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Manuel Neuer's behaviour on and off the pitch has shown he's a true leader after former Southampton and Tottenham midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg revealed the Germany legend's impressive conduct during his time at Bayern Munich. Hojbjerg, now playing for Ligue 1 side Marseille, made only a handful of appearances during his four years with the Bavarian giants, but the club’s iconic goalkeeper made a huge impact on him.

• Hojbjerg struggled to make mark in Munich

  Hojbjerg's time in Munich was an ultimately frustrating period, marked by early promise that gave way to limited opportunities at a star-studded club. Joining from Brondby in 2012, he became the youngest player in Bayern's Bundesliga history when he debuted in 2013. Highly-rated by coach Pep Guardiola, he was seen as a major talent but struggled to break into the midfield rotation. With competition from seasoned players like Xabi Alonso and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Hojbjerg spent time on loan at Augsburg and Schalke to gain first-team experience. He left permanently in 2016 for Southampton, acknowledging that while Bayern was "the best school," he needed regular playing time for his development. He departed having made just 25 senior appearances across all competitions for the German giants. But, looking back at his time with the club, he has singled-out Neuer for special praise. 

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  'We live in a world where you have to take action'

  Hojbjerg told Bild: "When I was young at Bayern, there was a period when some of the older players… they weren't harsh, but you still had to learn a lot. I remember a training session where we were playing eleven against eleven, and Manuel Neuer was a bit behind me, speaking somewhat bluntly and being quite strict with me. The weekend after I came on as a substitute, he walked past me on the way to the dressing room, put his arm around my shoulder, and said: 'You know what? Everything's great. Well done’. I could feel that it made a difference. And that’s what I took away with me: knowing what it does to people when you show them that you care, but also understanding that we live in a world where you have to take action yourself."

  Hobjerg also spoke briefly on former Germany captain Philipp Lahm, saying: "He was somewhat unusual. He was rarely loud. But he had a special charisma and his behaviour made him a fantastic captain."

• Hojbjerg heaps praise on Mason Greenwood

  The midfielder left Bayern for Southampton and ended up at Tottenham in 2020, before he was loaned to Marseille last season. He joined the French side on a permanent basis in the summer, becoming team-mates with Mason Greenwood. The former Spurs star has revealed what the dressing room thinks about the English forward, who left Manchester United in controversial circumstances.

  Hojbjerg told : "Mason is already showing his stuff with Marseille. He did well. But it's important to keep up the power, the way of working. I don't want to say too much about Mason, because he has so many qualities. I just want him to continue until the end. Starting to talk about a star or the best player, I don't really like that. It's important to stay on the job and for him to continue, because we all know how important he is to us. He's a well-liked guy in the locker room. He has to continue to work well and help the team every week. If he doesn't score, it doesn't matter, but he has to work well for the team and do things seriously every day."

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• Getty Images Sport
  

  Bavaria legend still going strong

  Bayern have reportedly decided to offer veteran goalkeeper Neuer a contract extension for another year, which would see him remain at the Allianz Arena until June 2027. The 2014 World Cup-winning stopper has reiterated that he wants to take his time before reaching a decision over his future, however, with the club set to hold talks in December.  

  "I'm totally relaxed about it. The most important thing is what we do with our team," Neuer, 39, told reporters. "I already hinted at this, that my well-being will also be important. I'm taking my time and being totally relaxed, at least over the winter. Many factors come into play. It's a question of health, fitness, and motivation. But also, what happens with the club next season. I can't answer that myself because it's still far too early. Then, of course, we can always talk. Everything plays a role."

Vitor Pereira had penned a new contract at Wolverhampton Wanderers back in September.

Yet, as we now enter November, the Portuguese boss is no longer occupying the Molineux hot-seat, with the Old Gold yet to collect a Premier League win this season from ten matches.

It is going to be a huge task for whoever takes on the reins after Pereira to try and turn around Wolves’ miserable season, with a surprise return for Gary O’Neil reportedly once on the cards.

However, despite allegedly entering talks about coming back to the top-flight’s basement club, the ex-Wolves manager pulled out of a shock reunion.

This could be a blessing in disguise in the West Midlands, with O’Neil enduring a tough end to his previous Old Gold spell…

Where things went wrong for O'Neil at Wolves

Going back in for a previous manager to try and turn around a sinking ship very rarely works out.

O’Neil did manage to keep Wolves up during his first campaign in charge during the 2022/23 season, as a depleted Old Gold side that no longer had the likes of Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez on their books soared to 14th in the league standings.

