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If he makes his debut, Brendan Doggett will become just the third Indigenous man after Jason Gillespie and Scott Boland to play Test cricket for Australia

AAP16-Nov-2025Seven years after Brendan Doggett was first picked in an Australia squad, the ultimate late-bloomer is poised to become the country’s 472nd Test cricketer.After the untimely hamstring injury to in-form quick Josh Hazlewood, Doggett is set to make his debut when the Ashes gets underway at Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday. The 31-year-old will slot into Australia’s fast-bowling attack alongside Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland, a man with many similarities to his journey.Just two Indigenous men – Boland and Jason Gillespie – have represented Australia in almost 150 years of Test cricket. But Doggett is set to become the third, learning more about his Aboriginal heritage in his 20s after first earning a contract with Queensland Bulls.Related

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Proudly from Toowoomba, the man with 190 first-class wickets has spent the last four seasons helping South Australia rise from perennial battlers to Sheffield Shield champions.Doggett first received a call-up to an Australia squad in 2018, just months after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Injuries slowed him down, but a move to South Australia in 2021 to become the leader of their attack has paid off.He has been consistently named in Australian squads over the past 18 months, stuck behind Starc, Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins. But with Cummins and Hazlewood both injured for the start of the Ashes defence, the three-time Shield winner should get his shot.”He’s one of the quicker bowlers in Australia,” Gillespie, who coached Doggett for South Australia, told ABC Radio on Sunday. “Got a good motor, he’s a greyhound and is as fit as a fiddle. He’s ready to go.

“His path to a potential Baggy Green is not a common one in the modern game. It just shows the value of our local competitions, plying away and working on your craft”Jason Gillespie on Brendan Doggett

“England will sniff an opportunity [without Cummins and Hazlewood], but I’m confident the Australian seam attack is good enough to get the job done.”Doggett’s selection will only prompt further “Dad’s Army” jibes from England.Like Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster did in January, Doggett will join a small club to have made their Test debuts for Australia without having played a white-ball international in their 20s. Before Webster was brought in for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy decider, Bryce McGain was the only member of that group. If Jake Weatherald is selected to open the batting with Usman Khawaja in Perth, he will also be making his international debut at 31.If Jake Weatherald plays the Perth Test, Australia will have two 30-plus debutants in the same game•Getty ImagesDoggett never made any representative team until he was in his 20s, eventually making his domestic debut for the former Cricket Australia XI that played in the One-Day Cup in October 2016.He was plucked out of local cricket in his 20s, after dominating for Toowoomba Souths.”His path to a potential Baggy Green is not a common one in the modern game,” Gillespie said. “It just shows the value of our local competitions, plying away and working on your craft.”Doggett’s former Queensland team-mate Michael Neser was added to the squad on Saturday when Hazlewood was ruled out. If Hazlewood and Cummins still aren’t fit for the second Test at the Gabba, Neser could join Doggett in the XI.The only two Tests of Neser’s career were with the pink ball, with Australia preferring to play four quicks instead of veteran spinner Nathan Lyon when they last played a day-nighter.

The ace spinner needs to respond to the rule change where third umpires are catching the marginal no-balls he used to get away with

Sidharth Monga04-Mar-2024Ravindra Jadeja has bowled 52 front-foot no-balls in Test cricket since December 2020. Of the 18 overall no-balls he had bowled before that, four had bounced more than once, and seven were detected by the third umpire because they had either resulted in dismissals or were reviewed under DRS. We don’t have records that confirm all of the remaining seven were indeed front-foot no-balls. Be that as it may, you get the gist: Jadeja has been bowling an extraordinarily high number of no-balls since late 2020.In a way, this increase in no-balls has nothing to do with Jadeja. In mid-2020, the ICC handed over calling of all foot-fault no-balls to the third umpire. Before that turning point in cricket, the third umpires used to check for no-balls only if the ball had resulted in a dismissal or if a non-dismissal had been reviewed by the fielding side.Now Jadeja is the perfect illustration for why you need a third umpire, for why it is so difficult to call no-balls on the field. He pushes the line anyway, but to add to that, he doesn’t land flat. His front foot goes well over the line in the air, then he drags it back while still in the air, and the toe makes the landing first. The umpire has to quickly draw an imaginary straight line from his heel to the ground and calculate in their head if it falls on the popping crease or just behind.Related

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Jadeja, the batter – mundane but magnificent

