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Alan Butcher’s memoirs of his time as the country’s coach are full of affection, if also marked by disappointments and frustrations

Firdose Moonda28-May-2016Alan Butcher’s , a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking account of his three years in charge of the Zimbabwean national team, spares no one, least of all himself.It begins with a confession by Butcher, infected by self-doubt and depression, having just lost the coaching job at Surrey and unsure of his cricketing future. A chance phone call makes him aware of the Zimbabwe job, and his genuine curiosity and dedication to coaching make him take it, though he knows it will be far from easy.Butcher’s first sighting of Zimbabwe in his coaching capacity was on their West Indies tour in 2010, before he had officially signed on. He was frank about the lack of quality. “Neither they nor the West Indies could by any stretch of the imagination be called quality teams,” he writes, but he could also “visualise myself working with them”.Among his first observations was that there were too many messages being sent from the coaching staff to the team on the field, and that the players were not being empowered. It was a shortcoming Butcher battled with throughout his time in charge, and he notes that the players “did not own their team”, and he would come to see that he would not be able to either.The book is mostly a celebration of the thrills of moving to a foreign land and truly becoming part of it. Butcher immersed himself in Zimbabwe, everything from the safaris to the nightlife to the country’s notoriously bad roads. He took road trips to watch domestic matches, stayed in dodgy hotels, and became well acquainted with police speed traps. He writes good-humouredly about the months at two different Harare hotels while his home was being readied for occupancy. In that time Butcher overheard things like government-backed businessmen attempting to seal mining deals with their Chinese counterparts by threatening them with words such as, “You don’t know who you are dealing with.”

Butcher developed connections with his players. He became particularly close to Chris Mpofu, who he called “Son” and who responded by addressing Butcher as “Dad”

And then he heard something similar in his own role. Zimbabwe Cricket’s head of communications warned Butcher early on that the coach would not want men in dark suits following him. Only much later does Butcher understand the powers he must appease.By and large, ZC is a paranoid organisation, afraid of being exposed for its lack of funds. As a result, Butcher’s attempts to hire psychologists or sports medical experts are dead-batted. “This was the modus operandi in pretty much all difficult situations,” Butcher writes. “Rather than coming clean and admitting there was not enough money, which we could all understand, we were made to go through a process which ultimately led nowhere.”There were times when he and other members of the coaching staff dug into their own pockets to assist players with transport money. On one occasion Butcher lets three players stay at his home during a training camp because no other accommodation had been organised for them, only to be told by ZC it was improper and that they had to be sent away.Overall, Butcher developed connections with his players. He became particularly close to Chris Mpofu, who he called “Son” and who responded by addressing Butcher as “Dad”.A standout feature of Butcher’s approach was that he did not judge any of his players, even when it appeared they were disliked by their peers. An example is Prosper Utseya, who was captain when Butcher was appointed and later was involved in a controversy where he alleged he was a victim of racism. Utseya has since been written about as a lackey for ZC management, which Butcher hints at, with understanding, early on.”A black captain appointed by a black administrative hierarchy and distrusted by a mainly white cricket establishment was between a rock and a hard place,” he writes. “It was not unusual for [Utseya] and others to be summoned to the head office and pumped for information on this matter or that.”Despite Utseya’s belief that some coaches like Grant Flower had an agenda against him, and his feelings of being targeted, Butcher praises him as an “an intelligent cricketer, has good tactical awareness, has made the most of his ability and is a very shrewd bowler, as his one-day international record shows”.Pitch PublishingButcher tried to unify the players against an administration that often thwarted their efforts. He did that by, in his own words, “giving them some love”, even if it sometimes was tough love. This included admonishing Ray Price for making fun of Craig Ervine during a session when players were required to give oral feedback and Price took the mickey.The biggest reward for Butcher’s efforts came when Zimbabwe achieved a historic victory on Test comeback, and an ODI series win over Bangladesh, but they could not sustain that momentum. Butcher admits his results on the whole were not good enough, especially away from home. He also seems to know why.A significant reason for Zimbabwe’s underperformance was the players’ lack of self-belief. In the book, Butcher recalls a incident in which Hamilton Masakadza, one of the most senior players, confesses to his batting mantra being “I must not make a mistake”, because “I must set an example” – which Butcher saw as being at odds with Masakadza’s otherwise easy-going nature.Team selection was the other major stumbling block, and Butcher is most critical of it. He details his battles against the convener of selectors then, Givemore Makoni, a man who he would “never get on with in 20 lifetimes of trying”. Their tense relationship came to a head at the World T20 in 2012, where a selection decision altered the course of at least one player’s career.The book tells of the copious amount of beer, wine and spirits Butcher consumed, but there is enough else to know that he was not living in a fool’s paradise. And there is more than enough raw emotion and sincerity.Butcher writes about his family visiting him in Zimbabwe, his father’s death, and his relationships with ordinary Zimbabweans, including a waitress named Suspicious. The title of the book was inspired by something his housekeeper, Simon, said. On seeing Simon’s sleeping quarters, which did not include a bed, Butcher bought him one. Shocked, Simon called him a “good murungu”. A good white man.In Zimbabwe, like in so many African countries, race is still important because of the colonial hangover. Butcher saw the impact that has on everything in the country, including cricket. As a murungu, maybe he also accepted that he could not change that.The Good Murungu: A Cricket Tale of the Unexpected

