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Dwayne Bravo, the highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket, has announced that he will retire from the CPL after the ongoing season. Bravo, who will turn 41 in October, made the announcement public hours before Trinbago Knight Riders’ opening game of CPL 2024, against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in Basseterre.”It’s been a great journey. This season will be my last one and I’m looking forward to a playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean ppl,” Bravo posted on Instagram. “TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team.”Related

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Bravo is also the highest wicket-taker in the CPL currently, with 128 strikes in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.Bravo’s CPL retirement comes almost three years after he ended his T20I career following West Indies’ early exit at the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. Then in 2023, Bravo retired from the IPL, and has served as Chennai Super Kings’ bowling coach since in the league.At the CPL, Bravo is the most decorated player, having won five titles in all, including three with TKR alone. Bravo is hoping to end his CPL career with his fourth title with them.He had led TKR to back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018 before captaining Patriots to their first title in 2021.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

In 2020, Bravo was part of the TKR title-winning side as a player. During that season, he became the first player to 500 T20 wickets as TKR enjoyed an unbeaten run to the title amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Ahead of CPL 2021, Bravo moved to Patriots for a new challenge and ended up winning his first – and only – CPL title for a non-Trinidad franchise. It was a comprehensive turnaround from 2020, when Patriots had finished at the bottom.Pete Russell, CEO of the CPL, paid tribute to Bravo. “We are so grateful that Dwayne has been a part of our tournament since its inception in 2013 and his contribution to making the league what it is today is immeasurable,” he said in a statement. “The CPL has become known around the world as the biggest party in sport and Dwayne’s enthusiasm and amazing personality has done as much as anyone to bring that to life. We are certain that ‘Sir Champion’ will continue to play a massive role in T20 cricket going forward and we wish him all the best in the next chapter.”In a number of T20 leagues around the world, especially at the CPL, Bravo has been harnessing his experience to nurture youngsters, settling into a role like MS Dhoni has been fulfilling for Chennai Super Kings for a while. During CPL 2021, for example, he took allrounder Dominic Drakes under his wing and helped transform him into a match-winner. Drakes came away with the Player-of-the-Match award in the CPL 2021 final and continued to work with Bravo in other leagues, including IPL (Chennai Super Kings) and T10 (Delhi Bulls).Bravo has also worked closely with Ali Khan, the USA fast bowler, who also often fronts up to bowl at the death for TKR. Bravo had first spotted Khan in the US Open T20 tournament and signed him on for the Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada, before recommending him to TKR.At the CPL, Dwayne Bravo performs a mentorship role that MS Dhoni has been doing for CSK•BCCI

Coach Simon Helmot, who was earlier part of the leadership group at both Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel and Patriots, delivered a glowing appraisal of Bravo’s captaincy during an interview with ESPNcricinfo in 2021.”In 2021 [at St Kitts & Nevis Patriots], I saw a difference again from 2014-16. He wasn’t just the captain, he was the ultimate leader,” Helmot had said at the time. “He’s invested in our staff and players, he’s invested in our ownership and the entire organisation. Maybe that’s with him being involved with CSK and their strong organisation. But I’ve seen this guy grow around 15 years now from being a quality captain, player, and now the whole gamut.”Game intelligence and game starts in T20 cricket is crucial. Yes, T20 can be known as a young person’s game, but it’s also for the person of experience – one who can problem-solve and work out situations, not just for themselves but also for team-mates around.”Then, ahead of CPL 2023, Bravo returned to TKR and formed a fearsome core along with his good friend Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran. They progressed to the final where they lost to Imran Tahir’s Guyana Amazon Warriors.While CPL 2024 will be his last tournament on home soil, Bravo will be in action in other franchise competitions around the world. He is currently contracted to MI Emirates, who have retained him ahead of the third season of ILT20 in the UAE. He is set to reunite with Pollard and Pooran in the Emirates. Last month, Bravo had also turned out for Texas Super Kings in the Major League Cricket (MLC) in the USA.

Arsenal want to reinforce Mikel Arteta’s squad across the board, not just up front, with sporting director Andrea Berta now setting his sights on a Chelsea high-earner.

Arsenal transfer plans beyond talks for Benjamin Sesko

As things stand, when it comes to their striker search, the Gunners appear to be prioritising a deal for RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko.

Arsenal pull U-turn over selling £265k-per-week star after "shock twist"

The Gunners are prepared to do something “surprising”.

1 ByEmilio Galantini Jun 7, 2025

Arsenal are advancing in talks with the Slovenian over personal terms, according to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, even if his price tag is proving complex due to a variable release clause, and there is even a possibility that Berta could end up having to pay around £84 million for him.

19/20 – winter

£0

20/21 – summer

£81.5m

20/21 – winter

£900k

21/22 – summer

£156.8m

21/22 – winter

£1.8m

22/23 – summer

£121.5m

22/23 – winter

£59m

23/24 – summer

£208m

23/24 – winter

£0

24/25 – summer

£101.5m

24/25 – winter

£0

That being said, while the 22-year-old appears to be one of Berta’s main items on the to-do list this summer, Arsenal will have to tread carefully with regard to how much they end up splashing out on Sesko.

Alongside the Leipzig sensation, Arsenal are attempting to finally wrap up a £51 million deal for Martin Zubimendi, which is proving far more complicated than initially thought this time last week.

Despite reliable reports of a medical (BBC), and even Fabrizio Romano’s famous ‘here we go’ to the deal, Zubimendi himself has attempted to pour cold water over the transfer’s advancement with confusing quotes.

“My future? It will be a long summer. I don’t know how it will end,” said Zubimendi to Radio Nacional.

“If Xabi Alonso calls me to join Real Madrid? I’ve always said Xabi is my idol, and it was a privilege to have him as my coach at La Real B. If he called me now? I don’t want to talk about that hypothesis, I’d rather talk about the present. It would be disrespectful to talk about that while I’m on national team duty. I posted pics on a Spanish beach while rumors said I’m in London doing medical exams for Arsenal? Yes, I did that to make it clear those rumors were not true.”

As well as a new midfielder, which supporters are hopeful will be Zubimendi, Arsenal are in the market for a second-choice keeper.