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That most of Jadeja’s no-balls are only caught on replay means he hasn’t started overstepping in 2020. Just that, he has started getting called for overstepping in 2020. Just imagine how many no-balls were missed before the third umpires started to check every ball for a foot fault. Not just from Jadeja, but especially Jadeja, because his landing is so difficult to work out.In another way, the increase in no-balls has everything to do with Jadeja. Since the third umpires took over calling all foot-fault no-balls, starting with the Test series between England and West Indies in July 2020, Kagiso Rabada and Ben Stokes have sent down the most foot-fault no-balls: 77. They are fast bowlers, and their increase from before third-umpires is not huge – 50s to 77. No spinner, however, comes even close to Jadeja’s 52 no-balls, and he has gone from seven foot-fault no-balls to 52. At No. 5, he is the only spinner among the top 14 bowlers of no-balls since the third umpire started checking every ball.Jadeja is one of the all-time great spinners and allrounders. He is such a gifted athlete that everything on the cricket field seems to come naturally to him. He is like a well-oiled machine on the road: smooth and seemingly effortless. This is not to say he doesn’t work hard, but he does give the impression that he does things the way he knows, and most of the times it just turns out to be too good for most other cricketers.With these no-balls, though, Jadeja needs to put in the extra effort. And it is not a big effort. Most of these are extremely marginal no-balls, and avoiding them requires only a small adjustment. A Test cricketer shouldn’t take so long to respond to a rule change.Known for his glib, funny one-liners on the field, India’s Test captain Rohit Sharma shouted during the ongoing Test series: “This Jadeja doesn’t bowl no-balls in the IPL, man. Jaddu, just imagine it’s T20.”In T20s, with the threat of the free hit around, Jadeja has overstepped just twice since 2020. In ODIs, he has done so only six times. The same should be easy to apply in Tests. In this series alone, Jadeja has bowled 11 no-balls, nearly twice what anybody else has. Luckily none of those has impacted his 17 wicket-taking balls, but it shouldn’t take a no-ball to cost him a wicket to make that adjustment.

Warner, Babar, Pooran among overlooked contingent as lack of availability dents tournament’s quality

Matt Roller05-Apr-2022’Buy British’ was the mantra for teams in Monday’s men’s Hundred draft. When governments use that slogan, it is a tacit admission that foreign goods have offered consumers better value for money than their domestic alternatives. For the Hundred teams, however, it was a scarcity of overseas options that drove them to make picks as they did.The Hundred’s organisers have consistently promised “brilliant overseas players” and “world-class cricket” but this year, the competition’s month-long window from August 3 to September 3 clashes with several men’s bilateral series, the Asia Cup and the start of the Caribbean Premier League.In the draft, five of the eleven vacant slots in the top £125,000 salary band were filled by domestic players: Joe Clarke and Tom Banton (Welsh Fire), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Trent Rockets), Laurie Evans (Manchester Originals) and Liam Dawson (London Spirit). Uncertainty over the availability of leading overseas players was always expected to see domestic players do well, but even Dawson himself admitted he was “surprised” to have been picked at the band he was.Each pick made sense at a micro level, with teams looking to fill gaps in their squads by recruiting the cream of the English crop, but the bigger picture is that the ECB will pay £625,000 in wages to a group of players who, for all their respective talents, have 34 England caps between them. That figure represents just under a third of the total wage bill across all eight teams in the women’s competition, despite women’s salaries doubling over the winter.Babar Azam, Lockie Ferguson, Nicholas Pooran and David Warner were among those unsold due to uncertainty over their availability.”Availability is a big issue for the overseas guys throughout the whole tournament,” admitted Eoin Morgan, London Spirit’s captain and a prominent advocate for the Hundred, speaking to ESPNcricinfo in a forthcoming interview. “I think you can go through every team and who they selected and there are actually very few overseas that are available throughout the whole tournament.”As a result, several men’s sides have opted to use at least one of their overseas picks on cheaper options, with seven of the twenty-four foreign players signed for £60k or less (each men’s team will add a fourth ‘wildcard’ overseas player to their squad in June or July for £50,000, with a maximum of three permitted in the same XI). While their selections make sense for an Oval Invincibles side looking to add power to its middle order, Rilee Rossouw and Hilton Cartwright were not the overseas draw-cards that the ECB had envisaged when they came up with the Hundred.Related

