One player still on the books at Manchester United has been told that his Old Trafford “career is over” by a former Red Devils midfielder.
Players who could leave Man Utd in 2026
2026 could be another busy year at Old Trafford in regards to incomings and outgoings, with Ruben Amorim and INEOS continuing to make their mark in Manchester.
The Red Devils have four players out of contract at the end of the season, one of which is midfielder Casemiro.
Players out of contract at Man Utd in 2026
Harry Maguire
Casemiro (option until 2027)
Tom Heaton
Tyrell Malacia
Man Utd have the option to extend that by a further 12 months, however, Amorim and INEOS seemingly clashing behind the scenes regarding the Brazilian. Amorim wants to keep Casemiro whereas INEOS want him to take a pay cut from his current £350,000-a-week wage.
There are also numerous loanees away from Man Utd who could seal permanent exits at the end of the season. Rasmus Hojlund is at Napoli, Marcus Rashford is at Barcelona, Jadon Sancho is at Aston Villa and Andre Onana is with Trabzonspor.
United could look to move the quartet out on a full-time basis, with options to buy inserted in Rashford’s move to the Nou Camp and Hojlund’s move to Napoli. Now, another one of the four has been told he has no future at the club by a pundit.
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ByTom Cunningham Nov 21, 2025 Strachan tells Onana his Man Utd “career is over”
Former Man Utd midfielder Gordon Strachan, speaking to Esports News relayed by The Manchester Evening News, feels that Andre Onana “has played his last game” for Man Utd and would be “shocked” if he played for the Red Devils again.
Onana’s Man Utd contract is worth £120,000-a-week and there is no option to buy for the Turkish side at the end of the season, with the ‘keeper’s Manchester deal not expiring until 2028.
United forked out just under £50m on Onana back in 2023, but after numerous errors at Old Trafford and Amorim now having Senne Lammens, a permanent exit could make sense for all involved next year.
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Dhoni, Pollard, Bravo, Rayudu and Malinga have starred in these matches in the past – here’s a lookback
Omkar Mankame22-Mar-2025Chennai, 2008 – CSK won by six runsThe first meeting between these sides in the IPL produced a high-scoring nail-biter. Brisk fifties from Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina powered CSK to 208, before MI, despite losing wickets regularly, kept the chase going. Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh combined to bring the equation down to nine from the last four deliveries, but Joginder Sharma kept his nerve to take CSK over the line.Mumbai, 2012 – MI won by two wicketsAfter a few years of lopsided contests came the real humdinger. MI’s pursuit of 174 had been led by half-centuries from Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma. But a dramatic collapse – 134 for 1 became 159 for 8 – left them needing 16 from the final over and then 14 from three balls. No fear! Dwayne Smith, playing his first game of the season, hit Ben Hilfenhaus for 6, 4, 4 to set off celebrations in the MI camp.Dwayne Smith has been among those who have played starring roles for both MI as well as CSK•BCCIMumbai, 2014 – CSK won by four wicketsRelated
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Smith – now in the other camp – had anchored CSK’s chase of 158 with a fifty. But Lasith Malinga’s death overs wizardry meant CSK still needed 11 from the final over. CSK, however, had their own master of the death overs in the middle: MS Dhoni smashed a six and a four off Kieron Pollard to finish it off with three balls to spare.Mumbai, 2018 – CSK won by one wicketCSK’s first game back from a two-year ban pitted them against the defending champions. Hardik Pandya and debutant Mayank Markande took three-fors and CSK, chasing 166, looked buried at 118 for 8 in the 17th over. With 47 needed off the last three, Dwayne Bravo scored 19 and 20 off the next two overs, and a heavily hamstrung Kedar Jadhav, batting on one leg, finished the job in the last over.Hyderabad 2019 – MI won by one runA fourth IPL title was up for grabs for either side. The contest ebbed and flowed and left CSK needing nine off the last over. Shane Watson, with a bloody knee, was run-out for 80 on the fourth ball. With two needed off the final ball, Malinga – with figures of 0 for 42 in his first three overs – bowled the perfect yorker to trap Shardul Thakur in front and deliver MI the trophy.MI edged out CSK to win the IPL 2019 by one run•Mahesh Kumar A/Associated PressDelhi, 2021 – MI won by four wicketsAmbati Rayudu was rampant against his former team, and powered CSK to 218. That seemed more than enough when MI found themselves at 94 for 3 after 12 overs. But with 125 needed from the last eight overs – and 48 from the last three – Kieron Pollard smashed six fours and eight sixes and took MI home by scampering through for a double off the last ball of the game.Navi Mumbai, 2022 – CSK won by three wicketsBoth MI and CSK struggled after the mega auction before IPL 2022, so this was a bottom-of-the-table contest. Tilak Varma’s 43-ball 51 not out took MI to 155 after Mukesh Choudhary had wrecked their top order. Then Daniel Sams did the same to CSK. It came down to CSK needing 16 off the last four balls with Dhoni facing Jaydev Unadkat. In a display of vintage brilliance, Dhoni sealed the deal with a sequence of 6, 4, 2 and 4.
