أشاد لويس دياز، جناح نادي ليفربول السابق وبايرن ميونخ الحالي، بزميله السابق في الريدز، محمد صلاح، موضحًا أنه تجمعه علاقة قوية حقًا معه ويسعى ليكون لاعبًا أفضل.
لويس دياز سبق وأن وقع مع ليفربول من شهر يناير عام 2022، وذلك قادمًا من صفوف نادي بورتو، في صفقة تجاوزت الـ60 مليون يورو.
واستطاع دياز التألق مع ليفربول وسجل الدولي الكولومبي العديد من الأهداف مع الريدز، قبل الرحيل خلال صيف العام الحالي، متجهًا إلى بايرن ميونخ مقابل أكثر من 70 مليون يورو.
وشكل دياز إلى جانب محمد صلاح، ثنائية نارية على دفاعات الخصوم، بجانب الراحل ديوجو جوتا.
اقرأ ايضًا .. سمير نصري مدافعًا عن محمد صلاح: ليس سبب معاناة ليفربول .. وهذه نصيحتي له
واعترف دياز في تصريحات عبر “بي بي سي سبورت”، أن محمد صلاح رحب به بشدة فور انتقاله إلى ليفربول، حيث قال: “كان محمد صلاح من أوائل من رحبوا بي، ورحب بي بطريقة رائعة”.
وأضاف دياز في حديثه عن محمد صلاح: ”اقترب مني وقال إذا احتجت أي مساعدة، فأنا هنا من أجلك، أتذكر قوله لي على أرض الملعب: ‘دعنا نجرب هذا، دعنا ننفذ هذه الحركة حتى تنجح وبالفعل نجحت في المباراة”.
واختتم دياز في حديثه: “كانت لحظة تتويجنا بلقب الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز معه، ورؤية مدى سعادته ومدى استمتاعه شعورًا لا يوصف، هو دائمًا يسعى ليكون لاعبًا أفضل، وشخصًا أفضل، وقد ترك بصمة عميقة في نفسي”.
Fluminense e São Paulo se enfrentam nesta segunda-feira (13), pela sexta rodada do Brasileirão, em partida que será marcada por ações em favor das vítimas das enchentes que afetaram o estado do Rio Grande do Sul.
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As melhores e mais variadas ofertas para o Brasileirão estão no Lance! Betting! Abra já a sua conta!
Em parceria com a Superbet, patrocinadora máster de ambas os clubes, os times entrarão em campo com a frase “Super Ajuda” no lugar da marca da casa de apostas. Após o confronto, a equipe carioca promoverá um leilão com os fardamentos utilizadas no duelo e destinará a renda para instituições de caridade.
Durante a partida, a patrocinadora vai doar as placas de publicidade à beira do gramado para divulgar ONG’s que arrecadam doações ao estado. Além disso, serão doadas mil cestas básicas e R$ 100 mil para a ONG “Ação da Cidadania”.
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Em momentos distintos na temporada, Fluminense e São Paulo se enfrentam pelo Brasileirão. Com apenas cinco pontos conquistados, a equipe comandada por Fernando Diniz se encontra na zona de rebaixamento da competição.
O clube paulista, por sua vez, segue invicto sob comando de Zubeldía e busca sua quarta vitória seguida na temporada. A bola rola a partir das 20h (de Brasília), no Morumbis.
The Pirates’ playoff drought reached a decade this year. Pittsburgh finished the season 71-91 at the bottom of the NL Central, but the franchise does have one big piece of the puzzle figured out.
One of the best pitchers in baseball is on their roster in Paul Skenes. Although the Pirates’ putrid results have led to Skenes hearing his name in trade rumors, general manager Ben Cherington asserted any teams who ask for last year’s NL Rookie of the Year are quickly shot down.
"The question gets asked, and it's always respectful," Cherington said at the MLB general managers meetings via ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. "Teams have to ask the question. I suspect that won't end. But the answer's been consistent."
The 23-year-old righthander has finished each of his two MLB seasons with a sub-2.00 ERA. Skenes recorded a MLB-best 1.97 ERA this year, with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal the next closest at 2.21. Skenes had 216 strikeouts over 32 starts in 187 2/3 pitched on the year and is the clear favorite to receive the NL Cy Young Award.
Run support has lacked behind Skenes’s dominance as the Pirates scored just 583 runs as a unit this year, the lowest total in the MLB. Pittsburgh hopes to build around the dominant righty as they await the arrival of 19-year-old Konnor Griffin, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 prospect and the No. 9 pick in the 2024 MLB draft. Bubba Chandler, another top prospect, made his debut this season when the Pirates called him up in August as the team hopes he can become a mainstay at the top of their rotation alongside Skenes.
