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Worryingly for South Africa, Miller has a hamstring niggle and Shamsi is nursing a groin strain, and there isn’t much turnaround time

Firdose Moonda30-Oct-20211:56

Tabraiz Shamsi: ‘There’s a World Cup to be won, how can you not be passionate?’

It wasn’t perfect – almost nothing about South African cricket is these days – but they kept their knockout hopes alive with a scratchy but ultimately successful chase against their favourite opponents. This was South Africa’s sixth successive win over Sri Lanka and their best, because it came against the backdrop of serious pressure.Although defeat would not have guaranteed they would be knocked out, it would have made progressing to the semi-finals complicated. It may still not be straightforward but this team has now proved to itself that it can overcome adversity. They have done it twice this week, which could otherwise have descended into (even more) chaos following what most in the squad have described as their toughest time in international cricket.Related

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'I am not a racist' – de Kock apologises, will take the knee

The drama, in case you missed it, started on Monday night when the CSA board resolved to issue a directive to the men’s national team instructing them all to take a knee before every game. The players found out on Tuesday morning, five hours before their match against West Indies, and by the time they reached the ground, that Quinton de Kock had decided he would not comply and withdrew from the XI. Two days later, de Kock apologised and U-turned, and yesterday Keshav Maharaj said the squad was more united than ever.As they took the field against Sri Lanka, they were determined to show it. They stood with their arms around each other as they sung the national anthem, the first time they have done that at this tournament and, in the time of Covid-19, the first time they have done that in a while. They all took a knee. And then they worked together to end Sri Lanka’s most profitable partnership, the 40-run second-wicket stand between Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka. Crucially, they kept Sri Lanka under 150, thanks mostly to Tabraiz Shamsi, who has now taken more T20I wickets in a calendar year than anyone else, and a strangling effort at the end of the opposition innings.

“We have won these kinds of moments more often than we have lost them. That’s a huge positive. We are here to win the World Cup”Tabraiz Shamsi

Dwaine Pretorius is not the perfect death bowler. In fact, South Africa entered this tournament without an obvious candidate for the final overs but chose Pretorius despite his domestic record, which does not immediately suggest he would be a good candidate. Prior to this tournament, Pretorius had bowled 36 overs at the death, taken 18 wickets and had an economy of 10.38. In the three matches he has had so far, he has bowled 5.4 overs at the death, taken six wickets, and has an economy of 8.64. His use of the slower ball, in particular, has been impressive. Today, two of them brought him wickets and he finished with his second three-wicket haul at this tournament.”If we had to give out an award for Scholar of the Team, it would be Dwaine Pretorius,” Shamsi said at the post-match press conference. “He wants to make sure he is well prepared and he is always working with our analyst. We can’t speak enough about the job he did for us at the end. The game was so close. It’s turned out that he has become our death bowling specialist and he has done a great job.”Temba Bavuma is not the perfect T20 player – and most of the criticism around him is about scoring too slowly – but he is, as de Kock put it, “a flipping amazing leader” and this was the week he showed it in word and deed. His run-a-ball 46 anchored a wobbly chase but there will still be pressure on him to get going. Bavuma faced 29 balls before he found the boundary and was on 37 off 42 when he hit the six over midwicket that took his strike rate to 100. He took that as his cue to finish the innings and tried to hit Wanindu Hasaranga over cow corner but picked out a fielder to become the filling in the hat-trick sandwich. Bavuma berated himself and told the television broadcast he wanted to see the chase through. “I took on that responsibility. I felt someone had to take it to the end.”South Africa have their problems, but they are learning to live with them•ICC via GettyDavid Miller is not the perfect finisher. Although his ability to clear the rope is reputed, he has not won a game for South Africa recently and he was fast going to run out of partners. Luckily Kagiso Rabada “always has the shot of the day”, as Shamsi put it, and the classy six he smashed over long-off cut through some of the stress of the situation but not all of it. “I was a bit tense,” Bavuma admitted. “But I had a lot of confidence in the fact that David was there. He hasn’t done that for us in a while but he has got the most beautiful swing.”Watch cricket live on ESPN+

Sign up for ESPN+ and catch all the action from the Men’s T20 World Cup live in the USA. Match highlights of South Africa vs Sri Lanka is available here in English, and here in Hindi (US only).