By Alan Butcher
Pitch Publishing, 2016

287 pages, £12.99

A top-heavy line-up means that whenever Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner fail to get going, the team is often forced to rely on their bowlers to defend below-par totals

Arun Venugopal17-Apr-2015In their maiden IPL season in 2013, Sunrisers Hyderabad found a way to win games by flaunting their bowling strength in made-to-order conditions at home. Their formula was simple: score at least in the region of 130, and choke the opponents on Hyderabad’s slow and low surface, or bowl first and restrict them to around 130, and chase them down slowly but surely. Sunrisers have won 11 out of 16 games when they have made sub-140 scores. No other team has managed more than five such wins.This formula didn’t work as effectively last year owing to a combination of factors. With the first half of the tournament being played in the UAE, some of the home advantage was negated. Also, the Hyderabad wicket produced more runs than it had the previous season. Consequently, they dropped two rungs from their fourth-place finish in 2013.The lone constant among the variables has been Sunrisers’ lightness in the batting department. At 7.49, their run-rate is the lowest among all the teams since 2013. In the 34 matches Sunrisers have played in the period, they have managed only 10 scores in excess of 160. Every other team has done better than them, with Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings topping the list with 20 160-plus scores each.A longstanding problem for Sunrisers is they have never had much batting ammo. Like in the seasons past, their scoring is overly dependent on two or three players with no failsafe in place. Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner, former and present captains of the side, represent the top-heaviness, and are faced with the uneasy paradox of providing a forceful start and yet not risk losing their wickets early in the absence of firepower in the middle order. Their dismissals are invariably followed by sluggish meandering with little end-game explosion.Even accounting for the slowness of the wicket against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, their early exits effectively stamped out any ambitions of a sizeable total. This was in stark contrast to their successful pursuit of 167 to gun down Royal Challengers Bangalore, where both Warner and Dhawan dictated play to the opposition.It isn’t as if Sunrisers haven’t looked to solve the problem. Their auction strategy was a step in that direction, as they snapped up Kevin Pietersen, Kane Williamson, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara. Unfortunately for them, Pietersen pulled out of the IPL and Bopara, while being a revelation with his seam-bowling, doesn’t launch enough late-order strikes with the bat.Williamson’s is an intriguing case with the management playing him as low as No.6 against Super Kings, pushing him up to three against Royal Challengers and then playing Morgan ahead of him against Rajasthan. Morgan, coming off a disastrous World Cup, took time to bed down on Thursday, and just when he seemed to have gained sufficient confidence to tee off, he perished to Pravin Tambe.What would haunt Sunrisers more is the inability of their domestic batsmen to consistently make big contributions. Hanuma Vihari has been tried in the past without much success. Naman Ojha, while capable of the big hits, has merely flickered while the likes of Ashish Reddy don’t offer sustainable solutions. Only KL Rahul, who has had a memorable run of late in red-ball cricket, displayed his adaptability with an unbeaten 28-ball 44 against Royal Challengers.Sunrisers need Rahul to provide more insurance at the top as much as they need Bopara to crank up his hitting at the back end. More importantly, perhaps, they need to sort out the Morgan-Williamson jigsaw and put in place a settled combination.There has been a lot of chatter on Trent Boult being preferred to Dale Steyn, but Sunrisers have their bowling sorted. It’s the long-suffering batting flank that is crying out for attention. The tournament has just begun, and for Warner & Co., now is as good a time as any to carry out repairs.

