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It's been a drama-filled week for MLS, with playoff madness, coaching changes and debate over MVP and other league awards

We're basically half way through the first round of MLS playoffs, and so much has happened. As a recap: Inter Miami beat Nashville comfortably in the first of their best of three. Philadelphia needed penalties to get past Chicago. San Diego almost threw it away against Portland – despite being a far superior side. 

Then, on Monday, two coaches – New York Red Bulls' Sandro Schwarz and Colorado Rapids' Chris Armas – were dismissed and third seems set to be rehired at his former club. Minnesota and Seattle tried their best to score against each other, with the former side winning the first game despite putting three shots on target across 120 minutes. 

And it will only continue from here. LAFC and Son Heung-Min are prepped for a postseason run. There are seven coaching vacancies to fill. Say what you will about the three-game first-round format, but it yields plenty of drama. MLS playoff season is mad, but it is also, for that reason, immense fun.

There are also conversations about Messi to be had here. He extended his stay at Miami through 2028 and seems favored for a second-straight MVP. But should there be some doubt, given the strong play of Anders Dreyer at expansion side San Diego? And did Tristan Blackmon deserve Defensive Player of the Year?

GOAL US writers check in on the state of MLS in the latest edition of… The Rondo.  

Getty Images SportWho has impressed in the playoffs, and who has struggled?

Tom Hindle: Vancouver were excellent. They are a total mismatch for Dallas, but you can only beat what's in front of you, and the Canadian side got the job done in style. Book them for a comfortable first-round win. Miami were surprisingly comfortable, too, and more controlled than we have seen them in ages. Philly didn't set the world alight, though, which doesn't do wonders for the Supporters' Shield curse propaganda. 

Ryan Tolmich: All six home teams have, so far, held serve, so nothing to get to panicky about yet. If anything, this seemed a chance for the Portland Timbers to steal one in San Diego, given Hirving Lozano's absence. Instead, they blew their chance by having a player sent off, and that's probably that for them.

Alex Labidou: Inter Miami weren’t exciting, but they were effective in Game 1. That’s a scary thought because in last season’s playoffs it appeared as if they weren’t particularly good at the little things and Atlanta took full advantage. If they keep on focusing on being mistake free and smart, they could finally live up to the hype. On the other hand, one would expect Philadelphia to be more dominant. Yes, they’re up against an upstart Chicago Fire team led by Gregg Berhalter. But the Union were at home and are the Supporters' Shield holders. This was their chance to signal title intent, but they fell flat.

AdvertisementIMGANWere dismissals fair? And which coaching vacancy is most appealing?

TH: The Schwarz one feels harsh. He's a good coach, and sure, the Red Bulls missed the playoffs. But it's a shame that he didn't get the chance to retool and have another go. Then again, the whole thing about Red Bull organization is that they have succession plans in place, so the move itself isn't an immense surprise. In terms of openings, it's gotta be LAFC, even if it has "Ange Postecoglou" written all over it. 

RT: When more than half the league makes the playoffs, there are obvious consequences to missing them, particularly if you're a team expected to be among that group. Both the Rapids and Red Bulls are imperfect teams, but both were strong enough to make the postseason. Changes had to be made. As for the vacancies, Atlanta is the clear leader there, given the resources, while the same can be said for LAFC's soon-to-be-open role once Steve Cherundolo steps down after this season.

AL: The way the seasons played out for both the Red Bulls and Rapids were more surprising. Neither made the playoffs, so it was unlikely for either to stay. League wide, the LAFC job is the most intriguing, while New England offers the most potential – if they can improve their transfer track record.

ImagnWas Tristan Blackmon the right choice as defender of the year?

TH: Sure? There hasn't been a single standout defender in MLS who you can claim has been a legit difference maker this year. But Blackmon has been solid, and Vancouver are a good football team. The logic adds up.

RT: Sounds about right. He has been fantastic all year and, in a big picture sense, the club as a whole deserves recognition for their achievements. Blackmon is far from the only standout, as the Whitecaps have constructed a true team. The defender, though, is more than worthy of the nod after taking a huge leap forward this season.

AL: Mostly, yes, and he’s a testament to perseverance with a breakout year at age 29. Yet, Philadelphia's Jakob Glesnes could have easily won this award as well. There is a case for Co-DOYs here.

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ImagnWho should win coach of the year?