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Perhaps the problem is the conflict between the tournament’s overall aims and the disparate, individual ambitions of those involved in selecting the squads. The ECB would love teams to sign players based on their reputation – it seems like a missed opportunity that Chris Gayle has twice registered for a draft without being picked – in order to shift tickets and merchandise, but an analyst hoping to impress a coach in order to keep their job would rather prove their worth by signing a hidden gem.The decision to stage the draft behind closed doors for a second year in a row added to the sense that nobody is quite sure what this tournament is, or who it is for. Back in 2019, the draft was hailed by the ECB as “an historic occasion in British sport, as the first major UK sport competition draft to be held in this country,” shown live in a prime Sunday night slot on three Sky channels and online. Two-and-a-half years later, it took place remotely on a Monday morning before being drip-fed out through press releases and live blogs on a Tuesday afternoon, after most of the main cricketing stories had already been broken.Showing the draft live would have presented expensive logistical challenges, not least with most head coaches based overseas and working in Mumbai during the IPL, but they would not be insurmountable. Even if the Hundred is pitched at new fans, existing ones are always intrigued by team construction: the most recent PSL draft had over a million views on YouTube, and viewing figures for the IPL auction regularly dwarf those for actual games.By contrast, the women’s competition continues to attract the best players in the world. Meg Lanning leads a contingent of eleven Australians who will stay in the UK after the Commonwealth Games and despite the salary discrepancies – Lanning will earn just £1,250 more than the lowest-paid men’s players – the prevailing sense is that the women’s Hundred is working better than the men’s.The ECB claimed with some justification that the tournament’s first season was a success, emboldened by strong viewing figures and ticket sales in its first season, but the question that its many critics continue to ask is: at what cost? As Andrew Strauss’ high performance review into the structure of the English game looms, the Hundred still resembles a speculative venture.

كشف تقارير صحفية أردنية عن تفاصيل إصابة يزن النعيمات مهاجم منتخب الأردن أمام العراق في بطولة كأس العرب. 

وتعرض يزن النعيمات إلى إصابة قوية خلال مباراة الأردن والعراق، بعد تعرض قدمه لالتواء ليخرج على إثرها من المباراة محمولًا على نقالة، ما أثار الشكوك حول تعرضه لإصابة قوية في الركبة. 

طالع.. فيديو | الأردن يطيح بالعراق ويتأهل إلى نصف نهائي كأس العرب.. وإصابة يزن النعيمات

وارتبط اسم يزن النعيمات مهاجم الأردن، بالانتقال إلى صفوف الأهلي خلال فترة الانتقالات الشتوية المقبلة. 

وذكرت صحيفة “الرأي” الأردنية من مصادر خاصة بها أن النعيمات تعرض لإصابة في غضروف الركبة وفقًا للتشخيص المبدئي. 

واختتمت: “لم يتم التأكد من مدى خطورة الإصابة حتى الآن، بانتظار خضوعه لمزيد من الفحوصات المتخصصة، بما في ذلك الصور الشعاعية والرنين المغناطيسي، لتحديد طبيعة الإصابة بشكل دقيق”.

ومن جانبه، أعلن الاتحاد الأردني منذ قليل عن إصابة يزن النعيمات بقطع في الرباط الصليبي للركبة، بعد الخضوع للآشعة والفحوصات الطبية. طالع التفاصيل

MatériaMais Notícias

Agustín Giay é a bola da vez para chegar ao Palmeiras. O Verdão insistiu na contratação — e pagará cerca de R$ 40 milhões por 75% dos direitos — porque o argentino de 20 anos se encaixa perfeitamente no perfil de reforços do clube. Anteriormente, os argentinos endureceram as negociações e rejeitaram as primeiras propostas apresentadas.

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➡️ Siga o Lance! Palmeiras no WhatsApp e acompanhe todas as notícias do Verdão

O Palmeiras ficou “encantado” com Giay. Ele soma as características desejadas pela comissão técnica de Abel Ferreira, além de entrar no projeto a longo prazo do clube: atleta versátil, jovem, competitivo, passagens por seleções de base e promissor, podendo render lucro ao Alviverde no futuro.

Polivalente, o jogador atua na lateral-direita, como volante e meia pela direita. A versatilidade é justamente um dos “mantras” de Abel, que insiste em ter um elenco que os atletas desempenhem mais de uma função.

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Praticamente todo plantel alviverde, atualmente, atua com frequência em mais de uma posição. Além disso, Giay é analisado como competitivo para marcar e atacar, outra valência enfatizada pelo técnico do Palmeiras.