Who showed us he was as decent a mountaineer as he was a batsman

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013Greetings, Confectionery Stallers, to the first Confectionery Stall of the post-Strauss era. I have been on holiday in France for the last week and a half. Coverage of the England captain’s resignation after a distinguished and predominantly successful reign was bafflingly minimal in the French media (particularly given that it is a nation which seems to have designed the shape of its bread explicitly to facilitate games of breakfast cricket) (and not forgetting that France are reigning Olympic silver medallists at cricket, dating back to the Paris Games of 1900) (although most French people under the age of 112 modestly tend not to bang on about it too much) (it is also fair to say that England’s Strauss have emerged from his resignation with rather more dignity that France’s ex-IMF boss Strauss-Kahn did from his).The year 2012 has been strangely and unexpectedly turbulent for the England team. The first three years of the Strauss-Flower regime brought increasing and carefully managed stability and success in the Test arena, culminating in a record-shattering 2011 of phenomenal dominance. This year, like a dessert trolley laden with battered rodents after a Michelin-starred meal, has brought five defeats out of six in their two major series of the year, sub-soap-opera squabblageddon with their most influential batsman, and now the exit of the captain who had helped power the England juggernaut along that impressive upward curve.The juggernaut reached the end of that curve, crashed into a roof it had not seen coming, and started rolling back down what has now become a downward curve. At least they are not plummeting down a downward cliff, and the vehicle retains most of the engine that had driven it upwards in the first place, but new skipper Cook will be anxious to crank the handbrake on as quickly as possible. His team is not in meltdown, but he is certainly holding a much runnier ice cream than he would have been a year ago. With a giant elephant in the room. Or at least, a giant elephant in the Surrey dressing room.Perhaps the team had their celebratory New Year’s Eve energy shakes spiked with a particularly jaunty consignment of rogue absinthe. Perhaps the coach and captain had signed a pact with the Devil to ensure success, and had not seen the three-year break clause in the small print ‒ and Dr FlowStrauss began to suffer the consequences as soon as they set foot in the UAE in January. Perhaps it was merely a result of the team having made the grave error of having too many players peaking from late 2010 to summer 2011, rather than spreading out their purple patches more wisely to cover a longer period of time. Something for the ECB backroom science wonks to apply their abacuses, test tubes, and wind tunnels to, perhaps.Given that Strauss was not (yet) under serious pressure for his place as captain or opening batsman, it is not right to say that he jumped before he was pushed. Instead, he departed with a controlled abseil before the jump-or-push issue came to a head. He departs into the history books with the goodwill and gratitude of the entire English cricketing public, but after three years of moderate, if seldom disastrous, run-scoring. His failures have been increasingly characterised by a repeated failure to convert good starts into substantial scores, and minimal contributions in major series – since the 2009 Ashes, he has been a significant factor with the bat only in the 2010-11 Ashes and against West Indies this summer (he made more than one 50 in only three of his final ten series dating back to the 2009-10 tour of South Africa, one of which was by virtue of taking a pair of 80s off a less-than Krakatoan Bangladesh attack at Lord’s in 2010).Statistically, he was inconsistent for most of his Test batting career, but his peaks included some of England’s most important and best innings of recent years. He hit centuries at crucial moments of three Ashes series, scored three hundreds in South Africa to aid one of England’s best away series victories, and two magnificent hundreds in defeat in the Chennai Test of 2008-09.Graeme “The Hit Man” Smith has thus seen off three England captains in his three Test tours as South Africa’s skipper. He is young enough to be back in 2017 – perhaps to curtail Kevin Pietersen’s second stint as England captain? No. No, even an entire crate of rogue absinthe forced down the gullets of the ECB could make that happen. Not even if it’s from the same crate that made them appoint him in the 2008. But Cook’s journey as captain will be made significantly easier if everyone involved can reach an agreement that whatever Pietersen wrote and meant in those text messages was not personal insults or tactical double-crossing, but cryptic crossword clues, coded recipes for boerewors, or mistranslated haikus about the art of basket-weaving.Some statsWhilst in France, I had hoped to become the first person to compose an article devoted entirely to Test cricket statistics that had been written entirely on a campsite in Brittany. Sadly, baguettes and batting averages did not co-exist harmoniously. Croissants and cricket were not compatible. And the internet wasn’t working. And my wife and kids wanted to aller à la piscine rather than parler avec Monsieur Statsguru. Not unreasonably. However, I can now tell you that:● The Lord’s Test was the first Test match since March 2001, and just the 18th of all time, in which the openers of both sides had all been out for less than 25 in both innings.● England’s first wicket has fallen in single figures in 13 of their 30 innings since the 2010-11 Ashes. They have reached 50 for 0 in only five of those 30 stands. Cook and Strauss ended up averaging 40 per partnership. Strauss and Trescothick averaged 52 together. When Strauss opened with Trescothick, he averaged 47. When he opened with Cook, he has averaged 37. Is this because he played with Trescothick when at his peak as a batsman, or because the more aggressive Trescothick suited him better as a partner? Or a bit of both? Or neither?● This was only the second series of three or more Tests since 1986 in which England’s openers have passed 50 only once.

