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The Argentine relishes intimidating his opponents, and his imposing character would restore a winning mentality at Old Trafford

If Manchester United end up signing Emiliano Martinez, then the goalkeeper might need to apologise to the Old Trafford faithful given the relationship between them. After seeing Bruno Fernandes hammer a stoppage-time penalty over the bar to confirm Aston Villa's 1-0 win in 2021, Martinez began dancing in front of the Stretford End, deliberately goading the supporters.

Though he did not directly save the penalty, Martinez was effectively claiming the assist, and for good reason: the Argentine wound up Fernandes by telling him that Cristiano Ronaldo should take the spot-kick, and the mind games worked as Fernandes missed only his second of 23 penalties for the Red Devils, handing Villa a first win at Old Trafford for 12 years.

United fans have also seen Martinez lose his head to their benefit, when he was sent off in the final game of last season for rushing out of his area and clattering into Rasmus Hojlund. Both sides of Martinez's mentality will be being pored over by United's coaching staff and recruitment team as the club weighs up whether or not to sign him from Villa, but what they will be most interested in is his ability to make saves. The ex-Arsenal man is the best in the world when it comes to that particular skill, one that has been devalued in football lately, especially by United.

And that is why the Red Devils should make signing Martinez their next priority after completing a deal to secure Bryan Mbeumo, as they would be getting a world-beating goalkeeper who is renowned primarily for keeping the ball out of the net.

gettyWeakness exposed

When United signed Andre Onana in 2023, all the talk was about the Cameroonian's skill with the ball at his feet and how his arrival would help Erik ten Hag finally implement the possession-based football he wanted his United team to play to take them to the next level. Not much analysis was done on Onana's shot-stopping ability, and his shortcomings in that area were brutally exposed soon after his £47m ($64m) arrival from Inter.

Onana was lobbed from the halfway line in a friendly against Lens on his Old Trafford debut before enduring a truly torrid time in the Champions League, as he made ghastly errors against Bayern Munich and in both matches against Galatasaray which directly led to United being dumped out of Europe's elite competition. He has continued to make high-profile errors ever since, most notably in April's Europa League clash with Lyon after being dragged into a war of words with Nemanja Matic.

His footwork has barely compensated for all those errors, and after two years there has been no noticeable improvement in United's ability to play out from the back. Onana has even cost them infuriating goals when trying to play out, such as when he failed to communicate with Patrick Dorgu against Ipswich Town in February. The goalkeeper has mostly abandoned short passing and has resorted to hoofing the ball downfield, more often than not hitting it out of play or to the opposition.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesChange in priorities

Onana's litany of mistakes have evidently frustrated Ruben Amorim, and the Portuguese even dropped the goalkeeper for one game after the Lyon debacle. When asked in a press conference whether he needed to replace Onana in the long term, Amorim did get into a heated argument with a reporter, but what was most telling was that he did not defend his No.1 nor talk up his qualities. "We need to improve every position on the field" was his response; not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Just as the season was winding down, it was reported that Amorim had grown so frustrated with Onana's mistakes that he had tweaked the team's style of play to discourage the ex-Ajax man from playing out from the back. It was also reported that the coach primarily wanted a goalkeeper who could give 'peace of mind' and 'reduce the sense of volatility' that had defined the team's defensive displays.

The search for a potential Onana replacement would focus on ' fundamental traits like shot-stopping, catching, and minimising errors rather than building play from the back'. If that report is accurate, then Martinez and Amorim are speaking the same language.

GettyFrom the bottom to the very top

Martinez has taken the long road to superstardom after joining Arsenal as a 17-year-old. He spent time up and down England playing in the unglamorous lower leagues, dropping as low as fourth-tier League Two to play for Oxford United as well as taking in Championship stints with Wolves, Reading, Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United.

Playing out from the back is rarely a priority in such surroundings, and Martinez thus focused on the basics of goalkeeping. He maintained that focus when his career began to finally take off back at Arsenal and then at Villa, as well as when he became Argentina's No.1 as he played a pivotal role in them winning the World Cup and two Copas America.

Martinez saved three penalties in the semi-final shootout triumph over Colombia in the 2021 Copa America, playing incredible mind games with his opponents which could be easily heard in a stadium that was empty due to Covid-19 rules. His shootout heroics continued into both the 2022 World Cup quarter-final win over the Netherlands and the final victory against France, as well as in the 2024 Copa America quarters against Ecuador. He collected the Golden Glove at all three tournaments and was subsequently named the top goalkeeper in the world, winning the Yashin Trophy (part of the Ballon d'Or awards) in 2023 and 2024 while scooping the FIFA Best Goalkeeper prize in 2022 and 2024.

