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Playing for England wasn’t always a goal but she soon realised “pace, swing and bounce” were her true calling

S Sudarshanan09-Oct-2025For Lauren Bell, cricket just happened. Naturally athletic and competitive, she dabbled in multiple sports for the fun of it while growing up. A lot of football and a little bit of cricket. Playing for England wasn’t always a goal. It just happened.”If you asked probably like 7-8-year-old Lauren, she would be in a full football kit running around with the shin pads on,” Bell tells ESPNcricinfo in Guwahati. “My grandad always brought us Manchester United kits and I was always in the garden doing football. Like kids spend their time doing different things, what I found fun was playing sports.”Bell played for Reading FC from when she was eight. She also played cricket at the time, and her parents took her to training for both sports. It was in 2017, after the second edition of the Kia Super League (KSL), that Southern Vipers offered 16-year-old Bell a contract for their winter training programme and to then play for them in the summer. Training was on Saturday mornings, the same time as her football games.”My parents were like, you need to choose because we can’t physically get to these two places,” Bell says. “That was when I made the decision that I’ll follow cricket. I haven’t played football since, which is a bit sad, but I’ve not really looked back since then.”Related

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• Young ones to watch: Kranti Goud, Georgia Voll and Lauren Bell prepare to light up World Cup

Bell is about six feet tall, nicknamed ‘The Shard’. She bowls at good pace and has a mean inswinger. However, she used to lose her footing and fall to her left during her bowling action, which gave her a bit of back pain. Last year, she worked hard to remodel her action, and she can now swing the ball both ways.”I don’t think I was really aware that being this tall is a massive advantage for me,” Bell says. “When I was a kid, I was so much taller than everyone. So obviously as a fast bowler, that’s going to bring its advantages. But I never thought, ‘oh, I’m tall, I’m going to do this’. It just all fell into place.”As I became a professional, I actually started to learn my craft. Before then, you worked on your talent and you’ve already been coached, but you don’t learn about the intricacies of fast bowling and bowling action. Only since I’ve started learning about my skill set and I guess the intricacies of my action, have I learned that obviously my height and the balance I can get in the extra bounce and how I play differently to other seamers. It’s obviously a big advantage for me or it makes me different to other girls and fast bowlers in the game.”Once she understood the advantage her height gave her, she worked hard on improving her speed and controlling swing.”I take the new ball and swinging the ball is a big skill of mine and one of my biggest advantages,” Bell says. “My coaches and I always talk about the three massive things – pace, bounce and movement. If you’ve got them, then you’re going to be a really hard bowler to face. With my height, I can get bounce and if I keep working on my strength, I can increase my pace. I’ve got the ability to swing the ball and hopefully I’ll keep progressing to moving the ball both ways. Swing, pace and bounce is probably where I’m most threatening.”Lauren Bell: ‘Swing, pace and bounce is probably where I’m most threatening’•Getty ImagesIt is not just her bowling that differentiates Bell from most other cricketers. She likes to make a statement with her hairstyle, which has inspired many young players to wear their hair in plaits like she does, and wants to see women cricketers embrace their “girly” side.”I’ve always liked doing my hair,” Bell says. “I remember vividly when I first played with plaits in my hair. I played in a [T20] World Cup with plaits and then played in the Hundred in England and I was meeting these girls and they were obviously there for the cricket. But so many of them had matching hair, like they had their hair in plaits. I was meeting the mums, who were like, ‘I have to do this hairstyle for my daughter every day now’. Stuff like that is part of the reason that I love playing and having the platform to inspire these young girls.”I want cricket to be seen as cool and mainstream, and you can be girly and do your hair and wear whatever you like and play cricket. You don’t have to be like a certain type of personnel. When I was growing up, it was like a boy sport, which has changed over time. This is one thing that I’m passionate about and I care about, and doesn’t affect my cricket in any way. If anything, it reaches an audience that someone else might not reach.”Bell is a graduate in sociology and criminology. She completed her degree before her England debut but worked on her dissertation while being involved in the Women’s Ashes and the 2022 ODI World Cup as a standby.”When I was at school, my parents were really keen for me to go to Bradfield College and do really well at my A levels and study really hard,” she says. “I always wanted to do whatever my sister did and she went to uni, so that was always going to happen. My A levels were good and then I went to Loughborough.”I chose Loughborough with the cricket in mind as well because it made training easier. But when I started at Loughborough, I wasn’t a professional cricketer. I wanted to just study something I enjoyed. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but after uni, if I wasn’t a cricketer, I just wanted to study something that I thought I enjoyed.”