Arsenal hold explorative talks over deal for Kepa Arrizabalaga

After missing out on Espanyol keeper Joan Garcia to Barcelona, £150,000-per-week Chelsea outcast Kepa Arrizabalaga has emerged as an alternative.

Berta could actually snap up a proven understudy to David Raya for just £5 million, due to a release clause in his contract, which must have been written in when Kepa signed a one-year extension last year.

Sky Sports reporter Luca Bendoni now claims that Arsenal have held explorative talks over a deal for Kepa as they pursue another keeper, and due to his meagre exit clause, you can argue that this would be a snip.

The Spaniard, called “amazing” for some of his performances on loan at Bournemouth last season, would arguably need to take a pay-cut, but this is a move certainly worth considering from Berta’s perspective.

Liverpool have won the Premier League less than one year after Jurgen Klopp bowed out, almost nine years of leadership, leading the larger-than-life German to intimate his decision to call it a day.

He built Anfield back up from the disrepair it had slumped into. Klopp’s Liverpool wasn’t built in a day but it will stand strong for many years to come, with Arne Slot proving that by taking the blueprint and winning the Premier League in his first season at the helm.

The Dutch tactician is a genius, but he’s dovetailed into Klopp’s hothouse and has taken this special team to another level, Liverpool now crowned top-flight champions for a record-equalling 20th time, perching alongside Manchester United.

One of Klopp’s final and most significant hurrahs was the success in repackaging a flagging midfield and turning it back into a robust machine.

They’ve all played important roles, but who can say that Alexis Mac Allister hasn’t been the pick of the bunch? He was the centrepiece as Tottenham Hotspur were defeated on Sunday evening, for sure.

Alexis Mac Allister's performance vs Spurs

Dominic Solanke powered a header past Alisson after just 12 minutes, silencing Anfield’s raucous atmosphere and threatening to spoil the party.

But Liverpool returned like a tidal wave, scoring three goals before the break and two more after the hour mark. Mac Allister’s was the pick of the bunch, thundering home to restore his team’s lead after Luis Diaz had restored parity eight minutes earlier.

The Argentine put in a performance for the ages, underscored his trophy-winning credentials and status as one of the finest midfielders in the world.

Player ratings courtesy of Sofascore

Blending combativeness with a cultured foot, Spurs simply didn’t have the answer and were overwhelmed in the centre, something which proved fatal as Mohamed Salah and co were then able to swarm and pick at the shaky backline.

Alexis Mac Allister’s Performance vs Tottenham
Match Stats	#
Minutes played	83′
Goals	1
Assists	0
Shots (on target)	3 (2)
Accurate passes	35/40 (88%)
Key passes	2
Tackles + interceptions	7
Clearances	1
Duels won	7/11
Stats via Sofascore

The former Brighton man has earned his flowers, no doubt about that. However, he wasn’t the only one to produce the goods when Liverpool needed it, with Cody Gakpo’s display confirming, were it not known already, that he is undroppable over on the left flank.

Cody Gakpo is now undroppable after title win

Gakpo has been frustrated by injury over the past few months, but he’s come on leaps and bounds under the wing of Slot this season and effectively sealed the title-winning victory over Tottenham when making it 3-1 before half-time.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

BBC Sport’s Pat Nevin hailed Gakpo for his “twinkle toes,” collecting from the corner and moving into a pocket with fleet feet, capitalising on some shoddy defending before unleashing a pinpoint finish to Guglielmo Vicario’s right.

The 25-year-old’s cool finish was emblematic of his campaign, an icy figure down the left flank whose goalscoring knack and industrious approach to his football suggests he has nailed down the berth and should not be moved.

There’s a case to be made that Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez should both be sold this summer, with Diaz working so seamlessly as a roving focal frontman.

It allows Salah to maximise his output and it has paid dividends for Gakpo, whose positional readjustment this season, almost exclusively playing off the left, having been dotted all about last year, has seen him clinch 17 goals and six assists in all competitions this season.

The Dutchman isn’t just a poacher either. His goals come in various forms, and he gets stuck in defensively too, having won six of his eight duels against Tottenham while chipping in with two tackles and two interceptions apiece, as per Sofascore. As a result, he was awarded with an 8/10 match rating by the Liverpool Echo.

Plenty has been made of Liverpool’s projected transfer plans, and while fans would like a new wideman to enrich these formidable ranks, Gakpo, a Premier League champion, has proved that he’s a fixed feature in Slot’s starting line-up.

Klopp sold Liverpool ace for just £9.5m, now he's outperforming Isak

He was once a clutch presence in Jurgen Klopp’s title-winning Liverpool outfit.

1

By
Angus Sinclair

Apr 24, 2025

Everton are on the verge of entering a new era and could be closing in on one of their first signings to grace the turf of Bramley Moore Dock, according to reports in the player’s homeland.

Everton gear up for an exciting summer under David Moyes

Everton’s spirits weren’t dampened too much despite surrendering a two-goal lead to Ipswich Town in their penultimate fixture at Goodison Park. Evidently, there is still a fragility that remains within David Moyes’ group of players, but there is plenty of optimism that the Scot can rectify any lingering problems in the summer transfer window.

Internally, Carlos Alcaraz is poised to sign for Everton permanently following his loan spell from Flamengo. Evaluating their situation, he will be far from the only one recruited to bolster squad depth.

Moyes has identified Sheffield United’s Gustavo Hamer as a priority target to add another dimension in midfield, with implementing a greater level of creativity set to be one of his main aims moving forward.

Traditionally, Everton are a hard-working outfit who have the steel needed for the cut and thrust of the Premier League. Still, a little stardust could help them reach a higher level.

He may be better than Branthwaite: Everton chasing deal for £47m "diamond"

Everton are looking to sign defenders in the transfer market this summer.

ByAngus Sinclair May 3, 2025

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy may also join the Toffees on a free transfer if they can find a way to meet his wage demands amid his current pay packet every week sitting at £140,000.

Finding solutions across several positions is likely to be on their agenda, and Everton could now swoop for a long-term successor to right-back duo Seamus Coleman and Ashley Young if reports are to be believed.