Getty'By saving, I win titles'

Martinez celebrates the fact that he is known above all for his ability to make saves. He told 'Sports Center': "Now in the football world the first question they ask about a goalkeeper is 'Is he good with his feet?'. Sometimes clubs maybe sign a goalkeeper who's skilled with their feet but doesn't save much. I always focus on needing to save better than I play with my feet. I focus on saving, saving, saving. By saving, I win titles."

Signing Martinez would signal United going back to their roots for having a goalkeeper who is adept at making saves. David de Gea was an incredible shot-stopper and that is why he went on to become the goalkeeper with both the most appearances and clean sheets in the club's history. That ability was ultimately under-appreciated by the club amid their bid to modernise and find their own version of Ederson, but signing Martinez would be a step back in the right direction.

The 32-year-old is a figure who intimidates opposition players. In his own words, he likes to "create chaos" for his rivals, and he shares many traits with United's most legendary goalkeeper of all, Peter Schmeichel.

Also, what is the highest total in Tests that didn’t include a hundred partnership?

Steven Lynch08-Aug-2017We were talking during the Oval Test about home advantage, and wondered which Surrey player had scored the most Test runs there. Was it Stewie or Hobbs? asked David Humphries from Surrey

You’ve chosen the right two, and it’s very close: Alec Stewart scored 624 Test runs at The Oval, and Jack Hobbs 619. “The Master” had the edge on “The Guv’nor” in one important respect, though: Hobbs averaged 56.27 and Stewart 31.90. Two other legendary Surrey names are close at hand as well: Ken Barrington scored 596 Test runs at The Oval, and Graham Thorpe 586. Kevin Pietersen scored 897 Test runs at The Oval, but only 374 of them after joining Surrey in 2010. For the list of the leading run-scorers in Oval Tests, click here. The leading Surrey wicket-taker there is Jim Laker, who claimed 40, while his partner-in-spin Tony Lock lies second, with 34.What is the highest total in Tests that didn’t include a hundred partnership? asked Kieron McArthur from Barbados

There have been three totals of 500-plus (and one of 499) in Tests without a partnership of 100 or more. England made 515 against Pakistan at Headingley in 2006 despite the highest stand of their innings being 86, while India made 520 against Australia in Adelaide in 1985-86 (the first wicket put on 95, and the last 94). But top of the list remains Australia’s 533 against West Indies, also in Adelaide, in 1968-69: the highest partnership was 93, between Doug Walters and Paul Sheahan. That was a high-scoring match, with a total of 1764 runs – a record for a time-limited Test ¬- and 17 individual scores of 50 or more, still the overall Test record.It took Stuart Broad 19 balls to get the first five of his eight wickets at Trent Bridge•Getty ImagesI wondered during the Oval Test whether Toby Roland-Jones would complete the fastest five-for on debut – but he got stuck on four wickets for quite a while. Who does hold this record? asked Giles Taylor from England

I think this record belongs to the Jamaican fast bowler Lester King, who took five wickets in the first five overs of his Test debut, for West Indies in Kingston in 1961-62 as India nosedived to 26 for 5. King was unfortunate that his heyday coincided with that of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith (plus a useful third seamer in Garry Sobers). In fact King played only one further Test, against England in Georgetown in 1967-68, when Griffith was injured.The fastest five-fors in any innings, after first coming on to bowl, were achieved in 19 balls – by the Australian left-armer Ernie Toshack, against India in Brisbane in 1947-48 (he took 11 for 31 in the match), and by Stuart Broad, at the start of his 8 for 15 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015.Who scored the most runs in Tests before being dismissed? asked Michael Fox from England

My first thought that it would be hard to beat Reginald “Tip” Foster, who scored 287 on his debut for England against Australia in Sydney in 1903-04, which remains the highest score by anyone in their first Test. But someone did manage more runs before being dismissed: Jacques Rudolph, the South African left-hander, kicked off his Test career with 222 not out against Bangladesh in Chittagong in April 2003, and added 71 in his next innings, in Dhaka, to make it 293 runs before he was out for the first time. Brendon Kuruppu of Sri Lanka scored 220 Test runs (201 not out and 19) before getting out, while Lawrence Rowe of West Indies and New Zealand’s Mathew Sinclair both started with an innings of 214.Of living people, who has gone the longest since playing in a Test match? asked Karthik Subramaniam from India

There are two men, still alive as I write, whose Test careers finished over 67 years ago in 1950. The hard-hitting Eastern Province batsman Ronald Draper played two Tests for South Africa against Australia in 1949-50, the second of which finished on March 6. Later that year the Cambridge University and Sussex batsman Hubert Doggart played twice for England, his Test career coming to a close on June 29 after West Indies’ famous victory at Lord’s. Doggart, who was later president of MCC, is now 92, while Draper is 90.Women’s cricket, however, boasts an even longer time gap: the remarkable Eileen Ash, who rang the bell before the start of the recent women’s World Cup final at Lord’s, played the last of her seven Test matches in March 1949. As Eileen Whelan she had made her debut against Australia in Northampton in 1937, and is the last surviving pre-war Test cricketer of either sex. She is now 105 years old.Leave your questions in the comments

da bwin： Liverpool are believed to be “working on” tying down an “outstanding” player to a new contract alongside Virgil van Dijk, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano.