TH: Bradley Carnell, by an absolute mile (with apologies to the always excellent Brian Schmetzer and surprise candidate Jesper Sorensen). 

RT: There are two candidates: Carnell and Sorensen. Both helped their teams wildly overperform expectations, and both have legitimate hopes for MLS Cup. Unfortunately for Sorensen, his case gets dinged, unfairly, because his club spent on Thomas Muller while the Union continued to do Union things. It's not fair, but it likely gets Carnell the nod in what is, otherwise, a pretty even race.

AL: In any other season, this award would have to go to Mikey Varas. But considering Philly’s dominance with a limited payroll and no major star additions, this has to go Carnell.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has provided an injury update on one of his key players after the EFL Cup defeat at the hands of Brentford.

Villa's poor start continues against the Bees

Villa finally found the back of the net on Tuesday night, after failing to score in their opening four Premier League games, but Harvey Elliott’s first goal for the club didn’t count for much, with Brentford ultimately progressing in the EFL Cup.

After a 1-1 draw in normal time, the Bees progressed on penalties, with John McGinn and Matty Cash both missing from the spot, meaning Emery’s side are still searching for their first victory of the campaign.

Emery has been forced to make do without a number of his key players already this season, with the likes of Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley, Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans spending time on the sidelines, but there has now been a promising new update on the latter player.

Reporter Jacob Tanswell subsequently confirmed that Emery is also optimistic that Tielemans could return before the next international break, with the Villa boss stating the central midfielder is likely to be out for one or two more weeks.

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The Villans are ready to make their move.

BySean Markus Clifford Sep 16, 2025 Tielemans' return will be boost for Aston Villa

With the Belgian ruled out against Brentford, Lamare Bogarde was given the nod in central midfield, but the 21-year-old was unable to impact the game in the way he would’ve liked, being shown a yellow card before being replaced by Kamara in the 74th minute.

Tielemans, on the other hand, has been a vitally important player for the Villans over the course of the past two seasons, playing a major role in Emery’s side qualifying for the Champions League and Europa League by regularly providing goals and assists in the Premier League.

Season

Premier League appearances

Goal contributions

2023-24

32

9

2024-25

36

10

The 28-year-old was also arguably Villa’s most consistent player in the Premier League last season, averaging a 7.38 SofaScore match rating across the campaign, which was by far the highest of any player in the squad.

Emery is under no illusions as to just how important the Belgium international is to his side either, saying last season: “He is really doing fantastic work. He is very, very professional. The mentality he has, really I appreciate in the highest level we can achieve.”

As such, it is promising news that Tielemans is set to return within the next two weeks, but it appears as though Aston Villa will have to do without the £150k-a-week midfielder when they take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light this Sunday.

It’s not all good news for Newcastle United back in the Champions League amid reports that they’ve comfortably breached one of UEFA’s rules and could be facing a punishment as a result.

Where Newcastle stand financially

Whilst they were incredibly limited in 2024 when it came to spending in the Premier League, Champions League qualification and player sales quickly solved their domestic problems this summer. As such, Eddie Howe was finally in a position to welcome fresh faces again and after much toing and froing, he secured Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa, Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw and Jacob Ramsey.

Woltemade’s arrival would have come as a particular relief. The German was one of many options on Newcastle’s list of striker targets, as they were handed rejection after rejection. Eventually, it was the Stuttgart striker that arrived and, to his credit, he’s wasted no time before finding his feet – scoring on his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

But after a summer of spending and the record sale of Alexander Isak, where do Newcastle stand financially? Football finance expert Kieram Maguire had his say and compared it to when Aston Villa sold Jack Grealish to Manchester City in 2021.

He told BBC Sport: “It will give them that financial flexibility that they didn’t have 12 months ago when they were forced to do nothing for a couple of windows. You don’t want that repeating, especially when the club are ambitious and aspirational.”

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So, as things stand, it looks as though PIF will satisfy the Premier League’s financial regulations. However, the same may not be said for UEFA’s financial rules. Reports are now suggesting that Newcastle could be facing further trouble away from the pitch.

Newcastle could be facing UEFA punishment

According to The Athletic, Newcastle have comfortably breached UEFA’s loss limit, which allows teams to lose up to £52m over three years. PIF recorded operating losses at St James’ Park worth around £68m in each of the last two seasons and could now be facing a similar punishment to Aston Villa and Chelsea, who were hit with fines earlier this year.

