The conditions at The Oval represent the best opportunity for Pakistan’s beleaguered batsmen to regain their form and confidence

S Rajesh17-Aug-2010The conditions at The Oval represent the best opportunity for Pakistan’s beleaguered batsmen to get their form and confidence back after what’s been a wretched series so far. In the two Tests so far, Pakistan have averaged 15.75 runs per dismissal (compared to England’s 32.83), while their top six have collectively averaged 10.20, with a top score of 38 in 24 innings.All that could change, though, at a venue which has traditionally been the best one for batting in England. In the ten Tests played here since 2000, teams have averaged almost 38, with 21 centuries – an average of more than two hundreds per game.

Pakistan’s batsmen have historically feasted on the conditions here: in five Tests played by the team here since 1970, they have averaged more than 57, which is a 72% improvement over their average at the second-best venue in England. In these five matches, they’ve scored more than 500 in their first innings on four occasions. Seven hundreds have been scored in these games, which is more than the number they’ve managed in any other venue in England.

Javed Miandad leads the averages table for Pakistan’s batsmen at The Oval, with scores of 260 and 59 in his two innings there, for an average of 159.50. In 22 innings in other grounds in England, he managed only one century and averaged less than 35. Mohammad Yousuf, Zaheer Abbas and Saleem Malik all hundreds here, though they also performed well at other grounds in England.The same can’t be said of Pakistan’s current opener, Imran Farhat. In his only innings at The Oval, in 2006, Farhat scored 91; in 12 innings in other venues in England, he has scored more than 50 exactly once. Inzamam-ul-Haq is one of the few batsmen to average more at other England grounds than The Oval.

Pakistan will surely be encouraged by these numbers, but England will fancy their chances of sealing the series at a venue where they haven’t lost any of their last eight Tests, and have won five of them. A win against Pakistan will give them a hattrick of wins here, following the defeats of South Africa and Australia in the last two seasons. The last team to beat England at this venue was Australia, way back in 2001. Pakistan’s most recent memory, on the other hand, was much more unpleasant, with the forfeiture in 2006 handing England victory after they trailed by 331 in the first innings.England’s current batsmen, though, don’t have such a great record at The Oval. Kevin Pietersen has scored three hundreds, and has topped 90 in each Test that he has played here, but Paul Collingwood only averages 32.62, with no century in ten innings.

In the last five Tests here, fast bowlers and spinners have achieved similar numbers: pace has accounted for 111 wickets at an average of 36.02, while spinners average 37.48 for their 43 wickets.

Matthew Breetzke shows he can get past 30-40 as he scored 150 on ODI debut to break records and signal the start of something special

Danyal Rasool10-Feb-2025South Africa’s travel arrangements to Pakistan were a good reminder of why large groups are such a bother. The SA20 threw a spanner in the works in terms of the player availability pool. Lungi Ngidi and Tabraiz Shamsi weren’t initially part of the squad, and then tacked on as late additions; without them, they wouldn’t have been able to scrape 11 players together today. At one point against New Zealand, when Ngidi went off, they still needed fielding coach Wanele Gwavu to make up the numbers. On Sunday, Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi and Kwena Maphaka were on a plane to Pakistan, but none of them were available today.Fewer than half the players in this squad will be part of South Africa’s Champions Trophy party. It is the selectorial equivalent of looking through a threadbare kitchen cupboard and throwing all available ingredients into the pot in the hope of achieving a serviceable stew. Except, if that metaphor is to be tormented further, no one likes experimental stew early on a Monday morning – this is the only day game of the series, the PCB ostensibly putting it on to put their operational robustness to the test at a different time of day.As if things couldn’t get more challenging, South Africa lost the toss at 9am, when the winter morning haze hadn’t cleared, and were put in to bat at the most challenging time of the day. So unfamiliar is much of the squad that 26-year-old Matthew Breetzke, opening with captain Temba Bavuma, appeared to be one of the senior players in the side, until you realised this was his ODI debut.Related