Reigan Heskey, the son of former Liverpool and England legend Emile, has overtaken Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho with his goals at the Under-17 World Cup. England secured their spot in the last 32 in Qatar as they finished second to Venezuela in Group E. The Young Lions then eased into the last 16 of the tournament as they got the better of South Korea on Saturday.
England overcome early scare to reach last 16
England endured an early scare as Dante Headley was bundled off the ball by Kim Ji-sung, who rifled his effort into the roof of the net. However, referee Abdou Abdel Mefire spared the Young Lions' early blushes as he blew for a foul in Headley's favour.
Liam Bramley's side went ahead midway through the first half as Seth Ridgeon's pass was inadvertently turned into the South Korea net through Jung Hui-seop. The game as a contest was settled 10 minutes before the break as Heskey doubled the Young Lions' advantage after heading Bradley Burrowes' cross past Park Do-hun.
The Young Lions had a few chances to extend their lead but were comfortable as they progressed to the next round of the U17 World Cup, where they will face Austria on Tuesday.
AdvertisementGettyHeskey in the running for Golden Boot
Heskey's header against South Korea on Saturday was his fourth goal of the tournament. The 17-year-old scored an early penalty in a resounding 8-1 win over Haiti last week before bagging a brace in a 3-0 victory against Egypt as England followed up their opening Group E 3-0 defeat to Venezuela in fine fashion.
Heskey is now tied with four more players in the race for the competition's Golden Boot, with Samuele Inacio, Vit Skrkon, Rene Mitongo, and Kim Yu-jin also locked on four goals. However, the quintet are behind Portugal forward Anisio Cabral in the race for the individual award.
Cabral moved ahead of the chasing pack with a vital brace in Portugal's 2-1 win over Belgium, a result that set up a last-16 meeting with Mexico, who themselves progressed to the next round with a 5-4 penalty shootout triumph over Argentina.
Foden and Sancho were key in 2017 triumph
Heskey's goal against South Korea means he has overtaken the tallies of two former Manchester City graduates from eight years ago. Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho each struck three times in India as England ultimately came from behind to beat Spain 5-2 in the U17 World Cup final back in 2017.
However, Heskey has some way to at least match Rhian Brewster's eight-goal haul in 2017. Brewster came in clutch for England as he bagged a hat-trick in the quarter-final win over USA and again in the semi-finals as the Young Lions got the better of Brazil in the semi-finals.
The 25-year-old also bagged a decisive goal in the final win over Spain, halving the deficit shortly before half time after Sergi Gomez had netted a first half brace. Morgan Gibbs-White, Foden – twice – and Marc Guehi then completed a second half comeback in a resounding victory.
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Getty Images Sport'Where do we look now?'
Heskey's father, Emile, will hope his son can continue his upward trajectory as England look to the future to determine who their next main striker will be. Harry Kane is currently the leading light for the national team, but at 32 years of age, the Three Lions need to start future-proofing their frontline.