“I want cricket to be seen as cool and mainstream, and you can be girly and do your hair and wear whatever you like and play cricket.”Lauren Bell

With Covid-19 impacting cricket in 2020 and 2021, her first two years at university were relatively easier, in that she did not have to juggle cricket and course work. But her third year was a challenge, when she was picked for England A’s tour of Australia just before the Women’s Ashes.”It was hard, especially on tour when you’re touring such amazing countries like New Zealand and you have a dissertation to write. It’s tricky to turn down the social part and the exploring. It was the first time I’d been to Australia and New Zealand. So you want to obviously see it, but I also knew that I needed to get this dissertation written and I needed to study and keep up with my lectures. Because of Covid, everything was online and I managed to get through. I had a lot of support and few extensions on deadlines. I’m glad I did it and graduated, but it was tricky.”Since her debut in July 2022, no England fast bowler has taken more wickets in women’s ODIs than Bell’s 40. Kate Cross was close with 39 but she was left out of the World Cup squad, elevating Bell as the leader of the pace attack. In England’s first two games at the 2025 World Cup, Bell took 1 for 24 in four overs against South Africa and 1 for 28 in seven overs against Bangladesh, on slightly sticky surfaces in Guwahati.”It is responsibility; it’s how I really thrive,” she says. “When Heather [Knight] was captain and now Nat [Sciver-Brunt] is the captain, I think the more responsibility I’m given and the more clarity I have on the importance of my role, the more I thrive. I really enjoy taking those opportunities, being the bowler to make an impact or leading the seam attack. It gets the best out of me. I really enjoy it and every time I get a chance to do it, it’s great.”As England travel to Colombo to play Sri Lanka on what could be a slow surface, the once-football-crazy Bell will have another opportunity to show off her new-ball skills. England will hope that just happens.

The SA allrounder’s century in the Guwahati Test marks a steady rise in his ability

Firdose Moonda23-Nov-20253:14

Philander: ‘Muthusamy deserves all the accolades coming his way’

If you’re surprised to be reading the words Senuran Muthusamy, Test centurion, don’t worry. You’re probably not the only one.Though Muthusamy has spent his domestic career labelled as a batting allrounder, he was picked at international level as more of a bowling allrounder. He was included in South Africa’s Guwahati XI at the expense of a seamer, rather than one of the frontline batters (remember Zubayr Hamza and Dewald Brevis are sitting on the sidelines). Still, he managed to do what no-one else has in the series so far: score a hundred.And he did it while demonstrating the perfect technique for these conditions, with a solid defence, the ability to play the ball late and levels of patience that Ravi Shastri called “meditative.” While Muthusamy himself often only goes as far as saying he is “just trying to do a job for the team,” as he did in Sunday’s post-match press conference, he also showed a skill set that ranged from navigating Mohammed Siraj in fading light on day one to negotiating Jasprit Bumrah and India’s spinners on day two.Muthusamy occupied the crease with monk-like discipline. In the early stages of his innings, he looked for runs only when he could steer the ball behind square. He had two nervy moments – one, when he was on 37 and edged Bumrah short of second slip; the other on 48, when he missed a sweep and was given out lbw to Jadeja.Related

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South Africa had just crossed 300 at the time, and his partnership with Kyle Verreynne was worth 57. Muthusamy later told the broadcasters he was so “emotional and disappointed” at losing his wicket that he just reviewed, not knowing whether there was anything that could save him. While he waited for the replays and chatted to Verreynne, Muthusamy said he realised there was the possibility the ball brushed his glove, although he didn’t feel it. When the smallest of spikes resulted in Rod Tucker’s on-field out decision being overturned, neither the Indian fielders nor Muthusamy could believe it, but that’s sport. There’s often some luck involved.Muthusamy capitalised on his, and later, revealed his improved hand-eye coordination was down to a stint with a South African sports scientist, Dr Sheryll Calder, who founded EyeGym – an organisation that works with ordinary people and athletes to sharpen motor responses.Senuran Muthusamy had an answer to everything the Indians threw at him•AFP/Getty ImagesThere was a point when Muthusamy “wasn’t sure if I’d ever play Test cricket again, and certainly not in India.” For four years after his debut in Visakhapatnam, he just went into what he called “the wilderness,” of domestic cricket, where he took 76 wickets in 24 matches at 25.15. He was looked at again when Shukri Conrad took over as head coach. Even then, Muthusamy played just one game in 2023, against West Indies in Centurion, where South Africa went all-pace but with the security of someone who could bowl spin. He only bowled eight overs in the match.Since then, Muthusamy has played six of South Africa’s 21 Tests but only appeared in consecutive matches once, in Pakistan last month where conditions called for an extra spinner. That he can bat is a bonus (especially for a coach like Conrad who places significant store in allrounders), and it’s proved more than handy in Guwahati.And let’s not forget that Muthusamy definitely can bat. His game awareness, especially of his own scoring strengths – which is something South Africa have been working on – was exemplary, and he even ventured out of his crease as his innings progressed. When he was on 68 and had seen Marco Jansen clear the ropes, Muthusamy decided he could also show aggression. Washington Sundar tossed the ball up and Muthusamy slogged it over long-on for his first six. Jansen would go on to hit six more sixes during what Muthusamy called a “sublime knock,” helping South Africa race past 400.Muthusamy and Verreynne managed just 28 runs in the first hour of play and scored at a rate of 2.23 per over, but when that partnership was broken and Jansen came in, the run-rate jumped to 5.49. Several factors, including an older ball and a flat pitch, contributed to the difference. But mostly it was Jansen.5:06