Steve Rixon, Australia’s new fielding coach, talks about how they need to get back to the basics to become the world’s top fielding outfit again

Interview by Brydon Coverdale04-Jul-2011After 20 years of coaching around the world, it must be pleasing to be part of the Australian side again?
It is. I’ve spoken to a lot of people who said, “It must have rejuvenated you a lot.” I haven’t needed any rejuvenation! I’ve been extremely rejuvenated wherever I’ve been involved, and have had plenty of success wherever I’ve been involved.It is always great to be involved with any Australian side. My big thing is about being able to do something to actually try to help get Australia back into a better place. At the end of the day, a lot of people sit on the fence and do nothing. Well, I’ve been given an opportunity to be able to do something about it. I’m extremely excited at the proposition of working with a lot of those kids I’ve seen over the years. I’ve seen things that I would like to sit down and talk to the boys about, and hopefully turn them into better cricketers – certainly from the fielding perspective.What do you think of the fielding standard around the world at the moment?
If you go through the best sides of the past, whether it’s the Windies in the 80s, through to the cream of the crop with Australia, we’ve had some outstanding fielding teams. You can see the English now have upped the ante with their fielding, and it’s standing out. I’ve noticed the Indians are starting to hit the deck more often, and they’ve become better. Everyone has eventually realised that you can’t have a passenger in the field anymore. To me, it’s always been an important part. You can walk into any organisation and really not know whether someone is going to go out and get a hundred or get five-for, but there’s one thing you should always be assured of, if your preparation has been good, and that’s that they make limited errors in the field, and maybe do something that might change the pattern of the game.Not long ago Australia were the world’s best fielding team. Is that still the case?
I don’t think so. I won’t say that. We’ve got some world-class fielders. Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey – they’re three of the older boys. That tells me there are a lot of youngsters that need to get back to some simple basics in the field like they do in the other aspects of their game. I have no question they are crying out to be helped, and I think they will improve. But we’re definitely not leading the way in the fielding anymore.It was a little bit different when you had Warne and McGrath in your side, because even if you did drop a catch, it wouldn’t be too much longer before McGrath would give you another opportunity. Warnie just created opportunities for fun, and you can’t buy that back. In the changing of the guard, you don’t have that. That, to me, is something we’ve got to be realistic with. So what we’ve got to do is make sure that when we have an opportunity, we’re going to make the best of it. That’s when our fielding will be at a new level, because we’ll have people who are not missing anything, really. That’s in the perfect world, of course, but that’s the objective. We’re talking about getting less opportunities but getting more catches when we do.

“A lot of people will field for hours, and eventually they’ll walk off when they’ve had the worst quarter hour of fielding of the whole time they were out there. You gain nothing out of that. You stop when you’re on top of your game”

Is the fact that the fielding standard has dropped a reflection on domestic cricket around Australia?
I think that’s a very good summation. I have seen some of the domestic games, and there is the odd standout, but it does need a new level brought into state cricket. They’ve fallen off the pace quite a bit there. We need to be much more consistent and realise that every opportunity that comes could be the changing of the game. It is a reflection on our domestic game, which is a bit sad, because that has been without question the strength of Australian cricket. Our grade sides have been strengthened by the fact that we’ve had a lot of state players go back to grade cricket on occasions. That lifts the standard, as does Test cricketers coming back and playing state cricket. If we’re looking at getting that standard to a higher level, we’re certainly going to have to do that.Why have fielding standards dropped away in domestic cricket?
I’ve seen some games where the fielding is very, very good, and I’ve seen some games where the intensity level is down. Your intensity level comes from your preparation. If you prepare and train smart, you’ll probably find you’ve got a little bit of an edge. It’s not by accident those three older guys I talked about [Ponting, Hussey and Clarke] turned out to be very good fielders. They’re all quite athletic, but [the more important question is] who does that little bit extra from a young age all the way through? These guys have done the extra work.We need to focus on the intensity of training, and also the smartness of when to stop. I’ve seen a lot of people will field for hours, and eventually they’ll walk off when they’ve had the worst quarter hour of fielding of the whole time they were out there. You gain nothing out of that. You stop when you’re on top of your game, and you trust that preparation is the way you’re going to go out into the next game.How important was fielding practice in your previous coaching jobs?
I remember only too vividly turning a group of guys in New Zealand into arguably the best slips cordon I’ve seen, outside of anything Australia have produced. We had [Adam] Parore, [Stephen] Fleming, [Nathan] Astle and [Bryan] Young, and I can’t remember them dropping any more than about five catches collectively in all the games that we had. So we did have something special. We had to, because we didn’t have the bowling power or the batting power to compete with a lot of nations. That single-handedly kept us in a lot of these games.Will you be working with the keepers as well?
I’ve been working with Brad Haddin for seven or eight years, so nothing will change there, except that I’ll be around more often. Hadds and myself have had a special relationship for a long, long time and that’s never waned. I’ll certainly be doing my work with him and [Tim] Painey. It’s something I really enjoy doing. The slips cordon is something I’ll be doing a lot of work on.”Hadds and myself have had a special relationship for a long, long time and that’s never waned “•Getty ImagesI want to make players take ownership of a position. We’ve got to work out where everyone fits into the equation. We want players to have a wishlist of where they’d like to be – outside of stuck at fine leg or third man all day – if they’d like to be at slip or short leg, or be one of the important players square of the wicket. If you feel you can do it, let’s put it on the wishlist and work towards it. Then if the situation ever arose, you’re not out of your depth. That to me is very important – you have the basics covered but also have something in mind as to where else in the field you might be able to contribute, so we don’t have any passengers at any stages.The appointment is for the tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa. Do you want to stay on after that?
They [Cricket Australia] came to me asking the questions, I didn’t go chasing the job. I’ve never taken a coaching job and committed to anything like three or four years. I back myself to do two years and then reassess. Let’s see how it goes for two tours and see if it’s the sort of thing I would like to continue with – I’ll be very surprised if it isn’t. IPL is very much part of my life at the moment, with the Chennai Super Kings. They’ve been extremely good to me, so I’ve said from day one that that will be a priority. The idea of the shorter term is as much for me as it is for Cricket Australia.Will you be a sounding board for the other coaches as well, in areas besides fielding?
Most definitely. With 20-odd years of coaching and 15 years as a player, I’d be very surprised if they didn’t want to hear from a new set of eyes around the place. If I was a coach and had someone new come in, I’d be all over him. I’d want honesty out of him and I’d want him to tell me as he sees it, because that’s the only way you move forward. As Michael [Clarke] and Tim [Nielsen] know, I’ll be very happy to be honest with what I see. It’s not about individuals, this is about a group going together and trying to get Australia back on track, to get away from ever looking at fifth position on a Test table ever again. We don’t want to ever be seen or thought of in the same breath as, say, West Indies after their reign at the top of the tree. We need to recover quicker than anything West Indies have done.Are you confident Australia has the young talent to climb back up the Test rankings?
That’s the only part I really do know without any apprehension. I look at what we’ve got in our youngsters, throw in your mix of senior players, and we have the ability to get back on top of things very quickly – albeit we will be taking things in small steps, looking at the fourth position before we look at first. We want to be tracking to that first position, but that may take a little bit of time. We definitely have the quality of players in Australia, no question about that.

