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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was joined by Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Will Smith and Kiké Hernandez as guests on Tuesday night's where they were described as "still moist" from their World Series celebration. The quintet of champions answered some questions while remembering just how awesome that all was for Los Angeles fans—your typical late-night fare.

The highlight was Hernandez revealing that he was under the impression his team had lost the World Series after getting trucked by Andy Pages to end the ninth inning of Game 7.

Hernandez shared the story of how he processed the season-saving play after getting teed up by Roberts.

"Bases loaded ninth inning, ball drops we lose, right" he said. "I get a bad jump because the pitch almost bounced, he kind of put the bat on the ball. I broke half a step in and I'm running. And I'm thinking about my entire life as I'm following this ball and I felt like I ran a 400-meter dash and like as I'm finally about to catch the ball I'm like 'the only thing I've got to worry about is the wall, right?'"

Hernandez assured everyone he was in position to catch the ball before he was blindsided from Pages, who had just entered the game as a defensive replacement.

"Out of nowhere I feel like an NBA player because my teammate posterized me," he said. "I go down and in my head everything is quiet, which should have told me he caught it."

Hernandez said he didn't trust his instincts because he thought his brain was protecting him from heartbreak. And that he only found out the Dodgers had fresh life in extra innings after Pages came over to check on him.

It's an awesome story and an extra bit of lore for an already unbelievable World Series.

Sai Sudharsan picked up the injury when he “caught” John Campbell’s slog-sweep at forward short-leg, the slog-sweep hitting him in the helmet grille before the ball lodged itself in his arms

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2025There will be no B Sai Sudharsan on the field for India on the third day of the ongoing second Test against West Indies in Delhi after he suffered “an impact injury” on the second day of the Test. The good news for India is that “the injury is not serious, and he is doing fine,” as a BCCI media statement on Sunday morning said.Sai Sudharsan, fielding at forward short-leg on the second day, picked up the injury when he “caught” John Campbell off Ravindra Jadeja – the big slog-sweep from the West Indies opener hit Sai Sudharsan in the helmet grille before the ball lodged itself in the crook of the fielder’s arms.That was in the eighth over of West Indies’ first innings after India had declared on 518 for 5, and Sai Sudharsan stayed off the field for the remaining 35 overs that were bowled on the day. “He continues to be monitored by the BCCI medical team,” the BCCI said. There was no update on whether Sai Sudharsan would bat – at his No. 3 spot or at all – on Sunday’s third day if the West Indies first innings were to end.Sai Sudharsan had earlier made an important contribution when India batted, scoring 87 in 165 balls with 12 fours. He put on an 193-run stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal for the second wicket and was dismissed when trying to flick Jomel Warrican across the line in the 69th over. Jaiswal’s 175 and Shubman Gill’s 129 not out put India in the driver’s seat to make it 2-0 in the series.

England have made a mess of their succession planning after ignoring white-ball cricket since 2019