‘Extremely tactical’ hitting from Jansen

“He’s got fantastic levers, he’s a clean striker of the ball, and he really showed his skills today,” Muthusamy said. “That was a treat to watch from the other end. It was really attritional cricket out there until Marco came in and really played his shots beautifully. It was a good challenge and then awesome to just build those partnerships and really extend our first innings.”After bettering his previous career-best of 84 with a swing over midwicket, Jansen was on track for a first Test hundred, and furious with himself when he bottom-edged Kuldeep Yadav onto his stumps on 93. But South Africa could still be satisfied with their highest score in India, since the 558 for 6 declared in Nagpur in 2010. The next step is figuring out how to take wickets a surface that is still excellent for batting.Muthusamy seems to be banking on the collective experience of the South African attack more than the prospect of the surface deteriorating and taking turn as the team goes in search of a series win. “We’ll adjust accordingly to the conditions. Simon (Harmer), Kesh(av Maharaj), and myself have got a lot of experience,” he said. “Simon’s got over 1,000 first-class wickets and Kesh has over 200 international wickets, so there’s a vast amount of experience, and I look forward to seeing how things unfold.”Don’t forget Muthusamy has 277 first-class wickets, including 11 in the Lahore Test last month, which contributed to him earning the Player-of-the-Series award. He also scored 89* in the Rawalpindi game, giving South Africa a match-winning lead, and showing the full range of what he offers. Perhaps he shouldn’t be categorised as either a batting allrounder or a bowling allrounder, but rather what he thinks he is. “I see myself as an allrounder,” he said, no caveat attached besides this one. “And it’s tough being a spinning allrounder in South Africa. Conditions are a lot different to the subcontinent. But when we get an opportunity to come to the subcontinent, we really look forward to it.”

Partex Sporting Club get out of relegation zone with dramatic win while Rakibul Hasan and Nahid Rana shine with the ball

Mohammad Isam27-Mar-2025

Key takeaways

Abahani Limited have taken the lead in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, as it goes into the Eid break. Abahani are now on 14 points, while Gazi Group Cricketers and Mohammedan Sporting Club are on 12 points each. With eight rounds of matches complete, Abahani have taken a significant step towards defending their title.It was a good week for Prime Bank Cricket Club and Mohammedan Sporting Club, who like Abahani won both their matches this week. Mohammedan sealed a seven-wicket win against Shinepukur Cricket Club, but their regular captain fielded for just one over and was rushed to a hospital after suffering a heart attack.

Best batters

Gazi Group’s Anamul Haque reached 500 runs in a Dhaka Premier League season for the seventh time, and became the first to cross the landmark in the 2024-25 season. He struck an unbeaten 149 against Mohammedan last week, following it up with an unbeaten 144 against Gulshan Cricket Club this week. Anamul started the season with two ducks, but now has scored at least a fifty in five of the last six innings, with his other score being 48.

Best bowlers

Left-arm spinner <Rakibul Hasan and speedster Nahid Rana took four-wicket hauls against Dhanmondi Sporting Club in Abahani’s five-wicket win in Mirpur. Due to workload management, Rana is playing only selective matches for Abahani this season, but he has made an impact. Rana has nine wickets from his four outings, while Rakibul leads the wicket-takers with 17 scalps.

Best match

Partex Sporting Club dragged themselves off the relegation zone (bottom three) in dramatic fashion, beating the high-flying Agrani Bank Cricket Club by one wicket. Their middle-order batter Mohammad Rakib was the hero, remaining unbeaten on 80 off 103 balls with five sixes and as many fours. Rakib kept his cool as four wickets fell in the last four overs. With ten runs required off the last over, Rakib first struck a boundary before getting dropped at long-on. He struck another straight boundary before No 11 Abdul Gaffar took a cheeky single off the last ball to win the game.

Points to ponder

Agrani Bank and Dhanmondi lost both their matches this week. Though Agrani Bank remains in the top six, the big-budgeted Dhanmondi slipped to No. 8 in the points table. Shinepukur and Rupganj Tigers remain at the bottom with just two points each.

Players to watch

Samiun Basir became only the third bowler in Bangladesh’s List-A history to take a five-wicket haul on debut. He took 5 for 27 playing for Legends of Rupganj against Rupganj Tigers in Mirpur. Samiun has a classic left-arm spinner’s action, and likes to float the ball to the batter. He also can spin the ball, which would be an asset going forward.