Reigan was promoted to the City U21s ahead of the season having struck 18 goals and provided seven assists in 19 Under-18 Premier League appearances last season. However, Emile is concerned about England's future striker options, particularly as head coach Thomas Tuchel overlooked a backup forward for Kane for the November internationals with Foden used as a false nine off the bench against Serbia on Thursday night.
"We've been lucky over the years we could see where the next strikers were coming," the elder Heskey said on recently. "We had a chain of players who could go from that next level, I came in after [Alan] Shearer and Rooney came after me, but where do we look now? We always had that chain but we are struggling to find [the next one] now."
England play their final World Cup qualifier on Sunday evening as they take on Albania. Tuchel's side have already booked their spot at the 2026 showpiece and will look to round off qualification with a 100% record, and without conceding a goal having kept seven successive clean sheets.
Gill had suffered a neck injury during the first Test against SA, while Hardik had injured his left quadriceps during the Asia Cup
ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2025Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya “are looking healthy and fit” ahead of the first T20I against South Africa, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said ahead of the series opener in Cuttack on Tuesday.”Both [Gill and Pandya] are looking healthy and fit,” Suryakumar said. Gill had suffered neck spasms during the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata, while Hardik was out with a quadriceps injury he suffered during the Asia Cup in September.Gill is yet to play since his injury, but Hardik made a comeback in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Playing for Baroda, he picked up a wicket in each game, but more importantly, bowled four overs both times. With the bat, his 77 not out off 42 against Punjab helped his team chase down 223.”What you saw in the Asia Cup also, when he [Hardik] was bowling with the new ball, he opened up a lot of options, combinations for us with respect to the playing XI,” Suryakumar said. “That’s what he brings to the table. His experience, the way he has done well in all big games, all ICC events, ACC events. I think that experience will count a lot and his presence will definitely give a good balance to the side.”With Gill back in the side, Suryaumar made it clear that Sanju Samson would have to compete with Jitesh Sharma for a spot in the middle order. He also emphasised that all batters apart from the openers need to be flexible with respect to their position in the order.”Sanju, when he came into the circuit, he batted higher up the order,” he said. “Now the thing is, other than the openers, everyone has to be flexible. He did really well when he opened the innings but Shubman had played before him in the Sri Lanka series, so he deserves to take that spot.”But we gave Sanju opportunities. He was ready to bat at any number, which is actually good to see a player being flexible to bat anywhere from No. 3 to 6. That’s one thing I have told all the batters that other than openers, everyone has to be very flexible. Both [Samson and Jitesh] are in the scheme of things. It’s always good to have lovely players like both of them. One can open, one can bat lower down the order. In fact, both can do all the roles. It’s an asset to the team and a good headache to have.”
Superchargers’ prospects of qualifying increase substantially after inflicting Spirit’s second defeat of the season
ECB Media20-Aug-2025Northern Superchargers 93 for 2 (Litchfield 55*, Sutherland 29*) beat London Spirit 90 for 8 (Redmayne 29, Sutherland 3-20) by eight wicketsNorthern Superchargers earned a crucial win at Lord’s to leapfrog hosts London Spirit and take themselves to second in the table in the Hundred women’s competition.It wasn’t quite a must-win game for Hollie Armitage’s side but, having lost to Manchester Originals last time out, their prospects of qualifying have increased substantially after inflicting upon Spirit their second defeat of the season.Superchargers started well with the ball, with both Grace Ballinger and Kate Cross bowling their first 10 deliveries through to take a wicket apiece. When Nicola Carey dismissed Grace Harris and Dani Gibson in consecutive balls, all the wind was taken out of Spirit’s sails and they never threatened to post an overly imposing total.As it was the team in purple made light work of the chase, knocking it off two wickets down with 34 balls to spare.Spirit will want to prove that they’re not reliant on Grace Harris’s runs for success, while for Superchargers they’ll be heartened by the up-turn in form of Phoebe Litchfield – awarded Meerkat Match Hero here for her 38-ball 55 with her customary array of switch-hits dotted throughout.On a day that Southern Brave secured their qualification with their sixth successive win, the fight for the next two qualification spots – and a place in at least the Eliminator – looks set to go down to the wire between today’s two combatants and Manchester Originals (all tied on 16 points), who take on Trent Rockets tomorrow.Litchfield said: “I think losing to Manchester Originals stung for our group. I think we got ourselves in a winning position and it was heartbreaking to not come over the other side. We made a conscious effort to rectify that situation and come out here and win.”We weren’t far off in that last game. We were in a winning position. We’ve just got be ruthless in that moment, and I think we did that today with the ball. The way the girls set it up with the ball, pretty much won us the game in that first innings and then made it really easy for us batters to go out and play with freedom.”The switch hits are fully premeditated, and then I just have to adjust on the length and the line when I switch, but also I have to know how to bail out. So that’s probably the most important thing that I learnt is to bail out, but then if it’s in the area, swing.”