It’s the woeful start to his second campaign in charge that would likely have not made this an appointment to go down well with the already disgruntled Molineux masses.

Indeed, Wolves only managed to collect a dire two wins from 16 games before he was given his marching orders, having also conceded a calamitous 40 goals along the way.

Games managed

100

Wins

31

Draws

17

Losses

52

Goals scored

135

Goals conceded

178

Points accumulated

110

Therefore, expecting O’Neil to return and be a transformative appointment would have been viewed as far-fetched, with Wolves chairman Jeff Shi even admitting when he got rid of the 42-year-old that he had “cut ties too late.”

Thankfully, Pereira worked out in the short term. But, now, Wolves need another fresh set of ideas to get them out of a similar mess, as a former Old Gold player turned successful manager continues to be linked with the vacancy.

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Wolves' outstanding O'Neil alternative

Wolves have been linked with a whole host of different and unique names, with ex-Molineux goal machine Robbie Keane even throwing his hat into the ring.

But, it appears now that current Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards is high up on the priority list to replace Pereira, with talkSPORT naming Edwards as a ‘strong contender’ to get the job.

It’s noted that former Manchester United boss, Erik ten Hag, is also on their radar, although Edwards is currently ahead of the Dutchman to get the job.

The current Boro boss has a release clause in his contract at the Riverside and could soon make a return to the Premier League.

Immediately, with his previous connections to the club as a player and as a former U21 coach, it could be a good fit.

That’s before you even take into account the admirable job he did at Luton Town, who were rooted towards the foot of the Premier League division throughout the 2023/24 campaign.

Against all the odds, the much-loved Edwards nearly kept Luton afloat in the Premier League, as the Boro boss made the Hatters a stern team to try and break down.

That led to the minnows picking up a 1-1 draw against Liverpool that season, and saw them compete with Arsenal all the way at Kenilworth Road in a 4-3 defeat. Remarkably, that is the last time the Gunners have shipped three goals in any game of football.

Mikel Arteta even commended Edwards for how “difficult” he had made Luton to beat, with Wolves in some dire need of the same grit and application to try and get them out of their horrible hole.

It wasn’t all just attritional performances, though, as Edwards also managed to turn Carlton Morris into an 11-goal hero in the top-flight. That will be music to the ears of a misfiring Jorgen Strand Larsen, who has only one league strike next to his name this season.

But, as can be seen watching the highlight reel above, the imposing Norwegian did manage to fire home 14 goals last campaign, as he attempts to become Edwards’ next focal point, if the ex-Luton manager is handed the reins.

Described as an opportunity that will be “hard for him to say no to” by journalist Graeme Bailey, it will be intriguing to see if Edwards does end up swapping a top-of-the-table position in the EFL for another basement battle in the league above.

With a bit between his teeth now at the Riverside Stadium, it could be time for Edwards to mount a Premier League return, having also previously been lauded as “one of English football’s brightest and best young coaches.”

Doesn’t that sound good, Wolves fans?

Robbie Keane in talks with Wolves as Steven Gerrard gives clarity on future

The Old Gold are looking for a new successor and one of their former players has put their hat in the ring.

BySean Markus Clifford Nov 4, 2025

In a late move, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have decided to release Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana from their squad ahead of IPL 2026. ESPNcricinfo has learned that CSK have been deliberating their future with Pathirana, who they had bought ahead of IPL 2023 and retained before the 2025 mega auction for INR 13 crore.This emerged on Saturday – the IPL retention window closes at 3pm.With his slingy action and ability to find swing consistently at 140-plus clicks, Pathirana announced himself at IPL 2023, when CSK won the title, picking 19 wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 8.01. Then captain MS Dhoni, though, had warned that Pathirana would need to be carefully managed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in order for him to have a long career. Dhoni’s words were not far off the mark – Pathirana has struggled with various injuries over the years.Related

• CSK set to release Conway and Ravindra

• RR trade Samson to CSK for Jadeja and Curran

Pathirana, who last played at the Asia Cup this September, had a curtailed IPL 2024 owing to a hamstring injury and then left for home midway into the SA20, where he playes for Joburg Super Kings. In IPL 2025, he was under par, taking 13 wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 10.13.CSK’s head coach Stephen Fleming had said during the season that the franchise was concerned by Pathirana’s drop in impact, which he suspected had to do with the SLC tweaking the bowler’s release point which was causing him troubles.CSK have now decided to release Pathirana with a possibility of buying him back at the auction, which will take place in Abu Dhabi on December 16.CSK had been the only team Pathirana has played for in the IPL, with his overall numbers in the three seasons being 47 wickets in 32 matches at an average of 21.61 and economy of 8.68.CSK are set to be among the few teams to go into the auction with a big purse, having also decided to release a host of players including the New Zealand pair of Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. They have also traded Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran to Rajasthan Royals for Sanju Samson.