Skenes remains under team control for four more seasons, which could net the Pirates a massive haul if he eventually becomes available on the trade market. For now, though, that’s not the case and Cherington aims to build around his elite ace.
There is little to suggest that Liverpool are close to turning a corner and sustaining a respectable level of performance any time soon. What is most concerning is that the Reds and their boss, Arne Slot, have shown little sign of finding a solution to any of the many problems plaguing their campaign.
Liverpool’s Premier League title defence lies in tatters. There is a grudging acceptance across the red streets of Merseyside that Arsenal’s grip on top position is out of reach. Certainly, the gulf in quality between the two sides this season suggests that Liverpool will have to settle for a lesser prize on the league front.
Liverpool have been outclassed in successive top-flight fixtures, and change is surely needed now. Indeed, Liverpool languish in 11th place in the Premier League, having scored 18 goals and conceded 20.
Defensively, it’s been a mess, and the noise concerning Ibrahima Konate is only intensifying after the thrashing dealt by Nottingham Forest brought the French defender’s season to its lowest ebb.
Why Konate is becoming a huge problem for Liverpool
Konate, 26, was immense throughout the 2024/25 campaign, a powerful partner for Virgil van Dijk. He, of course, won the Premier League title, settling as a regular starter in Didier Deschamps’ France squad too.
Now, Konate is only offering the vestiges of that former level. What is most frustrating is that he has proven his quality before, but the loss of Trent Alexander-Arnold beside him as exposed Konate’s issues in establishing confident build-up patterns.
But these two versions of Konate are so staggeringly opposed that it is hard to accept this is the same player. Errors and baffling decision-making have been central parts of the £70k-per-week talent’s season, and you can’t help but question whether he is somewhat distracted by outside noise.
Konate is playing out the final year of his contract at Anfield, and though FSG have offered him an extension, there has yet to be a breakthrough as speculation regarding Real Madrid’s interest continues to linger.
The season-ending injury suffered by Giovanni Leoni in his first game for the club after signing from Parma for £27m this summer was a cruel blow. A detrimental blow. The 18-year-old’s absence has been keenly felt, not least because a move for Marc Guehi fell through on deadline day.
With Slot insinuating that Liverpool’s focus this winter might be on areas further upfield (heavy speculation centres on Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo), it might be that the Reds opt to make do at the back.
If this is to be the case, Slot must surely hand one of the club’s most talented young defenders a chance to shine.
Liverpool's academy Konate solution
Slot has shown a willingness to give youth a chance since taking over at Liverpool before the start of last season. Amara Nallo, for example, has been handed a few opportunities at senior level, albeit with those outings on the major stage leaving the up-and-comer beleaguered after red cards in both matches.
However, Nallo isn’t the only teenage centre-back who is playing himself toward senior contention, with 19-year-old Wellity Lucky inching toward a breakthrough after commanding displays for Rob Page’s development side.
Nallo
The Spain-born defender moved to England aged 11 before joining Liverpool’s academy scene, and he has gone from strength to strength in the years since joining, having now made 60 appearances for the club’s respective youth levels.
Earlier this season, the “highly-rated” defender, as he was described by Reds reporter Ben Bocsak, made his professional debut off the bench as Slot’s side were beaten 3-0 by Crystal Palace at Anfield in the Carabao Cup.
In the process, he was rewarded after being “outstanding this season” in the Premier League 2, as has been said by youth correspondent Jack Lusby.
A commanding and dominant defender with a promising ability to read and then snuff out opposition attacks, Lucky has shown that he can take his power and potential and transfer that over to contests against senior opponents. In the Football League Trophy this term, Lucky has impressed against the bustle of outfits like Crewe Alexandra and Chesterfield for the U21s.
Front-footed and fast, you could even say that he offers shades of a player like Konate, which could make adding him to the mix an attractive prospect from a stylistic standpoint.
Matches (starts)
2 (2)
Touches*
90.5
Accurate passes
61.5 (88%)
Key passes*
0.5
Dribbles*
1.5
Ball recoveries*
6.0
Tackles + interceptions*
3.0
Clearances*
5.5
Duels (won)*
5.0 (83%)
It might not have been against top-level opponents, but for Lucky to have won 83% of his duels across the two fixtures bespeaks his incisiveness in defensive phases. Moreover, his cameo against Palace last month saw him complete all 22 of his attempted passes while making a recovery too. Small factors, but promising nonetheless.
