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No one fully knows why he’s not played Tests since 2021, but he has kept taking the wickets, be it in Southampton, Gujranwala or Swabi

Danyal Rasool25-Dec-2024Mohammad Abbas marked his run-up, and trundled up to the bowling crease. He landed one on a length, as usual, and at the other end, Babar Azam defended with conviction. As Khurram Shahzad readied himself to bowl the next one, Abbas shared a word of advice. This one landed slightly shorter, and beat the outside edge. The bowlers shared a smile and a high-five. With darkening skies over Centurion, there was some Christmas cheer around after all. Abbas had slotted right back into this group.There is no mystery, no hidden secrets with Abbas, which is what makes the last three years so mysterious. He is a team man, popular, mild-mannered, helpful to a fault. He doesn’t have the ostentatious aggression of the express quicks like Shoaib Akhtar, nor the insouciant arrogance of the not-so-expresses like Mohammad Asif. No one seems to fully know why he spent the last three years out of the side, and everyone thinks bringing him back was a great decision.Graeme Welch, who has been Abbas’ bowling coach at Hampshire, calls him “one of the best blokes I ever met” as well as “one of the best bowlers I’ve ever seen”. At Hampshire over the past three seasons, Abbas’s consistency has been relentless, averaging 19.26 for his 180 wickets.”I’ve got on really well with him, even to the extent I call him one of my friends now,” Welch tells ESPNcricinfo. “I can’t speak highly enough of the fella”.Abbas wasn’t exactly ordinary before he joined up with Welch and Hampshire, either. He last played for Pakistan in Kingston in August 2021, the same place he made his debut four years earlier. In those four years, he had already packed in a stellar international career, a ten-wicket haul in Abu Dhabi against Australia, 14 in a two-Test series against England, and a sensational new-ball spell that culminated in a famous dismissal of Ben Stokes. By the time he’d played his most recent Test, he had taken 90 wickets at 23.02; the only Pakistan bowler to have taken more wickets at a superior average is Imran Khan.”I couldn’t believe he wasn’t in the Test team,” Welch says. “Looking at the last coaching regime [in Pakistan], I think they went down [the route of] looking at pace. I spoke to Shan Masood and he’s a big fan of Mo and wanted Mo in the team.”Mo was just, I think, waiting for the management structure to change or something like that, because obviously they went down the pace route. It’s nice to have pace but with our bowling attack we’ve got down here, it just shows accuracy just as good as anything. And if you can have a group of bowlers with a batting group not going anywhere, that’s just as good as anything. It’s testament to him as a bloke that he hasn’t lost his desire, he didn’t lose his will to play for Pakistan and that’s why he is taking his game to a next level by getting fitter.”Related

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• No, no way! You cannot do that, Mohammad Abbas!

During Abbas’s absence, pacers Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf all succeeded in Test cricket to varying degrees. However, bowlers of Abbas’ mould also came and went, with Mohammad Ali, Khurram Shahzad and Mir Hamza all called up to the Test side. In terms of sheer numbers, Abbas outshines them all, taking 223 at 20.24 since his last red-ball involvement with Pakistan; no other Pakistani bowler was as prolific or as efficient at first-class level during this period.Masood, too, believes Abbas belongs in the Test side. “I’ve been captain for a year so I can only speak for the conversations that happened during that time,” he said at a press conference on the eve of the first Test. “Abbas was someone who was my type of bowler in that if you want to build up stocks of fast bowlers, he definitely slots in there.”A year ago, during the Australia series, we had six fast bowlers who were in the side and who had performed well in domestic cricket. You’ve got to give players a full chance and look at conditions. The England series was such that Abbas’s skillset wasn’t as important, but we felt that going into South Africa, we needed a bowler who gave our bowling lineup a number of overs and control. His skill is second to none.”Mickey Arthur, who was Pakistan head coach when Abbas made his debut, and later team director while Abbas was out of the side, has spent much of the last three years watching him from the opposition dugout as head coach at Derbyshire.”I think it’s a very good selection,” he tells ESPNcricinfo. “Mohammad Abbas still bowls incredibly well in England. I think there may have been a consensus he might have lost a bit of pace. I don’t know that for certain.”But if he gets it right, Abbas has the ability to bring the ball back. He challenges the front pad of the batter and he challenges the stumps. And any bowler that does that consistently in South Africa can have decent returns.”It might be hard to justify depriving Abbas of three years of Test cricket in his early 30s, but the timing of his selection opens up the possibility of a much-deserved redemptive arc.’No. No way. You cannot do that, Mohammad Abbas’•Getty ImagesIt was here, six years ago, that Abbas’s performance threw up the greatest disparity between his potential and his end-product. Having missed the first Test of that series through injury – one of the other concerns that has occasionally kept him out of the Pakistan side – his battle with South Africa’s own medium fast seam bowler Vernon Philander was tipped as one of the decisive plot points of the series.However, that would be a series defined by exceptionally high pace, to the point Arthur at the time was coruscating about the quality of the South African wickets. Abbas, for his part, was never at his accurate best, and an errant spell on the first evening in Cape Town was heavily punished. He ended up bowling much too wide, far too full and a touch too slow. Abbas was largely ineffectual, finishing with five wickets at 46.20.”He bowls good lines and lengths, and that’s what you need in South Africa to challenge their top order,” Arthur says. “If he’s confident and comfortable in his own ability and he bowls with that confidence, gets through the crease, he has enough pace to challenge people with the new ball in South Africa.”