For the first time in a long while, Manchester United appear to have acted astutely in the transfer market, having notably snapped up Premier League-proven talents in the form of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.
Fresh off the back of netting 35 league goals between them for Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers, respectively, last term, the £130m+ pairing have scored six times in all competitions in their new surroundings – three of which came at Old Trafford last weekend.
There is a joy in seeing ready-made signings hit the ground running, but so too is there in United unearthing something of a hidden gem.
A player who arrives as a relative unknown, before achieving cult hero status.
Think back to the likes of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, recruited from obscurity in Norway and Mexico, respectively, or even in the current crop, the likes of Senne Lammens and Amad could fall into that category.
In the case of the latter man, the Ivorian has endured a long route to the top at Old Trafford, but now he is truly flourishing.
Amad's long road to becoming a Man Utd star
It was remarkably just over five years ago that the news broke of United’s £19m signing of a teenage Atalanta starlet by the name of Amad, with the then 18-year-old ultimately making the switch in January 2021.
At the time of the announcement on that October deadline day, the youngster had made just three Serie A appearances, totalling only 30 minutes, with the Red Devils gambling heavily on a raw and inexperienced addition.
Despite ultimately making his mark by netting in inventive fashion against AC Milan, the diminutive forward was forced to bide his time under the likes of Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick, with the major breakthrough coming amid his stellar loan stint at Sunderland in 2022/23 – following a short spell with Rangers.
Amad Diallo for Sunderland
With 14 goals and hero status achieved at the Stadium of Light, Amad returned to Erik ten Hag’s ranks in the summer of 2023, albeit with injury curtailing his involvement in the first-half of the subsequent season.
Aside from that FA Cup winner against Liverpool – and a first Premier League goal against Newcastle United – that 2023/24 campaign was something of a write-off on a personal level, with a strong start to 2024/25 quickly halted as he again slid down Ten Hag’s attacking pecking order.
Since the Dutchman’s departure, however, the 23-year-old has gone to a different level under Ruud van Nistelrooy and now Ruben Amorim, producing a string of clutch moments, including goals away at Anfield and the Etihad last term, alongside his late treble at home to Southampton.
Now shifted back to right wing-back this season, amid the presence of Mbeumo, the £120k-per-week wizard is beginning to find his groove, highlighted by his statement early assist away on Merseyside.
Manager
Games
Goals
Assists
Ruben Amorim
36
8
10
Erik ten Hag
24
3
3
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
8
1
1
Ruud van Nistelrooy
4
2
1
Ralf Rangnick
1
0
0
Michael Carrick
0
0
0
Total
73
14
14
It’s been five years or so in the making, but Amad – who is set to head to AFCON later this year – is properly realising his potential in a United shirt.
Perhaps a similar success story could be on the cards?
Man Utd's next Amad in the making
All the focus five years ago was on the £40m capture of Donny van de Beek, alongside the free transfer arrival of Edinson Cavani, with Amad’s announcement something of an afterthought – not least as he didn’t actually make the move until a few months later.
Manchester United forward Amad Diallo.
Such a scenario has seemingly been repeated in 2025, with United having quietly confirmed the £6m signing of another teenager, Diego Leon, back in January, with the Paraguayan belatedly joining this summer after turning 18.