Slot continues to show a reluctance to give Joe Gomez a run of chances, and if Konate continues to flatter to deceive, it’s surely only a matter of time before things change there.
Could that open up an opportunity for a youngster such as Lucky? After all, he has earned Slot’s approval already this year, and Nallo’s struggles under the boss’s wing suggest that Lucky could be set for a promotion sooner rather than later.
To throw Lucky into the deep end would hardly be a propitious move, but if Slot can ease him into life among the big boys, this could add an exciting and fresh dimension to a defence crying out for support.
Read between the lines and you could surmise that Liverpool will prioritise a wide forward this summer. In this, the need for academy support at the rear is significant, and Lucky could be the shrewd solution to thread the connection between the club and the fanbase back together.
Forget Isak: Another Liverpool flop is quickly becoming the new Nunez
Alexander Isak has had a wretched first few months at Liverpool.
When the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched Roki Sasaki on joining their franchise, they had an ace up their collective sleeve: toilets.
On Wednesday, Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten recalled how the franchise lured Sasaki, partly because of fancy new toilets installed in the team's clubhouse.
Kasten recalled that when the Dodgers were recruiting Sasaki, they were also deep into planning for modernizing their clubhouse. The plan had begun the year before when they were attempting to recruit Shohei Ohtani. Near the end of recruitment, Sasaki asked if the team planned to have fancy Japanese toilets installed.
"I said, 'Well, why do you ask? Is that important?' And he said, 'Oh, yeah, that's really important,'" Kasten said. "And I said, 'Oh yeah, then we're having them in there.' And so overnight we changed our plans, and now the entire locker room has these fancy Japanese toilets."
If only the Padres and Blue Jays had known about Sasaki's love of fancy toilets.
When the Dodgers landed the 23-year-old righty, he was almost universally considered the best pitching prospect in the world. Unfortunately for L.A., he has missed most of the season due to shoulder issues. When he has been on the mound, Sasaki has disappointed, going 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA, a 1.49 WHIP, and 24 strikeouts against 22 walks in 34 1/3 innings.
But hey, at least the whole team gets to use those fancy toilets.
Shohei Ohtani seems to always be making some sort of history, and he did it again on Sunday.
During the Los Angeles Dodgers' final game of the season, Ohtani blasted his 55th home run of the year. Not only is that a career-high for the two-way slugger, it's also a Dodgers record.
He accomplished the feat in the top of the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners when he took an 0-2 fastball from Gabe Speier and crushed it to center field. The ball came off his bat at 109.5 mph and traveled 412 feet.
The 31-year-old Ohtani had 54 home runs last season to set L.A.'s franchise record, and broke it this year. While his numbers are a bit down from his remarkable 2024 campaign, they're still incredible, and he's made 14 starts as a pitcher as well. He is a massive favorite to win his fourth MVP award and third in the last three years.
Ohtani and the Dodgers capped off the 2024 season by winning the World Series. They'll be looking to repeat this year, but it will be a much tougher road as they won't be getting a first-round bye. While they won the National League West again, they have the third-best record of the NL's division winners and will open the playoffs next week against the league's final wild-card entrant.
That won't be as easy as the path they blitzed through the 2024 postseason, but Ohtani is hitting his stride after yet another huge season.
Shohei Ohtani's Numbers in 2025
As of this article, Ohtani is slashing .282/.392/.623, with 55 home runs, 109 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.015. He also has 20 stolen bases,, 25 doubles, and nine triples.
On the mound, Ohtani made 14 starts after not pitching since late in the 2023 campaign. He was 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP, and 62 strikeouts against nine walks in 47 innings. He got much better as the season went along. In September, he made three starts and posted a 0.00 ERA, while allowing only eight hits and two walks against 18 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings.