Everton in advanced talks to sign Georgios Vagiannidis

According to Greek show Athletic Sunday, Everton are in advanced talks to sign Panathinaikos right-back Georgios Vagiannidis after putting forward their opening proposal to sign the 23-year-old. Veteran pair Coleman and Young are out of contract at the club, while Nathan Patterson has been far from a mainstay this season, amplifying the need for a replacement.

Georgios Vagiannidis’ statistics in 2024/25 – Greek Super League

Chances created

21

Successful dribbles

33

Successful crosses

11

Tackles won

24

Recoveries

100

Aerial duels won

36

Enjoying a fine campaign, Vagiannidis has registered one goal and three assists in 38 appearances this campaign as Panathanaikos look to secure continental qualification.

Labelled “complete” by scout/writer Jacek Kulig, who also likened the Greece international to Kyle Walker, he is also attracting interest from Brighton & Hove Albion as competition for his signature begins to heat up.

Jake O’Brien has been a major asset for Everton since taking a step to the right, but it is clear that more help is needed to provide adequate depth on that side of the defence.

Crucially, the Toffees should have the funds to do so courtesy of The Friedkin Group, making for an exciting few months once deals begin to be pushed over the line.

This summer looks set to be a massive one for Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has even admitted as much.

The Spaniard’s side might still be able to do something truly remarkable in the Champions League, but with Liverpool now 11 points ahead in the Premier League, any chance of domestic glory looks all but gone.

It’s been a bruising campaign for the Gunners in that regard, as endless injuries and underwhelming form have seen them miss out on the chance to take advantage of Manchester City’s incredible collapse.

Fortunately, it appears as if the North Londoners are determined not to let the same thing happen next year by going big in the summer transfer market, and while Nico Williams has long been linked with the club, recent reports have now touted an even better player for a move to the Emirates.

Arsenal transfer news

Even before Arteta commented on the magnitude of the summer ahead, it looked almost certain that Arsenal would be in the market for a new centre-forward, as recent weeks have seen two names constantly linked with the club: Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko.

Transfer Focus

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

The former will supposedly be available for around the £58m mark and has amassed a tally of 55 goal involvements in 44 games for Sporting CP this season, while the latter could cost up to £67m and has amassed a haul of 25 goal involvements in 39 games for RB Leipzig.

However, it looks like the club don’t just want a new centre-forward, as alongside Williams, there has been another superstar winger recently touted for a move to N5: Rafael Leão.

Yes, according to a recent report from Spain, Arsenal are keen on signing AC Milan’s Portuguese game-changer.

The report has revealed that the Gunners have made the dynamic attacker one of their top priorities for the upcoming window as they seek a ‘star signing’.

However, Milan are understandably reluctant to let their star man leave easily, so the North Londoners would have to pay his mammoth release clause, which reportedly exceeds €100m, or £86m.

It would be an incredibly costly and potentially complicated transfer, but given Leão’s ability, it’s one worth fighting for, especially as he’d be a better signing than Williams.

How Leão compares to Williams

So, if Arsenal can only sign one left-winger this summer, how does Leão stack up against Williams?

Well, when it comes down to their pure output, the Portuguese superstar comes out on top.

For example, in 43 appearances this season, totalling 2997 minutes, the “unstoppable” Milan star, as dubbed by journalist Zach Lowy, has scored ten goals and provided nine assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.26 games, or every 157.73 minutes.

Appearances

43

39

Minutes

2997′

2689′

Goals

10

9

Assists

9

7

Goal Involvements per Match

0.44

0.41

Minutes per Goal Involvement

157.73′

172′

In contrast, the Athletic Bilbao dynamo has scored nine goals and provided seven assists in 39 appearances, totalling 2752 minutes.

That means the Spaniard is currently averaging a goal involvement every 2.43 games, or every 172 minutes, which isn’t bad but doesn’t stack up to the competition.

Moreover, when we take a look under the hood at their underlying numbers, it’s another win for the Almada-born monster.

For example, he comes out ahead in practically every relevant metric, including but not limited to expected and actual non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive and key passes, crosses and passes into the penalty area, goal-creating actions, shots and shots on target, passes into the final third and more, all per 90.

Non-Penalty Expected G+As

0.60

0.35

Non-Penalty G+As

0.58

0.43

Progressive Passes

3.74

3.17

Progressive Carries

4.95

5.34

Shots

2.57

2.45

Shots on Target

1.04

0.87

Passing Accuracy

75.0%

70.3%

Key Passes

2.48

1.88

Passes into the Final Third

1.58

1.06

Passes into the Penalty Area

2.16

1.35

Crosses into the Penalty Area

0.45

0.38

Shot-Creating Actions

4.77

5.05

Goal-Creating Actions

0.63

0.58

Ultimately, signing either Leão or Williams would make Arsenal a far more dangerous proposition next season, but if they have to pick one, Arteta and Co should sign the Milan star, as he’s simply the better player.

Arsenal preparing mega £129m offer to seal their best signing since Rice

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7 ByJack Salveson Holmes Apr 10, 2025

Who makes the first group as we begin the countdown of the best female players of the last 25 years?

25-Sep-20242:51

Would Suzie Bates rather face Lea Tahuhu or Hayley Jensen?

Everyone loves a ranking list, right? Following on from our colleagues in ESPN, who have been running lists of the top athletes of the century on their platforms, we thought the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup was a good time to look back over the 21st century so far and select the top 25 female cricketers.Will the player you expect to finish No. 1 finish here? Will a player be ranked too high? Will your favourite player be ranked too low or not make the list (sorry if that’s the case). You’ll find out over the next three days.The game has evolved dramatically over the time frame under consideration for this list, particularly in the last decade with the advent of the WBBL, followed by the Hundred and WPL. More international teams are now beating each other and this upcoming World Cup has the potential to be one of the most competitive.A group of ESPNcricinfo writers came up with a longlist of 50 names, which were then put into a voting system that played off pairs against each other. Once that was completed, a smaller group then assessed the list for anomalies or glaring omissions.Here, present Nos. 25-16 on the rankings. You can check out Nos. 15-6 here and 5-1 here.Note: only achievements posted after January 1, 2000 are taken into consideration, even if the athlete’s career ran either side of the millenniumStats for 2000 and beyond
Test batting | Test bowling | ODI batting | ODI bowling | T20I batting | T20I bowling | All T20 batting | All T20 bowling