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For the first half-hour, he looked a debutant, too. New Zealand, more seasoned at this level and with a crushing win under their belt, smelled blood, and like a shiver of sharks pressing a salmon cluster to the surface, began to suffocate Breetzke. Will O’Rourke, in particular, was testing him, pushing Breetzke back using the bounce, rapping him on the gloves as an early shot across the bows. The following over, he cut Breetzke in half, hitting the top of the inside edge of the bat with extra bounce. Had New Zealand been more proactive about bringing a short leg in, this story may have ended right here.In a classic telltale sign of his struggle against the bounce, Breetzke began to lean across to try and whip it behind square on the on side – the equivalent of sweeping against spin when it’s hard to determine which way it’s turning. Not that plenty were connecting; he scored just nine off the first 21 balls, and wasn’t in control of many. As the sun battled to burn off the morning haze, he was also in a battle of his own. He attacked hardly any of the first 30 balls he faced, and was in control of less than 75%.”I definitely think that first hour was the hardest batting conditions all day,” Breetzke said at the press conference afterwards – he was there because he scored 150 by the end of it, and we’ll talk about it in a bit. “The wicket was tacky and overhead conditions were tough with the new ball, with the bit of mist in the air. My mindset was just to get through those first ten with that new ball and kick on.”There’s a reason Breetzke is rated highly within his own team, a List A average of under 30 doesn’t quite do justice to his talent and mentality. At SA20 2024, when he was among the best batters in the early stages of the tournament, his team-mate Keshav Maharaj said Breetzke’s mindset was “similar to Virat Kohli’s” and earmarked him as “leadership material for South Africa”.

“If you wind him up, you will probably see the better side of him. It’s such a blessing to see someone of his age do that. I think he is set for a long career in international cricket”Keshav Maharaj on Matthew Breetzke

“There was a story of someone saying he is only good for 30 and 40, so it was a nice way of motivating him,” Maharaj had told ESPNcricinfo, presciently. “If you wind him up, you will probably see the better side of him. It’s such a blessing to see someone of his age do that. I think he is set for a long career in international cricket.”The sun was beginning to warm the surface up and the crowd, surprisingly strong for a day match on a Monday between two sides neither of which was Pakistan, began to duck for shade. Breetzke, though, was beginning to shine under the spotlight, and for a player often accused of throwing away good starts, only gaining in strength. A six off Mitchell Santner just after drinks signalled a shift in intent in an innings that developed like rungs on a stepladder, hitting various gears as his side’s requirements changed.It allowed him to show his full repertoire, but the onslaught at the very end was reminiscent of Glenn Phillips against Pakistan. O’Rourke, his torturer-in-chief in the morning, went short, but Breetzke’s innings – and perhaps Breetzke the man – had come of age by now. He rocked back and lashed him behind deep point for the boundary that got him to a debut ODI hundred. Like a boy who has bested his childhood bully, he lived like a man liberated.It started scratchily for Matthew Breetzke but he found a way to stay in and make it count•AFP/Getty ImagesIt was high-risk, but in this kind of devastating touch, Breetzke found a way of making it look safe. He attacked 40% of his final 30 deliveries, almost three times up on his first 30, and yet remained in control of a whopping 90%. Little in his List A career, with a strike rate a shade under 79, could have prepared New Zealand for the withering assault to follow.Breetzke, though, is defensive of his record, his late bloom indicative of the value of giving young cricketers time to understand their game before throwing them in the deep end. “I started off my one-day career quite slowly and we played on tough wickets, hence my List A numbers are not the best,” he said. “I take pride in my white-ball cricket, and in one-day cricket, it’s probably the best I’ve batted.”And he was batting like it. He went from 100 to 150 in just 20 deliveries – the hapless Ben Sears singled out for punishment – and made history of his own, becoming the first ODI debutant to score 150. It culminated in a 20-run 45th over that requires little editing to serve as a compilation reel of its own. Sears tried to target his body, but he manufactured room off consecutive balls to muscle it to either side of the wicket for boundaries.When Sears went short, Breetzke reminded him that it no longer worked, scything him over point for four, before, as if to rub it in, crunching the final delivery over deep third for the six that got him to 150. The man who scratched his way to his first few runs on what seemed an inauspicious batting morning may end up looking back on it as the dawn of a very long career.