This is not a perfect South African team, and their batting has big holes. Today was an example of where their top-heavy approach could backfire. Like it or not, there simply isn’t room to play what are essentially five openers – de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen – in the top six, but because South Africa lack middle-order options, it’s a combination they are stuck with for now.Shamsi is comfortable with it, because “there’s different batters that put their hands up and take the team to victory”, but against stronger opposition, like Australia (as we saw in the Super 12s opener) and England, who are yet to come, it may not work. More worryingly, the only middle-order batter they seem to want to use, Miller, has a hamstring niggle. Shamsi, too, is nursing a groin strain. South Africa’s next match is against Bangladesh on Tuesday so there isn’t much time to recover.But these are all problems that tournament-winning teams, who are often imperfect, overcome and Shamsi believes South Africa will do the same. “We have won these kinds of moments more often than we have lost them. That’s a huge positive,” Shamsi said. “We are here to win the World Cup.”

Sports announcers have become increasingly enamored with trying to predict what's going to happen next in the game they are calling because it's undeniably worth it if they turn out to look like geniuses. Sometimes, though, that foresight can have financial—and delicious—consequences.

One of the feel-good moments of the MLB season occurred in the fifth inning of Wednesday night's Brewers-Cubs game when Marquee broadcasters Boog Sciambi and Jim DeShaies vowed to buy mozzarella sicks for a bar in Iowa if they turned a 6-4-3.

And of course what happened next was Willson Contreras bouncing a tailor-made grounder to short and the Cubs easily completing the task.

The lucky bar in question was the Corner Taproom in Cascade, hometown of Cubs starter Colin Rea, who got the whole thing started by inducing the bouncer.

And the Cubs announcers were very fired up about the development.

They can try to tell you baseball isn't America's pastime anymore but how can anyone deny it when things like this can happen on any given night? Imagine the joy in exuberance in that establishment when they realized a free appetizer would be coming their way.

Beautiful stuff.

South Africa’s Marco Jansen is ranked fifth in the Test bowlers’ charts and second among the allrounders

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2025India batter Virat Kohli has moved one spot up to fourth in ICC rankings for ODI batters while Pakistan allrounder Saim Ayub regained the top spot among T20I allrounders.Kohli scored his 52nd ODI century in Ranchi where India beat South Africa by 17 runs. He made 135 off 120 balls, and was involved in a 136-run partnership with Rohit Sharma, who is the No. 1-ranked ODI batter. Kohli now has 751 rating points and is only 32 behind Rohit’s 783.Ayub was the top-ranked allrounder in October before Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza overtook him. But Ayub’s Player-of-the-Match effort in the tri-series final in Rawalpindi, where Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets (Zimbabwe being the third team), helped him reclaim the top spot. He dismissed Sri Lanka’s top-scorer Kamil Mishara to return figures of 1 for 17 off four overs before scoring 36 off 33 to set the tone for Pakistan’s chase.Apart from Ayub, Pakistan legspinner Abrar Ahmed moved up to fourth in the T20I bowlers’ rankings led by Varun Chakravarthy, while India’s Kuldeep Yadav moved up to sixth in the ODI bowlers’ charts.Marco Jansen also gained in the Test rankings following South Africa’s clean sweep over India in the two-Test series. Following his 12 wickets in two games, Jansen moved to fifth in the Test bowlers’ charts while he gained four spots to be placed second in the Test allrounders rankings. His team-mate Simon Harmer, who took 17 wickets in the series, jumped up 13 places to be the 11th-ranked bowler.

Rahmat Shah picked up the injury in the 15th over, retired hurt, came out to bat again at the fall of the ninth wicket, but couldn’t carry on

Mohammad Isam11-Oct-2025Rahmat Shah, the Afghanistan batter, is “most likely” out of the ongoing ODI series against Bangladesh because of a calf injury, according to team physio Nirmalan Thanabalasingam. Rahmat braved the injury to try to bat after Afghanistan had lost their ninth wicket in Saturday’s second ODI, after having retired hurt earlier, but he could stand at the crease for just one ball.Thanabalasingam ran out to help Rahmat, who by then couldn’t even stand. Later, the paramedics took him out of the ground in a wheelchair.”He unfortunately succumbed to his injury so he is out now,” Thanabalasingam said. “We will do the all the right things in terms of imaging and stuff tomorrow. He is going to be out for some time, I think.”Rahmat initially felt discomfort when he was trying to take a single in the 15th over after having walked out to bat at his usual No. 4. It was an innocuous looking shot, but his turn on the heel might have affected his calf. He was batting on nine at the time, and struggled to walk properly as he went off the field.Afghanistan struggled without Rahmat, who made an invaluable half-century in the first ODI, which made him the first Afghanistan batter to reach 4000 runs in ODIs. Rahmat’s absence meant regular middle-order wickets, with only Ibrahim Zadran holding things together.When Rahmat came out to bat again, it was met with applause from the Afghanistan fans at the venue in Abu Dhabi. It, however, lasted just one ball. Rishad Hossain sent in a googly that Rahmat missed, and the ball hit him in the abdomen. He was down immediately. Mehidy Hasan Miraz helped him get up but he was not able to continue as Afghanistan’s innings ended at 190 in 44.5 overs.

