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Sheffield United are now on the verge of signing an “electric” £3.5 million attacker who Ruben Selles already knows well.

Like every other team up and down the country, the Blades are currently in the midst of their pre-season preparations as the return of domestic action gets closer and closer. United got another pre-season game under their belt on Tuesday night, as they faced non-league side York City and won 6-2.

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However, the Blades were without a few key players for the fixture, with midfielder Tom Davies one noticeable absentee. Selles has revealed that Davies has picked up a groin injury during their time in Girona, and he could now miss the start of the Championship season.

“With Tom Davies, it is a little bit different. He got an injury in Girona, and so we expect him to be out for some weeks. He will be back in approximately a month.

“He’s unlucky. The way we do things and the way we try to perform demand a lot from the players. And with Tom, the most important thing is that he recovers well, and when he comes back, he stays healthy for the rest of the season.”

Sydie Peck was another United player that missed out on Tuesday night, but Selles has revealed that Peck’s injury isn’t as serious: “Sydie picked up a late injury, so he has not been able to start pre-season with us.He has been training, but it was more about building him up, and hopefully, he will be involved in the next game.”

Sheffield United now close to signing Louie Barry on loan

As the Blades continue their pre-season preparations, they are now closing in on their third signing of the summer. According to Sky Sports, Louie Barry is now expected to join Sheffield United on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.

The report states that both clubs have agreed the deal, while Barry has also agreed to the switch, and he is now expected to join up with the Blades next week. This comes after Hull City agreed a deal worth £3.5 million with Villa to sign Barry, only for the deal to then fall through as the Tigers were hit with a three-transfer-window embargo.

This transfer will see Barry link up with Selles once again, as the pair worked together in the second half of last season, as Barry joined the Tigers after a successful first half of the campaign on loan at Stockport County.

Divisions

Apps

Goals

Assists

Championship

4

0

0

League One

47

16

6

League Two

53

17

6

Barry, who has been dubbed “electric” by reporter Sam Byrne, struggled to make an impact at Hull as he picked up a serious injury. But during his time at Stockport, the versatile forward scored 25 goals in 46 games across two separate loan spells, and Selles will be hoping he can get that productivity out of the youngster at Bramall Lane.

If there is one club you can guarantee to be busy during the summer, it’s Chelsea.

Even without the Club World Cup to entertain the fans, you can usually rest assured that the Blues will make good use of the transfer window, and so far this year, they certainly have.

For example, just a couple of days ago, the Conference League champions secured the services of the incredibly exciting Joao Pedro from Brighton & Hove Albion for a sizable fee of £60m.

Moreover, before the club even left for the United States, they had signed a trio of exciting young talents in Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr and Liam Delap, and now, if reports are to be believed, they are keen to sign an attacker even more exciting than the former Ipswich Town star.

Chelsea target young talents

Like they have in years past, Chelsea appear to be focused on bringing more up-and-coming gems this summer, which helps explain the links to Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens.

Transfer Focus

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

The former could cost the club around £60m, and while Manchester United endured a terrible campaign last season, he didn’t, managing to rack up a tally of 11 goals and ten assists in 58 games.

Gittens, on the other hand, will cost the Blues around £55m, and unlike the Argentine international, this deal is practically sealed and could be announced at any time.

Yet, the West Londoners are still not done there, as they’ve now been linked with another promising youngster who might just be more exciting than Delap: Gonzalo García.

At least that’s according to a recent report from Spain, which claims Chelsea are the club most interested in the Real Madrid star.

In fact, the report claims that the Blues are now preparing to submit an offer worth around €40m – £34m – for the young attacker, and as things stand, the Spanish giants are not ruling out selling him.

It could be a complicated and ultimately rather expensive transfer to get over the line, but García has shown enough to suggest he could be a star one day, and therefore a more exciting signing than Delap.

Why García would be a more exciting signing than Delap

Firstly, it’s worth noting that Delap is already an exciting signing, and one that Chelsea were wise to secure.