25: Sarah Taylor (England)

Sarah Taylor: legendary behind the stumps, and not bad with the bat•Getty ImagesWhen Adam Gilchrist calls you “the best wicketkeeper in the world… male or female” the world’s media notices. But anyone familiar with Taylor would know the slick dismissal of Sune Luus in a 2018 ODI he was referring to was just one in an impressive line-up of brilliant leg-side stumpings in an England career spanning 13 years. During that time she amassed 6533 international runs and 232 dismissals. With gloves and bat, she was pivotal to England’s World Cup victories in 2009 and 2017. Mental-health breaks punctuating her career helped normalise conversations around anxiety, and she broke down barriers elsewhere too. From the 1st XI at Brighton College to the Birmingham Premier League and Australian grade cricket, Taylor proved she could match it with her male counterparts, and she went on to forge a successful coaching career with a number of men’s sides, including Sussex, Abu Dhabi and Manchester Originals.

24: Beth Mooney (Australia)

Beth Mooney’s masterful 125 not out in a chase against India gave Australia a record 26th ODI win on the trot•Albert Perez/Getty ImagesIt would be hard to a find a more versatile batter than Mooney. She has developed into a player who can adapt to whatever role is asked of her, whether opening the batting in Tests or T20s, or being a middle-order star in ODIs. Mooney was part of the destructive opening stand that decided the 2020 T20 World Cup final against India, and in 2021 produced one of the finest ODI innings in a chase against India. In 2022 she remarkably returned to action during the Ashes barely a week after breaking her jaw. On the domestic scene she is the leading run-scorer in WBBL history.

23: Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

Stafanie Taylor: a World Cup-winning captain as well as the Player of the Tournament•AFPA hard-hitting opener, Taylor has been unstoppable since her debut T20I innings, when she made a 49-ball 90 as a 17-year-old. She’s not just brilliant with bat and ball but is one of West Indies’ most decorated captains. At 19 she became the youngest woman to make 1000 ODI runs, and she took over as West Indies captain at 24. Her biggest moment as captain came in 2016 when she led West Indies to the T20 World Cup title, helping beat three-time champions Australia. She led from the front through that campaign, scoring a crucial 59 in the thrilling final and finishing as the Player of the Tournament for her 246 runs and eight wickets. Her performance against New Zealand in 2013, where she became the first woman to score a century and take four wickets in an ODI, exemplifies her all-round prowess. Taylor is also the only woman with over 5000 runs and 150 wickets in ODIs.

22: Katherine Sciver-Brunt (England)

Katherine Sciver-Brunt: injuries didn’t keep the long-time leader of England’s attack down for long•Getty ImagesThe England fast bowler’s career was a roller-coaster: a superb all-round showing in England’s first women’s Ashes win in 42 years, in 2005, was followed by a spate of injuries – a troublesome back being at the centre of it – a few years later, which made her contemplate retirement. She then found her mojo again to finish as one of England’s, if not the world’s, greats. Sciver-Brunt was feisty, passionate and rapid. Her ability to swing the ball at high pace made her a ferocious threat, and she finished with the most five-wicket hauls (five) by a fast bowler in women’s ODIs.

21: Cathryn Fitzpatrick (Australia)

Cathryn Fitzpatrick: a fast-bowling trailblazer•Daniel Berehulak/Getty ImagesThough there have been major advancements in the game, particularly in fast bowling, since her time, Fitzpatrick’s record still shines. Renowned as the fastest bowler to have played in her day – an accolade that would stand against today’s quicks – her numbers in the seven years she played from 2000 onwards are superb: 127 ODI wickets at 16.88 and an economy of 3.10, and 44 in seven Tests at 13.56. In 2003 she became the first bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets. Although it was towards the latter stages of her career, she was a key part of Australia’s 2005 World Cup victory in India. Her overall tally of ODI wickets was only surpassed by Jhulan Goswami in 2017.

20: Amelia Kerr (New Zealand)

Amelia Kerr: the present and future for New Zealand•AFP/Getty ImagesAt 17, the legspin-bowling allrounder broke former Australia captain Belinda Clark’s 21-year-old record for the highest individual score in women’s ODIs when she amassed 232 not out against Ireland. Kerr followed it with career-best returns of 5 for 17 in the same match to lead her team to a 305-run win. Kerr announced herself the previous year, with the wickets of Australia’s Meg Lanning, Elyse Villani, Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy in her sixth ODI. Earmarked as a potential star, Kerr has since established herself as a vital cog in the New Zealand side in the last few years with consistent batting and bowling performances. She has gone past 3000 international runs and taken 150-plus wickets.

19: Charlotte Edwards (England)

Charlotte Edwards remains England’s most successful captain in women’s cricket, with 72 wins in ODIs and 68 in T20Is•Getty ImagesEdwards, who represented England 309 times, 220 of those as captain, was not only a prodigious talent but an enduring one. After taking over the captaincy in 2006, she led England as they retained the Ashes in Australia, achieving back-to-back victories against the Australians, in 2013 and 2014. She also took England to the World Cup-World T20 double in 2009. The England record of nine ODI centuries Edwards shared with Nat Sciver-Brunt and Tammy Beaumont was only broken in September 2024, eight years after her last game. Her leadership has continued post-retirement as a highly successful coach in the women’s game.

18: Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa)

Laura Wolvaardt is among the most stylish batters in the game and now has centuries across all formats•BCCIShe could have been a medical student or a musician but Wolvaardt chose to pursue a career in cricket and quickly rose to the top of the class. Armed with a selection of textbook shots, including one of the smoothest cover drives in the game, Wolvaardt uses traditional technique to dominate contemporary cricket. She is South Africa’s leading run-scorer in ODI cricket and their only player to have made more than 4000 runs in the format, and is closing in on the T20I record, with the three players above her now retired. Wolvaardt is one of only three women’s players to have scored a century in all three formats of the game, and the only one to have do it in one calendar year. That was also the year after she took on the all-format captaincy long-term, proving her leadership ability at all levels.

