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The 25-year-old registered his first professional century having come in at 53 for 3

ECB Reporters Network09-Aug-2024Josh Blake registered a sensible run-a-ball century to carry Surrey to only their second Metro Bank One-Day Cup victory of the season at Chelmsford.The left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman survived on 40 when Luc Benkenstein floored a chance at deep square leg, but having come in at 53 for 3 after 14 overs, had doubled his previous highest score and was still there on 100 not out when Surrey closed on 306 for 4.Blake put on 98 in 20 overs for the fourth wicket with opener Ryan Patel (83 from 106 balls) and then an unbroken 155 in 16 pulsating overs for the fifth with the hard-hitting Ollie Sykes, who hit five sixes in an unbeaten 87 from 56 balls.Defeat meant neither team could qualify for the knock-out stages and Essex never looked likely to record their second win of the tournament. Only captain Tom Westley offered much resistance with 78 from 84 balls as dispirited Essex fell 90 runs short of their target with more than three overs unused.Surrey elected to bat and got off to a slow start, meandering to 39-2 in the first powerplay. But they upped the tempo in the second half of the innings when they added 192 in 25 overs, 117 of them in the final 10 as Blake and Sykes smashed the toiling Essex bowlers to every corner of the Cloud County Ground.Patel had held things together early on, but his innings was comparatively sedate by what came later. He reached his fifty from 68 balls with his seventh four, a cover drive off Tom Westley. He followed that with No8, cutting Jamal Richards to the longest boundary on the ground, to bring up Surrey’s 100. But by that time he had lost three partners before forming the alliance with Blake.Jamie Porter, with a white ball in hand for the first time in a year, took two of that trio, bowling Dom Sibley shouldering arms to one that swung in and took oft-stump, and claiming a second when Cameron Steel moved across to give himself room and was lbw to a straight delivery. In between, Shane Snater had Ben Geddes pinned in front, playing down the wrong line.Though the boundary to the Pavilion side was less than 50 yards from the wicket, Essex defended it resolutely and it was not until the 33rd over that Blake pierced the field with a reserve-sweep off Westley. Next over, though, brought the downfall of Patel as he drove Noah Thain uppishly to wide mid-off where Westley took a diving catch.Sykes had scored eight in his List A debut on Tuesday, but eyed up the shorter side where he deposited Thain twice for sixes in an over that cost 15. He added a third off Richards before lofting Porter over the longer midwicket boundary. A fifth over midwicket off Snater took the 19-year-old to a 34-ball fifty.Blade was not hanging around either, and lifted Snater over cover point for his only six to sit alongside nine fours before a single in the last over took him to three figures from 100 balls.Essex’s pursuit of 307 never really got going as wickets fell regularly. Nick Browne slashed Conor McKerr to slip, Feroze Khushi swung at James Taylor to be caught behind, and Robin Das was stumped by the alert Blake off a legside wide from Patel.Benkenstein pulled Nathan Barnwell to deep square leg with the floodlights now on and the run-rate rising. Noah attempted to reverse-sweep Cameron Steel and fell lbw, Simon Fernandes tickled McKerr behind, while Westley’s two-hour knock ended when he slashed Steel to short mid-off.Snater lasted three balls before he was bowled by Yousef Majid, Richards was stumped, Ben Allison lofted the only six of Essex’s innings in a career-best 32 not out before Steel claimed his fourth wicket for 50 when Porter hammered to long off.

It’s all changing at Tottenham Hotspur at the moment.

Ange Postecoglou may have led the club to their first trophy in a generation, but a 17th-place finish in the Premier League was enough for Daniel Levy and Co to send him on his way.

In his place, former Brentford manager Thomas Frank has been tasked with dramatically improving the club’s domestic form next season, and one way to make that happen is by adding genuine quality to the squad.

Fortunately, recent reports suggest the North Londoners may be closing in on a signing who’d be a more exciting addition to the team than Mathys Tel.

Tottenham transfer news

The transfer window may have only just opened again, but Spurs have recently been linked with many talented attackers, such as Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa, who thrived under Frank’s management.