Tragically, one of the finest batsmen in Sri Lanka’s history, a technical artisan with a cover-drive from heaven, has ended his international days in a fog of injustice

Charlie Austin20-Nov-2007

Marvan Atapattu’s retirement announcement was widely expected in Sri Lanka after the second Test in Australia. All his recent public comments, most obviously the amusing “muppets and joker” broadside at the selectors, indicated a man poised to bid farewell. Tragically, one of the finest batsmen in Sri Lanka’s history, a technical artisan with a cover-drive from heaven, has ended his international days in a fog of injustice. If Roshan Mahanama had not already used it, would be the most fitting of autobiography titles.The Atapattu saga has been a sorry and disruptive affair that stretches back to 2004 when Ashantha de Mel, during his previous term at the helm, clashed with Atapattu, the captain at the time, over the axing of Tillakaratne Dilshan for a two-Test series against Pakistan. Ironically, on that occasion de Mel was determined to blood young players. Three years later Atapattu has publicly condemned de Mel for being too reliant on the older brigade. In truth, back then Atapattu was furious not so much because of the policy but because the decision was forced upon him without any consultation whatsoever.Ever since, Atapattu has been deeply suspicious of de Mel’s motives as chairman of selectors. While he was not overly enamoured of the team management as a whole during the time he watched the World Cup earlier this year from the bench, he blamed de Mel the most, apparently convinced that his omission was personally motivated. Unfortunately, like any top-flight sportsman with self-belief, Atapattu simply could not accept that the ODI team was better balanced without his massive experience.Rather than try to understand that Chamara Silva’s sudden emergence just prior to the tournament was the chief reason for his misfortune, Atapattu descended into a schoolboy-ish sulk. After being omitted for the ODI series in Abu Dhabi that followed, he grew even more distrustful and started looking at other options, signing-up with Lashings CC and starting negotiations with the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Offered a berth for the Bangladesh series last July, he saw a snake trap where others saw a golden opportunity to resurrect his Test career.The selectors publicly stated that they wanted him to play Test cricket and for Sanath Jayasuriya to concentrate on ODI cricket. Even his team-mates wanted the same, aware that even at 36 he had plenty to offer in the longer game if he could retain his fitness. Mentally he was far stronger than at any time of his career, and during the next 18 to 24 months he could have been a far better player than his final career average of 39.02.The problem, though, is that Atapattu is a proud and stubborn man. And unlike many others, he steers his own ship. He felt victimised – not for the first time in his career – and he was not going to bow to a selection chairman he distrusted and disliked. Only de Mel’s departure would have paved the way for a proper recall. But that was never likely. de Mel’s political support base is rock-solid in the current climate. So Atapattu started to plan for life after Sri Lanka.It is possible that he will wake up one morning and regret some of the decisions he has made during recent months, but this is improbable. They may have triggered his downfall, but his straight-talking honesty and open dislike of the extremely politicised cricket set-up in Sri Lanka have always been among his most endearing characteristics. Atapattu had little time for Sri Lanka’s cricket administrators and wasted even less trying to ingratiate himself with them. When cricket politicians tried to get him to play their games, he invariably ran in the opposite direction.

