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David Moyes’ first spell in charge of Everton lasted 12 years, ending in 2013. He certainly left his mark on the football club, helping them to qualify for Europe numerous times during his first stint on Merseyside.

Some iconic players donned that famous Blue shirt in Moyes’ first spell in charge of the Toffees. Wayne Rooney is probably the most famous. Everton’s Scottish boss can take the credit for bringing the former England international into their first team in the first place.

One of the most notable Premier League full-back pairings of Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines, were also given their first chance under Moyes.

Another player who will live long in the memory of Toffees fans is Tim Cahill.

Cahill’s most iconic moments under Moyes

There is a strong case to be made that former Toffees attacking midfielder Cahill is the greatest Australian footballer of all time. He left a huge stamp on Everton during his 278-game career at Goodison Park.

Every single one of those appearances came under the tutelage of Moyes. The Scot first brought him to Merseyside in the 2004/05 season, and platformed him so well, to the point Cahill left the club with 68 goals and 29 assists, more often than not from the number 10 role.

The Blue Kangaroo, as he was lovingly dubbed during his time on Merseyside, had some iconic moments under Moyes. His first campaign saw him bag 11 Premier League goals, the most he managed during his time at the club.

Who can forget that iconic boxing celebration when he scored, where Cahill would punch the corner flag.

They tended to go hand in hand with his headed efforts, a real trademark of the Australian’s attacking play.

Moyes would surely love to have Cahill in his side today, a player who ‘conjured moments of brilliance when they were needed most’, as Russell Jackson once said in The Guardian.

Well, perhaps there is a player who can replicate his impact.

Moyes’ new Tim Cahill

In their current squad under Moyes, Everton have a few players who can make a real difference. Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye have been the two real standouts at the Hill Dickinson Stadium this season.

Yet, it could be the case that Carlos Alcaraz could be seen as Moyes’ new Cahill, a link that football analyst Ben Mattinson made. The attacking midfielder turned his January loan move permanent this summer and has made a good impact in his short time at the club so far.

The 22-year-old, who earns £20k per week on Merseyside, has featured 23 times for the club so far. In that time, he’s found the back of the net three times and assisted the same number of goals.

He averages a goal or assist every 178 minutes in Blue.

In his first start for Everton, away to Crystal Palace last season, the Argentine “sensation,” as football scout Antonio Mango described him, assisted the first and scored the winner in a 2-1 victory.

There was certainly a little bit of Cahill about that goal, too. Alcaraz followed up a loose ball in the penalty box and smashed home the winner from 12 yards out.

It was a clinical goal, and certainly a brilliant contribution when his side most needed him, just like Cahill used to produce.

The stats from last season further highlight how he can create big moments in the same vein as Cahill.

For example, he averaged 0.7 goal-creating actions per 90 minutes, placing him in the top 7% of Premier League attacking midfielders.

That goal-creating actions stat, and others, show how well the 22-year-old is always involved in the attacking play for Everton, even if he’s not directly scoring or assisting himself.

The determination with which he plays is certainly similar to Cahill.

Moyes would love a player of Cahill’s profile in his current side. In Alcaraz, he might have that player, who can produce magic moments from nowhere, during this exciting new era at Bramley Moore Dock.

Moyes has unearthed Everton's brand new Fellaini with "enormous potential"

This Everton star could recreate Fellaini’s role under Moyes

By
Joe Nuttall

Oct 9, 2025

The Padres are reportedly keeping their managerial job within the organizational family.

San Diego is hiring front-office assistant Craig Stammen as its next manager, according to a Thursday morning report from Jon Heyman of the . Stammen, 41, pitched for the Padres from 2017 to '22.

In 2024, Stammen assumed a baseball operations role with San Diego focused on player development.

Born in rural Ohio, Stammen pitched collegiately for Dayton before the Nationals drafted him in 2005. After several up-and-down years shuttling between the rotation and bullpen, he broke through as a reliever for the Nationals' first playoff team in 2012.

He spent seven years with Washington and six with the Padres in all, and now will be tasked with injecting life into a San Diego team that disappointed in 2025. The Padres went 90–72 but failed to advance out of the wild-card round; since their ballyhooed postseason return in 2020, San Diego hasn't gone farther than the NLCS in Stammen's last season.

The Padres will open Stammen's first season on March 26 against the Tigers.

For the second straight year, no MLB team finished the regular season with 100 wins. In 2024, that resulted in the Yankees and Dodgers, a pair of No. 1 seeds and teams from the sport’s two biggest markets, qualifying for the World Series. What will happen this year with both of those franchises starting their postseason runs Tuesday in the wild-card round?

SI senior writers Tom Verducci, Stephanie Apstein and Ryan Phillips along with editors Will Laws and Nick Selbe make their picks all the way through the World Series as well as some bold predictions.

