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Perhaps the true miracle of Crawley is that he’s willing to keep driving into the abyss

Andrew Miller01-Jun-2023Bazball, Schmazball, call it what you will. England’s new team philosophy is based on the premise that, contrary to everything you have ever been brought up to believe, Test cricket really doesn’t matter. Instead of allowing its infinite possibilities to overwhelm you, your truest route to success is to channel that inner child that grew up thumping tennis balls in the back garden, and treat it all as one big jape.Which is all well and good, but how does such a fascinating thought-experiment survive contact with a contest that even the opposition has intimated is a bit of a waste of their time? Does that double-dose of nihilism end up cooking those newly liberated minds, as if they were Timothy Leary’s psychedelic disciples of the 1960s, many of whom soon discovered that their LSD-fuelled quest for true meaning merely hastened their recognition of the dark futility of existence?Too heavy (man…) for the first day of an Ashes summer? Probably. But as Ireland rest their weary limbs after an opening day that lived down to several of their most deep-seated fears, there may be one or two players in that away dressing room who are already thinking that Test cricket is not the drug for them. “It was not our best day,” as Heinrich Malan, Ireland’s understated coach, put it. “We didn’t necessarily cover ourselves in glory.”There’ll be no such unpleasant flashbacks for England’s Ashes-bound entertainers, however. For within their ranks there was, is, and seemingly always will be, an antidote to the dangers of over-think.Zak Crawley doesn’t care what you think. He doesn’t care about the match situation. He doesn’t care for the suspicion – right from his second-ball spank through the covers – that this particular contest might be a little too easy, even for a man whose Test average of 27.60 gives off an implication of vulnerability.Crawley frees his arms to try and access the off side•PA Photos/Getty ImagesInstead, he simply bats like a boy thumping balls in his back garden. Specifically, a boy who’s been brought up on bucket-loads of driveable half-volleys on a personal bowling machine, which is more or less the life story of an undeniably well-heeled alumnus of Tonbridge School, whose old flat in Canterbury quite literally backs onto Kent’s St Lawrence Ground itself.As he once told The Times, the inspiration for that particular career move came from reading about Johan Cruyff living on site at Ajax. “Practice is so easy,” he said. “You just walk down, whereas others have to drive in or get a lift.”Related

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It’s fair to surmise, therefore, that Crawley has long since waltzed past Malcolm Gladwell’s benchmark of 10,000 hours of practice making perfect. And when, in Fionn Hand’s second over of his debut spell, he unfurled his exquisitely honed levers through a brace of off-side boundaries – the first off the front foot, the second pinged off the back – it was plain to see why England’s faith in his methods remains entirely unshakeable.Yet for all the purity of those high notes, there were plenty of duff moments too from a player who, perhaps crucially, doesn’t care where he gets his runs either. Four times in nine balls, he survived an inside-edge, three of which skittered away to the fine-leg rope. A fourth of his 11 boundaries zipped off the outside edge, too, past the cordon to deepen the gloom of the toiling Mark Adair.The upshot was a 39-ball half-century, the sort of tempo that might once have left MCC’s members feeling giddier than their gin, but on this occasion, it wasn’t even the fastest half-century Crawley’s made in his last two Test innings in England. At the Kia Oval last September, he once again rose above the doubters to pass his landmark in a mere 36 balls as South Africa were hustled to defeat in a total of 909 balls, for the shortest completed Test in England since 1912. (This one, incidentally, is 488 and counting …)”Baz just wants batters who have got that X-factor and that sort of innings in them,” Stuart Broad said at the close, “because two or three will come off on a day when you need them. Zak showed that again today. He hit some eye-catching shots, got a brilliant fifty, and got us off to the perfect start.”And by the close, it was three from three that had romped along at that Baz-prescribed tempo, with Ollie Pope easing into his work on 29 from 35 and Ben Duckett alongside him on 60 from 71.Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope walk off at stumps•PA Images/GettyIn more ways than just his superior and undefeated total, Duckett’s was the better and calmer of the two innings – and it was remarkable too for being his very first for England in England, after 26 previous matches across formats, dating back to 2016. While the pair were clattering along to an opening stand of 109 in 99 balls, it was as if they were reliving their perfectly dovetailed alliance on that crazy day in Rawalpindi in December – their very first as a partnership – in which they both made centuries in a first-day total of 506 for 4.Duckett ducked and dived while Crawley stretched and eased, the former using his lack of reach to lever length deliveries on the up through point, or haul the shorter ones in front of midwicket, finding angles that his taller, right-handed, team-mate seldom needs to use. It’s a chalk-and-cheese alliance that has and will mess with more experienced attacks than Ireland, a point which Broad acknowledged with reference to a segment on the Sky Sports broadcast from Mike Atherton.”I love that dynamic with Ducky and Creeps up the top,” he said. “Athers did a piece showing the use of the crease [for bowling angles] and that is really difficult for any bowler to bowl that when the same ball you bowl can go in different areas.”Duckett’s drug of choice, incidentally, would appear to be endorphins – “Benbuzz”, maybe, to use Mike Brearley’s accidental phrase in a recent Guardian interview – given how good he’s been made to feel in every England set-up since his recall in October. For the Test team, he’s now made 568 runs at 63.11, with a strike-rate of 94 and rising, and a clear shot now at a second hundred in his last six Tests. And though his opportunities with the white-ball have been more limited, his peerless prowess on the sweep in Asian conditions surely makes him a World Cup bolter in Matthew Mott’s eyes.He, for one, could not be better placed going into a Bazball Ashes summer. But riding the crest of a wave is the easy part for this team of thrill-seekers. The miracle of Crawley, on the other hand – and something that is perhaps a touch easier to see after this latest romp – is that he’s willing to keep driving into the abyss that the rest of the team are encouraged not to notice, and maybe in the process serve as a bridge to those good times beyond.