Sadly this controversial last year might overshadow his great achievements as a player, and especially as a captain.The way he fought his way back into the team after the abysmal start to his career, scoring piles of runs in domestic cricket, was a lesson in bloody-mindedness and determination. Once back in the team, he grew better and better as he gradually overcame all his inner demons.His greatest weaknesses as a batsman were his nerves at the start of an innings, his often appalling running between the wickets, and the traditional subcontinental frailty outside the off stump, especially on bouncy pitches. However, these frailties gradually faded in significance as he matured in his thirties into a top-class batsman. Technically he had no peer in Sri Lanka and his unbreakable concentration helped him to six double-hundreds. His off-side play was his strongest suit and his skill against the slower bowlers was exquisite.His captaincy tenure was cut short by his back injury, but he was also an accomplished leader when he was finally, apparently reluctantly, handed the reins. Indeed, another irony of his World Cup fate was that he had played an important role in laying the foundations for the team’s success, helping to foster a new team culture that embraced egalitarianism, self-improvement and personal responsibility. This fact has been frequently acknowledged by the current captain, Mahela Jayawardene, who referred to himself as the interim leader for many months after taking over.Whether Atapattu plays any further part in Sri Lanka’s cricketing future remains to be seen. His abrasive relationship with the establishment will always make it difficult for him to fit in and the likeliest scenario is that he will carve out a career overseas. The ICL might be his immediate priority, and then a relocation to Australia to play club cricket appears an increasingly likely possibility. A TV commentary role has also been discussed. Whatever he does, though, one thing is for sure, he will do it his way.

Liverpool have sold backup goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher to Brentford in a deal worth £18 million, inclusive of add-ons.

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Kelleher joins BrentfordLiverpool to receive £18m from transferIrishman pens five-year dealFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Kelleher, who signed his first professional contract with Liverpool in 2018, has exited Anfield and joined Brentford on a five-year deal, the Bees confirmed on Tuesday.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWHAT KELLEHER SAID

After putting pen to paper on his Brentford contract, Kelleher told the club's official website: "I’m buzzing, I’m really happy to be here. I don’t think it was very difficult for me to leave [Liverpool]. I felt for my own career that the time was right for me to go, to be a no.1 and to play every week. I heard of some interest a number of weeks ago. Once I knew Brentford was in for me, it was definitely one I was really excited about and wanted to do as quickly as possible. When I come back for pre-season, all focus will be on what I want to do next year; to work on certain goals and what I need to improve on, and to have a really good season for Brentford."

He added, "I came down to meet the manager and some of the coaches. They spoke to me about why they wanted me to be here and showed me around the training ground. It was interesting to see their point of view on why they wanted to sign me and how they think they can develop my game. It was impressive and I think the club’s a really good fit for me. It was interesting to see their point of view on why they wanted to sign me and how they think they can develop my game. It was impressive and I think the club’s a really good fit for me.

"I like the way the manager and the coaching staff go about their ways. It seems like a really close, tight knit, family club. They’ve got a really good track record of improving and developing players which is really what’s drawn me to the club. I obviously spoke to Nathan [Collins]. He spoke really well about the whole club and it’s nice to know Sepp [van den Berg] and Fabio [Carvalho] as well. It’ll make it easier for me to settle in and be nice to have a few friendly faces."

Getty Images SportTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Liverpool, who are set to welcome Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia this summer, will receive a cash boost of £18m from the sale of Kelleher, who has been Alisson's deputy since the start of his career. The 26-year-old appeared in 20 matches across all competitions in his final season on Merseyside, including the Carabao Cup final defeat against Newcastle.

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WHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL?

Liverpool will now refocus their attentions on signing Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen after seeing a €130m rejected by the Bundesliga side.

Thomas Tuchel has heaped praise on 'very impressive' Marc Guehi and revealed he spoke with the Palace defender after his Liverpool switch fell through.

England boss Tuchel has spoken with GuehiGuehi's Liverpool move fell throughTuchel calls him 'very impressive'Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The England boss has singled out the Crystal Palace captain for additional praise over his conduct after his expected move to Liverpool collapsed on transfer deadline day. A deal worth £35 million ($47m) was agreed and he'd even filmed a farewell message to fans, but Palace's failure to sign a replacement ended Guehi's hopes of joining the champions.

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The England boss delayed starting the training camp for the World Cup qualifiers by one day, to allow players to focus on completing transfers. And while it was a blockbuster window for the Premier League, one major deal which collapsed involved Guehi. But Tuchel has heaped praise on his attitude.

WHAT TUCHEL SAID

Tuchel said: "We had a chat with him and he looks absolutely fine. He looks very impressive on the field. He has a couple of very impressive weeks behind him on the sporting side and the performance side. He is the main driver of Crystal Palace’s success. He is the captain and the leader. He played very impressively at the end of last season and at the start of this season. He continued exactly like this in camp, so it was very impressive. He handles it with respect and with grace, and with a brilliant attitude."