Andrew Miller07-Apr-20255:06

Roller: Managing all three formats will be Brook’s biggest challenge

The devil was in the detail of Rob Key’s statement, after the ECB confirmed the inevitable elevation of Harry Brook to England’s vacant white-ball captaincy.”This opportunity has come slightly earlier than expected,” Key said in his second sentence of the board’s press release – which is hardly the sort of glowing appraisal that you might expect from the England Men’s managing director on Coronation Day.And though Key did add that Brook had long been part of the team’s “succession planning” – whatever that may mean – his tone betrayed the shocking tangle that England have got themselves into in their once-formidable white-ball set-up.As recently as November 2022, that white-ball squad was still a genuinely groundbreaking outfit, with England’s victory in the T20 World Cup in Australia making them the first men’s team to hold both of the ICC’s white-ball trophies concurrently. Earlier that year in 50-over cricket, they extended their ODI record total to a massive, and still unsurpassed, 498 for 4 against the Netherlands at Amstelveen.Since then, however, the rot has been rapid and entirely foreseeable. Leaving their T20I fortunes to one side for a moment, the specific ineptitude of their recent Champions Trophy campaign reflected a generation of players – Brook included – who simply do not play enough 50-over cricket to know how to pace an innings.Prior to his England ODI debut against South Africa in January 2023, Brook hadn’t played a single 50-over match for Yorkshire since May 2019, two months before the team that he now leads had even broken their duck at the 50-over World Cup.His situation is mirrored by pretty much any player around whom England might hope to reinflate their white-ball fortunes – Jamie Smith, Jordan Cox, Gus Atkinson … the list goes on. And so, when Key says that his elevation has come sooner than would be ideal, it’s an admission of desperation, as much as an acknowledgment of how badly the Buttler-McCullum alliance failed to live up to expectations.For when it comes to “succession planning” … pull the other one. England have been on a wing and a prayer for the past two years in white-ball cricket. England’s preparations for the 2023 World Cup amounted to a séance, as the spirit of 2019 was summoned for one last dance (and duly failed to materialise), while the mere fact that Ben Stokes was seriously considered as a stop-gap is proof of how rapidly those standards are continuing to swirl around the plug-hole.Jos Buttler’s tenure disintegrated after the early high of the 2022 T20 World Cup•Sameer Ali/Getty ImagesIn terms of his career progression, it probably is too soon for Brook, but what’s a team to do? In an ideal world, he would have built up his 50-over experience over the next two and a half years until the 2027 World Cup, then taken over from Buttler with standards restored and legacies polished. In an ideal world, he would have had a few more chances to shore up his technique against high-quality spin: a genuine problem area, though clearly not an insurmountable one, even if his two-year ban from the IPL after his late withdrawal from Delhi Capitals’ campaign will deny him an obvious source of experience.In an ideal world, Brook would also be averaging more than 28.50 in his T20I career. In part this is a legacy of his anonymous role in that 2022 World Cup win (56 runs at 11.20 in six matches), which if nothing else was proof that experience cannot be bought off a peg. But more problematically, it reflects Brook’s lack of opportunity in white-ball cricket to date, given his extraordinarily central importance to England’s Test fortunes.This is where Key’s concerns about the timing really hit home. For all that Brook’s unveiling as white-ball captain will be a proud moment – and his sparky leadership against Australia last September suggests there’ll be plenty tactical nous on show when he takes the field against West Indies – there’s also little doubt where his true focus will be heading into a genuinely seismic nine months.Related

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England’s Test team, for which Brook is currently the No.2-ranked batter in the world behind Joe Root, has five home Tests against India looming in June and July, followed by the Ashes in Australia from November to January. It promises to be a legacy-defining period for the team’s elder statesmen – Stokes, Root and Mark Wood in particular – but also for the Bazball project itself, as the players are just about allowing themselves to call it these days.As Brook noted when pulling out of the IPL, “it is a really important time for England cricket … I need time to recharge.” No wonder he’s missing the opening rounds of the Championship to take a family holiday. All being well with his form and fitness, he is going to be the busiest player on the planet in the coming 12 months, because no sooner does the Ashes end than he’ll be leading the T20I side in the next World Cup in India. By which stage, the 2027 World Cup will be little more than a year away. Rinse, repeat … sleep whenever there’s a chance.It’s a rod that England made for their own back, from the moment they won the 2019 World Cup then spurned the format that had brought them glory. Every ounce of know-how has subsequently been re-invested in the Test set-up, at the expense of the white-ball game … with the honorable exception of Buttler, whose career was sent off on a branch-line while his generational peers got busy Bazballing.The irony is that Buttler should never have had to become a man apart in England’s white-ball set-up. Hindsight suggests that England could have won that 2022 tournament on autopilot, and pretty much did, such was the residual excellence in their set-up – as epitomised by Stokes’ matchwinning innings in the final, having not played T20Is in 18 months prior to the tournament.Now, under McCullum, there has at least been a belated attempt at unification, to ensure that the same values and knowledge that have reinvigorated the Test team are carried across formats before it’s too late. But this also means that Brook is the right choice as white-ball captain because he’s a guaranteed pick across formats, but also the wrong choice because he’s a guaranteed pick across formats. Go figure. It’s a mess, and there are no easy answers.