We might not understand his methods, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give him chances to succeed or fail before writing him off

Aakash Chopra22-Dec-2020I distinctly remember the conversation I had with one of my fellow commentators about the chances of Prithvi Shaw doing well (or not) on the morning of the India-West Indies Test match held in Rajkot in 2018. Shaw had risen to prominence after a successful India Under-19 campaign, and while there was more talk about his team-mate Shubman Gill’s skills, it was Shaw who got a proper break in the IPL first, for the Delhi franchise. He impressed one and all in his debut IPL season, and now here he was, opening along with KL Rahul for India ahead of Mayank Agarwal, who had scored truckloads of first-class runs. Shaw’s sheer talent and flair had forced the selectors to fast-track him to the highest level of cricket.His batting style was unconventional, for his back leg would move towards square leg as a trigger movement, and his high backlift was coupled with no foot movement. Conventional cricketing wisdom told us that there was a lot that was not right with his technique, and that if he were to succeed, it would make for a compelling outlier story. Shaw did succeed, and how.His century on Test debut was filled with attractive strokeplay, and since there was a lot of Virender Sehwag in his batting style, parallels were immediately drawn between the two. Shaw followed it up with another impressive half century in his second Test. West Indies aren’t the strongest Test bowling unit, and Rajkot and Hyderabad aren’t the hardest pitches to bat on, but the way this young kid, not yet 20, dominated the proceedings left an impression. His partner, Rahul, far more experienced and much more acclaimed for his skills, struggled against the same bowling unit.Related

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It was understood that Shaw’s technique made him susceptible to incoming deliveries for the lbw dismissal, and his outside edge was always threatened because of the lack of foot movement and because of how he used only his hands if the ball left him off the pitch or in the air. Now these are glaring issues but quite remarkably Shaw was hardly beaten outside off in that Test series against West Indies and not more than a small handful of balls struck his legs during the course of it. That’s a staggering amount of control in a Test innings, which even the best seldom manage. Shaw on debut was India’s best batsman across those two Tests, from a team that had Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane in it.India’s 2018-19 tour to Australia was right after that series and there was excitement about what Shaw might do on his maiden voyage outside India as a Test opener. Unfortunately he twisted his ankle in a warm-up game and was subsequently ruled out of the tour. He was later embroiled in a doping offence, which, if it had been handled by the book, ought to have ruled him out of the IPL season that followed too. In short, his cricket career saw many twists and turns after that twisted ankle on the boundary rope in Australia.Since he was out of the reckoning for India for a while, Shaw went back to playing domestic cricket and scored heavily again. And it wasn’t just the weight of runs but the manner in which he decimated attacks that left watchers in awe. That he was a cut above the rest was there for everyone to see.

The weaknesses in Shaw’s technical armour were exposed, but let’s not forget, those flaws were present all along, when he scored and when he failed.

An injury to Rohit Sharma opened the doors for Shaw’s next opportunity to play for India, on the tour to New Zealand early this year. Gill was also a part of that Test squad but the team preferred Shaw. His returns of 16, 14, 54 and 14 weren’t significant by any stretch of imagination but one must remember that both Tests were played on overly seamer-friendly pitches and both finished inside four days. It was a Test tour where Rahane and Kohli didn’t score a single fifty between them and the entire Indian batting unit managed a total of four 50-plus scores in four innings.Was that enough proof that Shaw’s technique was faulty and that he would not survive at the top? Definitely not. Was it enough to suggest that he could thrive at the highest level in challenging conditions? Perhaps not.Shaw is a player who is putting fans in an awkward position, for he does not fit our understanding of what a successful Test player ought to be. When people fail to understand a phenomenon and find themselves conflicted, they try to find examples that are closest to the prototype in front of them. Therefore the endless comparisons to Sehwag – but as it happens, just the Sehwag who scored big, not the one who failed often too.Shaw has already scored a fifty in New Zealand (in only two Tests there); Sehwag didn’t score a fifty in five Tests in New Zealand. Sehwag’s average in England and South Africa (two extremely challenging countries for an opener from the subcontinent to play in) is 27 and 25. respectively. Sehwag has stellar numbers in Australia but that’s only one of the four countries that are considered the hardest for a batsman from the subcontinent to succeed in.We conveniently highlight or overlook stats to suit our narratives. And let’s also acknowledge and not downplay the fact that Sehwag was part of India’s strongest batting order ever. Having briefly been a part of it myself, I can tell you that that takes away some of the pressure of failure. This is something a modern Indian opener will know only when he’s playing in the subcontinent, and not in South Africa, New Zealand, England or Australia.3:26