Like a young Amad, the rampaging full-back has been signed as something of a project player, more with a nod to the future than with an expectation that he should immediately hit the ground running at Premier League level.
Like Amad too, however – who was even described as “like Messi” in training by Atalanta teammate Papu Gomez – the teenager arrives with a burgeoning reputation, having already scored four times in 33 games for former employers Cerro Porteno.
Comfortable at left-back or left wing-back, the rising star has been hailed for his physical attributes by the likes of analyst Ben Mattinson, who has noted that he “runs like a steam train” down that flank.
Such quality was evident only last week as United’s U21 side saw off Tottenham Hotspur, with Leon surging forward from his left-sided berth, running almost the length of the pitch, before converting for his first goal for the Red Devils.
Unsurprisingly, there is still a rawness to his game – having notably lost the ball nine times from just 31 touches in the recent EFL Trophy defeat to Barnsley, as per Sofascore – but with remarkable pace and power, it might not be long before United’s No.35 is featuring at first-team level.
Indeed, he has been a regular fixture in Amorim’s matchday squads this season, despite not actually making his competitive senior bow, while he has also received a first international call-up from Paraguay.
Paraded on the pitch ahead of the pre-season clash with Fiorentina, the left-footer was no doubt in the shadow of the marquee signings of Cunha, Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, although his time will surely come before too long.
With Patrick Dorgu yet to nail down that left wing-back berth – and with fellow teenager Harry Amass out on loan – there is a clear route to game time in the coming weeks and months, starting with Saturday’s meeting with Nottingham Forest.
While, like Amad, he may have to bide his time, United could reap the rewards later down the line of having invested in such an exciting teenage talent.
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If the Tampa Bay Rays were disoriented by their forced exile from their Tropicana Field home this offseason, they haven't shown it.
The Rays are 50–47 and 1.5 games out of the American League's final wild-card spot at the All-Star break, despite currently occupying George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa—the New York Yankees' 11,000-seat spring-training home. That's because Hurricane Milton destroyed large parts of Tropicana Field's roof in October.
On Tuesday, commissioner Rob Manfred was asked a question that has suddenly become very pertinent: where will Tampa Bay play home games if it makes the playoffs this year? According to Manfred, the Rays have the green light to host them at Steinbrenner Field.
"Our rule has always been that people play in their home stadiums during the World Series. And I’m not of a mind to change that rule," Manfred told reporters via , presumably ignoring the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. "I understand it’s a unique situation. It’s different, but that’s where they’re playing. That’s where they’re going to play their games."
Tampa Bay is seeking its sixth postseason berth in the past seven seasons, and its seventh winning season in the past eight years.
Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen lashed out at being constantly asked about his fitness as the Denmark international claimed that he has been fit all season. After spending the majority of the 2024-25 campaign on the sidelines due to serious concerns, Christensen has managed to accumulate just 342 minutes on the in the 10 matches he has played for the Catalan giants this season.
Christensen's injury crisis
Until the 2024-25 season, Christensen was a key member of the Barcelona starting lineup, however, an Achilles tendon injury and muscle issues forced him to remain sidelined for the majority of the last campaign. In the current campaign, the Danish defender has fallen down the pecking order behind Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsi and Ronald Araujo under Hansi Flick. He was ruled out for four games due to gastroenteritis but has otherwise been available for the Spanish champions.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportChristensen frustrated with fitness queries
Speaking to reporters, the 29-year-old said: "Before last season, there were hardly any questions about my fitness. But since then, there have been many. Now I'm back in competition, without getting injured. In fact, apart from illnesses I've been fit all season. So it's annoying, but I have to accept it. I'll keep my head held high and play, as I always have, except when I've been sick."
He further claimed that he constantly keeps track of whatever is said about him in the media, as the centre-back added: "I think it's more difficult if you're a player and you follow a lot of news. But since I don't use social media and I almost never read the news in Denmark, luckily I don't see them. So for me it's not that difficult. But I imagine it must be incredibly stimulating and at the same time totally exhausting. Luckily, I don't mind staying out of it."