Third-wicket stand of 141 with Haseeb Hameed overhauls Glamorgan with ease

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay17-Aug-2025Nottinghamshire 282 for 3 (Haynes 124, Hameed 58*) beat Glamorgan 278 for 9 (Byrom 62, Root 56) by seven wicketsJack Haynes starred with a century as Notts Outlaws kept their qualification chances at arm’s length with a comfortable run chase against winless defending champions Glamorgan.The 24-year-old Haynes struck a well-timed 124 with some late acceleration to chase the sub-par 278 for 9 set by the hosts.Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed played supporting roles in the seven-wicket win, the latter combining with Haynes for a 141-run third-wicket stand.Eddie Byrom notched up back-to-back half-centuries with 62 while Billy Root also passed 50 to hold together the Glamorgan innings. One positive for the winless side was 18-year-old Romano Franco picking up a first professional wicket at the third time of asking.After being inserted, Glamorgan got off to a racing start, as has tended to be their way in this competition. Byrom and Asa Tribe’s 71-run opening stand left Notts’ bowling attack – hit by the absence of players in the Hundred – with cause for concern before Tribe’s fun was ended by 18-year-old debutant Byron Hatton-Lowe.Byrom, the steadier of the two openers in terms of strike rate, continued calmly as he watched on for Henry Hurle, playing a first Glamorgan game of 2025, to be dismissed.Kiran Carlson was unable to kick on, as was Will Smale who suffered a ball-watching run out to leave the hosts with just five wickets in hand with more than 20 overs to bat, a theme too common in their campaign.Root held the fort in a knock of few boundaries for 56 before Dan Douthwaite’s blistering cameo added some impetus, the hosts still left short.Zain Ul Hassan was able to contain in a seven-over new-ball spell while Ned Leonard leaked at the other end, Slater enjoying a rather comfortable start.After Ben Martindale was dismissed, a period of experience was due with Slater and Haynes adding 75 before Hameed struck an unbeaten 58 to ice the run chase.Franco impressed in his 10 overs but poor fielding, including a drop by Andy Gorvin with Haynes on 68 proved costly.Tribe followed as the third player in the game to take a first wicket for his club, after Hatton-Lowe and Franco, although the damage was done.

Captain’s poor form with bat typified off-colour display and leaves questions to be answered before Lord’s

Matt Roller06-Jul-20251:46

Harmison: England’s top-order returns a worry

Ben Stokes was surrounded. Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal seemed convinced that he had edged Washington Sundar down the leg side in the over before lunch, and Indian fielders converged on England’s captain. Ravindra Jadeja pointed to Stokes’ thigh pad. Shubman Gill decided against using his final review. Stokes chewed his gum, hand on hip, and glared.One ball later, India’s fielders went up in appeal again. Stokes was dumbfounded when umpire Sharfuddoula raised his finger, and held out his left hand in bemusement before reviewing. But the decision was spot on: DRS confirmed that Washington’s in-drifter had hit his pad before his bat. He shook his head as he walked off, past a fan waving an India flag in Edgbaston’s South Stand.Stokes’ innings was a grimly compelling watch, a public disavowal of his previous stance that he was “not interested” in drawing Test matches as captain. With every high-elbow defence and exaggerated leave off the seamers, he made ever more clear the extent to which his team had been backed into a corner by India. After three years, the option of last resort had finally arrived.Related