Graham McKenzie was a constant in the Australian team when other bowlers struggled to hold their place

Brydon Coverdale06-Feb-2012In the backyard of his Perth house, Graham McKenzie can tend the barbeque with one hand and catch a six with the other. There is no boundary fence between his property and the ground where the Claremont-Nedlands club plays grade cricket each weekend. He can watch a match from behind long-on without leaving his garden.At 70, McKenzie is still surrounded by the game. A hundred metres up the road is the ground where the elite Scotch College plays its cricket. Walking there might have taken him twice as long a couple of years ago. But after a pair of knee replacements last year McKenzie is sprightly again. Making his way around a golf course holds no obstacles now.That his knees caused him problems is hardly surprising. He finished his career with 1219 first-class wickets, a tally that is almost unheard of among Australians, especially fast bowlers. As one of the first non-resident overseas professionals in county cricket in the 1960s, McKenzie piled up the wickets. He didn’t have too much competition for victims during his Test career, either.McKenzie occupies a curious place in Australia’s cricket history. When most people think of the great Australian fast bowlers, the names that come to mind are Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath, Ray Lindwall, Jeff Thomson, Alan Davidson. Even Fred Spofforth, whose last Test was 125 years ago, would rate a mention.McKenzie did win some recognition in 2010, when he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. His former captain Bill Lawry was given the honour on the same night. It was fitting, for these days unless Lawry is commentating, McKenzie’s name is rarely heard in cricket discussions.Yet he carried the Australian attack throughout the 1960s, a decade when they lost only two series. When he played his last match in the baggy green, he was fourth on the all-time Test wicket list, with 246, behind Fred Trueman, Brian Statham and Richie Benaud. The start of McKenzie’s career overlapped with the end of Davidson’s, and he narrowly missed out on playing Test cricket with Lillee.The bulk of the support for McKenzie through most of his Test career came from men like Neil Hawke and Alan Connolly. They were solid performers, but a great deal was expected of McKenzie. Other bowlers, fast and slow, rotated through the attack – the likes of Dave Renneberg, Laurie Mayne, Eric Freeman, Tom Veivers, David Sincock, Graeme Watson, Froggy Thomson – without really holding down a spot.At times, like during the 1965-66 Ashes, McKenzie and Hawke shared the new ball and Veivers bowled offspin, and then it was all part-timers: Doug Walters, Bob Simpson, Keith Stackpole, Ian Chappell. At other times, like on the 1964 trip to England, his workload was such that modern fast men would struggle to bowl as much over the space of two or three years.”We used to bowl a lot of overs,” McKenzie says. “Nowadays every match they play is virtually an international match. I bowled about 900 overs on a tour in 1964. It’s a lot of work. Plus we had a few other two-day matches and one-day matches as well [not included in that tally]. But it was probably not as intense as now.”Being a pace bowler is not easy. It’s great if you can get good support. You can be lucky and have a couple of other good bowlers with you. If you can’t get them out, the others will. A couple of times in my career it was a bit hard. I didn’t have a great deal of support.”I would have loved to have played with McGrath and Warne. To have Shane Warne playing in your team – you’d get a couple and if you couldn’t get the others out, he’d come back on – it would just keep the pressure on at both ends.”That is as close as McKenzie comes to talking himself up. He is softly spoken and humble to a fault, and was said by some to have been too nice to be a great fast bowler. Sledging was not in his repertoire. He bowled when he was asked to by his captains, and he was asked to too often. Generally with McKenzie, being over-bowled didn’t lead to injuries. But his Test career ended sooner than it should have.”In 1964 I bowled a hell of a lot but I don’t think I needed any treatment on the whole trip,” he says. “It must have been the best fitness I was ever at. Later on I had niggles with my back. At the end of your career there’s always something. But you always had to play through it. Nowadays I think they take more precautions, especially if they’re younger. We probably played a lot of Tests that they wouldn’t let you play now.”I played my last Test when I was 29. I could have played on if I’d been looked after. I could have played another two or three years at least.”Not that McKenzie is bitter. Far from it. He is proud of his achievements for Australia and remembers fondly his many tours. Unusually for a fast bowler, he was particularly successful in India, where he took 34 wickets at 19.26. He took ten wickets in his first Test in India, in Madras in 1964. The lack of pace in the pitches there didn’t seem to faze him.