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➡️ Veja calendário e mais dados do Brasileirão 2024

Formado no San Lorenzo, Giay foi capitão da seleção Argentina no Mundial sub-20. Experiente apesar da pouca idade, o provável reforço palmeirense está no time profissional do “clube do Papa” desde seus 18 anos.

continua após a publicidadePalmeiras viu Giay de perto

O Palmeiras enfrentou o San Lorenzo duas vezes na fase de grupos da Libertadores 2024. A partir disso, o interesse na joia aumentou.

— Sim, teve contato (com Abel Ferreira e Simeone). Mas são coisas que não cabem a mim. Estou tranquilo, pensando no clube — disse Giay, em entrevista recente à “Espn Argentina”.

Na temporada atual, o atleta soma 24 partidas, um gol e duas assistências.

Tudo sobre

OriginalPalmeiras

Arsenal beat German champions Bayern Munich 3-1 on a night to remember in Europe, and one Gunners star absolutely stole the show with his performance.

Mikel Arteta’s side were handed one of their toughest tests on paper tonight against a Bayern side who are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga and one of the favourites to win the Champions League, but they were no match for the Premier League frontrunners in north London.

Jurrien Timber

7.7

Bukayo Saka

7.4

Riccardo Calafiori

7.4

Lennart Karl

7.4

Declan Rice

7.3

via WhoScored

Bayern had also won all but one of their matches in all competitions this season heading into their trip to the Emirates, with Arsenal handing Vincent Kompany’s side their first defeat of 2025/2026.

Second-half goals from Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli ended up firing Arsenal to victory in their heavyweight clash. Madueke, back after two months out with a knee injury, scored his first Gunners goal before fellow sub Martinelli pounced on a mistake from Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer to stretch Arsenal’s perfect record in the competition to five victories from five matches.

Earlier, Jurrien Timber had headed Arsenal into the lead and, with former Tottenham striker Harry Kane unable to add to the six goals he has scored at the Emirates, it was left to Bayern’s 17-year-old star Lennart Karl to grab the first goal Arsenal have conceded in the competition this season.

This glamour tie was arguably the least important of Premier League leaders Arsenal’s three matches this week, sandwiched between the 4-1 derby demolition of Spurs and Sunday’s trip to second-placed Chelsea.

Nevertheless, it is still one to revel in, and the result perhaps hands Arsenal the status of Europe’s best team right now.

While Timber, Madueke and Martinelli were the heroes on paper, it was a complete midfield performance by club-record signing Declan Rice, who absolutely bossed proceedings in the middle of the park with one of his best ever displays in red and white.

Ally McCoist hails 'out of this world' Declan Rice in Arsenal win

Covering the game for TNT Sports, commentator Ally McCoist repeatedly waxed lyrical about the England international — branding him Man of the Match for his “first class” outing against the Bavarians.

Rice was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet as well on 60 minutes, with the former West Ham captain storming down the left only for veteran keeper Manuel Neuer to deny him just reward for his imperious showing.

McCoist called Rice “magnificent” and “out of this world” for the run, which just about summed up what was a possessed performance from one of Arsenal’s leaders.

Tonight was a massive statement from Arsenal, who not only showed they can cut it against Europe’s toughest opponents, but also sent a very clear message that they’ve got absolutely zero intention of letting up.

Next up, a fierce London derby awaits against Chelsea this weekend — a match which could send Arteta’s side nine points clear at the top of the table and cement their status as overwhelming title favourites.

Rice will be a massive part of that, and tonight shows just how vital he is in Arteta’s quest to end the club’s 22-year wait for a Premier League trophy.

Vinicius Jr has softened his stance over a blockbuster salary request and is now edging closer to accepting Real Madrid’s reduced contract proposal. The Brazilian, once determined to match Kylian Mbappe’s earnings, has shifted course just weeks after tensions with Xabi Alonso threatened to derail negotiations.

How contract tensions reached breaking point

Vinicius' renewal saga has been a defining off-field story at Madrid this season. The Brazilian’s current contract runs until June 30, 2027, and talks first stalled two years ago when the club offered him around €20 million (£17m/$22m) per season, an amount he felt undervalued him at a moment when he was viewed internally as the club’s future superstar.