Ex-Chelsea defender wants new Barcelona deal
Speaking to earlier this month, Christensen admitted that Barcelona had not yet approached him about an extension, as he said: "No, not really. I don't think so. I think we're in a good situation, and there's not really anything that can change anything I do in my everyday life. Of course, you want to have it in place and know what's happening. But it's not something that changes our mood during the days, or something we talk about
"Of course, we have desires, we all do, but it's not something I think about in my everyday life. I try to do what I can do on the pitch, and hopefully that's enough for me to stay there." Christensen also admitted that his agent will remain involved over future decisions. If there is something that needs to be done, he will, of course, do it. Of course, I would like to know what is happening, but I would rather focus on what I can do, and that is to do what I can do."
He added: "Oh, no, I have no idea. Not yet. I'm just choosing to focus on being part of the team and playing as much as I possibly can. Hopefully that's how it ends up, but I'll have to take it as it comes, right now. Not at all. No plan B."
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Getty Images SportWill Barcelona offer a new deal to Christensen?
As of now, there has been no indication that the Spanish champions would offer Christensen a new contract and with his limited role in the current campaign, it is possible that Barcelona could let him leave for free at the end of the season. Last month, Barca sporting director Deco had told : "We’re taking Andreas step by step. He had a spectacular first year. Then injuries have affected him quite a bit. We’ll see how he does this season and we’ll talk. He’s a great player. We don’t have to renew all the players in October either."
Flick's men will be back in action after the international break on November 22 when they take on Athletic Club in a La Liga fixture at home.
We’ve heard it said that the ICC has been reduced to an event management firm, but is it even that now?
Osman Samiuddin20-Dec-2024First of all, a round of applause for cricket for finally ending what seemed at first to be the saga with no end but which quickly became the saga that if nobody cared much about it, might just go away. Second of all, everyone involved can claim a win. The PCB has its equitable and just agreement, the sense that it is being treated as an equal with the biggest board in the game. The BCCI is not going to play in Pakistan, which is what it has wanted from the off. The ICC has a tournament, and all members their ensuing revenues from it. We all get our tournament and perhaps, somewhere down the line, a triangular or quadrangular series involving both India and Pakistan.Third – and realest – of all, though, better make that a really slow handclap for cricket. If anyone thinks the outcome of this entire sorry drama is a win – least of all for cricket – then it is not the game’s interests they have at heart, no matter how much they tell us otherwise.Consider the ICC. Their perfunctory statement on the resolution is, by one count, six paragraphs long. By another, less generous, count, it is actually six sentences long, two of which spell out the decision and two being space fillers about a schedule that will come soon and about how many teams will take part. That’s it. Six sentences, with no explanation or context as to why there is a statement in the first place. Why do we need a hybrid model, ICC, when the tournament was awarded three years ago to Pakistan as the sole hosts? And how come this arrangement will last until at least 2027?Related
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Remarkably, it is the only statement the ICC has made since November 9, when the BCCI first informed the ICC that India were not going to travel to Pakistan. Not a single statement about the uncertainty around one of their premier events, a tournament essentially held hostage by two of their biggest members who together form their events’ biggest rivalry. There’s Stockholm Syndrome and then there’s this.It used to be said, a little disparagingly in the years after Malcolm Speed was forced out as CEO, that the ICC had become a mere event management company and was no longer a global governing body. What, then, might it be left as these days, given its lack of management of the 2023 World Cup and then the fallout from the T20 World Cup this year? An event management company that is no longer managing events at all, or at least not managing them very well?If you conclude that this is down to a complete absence of leadership, or the total subjugation of the ICC to the game’s strongest constituents, then you would not be entirely wrong. But I think a more illuminating insight can be drawn from Greg Barclay’s recent interview with the , in which the outgoing chair deploys a curiously detached gaze on the game, as if he were a fond – but mere – observer, with no real skin in it. The game’s a mess, isn’t it? Lost a bit of perspective, hasn’t it? Sure hope Jay Shah uses India to grow the game and not put it under the yoke of India. Gee, somebody should really do something about all this. Er, who’s going to tell him, guys?And so, in this reflection, the ICC has stood aside and shrugged, watching the game not grow but grow more unruly, pulled here, pushed there, stretched out so that it loses all shape and meaning. Yep, it’s a mess, fellas. Yep, there’s challenges. If only somebody would do something about it.