Moody – Prithvi Shaw hasn’t failed, the selectors have

The second thing about the comparisons with Sehwag are that pitches overall were flat in Sehwag’s era. The quality of batting coupled with better pitches globally invariably produced numbers to match. And lest you think that I’m undermining Sehwag’s greatness or effectiveness, I am simply trying to highlight that comparisons between him and Shaw are flawed. Sehwag failed too, and he looked woefully out of sorts on occasion, but the knives were not out against him every time he nicked the ball or got bowled. (Admittedly Sehwag’s front foot moved a lot more than Shaw’s, and he didn’t have a huge gap between bat and pad too.)The other problem with anyone who doesn’t match our profiling is that subconsciously we wait for them to fail, for that vindicates our original belief. Shaw is going through that phase right now. His lack of runs in the IPL this year, and more importantly, the mode of his dismissals (the ball sneaked through his defences quite often) got everyone talking again.Finally, Shaw was proving us right – after all, there were many glaring flaws in his batting style. We didn’t look at his middling IPL numbers as a matter of form but as the result of a glaring technical issue, for that suited our preconceptions more. Admittedly, the weaknesses in Shaw’s technical armour were exposed, but let’s not forget, those flaws were present all along, when he scored and when he failed. What if it’s indeed a form issue with Shaw, like with Joe Burns, who averaged 7 in the ongoing first-class season till he scored a fifty in the second innings of the first Test? Are we willing to even admit that could be a possibility?Have we seen Shaw make any attempts to address his technical issues? Yes, he is now moving back and across instead of backwards towards square leg. This should put him in a slightly better position to get closer to the ball too. But these are early days with his new technical adjustment. Given the quality of this Australian attack, even openers with the tightest techniques are likely to struggle. If there’s indeed a glaring flaw, it will be exposed and exploited.Since Gill fits our profile of a Test batsman better and has scored a little more than Shaw in the warm-up games, are we justified in jumping the gun on him? I’m neither averse to change nor am I convinced by Shaw’s technique but I am willing to give him a chance to prove me right or wrong. If people gave up on Sehwag in his early days, when his results were a mixed bag (with a fair amount of failure outside Asia), Indian cricket would never have seen the full impact of his brilliance.Though it might feel like I’m building a case for Shaw to be picked for the second Test and beyond, I am only saying that we need to give his case a patient hearing. Because you and I don’t understand his methods doesn’t mean that he can’t succeed or shouldn’t be given a shot at least. A century on Test debut and a first-class average of 51, with nine centuries in just 25 games, indicates a prodigy, not a fluke. And even if he were to end up being the latter, allow him to be proved as one in due course.

DETROIT – “What are the odds?”

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh shook his head at the improbability. He was talking about the absurd truth that his 61st home run of the year was caught in a crowd of 41,525 people by a Mariners fan wearing a homemade “Dump 61 Here” shirt. A fan who grew up in Washington rooting for the Mariners and now works at—wait for it—a Las Vegas casino. A fan sitting 391 feet away in the opposite field, a distance the other way Raleigh had reached only three times all year.

“That,” Raleigh said, “is crazy.”

Raleigh might well have wondered “What are the odds” that Seattle, the only franchise never to make the World Series, is one win away from playing for a spot in the Fall Classic. (To be specific, at the start of the year the odds of such a thing happening were +1,100, worse than at +900 in 2024 and 2023, when they failed to make the playoffs.)

And what were the odds Raleigh would join Yankee sluggers Aaron Judge, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth as the only players to homer in the postseason after hitting 60 homers in the regular season?

And what were the odds the Mariners would win three games in one year against All-Planet pitcher Tarik Skubal, including a pivotal American League division series Game 2 on Sunday?

Mariners’ secret sauce is the oldest formula for success

It turns out, all the good karma around the Mariners these days has little to do with long odds and everything to do with one of the oldest, surest tenets of winning baseball: pitching. In a game gone crazy over spin and pitch shapes, Mariners pitchers throw more strikes (65.3%), more fastballs (55.5%) and more pitches when ahead in the count (31.2%) than any staff in the American League.