Salah signs new Liverpool deal

da roleta： The news that Reds supporters have been dreaming of finally came true on Friday, with Mohamed Salah signing a new two-year deal at Anfield.

There have been concerns all season long that the 32-year-old Liverpool legend would leave the club, but he will now be on Merseyside until at least 2027, saying he intends to win more trophies there:

“If I don’t believe that, I would not have signed. I believe the team can win trophies and with the support of the fans and the city, and that the supporters always give us in the games, I believe we can win many trophies in the next years.”

Now, the hope is that other players will follow suit, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk also both out of contract at the end of this season.

While it looks increasingly likely that the latter will stay put and do the same as Salah, the former’s head appears to have been turned by a move to Real Madrid. That said, nothing has been confirmed over Alexander-Arnold leaving Liverpool at the peak of his powers.

Liverpool want new deal for "outstanding" ace

According to Romano in his newsletter for GiveMeSport, Liverpool are still looking to seal a new deal for Ibrahima Konate, as well as Van Dijk:

“They are in negotiations. Now the priority was obviously Salah and Van Dijk, but the next one could be Konate as Liverpool are working on it.”

Ensuring that Konate remains at Liverpool for the foreseeable future is of the utmost importance, considering he is still only 25 years of age and eight years Van Dijk’s junior.

The Frenchman is appreciated by so many at Anfield, from Arne Slot to the supporters, and captain Van Dijk also hailed him earlier this season, saying after their win away at Wolves in September:

“As you saw, he is important with the goal, he is defensively solid, a bit unlucky with the goal we conceded, but obviously the qualities he has are outstanding, in my opinion.

“He is learning, growing, getting better and looking after himself much better in order to be ready every three days as that’s what asked. And also we have a young player behind him in Jarrell, who is also doing well. We have to keep pushing each other and he is doing a good job.”

Relatively speaking, the £70,000-a-week wage that Konate earns is low compared to many of his teammates, so he deserves an improved contract to show that he is truly appreciated.

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Granted, injuries have hampered him at times in his career, so there is a slight risk involved in handing him an extension, but he should only get better in the coming years, and losing him at this point in his career could be a big blow to the Reds.

The prolific left hander took four boundaries off the final over to reach a brilliant hundred

AAP12-Nov-2023Perth Scorchers usurped Sydney Thunder at the top of the table after Beth Mooney’s third WBBL century powered her side to a 42-run win.After losing her superstar opening partner Sophie Devine early, Mooney almost single-handedly steered Scorchers to a competitive 159 for 4 at the Junction Oval.In reply, the resurgent Thunder fell to 18 for 3 by the end of the powerplay, having not dropped any wickets there in their previous seven games.Related

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Young quick Chloe Ainsworth (2 for 8) set the carnage in motion with back-to-back wickets and things only spiralled further out of control from there.The loss was only Thunder’s second of the tournament and relegated them to second spot on the ladder behind Scorchers.It was only in the twilight of the Scorchers’ innings that Mooney enjoyed a steady partnership as in-form Hannah Darlington spearheaded the Thunder attack to keep her team-mates quiet.Chloe Piparo did well to help Mooney steady the ship following the loss of Amy Jones just as Scorchers looked primed to take the power surge.Mooney had played a patient innings but smacked Sammy-Jo Johnson for four fours from five deliveries in the final over to snatch the ascendancy for Scorchers.On 97, Mooney pulled stand-in Thunder captain Johnson past deep midwicket for four to bring up an unbeaten ton on the last ball of the innings and the 61st delivery she faced.Mooney is now the only player to have passed 400 total runs in all nine iterations of the WBBL and is the current edition’s second-highest run-scorer, only one run behind Devine.Thunder were in trouble by the end of the power play after Ainsworth snared star imports Chamari Athapaththu and Marizanne Kapp in consecutive balls.Scorchers successfully reviewed an lbw shout on in-form Athapaththu before Piparo at point caught out-of-sorts Kapp for a golden duck.Rested with hamstring soreness, captain Heather Knight watched on helplessly as the Thunder batting order fell to 33 for 5 when Devine caught and bowled Claire Moore.Only Australian representative Phoebe Litchfield offered resistance at first drop so when she was caught in the deep from Amy Edgar’s bowling, Scorchers were home.