17: Suzie Bates (New Zealand)

Suzie Bates is second only to Meg Lanning in the list of most ODI hundreds, 13 in 157 innings for New Zealand•Getty ImagesOne of the most respected allrounders in the women’s game, and a former Olympics-level basketball player, Bates has a reputation of being a big-match player and is the leading run-scorer in women’s T20Is. The attacking top-order batter made 168 off just 105 balls in helping New Zealand advance to their fourth ODI World Cup final in 2009, three years after making her ODI debut. She led the side from 2011 through 2018 and did not let captaincy weigh her performances down. In the 2013 ODI World Cup, she topped the batting charts with 407 runs, and was named Player of the Tournament. Bates made 151 off 94 balls on the a record-breaking day in Dublin in 2018 when New Zealand made a massive 491 for 4 against Ireland. In July 2024 she became the first New Zealand women’s cricketer to make over 10,000 international runs. Come October, she is set to play in her ninth T20 World Cup.

16: Sophie Devine (New Zealand)

Sophie Devine: has scored a 36-ball T20 hundred•Getty ImagesStarting out as a seam bowler, Devine evolved as a batter with incredible power-hitting, while taking 200 international wickets. At 17 she made her New Zealand debut, but it was when she blasted a magnificent 145 against South Africa in the 2013 ODI World Cup that she took the world by storm. She holds the record for the fastest fifty in women’s T20Is, off 18 balls against India in 2015. Devine had a blockbuster 2019-20 season, when she made her maiden T20I century against South Africa and became the first cricketer of either sex to hit five consecutive 50-plus scores in T20Is. She was named New Zealand captain in 2020, and the following year she struck the fastest women’s T20 century with a 36-ball hundred for Wellington against Otago in Dunedin. A T20 globetrotter with prolific all-round performance, she has a particularly prolific record in the WBBL with four centuries. ESPNcricinfo’s top 25 women cricketer’s of the 21st century: Nos. 1-5 | 6-15 | 16-25

Among the draws – all 18 of them – there have been protests, flare-ups and the odd moment of success