After all, in his first full Premier League campaign last season, the former Ipswich ace was able to rack up a tally of 12 goals and two assists in 37 appearances, which is nothing to sniff at.

Moreover, he has already opened his account with the Blues, scoring one goal and providing one assist in four appearances at the Club World Cup.

However, it’s actually the proceedings at the competition that give us our first indication that García could end up being the more exciting signing this summer.

We say this, as even though he had barely played a game for the first team prior to the Club World Cup, the young Spaniard has been nothing short of sensational in the States.

For example, in just four appearances, totalling 293 minutes, he has scored three goals and provided one assist, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 73.25 minutes, and they haven’t been meaningless either, as he netted the winner against Juventus earlier this week.

However, we probably shouldn’t be surprised that the “incredible” youngster, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, is so effective in front of goal, as he was a monster for Real Madrid Castilla last season.

Appearances

36

Minutes

3184′

Goals

25

Assists

4

Goal Involvements per Match

0.80

Minutes per Goal Involvement

109.79′

In 36 appearances, totalling 3184 minutes, the 21-year-old, who respected analyst Ben Mattinson claims “scores goals for fun,” put the ball in the back of the net 25 times and provided four assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.24 games, or every 109.79 minutes.

On top of everything, the Madrid-born gem is also more than capable of playing out wide or as a centre-forward, and therefore is quite comfortable dribbling with the ball at his feet and creating chances for himself.

Ultimately, Delap is a brilliant addition to Chelsea’s squad, but from everything we’ve seen of him this summer and his output from last season, García looks like he’d be an even more exciting signing.

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West Indies CEO believes time is nigh for touring teams to receive fees for fulfilling their overseas obligations

Andrew Miller07-Jul-2024Johnny Grave, the chief executive of Cricket West Indies, hopes that memories of the team’s bio-secure tour of England in 2020 will help to advance the narrative about Test cricket’s revenue-share model, in the wake of his remarks earlier this year that the current system is “completely broken”.Speaking at Lord’s during MCC’s inaugural World Cricket Connects symposium – a gathering of many of the sport’s most influential players, administrators and media representatives – Grave expressed his hope that West Indies would once again prove a competitive force, just as they were in winning the first Test of the 2020 tour in Southampton, as well as each of their last two home series against England, in 2019 and 2022.But, he said, in the wake of CWI’s reported outlay of US$2 million to fulfil their tour of Australia in January and February, the onus was on cricket’s Big Three – India, England and Australia – to find a better means of propping up the economies of the sport’s less financially secure nations, rather than just sending their own teams on endless overseas tours, from which the host boards are able to replenish their coffers.”We don’t get any money at all from the Australian market, or from that tour, so it’s a double-whammy,” Grave said, in the wake of a Test tour on which West Indies again exceeded expectations with their thrilling series-levelling win at the Gabba in January.”There are a number of measures to ensure this competitive balance, and ensure that the three formats thrive. I think the easiest thing to do is say, well, this format doesn’t make money or isn’t sustainable in this market or that country, but if the game works together and has a collective mindset, there is plenty of money to go around to ensure the game can thrive.”Grave cited India’s ongoing T20I series in Zimbabwe, featuring a new-look team led by Shubman Gill, only days after their victory in the T20 World Cup in Barbados, as proof that the BCCI “cannot do more for the world game” in a pure playing capacity. Instead, he welcomed the suggestion voiced last year by Richard Gould, his counterpart at the ECB, that the time may be coming for touring teams to be paid a fee for fulfilling their overseas engagements.”Do we need to play more contextual, meaningful cricket? Absolutely,” Grave said. “But I think Richard’s point around being open to sharing revenue is a massive positive, because when we are talking about sharing revenue we are talking about three countries.Ben Stokes and Jason Holder hold microphones as they talk into a broadcast camera during the Covid series in 2020•Getty Images”One country cannot play any more cricket, cannot do more for the world game than they are doing, and that’s the BCCI. England have been fantastic, they have toured us pretty much every year, bar a few, since 2017. Is there more they could do for us? Not really. So at that point you have to look at the model and the finances, and for leaders of the ECB, Australia and India to be even talking about it, I take it as a positive indication of a shift in mindset that needs to happen.”England’s vulnerability to the fragmenting international game was made abundantly clear in the Covid-blighted summer of 2020, when West Indies were instrumental in “keeping the lights on”, in the words of the then-ECB chief executive Tom Harrison.By agreeing to play their three scheduled Tests behind closed doors and in bio-secure environments at Old Trafford and Southampton, West Indies helped fulfil the ECB’s contractual obligation to Sky Sports, with each Test valued in the region of £20 million. This in turn helped mitigate the ECB’s losses that still ended up being in the region of £100 million.”I think what Covid proved was that you can’t play against yourselves, and that you need to have opposition,” Grave said. “The better that opposition is, and the more balanced the game is, the better the product is, because then there’s genuine jeopardy.”In Covid everyone had to come together. The fact that we were coming here and generating no revenue was irrelevant. We were trying to save the game, because none of us knew whether the game as we knew it would ever happen again.”West Indies’ Test tour comes just weeks after the completion of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. Despite the hosts falling short of the semi-finals after a tight loss to South Africa in St Lucia, the sense of togetherness and expectation was palpable from a set of big-name players whose greatest financial opportunities still come on the T20 franchise circuit, but whose restored faith in CWI has been a notable aspect of Grave’s era as chief executive.Related

