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Glasgow Rangers and new Ibrox owners 49ers Enterprises have reached an agreement to sell a Gers player without the approval of new manager Russell Martin.

Aarons completes Ibrox medical and set to join Rangers

The Gers have already made midfielder Lyall Cameron the first official signing of the summer at Ibrox, however, the 49ers and Martin are after more before the Champions League qualifier against Panathinaikos and their Scottish Premiership opener at Motherwell.

Motherwell vs Rangers

August 2

Rangers vs Dundee

August 9

St Mirren vs Rangers

August 23

Rangers vs Celtic

August 31

Rangers vs Hearts

September 13

Martin admitted he is “excited” at the players Rangers are targeting and is hoping for a “few” to arrive over the coming weeks.

One of those looks set to be Max Aarons, with the right-back on course to arrive on a straight loan deal from Bournemouth. The defender has even been pictured at Ibrox and has already completed a medical.

With Aarons set to sign, it could be a case of one defender in and one out at Ibrox going off a recent update.

Rangers reach agreement to sell Gers defender Robin Propper

According to reports relayed by Sport Witness, Rangers have reached an agreement in principle to sell Robin Propper for €1.5m (£1.27m) to FC Twente.

A deal is yet to be complete, though, ‘due to the recent changes within the technical staff of Rangers’, meaning Martin has yet to give the green light to an exit.

The report adds that ‘a meeting between Propper and the new head coach is planned soon and will be decisive for the further course of the transfer’.

Concern as Rangers now at risk of losing £20m Ibrox star star on the cheap

This would be a real setback for the Gers.

ByHenry Jackson Jun 24, 2025

FC Twente’s manager, Joseph Oosting, has publicly spoken out over a transfer for Propper, saying “I have been in contact with him via the app. We would like to have Robin. Will he come? That is the question.”

Oosting added to another Dutch outlet: “We have been in contact, I hope he returns. No point of discussion. I assume that it will work out. But in football you can never be sure of such things.”

Should a £1.27m deal go through, Rangers will be making a slight loss after spending £1.5m on Propper just 12 months ago.

Everton are in the infancy of their summer transfer window plans but could be about to step things up a notch after making an approach for a Club World Cup star, according to reports.

Everton close in on Thierno Barry and announce new contract

David Moyes and his side have been slow off the mark this summer as they take time to assess where to strengthen before advancing, though supporters will be relieved to hear the Toffees are closing in on a deal to sign Villarreal striker Thierno Barry.

Set to arrive for around £30 million, he could kickstart a period of significant change for Everton as they finally begin to experience life at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Michael Keane has also put pen to paper on a one-year extension on Merseyside and will help shore up Moyes’ backline after rejecting interest from elsewhere to stay at the club.

Upon renewing his terms, the 32-year-old stated: “I love Everton and have been massively proud to play for this club since the day I joined so I’m delighted to extend my stay here. The manager wants a competitive squad and I still feel I have a lot to give to Everton.

“We’ve been through a difficult few years but it’s an exciting time ahead for us as players and our brilliant fans. We’ve got a world-class new stadium to play in, and our form under the manager last season shows there’s a lot of reasons to be positive. I’m looking forward to being part of it.”

Everton’s first five Premier League matches

Leeds United (A)

Elland Road

Brighton & Hove Albion (H)

Hill Dickinson Stadium

Wolverhampton Wanderers (A)

Molineux

Aston Villa (H)

Hill Dickinson Stadium

Liverpool (A)

Anfield

While some things stay the same, Everton’s latest target could open up the possibility of a change in the guard involving a key position if reports are to be believed.

Everton rival Man Utd for Botafogo goalkeeper John Victor

According to Globo, Everton have made an approach to sign Botafogo goalkeeper John Victor to compete with Jordan Pickford for a starting slot after losing Asmir Begovic and Joao Virginia this summer.

Manchester United are also keen on his services, and both clubs have moved to sound out his camp over a potential swoop amid recent reports he may be available for only £6 million.

Related Everton hold advanced talks to sign "superb" free agent in bargain deal

The Toffees have stepped things up…

Posts ByTom Cunningham Jul 5, 2025

Labelled a “warrior” by Botafogo counterpart Philipe Sampaio, John has kept ten clean sheets in 29 appearances this campaign and was instrumental in Botafogo’s run to the last 16 stage of the Club World Cup.

Naturally, his displays have created a wealth of interest in his services, though it remains to be seen whether he would be willing to battle it out with club icon Pickford for the number one jersey under Moyes.

Either way, Everton are beginning to motor in their hunt for signings, and it feels like the Friedkin Group’s reign in charge could be about to take off.

Burnley’s intimidating defence last season in the Championship was one major factor behind why Scott Parker’s men sealed automatic promotion on 100 points.

Whilst the Clarets did score a reasonable 69 strikes across the 46-game marathon, they amazingly only gave up 16 goals across that same period, culminating in the Lancashire outfit losing just two second-tier contests all season long.