Facing a no-out, bases-loaded jam against the Reds on Wednesday night, Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired three straight batters to help carry a 3-2 L.A. lead through another half-inning.

The 27-year-old forced Ke'Bryan Hayes into a fielder's choice before striking out Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz to leave the 6th inning unscathed.

After making De La Cruz look foolish with an 80-mile-per-hour curve ball for a third strike swinging, Yamamoto let out all of the emotions—and turned in this epic reaction:

Awesome stuff.

The Dodgers' offense went on to score four more runs in the ensuing half inning to give their team, and their pitcher, some insurance while taking a 6-2 lead.

Yamamoto was ultimately pulled after an outing that saw him allow just two unearned runs and four hits while striking out nine across 6 2/3 innings. With a win, the Dodgers will advance to the NLDS and take on the Philadelphia Phillies.

Old Firm weeks are never quiet in Glasgow, but this one has been off the scale.

On Monday night, completely out of the blue, Brendan Roders resigned as Celtic manager, not the first time he has abruptly departed the club, despite reiterating “without any avoidance of doubt, I will be here next year 200%” following last season’s Premiership title was clinched at Tannadice in April.

However, in the intervening six months, plenty has clearly changed, with owner Dermot Desmond releasing a scathing statement against Rodgers following his resignation, blaming him for creating a ‘toxic atmosphere around the club that had fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team’ and describing the manager’s actions as ‘divisive, misleading, and self-serving’.

Fair to say, he’s probably not returning for a third time!

With Martin O’Neill back in interim charge for now, ahead of Sunday’s Glasgow derby at Hampden, all eyes are on who will be the next appointment, so should the board target a manager currently coaching in the Champions League?

Whether Ange Postecoglou could return to Celtic

Of course, the populist appointment would be to re-hire Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian is out of work following his ill-fated 39 days in charge of Nottingham Forest, but is still ultra-popular in Glasgow’s East End, having won five trophies across two seasons in charge of the club, turning the team around after Rangers had won the Premiership title by 25 points the year before.

However, Lyall Thomas of Sky Sports reports that a Postecoglou​​​​​​​ return to Parkhead is ‘very unlikely’ as he seeks to take a break from football, but would he actually be the right appointment anyway?

Well, Celtic do love re-hiring managers, with Neil Lennon, Rodgers and now O’Neill all given second stints; since 2000, only seven men have managed Celtic, three of which have had multiple spells.

However, despite Europa League glory in May, thereby ending Spurs’ infamous trophy draught, Postecoglou’s reputation may be seriously damaged, considering he’s lost 31 of his last 48 Premier League matches, accumulating just 45 points across this period, his teams conceding 91 goals.

So, rather than looking to the past, seeking to recapture former glories, Desmond, Peter Lawwell​​​​​​​ and Michael Nicholson should look forwards and target a “workaholic”.

Celtic should target Champions League-level manager

Plenty of managers have been linked with the vacancy in the past few days, including Kieran McKenna, Robbie Keane, Craig Bellamy and Kjetil Knutsen, but Nicky Hayen is surely the outstanding candidate on the radar so far.

As per the aforementioned Sky Sports report, Hayen is a figure that the Parkhead hierarchy are currently ‘tracking’, albeit with it yet to be seen if they will be able to prise him mid-season.

The 45-year-old has been a coach for over a decade, holding a variety of managerial and assistant roles, including briefly being the manager of Haverfordwest County​​​​​​​ in the Cymru Premier, winning six of 11 games in charge of the Bluebirds from Pembrokeshire.

He then took the job as Club Brugge’s youth team manager, before becoming their senior head coach on an interim basis when former Celtic boss Ronny Deila was sacked in March 2024.

Well, during his caretaker stint, he won nine of 14 matches, losing only once, leading the Blue-Blacks to the Conference League semi-finals and clinching the Jupiler Pro League title on the final day.

This earned him the job on a permanent basis, and his record at Jan Breydelstadion is very impressive.

As the table notes, since winning the Belgian league title during his interim spell, he has continued to rack up domestic victories, beating Anderlecht 2-1 in May’s Coupe de Belgique Final in Brussels, albeit they were pipped to the league title by Royale Union Saint-Gilloise​​​​​​​ on the final day.

Meantime, in the Champions League, thanks to wins over Sturm Graz, Aston Villa and Sporting, as well as a hotly-contested 1-1 draw at Parkhead, Club Brugge reached the knockout stages last season, springing a major surprise by dumping out Atalanta, before eventually falling at Villa Park in the round of 16.

All of this has earned Hayen high praise, with Rob Edwards, chairman of Haverfordwest, labelling him a “workaholic”, adding that he favours a possession-based style, delighted that his club is associated with ‘undoubtedly one of the hottest properties in the world of football’.

Meantime, Will Unwin of the Guardian documents how Hayen does ‘not change his philosophy’, wanting to ‘keep the ball and pass through opponents’, with Jack Chippendale of Total Football Analysis praising his tactical masterclass in Bergamo last year.