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“We’ve had to find balance, which was initially struck by speaking to the players in a respectful way and creating two windows, in the IPL and the CPL,” Grave said. “We then tried to have balance and flexibility with our players in how we schedule bilateral cricket – we rarely play over that Christmas and New Year period because it’s important for our players to be at home with their families – while we’ve also tried to create windows for them to go to other leagues where the calendar has allowed it.”So it’s all about balance. And at the moment Darren Sammy and Rovman Powell, the leaders of our T20 team, have really got those players focused.”Now the attention turns to the Test series against England, starting with a first Test at Lord’s – a venue that West Indies haven’t frequented since 2017.”It’s probably the pinnacle Test series that we play, it’s the barometer of how the team are developing,” Grave said. “We’re coming off a high, obviously it’s a long gap since that amazing day at the Gabba, and for a number of the players this will be the first time they’ve ever played at Lord’s.”They’re playing for the Richards-Botham Trophy, the ultimate example of friendship and camaraderie between England and West Indies. So being here it’s always special, but I think for our players to hopefully announce themselves to the English audience with a Test series at Lord’s is fantastic.”

Arsenal have come an incredibly long way over the last few seasons.

Just four years ago, Mikel Arteta’s side were languishing down in mid-table, and in the campaign after that, were unable to make it into the top four.

Since then, the North Londoners have made it to the quarter-finals and then semi-finals of the Champions League while also finishing as runners-up in the Premier League three campaigns on the bounce.

19/20

9

6

5

8th

20/21

18

7

13

8th

21/22

22

3

12

5th

22/23

26

6

6

2nd

23/24

28

5

5

2nd

24/25

20

14

4

2nd

However, the time has come for the club to make good on their transformation and finally lift some major silverware next season, which could explain recent links to a superstar attacker who has won comparisons to serial winner Kylian Mbappé.

Arsenal transfer news

With the club being so close to achieving something great over the last few years but still coming up short, it’s not been much of a surprise to see them linked to several attackers who could provide them with that extra push in recent weeks; stars such as Morgan Rogers and Nico Williams.

Transfer Focus

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

The former could be available for a fee as high as £100m this summer, but while that’s an astronomical amount of money, it would be hard to say he wouldn’t be worth it, as in 54 appearances for Aston Villa this season, he scored 14 goals and provided 15 assists.

Williams, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as productive, scoring 11 goals and providing seven assists in 45 games for Athletic Bilbao, but then again, he’d also cost a lot less, with a release clause reportedly worth around £50m in his current deal.

Yet, while both players would certainly improve Arteta’s side next season, they might not utterly transform it, unlike Viktor Gyokeres.