Taijul Islam equalled Shakib Al Hasan’s record for the most Test wickets for Bangladesh on a day when a 5.5 magnitude earthquake caused severe tremors in parts of Bangladesh. Play was stopped for three minutes as the players gathered around the pitch, seeing their team-mates empty the dressing rooms.When play resumed shortly afterwards, Taijul reached 246 wickets during his four-wicket haul in Ireland’s first innings, in which they were bowled out for 265 runs. The hosts did not enforce the follow-on and reached 156 for 1 at stumps, leading Ireland by a mammoth 367 runs. Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque were unbeaten on 69 and 19, respectively.Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Shadman added 119 runs for the opening wicket in Bangladesh’s second innings. This was only the second time that the Bangladesh openers had added two century stands in a Test series, the last coming in England in 2010.Related

• Mushfiqur: 'I want to give back for as long as I'm playing for Bangladesh'

• Earthquake stops Bangladesh vs Ireland Test for three minutes on third morning

Legspinner Gavin Hoey broke the partnership when he trapped Mahmudul lbw for 60. He struck six boundaries in his 91-ball knock, although Mahmudul did survive a couple of chances.When the third day began, Ireland were trying to recover from their overnight precarious position of 98 for 5, with Bangladesh having amassed 476 in the first innings. Lorcan Tucker top-scored for the visitors with an unbeaten 75, as he put on two sizable partnerships – 81 runs for the sixth wicket with debutant Stephen Doheny and 74 for the eighth wicket with Jordan Neill.Both batters looked comfortable in the first hour-and-a-half of the morning session, racking up consistent boundaries. Taijul broke the partnership with a beauty when he removed Doheny for 46 with a classic left-arm spinner’s delivery that beat the right-hander on the front foot. Just one ball later, Taijul cleaned up Andy McBrine with a delivery that spun into the left-hander’s offstump, from over the wicket.Despite the two blows, Tucker and Neill dug in. Neill, playing his second Test, struck nine fours in his 49. He, however, fell trying too many things against Ebadat Hossain, getting caught in the covers. The Irish tail caved quickly when Khaled Ahmed had Hoey caught behind for four, before Taijul had Matthew Humphreys caught at point, trying a reverse sweep.

Xabi Alonso has insisted that he's unfazed by reports of friction between him and Vinicius Junior as pressure ramps up on the Real Madrid manager amid the team's three-match winless run. The streak started with a loss at Liverpool in the Champions League, followed by back-to-back draws in La Liga against Rayo Vallecano and Elche, which allowed Barcelona to cut the gap at the top of La Liga to just one point.

Vini Jr's fallout with Alonso

Vinicius Junior has had problems with new manager Alonso over his game time since the start of the season. It all escalated during El Clásico, when the 25-year-old was seen ranting after being taken off by the boss in the second half of the match. He subsequently issued a public apology for his behaviour but raised more eyebrows by neglecting to mention his manager in his statement.

The Selecao star's current contract runs out in 2027 and he has yet to reach an agreement with Madrid to extend his stay. According to , Vinicius Jr. has informed Los Blancos he will not renew his current deal "while his relationship with head coach Alonso remains so strained".

AdvertisementGetty/GOALAlonso unperturbed by mutiny

Addressing Vinicius Jr's supposed mutiny and managing big egos in the Madrid dressing room, Alonso said: "It’s just as important as the footballing philosophy, the tactical and physical work, managing personalities… and it’s a process with different phases that you have to know how to navigate. At Real Madrid, it’s fundamental. I didn’t realise it had been six months, but it’s turning out to be exactly what I expected. A very demanding job with good moments and moments where you need that concentration and connection. We’re in one where we have to show a reaction. I’m enjoying the whole package, everything it entails. I said it on the first day and I’ll say it again."