To start this Champions League campaign, Club Brugge claimed a result Celtic supporters would have enjoyed, demolishing Rangers 9-1 on aggregate in the play-off round, before commencing the league phase with a 4-1 annihilation of Monaco.

​​​​​This European pedigree will certainly catch the eye of the decision makers at Celtic Park, considering the Hoops’ lack of continental victories over the last two decades and more.

Of course, getting Hayen out of Brugge certainly will not be easy, especially mid-season, but this would surely be a slam-dunk appointment, with the 45 year old very much on the up, while the same surely cannot be said of Postecoglou, despite how popular he will forever be.

Rodgers upgrade: Celtic have "kamikaze" title-winning manager on the radar

Celtic have a manager on their radar who could come in as a big upgrade on Brendan Rodgers.

By
Dan Emery

Oct 29, 2025

With teenager Lhuan-dre Pretorius set to open with him, Rickelton could be thrust into the senior role

Firdose Moonda06-Aug-2025There’s no Quinton de Kock, or Temba Bavuma, or Reeza Hendricks. While it has not been confirmed that the first of those has retired from the T20Is and the other two are completely out of the picture (though Bavuma probably is), South Africa will be looking at a new opening pair for the next T20 World Cup. Enter Ryan Rickelton and Lhuan-dre Pretorius.Both are left-handed and both are wicketkeepers. They have 18 T20I caps, two half-centuries and a decade in age between them. That means Rickelton, who enjoyed a breakthrough summer in Tests and ODIs for South Africa and played in his first IPL, could be thrust into the senior role even as he looks to cement himself in the side. How might that alter his usually aggressive approach to batting? Not at all, he said.”I’m still trying to establish myself in the T20 side but I don’t think there’ll be any expectation for me to change anything that I’ve been doing in these last two years,” Rickelton said from Darwin, where South Africa are set to play a three-match T20Is series against Australia starting Sunday. “It’s just an opportunity for me to hopefully claim that opening spot for this South African side, going into the World Cup and further on past that.”Related

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South Africa play three T20Is and will have the experience of regular captain Aiden Markram back in the top order and Rassie van der Dussen in the middle order, which Rickelton believes will allow him to continue to play his natural game. “The way the team is structured fits the mould of how they want me to play too, so I’m pretty comfortable with what’s required,” he said. “I am always looking to land that first punch and get the side off to a good start no matter who’s alongside me at the top.”Rickelton, Markram, as well as other returnees Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada, were all rested from the tri-series tournament in Zimbabwe as South Africa gear up for eight months of almost non-stop cricket. After the Australia tour, they will play white-ball cricket in England before starting their World Test Championship defence in Pakistan. That will be followed by an all-format tour of India, the SA20, a brief home series against West Indies and the T20 World Cup. Those five, and some others, will then go on to play in the IPL which will extend their active time to ten months. For someone like Rickelton, who did not play the MLC this year, the schedule has already provided lessons in workload management which he will draw on as the next busy period looms.”This was my first IPL year and it’s long three months in India which can really stretch you, mentally more than anything,” he said. “I would still like to play leagues when the opportunity comes along and next year there’s a break after the IPL so there’s some space in between.”Once you get to the groove of playing a lot of cricket, it can be really nice when you’re playing quite well but it can also be quite dark if you’re not playing too well. It’s more trying to manage the space mentally. That’s probably the balance that I’m trying to walk at the moment.”Ryan Rickelton opened for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025•AFP/Getty Images

Rickelton can already see the challenge of that task. Since being part of the squad that won the WTC final at Lord’s in June, Rickelton has had six weeks off while Pretorius made his Test debut against Zimbabwe (and scored a century) and was moved around the T20I batting order from opening to No. 5 and back up.”I haven’t been hitting the ball too well these last couple of days but I’m not too worried. We’ve played a lot of cricket this year already and it’s not something that you just lose full stop. It will take a few more sessions for me to get going,” he said. “But I’m watching the rest of the guys, they’re really hitting the ball quite nicely and you can see the guys that have been playing are moving a lot better than a few of the guys that have taken a little bit of time off.”All of that changes from this week when South Africa press play on what is set to be an important period as they build under all-format coach Shukri Conrad, with two ICC tournaments and a new WTC cycle ahead of them.”If you look at the fixtures lined up for the T20 World Cup, we’ve got some big competition and some big rivals,” Rickelton said. “If we can put a good foot forward and play quite well and match what we want to try and replicate in a few months’ time, especially against quality opposition, that’s really important to the team and the individuals as well. We spoke about it as a group, we have an opportunity to try and win a series in Australia, which doesn’t come around that often, and we’re looking forward to obviously cementing our own places and playing well for South Africa.”