Transfer Focus

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

Moreover, to ensure the squad aren’t left short on numbers in attack next year, Levy and Co have also re-signed Tel on a permanent transfer.

The young Frenchman did well enough in spells last season, and the potential is certainly there, but based purely on what we saw from him this year, it’s hard to describe his £30m signing as particularly exciting.

The good news is that the Lilywhites now appear to be advancing in talks to sign someone who certainly would be an exciting signing: Antoine Semenyo.

According to a recent report from TEAMtalk, the Spurs are incredibly interested in the Bournemouth star and are ‘growing in confidence in striking a deal’ with the South Coast side.

The report does not mention how much the Ghanaian international could cost the North Londoners, but reports from earlier this month claim that a fee of up to £70m should be enough.

Now, that is certainly a lot of money, but given Semenyo’s ability and experience, it’d be worth it for Spurs, especially as he’d be a more exciting signing than Tel.

Why Semenyo would be a more exciting signing than Tel

Okay, so the first thing to address is that Semenyo has an inherent advantage here in that the newest attacking signings are going to be more exciting than a club re-signing someone they’ve had on loan before purely for the fact that they’ll represent something fresh and relatively unknown.

However, while this is undoubtedly the case here, there are other significant reasons why the Bournemouth star would be a far more exciting addition to the team than Tel, starting with their output.

In 20 appearances for the North Londoners, totalling 1257 minutes, the Sarcelles-born attacker was able to score three goals and provide a single assist, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every five games, or every 314.25 minutes.

In stark contrast, the Cherries ace scored 13 goals and provided seven assists in 42 appearances, totalling 3562 minutes, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.1 games, or every 178.1 minutes.

Moreover, while the Frenchman can play off the left or up top relatively easily, the Chelsea-born ace can play off either flank, up top or even in midfield, thanks largely to the fact he’s ambipedal.

Finally, on top of everything else, the 25-year-old “monster,” as dubbed by respected analyst Ben Mattinson, also comes out way on top when we take a look under the hood at their underlying numbers.

For example, he comes out on top in almost all relevant metrics, such as non-penalty goals plus assists, shot and goal-creating actions, key passes, successful take-ons and many, many more, all per 90.

Non-Penalty G+As

0.45

0.23

Progressive Passes

3.06

2.31

Progressive Carries

3.93

2.62

Shots

3.51

2.47

Shots on Target

1.12

0.85

Passing Accuracy

73.4%

74.4%

Key Passes

1.29

1.15

Passes into the Final Third

1.38

1.31

Passes into the Penalty Area

1.26

1.38

Live Passes

29.5

27.8

Shot-Creating Actions

3.71

2.47

Goal-Creating Actions

0.37

0.31

Successful Take-Ons

1.94

1.62

Ball Recoveries

4.44

3.62

Aerial Duels Won

1.85

0.38

Ultimately, while Tel is a talented player who could develop into something special, Semenyo is streaks ahead of him and would be a far more exciting signing for Spurs.

A better signing than Mbeumo: Spurs enter talks to sign "unbelievable" CF

Tottenham Hotspur could be about to make a move to land an attacker who could star in North London.

1 ByEthan Lamb Jun 16, 2025

Arsenal are expected to be one of the busier English sides during the summer window after missing out on this year’s Premier League title to Liverpool by 10 points, and sporting director Andrea Berta is set for a key role.

Andrea Berta tipped for influential summer at Arsenal

Spanish football expert and reliable journalist, Guillem Balague, shared an intriguing bit of information about Berta following the Italian’s arrival at N5.

£50m star could now reject Arsenal move and sign new deal after talks

He also snubbed an exit last summer.

By
Emilio Galantini

Jun 4, 2025

Following 12 productive years at Atlético Madrid, where he played a key role in shaping Diego Simeone’s quality current squad, Balague said that Berta is widely considered one of the best sporting directors in football by those within the beautiful game.

“You have to say that he was the architect of the Atletico Madrid that won the league twice, got to the Champions League final twice, won the Europa League,” Balague told TNT Sports.

“That’s him working alongside Simeone in a very discreet way. He doesn’t give interviews, doesn’t give press conferences. We don’t know personally much about him, but certainly he’s a top negotiator and considered one of the best in the business.