American League Bracket

Tom Verducci

AL Wild Card: Guardians over Tigers
AL Wild Card: Yankees over Red Sox
AL Division Series: Mariners over Guardians
AL Division Series: Yankees over Blue Jays
AL Championship Series: Yankees over Mariners

Stephanie Apstein

AL Wild Card: Guardians over Tigers
AL Wild Card: Yankees over Red Sox
AL Division Series: Mariners over Guardians
AL Division Series: Yankees over Blue Jays
AL Championship Series: Yankees over Mariners

The Yankees are an incredibly flawed baseball team, but they are so talented that I think they're going to get away with it. You don't have to know how many outs there are in the inning if you just club the ball over the fence all the time. That said, I think eventually they will face a team that's more talented and less flawed, and they'll be in some trouble. (See below.) 

Will Laws

AL Wild Card: Tigers over Guardians
AL Wild Card: Red Sox over Yankees
AL Division Series: Mariners over Tigers
AL Division Series: Blue Jays over Red Sox
AL Championship Series: Mariners over Blue Jays

The AL’s two best pitchers can help their teams pull off first-round upsets. The Blue Jays are the most overlooked No. 1 seed in recent memory, which could fuel them to the World Series, but I have a hard time overlooking the lack of swing-and-miss in their gray-haired rotation. It’s about time Seattle made a World Series—and after the Mariners’ midseason moves, they have enough offense to support their stellar pitching staff.

Nick Selbe

AL Wild Card: Guardians over Tigers
AL Wild Card: Yankees over Red Sox
AL Division Series: Mariners over Guardians
AL Division Series: Yankees over Blue Jays
AL Championship Series: Mariners over Yankees

The Yankees have the offensive firepower. The Mariners have a loaded pitching staff. The difference will be Seattle's much-improved offense, with Julio Rodríguez possessing the star power to seize the moment on the big stage. Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor, Randy Arozarena and Eugenio Suárez provide enough thump to give the Mariners their first-ever World Series appearance.

Ryan Phillips

AL Wild Card: Guardians over Tigers
AL Wild Card: Yankees over Red Sox
AL Division Series: Mariners over Guardians
AL Division Series: Yankees over Blue Jays
AL Championship Series: Mariners over Yankees

LOS ANGELES — From a business perspective, there has never been any question that Shohei Ohtani is most valuable to the Dodgers as a two-way star: Designated hitters don’t tend to become national heroes in Japan and earn their teams an estimated $70 million in sponsorship revenue. From the player’s standpoint, there has never been any discussion, either.

“The reason why I’m a two-way player is because that’s who I am, and it’s what I can do,” Ohtani said last week.

But viewed through the lens of baseball, there was reason to be cautious. It wasn’t just the injury concern, although that certainly caught the Dodgers’ attention; Ohtani’s return to pitching this season has come after his second elbow reconstruction. “There is a cost,” acknowledges manager Dave Roberts. He adds, “What [another ailment] would essentially do is lose two players.”

People at the airport, on bikes, on trucks, the BCB – everyone wanted a slice of Akbar Ali and Co

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur12-Feb-2020Soon after arriving in Mirpur, Bangladesh’s Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Akbar Ali sat straight-faced between BCB president Nazmul Hasan and coach Naveed Nawaz at a press conference. Having arrived in the city from South Africa at 5pm local time, they made their way through the crowds of media crews, selfie-seekers, and hangers-on at the airport. Akbar first met his father at the VIP lounge after getting past the initial crowd of photographers and the airport staff.The short walkway from the VIP lounge building to the team bus was filled with flowers for both the players and the support staff. Rakibul Hasan and Shoriful Islam had wide smiles on their faces and the BCB enlivened the occasion by linking up Mrittunjoy Chowdhury with the squad when they took the bus. The allrounder had been forced to return home midway through the World Cup due to a shoulder injury.ALSO READ: The buzz in Bangladesh – Under-19 world champions are the toast of the townAkbar and his team-mates watched thousands line up on one side of the highway as the roads were shut down in order to get the players to their destination quickly. In addition to hundreds of bikes, there were pick-up trucks with several people, holding posters and banners, and cheering on the World Cup winners.When the players reached the Shere Bangla National Stadium’s gate at around 6.30pm, a larger crowd was waiting for them. Chants of “Bangladesh! Bangladesh! Bangladesh!” reverberated through the area as they entered the stadium. There was also a similarly big crowd waiting to catch a slice of the champions inside the stadium. They eventually walked through the entrance to the playing arena, on a red carpet, to massive cheers.