Burnley have been known to be a well-drilled machine in this regard for many a year, with Sean Dyche the first notable manager to make the Clarets a hard-to-beat unit when he was situated in the Turf Moor dug-out.

Throughout his well-known stint at the Clarets, Dyche regularly called upon the likes of James Tarkowski to ensure opposition attackers knew they were in for a tough fight when attempting to break down Burnley’s rock-solid defence.

Tarkowski's defensive heroics at Burnley

Now lining up for Everton at 32 years of age, Tarkowski has Burnley to thank for initially kickstarting his career at the very top.

In total, the imposing veteran would go on to make 219 appearances for the Clarets, with his reputation throughout his stay at the club centring on his no-nonsense approach aerially.

His breakout season in the Premier League for Burnley would come about during the 2018/19 campaign, with the centre-back scoring three goals when putting his towering 6-foot-1 frame to good use, alongside winning a ridiculous 7.8 duels per league clash.

No longer at Turf Moor, he is certainly ageing like a fine wine. He secured ten clean sheets in league action across 2024/25 and most famously scored that thunderbolt of a goal in the dying embers of Goodison Park’s last Merseyside derby.

He’s a man for the big occasion and as Parker and Co go about strengthening their ranks, they’ll certainly be hoping to find their next Tarkowski.

Burnley's "outstanding" new Tarkowski

Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that Burnley will be able to keep all the components of their robust defence together past this transfer window, with CJ Egan-Riley and Maxime Esteve both reportedly heading for the exit door.

Therefore, a new, strong defender will surely be high up the Clarets’ shopping list, with rumours coming to the surface now from journalist Graeme Bailey suggesting 6-foot-4 brute Chris Mepham be on Parker’s radar as they aim to add numbers at the back.

Burnley are already well aware of how tricky a defender Mepham can be to get the better of, having clashed with him last season when he was out on loan with eventual playoff winners Sunderland.

The Welshman stood out as a powerful centre-back throughout that loan spell, and with plenty of Premier League experience in the tank at 61 top-flight games and counting, he could be just what Burnley desire in trying to land an up-to-date Tarkowski.

Mepham’s league numbers for Sunderland (24/25)
Stat (* = per game)	Mepham
Games played	38
Goals scored	1
Assists	0
Touches*	65.7
Accurate passes*	45.2 (87%)
Ball recoveries*	3.6
Clearances*	6.1
Total duels won*	4.9
Stats by Sofascore

His similarities to Tarkowski are even more striking when glancing at the table above, with Mepham both a defensive option that is comfortable with the ball at his feet and joining in with attacks, but also a figure who will valiantly throw himself into duels for the cause, like the ex-Burnley captain.

Black Cats skipper Dan Neil would even herald Mepham as “outstanding” for his brave efforts during Sunderland’s promotion story, with Parker hopeful he could make a similarly quick impact at the heart of the Clarets’ defence if signed.

Burnley won’t want to just roll back the years in winning themselves a gritty defender like Tarkowski, however.

Even more so, the Lancashire underdogs will pray they can become a Premier League regular again, with Mepham joining potentially strengthening their chances of immediately staving off the drop.

Burnley can land dream Esteve replacement by signing £12m "warrior"

Burnley would immediately bounce back from Maxime Esteve’s potential departure by snapping up this Premier League-calibre warrior.

By
Kelan Sarson

Jun 8, 2025

Good news, Arsenal fans, the season is finally over.

The last nine months have been particularly draining for the North Londoners, as, for the third year running, Mikel Arteta’s side have had to settle for second place in the Premier League, only this time to Liverpool.

However, with the transfer window about to open, fans can forget all about that and start dreaming about the stars who could soon be making their way to the red side of North London.

With that said, the Merseysiders also seem determined to strengthen their already imposing squad in the coming weeks and months, with Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz seemingly close to joining them.

The German would be an incredible signing for the Reds, but interestingly, one of Arteta’s signings is worth millions more than him.

Market Movers

Football FanCast’s Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club’s star player or biggest flop worth today?

Why Wirtz will be a serious problem for Arsenal

Arsenal’s one advantage over Liverpool this season has been their defence, as across the 38 games, they conceded just 34 goals to the Reds’ 41.

However, the champions’ attacking advantage was even greater, with a sensational 86 goals scored to the Gunners’ 69, and with Wirtz in the side, that difference could grow even greater.

For example, even though he’s only just turned 22, the German monster was able to score 16 goals and provide 15 assists in 45 games for Leverkusen this season, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.45 games.

In contrast, Martin Odegaard, the North Londoner’s chief creator, scored six goals and provided 12 assists in 45 games, which comes out to a far less impressive average of a goal involvement every 2.5 games.

Unfortunately for the Premier League runners-up, this comparison remains in the future Liverpool star’s favour even when we take a look under the hood at their underlying numbers.