“I liked it in England. It was a good lifestyle. I was single and had no ties, but it probably didn’t help having to bowl all winter and then come back”

“I don’t think the Indians were that used to playing against good pace bowlers,” he says. “So if you bowled really well in India, even though the wickets didn’t help much, it gave you a chance. But it was frustrating. You’d get an edge and the ball wouldn’t carry to slip at times.”On his second trip to India in 1969, he was on the field in the Brabourne Test when the fans rioted. Remarkably, play kept going while smoke filled the stadium.”That was quite amazing,” he says. “In the middle of the field we couldn’t see the people in one of the grandstands. The scorers couldn’t see the match. But because of the problem of security, they said the best thing was to keep the game going. I think the radio scorers became the official scorers.”If you were any further out than about square leg, a few rocks were being thrown in. They didn’t have too many outfielders for that period. I don’t know how long it went. We kept playing for a while there. When we came off, the dangerous time was when we went off into the change rooms. There were a few things thrown at us, but we made it.”India struggled to handle McKenzie in Australia as well. After he took ten wickets against them at the MCG in 1967-68, he was dropped for no apparent reason. It was speculated that he was too good for the Indians and that his dominance would lead to Tests that were too one-sided. As was his way, McKenzie took the demotion in his stride. He went back to Western Australia and helped them win the Sheffield Shield, a rare achievement for the state in those days.Said to have one of the most pure actions among fast bowlers, comparable with Lindwall, McKenzie gained impressive speed from a short run-up of only 16 metres. Speed guns didn’t exist, but he estimates he bowled in the high 140kph region, sometimes into the 150s. It might be a physical impossibility for a ball to gain pace off the pitch, but that’s how McKenzie’s bowling was described by batsmen.He was an attractive proposition for the counties when the rules were relaxed in the 1960s and international professionals could play without living in England. Leicestershire snapped him up and after several years on their books he helped them win the County Championship for the first time, in 1975. County cricket was a valuable source of income in the pre-World Series Cricket days.”You didn’t earn any money in Australia,” he says. “I liked it in England. It was a good lifestyle. I was single and had no ties, but it probably didn’t help having to bowl all winter and then come back. It wasn’t like now, there wasn’t a lot of money if you played in Tests.”McKenzie started as a phys-ed teacher but was rarely able to spend enough time in a school to hold down a job, due to the demands of the touring lifestyle. He entered the financial world in the mid-1960s and worked in that industry after his playing days ended.” I played my last Test when I was 29. I could have played on if I’d been looked after”•Getty Images”It was quite hard when I finished,” he says. “Your friends are in their mid-30s and they’re pretty established in their jobs, and all of a sudden you don’t have any job – you had to start afresh and you didn’t have a lot behind you.”But I don’t regret it. There are some things you can’t buy.”Like the privilege of wearing a baggy green for Australia in 60 Tests. These days the game plays a secondary role in McKenzie’s life, but he should not be forgotten to Australian cricket.”I’m on one of the smaller committees at the WACA, dealing with memorabilia and history and honours, new life members, that type of thing,” he says. “I follow cricket with interest these days but I’m not too involved.”Unless a six lands in his backyard on a Saturday.

Under the guidance of director of cricket operations Mithun Manhas, they are eyeing their maiden semi-final appearance in the Ranji Trophy

Himanshu Agrawal07-Feb-2025Jammu & Kashmir are in the Ranji Trophy knockouts after five years. En route, they have beaten higher-rated teams like Mumbai and Baroda to finish with the second-highest points from the group stage. This is only the third time they have entered the quarter-finals in their 55 years of participation in the tournament.Their campaign has had shades of the 2019-20 season, where they made the knockouts on the back of six outright wins in nine matches. They were within touching distance of the semi-finals then, before nerves got the better of them against Karnataka.That season should have been the springboard for higher honours. Instead, the following four years have been about inconsistency, lack of proper build-ups to seasons, infrastructure issues and administrative apathy.Related

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Things have been slightly different this time. The Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) had emphasised on proper conditioning through match time in the build-up to the season, and that seems to have given the players a better footing. They had a proper pre-season camp, followed by a competitive pre-season tournament – Buchi Babu in Tamil Nadu – prior to the Ranji season. The players haven’t had to hit the ground running.With Srinagar unable to host matches because of the harsh winter conditions, J&K’s only other available ground, the Gandhi Science College ground in Jammu had to be renovated quickly, and that work started late last year. It’s possible even JKCA didn’t factor in the possibility of the team qualifying in the manner they have – they finished as group-toppers and earned the right to host the quarter-final against Kerala, starting February 8.They play in Pune instead. But if it is a red-soil surface, as it is likely to be, J&K won’t complain, having performed exceedingly well and beaten Mumbai and Baroda on such surfaces in their own backyards.