The Bangladesh U-19 team are welcomed home as heroes pic.twitter.com/z7lvDIoHMY

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) February 12, 2020

The selfie-seekers then approached the players, who were then given a few minutes to rest behind the stage. There, some of their friends, who had come from Mirpur and other areas, welcomed the players home.Then, they cut a cake, waved at the crowd and headed to the home dressing room. When Akbar was finally seated in the press conference room, he must’ve been tired.However, his face lit up as soon as the World Cup trophy appeared. He looked at his coach, exchanging smiles and some words. After a week, the players are likely to be given a civic reception in Dhaka.During the press conference, Nazmul also announced that the victorious Under-19 cricketers will be enrolled into a new Under-21 unit of the board to sharpen their skills and prepare them for international cricket. Each player will be paid BDT 100,000 (approximately USD 1,250) per month during the two years of this training.Bangladesh’s Under-19 stars received a rousing welcome•Raton Gomes/BCB”They will be getting specialised training to upgrade their skills,” Nazmul said. “They will be paid BDT 100,000 per month for these two years. Our fund for this is unlimited. It will be renewed after two years if they improve. If anyone shows lack of interest, he will not be given the contract. We want to make their path to the senior team easier, and for that we will also arrange tours for them.”Akbar largely flew under the radar during the World Cup, but Nawaz was particularly impressed with how he had gone about his business calmly. Akbar’s sound temperament was on bright display in the final, where he steered the side home with an unbeaten 43.”I think Akbar was the least talked about player up to the World Cup final,” Nawaz said “He has done unbelievable things in the last two years. He bats at No. 7 and does the hardest things for us. I don’t think he batted in New Zealand and Sri Lanka. We sometimes had to shuffle the batting order to give Nos. 6 and 7 a hit in the middle.”We always knew he had the temperament and confidence to finish games. He is one of the best players under pressure, keeping his cool. As long as he is in the middle, we have the confidence in the dressing room that we can win the game.”Nawaz was also pleased with the clarity the players had shown in their roles and in assessing the conditions in Potchefstroom.”The boys played a lot of cricket in 2019,” he said. “They were experienced by the time the World Cup began, and they were clear of their individual roles. We had specific plans, particularly to play on the Potchefstroom wicket, where 250 is a good score. It was drilled into the players that we don’t need to do too much.”The Under-19 players will spend the night at the BCB’s Academy residency before heading home to see their families. Shahadat Hossain can return to his mother who worked extra hard to put food on the table after his father had passed away. Shahin Alam will reunite with his father, a brick-kiln worker in a remote village in Kurigram, while Rakibul can rejoice with his parents, and perhaps crack a joke or two about spending money – that was meant to be saved for a tutor – on joining a cricket academy.Akbar will walk into his home in Rangpur where his sister had passed away last week. What his family must be going through is inexplicable, but Akbar has displayed great composure through the personal turmoil, delivering Bangladesh the Under-19 World Cup title.Can he maintain that composure and make the step up to the next level?

From that unforgettable 5 for 6 to the less heralded but no less scintillating none for 19

Danyal Rasool17-Oct-20204-0-15-3 – Pakistan vs New Zealand, 2007 T20 World Cup semi-final
Halfway through this game, New Zealand sat relatively comfortably at 72 for 1, with Scott Styris and Brendon McCullum at the crease, as they looked for a strong finish. Shoaib Malik threw the ball to Gul in the 12th over, and as he began to grind through his gears, New Zealand’s momentum was cut to ribbons. The first over yielded three, before Gul sent down the first of the yorkers that would become a trademark. Two wickets in his second over saw the back of both Styris and Peter Fulton, before Gul went around the wicket to the big hitting Jacob Oram, a full delivery coaxing an edge through to the keeper. He would tie Ross Taylor up in the 18th over too, allowing just four runs, to finish his spell having given away just 15 runs. By this time, NZ were seven down for 120, and Gul had made the job much easier for Pakistan in the chase.4-0-28-3 – Pakistan vs India, 2007 T20 World Cup final
One of Gul’s best international performances, yet without doubt the most bittersweet. Once more, he was thrust in after India had begun well. Gautam Gambhir had just smashed Shahid Afridi for six, and at 82 for 2 in 11, India were slightly ahead. A wayward first over was followed by the wicket of the in-form Yuvraj Singh, the batsman too early on the shot with Gul completing a smart return catch. It would get better in his next when MS Dhoni tried to smash him out of Johannesburg. Gul’s delivery was like a guided missile locked in on its target, and as Dhoni connected with air, Gul left his stumps in a mess. There was time enough to snare Gambhir off his last ball, an attempted yorker the left-hander tried to paddle sweep, only to find Mohammad Asif at short fine-leg. Gul had single-handedly given Pakistan a huge sniff, even though they ended up agonisingly short.To many, Umar Gul’s 3-0-6-5 remains the best T20 spell ever•PA Images via Getty Images4-0-23-4 – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2008
Gul was a high-value pick in the inaugural edition of the IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders, and he made good on the hype; only two bowlers – Sohail Tanvir and Shoaib Akhtar – had a better average than him all season. But it was in his final match that Gul served up his best IPL performance. Opening the bowling, he trapped James Hopes in front, before returning at the death to consign Kumar Sangakkara, who had raced to 64, to the same fate. The lower-middle order would then be no match for the yorker specialist, with Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla cleaned up in successive balls to restrict Kings XI Punjab to 174. He would go on to play a role with the bat, too, blitzing 24 off 11 to set up a final-over victory for his side alongside Sourav Ganguly.3-0-6-5 – Pakistan vs New Zealand, 2009 T20 World Cup
If Gul wanted to have his achievements tattooed on his person, his figures in this match would make the cut. The best T20I figures at the time – to many, the best spell in T20I history no matter what the record books say – Gul ripped the heart out of New Zealand to convert a contest into a cakewalk. Only introduced in the 13th over, Gul made sure New Zealand were done before he could finish his spell. The wicket of Styris – thanks to a 35-metre running catch from Afridi – set things in motion, but it was all Gul thereafter. His devastating yorkers sent Peter McGlashan back, before he returned to rattle the stumps of Nathan McCullum and James Franklin with toe-crushers far better batsmen would have been helpless against. Kyle Mills’ scalp completed the five-for, and New Zealand were shot out for 99.3-0-19-0 – Pakistan vs South Africa, 2009 T20 World Cup semi-final
An unlikely candidate based on the figures, perhaps, but you’d have to remember the game, and the extraordinary tautness of the mood, to understand why this makes the list. Pakistan had set South Africa 150 to chase down for a spot in the final, and Jacques Kallis looked like he had set the foundation for the chase. Gul himself was spanked for ten in his first, but a splendid 17th over, just after Fawad Alam had conceded 15, saw the asking rate soar above 12.He wouldn’t get any wickets, but the length meant Kallis could never get under the ball, and the pendulum swung Pakistan’s way. It came down to the penultimate over, with South Africa needing 28, and Gul needed to rein in Albie Morkel and JP Duminy. In a glorious chapter of Golden Age Umar Gul, South Africa had to face six yorkers in a row; they might well have all landed in the same spot for their accuracy. Just six singles were scavenged from that over, and Gul had booked his side another shot at T20 glory.

Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa calls for transparency, wants quick results from the new panel

Firdose Moonda30-Oct-2020
Analyse and act on the forensic report used to fire former CEO Thabang Moroe
South African cricket’s best-kept secret is this document, which has only been seen by three former CSA independent board directors and Mthethwa, and which can only be viewed by those willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement. A summary released by CSA did reveal some of the contents of the report, including financial misconduct on the part of Moroe, and implicated several former board members including Beresford Williams, acting president till the other day.Mthethwa wants the interim board to study the report and act on it, including taking any actions against parties who are proven guilty of wrongdoing, and he also wants the report to be made available more widely.”This thing that you have a report that is a secret document must come to an end,” Mthethwa said. “It be a document which must be understood and scrutinised; implement what the recommendations are but be at liberty to look at the report itself, critically so, so that there is nothing which is an area you can’t get into.”Implementation of the 2012 Nicholson Report
Eight years ago, when Gerald Majola was investigated and then sacked after being found guilty on nine charges at a disciplinary hearing around the awarding of bonuses during the 2009 IPL, which was held in South Africa because of the Indian general elections, judge Chris Nicholson compiled a report which made recommendations including about how CSA should constitute its board. Nicholson suggested the board be made up of as many independent directors as non-independents (people from within the members’ council) and that the chairperson be independent too. To date, CSA has not implemented this. Instead, it had a board made up of a majority of non-independent directors and a president chosen from that, and a minority of independents. Part of the reason CSA did that was to please the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), which did not approve of a majority of independent directors.The performance of the national team will play a role in deciding what CSA has to bargain with when it comes to a new broadcast deal.•BCCINow that Mthethwa has taken over the case of CSA from SASCOC, he has insisted that the Nicholson recommendations are put in place. Therefore, the job of the interim board is likely to be to determine a process by which the permanent board will be appointed, bearing in mind the Nicholson report’s criteria.Review board decisions taken since 2019
Although the summary of the forensic report that was used to fire Moroe indicated that many of Moroe’s actions, especially with regard to deals over the Mzansi Super League, were undertaken without the board’s knowledge, the board made several of its own decisions which Mthethwa wants the interim structure to look into.”This team is going to look into everything, including the decisions that were taken by the board that resigned,” he said. That would include things like the firing of five members of staff other than Moroe – which includes former COO Naasai Appiah, former head of sales and commercial Clive Eksteen, both of whom are fighting their dismissals in court – and decisions over the structure of cricket operations and the domestic game.Make South African cricket great again
Strictly speaking, this is the job of the executive (the CEO, acting in this case, and those who work in the office) and the players, but the board is responsible for making sure that the right things get done. In the last year, CSA has attracted “public criticism around how (it) has conducted its affairs, particularly in the areas of leadership, governance, transformation, selection of teams and so on from various interest groups within and outside of cricket”, as Mtethwa pointed out, it has lost sponsors and will be on the back foot when negotiations for a new broadcast deal begin. CSA’s deal with pay-television channel SuperSport ends in April next year, by which time the performance of the national teams over the summer will play a role in determining whether the organisation has a strong product to bargain with. The more competitive the teams are, the better the deal CSA can get, and although team form is not in their control, creating an environment that is suitable for growth is.Last summer, South Africa lurched through a string of poor results in India and at home as massive uncertainty shrouded the organisation. A more stable structure may help support stronger results and the rebuilding of a team that used to be on top of the Test rankings and still has unfulfilled ambitions of hoisting a World Cup.