He is no Saha, but his match-turning potential with the bat can be handy when the team needs quick second-innings runs
Karthik Krishnaswamy in Wellington17-Feb-2020It was a familiar, endearing sight. A pogo-stick jump with right arm at full stretch, to yank a wayward bouncer out of the air with the very edge of the glove, and just about prevent four byes. Then that familiar, boyish Rishabh Pant grin as he dusted himself off and flicked the ball to a colleague in the slips.The ball was new, and it was trampolining off the Seddon Park pitch whenever Umesh Yadav, bowling his first over, the second of the New Zealand XI innings, banged it in. There were two bouncers in the over, the one described above and another that defied Pant’s gymnastic exertions to run away for four byes.ALSO READ: Agarwal drives on after making technical tweaksThose exertions have provided some of the defining images of the early part of Pant’s life as an international wicketkeeper; the dives and salmon leaps are often spectacular, but they sometimes leave you wondering if he’s made a routine grab look difficult.He isn’t Wriddhiman Saha, in short.Not being Saha cost Pant his place in India’s Test XI during their 2019-20 home season. The potential for Indian pitches to throw up inconsistent pace and bounce, and natural variation, and the prospect of needing to keep to spin for large chunks of time, led India to pick the virtuosity of Saha’s glovework over the match-turning potential of Pant’s batting.But New Zealand pitches aren’t like Indian pitches, by and large, and India’s use of Pant and Saha in their only warm-up game before the Tests suggested they might be thinking differently here. Pant batted above Saha in both innings, scoring an insouciant 65-ball 70 in the second, and kept wickets for longer, taking on the first and third sessions of day two while Saha took the gloves between lunch and tea.Pant has been in New Zealand ever since India arrived here, but he hadn’t featured in any of the five T20Is or the three ODIs that preceded the Hamilton warm-up. That game, in fact, was his first in any format since the Mumbai ODI against Australia on January 14, in which he had suffered the concussion that paved the way for KL Rahul to take the white-ball keeping gloves from him and – for the time being at least – keep them.India, therefore, may have given Pant an extended workload in the warm-up game merely to keep him match-ready, in case he’s needed in Wellington, with Saha remaining their first choice.Wriddhiman Saha collects low to his left•BCCIAnd as exciting a batting prospect as Pant is, and as good as his Test record is, with hundreds in England and Australia, Saha has scored his share of match-defining runs too: backs-to-the-wall centuries against West Indies in St Lucia and Australia in Ranchi, most notably, as well as a Player-of-the-Match-winning pair of fifties against New Zealand in Kolkata. When India pick him over Pant, they most certainly weigh in his batting too.Even in Hamilton, Saha followed Pant to the crease and made an unfussy, unbeaten 30 before the teams agreed to call off the match.But there’s an undeniable extra something to Pant’s batting, apparent even when he defends the fast bowlers. The ball is angled across him, and his front foot is out but not fully planted; his weight is still on the back foot. It doesn’t look right, but he seems to have all the time in the world to wait for the ball and dab it, with the softest of hands, towards backward point.The next ball is more or less the same, landing on a similar line and within the spectrum of lengths usually defined as “good”, but it’s a couple of inches shorter than the previous ball. Those couple of inches are imperceptible to most batsmen, but Pant has that extra split-second, and he can stand tall and slap the ball away to backward point’s left.It’s a gift, rare and precious, and if some of his dismissals make it seem as if he is unaware of exactly how good he is and how good he can be, remember that he’s only 22, and that very few wicketkeeper-batsmen have achieved as much as he has at a similar stage of their careers.The rough edges may still be apparent, both behind and in front of the stumps, but few are capable of doing what he can to a bowling attack. It’s for this reason that he could still feature in Wellington.The ball might swing and seam there, but the bounce should be consistent, and much of the wicketkeeper’s work will probably be done standing back. And after helping the quicks on the first two days, New Zealand pitches have tended to flatten out considerably in recent years. Pant’s batting could prove especially handy in a scenario where India need quick second-innings runs to give themselves more time to bowl the opposition out.The other factor in Pant’s favour is that New Zealand’s only spinner, if he plays, will be Ajaz Patel; India would like to have at least one left-hand batsman in their top seven to put some pressure on his left-arm orthodox.For these reasons, whether or not he’s their first choice, India will most certainly be tempted to throw Pant in at the Basin Reserve.