“The England series was such that Abbas’s skillset wasn’t as important, but we felt that going into South Africa, we needed a bowler who gave our bowling lineup a number of overs and control. His skill is second to none.”Shan Masood, Pakistan Test captain

Whether he does have enough pace, though, remains an open question. He made his name on the dustbowls of the UAE, his unerring accuracy when he honed in on the front pad proving claustrophobic for batters. The manner with which he has got batters out belies his line; in the absence of swing, outside edges are harder to find, and so he simply hones in on the stumps with 47 of his 90 Test wickets being either bowled or lbw. Philander, with whom his skillset is sometimes compared, picked up just 72 of his 224 wickets this way, with 152 caught dismissals, revealing the wider corridor conditions have permitted him to bowl in.A possible lack of options led Abbas to ask Welch for ideas about what to change in his game. “I did try to get him to do was bowl bouncers,” Welch says. “He looked at me as if I was stupid, but actually, I think he got about five or six wickets with bouncers last year, so he’s added that to his game a little bit. There’s a few things technically, which he wanted me to keep an eye on. It’s just as about as he’s getting to the crease, if he isn’t feeling fully in rhythm or he isn’t into his spell, he slows up just a little bit before the crease, which stops his momentum and he doesn’t bowl as quick, so we kept an eye on that for a little bit.”These perceived issues, though, have never hindered him from gobbling up wickets at a ferocious rate. Before he was called up to the Pakistan squad, he found sizzling form in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He is currently the joint second-highest wicket-taker (31) this season at an average of 14.38. While none of those games were televised, it is hard to imagine pitches being too similar to the ones in Hampshire where he’s built up a reputation of such esteem that apparently no one can knock him off his perch.An anecdote suggests Hampshire demonstrated that value when Manchester City came to stay at the Hilton last season, and requested the penthouse suite for their manager Pep Guardiola for a few nights. They were turned down because Hampshire just couldn’t bring themselves to take it off Abbas.Welch says that was “100%” true. “Mo’s got the suite on the left-hand side as you look out from the changing rooms. Pep wanted that suite but couldn’t kick Mo out of there. We always have a laugh and a joke about that. Everybody loves him at the club. He’s been a great ambassador and I’m sure everybody just wishes him so wishes him well. I definitely do.”Respect and fondness have never been hard too hard for Abbas to achieve. Now he now has a shot at the one thing that proved strangely elusive – another chance with Pakistan as he pushes into his twilight years, one that most seem to think he should have got a long time ago.
Abbas has always been patient, though, and if he can make amends to his indifferent performances in South Africa last time around, it might just be one of the few things more precious than a Hilton Penthouse suite. After all, as even Guardiola is finding out now, even the best can stumble into a rough patch.

In the most thrilling game of the WPL season, she was involved in all the big moments and she won them all too

Shashank Kishore25-Feb-2025It seemed a no-brainer Royal Challengers Bengaluru would open the batting with Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh to knock off the nine runs they needed to win in the Super Over against UP Warriorz on Monday night.And while they were in discussion, Sophie Ecclestone quickly yanked her pads and gloves off and was ready to go again. As Deepti Sharma stood beside head coach Jon Lewis, Ecclestone walked across with ball in hand, having been the very reason the game had gone this far.After bowling an outstanding final over in regulation time that went for just six runs, after walloping Renuka Singh for two sixes and a four in a different final over to force a tie, she now had to bowl the Super Over to decide the winner. No pressure.Related

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If you’ve endured what England did at the hands of Australia in the Women’s Ashes recently, you’re unlikely to want the ball back in your hands this soon.But Ecclestone is different. She was happy to be back in a pressure situation, with the game rested entirely on her shoulders. She gave Deepti and Lewis no chance. She was taking the ball. She was bowling the Super Over.”I don’t think there was a conversation,” Ecclestone told . “It was just ‘give it to me’. I have a great team around me, Jon knows me very well. I was quite lucky to have people around to help me execute my plans.”It became clear the Warriorz were going the Ecclestone way. Her mantra: No room to free the arms, no length to hit. She was going full and straight, towards the base of the stumps from around the wicket.”I feel like it was a great wicket, [the ball] was skidding through,” Ecclestone said. “There wasn’t much bounce, if I felt I could get it as full as I can, and get it under the bat, then I could try and give them little chance to score runs.”Sophie Ecclestone’s big hits took the game to the last ball•BCCIIt hadn’t been that simple a while ago, though, when she was batting on 3 off 8, struggling to force the ball off the square. But when Renuka faltered in the final over, Ecclestone walloped her for 6, 6 and 4. It wasn’t blind slogging; it was a proper, calculated takedown of India’s pace spearhead.The first ball was a gift – a full toss – and she moved across her crease to hit it over short fine. Having missed her length, Renuka now went into the pitch. Ecclestone stayed still, deep in her crease to wind up before she muscled the half-tracker over deep midwicket.The four was equally ferocious in how she was able to manufacture pace on the ball when there was none. There was precision involved as well, the ball bisecting backward point and short third. Yet with two still needed off two, it could’ve all been for nothing.

“The way she executed her bowling in the end, it shows her class. It’s not easy for a left-arm spinner. To bowl that last over, the 20th [which went for just six], plus Super Over – she’s an extremely valuable player”Jon Lewis on Ecclestone’s heroics

Ecclestone took a single to leave the game in the hands of a rookie No. 11, who was batting for the first time in front of a boisterous crowd of 28,000. Neither spoke a language the other understood.”Kranti [Goud] was laughing at me,” Ecclestone said. “She had no idea [what I was telling her], she doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Hindi.”I think it was interesting, I don’t know why I ran. I think maybe I thought I could hit it into the gap and run two. But to Kranti, I was like ‘just smile, try to hit the ball and run as much as you can’. Yeah.”When Goud missed, they ran for their lives. Only to be denied by Ghosh who did an MS Dhoni, running up to the stumps to break the bails rather than risk an under-arm flick. But moments later, the euphoria of a tied game dissipated when Mandhana and Ghosh ran out of gas, with Ecclestone denying them yet again.”The way she executed her bowling in the end, it shows her class,” Lewis said. “It’s not easy for a left-arm spinner. To bowl that last over, the 20th [which went for just six], plus Super Over – she’s an extremely valuable player who performs week-in, week-out wherever she goes.”An over is all it took for Ecclestone to turn into the wrecking ball of WPL 2025. While everyone around her was visibly elated, pumped even, Ecclestone, who’d delivered a popcorn thriller, was in her little bubble, having silenced 28,000 fans who’d been cheering against her.