One of the early ones? One dominated by Mumbai? Or a Dhoni special? Our staffers watch the footage and get to arguing

13-Apr-2021Matt Roller, assistant editor: Well, regardless which season was our favourite of the first 13, I’m sure 2021 is going to be the best yet. []Sreshth Shah, sub-editor: Before we get to the contenders, can we all just agree that 2011 was the worst? Ten teams in two groups of five, accompanied by complex match-ups where some teams faced each other only once? (Yes, Deiva, I know CSK won).Roller: 2011 had the highest Kochi Tuskers Kerala coefficient, which means it was the best. I mean, you guys remember those kits, right?Shah: Orange and purple, to symbolise their desire to have the orange-cap and purple-cap holders! Still gives me nightmares.Deivarayan Muthu, sub-editor: Hahaha, back-to-back titles for CSK, but that final was so very one-sided. And, for me, some of these early seasons were bit hit-and-giggle.Roller: To be fair, RCB signing Chris Gayle as a replacement for Dirk Nannes (like for like) was an all-time great off-field move. Orange cap and MVP, and the move that turned him into an IPL legend. But yeah – that format was horrible.Shah: Honestly, Deiva, the hit-and-giggle may have attracted me the most! Most teams were still firming their strategies up. I’m pretty sure the Rajasthan Royals had the worst odds to win IPL 2008, having spent the least money at the auction. And the league still had Pakistani players – Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar among others.Related