Arsenal transfer spending under Arteta (via Sky Sports)	Money on new signings
19/20 – winter	£0
20/21 – summer	£81.5m
20/21 – winter	£900k
21/22 – summer	£156.8m
21/22 – winter	£1.8m
22/23 – summer	£121.5m
22/23 – winter	£59m
23/24 – summer	£208m
23/24 – winter	£0
24/25 – summer	£101.5m
24/25 – winter	£0

“They went for him because he wants to create, alongside Mikel Arteta, a winning culture. This is a guy that’s done very well in the context of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

“They have more money, and yet he managed to get that extra bit that Arsenal doesn’t seem to get.”

This summer window is imperative for Arsenal, and Berta has the almighty task of reshaping their squad to mount a much more convincing Premier League title challenge next season.

Their lack of a prolific striker was a serious achilles heel over the course of 2024/2025, especially factoring in Kai Havertz’s and Gabriel Jesus’ injury lay-offs, with Arsenal said to be working on moves for both Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyokeres and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko.

According to the BBC’s Sami Mokbel, Arsenal are currently working to confirm the frameworks of both deals, before deciding which striker to formally pursue.

Arsenal "only" club to hold "concrete talks" for Benjamin Sesko

As Mikel Arteta’s side take their time to weigh up which deal is best for the club, Gyokeres or Sesko, Sky Sports Germany’s Florian Plettenberg suggests Arsenal are in pole position for the latter.

While Man Utd have expressed an interest, Plettenberg writes that Arsenal are the only club to hold “concrete talks” for Sesko so far, meaning Berta is facing little competition in pursuit of the Slovenian as things stand.

Called an “extremely quick” striker, Sesko is fresh off the back of a career-best Bundesliga campaign, scoring 21 goals in all competitions and bettering his tally of 18 from 2023/2024.

While these numbers appear modest, Sesko’s physical attributes and potential to improve at just 22-years-old make him a very tempting potential signing, with his release clause set at around £70 million.

A £70m Premier League forward is now “in the frame” to join Manchester United in the summer transfer window, according to former scout Mick Brown.

Man Utd pursuing new forward

Scoring goals has been a major problem for Man United this season, with Ruben Amorim perhaps relying on Bruno Fernandes a little too often, and the manager has now set out to bolster his attacking options in the summer transfer window.

An out-and-out striker is of particular interest, and United have now held talks over the signing of Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres, which have progressed well, while they are also in the race for Wolverhampton Wanderers star Matheus Cunha.

Cunha is keen on a move to Old Trafford this summer, with the Red Devils working to finalise a deal soon, which means the next task may be to strengthen their wide options, and they have now set their sights on a Premier League winger.

Just another Hojlund: Man Utd making big effort to sign "wrecking ball"

Man Utd are in need of an upgrade on Rasmus Hojlund – not just a carbon copy…

1

By
Robbie Walls

May 3, 2025

According to former scout Brown, in an interview with Football Insider, AFC Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo is “definitely in the frame to join Man United this summer”, having caught the eye with his performances in the Premier League this season.

Brown said: “Man United have been impressed by Semenyo this season. He certainly didn’t do himself any harm with that performance on Sunday.

“He fits the bill of the type of player Ruben Amorim is looking for, he’s strong, quick, he’s got plenty of energy and works hard, he’s good in shooting situations and good in the air too.

“They’ll know all of that and they’ll know his weaknesses too from watching him this season.

“Amorim likes to play his 3-4-3 system, and Semenyo could fit into any of those three positions, so that’s another point in his favour.”

"Sensational" Semenyo shining for Bournemouth

It has been a steady rise to the top for Semenyo, who has worked his way up the English pyramid, spending time at Newport County and Bristol City before establishing himself as a key player for Bournemouth.

This season has been the Ghanaian’s best to date, picking up nine goals and six assists in the Premier League, most recently setting up Dean Huijsen’s equalising goal with a long throw in the Cherries’ 2-1 victory against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Brown believes the “sensational” 25-year-old would be a perfect fit in Amorim’s system, which could also make him an appealing option, with the manager in need of players capable of flourishing in his three-at-the-back formation.