Coach McDonald says once fit, Stoinis and Green could play together in the XI

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2023Marcus Stoinis is doubtful for Australia’s opening match at the 2023 ODI World Cup, against India on October 8 in Chennai, because of a hamstring niggle he picked up in the first ODI against the same opponent in Mohali last month. Stoinis has not played a match since.”He’s got a slight hamstring complaint at this stage, so that’s why he missed the practice games and he’ll be touch and go for the first game against India,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said in Chennai on Thursday while talking about Stoinis. “We’ve got the main session today and then another hit out tomorrow, so he’ll go through his work there and we’ll see whether he’s available for selection for game one but at the moment he wasn’t fit and available for those practice games.”Cameron Green found some form in the final warm-up match against Pakistan, but McDonald said one of the plans was to have both in the playing XI.”There’s a way that we can fit them both into the one side,” he said. “Over the last 18 months, we’ve had a pretty clear way that we want to build three ways of playing. One of those ways is definitely with all the allrounders and potentially two quicks, and you’ve seen that side in the past 18 months being played, so there is a real possibility that both of those players can be in the same XI and we haven’t ruled that out.”When asked about the other ways, he said: “You can change your batting line-up, you can change the structure of your top order. So behind the scenes, we’re pretty clear on the way that we want to go about it. And that’ll be surface-dependent and clearly body-dependent as well.”The World Cup is a long campaign, there’s no doubt going to be some sore bodies at certain times. We feel as though with [our] squad that we’ve got great flexibility, albeit at the moment obviously Travis Head sitting and where he’s at, that’ll give us greater scope to shift and manoeuvre the side the way that we have over the last 18 months.”Marcus Stoinis last played a game on September 22•Getty ImagesDespite the plethora of fast-bowling options Australia possess, Stoinis opened the bowling in recent ODIs and T20Is, with encouraging success. That gave them the option of holding back one of their frontline quicks in the middle overs, a phase that could be crucial during the World Cup.McDonald added Glenn Maxwell finding form in the warm-up against Pakistan with a quick 77 and eight overs with the ball worked out nicely for them.”Cameron Green got a little bit of time in the middle also and clearly Glenn Maxwell being able to cope with the demands of the game that he played, a significant innings plus being able to back up and bowl as many overs as he did. He has pulled up really well. So a few of those moving parts that we had leading in have unfolded positively for us, which is nice. If you asked me that two weeks ago, I would have been a little bit worried but now everything seems to have come together nicely.”Legspinner Adam Zampa also hasn’t played since pulling up sore in the second ODI in Indore last month but he was not a concern, according to McDonald, and he had missed the two warm-ups more for workload management.Australia will have to wait for an update on Head until October 11 or 12 to have a clearer indication of when he can join the squad in India.

With the summer transfer window approaching, the 49ers now reportedly have the chance to seal a bargain deal to sign a player who previously scored the winning goal against Rangers.

Rangers could land bargain deal

The Gers may have endured a season to forget – resulting in the dismissal of Philippe Clement – but that didn’t stop them from getting one over on arch-rivals Celtic last time out. Defeating the Bhoys late on courtesy of Hamza Igamane’s winning goal in a 3-2 thriller, the Gers at least came away from the Old Firm derby having left their mark.

However, any celebrations won’t last too long, with the Gers already turning their focus towards the summer transfer window and ensuring that they’ve got more than just an Old Firm derby victory to cheer in the Scottish Premiership next season.

The arrival of the 49ers should certainly provide the Scottish giants with a much-needed boost in pursuit of that. And although their first task will be finding a permanent replacement for Clement, recent reports suggest that they could then turn towards a bargain deal.

Rangers News has highlighted that the 49ers have the chance to sign Dejan Ljubicic in a free deal this summer once his contract comes to an end at FC Koln in Germany’s second division, with the Austrian already on the 49ers’ radar.

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A player that the incoming owners already know after previously attempting to seal his signature at Leeds United, Ljubicic looks set to be one to watch when the summer transfer window swings open.

Meanwhile, those at Ibrox are also well aware of the midfielder’s quality, having watched on as he scored the winning goal for Rapid Vienna against Steven Gerrard’s Rangers side in the 2018/19 Europa League group stage.

"Special" Ljubicic could partner Diomande

In Ljubicic, Rangers would be welcoming a defensive midfielder who could provide the foundation for the likes of Mohamed Diomande to thrive further forward. Rangers already reaped the rewards for his attacking exploits against Celtic when he gave them a 2-1 lead over their rivals and could see his full potential unleashed by Ljubicic’s arrival.

The 27-year-old is certainly appreciated at Koln, having earned the praise of manager Gerhard Struber, who told reporters last summer: “Dejan is a player who has performed great for FC in recent years and can help us very, very well on the way back to the Bundesliga. Great. Simply great. The overall package is special. I’m very happy for him.”

Having been wheeling away in celebration at the detriment of Rangers as many as six seasons ago, the defensive midfielder could finally make up for his winning goal by kicking the 49ers era off with a bang at Ibrox.

Change is afoot at Rangers, from the ownership to the management and perhaps a few fresh faces. Whether the Gers’ official Clement replacement decides to welcome the bargain of Ljubicic this summer remains to be seen, however, as they look to make their mark.