They are flat-out dominating a Detroit Tigers team that doesn’t have nearly the lineup depth or bat-to-ball skills to take on the fury of Seattle’s here-it-is-try-to-hit-it pitchers.

Seattle Game 3 starter Logan Gilbert took the baton from Luis Castillo, who took the baton from George Kirby. In an 8-4 win made close only in garbage time, Gilbert struck out seven batters over six solid innings, tying a Mariners postseason record for most strikeouts without a walk, joining Castillo and Randy Johnson.

In three games the Mariners have held the Tigers to a .165 batting average while striking out 35 batters in 29 innings. Ever since Kerry Carpenter homered in the fifth inning of Game 1, the Tigers have gone homerless in 95 consecutive plate appearances, getting outhomered 5–0. All that with the Mariners’ best starter this year, Bryan Woo, not even on the roster because of injury.

“The most impressive thing about this staff is how crazy-a– tight they are,” said Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez. “I mean, they share information together, they eat together, they train together, they do everything together. Listen, they’ve got good [stuff]. Start there. But the way they compete every day and push each other is what helps them to be great.”

Said Raleigh, “I know every team talks about being aggressive and controlling counts. But these guys take it to another level. It makes my job a lot easier.”

Gilbert threw only 22 fastballs, his third fewest of the year, but bamboozled Detroit hitters with a magic show of sliders and splitters so impressive you thought at any moment he would pull a quarter out of the ear of some wide-eyed Tigers hitter. He threw 20 splitters. The Tigers put none of them in play. They swung six times at his menacing butterfly and missed it five times, managing one measly foul ball.

This is a staff with the best pure stuff this side of the Dodgers. Gilbert’s splitter is the hardest single pitch to hit in baseball among starters (.115 opponents’ batting average) and has the lowest spin rate among all splitters (727 rpm). He has the longest extension in baseball (7.5 feet in front of the rubber, matching Tyler Glasnow and Jake Misiorowski).

Castillo throws the second highest percentage of fastballs in MLB (68.2%) while living up to his nickname, (The Rock), given to him years ago by an impressed Reds teammate who watched him throw one bullpen and said, “Man, you are throwing rocks!”

Woo is number one at chucking fastballs (72.8%). Kirby has the greatest strikeout-to-walk rate in history for any starter four years into their career (6.88). Closer Andres Muñoz has the single toughest pitch to hit in the sport, his slider (.103 opponents’ BA). Matt Brash throws more sliders than all but two pitchers (60.6%).

On and on it goes. The Mariners are a pure stuff factory, a staff of outliers. But everything works from a country hardball, old school perspective. No team in baseball throws more first-pitch fastballs than Seattle.

What are the odds? The Mariners are true believers in the 94% Theory: when a pitcher throws an 0–0 pitch in the strike zone, 94% of the time the batter gets out or the pitch is a strike. Get ahead, then go after chase swings. It’s a formula that the Tigers are poorly equipped to defeat with all their swing-and-miss. It’s a team that pinch-hits for its No. 3 hitter.

Raleigh’s first 2025 postseason homer lands with a friendly face

The Tigers also just don’t have the depth of elite arms that the Mariners possess. That was apparent in Game 3 when Seattle just kept tacking on runs, including the homer by Raleigh with a runner at second in the ninth.

“Honestly, I was just trying to get the guy over and I was able to get extended a little more through it,” he said.

The ball bounced in the Seattle bullpen and into the hands of Jameson Turner, a supervisor at the Fontainebleau Casino in Vegas who only the day before bought a ticket for Game 3 and flew here. He had the day off Tuesday and asked for Wednesday off as well.

Turner made his teal “Dump 61 Here” shirt himself, ironing on the vinyl graphics. He made the shirt for the last series of the regular season, when he bought a ticket in the right field seats in Seattle hoping to see Raleigh add to his 60 homers. 

He brought the shirt with him here but could only find a seat in left field.

“I’m like, ‘Okay, well maybe he'll just knock a miracle one back there,’” Turner said. “And I guess that's what happened … When he came up, maybe he saw me and hit it right to me. It was Babe Ruth there.”

When Turner caught the homer, the Mariners relievers laughed themselves upon seeing his shirt.

 “Yeah, they were loving it,” Turner said. “They were just all giving me thumbs up, like they couldn't believe it either.”

The kicker: once Turner caught No. 61, he peeled off his shirt to reveal a like one underneath, only this one read, “Dump 62 Here.” After the game, Turner got to meet his modern Babe Ruth in a hallway outside the Mariners’ clubhouse. Raleigh, clad in shorts and a T-shirt, autographed his shirt.

Major league baseball has been played in Seattle for 50 years, starting with the Pilots in 1969 and the Mariners in 1977. Never has the city seen the World Series. It is the longest drought for a city in baseball. The Mariners have not reached even the league championship series since 2001. But on nights like this, when godwinks happen like Raleigh’s 61st home run landing in the mitts of a Mariners fan wearing 61 in a sea of Tigers fans, it becomes easy for any fan of the team, not just a Vegas casino worker, to believe the odds are not so crazy.