Non-Penalty Expected G+As

0.37

0.52

Non-Penalty G+As

0.40

0.78

Progressive Passes

9.11

6.62

Progressive Carries

3.54

4.60

Shots

1.88

2.85

Shots on Target

0.53

1.30

Passing Accuracy

82.8%

79.9%

Key Passes

2.36

2.37

Shot-Creating Actions

4.73

5.53

Goal-Creating Actions

0.69

0.87

Successful Take-Ons

0.95

2.89

Carries into the Penalty Area

1.15

1.97

Ball Recoveries

3.66

4.19

For example, while the Norwegian does come out ahead in some metrics, the Bundesliga winner comes out on top in more, such as expected and actual non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive carries, shots and shots on target, key passes, shot and goal-creating actions, successful take-ons and more, all per 90.

In short, Wirtz looks like he could become one of the very best creators in the league next season and, therefore, is likely going to be well worth the reported €100m – £84m – Liverpool has already offered for him.

Yet, there is already an Arteta signing in the Arsenal squad that is worth more than that.

The Arsenal star worth millions more than Wirtz

So, while there are a few genuine superstars in this Arsenal squad, like Williams Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, the player we are talking about is a fellow graduate from Bayer Leverkusen’s academy: Kai Havertz.

Yes, before he moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2020, the Aachen-born star was the talk of German football, and for good reason.

In his final season with Leverkusen, he managed to rack up an incredible haul of 18 goals and nine assists in 45 appearances, which came out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.66 games – not much worse than Wirtz’s average of one every 1.45 games this term.

Appearances

45

45

Goals

18

16

Assists

9

15

Goal Involvements per Match

0.6

0.68

While we know things did not work out for him following his £71m move to West London, things have dramatically improved for the German since his £65m move to the Emirates in 2023.

While he struggled in his initial midfield role and hasn’t really looked comfortable there since, he has turned into a more than useful striker for the club.

For example, in just 47 appearances up top, the “sensational” 25-year-old, as dubbed by Arteta, has scored 19 goals and provided 13 assists, which comes out to a brilliant average of a goal involvement every 1.46 games.

This impact, combined with his age, profile and contract situation, saw the CIES Football Observatory value the number 29 at a staggering €130m earlier this year, which comes out to about £109m, or £25m more than Wirtz could cost Liverpool.

Ultimately, while some may disagree with such a valuation, Havertz has been an incredibly useful player for Arsenal over the years, and just like the soon-to-be Red star, he also enjoyed a brilliant start to his career at Leverkusen.

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The divisive international could be more trouble than he’s worth for Arsenal.

1 ByJack Salveson Holmes May 26, 2025

Already thinking about summer reinforcements, Daniel Levy is now reportedly readying a mega £50m+ bid to sign a key attacking addition for Tottenham Hotspur in the coming months.

Tottenham's crucial transfer window

After lingering in the bottom half of the Premier League this season, Tottenham can ill-afford to get things wrong this summer. Whether Ange Postecoglou is still in charge or not, Levy must ensure that there is a squad capable of breaking back into the top six when the next campaign gets underway. Just who arrives with that in mind remains to be seen, however.

Plenty of names have already threatened to steal the headlines on that front though, including the likes of Eric Garcia and Jonathan Tah. Two defensive additions who would hand Postecoglou an instant boost and two signings who would be cost effective, Spurs should push on in pursuit of both this summer.

That said, it may be easier said than done to attract new talent if the Lilywhites fail to win the Europa League and qualify for the Champions League in the process. To that end, they’ve already taken one step into the final after a 3-1 first-leg victory over Bodo/Glimt, but may well find themselves squaring off against Manchester United in an all English final.

Postecoglou was quick to reiterate that he has full belief in his side as they look to get the job done against Bodo/Glimt next week, telling reporters in midweek: “It is not about feeling calm, like I said you just get belief (from the performance). I get that Bodo away is a difficult fixture, but so was Frankfurt away and we went there knowing we had to win to get through and I thought the lads handled it really well.

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ByBen Goodwin May 3, 2025

“I think in Europe this year we’ve been really good at managing whatever situation we’re in. We’ve had some games where AZ we lost away from home, but had to come back and showed real calm and composure to win to get through here. I think all those experiences give me the belief we can go there and get the job done.”

Levy readying £50m+ bid to sign Semenyo for Tottenham

Away from the action on the pitch, meanwhile, those in North London have already seemingly set their sights on an attacking upgrade. According to reports in Spain, Levy is now readying a bid worth €60m (£52m) to sign Antoine Semenyo for Tottenham this summer following his fantastic season at Bournemouth, a fee which ‘would be enough to convince his current club’ to sell.

At 25 years old, unlike Heung-min Son, Semenyo is at the peak of his powers and could take the Spurs captain’s place with the report saying he is seen as a player perfect for Spurs and Postecoglou, given his physical strength, ability in the press and output of 11 goals and seven assists this season.

Praised for his “powerful ambipedal ball striking” by analyst Ben Mattinson, Semenyo has certainly earned a move this summer and Spurs could offer him exactly that.