Aston Villa enjoyed a rather productive January transfer window. First of all, they managed to sell Jaden Philogene to Ipswich Town for £20m, making a profit on the youngster.

Secondly, they signed two attacking players who could make a big difference between now and the end of the season.

Donyell Malen joined from Borussia Dortmund a few weeks ago, while Marcus Rashford moved to Villa Park on loan from Manchester United, with a £40m buy option inserted into the deal.

Unai Emery’s side are chasing a place in the top four of the Premier League table. Signing Rashford could be an inspired one with regard to that ambition.

Why Aston Villa signed Marcus Rashford

Since Ruben Amorim took charge of Manchester United, Rashford featured just four times under the Portuguese manager, scoring three goals.

It became clear that the Englishman wasn’t going to play a part in Amorim’s system going forward and a move away from Old Trafford could be the best thing to happen to him.

Despite a relatively quiet season by his standards, Rashford has still created four big chances, averages one key pass and has scored four goals in the top flight. That said, despite the fact he’s not been fit and firing this term, this is still a player who has scored 87 Premier League goals.

At Villa, Emery will likely give him more consistent game time and if he hits top form, it could be a wise signing indeed.

The manager may already have a player at the club who is worth way more than Rashford, however.

Aston Villa talent is worth even more than Marcus Rashford

Someone who has been superb during the 2024/25 campaign is another English talent in Morgan Rogers.

The second half of the 2023/24 season saw Rogers begin to make his mark at Villa, scoring three goals and registering an assist in just 11 Premier League games since his move from Middlesbrough.

It was evident Emery had a prodigious talent on his hands, but even he might have been shocked at just how well the Englishman has performed throughout 2024/25.

In August, U23 scout Antonio Mango waxed lyrical about the winger, saying that he was “terrific” and “brave”, someone who has “all you characteristics you want in a young footballer.”

That’s certainly been true of Rogers in 2024/25. With ten goals and five assists already, including a stunning hat-trick against Celtic in the Champions League, the former Boro star has emerged as a key player under Emery. No doubt about that.

Compared to his peers in the top flight, the starlet even ranks in the top 7% for goals per shot on target and in the top 11% for through balls per 90, yet more evidence of his effectiveness in the final third.

These incredible performances over the previous 12 months have seen his market value soar.

Indeed, according to the CIES Football Observatory, Rogers is now currently valued at a staggering £74m, which is a staggering rise, especially considering the Villa Park side paid just £15m to sign him last year.

This also means he is worth nearly double that of Rashford if going by the buy clause in his loan deal, indicating that Emery has hit the jackpot on the 22-year-old sensation.

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Alzarri Joseph, the West Indies fast bowler, has been suspended for two matches for his unsanctioned departure from the field during the third ODI against England, in the wake of a disagreement with captain Shai Hope.Joseph issued a public apology in the aftermath of the incident, acknowledging that “my passion got the best of me”, adding that he had “personally apologised to Captain Shai Hope, my team-mates and management”.”I also extend my sincerest apologies to the West Indies fans – I understand that even a brief lapse in judgment can have a far-reaching impact, and I deeply regret any disappointment caused.”During the fourth over of the innings in Bridgetown, Joseph was unhappy with a field placement and could be seen remonstrating with Hope. Off the fourth ball, Joseph removed Jordan Cox caught behind, but did not celebrate with his team, instead immediately returning to his mark. At the end of the over, Joseph left the field unannounced and went into the dressing room, forcing West Indies to begin the fifth over with only ten fielders on the pitch.”Behaviour like that is unacceptable on my cricket field,” Daren Sammy, West Indies’ head coach said to TalkSPORT after play. “We will be friends…but in the culture I’m trying to build, that’s unacceptable. We will definitely have a chat about that.”Joseph returned to the pitch for the beginning of the sixth over, but did not resume bowling until the 12th. He bowled two more overs, before leaving the field again after two misfields off his bowling saw England gain two runs through overthrows. He returned later to bowl two more in the middle overs and his remaining three in the death.Joseph finished the match with figures of 2 for 45 from his 10 overs after dismissing Cox and Dan Mousley.”Alzarri’s behavior did not align with the core values that Cricket West Indies upholds,” Miles Bascombe, CWI Director of Cricket, said. “Such conduct cannot be overlooked, and we have taken decisive action to ensure the gravity of the situation is fully acknowledged.”Sammy, who was appointed as West Indies head coach in May 2023, is widely credited for his man-management abilities, and has convinced several players, such as Andre Russell and Evin Lewis, to return to the international game.”I pride myself on having the difficult conversations,” Sammy said. “But in a way that everybody understands what is needed to be done. To see guys going out there and slowly progressing in the right direction makes me proud.”There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s one that I’m quite passionate about.”West Indies won the ODI series 2-1 and the five-match T20 series begins on Saturday, with Sammy hinting that some of the star names who were absent from their recent series against Sri Lanka, such as Nicholas Pooran and Akeal Hosein, are set to return.”We’ve got a couple of senior players who were not in Sri Lanka that we expect to be back,” Sammy said. “Our T20 team is our most successful team and our most settled team. So, yes, we incorporate some new guys to give them that exposure, but our T20 team normally picks itself.”This story was updated at 12am GMT following Joseph’s suspension