Even after the sale of Isak, the problem that Newcastle have is that UEFA have noted Elliot Anderson’s move to Nottingham Forest as a swap deal with Odysseas Vlachodimos. They’ve also reduced the sale of Allan Saint-Maximin to Al Ahli to nil profit due to the fact that the Saudi club are a shared party with the club.

Whilst the official financial reports for 2024/25 are yet to be released, it doesn’t look good for Newcastle once again. They will hope that this is the final time that they face such issues after selling big in the summer.

For now, however, it looks as though they’re set to join Villa and Chelsea on the list of Premier League clubs to be hit with a fine by UEFA, unless their accounts provide an unexpected twist.

Chelsea are believed to still be active in the summer transfer market, despite having just shored up their attacking line with two deals for Man United winger Alejandro Garnacho and Brighton’s Facundo Buonanotte.

23 transfers, 24 if you count Buonanotte, have been conducted by Chelsea – and that’s not even including their various outgoing loan deals for the likes of Marc Guiu and Aaron Anselmino.

BlueCo’s hustle in the market has yielded over £300 million in player sales with around £320 million spent on new signings, with Enzo Maresca’s side registering a net-spend of just £20 million as they navigate PSR excellently.

Chelsea’s summer transfers
Incoming	Outgoing
Joao Pedro	Noni Madueke
Jamie Gittens	João Félix
Jorrel Hato	Djordje Petrovic
Liam Delap	Lesley Ugochukwu
Dario Essugo	Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Mamadou Sarr	Renato Veiga
Estevao	Armando Broja
Kendry Paez	Carney Chukwuemeka
Alejandro Garnacho	Mathis Amougou
Facundo Buonanotte	Basir Humphreys
	Kepa Arrizabalaga
	Marcus Bettinelli
	Christopher Nkunku
	Alfie Gilchrist

Exits for Christopher Nkunku, Noni Madueke, Mathis Amougou and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have made room for the likes of Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens and Jorrel Hato, but if Chelsea want to register Garnacho and Buonanotte for their Champions League squad next season, more sales could be required.

This is especially the case if Maresca wants to include Barcelona star Fermin Lopez, who is now a top target for Chelsea heading into deadline day after they missed out on Xavi Simons to Tottenham.

The Spaniard has become a key player for Hansi Flick, bagging eight goals and 10 assists in 46 total appearances last season, and Chelsea are believed to be trying their luck to sign him.

Reports suggest Maresca has been in contact with Lopez personally, and Chelsea are prepared to offer Barça a maximum of around £50 million for the player, not to mention a lucrative contract worth £250,000-per-week, but the player’s club want £60m (Sport).

According to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea have even made a £40m bid for Lopez, but Barça are not keen on selling and must rely on the player’s decision to force through a transfer – unless they trigger his seismic £433 million release clause, of course.

Chelsea "working tirelessly" to sign Fermin Lopez after Facundo Buonanotte

As per TEAMtalk, Chelsea are “working tirelessly” to convince Lopez to join them, even after their deal for Buonanotte.

The Blues are ready to offer him a “lucrative” long-term contract, as previously reported, and personal terms aren’t expected to pose any issue in this potential deal.

While Barça are a roadblock, Chelsea appear to be doing all they can on the player front.

TT sources also claim that Lopez is warming to the idea of a Stamford Bridge move, but is yet to fully commit to the idea. The 22-year-old has emotional ties to Barça, having grown up as a lifelong fan, and he’s publicly denied notions he would leave this summer.

That being said, players can pull U-turns, and the prospect of a Premier League move is enticing for any athlete at any level.

Afghanistan offspinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has replaced his countryman AM Ghazanfar in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) squad for IPL 2025. Ghazanfar was ruled out of the Champions Trophy, which starts on Wednesday, and also the the IPL that follows, due to a back injury.The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had tweeted about Ghazanfar’s absence from the Champions Trophy earlier this week, mentioning that he had sustained “a fracture of the L4 vertebra” during Afghanistan’s tour of Zimbabwe last month. Ghazanfar, who had bagged his maiden IPL contract after a bright start to his ODI career, will be out of cricket for four months.Related