“Well, I grew up in Washington,” Turner said. “I went to games in the Kingdome when I was a little guy and I've been following them more and more as they've been winning more and more.  So, it’s been 24 years since we got to [the ALCS], so now it's pretty exciting.”

The story of No. 61 reads like a fable or a cute bedtime story. But to understand why the Mariners are one win away from playing for the pennant requires baseball boilerplate material: to borrow from Castillo, they throw rocks.

Thursday's game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles was delayed after pitcher Hunter Bigge was hit in the head by a foul ball while watching from the dugout. Bigge received medical care and gave a thumbs-up as he left the field on a stretcher.

The scary moment happened in the top of the 7th with Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman at the plate. During a nine pitch at-bat, Rutschman fouled off three straight pitches before earning a walk. One of those foul balls was pulled hard into the Tampa Bay dugout down the third baseline and hit Bigge.

You can see the foul ball that hit Bigge here.

Bigge has not pitched since May 1 and was recently on the 15-day IL in May.

Brendon McCullum conceded that England “clearly need to improve” in one-day cricket after they fell to a 3-0 clean sweep against New Zealand. ‘Go harder’ has been the mantra of this England team, with Harry Brook imploring his side to double down in their efforts with the bat after his side’s first collapse in Mount Maunganui a week ago. Two matches and two further batting failures later, however, McCullum has reset the party line and called for England to adopt a more considered approach.”Harry’s said before that we need to put pressure back on the bowlers, and there are times when we do need to be a little braver and put some pressure on the bowlers,” McCullum said following the defeat in Wellington. “And then there are other times where we’ve got to adjust to their lengths and lines.”Not necessarily in a high-risk sort of way but just by being brave enough – whether that’s coming down the wicket or moving around the crease – just get things going a little bit more and bounce off one another.”Across the series, England lost 11 wickets in the opening 10 overs of the innings, compared to New Zealand’s four, and were bowled out in all three matches. Their innings in Wellington was their longest of the trip, batting for 40.2 overs before they were all out.”I think when we’re confronted with good, flat wickets, we’re a very, very good cricket team,” McCullum said. “I think we play a high-octane style of cricket and those conditions suit us. When the wickets have a little bit in them and they’re a bit more challenging, whether that be spin or seam or swing, we probably can’t quite adapt our tempo quick enough.Fewest runs by a team’s top four•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“We’ve got some talented players but, unfortunately, our performances at the moment in this form of the game aren’t quite up to scratch and we need to rectify that.”England’s top order combined for an historically poor series, managing just 84 runs between the top four, the lowest tally in one-day international history. Of the top six, only Brook, Joe Root and Jos Buttler made a score of 20 across the three matches.McCullum, however, does not believe it is a concern heading towards the Ashes, where Australia are expected to serve up similar styles of wickets. In the longer format, he argues that England have been able to counter different conditions well.”I like to separate it,” McCullum explained. “I think in T20 cricket we’re going really well and in Test cricket we have a pretty decent idea of where we’re at – and I think we’ve performed reasonably well, albeit we have a huge challenge ahead of us.Related

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“One-day cricket is clearly the area we need to improve, and my comments are more directed at one-day cricket. I think when we do come across the trickier conditions in Australia and Test cricket, we have a pretty good understanding of how we’re going to go about it. It doesn’t guarantee us anything but it gives us a level of confidence going into that series.”He also believes that, despite a number of players experiencing a poor run of scores, the likes of Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett and Root will be “better for the run” after getting a number of games under their belt.”They’ve marked centre a few times and gone through the process and I’m sure they’ll be better for it. With the prep that we’ve had with the other Test guys who’ve been here for a while too, we’ll have no excuses come Australia.”McCullum identified Jamie Overton as England’s “huge win” for the tour, after the bowling allrounder contributed with the bat in all three matches and put together his finest performance in ODI cricket in Wellington, scoring 68 runs and taking two for 32 with the ball.”I think there’s times when we think he’s a better player than he does,” McCullum said. “And on this tour he’s fully believed in the player he can be at this level. There’s not too many players around the world who can bowl 140kph, field the way he does and hit the ball as cleanly. It’s been a huge series for Jamie…he’s incredibly well liked within the group and we’re all delighted for him.”England’s next competitive fixture will now be in Perth, with the long-awaited Ashes series finally around the corner after years of build-up.”I’m proper excited,” McCullum concluded. “We’re incredibly respectful of the challenge Australia is going to present us and we know how hard that tour is going to be.”It’s going to require a team to stay together right throughout, to be as strong as we can to try and block out any of the outside noise. But we’re very respectful of who we’re coming up against, we’re so excited to get over there and we can’t wait to get started.”

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has revealed that he may still be in interim charge of the club when they face Dundee at Parkhead on Wednesday night in the Scottish Premiership.