Meg Lanning’s team also have the desire to embrace the Team Australia aspect of a multi-sport event, which will be a new experience

Andrew McGlashan27-Jul-2022When you are a team like Australia, who have won everything on offer in the last few years, it is probably not a bad thing to have a brand new prize to aim for.In the last four years, Meg Lanning has led her side to two T20 World Cup titles, two Ashes crowns, and an ODI World Cup title alongside other series successes. Their last defeat in any bilateral series came in T20Is, against England in 2017, that were part of the multi-format Ashes.Related

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But as the side enters its new coaching era following the departure of Matthew Mott, the prospect of adding a Commonwealth Games gold medal is an alluring one, and something no one has ever had before. Winning more cricket matches is enough motivation for this team as it looks to continue forging its legacy, but there is also the desire to embrace the Team Australia aspect of a multi-sport event, which will be a new experience.”The first Commonwealth Games medal up for grabs in women’s cricket is certainly something we’re striving for,” Lanning said before team left for their warm-up tri-series in Ireland. “Being part of that bigger Australian team, which is something we really want to embrace. To represent Australia on a really big stage, a new platform for the game to be able to reach a new audience, is something that is really exciting for the sport.”It’s hugely special. I grew up watching a lot of the Commonwealth Games and I just love the team atmosphere.”It was a view echoed by vice-captain Rachael Haynes. “There is a sense that it’ll be a little bit different, it’s almost the unknown,” she said. “I think the team’s just really looking forward to it. To be around a whole group of different athletes and different sports and be a team within a much larger team as well.”Alana King is proving to be a wicket-taking machine•Phil Walter/ICC/Getty ImagesAs it was in New Zealand a few months ago, it would be a surprise if they did not achieve their ambition of gold – although, at some point, there has to be a hiccup in their all-conquering era. A place in the final is a bare minimum expectation even taking into account the jeopardy of semi-finals and the fact the T20 format narrows the margins.Meeting India in the opening match brings back memories of the previous T20 World Cup in Australia, when they stumbled in their first game and were left walking a tightrope for the rest of the competition. We all know how it ended, but it was rarely a serene progression until they cut loose in the final against India at the MCG. “We seem to meet them a lot in the first game of major tournaments,” Lanning agreed.Matches against Barbados – who will include potential match-winners Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin – and Pakistan follow, and though the top two from each group go through there is not much margin for error.While there has been major change in the coaching set-up – and Shelley Nitschke is only interim head coach, although she will be favourite for the long-term position – the playing squad is notable for its stability. It is the same 15 names who were on duty for the ODI World Cup.Long-term injuries to Georgia Wareham and Tayla Vlaeminck continue to be covered with great effectiveness, an allrounder of the quality of Sophie Molineux can’t get on the contracts’ list, and Ellyse Perry is no longer a first-choice in the T20I side.Such is the quality in the Australian ranks, that Ellyse Perry might be forced to reinvent her T20 game•Getty ImagesThose who have taken their chance to fill the gaps already look like mainstays. Darcie Brown is in the race to reach 80mph [it would be fun if she and England’s Issy Wong face off in this tournament] and legspinner Alana King is proving a wicket-taking machine. Tahlia McGrath’s magnificent start to T20I cricket – as part of a stunning re-emergence to the international game – is largely responsible for pushing Perry to the sidelines, which happened before her latest back injury.If Australia reach the final in Birmingham, there is every chance that for the second time in three major tournaments, Perry won’t feature. The hamstring injury at the 2020 T20 World Cup was awful luck, but it is starting to feel like a defining moment in her T20 career. That in itself says so much about Australian cricket and why they are the force they are.Of course, you would not put it past Perry to reinvent herself as a T20 cricketer; there is the motivation of the World Cup title defence in South Africa early next year for starters, and then, in four years’ time, the Commonwealth Games is held in regional Victoria. Will Perry, already 15 years into international cricket, still be part of it by then? Only time will tell, but for many in this Australia side it is well within range.”Hopefully I’m still around to be involved,” Lanning said, no doubt hoping they are defending gold medallists.