Andrew Miller29-Nov-2022After consecutive “home” series on neutral ground in the UAE, Pakistan are finally set to host England for their first Test visit in 17 years. It promises the renewal of a rivalry that has not exactly been packed with tense contests down the years, but has produced an extraordinary amount of controversy. Here’s a recap of England’s eight previous tours.1961-62 – England won 1-0
A curious itinerary greeted MCC’s first official tour of Pakistan, with the three-match series wrapped either side of a full five-Test visit to India – whose subsequent plans to tour West Indies had caused a fixtures rejig. And as it transpired, the one-off Test in Lahore in October could not have been further removed from the two follow-ups in Dacca and Karachi in January and February, where the tone would be set for a diet of lifeless decks over the subsequent two decades. By then, however, England were already 1-0 up in the series after a gripping final-hour win in Lahore, where the new captain Ted Dexter marshalled a high-tempo run-chase with the elan he would soon be bringing to the new-fangled Gillette One-Day Cup. It would be England’s only victory in the country for 39 years, and one of only two to date in 24 Tests and counting.Ted Dexter (second left) and members of the England touring party after returning from Pakistan in 1962•Hulton Archive/Getty Images1968-69 – Series drawn 0-0
South Africa had been England’s original winter destination, but the D’Oliveira Affair put paid to that prospect, and as MCC scouted around for a back-up plan, they hit upon a country that was lurching, with ever more volatile certainty, towards revolution. “The Pakistan tour was a fiasco”, Wisden intoned, at the end of a stalemate in which the three Tests became focal points for mounting unrest, from the first day of the series in Lahore, to the third and final day of the third Test in Karachi, where play was abandoned after a mob had torn down the gates and vandalised the pitch. In between, the schedule was controversially rejigged to send the teams 1100 miles east to Dacca (now Dhaka), where law and order was already breaking down ahead of the bloody war that would, two years later, lead to the birth of Bangladesh. With the city in a state of siege, it was left to a group of teenaged student leaders to guarantee the team’s safety. On the field, a quartet of England centuries were the tour’s stand-out performances: Colin Cowdrey in Lahore, D’Oliveira in Dacca, and Colin Milburn and Tom Graveney in Karachi, where Graveney struck two intruders on their backsides with his bat, and quipped: “They were the two best strokes I made on the whole tour.”1972-73 – Series drawn 0-0
An arduous four-month tour, encompassing five Tests in India, three in Pakistan and a first-class stop-over in the newly-renamed Sri Lanka, came to a dispiriting end on a trio of pitches in Lahore, Hyderabad and Karachi that, Wisden moaned, would still have ended as draws “had they gone on playing for the rest of their lives”. That said, England were twice obliged to guard against mishap after conceding challenging leads in the first two Tests, but on neither occasion were they bowled out in their second innings. The Karachi Test, once again, was marred by crowd unrest and pitch invasions, and was eventually abandoned early due to a dust-storm, after Norman Gifford’s five-for had briefly given England hope of a win against the head. The match also happened to be the last of Tony Lewis’s brief reign as captain – he would play one more Test back in the ranks before being dropped for good the following summer – but its most notable detail was arguably the fact that Majid Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad and Dennis Amiss were all dismissed for 99.Shakoor Rana and Mike Gatting infamously faced-off in Faisalabad on the 1987-88 tour•Getty Images1977-78 – Series drawn 0-0
By the end of another chaotic campaign, England had played 12 Tests across 16 years of touring in Pakistan, and drawn each of the last 11 – a record that Wisden attributed to various factors including food, accommodation, crowd indiscipline and “a shadowy political background” but, most of all, to the hosts’ “obsessive fear of defeat”. The emergence of the legspinner Abdul Qadir seemed to offer Pakistan the means to unlock their own benign surfaces – most particularly in the second Test in Hyderabad, where he exploited the rough created by Bob Willis’s heavy-limbed followthrough to take a first-innings 6 for 44. However, Wasim Bari’s overly cautious declaration killed off any remaining jeopardy, and not for the first time, the tour’s main talking points came off the field: the riots in Lahore that stemmed from a premature celebration of Mudassar Nazar’s century, then the threatened recall of the so-called “Packerstanis” – Imran Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad and Zaheer Abbas – all of whom had signed to play in Kerry Packer’s inaugural season of World Series Cricket, but whose arrivals in Karachi prior to the third Test caused uproar. It wasn’t entirely clear at whose behest they had turned up – it might even have been a publicity stunt from Packer himself – but at the eleventh hour, the Pakistan board confirmed that they would not be considered, and the threat of an England boycott fell away.1983-84 – Pakistan won 1-0
Qadir’s threat was no secret this time around, but his mastery of flight and variation remained unfathomable to England. Barely three days after arriving from a chaotic tour of New Zealand – one beset by injury, ineptitude and subsequent accusations of recreational drug use – England rocked up to the first “result” wicket that they had encountered in more than a decade of Pakistan tours, and finished a distant second-best in a misleadingly tight three-wicket loss. Nick Cook claimed 11 wickets to Qadir’s eight, but the legspinner’s bamboozling display was best epitomised by a stunning googly that Ian Botham was barely able to pick even after it had nestled in short-leg’s hands. “Only a philistine could watch Qadir without fascination,” wrote John Thicknesse in The Cricketer. He was briefly neutered on a dead deck in Faisalabad, but burst back to prominence with ten wickets at Lahore as the series ended amid a compelling tussle for the upper hand. Going into the rest day with England still trailing on their second innings, England’s captain David Gower – by now deputising for the injured Willis – promised positivity in a bid to square the series, and delivered in person with a magnificent 173. But, after Mohsin Khan and Shoaib Mohammad had matched that total in their opening stand, Gower rather went back on his word with a go-slow in the field, and it took a late five-for from Norman Cowans to guard against an unlikely defeat.Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe celebrate victory in the dark, Karachi 2000•Getty Images1987-88 – Pakistan won 1-0
Bad blood abounded in one of the most acrimonious series of all time. Mike Gatting’s infamous finger-jabbing row with umpire Shakoor Rana in Faisalabad was the image that flashed around the globe in an embodiment of the “it’s not cricket!” cliché that the sport still, somehow, clings to to this day. And yet, their stand-off was very much in keeping with the animosity that existed between England and Pakistan throughout the 1980s, as years of festering grievances home and away came to an inevitable climax. Barely four months had elapsed since Pakistan had prevailed on an ill-tempered tour of England, during which complaints about the home umpiring – specifically an old adversary, David Constant – had been batted away by the TCCB. Factor in a draining World Cup campaign in between whiles, in which England’s defeat in the final had matched Pakistan’s semi-final elimination on home soil in the anti-climax stakes, and the time was hardly ripe to renew such a fractious rivalry. The fuse was lit during the first Test at Lahore, where umpire Shakeel Khan gave – by England’s count – nine erroneous decisions, among them Chris Broad, who had to be persuaded to leave the crease by his opening partner, Graham Gooch. The irony was that, with 9 for 56 in the first innings, en route to a series haul of 30 at 14.56, Qadir hardly needed a leg-up to be the difference between the teams. Even so, when the flashpoint came, late on the second day in Faisalabad, it was with England in a position of rare dominance – with Pakistan five-down in their first innings and still almost 200 runs behind. But the loss of the third day’s play, with Rana refusing to officiate until Gatting had issued a grudging written apology, kiboshed any hope of a result.2000-01 – England won 1-0
Fresh from their first victory over West Indies in three decades, Nasser Hussain’s England sealed another famous series win, and in incredible circumstances too, with the winning runs in Karachi coming amid ever-encroaching darkness on the final day of the tour. The advent of central contracts and the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as head coach had been significant factors in a heightened team cohesion, but ultimately this tour was a triumph for Hussain’s hard-bitten leadership – in particular his insistence that England “stay in the game at all costs”, and wait for the pressure to tell on their hosts. Graham Thorpe epitomised this indomitability with a grindingly slow century in Lahore, which contained a solitary boundary in his first 100 runs and in the process thwarted Saqlain Mushtaq, whose eight wickets in the innings came at a cost of 164, and despite a wobble in Faisalabad, they were never seriously in danger of defeat. Then, in Karachi, Mike Atherton responded to Inzamam and Yousuf’s twin hundreds with a ten-hour 125, spanning 430 balls at a tempo slower even than his great Johannesburg rearguard – an effort that the Telegraph correspondent Michael Henderson had described as “insufferable”. Its impact, however, soon became apparent as Pakistan – in what would these days be acknowledged as a “tricky third innings” – chose neither to stick nor twist in stumbling to 158 all out. England’s target, then, was 176 in 44 overs, a chase that Atherton himself ignited with a sprightly 26 from 33. Moin Khan, Pakistan’s captain, was unconcerned, knowing full well that the fast-setting winter sun would come to his aid if he slowed the game down. But umpire Steve Bucknor was having none of it, and – with England’s 12th man Matthew Hoggard dispatched to sightscreen duties – Thorpe donned his night-vision goggles to seal a famous win with an under-edged cut through fine leg, and with mere minutes of serviceable light to spare.Marcus Trescothick bats during his 180-run stand with Ian Bell in Multan•Getty Images2005-06 – Pakistan won 2-0
After the extraordinary highs of the 2005 Ashes, England crashed back to earth in a thoroughly dispiriting fashion in Pakistan, with a brace of defeats – one agonisingly close, the other crushingly complete – that epitomised the sudden dismantling of a fleetingly world-class team. Already lacking Simon Jones through injury, the loss of the captain Michael Vaughan to a knee injury was a further grievous blow, although one that his stand-in Marcus Trescothick seemed to have taken in his stride in leading from the front with a brilliant 193 in the first Test in Multan – sadly the mental toll of that effort would only become apparent in hindsight. In between whiles, Andrew Flintoff bowled supremely to drive England towards victory, only for Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria – in a classical Pakistani pace/legspin double act – to swipe the match by 22 runs in a breathless finish. Inzamam-ul-Haq’s twin hundreds in Faisalabad scotched England’s attempts at a fightback, and when Mohammad Yousuf racked up a career-best 223 in the third Test in Lahore, the end was meek and inevitable. Despite the heightened security surrounding the tour, England’s first post 9/11, there was little sign at that juncture that they would not be returning for another two decades.