Porel, Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep are showing that there is a promising future ahead for the state side
Varun Shetty in Kolkata01-Mar-2020At one point on Sunday, the broadcast displayed a graphic of Bengal’s top wicket-takers in the last 10 seasons. The most conspicuous piece of information was that for six seasons in a row before this one, it was the same man – Ashok Dinda, who was axed from the team for “indiscipline” and has played only one match in 2019-20.Consider that, and then the fact that in two-and-a-half months of Ranji cricket this season, across ten matches, not a single team has managed to score more than 250 in an innings against Bengal. Despite the absence of their foremost bowler – discounting Mohammed Shami who has played one Bengal match since January 2018 – Bengal have managed to be among the best bowling line-ups in the competition.Ishan Porel, who has worked rigorously to lose the “medium-fast” tag, and is the youngest of the bowlers at 21, is effectively the leader of the attack now. After his five-wicket haul on Sunday, he said there was never any pressure to fill Dinda’s shoes.”There is no such pressure on me because we have been bowling well [together],” Porel said. “If you see the Indian team’s attack, they generally back each other and applaud each other’s performances. The same thing we are doing here and we are getting success. The hard work we have put in over the last three or four months and before the season – those things are working in the match.”In the lead-up to the semi-final against Karnataka, coach-cum-mentor Arun Lal had repeatedly reinforced his belief that Bengal were favourites despite the presence of batsmen like KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, and Karun Nair in the opposition. That was rooted somewhat in the reality that Karnataka’s batsmen have made only one century between them all season, with only one of them averaging more than 40. But it was also a nod to Bengal’s bowling this season, particularly to their budding new combination of fast bowlers, who took all of 35.2 overs to bowl Karnataka out for 122 and grab a lead of 190 on day two.Alongside Porel, who has only played five matches in the season due to India A commitments, are 26-year-old Mukesh Kumar, and 23-year-old Akash Deep who has just made the step up from Under-23 cricket this season. Each of them has taken at least 20 wickets this season, and the dynamics of their partnership was in full display.Shahbaz Ahmed is being carried by his team-mates after taking Bengal into the knockouts•PTI The surface for this fixture, like a typical green wicket, is most rewarding when the bowling lengths are full. Porel was relentless in this regard with the new ball, and as someone who can swing the ball at a good pace, he caused immediate damage with the early wickets of R Samarth and Nair, getting them to push well in front of their bodies. The consistency was particularly impressive coming from a tall man whose natural length is just short of a good length. In contrast, Prasidh Krishna, a similar type of bowler, with similar height, hasn’t been as effective for Karnataka in the match.Bowling with him were Kumar, who held one end up by bowling 14 of the first 29 overs at a stretch, and Akash, who bowled in small, boisterous bursts to trouble batsmen with extra skid off the pitch. For bowlers of varying styles and strengths, their attacking plans stayed identical to the frontline batsmen, and they only switched to bodyline when the lower-order was exposed. Equally impressively, they got through two full hours’ work with only the lunch break to give them any rest.Porel has bowled, on average, approximately 24 overs per match this season; Mukesh is second with approximately 21 per match, and Akash averages just about 17 per match. All of them average more than left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (just over 16 per match), who is Bengal’s highest wicket-taker for the season with 30 wickets, and offspinner Arnab Nandi (just over 13 per match) who are the other bowlers who’ve bowled more than 100 overs.”Before the season, we’ve run a lot. In a week there has been four to five sessions of running, and two-three days of strength [training],” Porel said, describing the routine that is helping him stay fast while retaining control, adding that the prospect of missing a gym session has almost become unthinkable, to the point that he was headed for one at the end of day’s play.All three fast bowlers’ fitness levels is the main reason for their consistency. But they do not lack for tactical nous either. Porel and Mukesh had largely attacked the stumps while bowling to Rahul and No. 4 KV Siddharth, who briefly stabilised Karnataka’s innings. After getting through the tough examination, Siddharth was lulled into chasing a drive outside off by Akash in his first over, and edged to slip.At the same time, Mukesh changed ends after a wicketless first spell, to the side from where he would dismiss both Rahul and Pandey with persistent fourth-stump lines. When the left-handed Devdutt Padikkal came in, Porel got him first over of a new spell by creating an angle from over the wicket. And in his next, he created the same angle by going around the wicket to get right-handed Sharath Srinivas to edge to slip. During the end, Akash set K Gowtham up to ramp one to third man.From Porel’s assessment of it, all that was a fairly straightforward day. “When we get the new ball, we go for the kill,” he said about the roles each of them decides to play. “But when it’s not happening, we try to bowl in partnerships so that we do not leak too many runs. So the main criteria is to not give away easy runs and to maintain the pressure and the plans we make during the video sessions.”We were happy to see KL Rahul batting on 23 playing 73 balls [26 off 67], because if you’re not bowling well, KL Rahul would have been on 50. So we’re quite happy.”Not long after those bowling graphics were shown on TV, Porel was having caps and pens thrown at him at the fine leg boundary – for autographs he was more than happy to give. Every time he returned to that corner, he was drawing cheers of the sort only veteran Manoj Tiwary has elicited through the game. He is strongly poised to be the next big bowling name for Bengal; but in the larger scheme, a young pace attack, and an impressive spin-bowling allrounder will excite Bengal even more. Title-winning teams are built with bowling strength, and after quite a while, it seems like Bengal can depend on more than just one name.