Having burst onto the scene as a teenager, England allrounder is a fixture on the international and franchise circuits

S Sudarshanan27-Sep-2024Alice Capsey’s words sometimes belie her years. “You are always going to fail more than you succeed,” she says about the vagaries of our sport, channelling the wisdom of a seasoned cricketer. But as she holds the phone still, maintaining a perfect frame without a tripod or a stand throughout our 20-minute chat, it gives a glimpse of just how young she is – only 20 years old. She is also good at this other thing – hitting the cricket ball real hard. And that has kept her quite busy in the last few years.Capsey made her international debut in July 2022 just ahead of the inaugural women’s cricket competition at the Commonwealth Games. Since then, she has played a staggering 104 T20s since her debut – in Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa, apart from England – and has managed to adapt and leave a mark everywhere.In just her third year at the international level, she is set to feature in her second T20 World Cup, her ability to assess conditions quickly making her an important member of England’s touring party.Related

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“At the moment, the game’s evolving so quickly that you have to think where you are at within the women’s game but also where your game is at in general,” Capsey told ESPNcricinfo ahead of England’s departure to the UAE for a training camp. “It is no longer just a summer sport. You look at the next six months and there are various different tournaments.”International cricket is jam-packed now, which is really exciting. Having to be aware of where your game is at so that you stay in the mix and stay on top of your game. I have learnt to manage my game and I am always looking to learn.”I have only just turned 20, so I am pretty young, and have loads of work to do in my game. I am sure technically it’ll evolve over the next couple of years, but also a bit more tactically – all those things, you learn so much from playing international cricket and playing around the world.”Capsey’s initial period at the highest level has also coincided with the rise in T20 cricket leagues on the women’s circuit. She played in the inaugural editions of the Women’s Hundred and the Women’s Premier League, as well as in the Women’s Big Bash League. She’s stamped her mark in most of them, batting in the top order as well as picking up crucial wickets with her offspin. The lessons on countering various conditions and situations have been immense.Alice Capsey is a regular on the global franchise circuit•ECB via Getty Images”Just the amount of cricket I have played in different environments I have been in, you pick up so much by playing alongside different people,” she said. “We have got a number of world-class cricketers in this England environment; you don’t get much better than someone like Nat [Sciver-Brunt], who’s such a level head and has played for so many years now, is so experienced and knows the game so well. So, for younger players to be in the changing room with her year-in year-out, you learn so much around how she trains, how she thinks about it.”I have been lucky that the overseas players we have had at the Hundred [with Oval Invincibles], I have learnt so much from my first two years under Dane [van Niekerk]. I thought she and Marizanne Kapp were really influential in the way I go around with my batting. Just the backing I got from them gave me so much confidence.”The WPL and WBBL have been such amazing experiences, I have absolutely loved it. You always learn more from the natural conversations than you do from the necessarily forced conversations, where you are literally asking the questions. My game’s naturally evolving and that comes down to the environments I have been a part of and how the players I have been in changing rooms with have been so open about how they go about things.”I feel lucky with how I have timed it almost; it’s been like one thing after the other and over three years, I have had a different first each year to keep it new and exciting. As a player it drives you so much to get better and it’s amazing.”

“We’re in that generation of cricketers that have got a bit of fear of missing out.”Jonathan Finch, director of England women’s cricket