The ball is the fundamental unit of cricket, and with Warne, each one was a universe of possibilities

Osman Samiuddin10-Mar-2022If Shane Warne never took another wicket after Mike Gatting’s, he would still live on. Not in as many minds, and certainly not as rich a figure, but a ball like that has its own life. It does not go forgotten. The reason it endures and that it was so instantaneously acclaimed is for what it did in the milliseconds of its existence, the mad physics around it, but also because it was legspin as a platonic ideal.This is, of course, a truism. How else do all the great deliveries become great if not by doing something great? But that ball speaks to a fundamental often overlooked in cricket, which is that, broken down, the game is only the sum of the self-contained vignettes each of its individual deliveries represents. Only when stitched together do we then have a match, unto a series, unto a career. Each ball is a world by itself, of limitations and possibilities, and when you walked into the world of a Shane Warne delivery, you walked into a world with no limitations, where possibilities abounded. In this world the ball could, and did, behave in ways unlike any before Warne existed.Think of the circumstances leading to that ball. It was Warne’s first in a Test in England. Hardly anyone at Old Trafford that day would have seen him before. They might have heard of a new blond leggie who had helped win a Test in Colombo and run through West Indies, but few would’ve seen him. Then, without warning, he did .Related

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And if he could do that, then what couldn’t he do every time he walked up to bowl?In the days since his passing, scouring YouTube for his best moments has been a comfort. Quite likely this has been a universal response. A connoisseur will argue that 90-second videos of only wickets falling is to miss the point of Warne. That experiencing Warne without what Gideon Haigh calls the pageant of Warne is to know of Warne but not to feel Warne.That theatre essential. That walk back to his mark, the occasional pause to fix the field or to let doubts fester in the batter, to make them think something is amiss when nothing is. Then the amble in, so utterly lacking in foreboding it was as if Jaws was coming to shore to the title music of . Then there were the traps, with ball but also with manner. The appeals, the gradual massaging of an umpire into his decision; the bluff of the oohs and aahs and smirks and sneers when he beat a bat, but especially when he found the middle of one. As much as Warne’s wickets, everything before and around them is the eulogy.But these videos make two points, the first a complementary one, that these grand and elaborate ploys and plots needed denouements to match and Warne delivered them with truly freakish quality and consistency. But second, that even as one-off deliveries that may never be bowled again, with no build-up or backstory or history, that only ever exist in bite-sized social media clips, these deliveries work. And how.Look back and weep: MSK Prasad is bemused at what has befallen him in Adelaide in 1999•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesNot long after Gatting at Old Trafford, Warne would bowl Graham Gooch behind his legs at Edgbaston, coming in round the wicket. It is less iconic but notable because it became a leitmotif in the Warne canon: which other bowler, before or since, has bowled as many batters around their legs as Warne?In a way this dismissal is a legspinner’s ultimate flex. Sneaking in behind a batter is peak deception. And to do it, the ball must do what all leggies are supposed to make it do: spin leg to off and preferably big. The conceit is in treating the batter as if he is not there as an opponent: he’s there as a marker, an obstacle around which to find the best route to the stumps. The calibration needs to be so precise, it’s unfathomable: the angle, the spot where it must land, the degree of turn, all so that it misses pads, bat, and backside. In this instance the angles are even more outrageous because Warne, unusually, runs in from between the umpire and stumps.There’s an over to Craig McMillan that is priceless for how Warne sets his trap (Adam Gilchrist’s cackling provides an assist). But the wicket ball is an absolute WTF for the lengths to which McMillan has gone to prevent being bowled behind his legs. Ultimately, as he bat-pads to short leg, he appears to be playing a forward-defensive to a delivery bowled by the square-leg umpire.In no other sport is there an obvious equivalent to what is happening here. A fleeting kinship with football’s nutmeg? There’s greater consequence and a more acute geometry here, as when Warne famously nutmegged Basit Ali. Typical Warne that the tease – chatting with Ian Healy about whether to have pasta or Mexican for dinner (as if he wanted anything other than pizza) to stretch out the tension of the day’s last ball – is as sweet.Something of this mode, of the wrong-way-round-rightness, is elicited by the epic Roberto Carlos free kick against France in 1997. Carlos eschewed the obvious angle for his left foot by swerving the ball like an outswinger round the outside of the defensive wall, rather than curling it like an inswinger round the other side. That free kick was a one-off: Warne did it repeatedly.The best of the genre isn’t strictly of the genre. Poor MSK Prasad receives a Warne delivery from the wicket that doesn’t drift as much as get caught in a late and sudden patch of violent turbulence, pushing the ball down and to the leg side.A quandary. Prasad has taken leg-stump guard and instinct is telling him to pad this away. Training and tradition are telling him to get real, because balls delivered from there are not padded away. That’s not how cricket works. From flight, fight or