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The trouble for Stokes was that Gill knew he could attack him with spin. Stokes never settled in England’s run chase in Leeds, compulsively reverse-sweeping – he played the shot 16 times in 51 balls, the last of which brought about his dismissal. He has always been a stronger player against pace but his numbers against spinners have fallen off a cliff.Here, Stokes put his reverse-sweep away against Jadeja, but was never in control. He shifted his guard, batting across his stumps, and was caught between stools when confronted with a rough patch outside off. He lunged forward to sweep, missing as many as he hit, and gloved one ball just short of Gill at leg slip as he looked to defend.Just briefly, Stokes had started to look like his old self when back-cutting, driving and pulling Mohammed Siraj for boundaries, finally exerting his dominance on a bowler. But his dismissal to Washington felt almost inevitable: 16 of his 25 Test dismissals since the start of last year have been to spinners, and he is averaging 18.43 against spin in that time. It has been a barren run, and it was telling that Gill pushed his fielders back at the end of overs, allowing Stokes singles that would keep him on strike.

“The task today was batting out the 80 overs. The result we always try to push towards and look forward [to] was beyond [us]… It just wasn’t meant to be”

Stokes has had a bad week in Birmingham. He took five wickets in the first Test at Headingley but admitted that bowling 35 overs left him as “a shadow of my normal self”, and after 15 more on day one at Edgbaston, managed only 11 overs thereafter. Uncharacteristically, he seemed to run out of ideas in India’s second innings as the game drifted away from him slowly.His decision to bowl first at the toss backfired, with India enjoying the best batting conditions and grinding England into the ground. “As the game got deeper and deeper, it was pretty obvious that [the pitch] was not playing the way that we thought it was going to,” Stokes said. Brendon McCullum was clearer, saying: “We probably got it slightly wrong.”India’s relentlessness with the bat left England facing an unprecedented situation under Stokes’ captaincy, attempting to bat out the final day to secure a draw with a win off the table. “The task today was batting out the 80 overs,” he said. “The result we always try to push towards and look forward [to] was beyond [us]… It just wasn’t meant to be.”4:11

Stokes: We weren’t able to deliver our skills when needed

His team now faces a quick turnaround to Thursday’s third Test at Lord’s. Stokes does not expect the 336-run margin of defeat to affect their performance next week, but he needs to step up with the bat. Gill, his opposite number, does not look a natural leader in the field, but his runs have bought him scope to make mistakes that Stokes is not giving himself.The opening day of this match marked the two-year anniversary of Stokes’ most recent Test hundred, a rage-fuelled 155 in defeat to Australia at Lord’s, and he has not scored a century in any format of the game since the 2023 World Cup. He declined the opportunity to play for Durham or England Lions ahead of this series to manage his body, but his batting has suffered.Since the start of last year, Stokes has faced only 1280 balls in professional cricket, limited heavily by knee and hamstring injuries; the next fewest among England’s top seven is Zak Crawley with 2414, while Joe Root has faced 4523. If batting is a skill that relies on rhythm and tempo, then Stokes has been dancing to a very different tune.Stokes shrugged off a post-match question about his own form with the bat but his five Test scores this year read 9, 20, 33, 0 and 33, and his career batting average has dipped to its lowest mark (35.31) since the 2019 Ashes. He has been an inspirational and tactically astute captain, but Stokes’ leadership alone cannot mask his struggles with the bat.

India are unlikely to make any changes to their playing XI, but West Indies might be tempted to bring in the left-arm pace of Jediah Blades

Sidharth Monga09-Oct-20253:13

Gill outlines the challenges of being an all-format player

Big picture: Series sweep on India’s mindThe late Khushwant Singh, one of the more illustrious lovers and residents of Delhi, called October in the city the “pleasantest” of all the months in the northern hemisphere. Like with most things Khushwant, the statement sparks lively debate, especially with lovers of spring in late February and March.This is all relative now: with rampant urbanisation and climate change, it is now more about which months are less unpleasant and less harmful to your health. The BCCI has just about winged the most harmful time for elite athletes to undertake high-performance activity – not before being called out for it – and the early snowfall in the hills has cooled the temperatures to the usual October levels to tease those given to wistfulness for the Delhi of old.Related