Across two Tests and three innings, they bowled unchanged for 89.5 overs, turning into Pakistan’s two-man answer to Bazball

Danyal Rasool24-Oct-2024Plenty had happened since Pakistan last made a bowling change. They had won a first home Test in four years. The entirety of the knockout stages of the Women’s T20 World Cup had taken place. New Zealand had won their first Test in India in 35 years. Pakistan’s newly-formed selection committee had travelled from Multan to Rawalpindi alongside the chief curator Tony Hemming, and, in what vaguely felt like a crime against horticulture, heated, fanned, sunned, shaded and raked 22 yards of soil to subvert its natural characteristics.Spanning eight days, three England innings and two cities, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali had thrown themselves into the cause with the zeal of men who could barely believe they had been called on. It appeared that their surprise was matched by that of their head coach, who had, twice in the past two days, made clear to anyone who would listen that none of this was his plan. But having bowled Sajid and Noman in tandem for the final 15 overs of England’s first innings last week in Multan, Shan Masood, who had similarly had his wings clipped, stuck with them for all of their second. Sajid and Noman were then entrusted with the new ball in Pindi – the first time a Pakistan side had ever opened a Test with two spinners – and they simply carried on.Related

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Lunch was taken, and yet, when play resumed, there was no change. Like one of those Fantasy Football games where, once locked out of your account, you can never go back in to make changes, Pakistan kept to their last default setting. On commentary, Ramiz Raja worried about the two spinners tiring their fingers out, but, having played no first-class cricket since January, Pakistan’s new 31- and 38-year-old saviours were making up for lost time.The journalists were briefly ushered out of the press box to commemorate a milestone, with the PCB having prepared a cake to mark English journalist Scyld Berry’s 500th Test match. When everyone returned, Sajid and Noman were still bowling; they might as well have been there before Berry made his debut.The pleasant morning gave way to a warm afternoon, and the crowd gradually built up. The stadium announcer was doing his best to keep them animated, rousing them into cries of Sajid and Noman, but swiftly found himself out of ideas beyond that. If he was anything like the DJ in Multan, whose entire playlist was a shuffle between Wonderwall and Skyfall, that admittedly didn’t take much.In truth, though, when the change finally happened was merely a statistical curiosity. There was not once in what would become 89.5 unbroken overs from the pair that a change was required and passed up. This Pindi surface, after all the ignominies visited upon it, was taking spin from the outset, and few bowlers in Pakistan currently can exploit that better than Sajid and Noman.Noman preyed on Zak Crawley’s impatience at a crucial point in the first session, when England’s openers appeared to have countered the spin threat in a 56-run stand, slowing the pace down – a tactic the left-arm spinner has employed cannily through his career – and landing it wide. Earlier that over, he’d beaten Crawley with a perfect delivery that drifted in landed on middle, and ripped past Crawley’s outside edge. This, by contrast, looked like a loosener, and Crawley snatched at it, slicing it to gully.Sajid Khan finished with figures of 6 for 128•Getty ImagesSajid found an area outside off stump from where he could turn his offbreak at pace, and stuck with it. His knack of in-match problem-solving helped Pakistan turn around the second Test, and he found turn to trap Ollie Pope and Joe Root in quick succession – the latter with a ripper that even Root’s quick hands were unable to keep out.By now, the pitch’s demons were making no effort to conceal themselves. Ben Duckett had battled for his half-century on a surface designed specifically to preclude him from doing so. But no batter, however set, could have accounted for the one that just about rolled along the ground after landing on middle. It barely hit him above the ankle; he hardly had enough time to shoot the surface a look of disgust before the umpire sent him on his way. There were cackles in the crowd, and even the Pakistan players’ delight was tempered by the acceptance that this wasn’t a manner of dismissal usually found in the first session of day one.But it’s often too easy to treat and the moustache-twirling, thigh slapping Sajid as gentle, harmless figures of fun. Their presence in the side can be explained away by Pakistan’s chaotic desperation, their success as a product of pitch preparation. The pitch was expected to hold itself together for a couple of days, but if these two were getting wickets, it must have been crumbling apart. Even when in the wickets, as they have been since they were called up, the marketability of Sajid and Noman – combined age 69 and combined hairline to match – doesn’t hold a candle to Pakistan’s quicks, thick luscious hair and all. Even ESPNcricinfo has been guilty of this in the past, only talking Noman up if it could be done through the prism of Naseem Shah’s wider appeal.But it is when things got deadly serious that Pakistan turned to Sajid and Noman. Jamie Smith, the only batter to comprehensively pass Pakistan’s death-by-spin test, called Sajid a “fantastic bowler”; having missed the first Test, he is already the series’ highest wicket-taker. It is the presence of these two that emboldened Pakistan to try out this drastic change of strategy in the first place, confident that their quality on helpful surfaces would overcome their rust. Masood’s rallying call over the last fortnight has been 20 wickets; the two have managed 29 in three days of bowling. You’d have to require incredible commitment to the bit if you handed them 90 consecutive overs for a bit of a laugh.Sajid, too, gently pushed back against insinuations that his wickets haul was down only to the surfaces. “This wicket isn’t like Multan,” he said. “The ball gets soft after 25-30 overs. In Multan, even with a softer ball, you get assistance from the pitch. This wicket is not like that. There were some good balls, but also poor shots from them. Wickets don’t get given to you here. You have to vary the pace, use the crease, and that’s how I got my wickets.”Forty-two overs into England’s innings, Pakistan finally made a change. With England’s seventh-wicket partnership beginning to blossom, Zahid Mahmood stepped up from Pavilion End. He banged in a long hop to Gus Atkinson, and was pulled away to deep midwicket.Sajid and Noman were no longer bowling together, and everyone could tell.