And that was not all. West Indies picked up three injuries and had to manufacture an entirely new opening pair

Andrew McGlashan13-Jul-2025

Justin Greaves celebrates dismissing Alex Carey•Associated Press

A lot happened on the opening day at Sabina Park, and not just with the ball – although that certainly did .One of the greatest spinners of all time was left out. Australia lost 7 for 68 under lights. Batters went into T20 mode in the third session of a Test. Jayden Seales bowled a worldie of a delivery. A substitute fielder took a worldie of a catch. West Indies picked up three injuries and had to manufacture an entirely new opening pair.Day-night Tests can have a strange tempo to them in that, for periods, things can move at a sedate pace, as if setting up for that final session under lights before moving at a breakneck speed. Early in the last session, around the time Beau Webster was dismissed shortly after Steven Smith, Australia shelved the idea of batting normally. At one point, it was worth pondering if Pat Cummins may declare, but the lower order kept swinging until West Indies had 45 minutes to face.

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On its own, leaving out a spinner on a well-grassed pitch for a pink-ball Test shouldn’t really scream selection shock. But this spinner has 562 Test wickets. The day before, Cummins had sown the seeds for a selection call that, while having plenty of logic behind it, still came with a lot of significance.About half an hour before the toss, Nathan Lyon was kicking a football on his own. A couple of backroom staff wandered up to him. There was a tap on the shoulder from one. Then Scott Boland took the tape measure and marked out his run-up. For the first time in 12 years, Lyon wasn’t included in the XI when he’s been fit.Related

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He had bowled one over against India last season in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide and wasn’t needed under lights against England in Hobart during the 2021-22 Ashes. But overall, he has been prolific with the pink ball. Australia have got creative with selection on the subcontinent in recent years, but this was still a surprise.”It’s odd not having him out there,” Smith said. “I think most of us have played pretty much every game with him, but conditions are conditions. I think we saw today how much seam was on offer and Scott Boland’s not too bad at that, as we’ve seen on numerous occasions. Obviously, Nathan’s an exceptional bowler, it’s certainly nothing to do with his skill that’s for sure.”

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When debutant Kevlon Anderson spilled Sam Konstas at third slip, you feared if West Indies were going to have another fielding nightmare. By tea – the first interval, not the second, in the world of day-night Tests, although can anyone actually agree on what to call them? – they only had one wicket to show for their efforts but had beaten the bat regularly amid sometimes extravagant seam movement.”I think some of the numbers early on, the seam amounts were through the roof,” Smith said. “They might have bowled just a fraction short. It looks pretty sometimes when the ball misses the bat, but when it’s a little bit shorter, it’s actually going too far to catch the edge on a lot of occasions.”Steven Smith and Co went into T20 mode in the third session of a Test•Associated PressBut early in the middle session, Shai Hope pulled off a spectacular catch to remove Usman Khawaja, flying one-handed towards first slip. It was another around-the-wicket dismissal for Khawaja but it had been a gutsy stay. Hope, meanwhile, had taken a terrific catch in Grenada to remove Travis Head and his return to Test cricket as a wicketkeeper has been very solid.Still, shortly before the dinner interval, Australia were sitting nicely on 129 for 2. Then Seales produced one of the deliveries of the series to remove a well-set Cameron Green: angled into middle from wide of the crease, nipping off the seam, zipping past the edge and trimming the bails. Sometimes you really do get a good one.”The ball did a lot more today than it did throughout the entire series,” Seales said. “There were a lot of plays and misses, and not enticing the edges as we did in the previous matches. But as the movement calmed down and the pitch calmed down a bit, it was easier to get wickets.”

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After dinner, with the lights in full effect, Smith wasn’t going to hang around. He edged one wide of second slip, slashed one over the cordon then nicked a big drive to first. “Throw the kitchen sink at it,” he said when asked about his thinking. “Any width, I was just trying to climb into it. It felt pretty tricky out there and it felt like when the ball was up there and you get a good look at it, have a go at it.”Webster soon fell and it was clear Australia weren’t going to try and see out the day. “We knew that Australia wanted to bowl under the lights, so they would push and see how much they could get,” Seales said.Substitute Anderson Phillip pulled off a stunning catch to dismiss Travis Head•Associated PressWith Head and Alex Carey at the crease, Australia had a pair who could cause damage in a short period of time. Carey, especially, continued to strike the ball crisply. Then Head tried to drive Justin Greaves over extra cover. Off the bat, he appeared to have placed it well enough. But Anderson Phillip, on as one of three substitute fielders, sprinted to his right at mid-off, dived full length, held the catch horizontal to the ground and managed to cling on as he hit the turf. “Great effort, great effort, great catch,” Ian Bishop said on commentary. “It had to be a fast bowler to do it, great athleticism.”

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Left with 45 minutes to bat, neither designated opener could come out for West Indies. Mikyle Louis had jarred his knee in the outfield – his prognosis did not sound promising – and John Campbell took a blow on the chest at short leg from a hard sweep by Smith.It felt like Mitchell Starc, in his 100th Test, could take a wicket nearly every ball. Then he did: Anderson dragging on in what was one of the tougher debut scenarios to imagine. Starc went to 396 Test wickets. Those four more may not be long in coming.Campbell, who had gone to the hospital for a scan, was back at the ground and set to bat No. 3. But it’s understood that he couldn’t get his kit on in time, so it was over to captain Roston Chase. It was that sort of day.