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Those given to wistfulness also yearn for the West Indies of the old. Not the one that lasted just 89.2 overs in the first Test. More importantly, not the one that looked unthreatening with the ball in an effort of 5 for 448. Not the side whose coach Daren Sammy has to hope a player will “accept” the opportunity when he calls to inform them they have been selected for West Indies.There is not a lot West Indies can hope to change between the two Tests. Ahmedabad, with an early-season greenness on the pitch, was their best chance, but they were without the Josephs, Alzarri and Shamar. In Delhi, the onus will be more on the slower bowlers.It doesn’t help that India are somewhere close to their best after the blip against New Zealand last year. With the exception of Rishabh Pant, whose fractured foot hasn’t fully healed yet, they are at full strength. They are keen on making this a clean sweep, which will take their WTC points percentage to 61.9, still in third place.Form guideIndia WWDLW
West Indies LLLLW1:33

Chopra: ‘West Indies batters need belief on better batting pitch’

In the spotlight: Nitish Kumar Reddy and Jomel WarricanTest cricket is not where you prepare players for the future, but like Hardik Pandya almost a decade ago, India want to give Nitish Kumar Reddy a proper workload in slightly lesser challenges so that he can be the seam-bowling allrounder India need not just in away Tests but also the ODI World Cup in South Africa in 2027. Ryan ten Doeschate, their assistant coach, said just that two days before this Test. In Ahmedabad, he got to bowl only four overs and didn’t get to bat at all. It remains to be seen if India go out of their way to involve him more in this Test.Jomel Warrican is the vice-captain of the side, their most experienced specialist spinner, and joint-most experienced bowler. But he averages 54.25 in four Tests against India, two each at home and away. He will want to do way better in Delhi than the 29-5-102-1 he returned in Ahmedabad.0:49

Chopra: ‘Sai Sudharsan needs runs or the pressure will mount’

Team news: Could Devdutt Padikkal get a game?India have no reason to change their XI. However, is B Sai Sudharsan feeling any heat, and is Devdutt Padikkal breathing down his neck?India (possible): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed SirajIt doesn’t make a lot of sense to change the batting on such a short trip. The one change West Indies might consider is bringing in Jediah Blades to give themselves a left-arm seam option.West Indies (possible): 1 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 2 John Campbell, 3 Alick Athanaze, 4 Brandon King, 5 Shai Hope (wk), 6 Roston Chase (capt), 7 Justin Greaves, 8 Jomel Warrican, 9 Khary Pierre, 10 Johann Layne/Jediah Blades, 11 Jayden SealesPitch and conditionsDelhi is likely to be a typical Indian track, good for batting on the first two-and-a-bit days before bringing the spinners into the game. The drop in temperatures should make it difficult for the pitch to break up suddenly. The week in the lead-up to the Test has brought some rain, but the Test is not likely to be affected.3:31

Sammy: ‘Our problems are rooted deep into our system’

Stats and trivia India haven’t lost a Test in Delhi since November 1987, which, incidentally, was to West Indies. Since then, they have won 12 and drawn 12. Ravindra Jadeja is ten short of 4000 Test runs. Only Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Daniel Vettori before him have achieved the double of 4000 runs and 300 wickets.Quotes”We think it would be unfair on the guy [Reddy] if we only play him overseas. Because that doesn’t give him that many opportunities. In the next year and a half, we aren’t playing that many matches outside of India, so to be able to back a guy who can bowl 10-15 overs in a day and can bat as well – we sat his ability and potential in Australia – so we want to give him as much game time in India to help him.”
India captain Shubman Gill doesn’t feel Reddy is an option only for overseas Tests“If we complain about not having the best facilities, not having enough manpower like the other teams, not having the best technology, all these things which the other teams are superior to us [in], then why the hell are they still outworking us? The only way we could match up [and] compete at a consistent level is if we as the coaches and the players are prepared to outwork the opposition, and we’re not doing that.”