When asked to comment on the topic of players getting managers sacked, Alonso added: "It’s demanding, but I’m certainly not the first manager to have to deal with these situations. I think a lot about what Carlo [Ancelotti], [Jose] Mourinho, or [Manuel] Pellegrini, the managers I’ve had, would have done in their time. These aren’t new situations; we have to know how to deal with them, we have the necessary standards and self-criticism. We know where we want to go… and putting all of this together, I’m enjoying it. 

"We have to have a lot of respect for the players and the teams and how they prepare. I don’t want to and I’m not going to talk about that. I know what a dressing room is, I know the moments you have to go through, and you have to deal with the external noise. It shouldn’t make us lose focus on what’s important for us. We have to know how to get through these moments; we know the consequences of bad results, but they shouldn’t derail us from the path we want to take."

Does Alonso have Madrid's backing?

Asked if he has got the club's backing in this situation, Alonso said: "I’m guessing it is not the first time you’ve asked that question. We know the moment we’re in, in La Liga and the Champions League. I’m not focused on that, I’m focused on the players, on what we can control, and what happens at Valdebebas.

"Not of support, because it’s not necessary, but we have the usual day-to-day communication with the president, I spoke this morning with him, and I also speak with Jose Angel [Sanchez, general manager] every day or two, the usual."

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Getty ImagesNadal's advice for Vinicius Jr

Die-hard Real Madrid fan and tennis legend Rafael Nadal has sided with Alonso in the tussle, telling: "I think it can be resolved through dialogue, with everyone on the same page. I believe Vini needs to understand who is in charge and respect that authority, and also the club, given what it means to be a Real Madrid player. But I think he's doing his best, and those things that come out of him, which sometimes aren't well-received, can be corrected through dialogue and an awareness that things can be improved. The first person who needs to want to explore that path of improvement has to be him. When I hear him speak in interviews, saying that he wants to improve in every aspect, I think he needs to find strong allies, and I'm convinced that Real Madrid will have the right people, and he will be there to advise him. 

"The basic principle is wanting to do it. And Real Madrid has in Vinicius an asset that they can't devalue and that they have to protect, regardless of any performances that might not be to everyone's liking. As a player, he's a club asset; it's a situation that Real Madrid, being the immense club it is, knows how to manage, and I think they've done it well. The proof is that Vinicius' performance is now better than it was before. Football has a problem that is also a great strength; ultimately, many stories are written every week, and that magnifies things, but footballers are people, and that's how things are resolved, as human beings, by talking, understanding each other, and trying to project an image – one that is truly genuine – of unity, respect, and everyone pulling in the same direction."

No picks in Hundred draft continue global trend. But poor results and board intransigence are also to blame

Osman Samiuddin14-Mar-2025Forty-five Pakistani players registered for the Hundred draft for the 2025 season. On Wednesday, exactly none of them were picked for any of the eight teams. That means that this season, the fifth, will be the first to not have any Pakistani players. Given the last two seasons had seen six and four Pakistani players respectively in the league, it is a notable disappearance.This season, you may have heard, is also going to be the first after the equity sale of Hundred franchises, four of whom are now either part-owned or majority-owned by owners of IPL franchises. Ah, you might think. This is starting to make some sense now. The IPL has long excluded Pakistani players from appearing. Its satellite franchises in leagues in South Africa, the UAE and the USA have also (mostly) excluded Pakistani players.Relations between the PCB and BCCI (more representative of their governments than ever before) have rarely been worse, or more given to pettiness, as the shenanigans at the recent Champions Trophy prove. It naturally follows that another league with incoming IPL ownership will begin to freeze out Pakistani players. This was exactly the scenario, after all, that the PCB spelt out two-and-a-half years ago. To believe in this sequence of logic is not at all to be a conspiracy theorist.But – and especially in the context of this Hundred draft – it doesn’t help to pretend there aren’t other factors, equally compelling if not more so, at play here. For one, the schedule (it’s almost always the schedule). Pakistan have two bilateral white-ball commitments in August that clash directly with the Hundred’s dates – the first two weeks of August, when they are in the Caribbean for three ODIs and three T20Is, and then a home series with Afghanistan that starts in the third week of that month (and a T20 Asia Cup that starts in September). Given Pakistan are undergoing yet another transition, and there is a T20 World Cup next year, their top players will almost certainly be involved in those series and, so, unavailable for the Hundred.Another terrible ICC tournament has left Pakistan’s reputation in the dust•AFP/Getty ImagesAlso, about those top players: it’s not as if Pakistan’s white-ball players are exactly hot property at this moment. Three abysmal ICC tournaments in a row have taken all the sheen off a generation of players once expected to abound in, and enrich, these leagues (of course, it could be argued they wouldn’t have performed so poorly had they been playing more regularly in those best leagues in the first place). Instead, Pakistan are outdated and stagnant, jarringly out of sync with the game as it is played today.More than all of this, though, is the wider truth, that the PCB itself is to blame. Successive administrations have flailed between being restrictive and gormless in dealing with player NOCs. The modern landscape demands a flexibility and deftness from boards in player management and the PCB has been as flexible as an iron rod. In fact, in an alternate reading, Pakistan’s white-ball regression over the years can be traced directly to how poorly the board has handled NOCs.A relevant case was revoking Naseem Shah’s NOC for the Hundred last year at the last minute, despite there being no clash with any international commitment (and likewise denying three others permission to play in Canada’s GT20).It was done in the name of workload management ahead of a busy season of international cricket, including nine Tests. How did that management turn out? Naseem played in three of those Tests, despite not suffering injury, and none of them consecutively. He wasn’t even in Pakistan’s last Test squad of the season (Shaheen Afridi, one of those whose NOC was revoked for the GT20, only played two of the nine Tests and wasn’t in Pakistan’s last two Test squads).Related