A seam-friendly pitch in Bengaluru backfired on India last year, but injuries to West Indies’ frontline quicks may contribute to a substantial covering of grass on the Ahmedabad surface

Karthik Krishnaswamy and Nagraj Gollapudi30-Sep-20252:10

Chopra: ‘I hope India don’t prepare rank turners’ against West Indies

India could play the first Test of their two-match series against West Indies on one of the greenest home pitches of recent seasons. Two days out from the first Test in Ahmedabad, the pitch had a lush, even covering of grass, and while some of it may get trimmed by the time the match begins, ESPNcricinfo understands 4-5mm could still remain.The primary reason for this grass cover is the composition of the soil. The square at the Narendra Modi Stadium has both red- and black-soil pitches. The pitch for this Test match is a red-soil strip. Red-soil pitches tend to offer excellent bounce and carry when held together by grass. Without this binding, however, they have the tendency to crumble rapidly into dustbowls – the pitch India played New Zealand on in Mumbai last year, where spinners took 34 of the 38 wickets that fell to bowlers, is the most recent example of this phenomenon.Another reason for the pitch looking as green as it did on Tuesday is the rainy weather Ahmedabad has experienced in the last few days, with the pitch under covers through most of Sunday and Monday. It was mostly clear on Tuesday, though, allowing both West Indies and India to train without interruption. There is rain forecast on day one of the Test, but the weather is expected to clear thereafter.Related

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In recent years, India have tended to play their home Tests on square turners in the pursuit of World Test Championship (WTC) points, with wins (12 points) worth three times as much as draws (four points). But these sharply turning pitches run the risk of narrowing the gap between India’s spin attack – which has been the best in the world for over a decade – and that of the visiting team. This was one of the factors that contributed to New Zealand’s unexpected and unprecedented 3-0 whitewash of India in India last year.India are looking to avoid any repeat of this, against a West Indies team that won a Test match against Pakistan on a square turner in Multan in January.No choice is without trade-offs, though, and seaming conditions weaponise both teams’ pace attacks. Last year’s series against New Zealand began in seam-friendly conditions in Bengaluru, where India were bowled out for 46 after choosing to bat first – their then captain Rohit Sharma later suggested he may have misread the conditions.If West Indies had their original squad to choose from, they could have picked the potent pace trio of Jayden Seales, Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph and gone toe-to-toe with India. They have, however, lost both Josephs to injury in the lead-up to the first Test. This leaves them with substantially depleted pace resources, with Seales and the allrounder Justin Greaves joined by Anderson Phillip – who has a bowling average of 72.50 after three Tests – and the uncapped pair of Johann Layne and Jediah Blades.India were bowled out for 46 in the first innings of the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru last year•BCCIThe weakening of West Indies’ seam attack may well contribute to more grass being left on the surface than it otherwise may have been. India will also be looking to put the visitors’ batting under pressure: West Indies were bowled out for 27 by Australia’s four-man seam attack in their most recent Test match, a day-night game in Jamaica.Apart from Bengaluru last year, the last time India played a home Test in genuinely seaming conditions was in Kolkata in 2017, when fast bowlers took 32 of the 35 wickets that fell during a tense, rain-affected draw against Sri Lanka. That pitch was partly the outcome of weather, and partly India’s wish to have their fast bowlers play on helpful pitches in the lead-up to a tour of South Africa in early 2018.Motera has a surprisingly rich history of pace-dominated Test matches. In the very first Test at the venue, in 1983, the quicks took 34 out of 38 bowlers’ wickets (including a nine-wicket haul for Kapil Dev in the third innings) as West Indies beat India by 138 runs. Wisden’s description of the conditions makes for interesting reading: “a lot of grass had been left on the hurriedly prepared pitch in the vain hope of holding it together”. Vain hope, indeed, because it quickly disintegrated into a surface offering deadly uneven bounce.9:01

Chopra: At home against West Indies ‘should be a relatively easier series for India in this WTC’

In 1996, Javagal Srinath took a match-winning fourth-innings six-for against South Africa on another uneven pitch, though this was a dry, underprepared surface equally conducive to spin.South Africa were the visitors once more in 2008, and this time the conditions worked in their favour. As Wisden put it: “A hot summer in Ahmedabad meant that grass had to be left on the pitch to bind the surface; the curator, former Test cricketer Dhiraj Parsana, insisted he could not remove it without taking the top off. He held his ground, and India won a toss they might have been better off losing. They chose to bat.”Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel ran through India, who were bowled out for 76 in just 20 overs. South Africa went on to win by an innings.Another Motera Test, another green or greenish surface. What kind of storyline will it bring us this time?

The game mourns the loss of an iconic figure who epitomised cricket in the pre-technology era