Yes, according to reports from Spain, Arsenal have maintained their intense interest in the Sporting CP striker ahead of the transfer reopening next week.

In fact, the report has revealed that, alongside Premier League rivals Manchester United, the Gunners have already submitted an offer for the Swedish star.

However, it would appear as if the Portuguese outfit now want €80m, which comes out to about £68m.

While it would represent a serious financial investment to match that fee, Gyokeres’ incredible ability and record suggest it would be one worth making, especially as he’s won comparisons to Mbappé.

How Gyokeres compares to Mbappé

Before going over some of the other reasons why Arsenal might want to sign Gyokeres this summer, it’s worth examining this comparison to Mbappé and where it’s come from, as the Real Madrid forward is undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in world football.

Well, in this case, it stems from FBref, which looked at players in similar positions in the Champions League this season and then created a list of the ten most comparable players.

By doing this, it concluded that the Frenchman was the number one most similar forward to the Swedish international in the entire competition this season.

Non-Penalty Expected G+As

0.70

0.77

Progressive Carries

4.26

4.24

Goals per Shot

0.18

0.14

Passes into the Penalty Area

1.03

0.96

Shot-Creating Actions

3.85

3.52

Carries into the Penalty Area

1.91

1.92

The best way to see how this is worked out is by taking a look at the underlying metrics in which the pair rank closely, including but not limited to assists, non-penalty expected goals plus assists, progressive carries, goals per shot, passes into the penalty area, shot-creating actions and more, all per 90.

With all that said, while a comparison to one of the best and most exciting players in the world is certainly encouraging, there is another enormous reason why the Gunners should be doing all they can to sign the former Coventry City star: his ridiculous output.

In his first season with Sporting, the Stockholm-born “powerhouse,” as dubbed by respected analyst Ben Mattinson, was able to rack up a sensational haul of 43 goals and 15 assists in 50 appearances, totalling 4169 minutes, which equates to an average of 1.16 goal involvements per game, or one every 71.87 minutes.

Then, as if on a one-man mission to prove he wasn’t just a one-season wonder, the 27-year-old marksman did even better this year, scoring 54 goals and providing 13 assists in 52 appearances, totalling 4248 minutes, which comes out to a frankly absurd average of 1.28 goal involvements per game, or one every 63.40 minutes.

Ultimately, Gyokeres is a lean, mean goalscoring machine and, like Mbappé, is someone who could potentially lead a team to multiple league titles, and therefore, is someone Arsenal should be doing all they can to sign this summer.

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Aston Villa have eyes on the Champions League once again next season, especially after their thrilling run to the quarter-finals this season.

To do this, they need to win their last Premier League clash this afternoon and hope other results go their way.

Unai Emery is already looking at bolstering his squad for the challenges ahead. Could he be set to raid a team who were relegated from the top flight this season?

Aston Villa eye move for Southampton midfielder

While Emery has an excellent starting XI, adding some depth to his first-team squad is certainly a priority this summer.

According to journalist Alan Nixon, Villa now appear to have entered the race to sign midfielder Mateus Fernandes when the transfer window opens.

He is also being courted by Leeds United and Crystal Palace, meaning Emery must act swiftly if he wishes to sign the youngster ahead of next season.

The player would likely cost Villa around £30m should they wish to bring him in this summer.

The Portuguese starlet would be a solid addition to the current squad at Villa Park, and he could turn out to be John McGinn 2.0 for the manager, especially with the pair sharing a similar style of play.

Mateus Fernandes could be a great signing for Aston Villa

McGinn has been with the Villans since the summer of 2018, helping take the club from the Championship back into the top flight and then into the Champions League.

The Scot has made nearly 300 appearances for the Midlands side, becoming an integral part of their progression in recent years under Emery, since his move to the club in the Championship.

With the club interested in signing Fernandes from the recently-relegated side, the Spaniard might well be signing a like-for-like player in the Saints’ starlet.

According to FBref, McGinn is the seventh-most comparable player to Fernandes in Europe’s top five leagues, which speaks to how similar they are in the middle of the park, particularly at Premier League level.