Back in 2023, with Karim Benzema gone and Jude Bellingham only beginning his Madrid journey, the Brazilian believed he deserved compensation befitting the club’s attacking focal point. His camp argued he was worth closer to €30m (£25m/$33m), placing him in the same bracket as Mbappe, whose current Madrid package reaches €23m (£19m/$25m) net annually with bonuses included. Negotiations continued into this season, but progress was limited.

The real setback came when reports claimed Vinicius informed the club he would not sign an extension “while his relationship with Alonso remains so strained.” The winger’s frustration grew as he was substituted repeatedly, omitted from starting lineups, and finished the full 90 minutes only four times all season. That, combined with Madrid’s dip in form, pushed the contract talks into a deep freeze until events in Greece shifted the mood.

AdvertisementAFPInside the Alonso rift and the divided Madrid dressing room

Spanish reports suggested the tension between Vinicius and Alonso symbolised a broader split inside the squad. revealed that six players – Vinicius, Federico Valverde, Rodrygo, Brahim Diaz, Endrick and Ferland Mendy were unhappy with the coach’s tactical choices and substitutions.

Vinicius, seen as the centre of the unrest, felt his role had been diminished. Being left out of major starting line-ups and used inconsistently only deepened his irritation. Meanwhile, the club’s marquee figures – Mbappe, Thibaut Courtois, Arda Guler, Dean Huijsen and Alvaro Carreras were said to be firmly behind Alonso.

The flashpoint came during the last Clasico, when the 25-year-old reacted angrily after being substituted. He issued a written apology days later but pointedly left Alonso’s name out. That omission strengthened the perception of a fractured relationship.

But according to reports , Vinicius later apologised in person to both the staff and the full squad. And when Madrid beat Olympiacos 4-3 in Greece, Vinicius walked directly to Alonso at full-time, the two embracing publicly, signalling a desire to move forward and stabilise the situation.

Why Vinicius is now willing to accept reduced terms

The shift in tone off the pitch has coincided with talks reopening on the financial side. Vinicius earns €15m gross per season under his current deal, and although his initial objective was to match or surpass Mbappe’s figures, now indicate that he is prepared to accept significantly lower terms than his earlier €30m target.

His willingness to compromise stems from several evolving factors. His form has dipped, with just 11 goals in his last 40 league and Champions League appearances, reducing the leverage he once held. At the same time, no major European club has made a concrete approach for him, despite speculative links to Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, which has further softened his negotiating position. There is also a growing understanding within his camp that Madrid remain the club best positioned to maximise his long-term potential and keep his Ballon d’Or ambitions alive. Most importantly, the tension with Alonso appears to have cooled after recent conciliatory gestures, removing one of the biggest emotional obstacles to signing a new deal.

Together, these developments represent the first real breakthrough in more than two years of stalling negotiations. The player and the club are now described as aligned once again, with both sides optimistic about reaching a final agreement in the coming months. It is also a crucial moment, as Vinicius would be free to negotiate with other clubs from January 2027, once he enters the final six months of his existing contract, a scenario Los Blancos are determined to avoid at all costs.

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Getty Images SportWhat comes next for Madrid’s No.7?

The Brazilian now enters a crucial stretch: the final 18 months of his contract and a pivotal moment in his Madrid career. His market value will decline with every passing month unless a renewal is sealed. The club want clarity before the summer window opens in 2026; the player wants assurances on his role and long-term project fit.

On the pitch, he still has the opportunity to reverse his recent decline and re-establish himself as a decisive figure alongside Mbappe and Bellingham. Off it, Madrid expect discussions to accelerate before the end of the season, with both sides confident a middle ground can be reached. All eyes now turn to the negotiation table where Vinicius Jr’s future at the Bernabeu will be decided once and for all.

Borussia Dortmund summer signing Fabio Silva is already weighing up a shock January exit after struggling for minutes under Niko Kovac, with the Portugal international frustrated by his peripheral role and worried about missing out on the 2026 World Cup. The former Wolves forward has played just over 100 minutes in the Bundesliga, prompting talk of a rapid departure.

Silva already eyeing exit from Dortmund after summer move

Silva’s move from Wolves to Borussia Dortmund was supposed to be the moment his career finally stabilised after four loan spells across Europe. The Bundesliga club paid over €20 million (£17.5m) for the Portugal international and handed him a long-term deal until 2030, signalling belief in his long-term potential. But after an injury flagged up during his medical and a slow integration into Kovac’s plans, the early signs have not been encouraging.