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR GUEHI?

The international break represents a welcome break from domestic issues for Guehi. Andorra and and Serbia are the Three Lions' opening World Cup qualifier opponents, before returning to Palace who host Sunderland on September 13. And will Liverpool revisit the transfer when the window opens again in January?

Having endured a difficult IPL season on multiple fronts, Hardik Pandya served up a reminder of his elite all-round skills as India warmed up for the T20 World Cup with a 60-run win over Bangladesh in New York.Hardik scored an unbeaten 23-ball 40 and took 1 for 10 off his first two overs before conceding 20 in his third. But it was heartening for India to have their main allrounder influence the game as he did, in conditions – the pitch was two-paced and the outfield slow – that helped his bowling but not necessarily his batting. The other headline acts came from Rishabh Pant, who retired out after scoring a breezy 32-ball 53, and Arshdeep Singh, who took two wickets in a spell of incisive new-ball swing.

No Kohli, no Jaiswal either

Virat Kohli only landed in New York on the eve of this match, so it was expected that he wouldn’t play the warm-up fixture. It wasn’t expected, though, that Yashasvi Jaiswal – the other candidate to open alongside Rohit Sharma – didn’t play any part either. India opened, instead, with Rohit and Sanju Samson.It could have been an audition for first-choice wicketkeeper. On the day, Samson scored 1 off 6, and was lbw in the second over to a Shoriful Islam in-ducker. There seemed to be a chance that this ball may have gone on to miss leg stump, but DRS was not in use so Samson had to go.

Pant fires at No. 3

Pant replaced Samson, and proceeded to play the most fluent innings of the day. India were 33 for 1 in five overs when he began their acceleration with three sixes off Shakib Al Hasan in the sixth. He hit four fours and four sixes in all, and targeted the area behind the wicket with aplomb, using the reverse-sweep and his trademark no-look scoop over short fine leg to telling effect.Pant kept wicket too, rather than Samson, and by the end of the day it seemed fairly certain that he would take the big gloves on Wednesday, when India begin their tournament proper against Ireland.Arshdeep Singh took two wickets with the new ball•ICC via Getty Images

Allrounder watch

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik were the other major contributors to India’s total of 182 for 5, scoring a combined 71 off 41, while Shivam Dube, who batted between them at No. 5, struggled with the conditions. Dube swung at the spinners repeatedly, but only made one true connection, a massive six over wide long-off, while scoring 14 off 16.Then, having only bowled just the one over in 14 games during the IPL, he proceeded to bowl three here and pick up two wickets, though Bangladesh were already 42 for 5 when he came on.Ravindra Jadeja batted at No. 7, but Axar Patel, India’s other left-arm fingerspinner, bowled before him and picked up a wicket. It remains to be seen which of the two feature in India’s first XI, or if they go with both and leave out the wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav.India play three of their four group-stage games in New York, and if conditions remain broadly similar, they may be able to get quite a bit of bowling out of their four allrounders – Hardik, Jadeja, Axar and Dube.

Arshdeep vs Siraj

Jasprit Bumrah is the first name on the bowling end of India’s team sheet, but who partners him with the new ball? On this day, Arshdeep made a serious case for himself, swinging the new ball prodigiously and getting Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das out in Test-match manner.Mohammed Siraj was excellent too, getting the ball to behave awkwardly from a hard length, and dismissing Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto with one such delivery that cramped him for room. On the evidence of their displays here, India will have a hard task picking just one of these two, assuming they go with two frontline quicks and Hardik as the third seamer.

Problems for Bangladesh

For Bangladesh, who came into this match on the back of a shock series defeat to USA, the result reinforced major worries going into the World Cup, chiefly their long-standing lack of power-hitting. India hit ten sixes in their 20 overs, and Bangladesh just one. Of the four batters who faced at least 10 balls in their chase of 183, only one – Mahmudullah, who top-scored with a 28-ball 40 – went at above a run a ball.Mahmudullah also bowled two tidy overs and dismissed Rohit, and took the catch of the day to send back Dube, sprinting to his right from long-on and juggling the ball expertly while stepping out of and then back into the field of play. All in all, it was a good day for the 38-year-old.Bangladesh suffered an injury scare when left-arm quick Shoriful left the field five balls into India’s final over when he attempted to stop a straight hit from Hardik and took a painful hit to his left hand. The extent of his injury wasn’t clear by the time the game ended.The margin of India’s victory, however, may have been inflated by the resources available to the two teams. India’s quicks did the bulk of their early damage, picking up four wickets between them to reduce Bangladesh to 41 for 5. Bangladesh, however, only bowled five overs of genuine pace – and one of gentle medium-pace from Soumya Sarkar. This was because they rested both Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman, both of whom could have caused India problems on this pitch.