Andrew Miller24-Sep-2025For cricket fans of a certain age, it doesn’t do much for the blood pressure to revisit old umpiring decisions with the benefit of DRS-acquired hindsight. Take any given Ashes series, or crunch passage of play against the mighty 1980s-vintage West Indians, and you’ll doubtless stumble upon a moment when a perfectly pitched English inswinger curls into a presumptuously planted front pad …”Hmm… yes, just missing leg,” Jack Bannister or Tony Lewis will demur, as said toiling medium-pacer allows their appeal to be strangled at birth and trudge forlornly back to their mark. Of course in their heart of hearts they will have known full well that that delivery was smashing all three, but until those stumps are physically rattled, that famously wagging finger shall remain steadfastly buried at the bottom of its ubiquitous white coat.Harold “Dickie” Bird, who died on Monday at the age of 92, was perhaps the most steadfast “not-outer” of the lot. Had he been plying his trade in the punitive modern era of umpiring – in which every contentious decision suffers trial by a thousand replays, and death by exponential retweet – that famously nervous disposition would scarcely have made it to the middle, let alone to Buckingham Palace for services rendered to his beloved sport.Happily, though, Bird’s career did not coincide with the DRS. Shockingly, it is now 30 summers since he stood for the last of his 66 Test matches – at Lord’s in 1996, when he famously wept his way to the middle through a guard of honour (then shelved that hard-won reputation with an emotional first-over triggering of Mike Atherton…). And yet, the extraordinary response to his passing underlines the extent to which his era was judged by different criteria, and that his improbable fame transcended the boundaries of his chosen field.To that first point, cricket in the mid-1990s was still a defiantly amateur occupation, long after the professional era was supposed to have taken hold. Despite the proliferation of cameras (on the field for the most part, but also, at the height of the 1980s tabloid wars, off the field to a degree arguably unmatched to this day), the sport was to all intents and purposes self-governing.Just as captains oversaw match arrangements and training sessions (or not, in the case of David Gower in the Caribbean in 1986), so it was down to the umpires to oversee the ensuing fixtures, and the spirit and conditions in which they were played. In cricket’s potential melting pot of cultures and sensibilities, Dickie’s unalloyed good nature was a language that cut across all potential disagreements. To that end, his idiosyncrasies were arguably crucial to his appeal, in the same way that Norman Wisdom became a cult figure in Albania, or Mr Bean’s brand of physical comedy remains hugely popular to all manner of unlikely audiences. He was, as Matthew Engel once wrote in Wisden, “the first to combine the distinct roles of top-flight umpire and music-hall comedian”.Bird sits forlornly on the covers during the bomb scare at Lord’s in 1973•PA PhotosIrrespective of circumstance, players of all persuasions could recognise and appreciate Bird’s devotion to the duty of his sport, whether that be an apologetic need to raise that dreaded finger (astonishingly, he and Steve Bucknor – another reluctant decision-maker – combined for a record 17 lbws at Port-of-Spain in 1993) or his famous obstinacy when adverse conditions crept into the narrative.The stories about Dickie’s stoppages in play are legendary – from the bomb scare that interrupted his second Test, at Lord’s in 1973, to the reflection off a greenhouse that caused an excess of sunlight in his penultimate home match, at Old Trafford in 1995. More gallingly, there was the Centenary Test at Lord’s in 1980, when, in a premonition of the career that he was spared from having to endure, Bird was reduced to tears by the abuse that he and David Constant received from MCC members as ten hours of play were lost to rain over the first three days.That incident, however, was at least contained to the circumstances in which it arose. Earlier this week, by contrast, the game’s foremost female umpire, Sue Redfern, was subjected to a dyspeptic press release from Lancashire that, on the one hand, decried the abuse she had received when (on the evidence available to her) she had been unable to overturn a crucial dismissal on T20 Finals Day, while also confirming that the club had “formally expressed” its disappointment at the decision to the ECB. A quiet word in the bar would have sufficed back in the day. The extent to which decisions have consequences is these days off the charts.Happily, such scrutiny for Bird and his ilk was a world away. Instead, his career delivered fame and recognition that, even by modern standards, transcends the bounds of most cricketers, let alone sporting officials. In September 1998, when Dickie umpired his last first-class fixture, the internet was still a borderline gimmick, pumping its data down old-school landlines, with the age of instant information yet to be realised. On Tuesday afternoon, by contrast, the news of his death was given top billing on most news websites – even Donald Trump’s bellicose comments at the UN had to play second fiddle.This summer, amid the 20th anniversary of the 2005 Ashes, the notion of English cricket’s modern-day anonymity has been a frequent topic of discussion, and the sport’s disappearance from terrestrial TV is often cited as the principal cause. And yet, Bird’s fame belongs in a different echelon. The timing of his career was a key factor – he was there for the early stirrings of colour-TV coverage in the 1970s, and in turn the beginnings of cricket’s truly global era, including his officiating of the first three World Cup finals (all staged at his home-from-home Lord’s).But also, he epitomised a more egalitarian era, when cricket in England shared a stage and status with football, as, respectively, the nation’s summer and winter sports, and when the money in the latter had not rendered all competition for latent attention meaningless. In his pomp, perhaps only Ian Botham could command more universal recognition among non-cricket fans – and he was arguably the most famous sportsman in the country.Dickie Bird borrows a lady’s hat at the 150th Anniversary of Yorkshire County Cricket Club•Getty ImagesBird was not, however, the most famous player to emerge from his legendary Barnsley youth team of the 1950s. In an astonishing quirk of his two-up, two-down upbringing, he would form lifelong friendships with two men who arguably united his twin passions of cricketing rectitude and people-pleasing. One the one hand there was Geoffrey Boycott, the opening batter that Bird (average 20.71 from 93 matches) with his nervous disposition was never quite able to become. On the other, there was Michael Parkinson, the legendary chat-show host whose appointment-to-view presence in TV’s free-to-air era exceeded even Bird’s seven-hours-a-day screentime during his summer Test outings. A third childhood friend, Tommy Taylor, might even have outstripped them all. But tragically, as a Manchester United footballer, he died in 1958 in the Munich air disaster, at the age of 26.The conditions do not exist for another Dickie Bird to burst forth into the game. He was, as he often protested when quizzed about his bachelor status, “married to cricket”, and it was as enduring a relationship as there can ever have been. But the foibles and embellishments that make up his inimitable story have no place in modern cricket, still less the tales of practical jokes that followed him out to the middle – rubber snakes, mobile phones, firecrackers, etc – all of which would these days attract ICC demerit points, rather than foster a sense of participants enjoying the stage together.There were others who came after Dickie, who brought their own quirks and personalities to the middle – foremost among them, Billy Bowden with his crooked digits and expressive boundary signalling, and Rudi Koertzen with his glacially slow finger of death. But throughout their own careers – overlain as they were with pitch-map graphics and instant feedback on each decision – there was an undercurrent of impatience at their antics, as if any action that wasn’t devoted to the cause of accuracy was, frankly, a waste of energy.Out of this new reality, a different breed of umpire emerged, perhaps best epitomised by Australia’s Simon Taufel, who officiated his first international at the age of 27 and was named ICC Umpire of the Year for five years from inception. His safe, unshowy, middle-manager style has arguably been the template for all subsequent elite-panel appointments, and sure enough, the number of truly contentious decisions has plummeted in recent years.In its place, however, the most enervating modern-day gripe seems to revolve around slow over rates, which is surely a byproduct of a loss of humanity out in the middle. If umpires are meant only to be glorified hatstands, it’s hardly a surprise that they lack the authority to chivvy along the contest of which they used to be in charge.Bird would not have stood for such dilly-dallying, unless of course it related to a burst water pipe at Headingley or an errant pigeon flapping around on a good length. He belonged to an era when cricket still was only a game, and he kept it all the richer by sharing that knowledge with all who crossed his white lines.As David Hopps, my former colleague at ESPNcricinfo and another forthright Yorkshireman, put it: “Whenever I met Dickie, I always felt that I was being invited to reacquaint myself with my inner child. He knew no other way.”