Given his age, Semenyo’s best years could still be ahead of him, and his exploits in the Premier League this season indicate he could be a fantastic signing for Man United this summer, although the rumoured £70m price tag is a little on the expensive side.

There are only four games left of the Premier League season for Arsenal, and while the team and fans will be focusing on the Champions League, the club will be preparing for the summer.

In fact, it was only this month that Mikel Arteta told the media that the upcoming transfer window is set to be seismic, which is undoubtedly needed considering how poorly things have gone on the domestic front.

For example, on top of silly suspensions and some truly unlucky injuries, too many players have underwhelmed this season, such as Gabriel Martinelli.

The Brazilian might have stepped it up a bit in recent weeks, but it could be too little too late, as recent reports have linked the club to a superstar who could be the perfect upgrade.

Arsenal transfer news

With it looking set to be a mega summer for Arsenal, it’s worth going over some of the other stars who have been touted for moves to the club in recent weeks, such as Rafael Leao.

The AC Milan monster will supposedly be available for around £86m, which is probably a fair enough fee, as in 46 games this season, he’s scored 11 goals and provided 12 assists.

Another target who’d cost at least as much is Desire Doue.

Transfer Focus

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

Expand Collapse

The Paris Saint-Germain gem has been linked with several Premier League sides, including the Gunners, and it’s not hard to see why, as at just 19 years old, he has produced 25 goal involvements in 46 games this year.

However, in this instance, the player in question is someone the Gunners have already faced off against this season: Rodrygo.

According to reports from Spain, Arsenal ‘have set their sights’ on a few Real Madrid stars, including the Brazilian international.

Now, the report does say it would be a difficult deal to get done, but not impossible, although per reports from late last year, Los Blancos might demand up to £123m for their star.

It would be an incredibly costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, but given his incredible ability, it is one worth fighting for, especially as he could be a dream Martinelli upgrade.

How Rodrygo compares to Martinelli

So, the first thing to say is that while Rodrygo has made more appearances off the right in his career, he’s no stranger to playing off the left, and with Bukayo Saka in the squad, he’d almost certainly be tasked with playing there.

Therefore, his biggest competitor for game time would be Martinelli, but how do the pair stack up against one another?

Well, in terms of raw output, it’s a comfortable win for the Real star, who Carlo Ancelotti described as one of “the best players in the world” just last year.

For example, he’s racked up 13 goals and ten assists in 49 appearances, totalling 3245 minutes this season, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.13 games, or every 141.08 minutes.

In contrast, the Gunners’ number 11 has scored nine goals and provided six assists in 45 appearances, totalling 3068 minutes, which is an average of a goal involvement every three games or every 204.53 minutes.

Rodrygo vs Martinelli

Statistics per 90

Rodrygo

Martinelli

Non-Penalty G+As

0.61

0.41

Progressive Passes

4.68

1.94

Progressive Carries

5.06

4.77

Shots

2.67

2.03

Shots on Target

1.03

0.88

Passing Accuracy

85.7%

71.5%

Key Passes

2.08

1.64

Shot-Creating Actions

4.56

2.87

Goal-Creating Actions

0.42

0.26

Tackles Won

0.84

0.56

Successful Take-Ons

2.15

1.51

All Stats via FBref for 24/25

Then, when we take a look under the hood, at their underlying numbers, it’s another comfortable victory for the Los Blancos star.

For example, he comes out ahead in most relevant metrics, including but not limited to non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive passes and carries, passing accuracy and key passes, shot and goal-creating actions, shots and shots on target, successful take-ons and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while he would cost Arsenal a fortune, it’s clear that Rodrygo would be a massive upgrade on Martinelli, and therefore they should go all out to sign him.

Related Their next Rice: Arsenal line up move to sign Chelsea's £43m "monster"

Arsenal could sign a player from Chelsea this summer.