• Mohammed Amir, Imad Wasim signed as Hundred replacements

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• Gould: Hundred IPL links won't affect Pakistan player involvement

Naseem’s is far from the only case. There was Usama Mir. And Azam Khan. And Haris Rauf . And a whole bunch of others.The PCB will point to the 20 players that did receive NOCs last November, but the stickier conclusion from the last few years is that they have made Pakistani players unattractive options in the marketplace. Why would a franchise take on a Pakistan cricketer when the PCB might abruptly revoke an NOC, or when a training camp call-up cuts a contracted stint unexpectedly short, or when a deal falls through because an unscheduled bilateral series has been shoved into the calendar, or when a player will summarily be called back from a league for a fitness test?None of this is to deny a looming, creeping reality. With the existing political climate as it is between India and Pakistan, and the continuing spread of IPL franchises around the world, it isn’t difficult to see a future in which Pakistani cricketers are marginalised and restricted to a second tier of T20 and T10 leagues (and in that light, who knows what impact going up against the IPL will have on the PSL).Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, insists it won’t be the case in the Hundred at least, and it bears repeating that a packed calendar is the likeliest reason for the kiboshing of a high-profile Pakistani presence this year. Nevertheless, it was also Gould who introduced a new NOC policy last November which ends up hitting the PSL hardest in terms of English player availability, while protecting the IPL. Those words might feel cheap to Pakistani ears.In any case, it’s not as if there has ever been a formal bar on Pakistani players from the IPL. Nobody says that bit out loud. It’s just been that way forever now. And evidence from the other leagues with IPL ownership is, at the least, suggestive that it is contagious. No Pakistanis in the SA20 in three seasons. Only two Pakistanis in a franchise owned by an IPL owner in the ILT20 in three seasons. Only two Pakistanis in a franchise owned by an IPL owner in MLC in two seasons. Four Pakistanis in franchises owned by an IPL owner in the CPL over many more seasons. Nobody says anything about a bar… and yet.There are still four Hundred teams not owned by IPL franchises, so there is every chance Pakistani players might be picked up in next season’s draft (by which stage the new ownership structures will have kicked in properly). But it would feel like a bucking of a wider trend. And before anything else can happen, it would require the PCB to start helping itself and its players.

This season is shaping up very nicely for Chelsea indeed.

On the domestic front, Enzo Maresca’s side managed to keep Arsenal within touching distance by holding them to a 1-1 draw on Sunday despite Moises Caicedo being sent off in the first half.

Then, in the Champions League, their thumping 3-0 win against Barcelona last week has stood them in good stead to qualify for the next round.

Moreover, and especially in that game, Estevao has started to really show what he is capable of, so fans should be excited about reports linking Chelsea to another star winger who has been compared to the Brazilian.

Chelsea target an Estevao-type winger

Even though there were pretty high expectations for Estevao coming into this season, few would have predicted him to have started as well as he has.

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Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

For example, in the Premier League, he provided an assist on his first start against West Ham United and then scored the winner against Liverpool.

In the Champions League, he has been even better, racking up three goals in five appearances, of which only three have been starts.

So, with how well he has been performing, it’s less surprising to hear that the club are now interested in a player who has been compared to him: Harvey Barnes.

