “lives and breathes goals.”

The young poacher isn’t just making his mark at club level either.

For example, in seven appearances for England’s u17s he scored five goals, and in five appearances for the u18s, he has already scored twice.

Ultimately, Ezenwata is unlikely to challenge Delap for a place in the team this season, but if the former Ipswich man does not improve soon, next year could be a different story entirely.

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