The 23-year-old has managed nine appearances in total but has barely featured meaningfully, with those outings amounting to around 100 minutes across the season. His cameos have often been late substitutions, including a two-minute appearance in a 3-3 draw with Stuttgart that reportedly left him disappointed. Given Wolves’ own struggles up front, it has even been noted that Silva might have played more minutes had he remained in the Premier League.

With ambitions of making Portugal’s World Cup squad next year, Silva has grown increasingly concerned by his lack of opportunities. Sky Germany report that he is already considering a “lightning-fast exit” in January despite only joining Dortmund in late August. No formal discussions with club management have taken place so far, but Silva’s camp are believed to be exploring options as frustration rises.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportSilva's has lacked continuity throughout his career…

Silva’s desire to leave stems from a wider pattern in his career, as he has struggled to find the right environment to develop. After joining Wolves in 2020 as one of Europe’s top teenage prospects, he never settled into the rhythm required to justify his £35 million fee. Loans to Anderlecht, PSV, Rangers and Las Palmas followed, with only his spell in Spain offering the promise of a long-term breakthrough. Even then, negotiations to secure him full-time in La Liga collapsed when demands from his camp reportedly put off several interested clubs.

Dortmund appeared to represent a turning point: a club famous for nurturing young talent and giving forwards the stage to explode. But his arrival coincided with competition in an already crowded attack, limiting his chances even when fully fit. Kovac has publicly praised Silva’s attitude, acknowledging: “Overall, I'm very satisfied with Fabio. However, we have many quality players up front… I hope we'll see more of him in the near future.” Despite this reassurance, matchday decisions have continued to cast doubt over Silva’s place in the hierarchy.

There is also the international dimension. Silva made his senior Portugal debut last year and received praise from national team coach Roberto Martinez, who recently suggested Silva could push for a World Cup place with strong club form; however, since then, Silva has not returned to the squad.

Silva's stop-start career at Borussia Dortmund

Silva's struggles have been compounded by how little of Dortmund’s football has flowed through him. The Portuguese forward has just one goal to his name, a substitute strike in a 4-2 win over Copenhagen in the DFB-Pokal, and his limited appearances have made it impossible for him to build chemistry with his new teammates. His first weeks in Germany were further disrupted by an injury detected during his medical, slowing his integration and making early momentum difficult to capture.

This has created a familiar scenario for Silva, after leaving Porto at 18, he moved through multiple leagues and playing styles, each demanding different physical and tactical adaptations. Spain appeared his most natural fit, with Las Palmas utilising his link-up play and movement effectively, but no permanent offer materialised due to protracted negotiations.

Dortmund, while appealing on paper, has so far become another stopgap rather than the stable foundation he needed. The Bundesliga club’s depth in attack and their reliance on more established forwards has left Silva on the fringes.

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Getty Images SportSilva and his World Cup pipe dream

A loan move in January appears increasingly likely unless Dortmund can offer a clear path to more regular minutes. With interest sure to come from clubs in Spain, where Silva thrived last season, and possibly Portugal, the striker may have several feasible routes out. His long-term contract gives Dortmund control, but accommodating his desire for meaningful minutes may be the only solution to prevent further unrest.

However, despite his heart aching for World Cup 2026 action, the chances of making Martinez's Portugal squad are highly unlikely unless Silva reaches world-class levels or Portugal suffer an unprecedented injury crisis.

India opening batter Pratika Rawal has been fined 10% of her match fee and handed one demerit point for “avoidable physical contact” during the first ODI against England on Tuesday, which India won by four wickets.Two separate incidents took place during India’s chase, which came in for scrutiny by the match officials.The first was when Rawal played a ball off Lauren Filer in the 18th over and went across for a single. While approaching the non-striker’s end, she made contact with the bowler. Then, in the next over, after being bowled by Sophie Ecclestone for a 51-ball 36, Rawal made contact with Ecclestone on her way back to the dressing room.Related