Yes, according to a recent report from Spain, Chelsea are said to be incredibly keen on the Englishman.

In fact, the report goes further, revealing that the Blues have already submitted an offer of around €60m for the player, which is about £53m.

However, there are two problems: Manchester United have made the same offer, and the Toon do not want to sell.

It could therefore be a costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Barnes’ ability and output, one Chelsea should fight for, especially as he has been compared to Estevao.

How Barnes compares to Estevao

Now, while they are both wingers plying their trade for huge clubs in the toughest league in the world, fans might find it hard to see why Barnes would be comparable to Estevao.

After all, last season he didn’t do all that much for Newcastle, and so far this season the Brazilian has been a breath of fresh air for the Blues.

However, while he is not getting as much attention as he perhaps should, the English “menace,” as dubbed by journalist Mikey Stafford, has been on fire for the Toon this year.

For example, in 20 appearances across all competitions, totalling 996 minutes, he has scored seven goals and provided two assists, which comes out to a brilliant average of a goal involvement every 2.22 games, or every 110.66 minutes.

Moreover, his close control and technical ability are far better than most think, as his sensational goal against Brentford demonstrates.

Finally, FBref also lists the Blues’ Brazilian gem as the eighth-most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the former Leicester City star in the Champions League this season.

The best way to understand how that conclusion was reached is to look at some of the underlying metrics where the pair ranks closely.

Non-Penalty Expected G+As

0.73

0.70

Progressive Carries

5.17

5.59

Crosses into the Penalty Area

0.34

0.29

Shot-Creating Actions

3.44

3.79

Goals per Shot on Target

These include things like non-penalty expected goals plus assists, shot-creating actions, crosses into the penalty area, progressive carries and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while they certainly have their differences, Barnes is showing shades of Estevao in his game this season and on top of that, has rediscovered his goalscoring ability.

Therefore, so long as the price does not get ridiculous, Chelsea should do what they can to sign him once the window opens.

Chelsea star who saved Caicedo is their "most underappreciated player"

The underrated Chelsea ace made sure Caicedo’s red card didn’t cost Enzo Maresca’s men against Arsenal.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Nov 30, 2025

The Namibia batters are having their best year in T20Is and will be playing in front of a packed house at their new stadium

Firdose Moonda10-Oct-2025Some neighbours in the cricketing world won’t even shake hands anymore but others will go across the border to inaugurate a new stadium, albeit with a mish-mash side. South Africa’s experimental T20I squad is in Namibia to play a one-off match at the newly minted Namibia Cricket Ground and will finish their fixture about 13 hours before the Test side kicks off their World Test Championship title defence in Pakistan.Regular T20I captain Aiden Markram is standing in as Test captain in place of the injured Temba Bavuma, so he will not be in Windhoek. Neither will be Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Corbin Bosch, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen or Kagiso Rabada. All that may give Namibia, who recently qualified for a fourth T20 World Cup, hopes of pulling off a great upset. But this game is not so much about the result as it is a celebration for Cricket Namibia, who have built its first stadium under its own banner and will no longer need to rent facilities.The match is a sell-out, with Namibians as keen to see their own team as some of the superstars next door, and this is what they have to look forward to.Related

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Kwena Maphaka to go for scans after injury scare