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Muthu: Absolutely. The Pakistan flavour in the IPL was something else. What a remarkable debut that was from Shoaib Akhtar at the Eden Gardens – the same venue where he had yorked Tendulkar and Dravid. Shoaib took down Gambhir and Sehwag, then bounced out AB de Villiers with what took off like a NASA rocket. He was touching 150kph and the ground was jiving and grooving to all of that. Sohail Tanvir: purple-cap holder in the first season. Great fun. Anyway, I know this will make me feel me old, but how old were you then, Matt?Roller: Was our combined age less than Imran Tahir’s actual age now? I was ten! [in 2008]Muthu: I was six years older than you. I suck at math, but definitely less than Tahir.Shah: And I was at the ground as a 15-year old doing DX-type celebrations. Never mind…Roller: Shah + Muthu + Roller in IPL 1 = 41; Tahir in IPL 14 = 42. Nice.Muthu: Hahaha, sorry to veer away, but Shawn Michaels was the best among the DX crowd.Shah: So let’s start from the top, shall we? I thought 2008 was excellent, only because we didn’t know what to expect and the proper underdogs went on to clinch the whole thing. Shane Warne leading his troops to battle. The emergence of Yusuf Pathan.But 2009, in South Africa, was even better. Imagine: the teams that finished seventh and eighth in 2008 reached the final the following season! That really cemented the IPL as a league where “anything could happen”. And of course, the old wardog Anil Kumble playing a crucial role in the final. Proving that T20 cricket wasn’t just for the newbies.Roller: 2008 and 2009 were really fun from the “cricketainment” side, but that often made things feel a bit gimmicky, rather than a fully fledged league.Personally, I think the early season that is worth considering is 2010. Third season, teams had developed their identities to a certain extent and were getting smarter about strategy, and you had global T20 specialists like Kieron Pollard beginning to get picked up for huge money after doing so well in the Champion League T20. And the SRT narrative arc: orange cap and MVP, but a match-losing innings in the final.Sizzling in South Africa: Adam Gilchrist made a 35-ball 85 to take the Deccan Chargers into the 2009 IPL final•Themba Hadebe/Associated PressShah: Don’t forget table-toppers Delhi Daredevils finishing with ten wins out of 14 in the league stage in 2009, only to get knocked out by an Adam Gilchrist masterclass in the semi. That was one of the last of the “knockout-style semis”.Muthu: That’s certainly missing in the IPL these days.Shah: Matt, 2010 should be in consideration only because of the list of players who put up match-winning performances: Nannes, Dmitri Mascarenhas, Justin Kemp – remembering him taking 3 for 12 against Kolkata for CSK – and Juan “Rusty” Theron!I’d still place 2009 above 2008 and 2010 among the first three seasons.Roller: I don’t think the early ones come close to anything that’s happened in the past five editions. If you can ignore the nostalgia, then it feels pretty clear to me that the standard has shot up, T20 has evolved in plain sight, and each of the last five seasons has been brilliant in terms of the race for the playoffs in particular – all of them going down to the final day of the group stage, I think?Shah: Thanks for bursting the (sorry to drop that all-important word these days) bubble, Matt, and bringing us all back to reality.Muthu: Yeah, I’d agree with Matt that the first couple of seasons were more about “cricketainment”. In the 2010 season, there was a bit of strategy, and it marked the arrival of Pollard. It was also one where spinners started to bowl more often in the powerplay. Ramesh Powar for Kings XI Punjab. Andrew Symonds used to take the new ball against the lefties. R Ashwin and Muttiah Muralitharan were CSK’s powerplay spinners. The best strategic move that season has to be MS Dhoni stationing Matthew Hayden at the edge of the circle at short, straight mid-off and then placing a long-off right behind him, challenging Pollard to hit over both men, but Pollard eventually holed out to Haydos!High-speed chase: Corey Anderson’s unbeaten 95 allowed the Mumbai Indians to get a jaw-dropping 190 in 14.3 overs to qualify for the 2014 playoffs•BCCIRoller: We should acknowledge there’s a big personal aspect to all this too, by the way. I’ll always look back at 2020 particularly fondly because it took place while the UK was heading back into lockdown – it was such good escapism to be able to watch that from mid-afternoon every day for two months while the days were getting shorter and the pubs and restaurants were starting to close again.Muthu: There’s maybe some recency attached to 2020, but it was quite thrilling, delivering one Super Over after another, including a double Super Over. Three teams at 12 points, three teams at 14. Sunrisers Hyderabad qualified with a mere 12 points in 2019, I think. KKR could have qualified in 2020 had they not lost heavily to RCB. Sure, it was CSK’s worst season, but if Dwayne Bravo had limped and rolled out one cutter after another to Axar Patel, even they could have snuck in. Instead, Ravindra Jadeja tossed it into the swinging arc of Axar. There was a gulf between Mumbai and the rest, but If you look at just the other teams, it was pretty close.Shah: Matt, I agree with you too. But just before we go into the last few seasons, the 2014 and 2015 editions deserve shoutouts too. Kolkata won 2014 on the back of nine straight victories – including doing the double over Mumbai in the league phase. And the last game of the league phase in 2014 had Mumbai Indians chasing 190 in 14.3 overs thanks to Corey Anderson (and Aditya Tare’s last-ball six), which left Rahul Dravid throwing his cap on the floor.And in 2015, Mumbai Indians were struggling after the first half of the season. Then they pulled out seven wins in their last eight league games to not only enter the top four but a streak of five wins took them to the top two. It was the first season where they really outmuscled their opponents – the start of an era that’s still running. Both 2014 and 2015 story arcs made for fascinating seasons.Roller: 2014 had the best final, I reckon? Wriddhiman Saha 115 not out