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J&K’s run hasn’t been because of their big-ticket players. Umran Malik hasn’t played a game owing to form and injury issues, Rasikh Salam has mostly been used in T20s, and Abdul Samad, a player with big-match capabilities, hasn’t quite been able to come on the way everyone anticipated him to when he broke through in 2019-20.Samad is still their second-highest run-getter this season with 393 runs, but he’s only been a support player to the likes of batter Shubham Khajuria, allrounder Abid Mushtaq, right-arm quicks Auqib Nabi, Yudhvir Singh and Umar Nazir, and offspinner Sahil Lotra.Nabi has enjoyed a breakthrough run five years after first playing for the state. Now 28, Nabi is this season’s second-highest wicket-taker with 38 wickets, including five five-wicket hauls. In fact, he is one of only two pacers in the top ten in the wicket-takers’ charts.

“Before he came on board, I feel we lacked in off-season camps and preparation. In these three years, we have had a different coach for batting, bowling and fielding. Every year when the season ends, Mithun summons all the players and asks what was lacking during that season. And with everyone’s feedback, that thing [which was lacking] is implemented next year”Shubham Khajuria on the impact of director of cricket operations Mithun Manhas

Nazir, meanwhile, was instrumental in running through Mumbai’s top order on the opening day two weeks ago, taking 4 for 41. This included the wicket of Rohit Sharma, which he didn’t celebrate because he’s a “big fan” of the India captain. Nazir has been the perfect back-up to Nabi in the pace department. And like Nabi, Nazir too has over the years built up solid experience.”For the past two years, we have been playing red-ball tournaments outside of our own state,” Nabi said. “We also played the Buchi Babu tournament in Tamil Nadu. So our practice was very good. The same team that plays Ranji also went there. So it helped us a lot.”One of the sounding boards for this team is Mithun Manhas, the former Delhi captain who now leads their cricket operations as director. Manhas took over after Irfan Pathan and Milap Mewada left as mentor and coach respectively following Covid. Success hasn’t come overnight; it has taken three years for Manhas and the others to get it right. Manhas’ challenge will now be to ensure, unlike earlier, this isn’t a case of taking two steps forward and then three back.This season, Manhas brought in Paras Dogra. At 40, he’s the oldest member of the side, but also the most experienced, having played 142 first-class games at the time of writing. Dogra took over the captaincy, a tough ask for anyone coming in. While he has been short of runs (216 runs in 12 innings), his experience has certainly lent a degree of calmness.Dogra has had the support of Ajay Sharma, the former India batter, who was brought on as head coach three years ago. While the start to his tenure wasn’t great, the JKCA hasn’t been swayed by short-term results.Prior to the season, former Rajasthan batter Dishant Yagnik was brought in as fielding coach. He conducted camps along with Ajay for the batters. Then there were other moves which helped, like the BCCI deciding to split the Ranji Trophy season in two to avoid games getting affected by fog during peak winter in north India, something that cost them last year.Shubham Khajuria is Jammu and Kashmir’s leading run-scorer this season•PTI “All our three home games in 2023-24 were badly hit,” Nabi said. Barely any action could take place over four days in the matches against Himachal Pradesh (65.3 overs), Delhi (42) and Uttarakhand (39) in Jammu. While the first two of those games took place in early January, even the one against Uttarakhand in early February was fogged out. It meant J&K could hardly challenge for a knockouts berth.However, the tweak to the calendar worked in their favour. After a high-scoring draw against Maharashtra and an innings victory against Services in Srinagar, they also beat Tripura in Jammu, before getting on a roll in their away games.