Being busy comes with its own challenges, though. Globe-trotting from international games to T20 leagues took its toll on Capsey and, as a result, she opted not to play regional cricket this season. She returned rejuvenated and scored her first T20I half-century since August 2023.Professionalism is still relatively new in the women’s game and so the effects are only starting to be felt. There is an array of options for youngsters like Capsey, and the need for taking a step back gets lost at times. This is where international scheduling becomes critical for a cricket board and the importance of communicating where a player stands in the scheme of things has never been higher.Jonathan Finch, director of England women’s cricket, put it this way: “You don’t do it as a one-size-fits-all and that’s where sometimes we get a little bit of criticism: ‘Why are you letting that player do that and why are you letting player do that?'”If you’ve got an 18-year-old player that suddenly hasn’t been exposed to multiple franchise competitions in a 12-month-of-the-year programme, their understanding of what that is is far less to a Heather Knight who’s been able to do that, manage themselves physically and all that kind of stuff. So, there’s an element of giving them a little bit rope to do it, failing a little bit and then coming back.”So, a Big Bash experience might be a massive development opportunity for a [young] player, whereas for someone at the back end of the career, it’s less so. Then you sit down and you have those discussions and there’s so many different things that go into that, whether that’s physical, mental, emotional, the actual cricket side of things.”We’re in that generation of cricketers that have got a bit of fear of missing out [FOMO] because a lot of new things are coming up and there’s a sensation or a feeling that ‘well if I don’t do that now I won’t get that opportunity moving forward’. The challenge for us is sometimes giving players the confidence that looking at things over the 12-, 24-, 36-month period, you can calm down a little bit and you can plan that.”But that’s probably our biggest challenge – managing individual players’ and staff programmes considering now there are ICC tournaments every year, the Women’s Championship, the next FTP, putting in your kind of big-ticket tours like Australia and India and all those types of things.”Alice Capsey celebrates a wicket•BCCIA message from her agent that read: “Renegades with a ‘tick mark’ emoji” on an early September morning confirmed Capsey’s busy time will continue after the T20 World Cup. A week after the final, WBBL 2024-25 starts with Capsey picked by Melbourne Renegades in the draft.”It happened very early, so I didn’t see where I was going until I woke up in the morning, which was a nice surprise and then had a couple of messages from the Renegades head coach and general manager,” said Capsey, who played for Melbourne Stars in the last two editions. “With my availability and so many amazing players in the draft, I was really hoping to get picked up.”I have played under Jonathan Batty [head coach at Stars, Oval Invincibles and Delhi Capitals] in all three franchises in the last three years and he’s had a big influence on my career and we have got an amazing relationship. To now be able to go and play for Renegades and just to play with new people, be in a new environment under a new coaching staff adds a bit of freshness. I’d be jumping at it to go in a new environment and just carry on learning. It’s a great opportunity for me and I am looking forward to it.”I know some of the girls there already, so there will be a few familiar faces and that will be nice. But I have been at Stars for the last two years and have so much to thank them for, for the support they had for me and the relationship I have built with Stars; I have some of my best friends there. The people I have met have been amazing and they have been such a big influence in my career.”Alice Capsey and England are keen to adapt to UAE conditions quickly•Getty ImagesOne of the immediate challenges for Capsey will be to assess and adapt to conditions in UAE. England’s training camp would have given her a chance to get used to the surfaces and the heat. And then there are a couple of warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand. But how does she really prepare and get used to new conditions?”It is just about embracing the new challenge and asking lots of questions, that’s the key for me,” Capsey said. “It is about a few conversations and then getting the feel from a few nets. It is pretty natural, you pick things up pretty quickly.”At the end of the day, the conditions change how you play, somehow you work out what shots work the best on that pitch. But you are not going too far away from what shots you play naturally. You still want to play your way and you don’t want to stray too far away from what’s given you success so far. From that point of view, it’s about tinkering with your game and having those knowledgeable conversations with players or staff and getting a really good understanding.”We have a pretty good understanding of how hot it is going to be and we know we are going to be physically challenged in other manners to, say, how we play in England. We all will be preparing the best we can, and so when we get out there, it won’t be too much of a shock. You don’t know what’s going to be thrown at you, so staying as relaxed as possible is a good thing for me. Trying to take each day as it comes and see what’s in front of you.”

Opener channels free-scoring younger self in bid to win recall to Ben Stokes’ Test team

Vithushan Ehantharajah16-Jan-2023England’s warm-up match against the Lions in Abu Dhabi last November was an understandably selfish affair. The Test side needed some intense preparation ahead of a three-match tour of Pakistan, and two days into the three-day game, they decided to call it off altogether. They had got what they needed.Beyond a much-anticipated return for Jofra Archer, who bowled nine overs on the opening day, there was not too much attention paid to those on the opposition. The Test side racked up 501 for 7, and by the end of day two, the Lion’s score of 415 for 9 was secondary to the 77 overs of work from the senior attack.However, it was on “day three” that Ben Stokes, an observer for this encounter, singled out one Lions member who had caught his eye. Someone whose game the England captain is familiar with, though perhaps not like this.”He’s someone you wouldn’t necessarily have down for that type of innings,” Stokes said of Haseeb Hameed, who peeled off 145 from 172 deliveries against an attack featuring James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Jack Leach. “It’s amazing to see a player like Has, who has done what he’s done over five or six years, realising the potential that he can play that way, against our frontline attack.”Related

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It was as engaging as the scorecard suggests: the strike rate of 84.30 through 20 fours and a couple of sixes. There was a bit of fortune, with a questionable “not out” when pinned on the pad early doors. But otherwise, Hameed was an authoritative presence in the middle.A new dawn for a player previous feted – and latterly derided – for his high elbow and low strike rates? Not quite. Even Stokes made a note of how this knock was a continuation of Hameed’s work over the summer: 1235 runs at an average of 58.80 to propel Nottinghamshire back into Division One. All at a strike rate of 62.40 – almost double what it had been across his 10 Tests caps (32.02) and considerably higher than a career rate of 41.59 in all first class cricket.Speaking ahead of the Lions’ tour of Sri Lanka, in which he will act as captain for the red-ball leg of a warm-up and two four-dayers against Sri Lanka A, Hameed will take cues for the man skippering above: ‘I’ll have my own style (of captaincy) of course but the brand that Stokesy and co have implemented is now the England brand, whether you’re with the Lions or the Test side. This whole idea of playing to win and being prepared to lose the game in order to win. One hundred per cent, I’ll try to replicate that.’He also appreciated Stokes’s words from November and was open about shifting up a few gears. Not least after a dispiriting 2021-22 Ashes in which he averaged just 10 from four appearances.”For him [Stokes] to come out and say that meant a lot to me,” Hameed said. “It’s nice because I guess the changes he’s implemented with the England team coincides with the changes I’ve made on a personal level in terms of my game.”I came back from that Australia tour and I was clear in how I was going to go about my game and start to look to score runs at every opportunity and accepting the fact that everyone gets out. Especially against some of the best bowlers in the world. You’re going to face good balls that will get you out so the other balls you may as well try to cash in and, with your style, score runs and put the opposition under pressure, which is what I’ve tried to do.”