It used to be said the ICC had become a mere event management company. What, then, might it be left as these days, given its lack of management of the 2023 World Cup and the fallout from the T20 World Cup this year? An event management company that is no longer managing events at all, or at least not managing them very well?
If there’s a smidgen of sympathy here, it’s because the ICC has been wedged in between in this anti-romance between the BCCI and PCB. Nothing brings out the worst in either board than having to deal with the other. And this time the charade that the wrangling is anything other than a proxy for their governments to point-score has been especially risible.Mohsin Naqvi has repeatedly argued that politics and sport should not be mixed. At the best of times this is a reductive line. For Naqvi, concurrently, the incumbent PCB chair and Pakistan’s interior minister (and an especially influential one) it’s a supremely disingenuous line to push. To the extent that it feels like it’s pure trolling.In India, meanwhile, cricket is to politics as smoke is to mirrors, which, given the BCCI secretary had a direct line to the sitting home minister, was something. The BCCI said it was the government not allowing the team to travel. The government didn’t say anything. Until one day, in response to a question, the ministry of external affairs referred to a BCCI statement on the decision. The BCCI, said the spokesperson, had cited security concerns in Pakistan and so was unlikely to send the team there.Umm, what now?The BCCI had made no statement at all, then or now; had, in fact, made clear the decision was in their hands: Rajiv Shukla, the forever BCCI grandee, once said to the media the decision was not the board’s. That was half the problem, that the PCB wanted to know from the BCCI (and not the ICC) why it wasn’t going to send its team, and what the Indian government had said. And security concerns? A security plan had been presented and no objections raised at an ICC meeting in October. None of the eight Full Members who have travelled to Pakistan since 2019 have raised any issues, nor the teams who are actually in the Champions Trophy.And in the middle of this impasse, Jay Shah ascended (or should that be was demoted?) to the ICC chair. One day he was fighting for the BCCI’s interests. The next, a switch was flicked and he was meant to be fighting for the ICC’s interests. It’s quite the to-do list to have left on the last day of your old job to pick up on the first day of your new job. It was entirely fitting. This is, after all, a members’ body in which members routinely do things that undermine the members’ body, and then, as members of said members’ body, bemoan those undermining actions.Still, at least everyone won. Only, if this is what cricket winning feels like, may we never find out how cricket losing feels.
An ego-free, hard-working opening batter will be playing his 100th Test match this week. And he might be one of the very last of his kind
Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Feb-2025Since the start of 2015, no Test opener has scored as many runs as Dimuth Karunaratne. He has 15 hundreds, which is the equal highest among openers. He has struck 34 fifties, easily the best – that tally in some senses making him the most consistent opener to be continuously active through the last ten years. Over the course of this, he has also made the ICC Test XI three times, which no other opener has managed.This week, as he plays his 100th Test, there is reason to give the man his flowers, because when else was cricket going to find the time? His is a career that has floated on the fringes of the sport’s consciousness. You can still make a serious name for yourself as a Test opener in this age, but you have to crash a lot of boundaries to get that kind of attention, and ideally your country belongs to one of cricket’s bigger economies. Grinding out half-centuries on dustbowls, hunkering down for the new-ball spells, manipulating spin so you’re tracking at roughly three runs an over without risks – these are all nice things to be good at. But as far as the modern cricket ecosystem goes, this is like saying you’re the world’s top air-conditioner repair mechanic. Other people are doing way more glamorous things.For much of Karunaratne’s career, opening has been especially difficult. Since the start of 2015, men’s openers around the world have averaged 33.71 – significantly lower than they did in the aughts (37.17), and less than in the nineties (35.50), and eighties (34.76). You were always at the greatest risk of falling to the swinging and seaming ball as an opening batter, but in the last 10 years of Test batting, fresh terrors have snuck into nightmares, with the wisdom that spinners gain more bite out of a hard new seam taking hold stronger than it ever has before. In the 2020s, a 140+kph quick and an experienced finger spinner sharing the new ball is a pretty standard challenge for an opener, especially in Sri Lanka, where new balls can swing through humid air almost as well as they can explode off dry surfaces. Take away Karunaratne’s runs, and openers have averaged 33.6 on the island since 2015.