Sky Sports journalist Anthony Joseph claims that there has been a delay in finalising the deal to bring Wilfried Nancy to the club from MLS outfit Columbus Crew, which is why the Northern Irishman may still be in the dugout in midweek.

The French boss will surely be keeping close tabs on how the team fared under O’Neill in November, and will already be thinking about how he wants to set the side up moving forward.

The Celtic players who will have impressed Nancy against Hibernian

In the 2-1 win over Hibernian in the Premiership on Sunday, several players showed that they can be key players for the next head coach, whenever he finally takes charge.

Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels are the two obvious ones after they both got on the scoresheet in the first half, with the former tapping into an empty net and the latter bravely burying a header in just seconds later.

Reo Hatate also excelled in a number ten role ahead of Callum McGregor and Engels, biting into the tackle to then set up Maeda for the opening goal.

Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel also made a couple of impressive stops late on in the match to secure all three points, and he will surely be Nancy’s number one, in the short-term at least.

Whilst several players, mainly the ones mentioned here, will have impressed the incoming boss, Nancy may already have an idea of the players he wants to move on when the January transfer window opens up.

The first Celtic player Nancy should sell in January

After a confident first-half showing, academy graduate Colby Donovan was forced off with an injury at the break and replaced by experienced full-back Anthony Ralston.

Within minutes of his introduction, the Scotland international was caught out defensively before playing a poor pass back that went straight out of play on the right touchline.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ live coverage of the game, former Hoops striker Chris Sutton described Ralston’s play as “really sloppy” and claimed that the defender “hasn’t recovered” from his below par showing against St Mirren.

Minutes

72

Tackles won

0

Ground duels won

1/2

Aerial duels won

0/2

Dribbled past

1x

Key passes

0

Crosses attempted

0

In that win over the Saints, as shown in the table above, the Scottish flop lost 75% of his duels and offered virtually nothing to the team from a creative perspective.

His disappointing displays against St Mirren and Hibs in recent weeks have not been a blip, unfortunately, as he also left far too much to be desired from his performance against Midtjylland in the Europa League at the start of November.

Ralston made it far too easy, as shown in the clip above, for Mikel Gogorza to beat him and score, which came just moments after the Spaniard had danced past the defender to cross for the opening goal.

He ultimately left the pitch with 45 touches, nine fewer than goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, while he also failed to have a shot, provide a cross or key pass and he also only made one interception.

Therefore, the 27-year-old dud’s performances on and off the ball this season have not been up to scratch, which is why he may already be a player who could be on the chopping block for Nancy.

With Alistair Johnston to come back from his hamstring injury and Donovan emerging as a genuine first-team level option at right-back, Ralston may not be needed beyond January, as potentially the third-choice option in his position.

That is why the incoming Celtic boss should make the experienced flop the first player he axes at Parkhead when the January transfer window opens for business, whether that is by sending him out on loan or by selling him on a permanent basis.

Forget Maeda: Celtic have signed a star who's worth even more than Engels

Celtic have signed an impressive star who is now worth even more than club-record signing Arne Engels.

ByDan Emery Nov 30, 2025

Whilst you never know who will shine with a clean slate under Nancy, it is hard to look past Ralston as the first player he needs to move on from the squad when the next transfer window rolls around at the turn of the year.

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Autor dos três gols da vitória do Novorizontino sobre o Corinthians por 3 a 1, na Neo Química Arena, Jenison comemorou o fato de voltar a marcar após um ano de jejum e comentou a situação de Yuri Alberto, atacante do Timão que foi barrado por Mano Menezes e começou o duelo no banco de reservas.

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– Passar muito tempo sem marcar é muito complicado, a gente vê o Yuri Alberto aí, que conseguiu marcar um gol depois de um longo tempo, mas é isso, todo camisa 9 vai passar por um período assim, mas a gente tem que continuar trabalhando e não desacreditar – disse Jenison.

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➡️ Novorizontino passeia em Itaquera, e Corinthians amarga quarta derrota seguida no Paulistão

Em má fase neste início da temporada, o camisa 9 corintiano perdeu a vaga entre os titulares após a chegada de Pedro Raul, contratado junto ao Toluca, do México, por 5 milhões de dólares (R$ 25 milhões).

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No entanto, ele foi o responsável por anotar o único gol da equipe do Parque São Jorge no duelo, depois de permanecer quatro rodadas sem balançar as redes.

O próximo compromisso do Corinthians é na quarta-feira (7), contra o Santos, às 19h (de Brasília), na Vila Belmiro, pela sexta rodada do Paulistão. 