Furthermore, the pair have registered similar statistics over a range of metrics this season, including goals and assists (both five), shots per 90 (1.33 vs 1.21), shot-creating actions (both 76), percentage of dribblers challenged (50% vs 41.9%) and successful take-on percentage (45% vs 42.6%) domestically.

Metric

McGinn

Fernandes

Goals

1

2

Assists

4

3

Big chances created

6

6

Total duels won per game

4.2

5.9

Key passes per game

1

0.9

Tackles per game

1

2.5

As you can see in the table above, the Portuguese ace has, actually, scored more goals and created as many ‘big chances’ in the Premier League, despite playing in a dismal Southampton team.

Despite the Saints suffering relegation after a torrid season in the top flight, football talent scout Jacek Kulig was quick to praise Fernandes for his individual excellence, saying:

“20 years of age. Big talent. One of Southampton’s players who could definitely stay in the EPL.”

With Villa, Leeds, and Palace all eyeing up a move for the youngster, he won’t remain on the south coast for long. That much is certain.

According to WhoScored, both McGinn and Fernandes count dribbling as a major strength, which means they often end up in the final third and tend to get fouled more often than other players.

Emery could do with another midfielder who loves bombing into dangerous areas, allowing the likes of Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana to do the dirty work.

On paper, he looks like a wise investment indeed.

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Tottenham Hotspur are now prepared to shell out a significant sum for one “impressive” forward wanted by Bayern Munich, with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and technical director Johan Lange doing their homework ahead of the summer window.

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Uncertainty still surrounds the long-term future of manager Ange Postecoglou, but if the Australian does end up departing N17, he’ll be determined to end his two-year stay on a major high, following the tactician’s early-season suggestion that he always wins trophies during his second term in charge.

Crystal Palace (home)

May 10th

Aston Villa (away)

May 18th

Brighton (home)

May 25th

Some bad news for Spurs is that star midfielder James Maddison will be absent from their semi-final clash and most likely the final, with the England international sustaining a serious knee injury.

Postecoglou has some key decisions to make in regard to who starts Thursday’s vital clash in Norway, and their London derby draw against West Ham over the weekend served as an audition for potential starters.

“The beauty about today was that a lot of our guys who haven’t played a lot of minutes recently, we’ve got some real meaningful minutes and I thought we did well on the day,” said Postecoglou after Tottenham’s 1-1 draw against West Ham.

“It’s important for Deki to play. He’s missed so much football with his injury, and he’s just getting back into some rhythm.

“Pape, Archie Gray, the two wingers, Mathys and guys like Djed and Kevin, I just think it’s really important those guys play and have Biss back up again for another 90 minutes and even Richy to play again. It’s been a juggling act for sure to try to get to a position where we’ve got a squad that’s capable of tackling what’s ahead. We’re still cursed with some bad luck along the way, but I was really pleased the guys that got the minutes today.”

Tottenham "ready to pay" £25 million-plus for Tim Kleindienst

Following a 2024/2025 campaign riddled with injuries to key men, Levy and Lange must back Postecoglou or any prospective new manager with fresh faces ahead of next season.

Tottenham are believed to be in the market for a new forward, and another name now attracting their attention is Borussia Mönchengladbach striker Tim Kleindienst.

The “underrated” and prolific German is enjoying the season of his life, having racked up 16 goals and 10 assists in all competitions, not to mention four goals in six caps at international level.

According to CaughtOffside, who labelled him “impressive”, Tottenham are “ready to pay” £25 million-plus for Kleindienst this summer and potentially sign him ahead of Kompany’s Bayern.

The Bavarians’ interest in him is a clear indicator of just how much the centre-forward has impressed in the Bundesliga this term, but Spurs are not the only Premier League side contending for his services either, so Kleindienst’s future will be an intriguing story of the summer.

Chelsea are in contact with the representatives of a forward who Arsenal have met with in the last few days, and it appears the Premier League rival duo are in a hotly-contested race for his signature.