Chelsea are now preparing a club-record bid to sign Atletico Madrid forward Julian Alvarez, with it being revealed Enzo Fernandez could play a key role in the potential transfer.

The Blues’ interest in signing a new centre-forward comes amid a slow start to life at Stamford Bridge for Liam Delap, with the 22-year-old failing to score in his opening four Premier League games since making the move to west London in the summer.

Joao Pedro has been more promising, picking up four goals and three assists in the league, but the Brazilian was given the nod in a slightly deeper role against Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out, upon Delap’s return from a hamstring injury.

The 24-year-old excelled in attacking midfield, scoring the second in the 3-0 rout, and Enzo Maresca has suggested he is also better-suited to playing with a partner, saying: “We know that he can play as a number nine or he can play as a number 10,”

“In both positions, I think Joao is very good, but probably when he has another number nine next to him, he is playing better.”

As such, there may be space in the squad to bring in another new centre-forward, and a huge offer is now in the works…

Chelsea preparing club-record bid for Julian Alvarez

According to a report from Spain, Chelsea are now preparing an offer of around €150m (£133m) for Atletico Madrid star Julian Alvarez, which would make him their record signing, should they manage to get a deal over the line.

Fernandez could play a key role in the transfer, as the Blues are hoping the Argentinian’s presence at Stamford Bridge will convince Alvarez to make the move, given that they are international teammates.

BlueCo clearly mean business, but it looks unlikely that a deal will be straightforward, given that FC Barcelona are also in the race, and Atletico Madrid are reluctant to enter negotiations over a sale.

Should the Spanish club soften their stance, the 25-year-old could be a fantastic addition to Maresca’s forward line, having made a flying start to the campaign, chipping in with 13 goal contributions across his opening 15 matches in all competitions.

Lauded as a “monster” by journalist Pablo Gonzalez, the 49-time Argentina international also found the back of the net 17 times in La Liga alone during his debut campaign, while a tally of 11 goals and ten assists in the former Manchester City man’s final campaign at the Etihad Stadium indicates he is very well-rounded.

Signing Alvarez would be a major statement of intent from Chelsea, and if they were able to get a deal done this winter, the World Cup-winning forward could be a real difference-maker in the Premier League title race.

Julian Alvarez has been named as one of the best strikers in the world The Best 15 Strikers in World Football Ranked (2025)

Who is the best number nine right now?

ByCharlie Smith Nov 20, 2025

Aminul Islam has been re-elected as the BCB president at the board election on Monday. He will serve a four-year term, after having been in the same role for the last four months. Faruque Ahmed, the former president who Aminul had replaced in May, and Shakhawat Hossain, will be the vice-presidents.The day-long election, which included physical votes and e-ballots, was held in a hotel in Dhaka. A total of 23 directors were elected and two government representatives were announced later to form the 25-member body. The election commission said 115 votes were cast out of the 156 eligible voters.The election process is two-fold. The voters, called councillors, elect 23 board directors in three separate categories. Aminul was one of ten directors elected from the first category, which includes only the divisions and districts of the country. The second category is the all-powerful Dhaka clubs who elect the majority of 12 directors. The third category includes representatives from different institutions, former cricketers, captains, and several other organisations.The election commission announced the names of the board directors at 6.30pm, before the new 25-member body held an election among themselves to choose the president and two vice-presidents. Aminul, Faruque and Shakhawat were elected unopposed in these posts.Three former captains are now in the board of directors, including Aminul, Faruque and Khaled Mashud. Former Bangladesh cricketer Abdur Razzak was nominated from the Khulna sub-category unopposed, becoming a board director. He had left his job as a senior men’s selector recently.While the voting was held without major incident on Monday, the election commission representatives made allegations of “intimidations”. The build-up to the election, too, had several controversies. Tamim Iqbal, the former Bangladesh captain, had withdrawn from the race after complaining of interference, when BCB chief Aminul issued a letter asking for fresh nominations for the elections’ first category. The letter was cleared by the country’s courts the day before the elections.After he was confirmed as the new president, Aminul said he wanted to continue in this role after “falling in love with Bangladesh cricket’s development”. When he was elected on May 30, Aminul had said that his short-term role would be like a “quick T20 innings”.Aminul played 13 Tests and 39 ODIs, and led the side during their maiden World Cup appearance in 1999.Category 1 directors: Aminul Islam, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, Ahsan Iqbal Chowdhury, Asif Akbar, Abdur Razzak, Julfiker Ali Khan, Mukhlesur Rahman, Hasanuzzaman, Rahat Shams, Shakhawat HossainCategory 2 directors: Ishtiaque Sadeque, Adnan Rahman, Fayazur Rahman, Abul Bashar, Amzad Hossain, Shanian Taneem, Mukhsedul Kamal, Nazmul Islam, Faruque Ahmed, Manjur Alam, Mehrab Alam Chowdhury, Iftekhar RahmanCategory 3 director: Khaled MashudGovernment representative directors: M Ishfaq Ahsan, Yasir Mohammad Faisal Ashique