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has clarified whether he will be joining the cast of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here contestants in 2025. The ex-England international saw his wife Coleen star on that show last year, with her stock soaring after a runner-up finish, and it has been suggested that Wayne could tread a similar path to the Australian jungle.

• Packed schedule: Why Rooney has never appeared on I'm A Celeb

  Rooney has never previously been in a position to accept an offer from ITV due to his commitments in professional football. After representing the likes of United and Everton as a player, he moved into coaching with Derby when retiring in 2021. He has since spent time in the dugout with D.C. United, Birmingham and Plymouth.

  He was calling the shots at Home Park when Coleen headed Down Under in 2024 – leaving him watching on from afar as she was subjected to Bushtucker Trials. Rooney left that role in December 2024 and has since returned to punditry duty with Match of the Day and Amazon Prime.

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  Angryginge & Aitch: Rooney would have fun in Australian jungle

  He could now be lured to Oz, having seen what his wife had to go through, with close friends Angryginge and Aitch reported to be among the contestants being lined up for an I’m A Celeb stint in 2025. Rooney is, however, adamant that he will not be heading to New South Wales on this occasion.

  Speaking on , he said of potentially joining YouTube star and passionate United fan Angryginge in the jungle: “I spoke to him last night and he was still in England so I don't know if he is… No, Ginge is a great lad and I've seen who's linked as well, so if he is in there I'm sure he'll be really entertaining. If he's in it and Aitch is in it as well, I'm gutted that I didn't go in because I think the three of us could have been real fun in there.

  “I'd be all right with the food situation, but I get bored and some of the challenges, you know, the snakes and there was one a few years ago with the big ostrich. I wouldn't like that. I love the show and obviously Coleen was in it last year and maybe at some point but not this year, unfortunately.”

• Would Rooney like to appear on I'm A Celeb?

  Rooney has previously said of stepping out of his comfort zone and into the world of reality TV: “Definitely not Strictly! I can’t dance. But, no, (I’m A Celebrity) is something I would never say no to, of course.

  “I think I said on the after show when Coleen was in the jungle, that was the one we’ve always watched and the one we both said if there was anything we’d do it’d be that. So, you never know in the future, but I’ve got other things I’m looking at at the minute.”

  Coleen is benefitting from her time in Australia, having won a new legion of followers, with one of the most famous WAGs in English football now considered to boast greater marketing appeal than her legendary husband.

  Celebrity and PR expert Chad Teixeira has told : “If she continues to play her cards right, the next five years could see her earning up to £40 million across various ventures. She’s no longer just ‘Wayne Rooney’s wife’ – she’s a brand in her own right.”

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  Punditry & Disney documentary: Rooney's immediate future

  That rise to prominence has allowed the Rooneys to sign a reported £10m ($13m) deal with Disney+ for an ‘At Home With’ documentary series. Wayne will be stepping in front of the cameras there, with an insider telling : “They could be bigger than not just the Beckhams, but the Kardashians. Obviously, Wayne’s work as a manager hasn’t gone as they’d have hoped, but they’re seeing this as a new chapter. There’s been so many rumours and so much drama around them, they’re going to set the record straight on a few things too.”

  With that production still to come, and match coverage duty to contend with during the current Premier League campaign and 2026 World Cup, it looks like being at least 12 months before Wayne considers a bid to better Coleen’s efforts on I’m A Celeb.

One of the most fun sporting events to bet on of the year is the annual MLB Home Run Derby, and this year's edition of the event is set to take place on Monday night!

Teoscar Hernandez won the Derby last year, but he won't be competing this time around. In this article, I'm going to break down everything you need to know to bet on it, including the field, odds, and my best bet.

2025 MLB Home Run Derby Odds

• Cal Raleigh +280
• Oneil Cruz +330
• James Wood +400
• Byron Buxton +800
• Matt Olson +850
• Junior Caminero +950
• Brent Rooker +1000
• Jazz Chisholm +1600

2025 MLB Home Run Derby Format

First Round: All eight batters hit as many home runs as they can in three minutes or 40 pitches, whichever comes first. At the end of three minutes or 40 pitches, each batter gets an untimed round that goes until they hit three balls that don't result in a home run. If a batter records a home run longer than 425 feet, he'll be rewarded with an extra out.