“I feel some people have said ‘he’s had a bad tour, he’s done’. My view is different. I’m 25 now, there’s a huge opportunity for me to learn from that tour. Why can’t I get better? It’s happened, but it’s not the complete journey”

Some of that “doing” has been away from the nets in the form of conversations with those that matter. Director of men’s cricket Rob Key, Test coach Brendon McCullum and performance director Mo Bobat, who oversees the Lions programme, were consulted over the summer over where Hameed was in the pecking order and what could be done to move up. With that came clarity of worth and, ultimately, purpose. Hameed is venturing into 2023 with a clear idea of what is required, both to progress and change perceptions.”I had a conversation with Rob Key in the summer about where I was and how things were looking for me and all that kind of stuff. He mentioned that for the England team what was important was this idea of soaking up pressure when necessary and then being able to apply pressure at different times. As soon as you sense a moment, being brave enough and strong enough to take your opportunities in the middle and the fact that you’ll be backed for it.”Maybe the challenge in some people’s eyes was being able to show that side. I feel like I was able to show that side for Nottinghamshire through the course of the summer and in the game [for the Lions] just gone as well. In that sense, it’s been nice for me for people to see that up close. I’m confident and I have trust that that game is also within me and that’s why I’m very optimistic.”This isn’t about reinvention for Hameed, but rather a regression of sorts. Much of what England have done successfully since the start of last summer is regain access to an expressive way of playing that is a hallmark of youth – one that gets understandably clouded by professionalism. And it is important to note that, before he made his Test debut in 2016, Hameed had plenty of white-ball cricket in his diet. Most notable was an Under-19 ODI series against South Africa in 2014 when, aged 17, he walked away as player of the series with 389 runs at 77.80. As he says so himself, much of what has come since was his attempts at trying to mimic how Test cricket was being played at the time.”I guess it’s an interesting one because you have your typical Test match opener which is what I was trying to play like. And there’s also a side of me – which maybe a few more people have seen now – which takes me back to my junior days. Showing a side of me that maybe a lot of people haven’t seen at that level. A side that enjoys hitting the ball, hitting these shots and letting the uniqueness in the way that I play come out.Hameed endured a tough time in Australia in 2021-22•Getty Images”You forget how much you enjoy the game and everything becomes a lot more enjoyable [again]. Obviously with that, there has to be an acceptance that you’re going to make mistakes but I feel like that starts from practice. You have to prepare in that way.”I remember as a 16-year-old, I scored two hundreds in a day in two T20s playing for my school and that was me just having fun. It’s amazing how by flipping that mindset you find yourself playing shots that you ordinarily wouldn’t do. Shots find you because you’ve got that intent and over time, you understand that those are shots within you and when you have that mindset, they find you rather than you going looking for them.”I had a lot of success in white-ball cricket growing up so I feel like a lot of those qualities are within me. It’s just constantly making sure that I’m giving myself the best opportunity to bring them out because they are there.”As for when we might get a glimpse at this new iteration of Hameed, the next month in Asia will primarily be about reinforcing long-recognised strengths against spin – and could put him on track to be the spare opener for England’s five-match series against India at the start of 2024, behind Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett.Robustness against pace remains a question mark as far as an appearance in the 2023 Ashes later this summer is concerned, even if there were marked improvements noted in the UAE. The Lions camp in Dubai that preceded England’s warm-up match gave Hameed the opportunity to showcase more assured footwork against the quicks, particularly in middle sessions against Anderson and Archer.Has he moved on from his displays in Australia? The man himself, who turns 26 on Tuesday, thinks so.”By the age of 24 I’ve had all that experience. The way I look at it, I’ve had one bad tour. At the height of the pressures and the exposure of the game, maybe that heightened it a little bit. But a lot of very, very good players have had one bad tour. I feel some people have said ‘he’s had a bad tour, he’s done’. My view is different. I’m 25 now, there’s a huge opportunity for me to learn from that tour. Why can’t I get better? It’s not the be all and end all. It’s happened, but it’s not the complete journey. I’m not 35, 36.”Let’s not hide away from the fact that it [Australia’s] is the best bowling attack in the world in the toughest of conditions. When they come this summer in the Ashes of course it will be challenging again, but for sure that experience would help me better prepare. The environment too, I feel what’s been created by Stokesy and McCullum feels like the right way to challenge them as well.”The way to challenge them is taking them on, it feels, and that’s been led by those two guys. It feels like any player in that team will be backed to that point.”