• Deepti digs deep to deliver India's four-wicket win

Rawal pleaded guilty to the Level 1 breach of the ICC’s code of conduct, which relates to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play”.”It [the collision with Filer] was not intentional; I was just running in my way,” Rawal said ahead of the second ODI at Lord’s*. “And the shoulder barge thing was also not deliberate. I don’t think there is [need to have] any reaction to it or [make] any fuss about it.”While she was in the middle, Rawal stitched together partnerships of 48 with Smriti Mandhana for the first wicket and 46 with Harleen Deol for the second wicket, setting up the chase of 259, which India completed comfortably thanks to a 90-run stand between Jemimah Rodrigues (48) and Deepti Sharma (62*) for the fifth wicket.England, meanwhile, were fined 5% of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate. They were found to be one over short of the target in the time allotted for completing their overs, though they didn’t have to bowl all 50, India getting over the line with ten balls in hand.England and India will meet each other for the second ODI on Saturday, at Lord’s, before the last game of the tour, the third ODI in Chester-le-Street on Tuesday. India had earlier won the T20I series 3-2.* 1300 GMT Updated with Rawal’s qoute

“Maybe a little bit of experience in that middle order today might have helped us out,” Ricky Ponting says of the IPL 2025 final defeat to RCB

Sidharth Monga04-Jun-20252:06

Aaron: Iyer ‘one of the best captains in the IPL’

The most remarkable thing about Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) run to the IPL 2025 final was that they did so with hardly any international experience in their batting. Shreyas Iyer was the only capped Indian batter they had and even he is out of favour in two of the three international formats right now. Josh Inglis, who can perhaps consider himself an Australia regular now, played only 11 out of 17 matches. Glenn Maxwell played seven. Marcus Stoinis batted too low.Throughout the season, this merry band of inexperienced and shackle-free Indian batters kept taking the game on even if it meant getting bowled out for 111 and 101. This approach came off even when they found themselves down at 34 for 3 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on one occasion.In the final, though, probably for the first time all season, PBKS blinked. In overs three and four, they didn’t try to make the play and found themselves at 32 for 0, only one more than their lowest four-over score all tournament. That brace of 31s was 31 because they had lost three wickets in the first four overs in those matches.Related

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Here, in the big final, PBKS’ inexperienced openers were playing in a way that wasn’t true to their game. Part of it was not because it was the final. It was actually smart, their coach Ricky Ponting said later. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bowled Josh Hazlewood in the first three overs for only the fourth time this IPL. The openers probably decided RCB were looking for an early wicket. They also recognised that Hazlewood had done against them in previous matches, and were circumspect.It was the over after, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, that Ponting felt could have been attacked. Just four runs came off that over as the openers, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, played to the merit of the ball instead of playing their natural attacking game. “You know, when you have a really good defensive over, it’s really important that the next one you go after and try and capitalise on,” Ponting said. “And we weren’t able to do that in the fourth over of that powerplay.”After that, PBKS were always chasing the game against RCB’s well-rounded attack. Asked if this circumspection was a reaction to their 101 all out against the same team in Qualifier 1, Ponting said, “I would like to think not because one thing I’ve told this group is always taking the game forward, always seeing the positive result and the way that we go about it, and not thinking about the negative result that might happen if you get out.”One thing as a batsman in this game, you can’t be worried about getting out. If you’re worried about getting out, you can’t play the game well.”It just made Phil Salt’s catch of Arya much more significant – he ran about 20 yards to his right and along the boundary, took the catch, lobbed the ball up before stepping out, and came back in to complete the catch.Ricky Ponting: “I think I talked at the first press conference I had with Shreyas about becoming a daring, dynamic, and different team”•Getty Images

Even if it was the lack of experience that might have cost PBKS the final, Ponting promised similarly competitive and aggressive cricket from his players, who will be more experienced come next season. “I can’t speak highly enough for what those young boys have done through the tournament,” Ponting said. “I think I talked at the first press conference I had with Shreyas about becoming a daring, dynamic, and different team.”On the back of that, what Prabh and Priyansh and [Nehal] Wadhera and these sort of guys were able to do, there’s probably enough been said through the media over the last couple of months. The way that we’ve been able to play our cricket, it’s been highly entertaining. For a coach to be able to sit back and say that about a team gives me a lot of satisfaction.”You can probably look at it tonight and say, ‘was it probably a little bit of inexperience that cost us?’ Maybe a little bit of experience in that middle order today might have helped us out, but what I know is that we’re going to have these younger guys around this team for a long time and I think they’re going to win us a lot of games going forward.”Ponting did feel, though, that PBKS let this one slip after keeping RCB down to 190. “We’ve got it right for most of the year,” Ponting said. “It was only a couple of days ago that we were here celebrating one of our great wins for the season to get into the final, and today we probably feel that we’ve let one slip, but as I said, with this group being as young as it is, we’ll be back bigger and stronger next season.”