Bracket Round: The top four batters from the first round will advance to the bracket stage. The semifinals and final consist of rounds of two minutes or 27 pitches.

2025 MLB Home Run Derby How to Watch

• Date: Monday, July 13
• Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
• Venue: Truist Park
• How to Watch (TV): ESPN

2025 MLB Home Run Derby Participants

• Byron Buxton (Twins)
• Junior Caminero (Rays)
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. (Yankees)
• Oneil Cruz (Pirates)
• Matt Olson (Braves)
• Cal Raleigh (Mariners)
• Brent Rooker (Athletics)
• James Wood (Nationals)

2025 MLB Home Run Derby Prediction and Best Bet

The Home Run Derby has largely been a crapshoot for the most part, so I'm staying away from the top couple of names on the odds list, including Cal Raleigh. He's having a historic season for the Mariners and undoubtedly has the power to win this, but I have concerns about his endurance, which plays a big role in this competition.

Instead, I'm eyeing Byron Buxton at +800. He's second in the field in slugging percentage this season at .574, with Raleigh being the only participant sporting a higher mark. He has already hit 21 home runs in 78 games this season, and he has the athleticism and endurance that Raleigh may lack. The Minnesota Twin also ranks sixth in MLB in Pull% (53.1%), and he's in the 90th percentile in bat speed (75.0 mph).

He seems like a great value bet at 8-1 on Monday night.

Hosts left nine down overnight, still 33 runs from the victory they need to avoid relegation

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay26-Sep-2025Hampshire 248 and 148 for 9 (Orr 48, Chahar 7-45) need a further 33 runs to beat Surrey 147 and 281 (Albert 63, Abbott 5-72)Hampshire sat on the brink of Rothesay County Championship relegation after Surrey leg-spinner Rahul Chahar ploughed through them at Utilita Bowl.India international Chahar, in his first Championship appearance, made the most of a turning pitch to take 7 for 45 and see Hampshire collapse from 61 without loss to 148 for 9. The south coast county need to avoid defeat to stay in Division One next season, but in their chase of 181 they struggled to 148 for 9.Bad light stopped play at 4.35pm, to leave them on tenterhooks overnight, with 33 runs still needed – and statisticians CricViz offering a 14% chance of Hampshire managing it.Surrey began the day with four wickets in hand, but Hampshire bumbled their way through the morning – setting up a wretched day – taking 23 overs to finish the innings and giving up 55 runs in the process.It began fine, when Ali Orr pulled off a spectacular one-handed catch over his shoulder to see off Tom Lawes in the fifth over of the day. The wicket also handed Kyle Abbott his fourth five-wicket haul of the season, and took his tally to 56 scalps, beating last season’s tally of 55.Ralphie Albert reached 63 before hooking to long leg, but Matt Fisher scrapped and frustrated the hosts with Chahar and James Taylor.Fisher safely batted for almost an hour and a half for 22 not out, with Chahar hanging around for half an hour before swiping to the leg-side boundary rider. Taylor then blocked for 45 balls before James Fuller finally found an outside edge.Hampshire had been a bowler light, after Washington Sundar split the webbing in his hand fielding a ball off his own bowling the previous evening, and were facing a tough chase. The previous highest successful chase at Utilita Bowl this season had been the 148 they chased five down against Yorkshire in the opening fixture.A tricky over before lunch, which saw Fisher get so close to Orr’s outside edge that he thought it had been tickled through to Ben Foakes, was negotiated.Orr rode his luck when he was put down at short cover, but largely he and Fletcha Middleton appeared comfortable as they ticked off the runs. The first 50 runs flowed in 12 overs, with Orr especially fluent, and fears of the drop eased. But then they stuttered, the ball started to rag and the grey clouds of relegation gathered.From 61 without loss, Hampshire lost eight wickets for 59 runs – with Dan Lawrence and Chahar running amok on a pitch now turning. Middleton inexplicably missed a straight full toss, before Nick Gubbins was lbw to a Lawrence delivery that spun sharply and didn’t bounce.Chahar turned a ball from straight into the top of off stump to dislodge Toby Albert before Ben Brown was lbw to Lawrence and Orr missed a googly to depart for 48.Liam Dawson chased a wide ball from Chahar but drilled straight to short cover before Washington edged a half-volley to slip and Abbott’s under-edged to the keeper after tea as the malaise continued.Fuller had provided some resistance but now had to shepherd No. 11 Brad Wheal, often turning down runs as Wheal blocked 22 deliveries to keep Hampshire alive.The tension was extended overnight as gloomy conditions got too bad even for spin from both ends, meaning Hampshire need 33 runs in the morning or – depending on Durham’s fortunes up in Leeds – likely drop into Division Two.