It does now appear that Daniel Farke’s days as Leeds United manager are very much numbered.

This isn’t exactly the biggest shock in the world, considering the Whites have now lost five of their last six Premier League games, with the Aston Villa loss sending them into that dreaded bottom three.

Reports are indicating that the German’s sacking looks inevitable amid doubts over whether he is the correct long-term man at Elland Road, albeit with a succession plan seemingly not yet in place.

Unfortunately, Farke looks as if he will fall victim to a fate that even the great Marcelo Bielsa had to come to terms with in the Premier League.

Not even a colossal 81 wins in charge could save the revered Argentine from the sack in the end, with far less sadness on display when Jesse Marsch was given his marching orders after the South American, when looking at his up-and-down stint in West Yorkshire.

Marc Roca's Leeds woes under Marsch

The new Canada boss would only muster up a weak 11 wins from the pressurised dug-out, in contrast, but that isn’t to say it was all doom and gloom while he occupied the hot seat.

Indeed, Marsch would steer the Whites to safety during the 2021/22 season after picking up the pieces from Bielsa, with a memorable away win at Liverpool even on his resume.

Still, a fair few of the signings the American signed off on during his brief stay in England were extremely hit-and-miss, including the one-season wonder of Marc Roca.

Initially, the Spaniard stood out as a rock-solid option in defensive midfield, with Leeds’ unbeaten start to the 2022/23 season seeing Roca win a high 15 duels in wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea.

Yet, much like Luis Sinisterra, who showed flashes of his excellence at Leeds with five Premier League goals put away, Roca’s efforts ultimately meant nothing, as Leeds succumbed to relegation during his only season at the club.

Pundit Adrian Durham would even state, during his brief time in West Yorkshire, that he wasn’t sure if Roca had the calibre to be a “Premier League footballer”. By the end of the campaign, he was merely a bit-part player, too, despite such early promise.

Leeds will hope history isn’t repeating itself now with this promising summer acquisition, who has gone off the boil somewhat in recent weeks.

Leeds' next Roca in the making

To make matters worse for the Whites, Roca would end up returning to home comforts in La Liga smoothly, having looked far more impressive back at Real Betis.

Chalkboard

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

Indeed, as per FBref, he currently ranks in the top 1% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for assists per 90, as well as in the top 10% for interceptions and the top 17% for tackles, showcasing an all-around quality that was sorely lacking at Elland Road.

Much like the Betis number 21, Anton Stach was a notable midfield purchase this summer from Europe, with £17.4m splashed out on the German, after he had collected a weighty five goals and 16 assists in the Bundesliga for the likes of Hoffenheim.

He has packed his shooting boots for England, too, with this outrageous free-kick against Wolves earlier in the season making him a fan’s favourite amongst Leeds supporters packed into Molineux.

During the same game, he also picked up an assist, while winning a combined eight tackles and duels.

Yet, since that standout performance against the bottom-of-the-table Old Gold, Stach has failed to consistently deliver, with his form out of sorts against Nottingham Forest at the start of the month, which culminated in the German completing zero successful dribbles and losing possession a high 15 times.

Games played

6

Games started

4

Goals scored

0

Assists

0

Accurate passes

153/187

Total duels won

22/40

Looking at the table above, Stach has only won 22 of his following 40 duels since his man-of-match-worthy display in the West Midlands, with Farke even pushing him down to the bench on occasion, which is a fate Roca became very much used to during the latter stages of his hot-and-cold Leeds stint.

Farke has even openly come out and said that Stach needs to “step up” amid a concern that his performances have gone downhill, with relegation staring Leeds in the face, even with glimpses of promise here and there from the ex-Hoffenheim star.

The under-pressure German will hope Stach listens to his words and gets back to his best shortly.

If he doesn’t, and he fades into the background like Roca, relegation looks to be on the cards, as the walls begin to be “slowly closing in” on the ex-Norwich City manager, as per the Athletic’s Beren Cross.

Leeds star is becoming Elland Road's biggest liability since Berardi

Leeds United could now have their biggest liability since the days of Gaetano Berardi in this underperforming flop.