Gary Ballance is only 30 and should be at his peak, but he admits to being knocked by his experience with England
George Dobell05-May-2020There are moments when being a journalist feels a little like being a dentist. It’s not years of training or great pay that we have in common – there really isn’t much shared ground there – it’s more the sense that some people fear you and, even when you’re trying to help, there is a fair chance you’ll inflict pain. “This question’s going to hurt a bit.”So it is with interviewing Gary Ballance. It is not that he is anything other than unfailingly polite and good-humoured – he’s impeccable in both regards – it is that there is a sense, at times, that you are making him relive traumatic experiences.ALSO READ: How Buttler inspired Stokes to get ‘bigger and better’The thing is, Ballance should, right now, be England’s rock. He turned 30 in November and his record, in county cricket at least, is exceptional. He reckons he is playing better than ever. These should be his peak years.The stats are striking. For example, since 2013 only seven men have scored 5000-plus runs in the County Championship; of those seven, only three average 40 (Ballance, Rory Burns and Chris Dent). Ballance, with an average of 46.67, leads the way. In the shorter term, since 2017, only Burns has scored more Championship runs.Last season, only Dom Sibley scored more Division One runs than Ballance. Nobody scored more than his five centuries. Whichever way you look at it, over whatever time frame, Ballance has a record that suggests he is among the best England-qualified batsmen of his era.
His Test record is decent, too. He scored four Test centuries in his first nine Tests, reaching 1000 runs in his 17th innings; only Herbert Sutcliffe and Len Hutton have done so quicker for England. Even he now averages 37.45 at that level. That’s higher than Mike Gatting, Nasser Hussain and Allan Lamb and almost identical to Mike Atherton.So why isn’t he playing at the highest level?Well, his record fell away sharply. After ten Tests he averaged 67.93. But in 12 Tests from the start of the 2015 English season, he averaged 19.04 with two half-centuries from 23 innings. England moved on.One theory is that he was found out by top-quality bowling, especially left-arm pace. And it’s true, he was dismissed three times in four innings by Trent Boult in the 2015 series against New Zealand. He was bowled three times in that series, too. Two Ashes Tests later, having been bowled once more by Mitchell Johnson, he was dropped.Another theory suggests that his confidence, once eroded, never recovered. The self-doubt that can plague even the best, ate away at him and caused irreparable damage. The selectors, seeing that, didn’t want to subject him to the torture of going through it all again. Those two theories aren’t necessarily in conflict with one another.Yet Ballance has gone back to county cricket and dominated. In an era when pitches and balls conspire to make top-order batting fiendishly tough, he continues to plunder attacks in a manner few can match. With England currently relying on a No. 3 in Joe Denly, who is three-and-a-half years older than Ballance – and who hasn’t made a century in his 14 Tests – you would think there was still hope for a man with such a record. He batted at No. 3 throughout last year.Or is he in the realm once occupied by Mark Ramprakash? An undisputed giant of the county game, it won’t matter how many more runs he scores, because the selectors have come to a conclusion.
“Being dropped makes you feel insecure… You don’t feel you belong in the same way. It took a long time to come out the other side of that”
“I’m flattered by the comparison with Ramps,” Ballance says. “He was one of the best I’ve seen. I see that as a very positive comparison.”If I didn’t play for England again, I’d be quite satisfied with the career I’ve had. Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to play again. But I get a lot of satisfaction out of scoring runs for Yorkshire. There are a lot of good attacks in Division One. Scoring runs isn’t at all easy. So I see that as a massive challenge. If I can help Yorkshire win games, I’m satisfied.”Perhaps the pivotal moment in his career came when he was dropped by England for the first time. He was still averaging 47.76, and it was only one game since he had made a crucial half-century. In an era of consistency of selection, it seems an oddly knee-jerk reaction.He made 61 in the first Test of the Ashes series in Cardiff in 2015. It wasn’t especially pretty. He took several blows to the body and scored five of his eight boundaries behind square on the off side. But he endured and, with Joe Root (who was dropped on 0), put on 153 for England’s fourth wicket against an excellent seam attack. It was the only century partnership of the game and played a big part in England’s match and series victory.”I still reckon that 61 was my best innings for England,” Ballance says. “It was tough and I was hit a few times. But when you make runs in those circumstances, it’s even more satisfying. That stand helped us go on and win the game.”At the time I really felt part of the team. I’d taken on the No. 3 role – a position nobody really wanted and where I’d never batted before in my career – and I’d done all right.”Then I had my first couple of bad games and I was dropped. I never really felt I struggled against left-armers. I mean, Boult bowled brilliantly in that series, the ball did a bit and I didn’t get any runs. But I didn’t think I had a fundamental problem. I think my record shows I can play left-arm bowlers, pace bowlers and swing bowlers.”But it was amazing how quickly people seized on things. There was a lot of media attention and as much as you might say you don’t take any notice, it’s hard not to. You do start to believe the criticism. The doubts do creep in. It affects you massively.”I went back to