Posts 1 ByJack Salveson Holmes Apr 25, 2025

Aggression is captain’s watchword as he takes lessons of 2022 and drills them back at England

Matt Roller07-Oct-2024It was not a mirage in Multan, but an overdue end to a four-year drought. Shan Masood has talked a good game in his first year as Pakistan captain but after five defeats out of five – in which his career average remained below 30 – he came into this series knowing that, unless he delivered with the bat, his position would be seen as untenable.This was as compelling a response as Masood could have wished for. When he hit 156 in Manchester in August 2020, he looked to have finally cracked Test cricket: it was his third successive hundred, albeit spread across an eight-month period. But in his 27 innings since then, he had not managed a single score above 60.Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Masood’s 151 was that he paid as much attention to ‘how’ as ‘how many’. Once a dour, shotless player who would crawl along at a strike rate of 40, Masood showed his team exactly how he wants them to bat by putting England’s seamers under pressure and targeting the young offspinner Shoaib Bashir.It would have been very different but for a review. Masood looked rushed by the extra pace during Brydon Carse’s first spell on Test debut, and had just edged him for four to reach 16 when he was given out lbw. But he was right to question Kumar Dharmasena’s on-field decision, with Hawk-Eye confirming the ball had pitched outside leg stump.The Pakistan captaincy is a role about more than just leading a cricket team. Its incumbents are also expected to act as spokesmen, musing at length about the state of the game – and the country. Masood’s views have been cited so many times that he should be charging royalties, and last week he gave a press conference previewing this series that lasted the best part of an hour.By his own admission, Masood had his eyes opened when England toured Pakistan two years ago and has taken inspiration from their attacking approach. He played in the third Test of that series after running the drinks in the first two, and describing England on Sunday as “pioneers” whose style “has had an effect on the world”.It has certainly had an effect on Masood, as he demonstrated with his calculated takedown of Bashir. Masood picked the ball after a convincing lbw shout as his opportunity to attack in Bashir’s second over, charging down to hack him through midwicket before using his feet again to the subsequent delivery, and launching him back over his head.A couple of skips down the pitch were enough to throw Bashir off his length, and Masood pulled his drag-down for four in the following over, then launched him over extra cover. It posed a problem for Ollie Pope, who could not rely on spin at both ends and found himself chasing the game while Masood and Abdullah Shafique piled on 253 for the second wicket.Related

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Masood explained that he saw Bashir’s introduction as an opportunity after Pakistan had seen off Chris Woakes’ threat with the new ball, on a pitch which offered very little for bowlers after some early movement. “If you can get the spinners away, you change the way they bowl,” he said. “On a first-day wicket, when you’ve had a good start, that’s when you have to cash in.”He expressly targeted a “mammoth partnership” early in his stand with Shafique. “The way we played, the way we put some scoreboard pressure on them, the way we kept running hard and made sure that we scored at 4.5-5 [per over] – that’s an important thing. If we would have just set up shop and tried to defend our way through the day, I don’t think we would have had 328 on the board.”Masood survived occasional sketchy moments off Gus Atkinson, including a top-edged pull that went just over the long-leg fielder and a gloved short ball that dropped short of Jamie Smith. But he was otherwise assured on his way to three figures, cruising along at a rapid rate: his hundred, reached off 102 balls, was Pakistan’s fastest in a decade.”From 30, still to 100, I was trying not to give anything away,” Masood said. “I’ve been very guilty of getting to those 30s, 40s and 50s and not carrying on. Today, I had that responsibility. When I played that pull shot off Atkinson, I had my heart in my mouth: I said, ‘Nothing [else] before 100.'”He flagged in the sapping heat of the afternoon, offering a half-chance to Pope at point on 133 and seizing up with cramp on 146 after reverse-sweeping Jack Leach for four. His dismissal – chipping a low chance back to Leach – was a tame end to a fine innings which spanned four-and-a-half hours, and was the second-highest of Masood’s Test career.It is not difficult to imagine the world in which Masood played no part in this Test. Five consecutive defeats at the start of his tenure could easily have led to him losing his job, or an overhaul in selection. But with a short turnaround from Bangladesh’s recent tour, the PCB defied their reputation for instability with a policy of continuity.The first day of a Test tour is unlike any other, in that it presents the opportunity to set the tone for what follows. Masood reflected as much with his positivity, which took the pressure off himself and put it on England’s bowlers. It couldn’t quite match England’s 506 for 4 in Rawalpindi two years ago, but Pakistan’s 328 for 4 laid the foundation for the series.