Pujara’s philosophy is to spend more time in the middle to create more chances of scoring runs

Sidharth Monga09-Jan-20212:11

Chopra: Pujara’s back leg movement a ‘flaw’ causing dismissals against Cummins

“I don’t think it was the right approach, I think he needed to be a bit more proactive with his scoring rate because I felt it was putting too much pressure on his batting partners.”That was Ricky Ponting’s assessment, posted on Twitter in response to a question posed to him about Cheteshwar Pujara’s approach in India’s first innings of the Sydney Test. Pujara had scored his slowest half-century, facing 176 balls, but despite facing only five overs fewer than Australia, India ended 94 runs behind. There was a run-out and a played-on dismissal while Pujara was at the wicket, which were indirectly linked to his rate of scoring.This is not opportunistic criticism in hindsight. The questioning of Pujara’s approach began well before his, or Ajinkya Rahane’s or Hanuma Vihari’s, dismissal. The import of it is that if you bat with that approach, you put others around you under pressure and, thus, don’t leave yourself and your team an option but to score a big one yourself. And on difficult pitches against good attacks, you are bound to get a good ball before you score a hundred going at that pace.There is merit to this criticism, but “approach” can soon start to give way to “intent” and it can begin to sound like the batsman is not even thinking of runs. In reality, the approach is not decided by a batsman based on which side of the bed he wakes up. It is a reaction to the quality of the bowling, the nature of the pitch, the match situation, the strength of his own batting line-up, and, perhaps most importantly, his own ability.It isn’t as though Pujara doesn’t know the pitfalls of not scoring at a certain rate. This is a method – let’s not call it approach because it leads to the awful word intent, which suggests the player doesn’t intend to do what is best for the team – that has worked the best for Pujara and India. This was the method that worked on the last tour of Australia when he won India the series by facing more balls than any visiting batsman in a series in Australia in which he played four Tests or fewer. This was the method that worked in Johannesburg where he took 50 balls to get off the mark. This is a method that works for him at home.This method relies on the philosophy that the more time you spend at the wicket, the better your reactions get and the less accurate and intense the bowling gets. Pujara has shown more than enough times that he can make up for these starts once he has bowlers where he wants them. And it is not always accurate that if he gets out for 20 off 80, he has done his side no favours. The last Test was a good example of Shubman Gill and Pujara tiring Pat Cummins out, forcing him to bowl an eight-over spell in the morning session. The centurion Rahane was well into his 20s, having faced 70-plus balls when he first faced a proper spell from Cummins. It is not always apparent, and it is not always extremely significant, but it has some benefit for those who follow him.Of course, Pujara can show more “intent” and try to play quicker, but his judgement tells him that involves an undue amount of risk. He was up against stronger, quicker, taller and more accurate fast bowlers than Australia’s batsmen were on a pitch that called for accurate banging of the ball into the pitch. The bounce available meant Nathan Lyon was in the game too.There was no release available for Pujara unlike for Australia’s batsmen who had Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja – his four wickets perhaps flatter his effort – and even R Ashwin, who was now getting hit off the back foot into the off side. All told, Pujara faced 20 full balls and duly scored 14 runs off them. It was the good balls that he didn’t go after.Look at how Rahane got out: that late-cut over the cordon would perhaps work on another pitch, but the uneven bounce meant he played on. Look at how Rishabh Pant got hurt: trying to pull. Pujara knew this wasn’t a pitch for the horizontal-bat shots.Cheteshwar Pujara drops his hands and sways out of the way of a snorter•Getty ImagesThe combination of the pitch and the quality of the Australian bowling meant that the slight closing of the face or opening of it for even those singles was deemed to be too risky by the batsmen in the middle. Pujara has faced more than 31,000 balls in first-class cricket in varied conditions and match situations, close to 13,000 of them in Tests. Perhaps it is wise to trust his judgement of what is risky.Of course, you can try to play the shots regardless, and they can come off on your day, but elite batsmen don’t like to take that much risk. Not leaving things to chance is what makes them elite. Especially when they are playing just five pure batsmen.The risk involved here is of another nature. Pujara concentrated hard for 176 balls, helped take India to 195 for 4, but then an injured Rishabh Pant and he fell on the same score and the tail stood no chance of getting India close to Australia’s score. The ball Pujara got was, according to him, the ball of the series, a ball that he said would have got him had he been batting even on 100 or 200. While Pujara can take solace in that he made Australia throw the best punch they possibly could, Cummins, the bowler of the monster ball that kicked off just short of a length, rubbed it in that Pujara’s scoring rate helped him and the other bowlers.”At one stage he had been out there for 200 balls or 150 balls and I looked up there thinking they are still 200 away from our first-innings total,” Cummins said after the day’s play. “So if things go that way and we can keep bowling well, you’re not overly bothered. He is someone you know you are going have to bowl a lot at. I think we got our head around that this series, for him to score runs we are going to make it as hard as possible. Whether he bats 200 or 300 balls, just try and bowl good ball after good ball, and challenge both sides of his bat.”Related