off 55 and ends up on the losing side.Encore: after beating the Pune Supergiant by a run in the 2017 final, Mumbai Indians won by the same margin in 2019, against the Chennai Super Kings•Mahesh Kumar A/Associated PressShah: It was the best up until the two one-run wins – Mumbai vs Pune, 2017 and CSK vs Mumbai, 2019.Roller: The UAE leg of 2014 made it quite fun too, in the effect it had on teams’ strategies and the fact that we got to see some pure, uncut #MaxwellBall for a few weeks.Muthu: Pujara and Maxi FTW. I’d put the 2010 final up there too – it was the beginning of the IPL’s fiercest rivalry.Roller: Oh, and nobody thinks 2013 was the best season, right? But it’s worth mentioning that it did have the most iconic IPL innings of all time: Chris Gayle 175 not out.I reckon 2016 is a genuine contender here – the Virat-AB year.Shah: Of course. Sunrisers needing to win all three playoff games, having not finished in the top two. Kohli magic.Roller: And also the season where Gujarat Lions turned up and were unbelievable! Easy to forget they were top of the points table.Shah: It was the only time since the inception of the playoffs that a team outside the top two won.Roller: Those Kohli-AB stands at Chinnaswamy were something else – against the Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers particularly, but they were just next-level good throughout the season. And then for SRH, the unfashionable team playing unfashionable cricket to do the job in the playoffsDouble the appetite: Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers’ together ransacked 939 runs for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2016 season•AFPBen Cutting MOTM in the final! And another thriller – 208 v 200… David Warner scoring 50 every other game… what a season. I think that’s got to be a podium finish as a minimum.Muthu: But these were all seasons where the winning franchise got to play at home and maximise it. Which brings me to 2018. It started with everyone trolling CSK as Dad’s Army. It ended up with Dhoni trolling everyone in typical Dhoni style. The played just one game at Chepauk due to political turmoil and showed that they could win away. Lungi Ngidi was yanked off the bench in Pune and became the enforcer. There was some Dhoni chaos theory, where he inverted his batting order, in Pune. He showed he still had it. There were games where Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma didn’t bowl a single over. Dhoni is often criticised for being rigid, but this was one season where we went against the grain and absorbed all the pressure on comeback.Shah: An overseas player, Mustafizur Rahman, winning the Emerging Player award. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s consistency. It was perhaps the first season that showed you need your bowling smarts to actually win T20 games consistently.Muthu: It was also Rishabh Pant’s coming-of-age season in the IPL. I think he smashed Bhuvi for 40-something off ten-something balls. Rashid was a phenom that season – his all-round brilliance vs KKR in the knockout was stunning.Roller: Agree that 2018 was a really good one – Pant winning emerging player and coming through with some outrageous innings, the Chris Lynn-Sunil Narine combo flourishing, KL Rahul having a great season back when he used to play with intent…Shah: Throw in Narine’s emergence as a pinch-hitter.Muthu: Oh yeah, Narine at the top was peak T20, one of the revelations of the 2018 season.Roller: But equally, the overriding memory is slower-ball specialists doing really well – AJ Tye purple cap! – and I’m not convinced that always makes for the most enjoyable spectacle.Rishabh Pant vs the Sunrisers in 2018•ESPNcricinfo LtdShah: Okay, 2018 has my vote for the best season, pipping 2016 by a whisker. Now to see if 2020 has enough oomph to beat 2018.Muthu: I never expected AJ Tye to hit close to 150kph. Didn’t he bowl the fastest ball this Big Bash, Matt?Roller: Yeah, he has completely reinvented himself, to be fair. But there were a few other guys that season too, Siddharth Kaul for example, bowling knuckleballs and taking 20-plus wickets.Quick one for 2019: the Andre Russell season. I guess a few players leaving early maybe took the sheen off 2019. And there was the constant feeling that it was the warm-up act for the World Cup immediately after. That said, Dre Russ was out of this world – and the final was one of the best, as we’ve mentioned.Muthu: Yeah, Dre’s hitting was unbelievable that year. And that final was the most tactical final in the IPL. Mumbai made CSK dig deep and made Dhoni think like Mumbai do. Then Lasith Malinga, the greatest T20 bowler in the world (that’s a debate for another day), did what he does.Roller: But the real winner for me personally is 2020. My pitch: Everyone needed that season to happen. Expectations were probably a bit lower with the fact that every game was at a neutral venue, there was chaos in the build-up with various positive Covid tests, and uncertainty as to whether the tournament would even happen. But there were so many close games and multiple Super Overs. The most intricate and advanced tactical side of the IPL won, yet there was so little gap between the teams – there was almost nothing between the other seven. Throw in the context of lockdown over here and it’s a clear winner for me.Muthu: But 2020 and 2018 finals turned out to be one-sided affairs, but otherwise the quality of cricket…the playoff line-up being decided on the last day, big-ticket players lighting up the league. To stage the IPL itself during a pandemic was a massive achievement. Agree, it was hotly contested. For me, it’s a tie between 2018 and 2020, with a Super-Over shootout. Or we don’t need one. We know 2021 is gonna be even better.Roller: Back to this for the pay-off line 🙂Muthu: Are we done?Roller: Think so?Shah: 2020 was amazing, considering the constraints teams were facing. Covid, neutral venues, hot playing conditions. Add the end of Chennai Super Kings’ dominance (sorry, CSK fans), Kings XI Punjab losing games they shouldn’t have (against DC, Kolkata). Then the late Kings XI rally. Rahul Tewatia magic, T Natarajan emergence. Amid the terrible year that 2020 was, maybe the IPL saved the year’s face for cricket?