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Uncertainty surrounds Mykhailo Mudryk’s long-term future after a failed drugs test, while Noni Madueke is attracting interest from Newcastle and Aston Villa. It also isn’t a forgone conclusion that Chelsea sign Jadon Sancho from Man United permanently, so BlueCo are understandably looking at other options.

Chelsea’s next five Premier League fixtures

Date

Brentford (away)

April 6th

Ipswich Town (home)

April 13th

Fulham (away)

April 20th

Everton (home)

April 26th

Liverpool (home)

May 4th

Jamie Gittens (Borussia Dortmund), Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City), Kenan Yildiz (Juventus) and Yeremay Hernandez (Malaga) are among the wingers being targeted by Chelsea ahead of the summer window, according to journalist Simon Phillips. However, as per the reporter and other media sources, one name stands out among them.

£200,000-per-week Athletic Bilbao starlet Nico Williams is at the centre of keen interest from Chelsea, following a sensational 2024 for the exciting Spain starlet.

The 22-year-old chalked up 19 assists in all competitions last season and helped his national team to European Championship glory, with The Guardian’s Ed Aarons reporting that Williams is expected to push for a summer exit.

His contract includes a £48 million release clause as well, which would be affordable from a Chelsea perspective, but the major obstacle lies in his extortionate wage demands, rumoured to be around £300,000-per-week.

It is believed Williams is a top target for Chelsea heading into the summer, but they face stiff competition from Arsenal. Their new sporting director, Andrea Berta, met with the representatives of Bilbao’s sensation in the last few days (Foot Mercato), with the Gunners attempting to steal a march on their London neighbours.

Chelsea make contact with Nico Williams' representatives

Now, as per Phillips on his Substack, Chelsea have also reached out to Williams’ camp as they try to compete with Arsenal.

However, as predicted, the salary issue remains a significant stumbling block in any proposed negotiation – something which the Blues are doing their best to navigate.

“The club are planning to revisit the wages side of this deal and have made contact again with his agents to see if anything is plausible,” wrote the reporter.

“Williams stays a big target, but something would need to give with his wages, just like with Victor Osimhen who would still be Chelsea’s first choice striker target if they could agree on wages.”

The Spaniard, statistically, is one of La Liga’s most frightening dribblers with the division’s fifth-highest rate of successful take-ons per 90 (WhoScored).

He’d be a hugely exciting addition for Chelsea, and you can never count the west Londoners out of any transfer race these days. That being said, BlueCo won’t be keen on putting a dent in their carefully organised wage structure, so there appears to be plenty to do in talks for the player as Arsenal provide a serious threat.

India had won 12 consecutive internationals across formats before their shock defeat in Harare

Sampath Bandarupalli06-Jul-20242 – India became only the second men’s T20 World Cup champions to lose their first T20I after the title win, though of course this was a completely different playing XI in Harare to the one that clinched the title in West Indies last week. England, who won the title in November 2022, also lost their first T20I outing as the World Champions, against Bangladesh in March 2023.116 – The target India failed to chase against Zimbabwe in Harare is the lowest they have failed to get in a full 20-over men’s T20I. The previous lowest failed chase was 127 against New Zealand in the 2016 T20 World Cup.Related