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In what can be a bit of a mind game lies an admission too. That Pujara makes you bowl at your best for longer periods of time than other batsmen. Against the same attack, it worked on the last tour. It came close to working on this tour too. At least it gave Pujara a chance.On this pitch, against this bowling, to force the pace and drive on the up, while not taking an undue amount of risk, you have to be as good as Virat Kohli at that kind of batting. Pujara probably knows he isn’t. That is not his skill. His skill is to absorb the blows before taking down tired bowlers. Since about late 2018, even Kohli has started buying into the Pujara philosophy. The best innings of this series in terms of method, Kohli’s 74 in Adelaide, took 180 balls. For the first 80 balls of that innings, he went at a strike rate under 30. It was exactly like a Pujara innings, except that Kohli’s higher skill at shot-making meant he opened up sooner than Pujara could have.There is another, more nuanced criticism of Pujara’s batting, something he probably needs to work harder on. You don’t see too many driveable balls when he is at the wicket because he gets stuck on the crease. So what might be a half-volley for other batsmen is a length ball that Pujara is forced to show respect to. It gives the bowlers a wider margin of error, which means they feel no pressure and thus make less errors.There is merit to that but Pujara will turn around and tell you that this is what allows him to keep out balls that take other batsmen’s edges. Instead of pushing at the ball, he either lets them seam past his edge or play them late and under his eye if they are straight. That by facing more balls the way he does, he actually makes some unplayable balls look negotiable. That by facing more balls, he gives himself a better chance at scoring runs.With bowlers getting fitter and stronger, with bowling attacks now carrying fewer weak links, it is true that Pujara’s method will become less and less prevalent with the future batsmen. This is why probably India made a reasonable call when they dropped him for lack of intent in the past, but Pujara came back and showed with his immense powers of concentration that his method can work. That the criticism of method is not necessarily on the mark. That he shouldn’t be praised for the same method in 2018-19 and be criticised for it in 2020-21.The biggest problem with the criticism perhaps is that Pujara’s method was not a significant difference between the two sides. Or any batsman’s method for that matter. Australia’s bowling in the absence of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami is far superior to India’s. It is high credit to the visitors that they pulled off the Melbourne miracle but the longer a series goes in Australia, an attack with stronger, quicker, more accurate fast bowlers will prevail over one whose seam attack has a combined experience of 17 Tests, one of them a debutant who has shown the tendency to not be accurate. That is exactly what has happened in Sydney so far.

Cricket Australia XI 341 (Blackford 86, Wyllie 71, Harvey 52, Potts 3-49) and 235 for 2 (Inglis 125*, Harvey 58) beat England Lions 299 (Gay 78, Maladay 3-47, Sinfield 3-87) and 273 (Kellaway 59, Anderson 3-42) by eight wicketsAmid intrigue over what Australia may do with their batting order for the rest of the Ashes, Josh Inglis hammered a rapid century for a Cricket Australia XI against England Lions to signal that he would be option should the selectors opt for significant change.Travis Head’s remarkable century in Perth after being elevated to open due to Usman Khawaja’s back spasms has prompted talk about whether that should be a permanent move which would likely spell the end of Khawaja’s career and create a vacancy in the middle order.Related

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That would appear an unlikely prospect, at least for the Gabba, with the indications being that Khawaja will be selected if he recovers.However, should a spot become vacant anywhere in the order Inglis’ versatility would make him a candidate. He was part of the squad for the first Test but was released to play for the CA XI at Lilac Hill after having a disjointed lead-up to the Ashes.A calf injury prevented him from playing the ODIs against India and he struggled in the T20Is before making 4 and 28 in his one Sheffield Shield outing for Western Australia.On Monday, he flayed an unbeaten 125 from 107 balls with 15 fours and two sixes as the CA XI charged down a target of 232 in 45 overs, not dissimilar to the Head-inspired performance a couple of days ago.Inglis made a century on Test debut, against Sri Lanka in Galle, when his prowess against spin saw him play as a specialist batter in the middle order. He then filled in at No. 4 when Steven Smith missed the first Test against West Indies with a finger injury.Should Khawaja not be fit for Brisbane, or the selectors do make the call to drop him, Beau Webster would also be in the frame having missed out on the first Test when Cameron Green returned to No. 6. Mitchell Marsh is another who may be considered. He is expected make his Sheffield Shield return for Western Australia in a game against Victoria at the MCG which also starts on December 4.The CA XI was largely a development side due to the ongoing round of Sheffield Shield matches but did also feature Jhye Richardson who sent down 20 wicketless overs in the game as he returns from shoulder surgery. Australia’s selectors are hoping he could be an option later in the Test series and he is expected to feature for Australia A when they face the Lions concurrently to the Gabba Test.The Lions side featured Matthew Potts, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell from the England Test squad.