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For the first time, J&K brought on a bowling coach in an official capacity two years ago when Manhas called up former Rajasthan quick Pudiyangum Krishnakumar. Until then, Abdul Qayoom, the former J&K player, had been in an overseeing role. “We never had a bowling coach before him,” Nabi said. “So I’ve practiced a lot with him. I worked with him on my outswing, and I have been getting very good outswing since then.”Khajuria, J&K’s highest run-getter this season, credited Manhas for the resurgence, especially when it came to the planning part.”I feel we lacked in off-season camps and preparation,” Khajuria said. “In these three years, we have had a different coach for batting, bowling and fielding. Every year when the season ends, Mithun summons all the players and asks what was lacking during that season. And with everyone’s feedback, that thing [which was lacking] is even implemented next year.”He also underlined how the preparation was different.”After the [List A] Vijay Hazare Trophy got over, we reached Jammu on January 6. Thereafter, we had our camp from January 9 onwards; we hardly took a two-day break in between,” he said. “We practiced there till January 15, and realising the massive difference between the weather in Jammu and Mumbai, the association sent us to Mumbai on the same day itself. That was eight days before our match, during which we practiced there.”Both Nabi and Khajuria were part of the XI in the 2019-20 quarter-final heartbreak. As experienced players now, they have had a ringside view of the challenges the team has had to endure since.Auqib Nabi, with 38 scalps, finished the league stage as the highest wicket-taker among fast bowlers•PTI “The biggest problem is that we don’t have any infrastructure in J&K; it is coming up a bit, but it’s still not a lot,” Nabi said. “For instance, I come from Baramulla, where we don’t have enough nets to practice. We have to practice on our own.”There are not many turf cricket in Kashmir. Some [players] go out of state to practice. But over the last one or two years, JKCA has helped us play a lot of matches. So there has been a lot of improvement in our performance.”And people with expertise in the domestic circuit – Ajay Sharma is a Ranji Trophy legend – has only helped. Especially people like Khajuria.Over the course of the ongoing domestic season, Khajuria has cracked 255 in a Ranji game against Maharashtra, 159 against Chhattisgarh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and 85* against Uttar Pradesh in the [T20] Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – all of them the highest by a J&K batter in the respective tournaments’ history.”Ajay sir has been asking me to play the long innings,” Khajuria said. “Often, I used to get out in the 30s or 40s. That has stopped happening now. So the mindset has changed. Earlier, the environment of J&K’s dressing room was not like this either. [But] now, everyone talks about winning. We have had [three] different Man-of-the-Match winners across our five victories. Everyone has contributed. Now it is the case of trying to win every match.”The next week could take J&K to new frontiers. They have never made a Ranji semi-final previously and there’s nervous excitement bubbling. How they channel it could determine their road ahead.

A fifth-wicket partnership of 97 between James Hildreth and Corey Anderson set the foundations for Somerset as they beat Glamorgan by 30 runs