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Campeonato PaulistaCorinthiansFutebol Nacional

Uncapped batter Pavan Rathnayake is in line to make his debut for Sri Lanka after being named in their 16-member squad for the limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe.Sri Lanka also recalled Nuwanidu Fernando, who has been knocking on the national team’s door for a while. The 25-year-old made his ODI debut in January 2023, but has played only five ODIs and a solitary T20I so far.Nuwanidu’s recent performances, though, have made him hard to ignore. He struck 122 runs, including a match-winning 82, across two List A games against Australia A in Darwin last month, to go with a first-class century on the same tour. In the recent SLC T20 League, a three-team invitational tournament designed to help selectors finalise squads ahead of the Asia Cup and this Zimbabwe tour, Nuwanidu hit two half-centuries in four innings.Meanwhile, Pavan, who will turn 23 in three days, is another batter who has made waves domestically. He, too, struck a hundred in the second first-class fixture against Australia A, and continued that form back home. Playing for Colombo Cricket Club in the Major Clubs Limited Overs Tournament, Rathnayake scored 63 in the semi-final, and a career-best 158* in the final.Both Pavan and Nuwanidu are also comfortable clearing the boundary, and could inject some power into Sri Lanka’s middle order. With the ODI World Cup still two years away, both will be looking to stake a permanent claim in the side. Sadeera Samarawickrama was also brought back into the fold having last played ODIs in November 2024 and T20Is in June 2024.Sri Lanka’s tour of Zimbabwe begins with two ODIs on August 29 and 31, before the three-match T20I series starts on September 3. All matches will be played in Harare. Those who missed out on getting selected were Avishka Fernando, Eshan Malinga and the injured Wanindu Hasaranga.Hasaranga is still recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered during Sri Lanka’s last series, which was against Bangladesh last month. Jeffrey Vandersay and Maheesh Theekshana provide the frontline spin-bowling options in his absence. Allrounders Dunith Wellalage, Kamindu Mendis and Charith Asalanka round off the spin contingent.The seam-bowling group includes Asitha Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka and allrounder Milan Rathnayake.

Sri Lanka’s ODI squad

Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Nuwanidu Fernando, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Dunith Wellalage, Pavan Rathnayake, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake, Dilshan Madushanka, Asitha Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera

Brendan Rodgers could return to the Premier League after two years, as the ex-Liverpool manager is being deemed the front-runner to become Wolves' new head coach, replacing Vitor Pereira at the helm. The Portuguese coach was relieved of his duties following the club's humiliating 3-0 defeat against Fulham this weekend, which left them winless after their first 10 league matches.

• Pereira shown the door

  After weeks of speculation over Pereira, the Wolves boss was finally shown the door on Sunday after they suffered a 3-0 defeat against Fulham and remained winless in their first 10 matches of the 2025-26 campaign. The club are currently languishing at the bottom of the table with just two points. Pereira helped Wolves avoid relegation last season and had even penned a new three-year contract with the club in September, only to be sacked just under two months later. 

  After the loss at Fulham, Pereira had said: "I’m disappointed today. I’m not proud of my work, of our work, because I don’t know why. I don’t know if it’s because mentally, we put a lot of energy in the last game against Chelsea until the last minute. But what I realised today was a very difficult game for us, tactically, technically, physically. We played maybe one of the worst games that we’ve played. Even with 11 against 11, since the first minute the energy to move, the offensive dynamic, and the energy to press was not there.

  "After five minutes, I started to realise that something is missing today. But the game was balanced, because even then, they were not playing in a high level. But after the goal, we tried to do something, but not in our level. After the red card, it was very difficult for us."

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  Rodgers set for Premier League return

  According to multiple media reports, former Liverpool and Leicester City manager Rodgers is poised to make a comeback to the Premier League after three years, as Wolves are considering appointing the Irish manager as their next permanent head coach. Earlier this week, Scottish Premiership giants Celtic announced that Rodgers had tendered his resignation, news which raised eyebrows across Scottish football. After suffering a surprise 2-0 loss at the hands of Dundee on 19 October, the Bhoys were consigned to back-to-back league defeats for the first time since 2023 following the reverse against Hearts on Sunday.

  In their statement, Celtic said: "Celtic Football Club can confirm that football manager Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation. It has been accepted by the Club and Brendan will leave his role with immediate effect. The Club appreciates Brendan’s contribution to Celtic during his two very successful periods at the Club. Brendan leaves Celtic with our thanks for the role he has played during a period of continued success for the Club and we wish him further success in the future. The process to appoint a new permanent manager is underway and the Club will update supporters further on this as soon as possible."

• Pereira angrily confronted fans after Burnley loss

  After last weekend's 3-2 defeat against Burnley, an angry confrontation took place between Pereira and the Wolves supporters, with the head coach needing to be pulled away. 

  Following the ugly scene at Molineux, Pereira defended his action by saying: "We understand the frustration of the people and supporters but what I must say, if we fight united with them, we can win games and compete and achieve our targets – without them, it is impossible. If we win two or three games in a row, things will change. Two months ago they sang my name, because together with the work we did last season, we are competing in the Premier League and not the Championship. 