Yorkshire and I just couldn’t get my head right. Instead of just focusing on the match situation and playing the ball in front of me, I was thinking about my game and thinking about what other people thought. It’s hard enough to score runs without all those other thoughts creeping in.”Being dropped makes you feel insecure. Even when you’re recalled, you feel you’re looking over your shoulder a bit. You know you’re playing for your place. You don’t feel you belong in the same way I did. It took a long time to come out the other side of that.”He was recalled a year later, for a run of six Tests batting in the middle order against Pakistan and Bangladesh, before two more appearances back at No. 3 during the South Africa series in 2017. A broken finger ended his involvement, and despite being included on the 2017-18 Ashes tour, he did not get close to the playing XI.Gary Ballance has not played for England since 2017•AFP”I did sort of okay when I was recalled against Pakistan in 2016,” he says. “I made a few starts but I didn’t go on and make the big hundred that would have cemented my place in the team. Then we went to Bangladesh and India.”The conditions in Bangladesh were the toughest I’ve ever faced. I struggled there much more than against New Zealand. We played a warm-up game in Chittagong where the opposition had about seven seamers and we hardly faced a ball of spin.”Then we came into the Tests. With some balls turning and others skidding on, it seemed every ball was either thudding into my pad or missing my outside edge by a foot. That was the hardest I’ve ever found it.”I wouldn’t say I was relieved when I was dropped, but I could understand the decision. I accepted it was probably for the best. I was cooked mentally.”A rumour that circulated at the time suggested Ballance was resistant to change. As a result, the story went, the team management grew frustrated with him. But he insists this is not so.”That never happened,” Ballance says. “I never had a conversation like that with any coach or selector. They talked to me about trying to put a bit more pressure back on the bowlers – about making sure I put away the bad ball – but there wasn’t any suggestion I should change my technique.”ALSO READ: ECB postpones Hundred launch until 2021</bHe admits he did attempt to make some changes, though. With poor results."I tried to get a big stride in," he says. "But my balance was all over the place and I nicked off more. So then I went back to what I know and what I know can work. I'm never going to be someone who takes a massive stride and I know it can look bad sometimes when I'm out, but I'm trying to play with my head closer to the ball and I think the 2019 season was one of my best so far."That's the biggest thing I've learned: you have to be stubborn. Yes, you want to be open to new ideas and you have to want to improve. But you also have to be strong and do what feels right for you. When you're struggling there are so many voices. So many people offering advice."The most successful players – the likes of Alastair Cook – back themselves all the time. They endure tough periods like everyone else, but they come through them. You have to find a balance about being willing to learn but strong enough to stick to your own game."One hundred per cent I'm a better player now," he adds. "I've had so many ups and down and I've learned from them. Last season was one of my best."Were the selectors in touch? "They weren't," he says. "But I wouldn't necessarily expect them to be."
And this is where the dentistry starts. Just open a little wider… Playing for England again, is that the aim?”I’m trying to put that stuff to the back of my head, really,” he says. “If you’re checking your phone every few minutes to see if the selectors have messaged you, you’re not concentrating on the challenge in front of you. In the past, when I’ve thought like that, I’ve not enjoyed the game and I’ve not performed.”I’d love to play for England again. Of course I would. But of course there are doubts about what I could do or what I could handle. And yes, there have been times when I’ve thought to myself: ‘Do I want it? Do I want to play international cricket again?’ Until you get there, you never know if you can handle it.”I like to think I’d be fine. And if given a chance, I’d definitely go for it. I’m good to go. But I guess at the back of your head, you never know. As I say, I’m not sure it’s helpful to think about that stuff. In the past, when I’ve been worried, I haven’t enjoyed the game as much.”And he says he would be happy to bat at No. 3. “I wouldn’t turn it down. In an ideal world, No. 4 or No. 5 is my perfect place to bat. But I’ve batted at No. 3 so often now. It doesn’t make that much difference.”Beyond England aspirations, Ballance aims to play for “about five more years” before moving into coaching.”I really enjoy working with the young players at Yorkshire and would like to think I’d have something to offer as a batting coach,” he says. “What sort of coach? I guess more mental. Players have to work out what works for them technically.”County cricket is still the best gauge to tell if someone is ready for international cricket. But you do have to accept that playing Test cricket – with all the scrutiny and intensity – is completely different to playing Championship cricket. Helping people know what to expect is important, but I’ve been very impressed with the young players who have come into the England team recently. Players like Rory Burns and Dom Sibley. They do things their own way; they seem very well-prepared.”Was he that well-prepared?”It’s funny. I was surprised how well I did in those first few Tests. It did give me a bit of confidence, but in some ways I wish I hadn’t started like that. It was quite hard to live up to, you know?”It has been. But maybe there are a few chapters of the story of Ballance’s international career left to be written.