In Nagpur, no one has radiated a sense of normalcy more than Rohit Sharma, playing a Test after 11 months and all but batting Australia out of the match

Karthik Krishnaswamy10-Feb-20236:02

Chopra: Rohit is India’s best batter against spin

The Nagpur Test has been all about horses for courses. Australia dropped a batter who had averaged 87.50 over five Tests this season, fearing he might not have the game against spin to score runs in India. India left out a generational talent in the form of his life and picked a 32-year-old debutant on the hunch that he could translate, from T20s to Tests, his ability to take spin apart.Some of the horses who would have featured anyway, meanwhile, have come out with unusual plans tailored, it would seem, to the course.On day one, Alex Carey faced 22 balls from India’s spinners and attempted to sweep, reverse-sweep or paddle sweep 19 of them. On day two, Cheteshwar Pujara, of all people, was out top-edging a sweep off the 14th ball he faced.Related

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There’s still time in this Test match for the horses-for-courses approach to be vindicated, of course, particularly with the pitch expected to break up in the second innings. But, for now, the best innings have come from batters who have batted, well, normally.And no one has radiated more of a sense of normalcy than Rohit Sharma, who returned to Test cricket after 11 months and put India on the path towards batting Australia out of the Test match with a serene and self-assured 120, his ninth Test hundred and first as captain.Eight of Rohit’s nine Test hundreds have come in India, where he has now scored 1880 runs at the lordly average of 75.20. To India fans conditioned into disregarding – or at least under-rating – performances at home, it may seem like faint praise to call Rohit a master of Indian conditions. But it isn’t. Calling him that, for one, doesn’t preclude mastery elsewhere – he was arguably India’s best top-order batter over their tours of Australia and England two years ago. And while it can be a useful catch-all term, “Indian conditions”, like “Indian food”, erases a whole lot of diversity.Rohit’s runs in India have come in all sorts of situations and on all sorts of pitches. His 149-ball 127 in Visakhapatnam was a blistering display of six-hitting when India needed quick runs to turn a reasonable first-innings lead into a match-winning declaration score with limited time remaining in the match. His 212 in Ranchi was built on a skilful defensive display against Kagiso Rabada either side of India slumping to 39 for 3 on the first morning. His 161 in Chennai was a triumph of seizing the advantage of a toss won on a square turner, by means of calculated risk-taking against both pace and spin.Most pre-match estimations pegged Nagpur as a square turner, but Rohit didn’t bat here like he had batted in Chennai. He didn’t drive the seamers on the up, and he used the sweep – a defining feature of the Chepauk innings – sparingly. He stepped out often, but seldom to hit over the top – there was perhaps not enough bounce, and too much natural variation, for this to be a viable option.Rohit Sharma’s centuries as captain in all three formats•ESPNcricinfo LtdInstead, Rohit trusted the slowness of the pitch to blunt the natural variation it offered Australia’s spinners, and allowed himself, it seemed, to play an old-fashioned, merit-of-the-ball sort of innings.He raced off the blocks, as he had done in Chennai, but in this case it was largely because Pat Cummins bowled what may have been the most erratic new-ball spell of his Test career. Cummins kept overpitching and straying on to Rohit’s pads on the first evening, and Rohit, beautifully balanced, head right on top of the ball, flicked and glanced him for four fours in his first two overs.With Australia’s spinners often bowling a touch too full as well, Rohit raced to his half-century, and went to stumps batting on 56 off 69.Day two was different. Australia’s bowlers amped up their discipline as a collective, with Cummins setting the tone from one end, hitting the pitch hard and extracting the odd bit of sideways movement or indifferent bounce. From the other, Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy probed diligently from around the wicket, drifting the ball across the right-handers and causing moments of uncertainty when natural variation caused the ball to slide on with that angle. Scott Boland then replaced Cummins, and proceeded to dry the runs up with a hypnotic spell of machine-like medium-fast, stacking his leg-side field and pounding away on a bail-bothering line and length.This rigorous test allowed the elegant minimalism of Rohit’s defensive technique to shine through. The offspinners’ natural variation troubled him every now and then, but it was the lesser danger on this pitch, from around the wicket. From that angle, it was hugely unlikely that either Lyon or Murphy would be able to beat his outside edge and threaten the stumps. If they did find the edge, there was seldom enough pace or bounce off the pitch for the ball to carry to slip, so long as Rohit didn’t follow the ball with hard hands. This almost never happened.1:56