Bavuma 'excited' to have de Kock back in ODI fold

De Kock’s comeback South Africa’s enigmatic wicketkeeper-batter, as described by coach Shukri Conrad, has decided to come in from the cold and make himself available to the national team again. Quinton de Kock only officially retired from Tests (and still is) and ODIs but his T20I status has been unknown since last year’s World Cup final. He was South Africa’s leading run-scorer at that tournament, and fourth overall, and seemed to have a lot more to give, but the pressures of international cricket took its toll. De Kock went silent, according to former white-ball Rob Walter, until he didn’t. He reached out to Bavuma and then Conrad in the last few months and is back in the fold.Exactly what caused de Kock to change his mind is not known, but it may have to do with staying relevant in big T20 leagues. His price of R2.4 million in the SA20 was less than an eighth of Dewald Brevis’ record of R16.5 million, for example, and the importance of strong international performance for league value can be seen globally.This year, de Kock had a poor SA20 (159 runs in eight innings with one fifty) and IPL (152 in eight with a best of 97*) but a good MLC, where he was the third-highest run-scorer. Most recently, he played in the CPL, where he scored 208 runs in nine innings with two fifties. After the Namibia T20I, he will play white-ball cricket in Pakistan as South Africa plan for next year’s T20 World Cup, but he will have to earn his place for that.Namibia recently qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup•Zimbabwe CricketThe new Don in chargeBefore this month, Donovan Ferreira had never captained any professional team in any format but he has since been announced as a stand-in T20I skipper. Ferreira was appointed as red-ball captain of Titans, the domestic team based in Centurion, and has led them in two games so far this season. In their opening match against Boland, he scored a century in the first innings and 70 in the follow-on but could not prevent a nine-wicket defeat. In their second game against North-West, he scored a first-innings 71 and is currently the competition’s third-highest run-scorer but Titans lost badly again. Now he will have to shift gears back to his “heater” role in the shortest format and will be keen to show off his six-hitting skills in his first international game in charge.Namibia on a batting highBatting is also the big strength of the home side, who topped 230 twice in the Africa T20 qualifiers and had two centurions. Playing against South Africa will be a step up from Malawi and Nigeria but Namibia will hope to continue a good year batting-wise. In 2025, they have a collective strike rate of 153.02, the highest in their history. In their first outing at the new home venue, they will want to live up to their boundary-hitting reputation and give the home crowd plenty to cheer.Coetzee’s chance to reclaim a regular spotIn Kwena Maphaka’s injury-enforced absence, Gerald Coetzee will lead the attack with an eye on making his case for the more permanent spot in the first-choice side. Coetzee’s attributes – aggressive, quick, good bouncer – all merit a place in the team but a country laden with options and his own history of injury has meant he finds himself in a queue for a spot. He hasn’t been part of a T20 World Cup squad and with the next one four months away, he will want to stake his claim. Coetzee has Nandre Burger, Lizaad Williams, and Andile Simelane as other seam contenders, while Bjorn Fortuin and Nqabayomzi Peter will make up the spin contingent.

Leeds 2019 and Brisbane 2021 made strong claims to the crown, but Kolkata 2001 still prevailed among the fans as the greatest Test match of the 21st century