Unlike other fast bowlers in Australia, Bumrah can target the stumps as well as threaten both the edges with his swing. How does one prepare for it?

Alex Malcolm03-Dec-20243:01

Pujara: Bumrah is a team-man and has the ability to lead the team

Australia have a Jasprit Bumrah problem. They’re not the first team to run into said problem, and they won’t be the last.There is also evidence to suggest that Bumrah isn’t their only problem. Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mir Hamza, Shamar Joseph, Alzarri Joseph, Matt Henry and Ben Sears have all scythed through Australia’s top order in the last seven Test matches with bags of four or more in an innings.But the issue with Bumrah appears to be particularly acute. The only top-eight batter Bumrah failed to dismiss in Perth was Mitchell Marsh. He took five of the first seven wickets in Australia’s first innings and three of the first six in the second.Related

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• Kohli vs Bumrah highlights India's jam-packed practice session

He did most of his damage with the new ball, but he knocked over Travis Head in the fourth innings on 89 with a ball that was 38.5 overs old. He knocked over right-hand batters from over the wicket and left-hand batters from around. He tattooed red cherries on pads and outside edges alike with both inswingers and outswingers. The only thing he didn’t do was rattle anyone’s stumps, but that was only because four sets of pads got in the way.So how do Australia’s batters solve a problem like Bumrah ahead of Adelaide?

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In 2005, Adam Gilchrist had an Andrew Flintoff problem. Specifically, a Flintoff problem from around the wicket. Flintoff dismissed him six times in all forms in the 2005 tour of England, including four times in the Ashes. His angle in from wide around the wicket and late movement away had Gilchrist consistently following and nicking outside off stump.Ahead of the 2006-07 Ashes, Gilchrist turned to his batting coach Bob Meuleman for a solution. Meuleman, the brain behind the famous squash ball in the glove, came up with another inventive way for Gilchrist to prepare. At Meuleman’s indoor cricket nets in South Perth, he set up a bowling machine on an angle so wide from around the wicket that the machine’s legs were nearly touching the side net. With brand new bowling machine balls, pulled straight from the packaging, he peppered Gilchrist with deliveries angled in and swinging away at high speed.Gilchrist didn’t get out to Flintoff that summer, albeit Flintoff was certainly not the same bowler as he had been in 2005. He didn’t face him in the first Test. He survived 28 Flintoff deliveries of the 79 balls he saw in the second in Adelaide on his way to scoring 64. Flintoff brought himself onto Gilchrist straightaway in the third innings of the third Test after Monty Panesar had dismissed him for a four-ball duck in the first, and Gilchrist went at Flintoff without fear on his way to a stunning 57-ball century.

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In 2024, the bowling machine is a relic of the past for modern-day batters. Despite being a staple in preparation for the likes of Gilchrist and his team-mates, even in the days leading into a Test match, modern batters have shunned it completely citing the repetition and predictability of the machine as detrimental despite the ability to position it for very specific challenges like Gilchrist did.How do you prepare for this kind of action?•Getty ImagesIn trying to solve the Bumrah problem while preparing in the nets, Australia’s batters rely on the coaches throwing with the aid of the side-arm/dog thrower, along with net bowlers.The problem is replicating Bumrah’s release. It’s near-on impossible to do. He is a freak of nature. One of a kind. Much has been made of the stuttered run up and the hyper-extended elbow but none of that actually matters to the guys facing him. What matters only is how the ball comes out of the fingers and how it arrives to them.”I’m best when I look for the cues, when I’m just preparing to watch the ball hard and staying fresh mentally,” Travis Head said on Monday. “I think I’m lucky that I’ve faced him a few times and came across him a fair bit. So I just go back over recent times, and times I’ve faced him.”The problem is there are very few cues from Bumrah. The batters say the uniqueness of his action makes it difficult to differentiate his inswinger and his outswinger. The seam presentation is virtually the same, and he doesn’t fall or lean excessively for his inswinger like other bowlers tend to.Top-order Test batters face high-quality bowlers for a living. Often they have to pick a poison in terms of defending against the most likely dismissal, trying to stack the odds in their favour.In Australia, a batter’s outside edge is the biggest vulnerability. The excessive bounce and seam movement of nearly all of Australia’s pitches now, bar the SCG, and the height of most fast bowlers means that it is very difficult for bowlers to hit the stumps from a good 5-6m length.Australian batters are traditionally very good at leaving on length. Australia’s tall fast bowlers often complain about how hard it is to hit the stumps in Australia. If a batter is leaving well, it forces a quick to push much fuller to hit the stumps, which reduces the ability of the ball to move sideways, and batters can profit with scoring opportunities.Batters might then make a decision to take their guard and eyeline closer to off stump in Australia, in order to make better decisions on what to leave and what to play, and back themselves not to miss anything full or straight given the lbw threat is reduced by the added bounce.They would do the opposite in slower and lower conditions in India. Nicking off in India to the quicks is nowhere near as large a concern as getting pinned lbw. So batters might choose in those conditions to take guard closer to leg stump to take lbw out of play and hope any edge falls short of any small waiting cordon.The problem against Bumrah in Perth was that the threat of lbw and nicking off was equally high given his skiddy nature and his ability to swing the ball both ways at high speed from a close release point. While Australia’s bowlers find it hard to hit the stumps from a 5m length, Bumrah can.