ECB Reporters Network20-Jul-2018
ScorecardA fifth-wicket partnership of 97 between James Hildreth and Corey Anderson set the foundations for Somerset as they beat Glamorgan by 30 runs in the Vitality Blast clash at Sophia Gardens, and moved above them in the table.Chasing 191 to win, it took just six balls for Glamorgan to lose their first wicket, as legspinner Max Waller trapped Aneurin Donald leg before for 1. White-ball skipper Colin Ingram and Australian overseas Usman Khawaja steadied the ship from 7 for 1 with a series of boundaries in the Powerplay, but Ingram skied to mid-off from Craig Overton to leave the Welsh side 52 for 2 in the fifth over, bringing debutant Australian right-hander Joe Burns to the crease.A series of Khawaja boundaries guided Glamorgan to 66 for 2, the left-hander glancing Somerset captain Lewis Gregory for two fours at the end of the Powerplay. Burns soon went, though, advancing down the track having been deceived by the left-arm spin off Roelof van der Merve, as Steven Davies claimed the stumping.Bowler turned fielder to dismiss Khawaja, who drove off Johann Myburgh as Glamorgan, having lost their fourth wicket on 86, faced the daunting task of chasing down a further 107 runs from the halfway point.A fifth wicket soon fell, as Chris Cooke was caught at long-on by van der Merwe off Waller for 4. Myburgh dropped Carlson at backward point off Jamie Overton, before the batsman pulled a huge six over Craig Overton’s head. His luck ran out, though, when he was caught on the cover boundary by Gregory for 33 to leave Glamorgan in some trouble at 118 for 6.When Graham Wagg was caught at long-off by Tom Abell off van der Merwe in the 17th over, Glamorgan’s hopes of victory were all but over. Craig Meschede, however, launched the biggest six of the night into the grandstand off Jamie Overton in the eighteenth over, before he was run out by keeper Davies for 10. Andrew Salter was caught by van der Merwe off Craig Overton for 8 and the end was in sight.It was Glamorgan, though, who had made the best of the early stages after a delayed start to the match, claiming three Somerset wickets for 45 in the powerplay having put the visitors in. Carlson took two leg-side catches in the deep in successive overs, removing Davies off Michael Hogan in the fifth, and Myburgh off Timm van der Gugten in the sixth, an over which also saw Peter Trego caught behind by Cooke.Abell then hooked behind to Cooke off van der Gugten, the keeper tracking back to claim the catch, leaving the visitors in some trouble at 59 for 4. Hildreth and Anderson came together in the ninth over, looking to get Somerset back on track, and the middle-order pair added 97 in 8.1 overs. Anderson struck sixes off successive Salter overs after the pair had brought up the fifty partnership in the 13th over.Anderson struck a third six, off Meschede, from the final ball of the 15th over. But Glamorgan soon had the big breakthrough, when Anderson holed out at mid-on to Carlson off Hogan for 59, having struck six fours and four sixes.The runs flowed once more, however, as Hildreth reached his half-century from 31 balls before Gregory was dropped on 8 at deep square-leg by Burns as the visitors ended on 190 for 5.

Celtic are beginning to circle for key targets and could now be set to be embroiled in a high-profile chase for a prolific goalscorer, according to reports.

Celtic's striker question yet to throw up a definitive answer

Brendan Rodgers has made it crystal clear that Celtic want several options across their forward line after Kyogo Furuhashi’s departure. Meanwhile, Nicolas Kuhn moving to Como has left room for more goals to come into the side over the coming weeks.

Addressing their striker situation, the Irishman admitted Shin Yamada’s arrival from Kawasaki Frontale is just the tip of the iceberg, as he stated: “He’ll have a medical over the next couple of days and we’ll have a look at him. We’ve lost a lot of goals, so we need to replace that. Hopefully, this can be one of a number of players we can bring in that aspect.

“He’s got intensity and workrate. It’s something the scouts have seen. In terms of the club, we will bring in players to develop and players for now. Even though he’s a bit older, he’s probably one that can give us that intensity and pressure.”

Intriguingly, Rodgers has seemed to confirm the suspicion that Celtic are operating two different transfer strategies this window. On one hand, the Bhoys appear like they are trying to get ahead of the curve with ‘club’ signings, while arrivals such as Kieran Tierney come in with more of a personal touch from the manager.

Odsonne Edouard is another reported target that may fall into the latter category, albeit it is hard to envisage the Scottish Premiership champions matching his Premier League-level wages.

Balikwisha will love him: Celtic exploring deal to sign "exciting" star

Celtic could land a dream signing alongside Michel-Ange Balikwisha by landing this star.

ByDan Emery Jul 17, 2025

With Celtic clearly in the market for another leading light in attack, recent developments may point supporters in the direction of their latest pursuit.

Celtic see bid rejected for Louis Munteanu

According to reports from iAMsport.ro, Celtic have seen an opening bid of £6.9 million turned down for CFR Cluj forward Louis Munteanu, with their owner Ioan Varga said to be holding out for a fee of £15.6 million.

Meanwhile, Ligue 1 clubs Rennes, Lille and Nice are also monitoring his situation at the Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium.

Louis Munteanu at the UEFA EURO Under-21 Championships (Fotmob)

Goals

1

Shots

5

Shots on target

2

Successful passes

31

Duels won

11

Earning his stripes last term, Munteanu registered 25 goals and three assists in 42 appearances across all competitions, and he kicked off the new campaign with a goal in Europa League qualifying against Paksi FC earlier this month.