1 ByKelan Sarson Nov 25, 2025

“Great fielders don’t dive,” Hardik Pandya quipped after he plucked a screamer that fielding coach T Dilip had drilled to his left. Behind him was a makeshift goalpost he was meant to protect. Each player got five attempts before the next man stepped up. It was a penalty shootout of sorts pretending to be fielding drill.Things changed quickly after that. Three rockets came his way low and flat and were all dropped; not even dives could help his cause. Dilip read out his score with mock seriousness as Tilak Varma came out to “keep goal”.Soon the chatter switched to Telugu, with Arshdeep Singh turning part-time commentator with his chants of “” (well done) every time Tilak hurled himself around to pull off a save.Related

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• How Kuldeep and Axar slammed the door shut on Pakistan

Then came Jasprit Bumrah’s turn. As he walked up, he couldn’t resist a wisecrack: “Point again, coach?” he asked looking back at journalists recording his every move. “Reel content coming for you guys!” This was all a nod to the catch he had taken at point to dismiss Saim Ayub off the first legitimate ball in Sunday’s match.The fielding session reflected the mood in the India camp: lively, light-hearted, yet underpinned by an intensity, which was in show again later as they took the nets.The Tuesday evening temperatures may have relented slightly since the start of the Asia Cup, from 40 degrees Celsius to 35-36, but that didn’t mean there was respite for the team, since their training session was lengthened to over four hours on back-to-back days.The batters who hadn’t had a hit in the two matches so far – Sanju Samson, Axar Patel and Hardik – spent extended periods at the nets, before the top order took centre stage, hitting balls long and hard, into the trees and beyond at the ICC Academy in Dubai. To the extent that you wondered if anyone was even keeping track of where the balls were going.2:20

How big is the gulf between India and Pakistan?

Through it all, coach Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate looked on from behind the nets, watching each batter go through their drill.Rinku Singh, in particular, endured a searching examination, beaten time and again by the pace and bounce of Harshit Rana and Arshdeep. The test grew sterner. Starting off with a short run before gradually cranking up to full tilt, Bumrah showed Rinku no mercy. While anything on the pads was dismissed, Rinku was repeatedly troubled by hard lengths and seam movement. He finally yanked his gloves off, and did bouts of timed sprints to cool off after his batting stint.By the time India’s session wound down, they had gone through an entire range of activities amid banter and fun. It ended with the captain Suryakumar Yadav cutting a birthday cake some members of India’s travelling media had organised, with Kuldeep Yadav and a few members of the support staff joining in.Salman Agha will hope to bounce back after two single-digit scores•AFP/Getty Images

At the adjacent ground, the mood was quite different, with Pakistan avoiding any media personnel gathered around the periphery of the ropes.Coach Mike Hesson did all the talking in the team huddle, before the players dispersed for a game of football, did some catching, and then went into the nets. They may have chosen to train from 8pm to 11pm, possibly to avoid the heat, but that didn’t make it any less punishing.As they began their centre-wicket nets, Hesson monitored Ayub’s back-foot play, watching him keep his shots down – unlike his dismissal against India looking to flay Hardik over point. Ayub, incidentally, has more wickets than balls faced in the Asia Cup so far, and spent considerable time with Hesson in his ear. There were extra drills for Mohammad Haris, while Haris Rauf, seemingly hungry to get a look-in after warming the bench in the first two games, let the ball rip.As the curtains came down on another intense evening at the ICC Academy, India announced a day off on Wednesday. Pakistan had no such luxuries, because they were to face UAE in a must-win game.

A few days after Francisco Lindor's thrilling 2024 season came to an end, he and the New York Mets received praise from an unlikely source.

Grammy Award winning artist John Mayer took to Instagram and declared he had found inspiration from Lindor and the Mets all year. In a heartfelt post, Mayer claimed Lindor's dedication inspired him to soldier on during concerts and with his other work.

"Thank you Francisco Lindor @lindor12bc. Thank you New York Mets," Mayer wrote. "You never know when you’re going to find a new source of inspiration, and Francisco became that inspiration for me this year. You could see the dedication in his eyes, in his plays—you could even see it in his strikeouts; it wasn’t a case of "'couldn’t,' only 'didn’t that time.'

"My Sphere concerts this summer became games in my mind. Wins were when the music was cooking, when the notes matched the intention, when the zone could be found. Every weekend was a series, and every show was a home game.

"When I injured my finger and looked down to see half the nail sheared off and bleeding, my first thought was how to play with the other three fingers. That was what Lindor would have done, and so that’s what I did.

"The Mets’ talent makes them aspirational, but their humanity makes them relational. It means that it’s never out of the question what’s being done on that field could be done by you and I in our pursuits, too."

Mayer was born in Connecticut and has long been a Mets fan. He and his band Dead & Company played 30 shows at the Las Vegas Sphere and apparently that run took its toll on him.

The Mets' season came to a close with a 10–5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.

Lindor had a phenomenal 2024 season and if not for Shohei Ohtani, he'd be the odds-on favorite to win the National League MVP award. For the season, he hit .273, with an on-base percentage of .344, while slugging .500. He hit 33 home runs, had 91 RBIs and posted an OPS of .844 and a WAR of 7.0. It would be easy to get inspired by how he played.

Mayer can only hope Lindor and the Mets come back stronger next year.