Ricky Ponting did not hold back in his criticism of the hosts, whose major troubles in approach were exposed by a clinical India

Daniel Brettig28-Dec-2020One of the more under-rated elements of Australia’s’ rise to the top of world cricket in the 1990s was the contribution of Michael Slater as a tone-setting opener, unafraid to take pace bowlers on but still sound enough of technique to handle high-quality spells.He was successful in helping Australia break away from a more obdurate opening tradition – Lawry and Simpson, Boon and Marsh – and with the complementary approach of Mark Taylor, had Australia aiming for at least 300 runs in a day.In Australia, Warner has been the main reason opposition bowlers never feel able to drop into a rhythm•Getty ImagesOnce Slater faded from the scene, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer took things to another level with their left-handed hyper-aggression, bullying bowlers who would otherwise have felt in a most advantageous position when steaming in, fresh, with a new ball in hand. After their retirements, Shane Watson briefly played a similar role, and had fate been kinder, Phillip Hughes may well have done likewise.Since 2011, though, David Warner played this tone-setting role better than just about any of his forebears. In Australian conditions, Warner has been the single greatest factor in ensuring that bowlers never feel able to drop into a rhythm, while also easing a path for the middle-order batsmen behind him.Two years ago, when Warner and Steven Smith were banned for their Newlands transgressions, Australia’s batting tempo fell away noticeably against India, as a quality bowling attack was able to dictate terms in a way more or less unseen in Australia since the West Indies put clamps on scoring while harvesting regular wickets during their 1980s and 1990s dominance.Related

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An Australian scoring rate of just 2.64 for that series was the lowest for the hosts since 2000, and credit to detailed Indian plans and high-quality execution. This time around, it was widely thought that the returns of Smith and Warner would make it far harder for India to do a similar job – until Warner’s groin pinged in an SCG ODI and the whole balance shifted again.The outcome of Warner’s absence has been another sequence of frustration for the Australians, and a scoring rate of just 2.7 per over in the series so far, the second lowest, after 2018-19, since the year 2000. The ability to control the tempo of the game, hustling between the wickets as much as striking regular boundaries, has been almost entirely absent, underlining why Warner’s talent for top-order batting in Australia will be missed even more whenever he chooses to retire.”We know how good David’s been for a very, very long time, so it hurts having a guy out that averages nearly 50 in Test cricket obviously,” Matthew Wade said of Warner. “So we’ve done the best we can possibly do and will continue to do the same things when we’re asked it.Steven Smith is bowled as the ball just dislodges the leg bail•Getty Images”Hard to get going, they’re bowling pretty well, pretty straight, making it hard for us to score. Our intent’s to go out and score obviously as a batting group and individually, but they’re making it quite challenging at times. To be fair we haven’t gone deep enough yet to really cash in on tired bowlers late in the day, so we’ve only got ourselves to blame a little bit there, but they’ve been prettymuch on the mark from the start.”Australia’s second innings at the MCG, having started out 131 runs in arrears, was a neat case study in all the aforementioned struggles. In terms of setting the tone for the innings, the woefully out-of-touch Joe Burns and the amateur-opener-but-professional-pugilist Wade gave India plenty of hope from the start that they would be able to control proceedings.In Burns’ case, his increasingly fretful efforts simply to survive left almost all the initiative with the visitors, something that Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were able to run with even after Umesh Yadav was forced out of action. Wade, though he fought with plenty of grit, shaking off a blow to the helmet with crazy-brave resilience, was unable to turn the strike over or find the boundary with anything like the sort of regularity that would have placed pressure back on the Indian bowlers.In the meantime, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith continued to find things as tough as they have in Test cricket in the past two years. On every meaningful occasion in this series so far, they have entered the fray under pressure, and this has shown in their inability to find early boundaries or singles to build momentum.Both have been especially well-corralled in terms of their circuit-breaker deflections to the leg side, largely through the posting of square and backward-square legs in close proximity while the bowlers have pursued straight lines threatening the stumps, in between the occasional short ball. Labuschagne made a telling admission on the opening day of this match in terms of how he and Smith have had to hurriedly reconsider their plans in the face of such well-calibrated attacks.”Something that we’re realising very quickly is people are coming up with new ways, thinking about the game slightly differently,” Labuschagne said. “Obviously today, they came out with a heavy leg-side field and bowled very straight and didn’t give us any scoring options to the off-side. So for all our batters, you’ve just got to keep rolling with the punches, learning the game, understanding what they’re doing and take that innings to innings. I think that’s the key.”Given that Smith and Labuschagne are famously the most analytical, even obsessive, members of the Australian top six, the fortunes of others were hardly likely to be much better. In particular, the travails of Travis Head have raised plenty of questions about his Test-match longevity. While Head’s susceptibility to balls angled in from around the stumps is well known, he has also maintained a maddening tendency to mix periods of shotless occupation with a flurry of back-foot-forcing strokes that, on a seaming pitch such as this, offer the chance of an outside edge.When he skewed Siraj’s first ball of a spell into the slips, having failed to find a single boundary in his 46-ball stay, Head caused plenty of furrowed brows around the ground, a year on from a century against New Zealand that had seemed capable of being the making of him. The common denominator for all these Australian struggles was a lack of balanced tempo between attack and defence, with none of the middle-order batsmen able to change the momentum of the game from the halting rhythm set by Burns and Wade at the top.Ricky Ponting, as much an adjutant coach of the Australian side as he is an analyst and a commentator, did not hold back in his criticism of the hosts, nor in his focus on the fact that, without Warner, there were major tempo troubles in their approach.”You can’t blame the pitch. The pitch has been absolutely perfect today. It’s a little bit of spin, yes, but you’d expect that. Day three of a Test Match. Very little on offer for the fast bowlers, but it’s just been poor batting. Very, very poor batting so far,” Ponting said on Seven. “Once again, this Indian attack have made it so hard for the Australians to score. This is the 55th over, 6 for 110.”It’s been one of the reasons, I think, that they’ve eventually got themselves out, playing rash shots. They haven’t been able to tick the scoreboard over on a regular enough basis. Pressure builds. When pressure builds, bad shots come. I talked about it in first innings as well particularly with the way they played Ravi Ashwin. They weren’t proactive against him. Yes, it’s been good bowling, but sometimes against the best bowlers you have to take more risks as a batsman. For the sheer fact they’re not going to bowl bad balls.”The lesser skilled bowlers you can sit on all day because you know you’re going to one or two scoring opportunities an over, but Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja, even Siraj to a certain degree in this game, they don’t make many mistakes. They’ve actually forced the Australian batsman into making mistakes. When you’re just sitting there waiting for good bowlers to make mistakes, you’re basically are a sitting duck.”Warner, meanwhile, continued his rehab away from the main group, batting and running in the MCG nets. His value as an opening batsman had been felt by his absence two years ago. It has risen only further this time around as his contribution to the success of Labuschagne, Smith and company has now been made crystal clear.