“To me, it’s about how are you scoring runs off Jasprit Bumrah? The art of putting pressure back onto him and knowing where you’re going to score off him, that’s our definition of method.”Australia coach Andrew McDonald

There were five lbws in the Perth Test and Bumrah had four of them. Four players also nicked off. It would have been five had Marnus Labuschagne been held second ball of his first innings at second slip by Virat Kohli.The threat of the nick again no doubt played a part in Labuschagne’s torturous 52-ball 2, where he refused to play a shot, and a part in his second innings dismissal where he tried to leave on length and was pinned lbw.The issue for Australia is how to recalibrate their plans with both threats in play, and how to rehearse them in the nets.Australia’s coaches have been going wide on the crease to replicate Bumrah’s wide release and angle in while attempting to swing it both ways at pace. They did something similar when preparing for West Indies quick Kemar Roach last summer, who also releases the ball from past the perpendicular.The issue with the side-arm device though is the height. The distance between the handle and where the ball is released from is up to 50cm. Coach Andrew McDonald already stands at approximately 6 foot 3 inches. So does bowling coach Daniel Vettori who is a left-armer. Batting coach Michael Di Venuto is a lot closer to Bumrah’s height while fielding coach Andre Borovec is shorter.Jasprit Bumrah trapped Steven Smith lbw first ball in the first innings in Perth•Getty ImagesAustralia had coaching consultants Michael Hussey and Lachlan Stevens, another left-hander, in Perth as well who are Bumrah’s height or shorter. But even then, adding 50cm of stick to the release point means a good length delivery in the nets is unlikely to hit the stumps. The decision-making in terms of footwork and shot selection changes with the trajectory and the bounce.It was a problem past Australian players encountered when preparing for Sri Lankan quick Lasith Malinga, and some tried to get coaches to throw without the side-arm device, instead throwing by hand with a low round-arm release point from in front of the umpire’s chest to replicate the angle.Facing Australia’s bowlers in the nets won’t help either. One international player told ESPNcricinfo that the closest comparison Australia had in terms of Bumrah’s skillset and trajectory was Jhye Richardson. But even Richardson is significantly different to Bumrah and is not with Australia in Adelaide.Ultimately, every player who has ever played knows that what happens in the nets is completely different to the middle, no matter how hard you tried to replicate what you will face.And survival is one thing, scoring is another, as McDonald noted in the aftermath of the Perth loss.”To me, it’s about how are you scoring runs off Jasprit Bumrah,” McDonald said. “It’s one thing sitting there and going, ‘how am I going to defend the good balls?’ But the art of putting pressure back on to him and knowing where you’re going to score off him, that’s our definition of method, how you are going to score your runs against a certain type of bowler.”The boys, they were clear coming in. There’s one thing being clear coming in and then obviously, once you get into the heat of battle, maintaining your mindset around all of that, and that’s going to be our challenge.”

Trades happen fast in professional sports.

Especially ahead of the MLB trade deadline. If looking for an example of this fact, look no further than the case of Cincinnati Reds third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, who was dealt from the Pittsburgh Pirates to Cincinnati on Wednesday.

The deal—from acquisition to getting up to speed with the Reds—happened so quickly that Hayes didn't have time to get certain uniform items in Reds colors. So on Thursday, the day of his debut with the Reds, he simply wore Pirates-themed colors for his belt and cleats.

It was a pretty amusing sight, as well as a reminder of the business side of baseball.

Hayes thus far is hitless and made an error in his debut with Cincinnati.

This was the 12th instance of a batter retiring out in a men’s T20I, and the first in a match featuring two Full Member teams

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Aug-2025Roston Chase became the first batter to retire out during a men’s T20I featuring two Full Member teams when he went off during West Indies’ chase of 190 in the deciding game against Pakistan in Lauderhill on Sunday.West Indies had gotten off to a good start, with Alick Athanaze scoring a 40-ball 60 opening the innings, but they slowed down once he was dismissed to leave the scoreboard reading 110 for 3 at the end of the 13th over. The requirement then was 80 runs from 42 balls.While Sherfane Rutherford, the No. 4, got going immediately, Chase struggled to go big, hitting just two fours in a 12-ball 15 before he was called back to the dugout – 41 runs were needed off 18 balls after that, and West Indies only managed 27 to concede the series 2-1.There has been only one previous instance of a batter retiring out in a men’s T20I featuring a Full Member team: in the 2024 T20 World Cup, Namibia’s opening batter Nikolaas Davin retired out after scoring 18 from 16 balls in a chase of 126 in ten overs against England in North Sound. The other ten such dismissals have all been recorded in matches involving two Associate teams.Chase, incidentally, had been retired out once before in a T20, at the ILT20 earlier this year. His team Abu Dhabi Knight Riders batted first in that game against MI Emirates, and Chase, batting at No. 6, had failed to get a move on after walking out in the 12th over, scoring 20 from 13 at the end of the 18th over, when he was retired out.

Kylian Mbappe has hit back at French rapper Orelsan after being mocked in a new track over the Real Madrid star’s ownership of Caen. The French club now sit in the third tier of French football after facing relegation under Mbappe's ownership. The striker issued a fiery reply on social media, accusing the rapper of "begging" for a free stake in the club.