After a stop-start career, the spinner is on the verge of featuring in the WTC final, against the country of his birth

Deivarayan Muthu16-Jun-2021Being a frontline spinner in New Zealand is a thankless job. Just ask Ajaz Patel. He has by far been the best spinner in the Plunket Shield in recent times, but he needed three successive chart-topping seasons – and an injury to Mitchell Santner, who had transformed himself into a batting allrounder in Tests during Mike Hesson’s stint as coach – to break into the New Zealand side, at the age of 30.Patel grabbed 5 for 59 on debut in November 2018, as New Zealand successfully defended 175 in Abu Dhabi for one of their most memorable Test victories. Then, next month, Patel went wicketless in the Wellington and Christchurch Tests against Sri Lanka. His specialist left-arm fingerspin was later needed in Sri Lanka, where New Zealand launched a remarkable comeback to level the series 1-1.Although Patel was not picked for the Australia tour, and then went wicketless at Basin Reserve against India, he was rewarded with a first central contract by mid-2020, with New Zealand leaning towards a spin overhaul. Patel’s accuracy and versatility were valued over Santner’s batting and more defensive left-arm fingerspin. However, a calf injury meant Patel was relegated to the sidelines again and lost his contract, in a T20 World Cup year, playing a single Test.

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After having proven his fitness and form in the domestic competitions, Patel worked his way back into New Zealand’s enlarged squad for the England tour, with the World Test Championship final against India thrown in. Upon arrival at Ageas Bowl, the venue for that WTC final, Patel outlined the challenges faced by a New Zealand frontline spinner.”As a spinner, you thrive on situations where you have an opportunity to contribute to the team and contribute to the environment, especially as a New Zealand spinner, knowing how few opportunities we get,” Patel had said.”No I try not to put any [added] pressure on myself,” he said when asked about his limited opportunities during a separate media interaction later in Birmingham. “I still just try to enjoy my cricket and you know obviously faith is a big factor for me, which allows me to stay grounded and back my abilities and be comfortable with whatever’s thrown towards me. So, I mean, I just make sure I’m still working hard and developing my game and continue to grow so that when the opportunity does come, I try and make the most of it.Ajaz Patel picked four wickets against England at Edgbaston•Getty Images”But, I think there’s no real added pressure. Every time I put the cap on, I look at it as a privilege and try and make the most of the opportunity and try and have fun because at the end of the day, that’s why we play cricket. We play it because we enjoy the game and I suppose it’s still reliving a childhood dream. Representing New Zealand and putting that black baggy on… we take a lot of pride and privilege in that. So, for me, every time I get an opportunity, I go out there, try and have a bit of fun and really put my skills out there and put out there what I’ve been working on while I’ve been away really.”When Patel was recovering from injury last home summer, the team management had recalled Santner, who helped close out the Mount Maunganui Test against Pakistan last home summer. Santner started the England tour as New Zealand’s first-choice spin option at Lord’s and it needed another injury to him to make room for Patel in the team.Patel marked his return with a match haul of four wickets, including that of Joe Root, at Edgbaston, with the old-school virtues of spot bowling on the stumps or finding just enough turn outside off. That has been his formula for success in the Plunket Shield and even in his brief Test career, where he has particularly flourished away from home.Most recently, at Edgbaston, Patel struck in his sixth over to have Ollie Pope nicking off and then pinned Olly Stone with a slider. He backed it up in the second innings by bowling James Bracey and besting Root with extra bounce and fizz.

“I guess it would be quite rewarding to play against India out there and I hope I can sit back and kind of look back at something like that in the future and go: ‘what! that was an amazing time in my career’ and something that any cricketer would cherish for as long as I live. It would be a hell of a story to tell later on.”Ajaz Patel

According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, 56 of his 138 balls pitched on the stumps, resulting in two wickets. All told, nearly 45% of the deliveries he has bowled in Test cricket have threatened the stumps, fetching him 11 of his 26 wickets. He’s usually mindful of not wanting to go searching for the magic ball or the rough.Patel, however, doesn’t quite have the pinpoint accuracy or the vast experience of Ravindra Jadeja, or R Ashwin for that matter, but he’s the best that New Zealand have got right now in Test cricket. From being one among six changes in an under-strength New Zealand XI in the second Test against England, Patel has now regained the lone spin-bowling slot from Santner for the WTC final. If the Southampton track plays true to its nature of aiding spin, Patel could well get the nod ahead of seam-bowling allrounder Colin de Grandhomme, with Kyle Jamieson poised to slot in at No. 7.Related

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From emigrating to New Zealand in 1996, facing omissions at the Under-19 level, moving to Central Districts after not finding a spot in Auckland, then facing further omissions with the national side, Patel is now on the verge of featuring in one of the biggest games for New Zealand, against the country of his birth. That will be “a hell of a story”, right?”I just got goosebumps thinking about it [WTC final against India] to be honest – from where I started my journey in terms of emigrating to New Zealand to then be in a position where you are in the home of cricket, England, to be playing against India, one of the best nations when it comes to cricket, but also I guess your birth country… but representing New Zealand, which I now call home; it’s kind of going full circle, but that’s my cricketing journey,” Patel had said after arriving at the Ageas Bowl earlier this May.”I guess it would be quite rewarding to play against India out there and I hope I can sit back and kind of look back at something like that in the future and go: ‘what! that was an amazing time in my career’ and something that any cricketer would cherish for as long as I live. It would be a hell of a story to tell later on.”

Praise for Australia and Pakistan following an entertaining semi-final in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2021

What a game !! Congrats to the Aussie boys on finding a way to win – well done to @davidwarner31 & Zamps. @MatthewWade13 who was absolutely bloody awesome, well done mate & the Hulk Stoinis was outstanding too. What a final between Aust & NZ at the #ICCT20WorldCup2021

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) November 11, 2021