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Mujeeb was last seen at the IPL in 2021, when he played a solitary game for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He made his tournament debut as a 17-year-old for Punjab Kings and represented them in 18 games across three seasons from 2018. Mujeeb has 275 T20 wickets at an average of 23.67 and an economy rate of 6.75. Most recently, he was with Paarl Royals at at the SA20, where his side lost to finalists Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Qualifier 2. He was Royals’ highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 14 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 23.14.Until November last year, Mujeeb too was out injured for five months due to a right phalanx (hand) sprain. He returned to action at the Abu Dhabi T10 and then played all three T20Is for Afghanistan on their tour of Zimbabwe, before flying to South Africa for the SA20. He wasn’t picked by Afghanistan for the Champions Trophy, as according to Ahmad Suliman Khil, their interim chief selector, “he has been advised by his doctor to focus on T20s for a while to ensure his full recovery before returning to ODIs”.Mujeeb had gone unsold at the IPL 2025 auction, but now joined MI at a fee of INR 2 crore (approx. US $230,764).

MatériaMais Notícias

O Palmeiras conquistou uma importante vitória por 3 a 0 sobre o Cerro Porteño, em Assunção, nesta quarta-feira (24), pela Libertadores. Além dos três pontos, o torcedor alviverde comemorou a quebra de jejum de Rony, que não marcava um gol há 11 partidas. Essa “zica” do camisa 10 foi tirada também com a ajuda de Abel Ferreira, que revelou uma conversa com o atacante na parte da manhã.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasPalmeirasOLHAR DO PORCO: Rony, Artur e Zé Rafael brilham em vitória sobre o Cerro PorteñoPalmeiras24/05/2023PalmeirasArtur comemora os dois gols pelo Palmeiras e exalta atuação do time: ‘Noite muito feliz’Palmeiras24/05/2023PalmeirasVÍDEO: Veja os melhores lances da vitória do Palmeiras sobre o Cerro Porteño na LibertadoresPalmeiras24/05/2023

+ Veja tabela e classificação da Libertadores-2023 clicando aqui

Em entrevista coletiva após o jogo, o treinador alviverde contou o papo que teve com Rony sobre o jejum que durava desde o dia 11 de março. Segundo o português, o diálogo foi muito simples e buscou puxar de seu atleta nada mais do que ele sabe que pode fazer. O pedido foi para deixar um pouco o “Rústico” de lado e trazer mais o “Guerreiro”.

+ Não perca nenhum lance do Verdão na Liberta. Assine o Star+ por apenas R$40,90 por mês e torça onde quiser!

– O Rony é como todos os atacantes, tem momentos muito inspirados, outros não inspirados, como foi aquela oportunidade que ele perdeu no primeiro tempo. Se estivesse no treino, lhe dava uma sapatada e falaria “não pode falhar nisso”. Mas ele trabalha muito, a única coisa que eu pedi, falei com ele, que na nossa vida a gente está sempre em busca de desculpas, quando estamos em uma situação assim, olhamos mais fora do que dentro. Eu só lhe fiz uma pergunta hoje de manhã: “você está fazendo tudo?”, para não se preocupar, olhar primeiro para dentro. “Se você for Rony, não o Rústico, o Guerreiro, o gol vai aparecer de forma natural. Eu não quero o Rony Rústico, eu quero o Rony Guerreiro” – disse Abel antes de completar:

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– Os gols aparecem de forma natural, uma hora ou outra. Ficamos feliz por ele, pela forma que os colegas comemoraram o gol dele, porque ele trabalha muito, vocês sabem que ele quebrou o braço, ele não comemorou o gol com a cambalhota, porque ele não está 100%. Mas feliz, feliz por ele, pela equipe, nossos jogadores merecem pelo quanto se dedicam e mais uma vez é um orgulho ser treinador desse grupo de caráter, de homens.

+ ATUAÇÕES: Rony é ‘garçom’ e encerra jejum de gols em vitória na Copa Libertadores

Abel Ferreira também comentou a vitória do Palmeiras por 3 a 0, que encaminhou a classificação para as oitavas de final da Libertadores. Para o comandante do Verdão, a vida do time foi facilitada pela expulsão de um dos jogadores do adversário. No entanto, o técnico acredita que a equipe pecou ao não aproveitar as oportunidades do primeiro tempo para ir para o intervalo com um placar mais elástico.