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12 – Consecutive wins for India in men’s internationals before this defeat. It was their joint-longest winning streak across formats, levelling their feat in 2017.India’s last defeat was against England in the Hyderabad Test, after which they won four Tests on the trot and all eight matches at the T20 World Cup.12 – T20I matches without a defeat for India before the loss against Zimbabwe on Saturday. Their last defeat in this format came against South Africa in December 2023.India won outright 11 of the 12 T20Is between their two recent defeats, while another game ended in a tie, which they won in the Super Over. It was India’s longest unbeaten streak in the format, equaling their 12-match winning streak between 2021 and 2022.102 – India’s total against Zimbabwe is their second-lowest in a run chase in men’s T20Is. Their lowest is 76 all-out against New Zealand in pursuit of the 127-run target in the 2016 World Cup.It is also the third-lowest total for a Full Member against Zimbabwe in T20Is, behind West Indies’ 79 for 7 in 2010 and Pakistan’s 99 all out in 2021.15 – Player-of-the-Match awards in T20Is for Sikandar Raza. These are the joint-second most awards for anyone in men’s T20Is, alongside Suryakumar Yadav (15) and only behind Virat Kohli (16). Six of Raza’s 16 match awards have come while leading Zimbabwe in 20 T20Is.7 – Number of batters dismissed for a duck in Harare between Zimbabwe (4) and India (3). These are the second-most ducks in a men’s T20I involving Full Members, behind the eight ducks in the 2010 T20I between West Indies and Zimbabwe in Port-of-Spain.25* – Partnership runs for the tenth wicket between Clive Madande and Tendai Chatara in Zimbabwe’s innings. Madande scored all 25, off the 18 balls he faced in that partnership, while Chatara remained unbeaten on zero off nine balls.

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Roller: White-ball revolution will be Morgan’s lasting legacy

All-out attack
At the 2015 50-over World Cup, England played a style of ODI cricket that had long passed its sell-by date: their batters scored at 5.48 per over across the tournament, compared to champions Australia’s 6.82. The rule changes introduced in early 2013 – two new balls, and shifts in fielding restrictions – had altered the way the format was played but England did not seem to have noticed.Morgan was in charge for that World Cup but had been appointed so close to the tournament that he had scant opportunity to change England’s philosophy. In their first game of the 2015-19 cycle, they reached 400 for the first time in an ODI with a new-look, ultra-attacking side built on the principle that batting strength was a clear predictor of success in World Cups.Related

• Eoin Morgan takes his leave as England captain with one final act of self-awareness

• Eoin Morgan: Maverick, pioneer, game-changer

Crucially, Morgan stuck with his all-guns-blazing approach even in choppy waters. In the third ODI of the new era, against New Zealand in 2015, England were bowled out for 302 in 45.2 overs. “It doesn’t disappoint me,” he said. “I want the guys to continue with that [attacking] mindset and not worry about batting 50 overs: I think that makes guys hesitate and question their natural way of playing and I don’t want that to happen.”At the 2019 World Cup, England were the tournament’s fastest-scoring team by a distance and lifted the trophy at Lord’s.Building experience

Andrew Strauss commissioned a review into England’s white-ball cricket when he was appointed as managing director in 2015. One of its key findings was that ODI experience was a key contributor to success in World Cups, as measured by the number of caps in the squad: to win in 2019, Morgan and England would have to back a core of players over a sustained period of time.In the 2015-19 cycle, England gave at least 40 caps to 13 different players and backed their long-term planning rather than over-reacting to form. Jason Roy, for example, didn’t reach 40 against New Zealand in his first full ODI series, “but because he kept attacking, kept playing in the right way for his role in the team, he was kept in,” Paul Farbrace has recalled. “He started to get his runs later that summer, and has never really looked back.”Adaptability

Morgan recognised that England’s attacking style suited the flat pitches and short boundaries they normally found on home soil but left them vulnerable on slower surfaces. “The wickets are going to be slow, low, they will wear – that’s the nature of ICC events,” he said during the 2019 World Cup.England were tested on those pitches, losing to Sri Lanka at Headingley and to Australia at Lord’s, but faced with consecutive must-win games at the end of the group stages, they doubled down on their style, racking up 337 for 7 and 305 for 8 against India and New Zealand. In the final, they were bogged down by Colin de Grandhomme in the middle overs but scrapped their way to 241 thanks to Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes’ measured restraint, enough to force a Super Over.England were also adaptable when it came to selection, as shown by two major calls on the eve of the World Cup. When Jofra Archer, one of the world’s leading T20 bowlers, became available, he was selected at short notice ahead of David Willey. He was their leading wicket-taker in the tournament and sealed their win in the final, holding his nerve in the Super Over.The other was the decision to remove Alex Hales from the squad after news of a second failed drugs test came to light shortly before the tournament. Only six months earlier, Morgan – along with Joe Root, the then Test captain – had outlined a mantra of “courage, unity and respect” for England players to follow during a tour of Sri Lanka. Hales’ actions were deemed to have fallen short, and he was axed. It was a risk – not least because James Vince, his replacement, struggled in the World Cup – but it was ultimately vindicated by the trophy.Building depth