Karthik Krishnaswamy21-Jun-20259:15

The Greatest Test: India roar back to victory in Kolkata, 2001

What defines a great Test match? Comebacks? Close finishes? Underdog triumphs? The platonic ideal of the final session of the final day starting with all four results still in play?Yes, all that, sure, but the collective wisdom in our shortlist to find the Greatest Test of the 21st century, and the collective wisdom of our readers, have given us another answer. Eighteen of the 32 Tests that lined up at the start of this exercise involved Australia, and 12 of them ended in Australian defeat. The three that reached the final round of voting, ended, in chronological order, with Australia losing by 171 runs, Australia losing by one wicket, and Australia losing by three wickets.Sorry, Australia. Cricket fans (as events at Lord’s last week no doubt showed you) love to see you lose. In times of despair and ennui, we seek solace in your heartbreaks, streaming them play by play on our devices or minds’ eyes.It is, of course, the ultimate backhanded compliment. Australia have lost fewer Tests in this century than any of the other teams that compete in the World Test Championship – this despite playing more Tests than anyone other than England. It’s precisely because Australia have been so hard to beat that their defeats have featured some of the most stirring individual and team performances of our time. This is why 12 of Australia’s 66 Test defeats in the 21st century – that’s more than one in six – are ESPNcricinfo-certified classics.VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid relax after their 376-run partnership in March 2001•Getty ImagesWhile other candidates were unlucky to miss out on a spot in the final round – Birmingham 2005, for instance, received a surprisingly small share of your votes despite its place in Ashes folklore – the three Tests that made it – Kolkata 2001, Leeds 2019, Brisbane 2021 – fully deserved their places. They weren’t just great Test matches; they all had that transcendent quality that puts them among the greatest sporting contests of their time. Even as they unfolded before our eyes, they gave the feeling that they existed outside reality, that the field of play was inhabited by beings governed by physical laws different to those that constrain the rest of us.Any of the three finalists could have won, and the chances are that you might have chosen a different winner if the poll was designed a little differently, or conducted it a week earlier or later, or if the gods of internet algorithms had brought it to your notice in a different way, or if the demographics of our audience were a little different, or if cricket’s political economy had a different look. While voters on ESPNcricinfo – who made up nearly 68% of the total count – overwhelmingly backed the winner, Kolkata, results went differently elsewhere: voters on our X and YouTube handles put Leeds in first place, for instance, and those on our WhatsApp channel plumped for Brisbane.All three Tests made equally strong cases, so it’s apt to wonder how one of them ended up with over 49% of the votes and the other two with roughly 25% each. What did Eden Gardens have that Headingley and Gabba did not?The answer, of course, is that it’s all subjective. So let’s talk about the subjective. I was a class IX student in March 2001, and my consumption of that Test match and that series was often indirect, restricted during school hours to terse dispatches from classmates sent to the audio-visual room at intervals proportional to the teacher’s interest in cricket and generosity of spirit.”Laxman and Dravid still batting. 398 for 4.” Cheering in the classroom. Half an hour later: “431 for 4, Laxman 196.” Pandemonium. Until I got home to catch the last half hour or so, and then the highlights, it was up to my imagination to fill in the gaps.Part of the beauty of Test cricket comes from how much of it lives in our imaginations, how intensely we feel even the bits that we aren’t in a position to watch, and while this is still true today, it was truer in 2001 than in 2019 or 2021. So much of Kolkata 2001 took place in our imaginations, and so much of it, in the aftermath, has existed in the reliving, the retelling, the little tricks of memory. The drama contained in the highlights packages – Harbhajan Singh’s offbreaks spitting like cobras from a length, VVS Laxman’s feet dancing one way to whip against the turn and another to drive inside-out, Rahul Dravid gesturing angrily to the press box, the look on Shane Warne’s face when he’s duped by Sachin Tendulkar’s wrong’un – ennoble the bits that got left out. How well must Glenn McGrath have bowled, ball after ball, to finish with 14-8-18-4 in India’s first innings? Even ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball can’t help – it’s all scoring and no commentary.Leeds and Brisbane contained cricket just as breathtaking as Kolkata, but mystique? If you ask on X and reach the right eyes, someone with access to ball-tracking data might DM you the line and length co-ordinates of the Mohammed Siraj ball that Steven Smith fended to gully.Final day, fading light, and India triumph to end Australia’s 16-Test streak•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesBut mystique isn’t the only reason Kolkata got your vote. Mystique can only get you so far when you’re up against epics that everyone, including kids who weren’t even around in 2001, followed breathlessly, like, yesterday. Mystique can only do so much when it’s up against recency bias. And it’s perfectly okay to be biased towards India’s dismantling of the Gabba’s , with an attack that had bowled all of 10 balls in Test cricket before that series taking 20 wickets and paving the way for an unforgettable fourth-innings chase. It’s perfectly okay to be biased towards England winning after being bowled out for 67, towards Ben Stokes going from 3* off 73 balls to 135* off 219, and the drama of a last-wicket stand that survived, off successive balls, a fluffed run-out chance and an lbw that would have been dead if the bowling team hadn’t run out of reviews.It’s some achievement, then, to beat Leeds 2019 and Brisbane 2021 in a poll in the year 2025 – an achievement, you might say, not unlike following on and beating an Australia team with 16 successive wins under its belt.There have been other Tests with hat-tricks, and other Tests featuring partnerships that batted through a full day’s play. There have been other Tests won by injury-ravaged underdogs, other spectacular takedowns of all-timer XIs, other Tests won from hopeless positions, and other results that snapped formidable winning streaks. Other teams have found ways to win with time running out, and other teams have won Tests with startling interventions from part-timers. Other Tests have been played on true pitches that encouraged strokeplay, other Tests on pitches with something in them for fast spin bowlers, and other Tests on lightning outfields that rewarded wristy artistry. Other great, twisty Test matches have sat in the middle of great, twisty series. Crowds of 90,000 and more have lent an electric air to other Tests at other stadiums.Kolkata 2001 contained all those ingredients. Which other Test match – from the 21st or any other century – can make the same claim?

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– Tenho mais esse ano de contrato, não sei como vai ser. Caso fique no Brasil é possível. Para ser o maior artilheiro preciso jogar o maior número possível de jogos. É possível ser a vice-artilharia (faltam 6 gols). Caso eu fique no Flamengo e no Brasil pode acontecer naturalmente – disse o atleta.

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– Acho que tudo isso vem ao natural, claro que quando se chega perto de metas individuais fica feliz. Mas creio que precisa muito do coletivo, nunca fiz nada sozinho. Espero que o time esteja bem. Para poder fazer gols em finais, a gente tem que chegar lá. Para eu ser artilheiro, tenho que jogar o maior número de jogos possível. Acho que uma coisa leva à outra. O importante mesmo é o time estar bem e fazer um bom campeonato – ponderou.

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