MatériaMais Notícias

Na manhã deste domingo, no CT Joaquim Grava, o Corinthians deu sequência aos treinos da pré-temporada 2023. Foi o quinto dia de preparação do elenco para o Campeonato Paulista, que começa no dia 15 de janeiro, diante do Red Bull Bragantino, no Estádio Nabi Abi Chedid.

> Veja classificação e simulador do Paulistão-2023 clicando aqui

Os atletas realizaram um trabalho de força na academia do centro de treinamento e, em seguida, foram ao Campo 1 para o aquecimento.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasCorinthiansCorinthians terá de superar ‘barreira financeira’ para ter CoutinhoCorinthians17/12/2022Futebol NacionalVasco tem interesse em lateral-esquerdo do CorinthiansFutebol Nacional17/12/2022CorinthiansPhilippe Coutinho desperta interesse no Corinthians e recebe sondagensCorinthians17/12/2022

No Campo 3, Fernando Lázaro, técnico do Timão para a próxima temporada, comandou um treinamento de pressão pós-perda em espaço reduzido com os jogadores. Na última parte da atividade do dia, houve um trabalho tático.

Assim como no último sábado, 1uatro atletas das categorias de base do clube participaram do treinamento do dia: o goleiro Felipe Longo (2005); o volante Moscardo (2005); e os atacantes Guilherme (2006) e Higor (2003).

>Saiba os 34 clubes do futebol mundial com mais campeões da Copa do Mundo

Nesta segunda-feira,o elenco corintiano trabalhará em dois períodos dando sequência aos treinos de pré-temporada. Entre uma sessão e outra de atividades, o clube apresentará Romero, seu primeiro reforço para 2023.

MatériaMais Notícias

Durante essa segunda-feira (31), o Corinthians abriu a venda de ingressos para o jogo contra o Ceará, que acontece neste sábado (5), pela 35ª rodada do Campeonato Brasileiro. O duelo é o penúltimo do Timão em casa nesta temporada.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasCorinthiansCom Renato Augusto e Balbuena, Corinthians se reapresenta de olho em ‘revanche’ contra o FlamengoCorinthians31/10/2022CorinthiansAdson tem problema físico, passa por cirurgia e pode desfalcar o Corinthians no fim do anoCorinthians31/10/2022CorinthiansCorinthians mira em jogador do Bragantino para reforçar o ataqueCorinthians31/10/2022

+Corinthians tem interesse em atacante, Messi próximo de acerto com novo clube

Desde às 13h, associados que possuem entre 20 e 60 pontos na classificação do programa Fiel Torcedor já podem retirar os seus bilhetes. A comercialização iniciou às 11h, com sócios com créditos relativo às partidas suspensas pela pandemia do novo coronavírus, no início de 2020, podendo fazer a aquisição dos ingressos. Às 13h, os torcedores que possuem a partir de 60 pontos também puderam comprar. A venda ampliou para aqueles que têm 40 pontos, a partir das 15h. E às 17h, os sócios corintianos com 20 pontos para cima também tiveram os seus direitos de aquisição das entradas para o jogo diante dos cearenses.

Nesta terça-feira (1º), às 11h, será aberta a venda de ingressos para os demais sócios-torcedores do Timão. A comercialização para os torcedores que não são associados abrirá apenas na quinta-feira (3), às 15h, a depender da disponibilização dos setores.

Os integrantes do Fiel Torcedor podem comprar os seus ingressos através do site oficial da plataforma. Já os que não fazem parte do programa de sócios terão a compra dos ingresso relacionadas ao site ingressoscorinthians.com.br.

+ Confira a tabela do Brasileirão e simule os próximos jogos

Para a partida diante do Vozão, os valores dos ingressos variam entre R$ 50 (mais barato) e R$ 500 (mais caro). O ticket médio custa R$ 202. No entanto, os sócios têm descontos entre 20% e 60%, dependendo do setor escolhido. Membros do plano ‘Minha Vida’ terão facilidades entre 20% e 50%, enquanto no ‘Minha História’ será entre 20% e 60%.

Confira abaixo o preço de todos os setores:

NORTE ENGOV – R$ 50,00

SUL DORIL – R$ 70,00

LESTE SUPERIOR NEOSALDINA – R$ 90,00

LESTE INFERIOR LATERAL EPOCLER – R$ 100,00

LESTE INFERIOR CENTRAL EPOCLER – R$ 120,00

OESTE SUPERIOR BENEGRIP – R$ 140,00

OESTE INFERIOR CORNER BUSCOPAN – R$ 200,00

OESTE INFERIOR LATERAL BUSCOPAN – R$ 250,00

OESTE INFERIOR CENTRAL BUSCOPAN – R$ 500,00

OESTE BUSINESS NEO QUÍMICA ARENA – R$ 500,00