The clarity of Morgan’s message quickly filtered down into county cricket: scoring rates in the domestic 50-over competition, the Royal London Cup, climbed from 5.38 in 2015 to 5.99 in 2019. And players increasingly took opportunities to travel the world in the off-season and play franchise cricket in order to become more versatile and develop their skills overseas.Morgan embodied his belief that more England players should play franchise cricket, missing the first ODI after the 2015 World Cup – a washout in his native Ireland – in order to stay with Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IPL. By 2021, every member of the team England fielded in the T20 World Cup semi-final had played at least one game at the IPL in their career and most said the tournament had played a significant role in their development.Last summer, England’s first-choice ODI squad were forced to self-isolate following a Covid-19 outbreak, but a hastily assembled second-string side then whitewashed a full-strength Pakistan, playing in the same attacking style that Morgan had pioneered. By 2022, there were so many talented batters that Morgan could not command a place in the side based on his batting alone; the depth he had engineered rendered him surplus to requirement.Embracing diversity
Perhaps Morgan’s greatest legacy will be the extent to which he has championed diversity in his side. “I spoke to Adil [Rashid] and he said Allah was definitely with us. I said we had the rub of the green,” Morgan said after the 2019 final. “It actually epitomises our team.”In his final series in the role, Morgan was consulted about Rashid’s desire to skip fixtures against India in order to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. “There were no questions asked,” Rashid told ESPNcricinfo. “That’s a big credit to Morgs for making that environment… it’s been like that with England for the past seven years since 2015.”

India have gone unbeaten in 11 straight youth World Cup games, spanning two editions of the tournament

Bharath Seervi04-Feb-20201 – India’s 10-wicket victory against Pakistan in the semi-final in Potchefstroom is the first by such a margin by any team in knockout matches at the Under-19 World Cup. Before this, there have been two nine-wicket wins in the knockout games – one each by Australia (2006) and South Africa (2014).4 – Number of ten-wicket wins for India in U-19 World Cup matches. All four wins have come in the last two editions – two in 2018 and two at this year’s World Cup. India had defeated Japan by 10 wickets in their second match of this tournament.11 – Number of consecutive wins for India in U-19 World Cup matches. Their last defeat was in the final of 2016 edition against West Indies. Since then they have won all their games – six in 2018 and five in 2020.ESPNcricinfo Ltd156 – Yashasvi Jaiswal’s average in this tournament. He has scored 312 runs in five innings and has been dismissed only twice. At present he is the highest run-getter of this year’s edition, with scores of 59, 29*, 57*, 62 and 105*. His average is the highest by a batsman in an U-19 World Cup tournament (minimum 300 runs scored).9 – Batsmen to have scored centuries in the semi-final or final of U-19 World Cups. Incidentally, the last five batsmen to do so have all been Indians – Cheteshwar Pujara (2006 semi-final), Unmukt Chand (2012 final), Shubman Gill (2018 semi-final), Manjot Kalra (2018 final), and now Jaiswal. Overall, six of the nine batsmen who have scored hundreds in the semis or final of U-19 World Cups have been Indians.176* – The partnership between Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena – it is the second-highest for any wicket for any team in knockout matches at the U-19 World Cup. The only bigger stand was 177 by Imam-ul-Haq and Sami Aslam for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 2014 quarter-final. For India, it is the second-biggest opening stand at the Under-19 World Cup and the fourth-highest opening partnership in U-19 ODIs.5-5 – Results between India and Pakistan in U-19 World Cup matches. India have won the last four games between these sides, from 2012 onwards, while the four matches before that were all won by Pakistan. In their previous game before today, the 2018 semi-final, India had won by 203 runs.