Little known fact. Joe Root has never made a hundred in Australia.It will be the sub-genre of the summer. A much anticipated Ashes series, in which one of the greats of the game has the chance to complete a caveat-free career. An away win, and a full set of centuries in every Test-hosting nation he has played. Except for Bangladesh and the UAE. They don’t rate him in Dhaka.Matthew Hayden confidently made the claim that if Root didn’t end the Aussie summer with a Test ton, he’d strip nude to run around the MCG. But others aren’t so sure.”Wrists limper than a French handshake,” former Aussie legspinner and broadcaster Kerry O’Keeffe said on Fox Sports. “It doesn’t work in Australia.””The first two Tests are huge for Joe Root. They’re nickers’ Tests. Perth? They nick for fun there. And Brisbane day-night? Everyone nicks in Bris.”Joe Root is a nicker. When he was last here, in his first eight innings he nicked off. Australia knows this. What will be his defensive set-up? I’m very bearish about Joe Root.”O’Keeffe’s argument is that Root previously chose to stay inside the ball, as he was of the belief they wouldn’t target him with the offcutter, only for a different weakness to appear, that meant he was playing away from his body.It is a rare technical examination of a player who has averaged 58.00 since Brendon McCullum took over, but a prescient one given Australia’s recent tendency to produce pitches that favour their seam bowlers. Since the start of the 2021-22 Ashes, top-seven batters in Australia have averaged 30.22 per dismissal, compared to 38.14 in the four-year cycle before that. By contrast, England’s pitches have gone the other way. The average in the four years before McCullum’s appointment was 30.90; it has since been 38.94.”England play pretty well on the flatter wickets, the way they play,” Steve Smith said recently. “So, if there’s a bit in it like there has been the last three or four years, with our bowling attack, it certainly makes things a lot more difficult for their batters.”Nevertheless, Root sees no need to tamper with his technique. Arriving in New Zealand ahead of England’s three-match ODI series, it will be the final three hits he has before lining up against Australia in Perth.”A lot of that prep’s already started back home,” Root said, explaining how he’s balancing his preparation for an ODI series today with the carrot of the Ashes starting tomorrow.”I think how I’d prepare now is different to how I would have done 10 years ago. A lot more mental. I’ve clearly played against a lot of their guys now. Know how they operate, know what they’re likely to try to bring to the series.”I used to be very technical in how I prepared. I’d want to make sure that everything felt lined up and my feet were in the right place, my head was in the right place, whereas now I’m a little bit more concerned about how I’m looking at the game, how I’m going to approach different situations, whether that be the surface, whether that be different bowler types, different angles, and being able to manage those different angles when they come wide of the crease. Things like that.”Related