• Mbappe fires back at French rapper Orelsan

  The feud erupted hours after French rapper Orelsan dropped his new album, featuring a biting track titled “La petite voix.” In one verse, the Caen-born artist took aim at Mbappe’s record as club owner, sneering, “You’re going to sink your city like the Mbappes.” The line referenced Caen’s dramatic decline since the footballer’s family-led takeover in 2024.

  Mbappe, known for rarely engaging in off-field controversies, wasted no time responding. Posting on X, he wrote: “You’re welcome to come and save the city you love so much.

  “PS: The guy kept begging us to get in with 1% without paying because he doesn’t have a penny but wanted to look like the little guy from Normandy.”

  The jab sparked mixed reactions. Some accused Mbappe of arrogance and deflection, while others applauded his blunt defence. The incident, however, revived scrutiny of his ill-fated venture with Caen, a club now mired in relegation, layoffs, and mounting frustration among fans who once saw him as a saviour.

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• Getty Images Sport
  

  Mbappe’s failed Caen project

  In 2024, Mbappe became one of Europe’s youngest football club owners after purchasing an 80 per cent stake in Caen through his firm, Coalition Capital, investing around €20 million. What began as a symbolic homecoming, returning to the club that once nearly signed him as a youth, quickly turned into a cautionary tale of ambition and mismanagement.

  By April 2025, Caen had hit rock bottom. A crushing 0-3 defeat to Martigues mathematically confirmed their relegation from Ligue 2, sending the club into France’s third division for the first time in 41 years. Supporters stormed the pitch in protest, unfurling a banner reading: “Mbappe, SMC is not your toy.”

  The fallout was immediate. Sixteen staff members were laid off in a controversial restructuring, and fan trust evaporated. Christophe Vaucelle, head of the Malherbe Normandy Kop, summed up local sentiment, saying: “The Mbappe clan bears some responsibility. They arrived, stayed invisible, and disconnected from the fans. The situation is catastrophic.”

  For Mbappe, the failure cut deep. Alongside Madrid’s Champions League exit that same week, Caen’s relegation marked one of the most turbulent months of his career, both as a footballer and businessman.

• AFP
  

  How Caen collapsed under new ownership

  Behind the scenes, Mbappe’s management model at Caen was built on trust and delegation. His close associate Ziad Hammoud took over as club president, while sporting operations were overseen by general manager Josselin Flamand and technical director Pascal Plancque.

  Recruitment head Reda Hammache later revealed that Mbappe stayed “informed but not intrusive,” relying on regular updates rather than day-to-day control. “He’s not the type to call and demand changes,” Hammache told . “He trusts us but gives input on big decisions.”

  However, reports claim the absence of a strong leadership presence at the club left a vacuum. Miscommunication, unclear sporting direction, and repeated coaching changes – from Bruno Baltazar to Michel Der Zakarian and later Maxime D’Ornano – created instability. Dressing-room tension grew, morale plummeted, and results worsened.

  For many fans, the perception that Mbappe had overextended himself as he juggles between Madrid, the French national team, and a football club further cemented the narrative that Caen was a vanity project gone wrong. The financial losses from relegation and dwindling ticket sales have only deepened the crisis.

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• Fame, failure, and France’s changing relationship With Mbappe

  The Orelsan feud struck a cultural chord because it exposed a growing rift between Mbappe and sections of the French public. Once seen as the golden boy of football, the Madrid star now faces skepticism about his off-field ambitions. This is not the first time Mbappe has clashed with figures from France’s rap scene, his earlier feud with Booba also revolved around ego and authenticity. But this latest exchange cuts deeper, tying together fame, money and regional pride.

  As Caen continue life in the National League, the club’s focus has shifted toward stability and youth development under coach D’Ornano. Meanwhile, Mbappe must navigate the fallout by balancing his image as a global superstar with the growing backlash at home.

Manchester City are now planning to make a move for Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior if he becomes available, amid tension with manager Xabi Alonso.

Rodri might have something to say about Man City making a move for Vinicius, given what happened back in 2024, with the Real Madrid forward refusing to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony after finding out the Spanish midfielder was set to win the award.

Paris Saint-Germain star Ousmane Dembele went on to win the prestigious award for the first time this year, with the Brazilian missing out again, but he remains in the top 10 of the Ballon d’Or power rankings for 2026, with two City stars also in the top 20.

After the controversy that unfolded, City fans unveiled a banner mocking the Madrid forward using Oasis lyrics ahead of a Champions League tie against the Spanish side last season.

Man City planning to make move for Vinicius Junior

Despite the fallout after the 2024 Ballon d’Or, a report from Spain has now revealed that Man City intend to make a move for Vinicius if he becomes available, amid rumours of tension with Real Madrid manager Alonso.

A number of elite clubs are closely monitoring the situation, including Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, with the winger yet to put pen to paper on a new contract to extend his stay at the La Liga club beyond 2027.

However, it could take a huge bid to get a deal over the line, with reports from elsewhere revealing Madrid are expected to demand €250m (£220m) to sanction a departure.

Lauded as “the best player in the world” by Real Madrid columnist Kiyan Sobhani, the Brazil international has been one of the driving forces behind his side’s fantastic start to the season, having won nine of their opening ten La Liga matches.

Indeed, the 25-year-old has featured in every game, chipping in with nine goal contributions, but he stole the headlines for different reasons in the El Clasico last time out, having engaged in a heated exchange with Alonso after being substituted.

The most recent outburst, coupled with his reaction to being snubbed, suggests the Rio de Janeiro-born forward may cause problems behind-the-scenes for Pep Guardiola, but there can be no denying he is a top player, excelling across several key metrics over the past year.

That said, £220m would be a huge fee to shell out on any player, so it may be worth waiting another year to see if Vinicius’ price-tag drops towards the end of his contract.

Vinicius Junior has been named as one of the best wingers in the world

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