Karunaratne was ever the jobbing opener, and rarely believed to be deserving of the care that batters marked out for stardom tend to receive from coaches and staff, though he has outlasted virtually all of them
There are also few who have lit so steady a fire for Sri Lanka’s place in the Test world. This is, after all, a country that has let its Test-match win-loss ratio slip from 1.31 between 2005 and end of 2014, to 0.81 since the start of 2015. Much of this has been about Sri Lanka’s failure to replace great players. There are no spinners to rival Muthiah Muralidaran and Rangana Herath, no seamers to match Chaminda Vaas or Lasith Malinga, no top-order batters that are on the level of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Aravinda de Silva. But when it comes to openers, there is a case to be heard. Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan did it with more verve, and Marvan Atapattu was more technically correct. But none of them did it as prolifically as Karunaratne, or scored anywhere near his 7079 runs at the top of the order.Related
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With most other positions in the XI, you can look back to the Lankan men’s team of the late aughts and early 2010s – the golden generation – and mostly conclude that Sri Lanka do not produce cricketers of the same quality. Karunaratne gives you reason to pause.And at no point, by the way, was he ever Sri Lanka’s golden boy. Where it had been suggested of others that they were the next great Sri Lanka batter, Karunaratne was ever the jobbing opener, and rarely believed to be deserving of the care that batters marked out for stardom tend to receive from coaches and staff, though he has outlasted virtually all of them. Karunaratne’s has been a short leash, and he’s got the struggling thirties, and the dirty half-centuries to prove it. No one will call it a pretty career. But fifties didn’t need to be pretty – they just needed to be fifties. And Karunaratne was adept at providing them. Those prods outside off stump, those strong lbw shouts, and inside edges into pad were all in strong supply. But so were Karunaratne’s runs.There is an obvious skew to his record. He is exceptionally good against spin, which explains why 81% of his hundreds have come in Asia, though he’s also got hundreds in South Africa and New Zealand.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin presented the greatest spin-challenging of this last era, then few batters have denied them as effectively, with Karunaratne hitting hundreds at the SSC in 2017, and Bengaluru in 2022. These were classic Karunaratne innings, in that he obviously scratched his way through portions of them, rarely struck the kinds of authoritative boundaries that suggested he was dominating the bowling, and yet he found ways to avoid getting out, while pinching another 10 runs. He has added a few new shots, and refined his defence, but this, essentially, has been his mode of operation for 12 years. There is also a strikingly ego-free quality here. For bowlers, beating a batter’s edge is a small victory; for Karunaratne, it is an opportunity to face the next ball.It is a career worth celebrating all the more, for it being in its last days. Karunaratne has just said he will retire after his 100th, but the signs were there. He averaged 29.66 across 2024, and was terrorised by Kagiso Rabada in South Africa, just as he is again being hounded by Mitchell Starc – a bowler who has now dismissed him nine times in Tests. But his own performance is almost irrelevant. Even if Karunaratne throws off a career’s worth of precedent and clubs 100-ball double-centuries in his next Test encounters, Sri Lanka will only still be playing four Tests in 2025. Their next World Test Championship schedule will still feel sparse.If a little navel-gazing is permitted, you do have to wonder how many more Sri Lanka cricketers will get to 100 Tests. Another Sri Lanka opening batter? This could be a last chance to see.Karunaratne is the seventh Sri Lanka cricketer to this milestone, to follow Jayasuriya, Muralidaran, Vaas, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, and Angelo Mathews. He is probably the least-celebrated of that crowd. But no one could say he does not deserve his place among them. Others have had the benefit of hype, legend, and aura. Karunaratne’s only medium has always been hard, pragmatic runs.