  "Now they sing my name to sack me. If I was a supporter, I would feel proud of my team because they worked and showed the spirit, mentality and ambition to win the game, even losing 2-0 [after 30 minutes]. If you fight for 90 minutes to win a game and in the last minute, when the other team was trying to get a draw, wasting time to finish the game, defending in a low block to defend the result, even if we draw it was not fair. We deserved the three points but it's football. I feel proud of my players because they showed in a very difficult moment, the mentality, the team spirit, the organisation to try until the last minute to win the game."

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  What next?

  Relegation-threatened Wolves next face Enzo Maresca's Chelsea in a difficult Premier League encounter on November 8, which means the club have to act swiftly to finalise their next manager before their upcoming clash, which is only six days from now.

The MLSPA revealed MLS player salaries for 2025, and for the third straight year, Inter Miami's Lionel Messi is the highest paid player in the league. The report offered insight into new additions, including LAFC's Son Heung-Min, Messi's teammate Rodrigo De Paul, the Vancouver Whitecaps' Thomas Muller, and Colorado Rapids' Paxten Aaronson.

Getty Images SportThe top 10 highest-paid players

Inter Miami had two players in the top three: Messi at $20.45 million and Sergio Busquets third at $8.8 million. It is worth noting Messi's recent contract extension is not reflected in these numbers. LAFC's new star Son is second to Messi at $11.45 million. Atlanta United's Miguel Almiron and San Diego FC's Hirving "Chucky" Lozano round out the top five.

The 10 MLS players with the highest guaranteed compensation in 2025 Rank Player Club Guaranteed Compensation

1Lionel MessiMiami$20.45M2Son Heung-MinLAFC$11.15M3Sergio BusquetsMiami$8.78M4Miguel AlmironAtlanta$7.87M5Hirving LozanoSan Diego$7.63M6Emil ForsbergRBNY$6.04M7Jordi AlbaMiami$6.00M8Riqui PuigLA Galaxy$5.78M9Jonathan BambaChicago$5.58M10Hany MukhtarNashville$5.31MAdvertisementGetty Images SportAssessing the summer signing salaries

This report also revealed the salaries for De Paul and Aaronson. It is worth noting that the salaries of De Paul and the New England Revolution's Matt Turner represent the compensation the clubs are paying while the players are on loan in MLS. 

Top 10 Highest-Paid MLS Newcomers in 2025 Player Club Guaranteed Compensation

Son Heung-MinLAFC$11.15MRodrigo De PaulInter Miami$3.67M*Nico FernándezNYCFC$3.65MKristoffer VeldePortland Timbers$3.03MDjordje MihailovicToronto FC$2.28MPaxten AaronsonColorado Rapids$2.23MWessam Abou AliColumbus Crew$2.18MIván JaimeCF Montréal$1.99MMatt TurnerNew England Revolution$1.94MRwan CruzReal Salt Lake$1.86MGetty Images SportMLS payrolls

The report also shed light on team payrolls. Inter Miami, at $48.97M, outpace the rest of the league by $18.87 million – with that gap alone higher than the payrolls of 15 clubs in the league. The Herons will have $14.78 million come off the books following this season due to the  retirements of Busquets and Jordi Alba – which could lead to the club bringing in even more talent. 

LAFC are second at $30.1M, while Atlanta United ($28.5M), FC Cincinnati ($23.2M), and the Chicago Fire ($23.1 M) round out the top five. 

Guaranteed Compensation for MLS Franchises in 2025 (Source: MLS Players Association) Club Guaranteed Compensation

Inter Miami$48.97MLAFC$30.1MAtlanta United$28.5MFC Cincinnati$23.2MChicago Fire$23.1MNashville SC$22.4MPortland Timbers$22.4MLA Galaxy$22.3MSan Diego FC$22.3MNew York Red Bulls$22.1MColumbus Crew$19.2MNew England Revolution$19.1MCharlotte FC$19.0MNYCFC$18.8MSeattle Sounders$18.3MSporting Kansas City$17.6MVancouver Whitecaps$17.6MSan Jose Earthquakes$17.1MSt. Louis City$16.9MHouston Dynamo$16.8MOrlando City$16.1MAustin FC$15.7MReal Salt Lake$15.7MD.C. United$14.9MColorado Rapids$14.6MMinnesota United$14.5MToronto FC$13.7MPhiladelphia Union$13.4MFC Dallas$13.4MCF Montréal$12.92MENJOYED THIS STORY?

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Getty ImagesInter Miami frustrating the league?

While Messi has voiced MLS needs more spending, there have reportedly been some frustrations on how his team was able to circumvent the salary cap rules to sign De Paul, according to The Athletic.

It is worth noting that the Whitecaps used a similar mechanism with Thomas Muller, albeit not a loan, but they did sign the German to a smaller deal this season before a DP option for next season. Muller is making $1.44 million this season, according to the MLSPA.