Rathour: Rohit adapts really well and can change his game

The ball turning in was the bigger threat, but Rohit quelled it with superb judgement of line and length, and often the use of his feet to get close to the pitch of the ball. He skipped out nimbly, and almost never let his front pad get in the way of his bat coming down straight. Soft hands and the slowness of the pitch ensured that inside-edges seldom threatened to carry to short leg, and on the one occasion that Lyon drew a hard-hands flick from him, the inside-edge flew wide of short leg.Against Boland and especially Cummins, Rohit’s game was even more minimalistic. His trigger movement – back and across followed by forward and across, with his head over his front foot – left him in the perfect position to defend by transferring his weight on to either foot, allowing the ball to come into what AB de Villiers refers to as “the box” and meet the ball under his eyes.A half-step forward was usually enough to drive balls pitched up, and to pull he only really needed to press his weight on to his front foot, unweight his back foot, and power through the hips.Of late, a number of teams have tried to get him out playing that shot, in a contest that’s high-risk and high-reward for both bowler and batter. In his first spell of the morning, Cummins stationed two catchers on the leg-side boundary and dug one in when Rohit was on 61 – Rohit pulled and just cleared deep square-leg leaping to his left. This pitch was too slow, and the bounce not yet uneven enough, for Australia to try that tactic too many times through the rest of the day.That pull apart, Rohit’s boundaries involved little risk. Some of them, for all that, were still breathtaking.On day one, there was a push-drive off Lyon, the kind of shot that might go for four if a batter has timed it perfectly off a fast bowler, but this was off an offspinner and it absolutely flew to the boundary straight of mid-off. He brought up his fifty with the stealthiest of lap-sweeps, with barely any twist of the wrists at impact; he merely stretched out and let the ball hit his bat face, angled just so, and directed it into the gap fine of backward square-leg.The boundaries came when opportunities presented themselves; Rohit seldom went looking for them•BCCIPerhaps the shot of Rohit’s innings came after he had got past his century, when Murphy bowled to him with a short midwicket, a 30-yard straight midwicket stationed in line with the bowler’s-end stumps, and a long-on. Rohit stepped out and twirled his wrists to bisect the two midwickets and beat long-on haring to his right.The boundaries came when opportunities presented themselves; Rohit seldom went looking for them. A little less than halfway into the day’s play, he had added to his overnight score just 38 off 95 balls, while four wickets had fallen at the other end, with the other batters and extras adding 43 between them.India were 168 for 5 at this stage, and trailed by nine runs. They weren’t exactly in strife, but they needed a significant lead to feel secure given they would have to bat last.Rohit kept batting just as before, though, aware that two of India’s three spin-bowling allrounders still had to bat. India needed one solid partnership to feel in control, and Rohit found the ally he needed in Ravindra Jadeja, who did the bulk of the scoring in a sixth-wicket stand of 61.When Australia took the second new ball, India led by 52, and Rohit looked immovable. Then Cummins began to bowl like the Cummins we all know and love or fear depending on allegiance. He found Rohit’s outside edge with his third ball, only for Steven Smith to shell the chance at second slip. The next ball was unforgettable, Cummins’ state of mind adding a yard of furious pace to his outswinger while taking nothing away from his control. The ball pitched on the fullest edge of a good length – the one length that Rohit’s minimalist defensive movements can leave him vulnerable against – and did just enough to beat the outside edge and send off stump spinning, a visual metaphor for the release of Cummins’ pent-up emotions.The dropped catch almost felt appropriate. An innings like that deserved to end like that.

And are the Royals erring by sticking with Stokes at the top of the order?