Making his presence known, the 23-year-old is a clinical finisher with a track record of delivering at a high standard. However, it remains to be seen whether Celtic will bow to his lofty valuation or whether alternative targets will be pursued.

Dave Roberts believes the interfering New York Yankees fans got what they deserved.

Before Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers manager had a pointed answer when asked what he thought of the incident of fan interference between two Yankees fans and Mookie Betts from Game 4.

The controversy stems from a play in which Mookie Betts was tracking a foul popup near the stands in right field. He reached up and caught the ball, but as he did so, a Yankees fan ripped the ball from his glove, while another grabbed his arm. Both fans were ejected and, eventually, banned from attending Game 5.

When asked about it, Roberts said, "It was just an unfortunate circumstance. I'm glad it was dealt with the right way. … As I understand it, they got booted, and we didn't need them to be here, so they refunded their tickets. So that's perfect, right?"

His take was certainly much different than Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo, who seemed to brush off the incident as just being a result of passionate fans.

The Dodgers will look to close out the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night.

The New York Yankees amended one of their long-standing team policies last week, as managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner announced on Friday that they'll now allow both players and uniformed personnel to "grow well-groomed" beards moving forward.

While some current Yankees will likely be thrilled by the amended policy, there were plenty of past greats who were forced to abide by it. One in particular is former center fielder Johnny Damon, who despite having to cut his long-flowing hair and filled-in beard before signing with New York in 2005, is not a fan of the rule change.

"I just heard that the Yankees are not requiring people to cut their hair and trim their beards…" the two-time All-Star said in a video he posted to Instagram. "I think we need to keep it how it was, with respect to Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter and Mariano [Rivera]…"

"The Yankees are a tradition," Damon continued. "Let's keep it. I cut these lovely locks off many years ago because George Steinbrenner is such a great human being, such a great boss, that I wasn't even going to question it. Let's keep the policies the same. Listen to your bosses, always bring your A-game, and let's go!"

Damon was a fan favorite during his time with the Boston Red Sox, becoming one of the faces of the team dubbed "The Idiots" while playing an integral part in their 2004 World Series win. He broke those same fans' hearts just over a year later when he signed a four-year, $52 million with their rival Yankees—shaving his famous hair and beard in the process.

He's since regrown both, as you can see in the above video.

Brett Baty was drafted by the New York Mets in 2019. He made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2022 and has started 148 games at third base for New York over his first three seasons in the majors. This year he's due to make $800,000.

Juan Soto signed the richest deal in sports history with the Mets this offseason. When you factor in his signing bonus, the outfielder will make well over $100 million this year.

What do these two players have in common? A love for the number 22.

Soto has worn the number in Washington, San Diego and last season with the Yankees. Baty has worn the number during his first three seasons with the Mets. He also wore it in the Mets farm system and was No. 22 in high school where he wore it playing baseball and basketball at Lake Travis High School in Texas.

Despite the fact that Baty already had the number in New York, Soto was first introduced with a jersey adorned with the familiar 22 back in December.

It can hopefully only go up from here for Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio, who had an opening day to forget in the Brewers' 4–2 loss to the New York Yankees on Thursday.

During the Brewers' loss to the Yankees, Chourio became just the second player in MLB history to go 0-for-5 and get struck out five times over nine innings on Opening Day. He joins Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, who first reached the unfortunate milestone in 2023.

The outing was uncharacteristic for Chourio, who has never struck out more than three times in a MLB game until Thursday. In his debut season in 2024, Chourio slashed .275/.327/.464 with 21 home runs and 79 RBIs. He was a strong hitter for the Brewers, finishing top-three on the team in batting average, hits, runs, and stolen bases.

Chourio also made happier history on Thursday, becoming the second player since 1901 to bat in the leadoff spot multiple times on Opening Day before his 22nd birthday. He joins Sebastian Daniel Sisti as the only two players to achieve this since 1901, with Sisti doing so in 1940 and '41 for the then-Boston Braves.

Chourio just turned 21 earlier this month, and also bat in the leadoff on Opening Day last season at the age of 20. Chourio had a much better performance last season, recording one hit, one RBI, one stolen base and no strikeouts in three at-bats in a win over the New York Mets.