After being “surprised to get a game”, Pattinson is at present joint-fourth on IPL 2020’s wicket charts
Vishal Dikshit10-Oct-20203:57
What’s behind the success of Anrich Nortje and James Pattinson?
When the Mumbai Indians squad, covered in their PPEs, landed in the sultry August heat of Abu Dhabi for IPL 2020, James Pattinson was still in lockdown in Victoria, Australia, in 7 degrees Celsius. Pattinson, like most other players around the world, had not played any cricket for many months, and after being named as a replacement for Lasith Malinga, he had to suddenly fly to the UAE to face an additional 30-plus degrees and play two months of challenging T20 cricket.Pattinson was preparing for the Australian summer before that, and “luckily” he had been training with the white ball when he got a call for the IPL. But was he going to even get a game early on, joining a pace-heavy bowling attack, which included Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan and Nathan Coulter-Nile? As many experts had predicted, and Pattinson himself expected, he wasn’t in the Mumbai Indians’ initial plans. But Coulter-Nile arrived with a side strain and Pattinson “was surprised to get a game”, as he revealed before the game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.Since then, the Mumbai Indians have carved out a specific role for Pattinson, with the seamer moulding himself so well for it that they haven’t had to change their bowling attack even once in six games. The result: Pattinson is the joint-fourth among the top wicket-takers this season with nine scalps, only behind Kagiso Rabada (15), Bumrah (11), Boult (10) and Mohammed Shami (10).The role Pattinson has been given is to bowl two overs with the new ball, one in the 10-14-over period and the last at the death, which allows Bumrah to start bowling towards the end of the powerplay and keep two for the slog overs. One of the things that has worked well for Pattinson is that he is a hit-the-deck bowler, and that skill comes handy on pitches in the UAE where fast bowlers barely get any assistance. Pattinson aims for that short-of-a-length area, which he can use for extra bounce, or for cutters.ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data on length from this IPL shows that in powerplays so far, Pattinson has bowled about 55% of his 60 deliveries either short or short-of-a-good-length and conceded only 39 runs off those 33 deliveries while picking up one wicket.James Pattinson has bowled 10 overs in the powerplay in six games•ESPNcricinfo LtdHitting such lengths is a feature of the overall plan the Mumbai Indians have been following for a while now in the IPL.Another weapon Pattinson has used with great success this season – his maiden IPL – has been his change-ups, which he had been working on before the tournament. What else does a fast bowler do when pitches don’t offer swing or seam movement? Bowl some cutters, take the pace off the ball and wait for the batsmen to miscue the ball with your fielders at the boundary.Case in point: Pattinson was bowling a crucial 16th over with David Warner on 58 and the Sunrisers needing 70 off 30 balls, which is quite achievable in Sharjah. After slanting two slower deliveries across Warner from over the wicket, Pattinson came around the wicket and sent down a slow, short and wide legcutter that Warner chased desperately and ended up edging to short-third man for a spectacular catch by Ishan Kishan.Pattinson says planning for particular batsmen has been key to his and the Mumbai Indians’ bowling success.”It’s just the planning that goes into it,” Pattinson said on Saturday. “Before the game, we plan and work out our fields, different plans for different batters. It’s just about executing that. I think the confidence they have really rubs off on me, especially Trent and Boom [Bumrah] have great confidence in their ability. It’s great to have that rub off and you going to games with that confidence and knowing you’re surrounded by world-class bowlers.”It’s good to go out and play my part. I’ve got two really, really good white-ball bowlers in Jasprit and Trent, it’s nice to play a back-seat role for them and try and help out the team as much as I can.”Pattinson is also a lesser-known entity in the IPL because apart from his start-stop Australia career marred by injuries, the only T20 league he has played in is the Big Bash. He picked up 5 for 33 for the Brisbane Heat with the new ball at the beginning of the year but in the IPL his role is not restricted to opening the bowling. In the second half of the tournament, too, Pattinson could prove handy with his reverse swing, which captain Rohit Sharma, before the IPL, had said could come into play as pitches go through more wear and tear.For now, Pattinson is enjoying what he is doing: bowling alongside Boult and Bumrah and playing the back-seat role.