ESPNcricinfo stats team22-Oct-2020The Rajasthan Royals have tinkered with their opening combination all through this season. They have tried five different opening combinations, which is the most by any team so far in this IPL. While none of their openers have done exceptionally well, Jos Buttler should have been an obvious choice for one of the opening slots given his excellent record in T20s as an opener.However, they have chosen to go with Ben Stokes as Robin Uthappa’s partner at the top in their last three innings. While Uthappa has shown promise batting at his preferred position – he hit a 22-ball 41 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore – Stokes has struggled to make use of the powerplay overs. Stokes’ four innings as opener this season before today had produced 80 runs at a strike rate of 112.67.Stokes’ struggle today was exacerbated by the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s tactic of using Rashid Khan against him. Stokes managed to score just seven runs off the six deliveries that Rashid bowled to him, before getting dismissed by the same bowler. Rashid had also created a chance off a previous delivery he had bowled to Stokes, which Vijay Shankar had dropped at midwicket. Stokes was on 17 off 19 deliveries when he was dropped.ESPNcricinfo LtdESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index reckons that the drop actually cost the Royals eight runs in the end, given how Stokes was struggling to force the pace. With batsmen like Rahul Tewatia and Jofra Archer – who has shown he can get some quick runs – still to bat, Luck Index reckons that the Royals would’ve managed to score 21 from the 12 balls (remember, Stokes was on 17 off 19 when he was dropped) that Stokes faced after he was dropped before being dismissed for 30 off 32. This is calculated by distributing the 12 balls that Stokes faced among the batsmen who remained unbeaten and, if necessary, those who didn’t bat in the innings. (This calculation takes into account the expected balls that each batsman is likely to play, based on their quality.)While quantifying the value of the drop, Luck Index also brings out the fact that the Royals perhaps are erring with their strategy of opening with Stokes.

The Holliday family had a full circle baseball moment when Ethan Holliday, the son of former seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the No. 4 pick in the 2025 MLB draft on July 13. Not only was Ethan Holliday the second son of Matt to be drafted into the big leagues, but he was selected by the team where the elder Holliday began his baseball career.

But Holliday's selection was far from just a marquee moment for his career, as well as a monumental one for his family. It also led to the phenon making MLB history.

The Rockies signed Holliday to a $9 million deal, according to MLB.com. The deal set a draft bonus record, surpassing the previous mark, which was set by 2025 No. 1 pick Eli Willits of the Washington Nationals. The record before that was held by none other than Holliday's older brother Jackson, of the Baltimore Orioles.

Holliday, a 6' 4" infielder, is regarded by MLB Pipeline as the top prospect in the 2025 draft. He hit .617 with 16 home runs in just 32 games during his senior year at Stillwater High School.

Now, he'll literally be following in his father's footsteps.

"This is a really incredible opportunity," Holliday said on MLB Network after being selected in the draft. "I'm so driven by faith, I'm so grateful. The Lord has really been the centerpiece of my life. I don't even know what words I can put to this. The Rockies organization, I'm so thankful, obviously with the family, the background, and my dad being drafted by them, that just adds such a cool thing. Knowing everyone in the organization since I was born, I'm just so grateful."

Thursday brought good news and bad news for the Chicago White Sox. The bad news is they lost 10–0 to the Kansas City Royals. The good news is they have the most famous man on Earth in their corner.

When Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV Thursday, his brother John took great pains to dispel early rumors that he was a fan of the Chicago Cubs. John told WGN that the pope is a lifelong Chicago White Sox backer, having spent much of his early life on the South Side.

As the world gradually introduced itself to the new Supreme Pontiff, Kaitlin Washburn andwent even further—obtaining a photograph of the future Pope Leo XIV at the 2005 World Series.

Leo can be seen on the far left of the first photograph in the article, talking on a cell phone in the background of a picture of Ed Schmit—a close friend of Leo's who died in 2020—and his grandson.

The game would either have been Game 1 or 2; the White Sox won the first one 5–3 and the second 7–6 over the Houston Astros, who they beat in an eventual sweep.

Chicago is no stranger to friends in high places, but this is something else entirely for a fanbase in need of divine intervention.