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• Kyle Jamieson out of ODIs against England with side stiffness

• Williamson and England's Ashes players in focus as ODI series kicks off

This will be Root’s fourth Ashes tour. His individual record is respectable, averaging 35.68, but not befitting of a player of his own calibre. England’s record across that time, however, is diabolical: 15 matches, 13 defeats, two draws, zero wins.”They’re all different,” Root said of how the build-up to this series has compared to previous tours. “I look at it at this time and I’m in a completely different stage of my career. I’m no longer captain, I’m playing some really good cricket, and so are we. We’re playing in a really exciting way. We’ve got a great group of players that we can go there and hit them with different tools than we’ve had on previous tours, so when you look at it like that, it’s a really exciting prospect.”Clearly, Australia are really good in their own conditions, with a great record at home, especially against us, but that’s the exciting bit right? There’s an opportunity there to do something a bit different and hopefully achieve something really special.”Despite the ODI World Cup being two years away, these three matches against New Zealand are not without complete jeopardy. England are currently ranked eighth in the world after winning only eight of their last 23 fixtures. Failure to automatically qualify for the World Cup remains unlikely, but only if they nip in the bud a continued slide in the format.”I don’t think that’s necessarily anyone’s fault of what happened before,” Root said of the ODI group’s relative stability under Brook and McCullum, compared to previous leadership.”You look at the number of crossovers of Test series and one-dayers, it was physically impossible to get there. There was a one-day series against the Netherlands when we were playing a Test match at Old Trafford. You think how can that happen?”New Zealand themselves haven’t played an ODI since April, but remain ranked third in the world. The weighting of points in the ICC rankings is such that it presents a major opportunity for England to win some matches, and lift themselves away from any potential future problems.”I don’t think it’s arrogant to say you look at the quality that’s within our squad, and we’re not an eighth-in-the-world team,” Root said. “We should be competing and jostling for that top spot.”New Zealand are a very good team and if you try to sleepwalk into it or you’re preoccupied with what’s around the corner, then they’ll hurt us really badly. We want to keep making strides under Brooky after what was a difficult Champions Trophy. This is a great opportunity to build on what we started over the summer.”

English Football League pundit Don Goodman has shared his stance on rumours linking Haji Wright with Leeds United.

Coventry City have enjoyed a blistering start to the season, losing just one of their 14 opening games in the Championship. Under the guidance of Frank Lampard, Coventry are a well-drilled, intense side, one who have scored a staggering 39 goals in the second division already.

Wright, a striker who also plays for the American national team, has been integral to Coventry’s success. The forward has scored nine goals in all competitions, eight of which have come in 13 Championship appearances. Unsurprisingly, rumours over Wright’s future have started to circulate.

Premier League side Leeds United have been linked with a move for Wright, with Football Insider noting that the Whites would be ‘eager’ to complete a deal for the 27-year-old.

Goodman offers thoughts on Leeds interest in Wright

Speaking to Football League World, Goodman has played down suggestions Wright would turn down the advances of a Premier League side.

Leeds have picked up 11 points from their opening 10 matches in what is their first Premier League season since 2023. The Whites have, generally, looked like a solid, structured side in defence, though there are some question marks over their attack. Only Nottingham Forest and Wolves, who occupy two spots in the bottom three of the table, have scored fewer goals in the league (seven) than the Whites (nine).

Noah Okafor has enjoyed a promising start at Elland Road, whilst Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha’s physicality allows the Whites to play a brand of football incorporating long balls forward. It could be argued, though, that none of their attacking options are as reliable a goalscorer as Wright currently is.

Given Coventry’s own ongoing promotion push, it remains to be seen whether Wright, who has been dubbed a “dangerous” player by boss Frank Lampard, will depart the Sky Blues mid-season. As Goodman said, however, the allure of the English top flight may prove too enticing to ignore.

Leeds have new Okafor waiting in the wings