freeze, Prasad chooses the last.Even as the ball then hits the stumps behind him and Healy is starting to celebrate, Prasad is unmoved, staring at the spot the ball landed on – around a sixth-leg-stump line. How did it land there, his mind is failing to process, and where has it gone, it is asking. And how did it get spun the ball. Somebody who had never seen cricket could watch a big legbreak from Warne and understand immediately it was an elite athletic feat, sexy and dangerous, compelling and superior, unique and evolutionary. A single Warne legbreak was the game’s gateway drug.As time passed that spectacle became rarer, though not extinct. The most vivid occasions were against left-handers, where, because Warne was at them from round the wicket, and that TV cameras mess up depth perception, some of those balls looked like they were breaking at right angles.Like with Andrew Strauss at Edgbaston, which nearly made it as the ‘s ball of the (21st) century. It would have done, probably, had Strauss not appeared as discombobulated as Prasad had been. Granted, Strauss did not freeze, but in displaying the worst footwork since Elaine Benes hit the dance floor, he tarred the delivery a smidge with his own cluelessness.Not that better positioning helped, as Shivnarine Chanderpaul once discovered at the SCG. He understood the ball’s intentions from the line, so preposterously far outside off that Chanderpaul would need a visa to play it. He knew this was going to spit back into him. Having figured out the length and leaned forward, he changed plans and nimbly shifted his weight on to his back foot. Until this moment – 71 off 67 balls – Chanderpaul’s plans against Warne had worked. Until ball 68, when Mike Tyson’s famous musing about plans came to mind: “Everybody has a plan until they get hit.” Or bowled by Shane Warne.This was a central truth about Warne. Not only did he always have a ball that punched through the opponent’s plans, he had one that punched through his own. As when he pulled off a near-exact replica of the Chanderpaul delivery in bowling Saeed Anwar in Hobart three years later.Like Chanderpaul, Anwar was set. Like Chanderpaul, Anwar knew as soon as the ball left Warne’s hand what it was going to do. Like Chanderpaul, he half stepped out but smartly leaned back, with aspirations to cut. Like Chanderpaul, those aspirations were swiftly turned to crud. Like Chanderpaul, he was bowled. Unlike Chanderpaul, this was the one time Anwar looked inelegant with bat in hand.Hobart heist: in 1999, Saeed Anwar was bowled by one that torpedoed in at a right angle almost, after pitching way outside off•Getty ImagesThere’s an even more cartoonish quality to this ball, an unreal defying of natural laws. For starters, it breaks the width of the Thames to hit leg stump. And ordinarily, when a ball lands on a pitch, it loses speed. This is science and we all signed up to science to understand how the world works. All except this ball. This ball springs off the pitch faster than it landed, so fast that it doesn’t hit leg stump, it knocks it clean out of the ground. A ball produced by a spinner, with the consequence of one produced by a fast bowler.What elevates this ball, though, is Richie Benaud. Prior to it, there’s a commentary preamble from Mark Taylor about the plans Warne might be working on against Anwar. Those plans are binned as Warne switches to round the wicket and bowls this ball. Only Benaud can process and articulate: “Whatever Warne was planning, he has suddenly produced a ball entirely different from the others he has bowled and it has ripped back.”Which is to say, whatever else you had been watching, or not, whatever Warne plan you might have intuited, however much you knew about the game, if you watched this one ball, then you saw everything you needed to and you didn’t need to know anything else.Except this last thing: the flipper. In later years when Warne stopped bowling it, he started relying on the bastardised slider. Not the legbreak that didn’t turn – let’s call that the bluffer – which did for poor Ian Bell at Lord’s and fooled even Benaud. The real slider got Andrew Flintoff later that same innings.Neither was a patch on the flipper, which seemed a hellish delivery to bowl, let alone bowl well. The flipper, Warne would explain, required the ball to be released from an actual snap of the fingers, which was difficult but totally apt because it was presaging magic. Unlike Warne’s big, showy legbreak, this was proper illusion. Batters saw that Warne had dragged it down, except he hadn’t. Batters saw a long hop, or one short enough to cut or pull, except it wasn’t. Batters saw it go straight and it did, except straight never felt so pretzelian.It would be cruel to pick any of Daryll Cullinan’s malfunctions; candy from kids Benaud said of one. It would also be impossible to pick just one. The one that got Richie Richardson, the world’s introduction to it? Cullinan one, two or three? Ian Bishop, ’96 World Cup, a place in the final on the line? Let’s go Alec Stewart, usually such an expert judge and executor of the cut, getting it so wrong at the Gabba. Not as short as he saw, not the legbreak he saw, not as slow as he saw.The flipper also didn’t care for science, such was its acceleration on landing. This question sounds wrong, but it isn’t: has a ball ever beaten batters for pace so comprehensively and so consistently as Warne’s flipper?Nothing does justice to the world of Shane Warne – to the world of a single Warne delivery – as watching these deliveries again the last week has made clear. Maybe they bring some succour. Maybe from them we see that even if Warne had lived long beyond last Friday, these deliveries could not be bowled again by anyone other than him. That even if he is now no longer of this world, we live on gratefully, eternally in his world. Rest in Peace, King.