Arsenal have now made a strong move to sign a “special” Paris Saint-Germain star, who is still yet to accept an offer to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes.

Gunners under pressure after Aston Villa defeat

The Gunners’ lead at the summit of the Premier League table was reduced to just two points on Saturday, after slipping up at Villa Park, with Emiliano Buendia netting a stoppage-time winner to secure all three points for the hosts.

Gary Neville has suggested the defeat shouldn’t be a major cause for concern, given that Aston Villa are a good side, saying: “That’s a game you can lose. I wouldn’t be panicking at all if I was Arsenal off the back of that. You’re going to lose a game or two, you just are, and you’re going to win a lot of games.”

However, after coming second three years on the spin, Mikel Arteta’s side may be feeling the pressure, with Manchester City now breathing down their necks, and the north Londoners are looking to strengthen their squad in the January transfer window.

That is according to a report from Le10 Sport (via Sport Witness), which states Arsenal have now made a strong move to sign Paris Saint-Germain forward Bradley Barcola, who isn’t entirely happy at the French club, and is still yet to put pen to paper on a new contract.

PSG have made an offer to Barcola, which would see his salary increase significantly from £111k-a-week, but he is yet to commit to a new deal, amid interest from the Gunners and Premier League rivals Liverpool, who are very active contenders.

Arteta’s side have been interested in the French forward for quite some time, and the latest development is exciting, as there are plenty of signs he could be a fantastic addition to the squad…

"Special" Barcola could be exciting signing for Arsenal

With Gabriel Martinelli not in the best of form, receiving widespread criticism for some of his performances this season, it may be a savvy move to sign a new left-winger, and the PSG star has been in impressive form.

Eze 2.0: Arsenal make contact to sign £88m talent who's "like Mbappe"

Arsenal could land themselves another Eberechi Eze by signing the incredible young game-changer.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Dec 5, 2025

Indeed, the 18-time France international has already amassed eight goal contributions in 18 matches this term, while also receiving very high praise from scout Ben Mattinson earlier this year, who described proved him as “one of the best left wingers in Europe”.

Not only that, but the 23-year-old also ranks extremely highly across a range of key attacking statistics over the past year, when compared to his positional peers.

Statistic

Average per 90 (past year)

Assists

0.42 (95th percentile)

Progressive carries

5.13 (87th percentile)

Touches (Att pen)

8.72 (98th percentile)

Should the opportunity present itself, Arsenal should definitely step up their interest in Barcola, and it is promising news they have already made a strong move to secure his signature.

A slow Colombo pitch could bridge the gap between the two teams but only slightly

Madushka Balasuriya07-Oct-20252:40

Australia exude an attitude of ‘we know how to win this’

“We have an edge on this wicket. We’ve played two games here. Australia has not played any. But they have a lot of experienced players who have played cricket in most countries. The way they assess the game is better.” It was a pretty telling statement from Sidra Amin, ahead of Pakistan’s World Cup clash against Australia – an opponent they’ve never beaten before.While Pakistan have lost both matches they’ve played in Colombo, to Bangladesh and India, the prevailing school of thought is that the slowish conditions – ones that Australia are yet to experience at this tournament – might help bridge the gap between the two teams. But only slightly.”They have played all over the world. They know the conditions better,” Amin said. “They play the WBBLs and the Hundreds, and come and play in Asian conditions as well. They take preparation very seriously. I’ve heard they prepare for Asian conditions with indoor sessions with the temperature up to 35-40 degrees [Celsius]. So they can train that way as well.”Related

Winless Pakistan have uphill task of facing near-invincible Australia

While women’s cricket has grown dramatically over the past few years, it’s grown faster for some than others. This discrepancy, in part, stems from the calibre of competition each side gets to face.In the three and a half years since the 2022 World Cup, Australia have actually played two fewer ODIs than Pakistan – 32 compared to 34. However, of those 32 games, 15 have come against India and England – among the tougher challenges in world cricket. Pakistan have played only four games against those two – seven if you include Australia themselves.Ellyse Perry: I think we all go out with the same approach, and that’s to be really positive•ICC/Getty Images

Beyond this, once you dive into the importance of a strong domestic structure, you begin to see clearly how Australia have evolved over the years. A point not lost on Ellyse Perry who, having debuted in 2007, has been part of two ODI World Cup-winning sides and has seen first-hand the fruits of investing in the women’s game.”I think we’re incredibly lucky,” she said. “We’ve got wonderful support back home in terms of the programmes that we’ve got. We’ve got a full-time domestic structure that breeds great depth in Australian cricket. We’re a cricket nation too that loves playing the game. So we’ve always, throughout history, had wonderful players.”And I think as a group, we love the challenge of continuing to find new ways to get better. You know, there’s so much competition in the global landscape now. I think all the advent of the franchise leagues around the world has just grown the depth of women’s cricket.”In that context, the confidence that Perry gave off when analysing how an aggressive batting unit such as Australia’s would play on a not-so-batting-friendly surface like the one in Colombo was unsurprising.”I think we have a conversation with our batting group, which we’re quite fortunate to have some depth in. So for us, and it’s something that we’ve discussed a lot over the last 12 months, is how we use that depth. It’s never going to be everyone’s day on the same day. Quite possibly it might just be one person’s day.”But I think we all go out with the same approach, and that’s to be really positive, but also really adaptable and smart to whatever the game’s presenting, whether that’s conditions or the opposition. I think there’s a blueprint there that applies to anywhere that you play, and then you’ve just got to be adaptable all day.”