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– Acho que foi um jogo que ficou do nosso jeito depois da expulsão de um de nossos adversários. Era um jogo difícil, mas com um a mais, acho que o jogo poderia ter sido resolvido no primeiro tempo. Deveríamos, com as oportunidades que criamos, ter mais calma, ir para o intervalo com um resultado mais gordo, mas isso não aconteceu. Na segunda etapa, com mais calma, na nossa forma de atacar e de defender, subimos o Veiga para não deixar o nosso adversário gostar do jogo e foi uma vitória justa, mas que foi facilitada pela expulsão.

O Palmeiras foi a nove pontos no Grupo C da Libertadores, mas fica na segunda posição, pois perde para o Bolívar-BOL, que tem os mesmos nove pontos, no saldo de gols (6 a 4). Neste domingo, em Belo Horizonte, o Verdão volta a campo para enfrentar o Atlético-MG, pelo Brasileirão.

Celtic have not made a big splash in the summer transfer window as of yet, with over a month left to go before it slams shut, as they have not spent more than £2m on a single player.

The £2m that they shelled out for versatile midfielder Benjamin Nygren is the most money that they have spent on a single signing so far, which means that there could be bigger deals to come in the next few weeks.

Brendan Rodgers recently made it very clear that the Hoops need to “improve the squad” further if they want to be ambitious and progress as a club.

This means that the Scottish Premiership champions may have to look at higher-profile signings before the end of the window, in an attempt to replicate the success they had with Arne Engels last summer.

Celtic hit the jackpot with Arne Engels

Celtic reportedly smashed their club-record transfer fee to sign the Belgium international from Bundesliga side Augsburg for £11m, which was an ambitious move that paid off on the pitch.

Engels ended his first season at Parkhead with a return of ten goals and 13 assists in 53 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants, which shows that he offered quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals.

Although you could also put it down to the change in format, the Belgian star also helped Celtic to get past the group/league phase of the Champions League for the first time since the 2012/13 campaign, as they lost to Bayern Munich in the play-off stage.

Engels produced one goal and three assists in ten games in the competition, and Celtic could find a similarly effective midfield star by signing Salvatore Esposito.

Why Celtic should sign Salvatore Esposito

The Hoops have been linked with an interest in the Spezia star, who is valued at around £5m by the Italian side, and he could arrive as their next Engels-esque deal.

Although he would not be as expensive, a fee of £5m would still be more than double what Celtic have paid for any other player this summer, and he would come in as a potentially game-changing signing.

Esposito, who has been hailed as “elegant” and an “orchestrator” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, caught the eye with his brilliant performances in the Serie B for Spezia last term.

His form in the second division in Italy suggests that the potential is there for the 24-year-old star to have a similar impact to Engels at Parkhead.

Appearances

34

34

Goals

9

7

Big chances created

11

18

Assists

6

9

Duels won per game

2.5

7.3

Ground duel success rate

49%

68%

Aerial duel success rate

49%

51%

As you can see in the table above, their respective performances at league level last term even suggest that Esposito could offer more to the team as a creator and in terms of what he can offer out of possession, by creating more high-quality chances and winning more duels with greater efficiency.

Therefore, the Italy international could have a significant impact on the team if he is able to translate these performances over to Scottish football and the Champions League, potentially pushing Celtic on to reach the next level on the European stage, by being a fantastic box-to-box midfield presence.

Celtic have won the Premiership title in each of the last four years, which means that the Champions League is where they should be targeting progress, and Esposito’s form in comparison to Engels suggests that he can help them to push on once more.

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Therefore, the Hoops should consider pushing the boat out to splash £5m on a new midfield signing to play alongside the likes of Engels and Reo Hatate next season.

Varun Chakravarthy, playing for India again after almost three years, got three wickets in a big win over Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-20241:53

‘Always good to have competition within the team’ – Varun Chakravarthy

Mayank Yadav attracted the eyeballs. Arshdeep Singh took the Player-of-the-Match award for his 3 for 14. Hardik Pandya kept the Bangladesh batters quiet but was deafening with the bat. For Varun Chakravarthy, meanwhile, it was a “rebirth” as he played a big part in India’s crushing seven-wicket win in the first T20I in Gwalior on Sunday. He was back playing for India after November 2021, after all, and 3 for 31 wasn’t shabby at all.”After three long years and… it was definitely emotional for me, and it feels nice to be back in the Blues, it feels like a rebirth,” he told Murali Kartik on the official broadcast after the game.”There have been many [challenges]. Once you are not in the Indian side, people tend to write you off very easily. You need to stay in the highest level, again and again you need to keep knocking the door. Thankfully, this time it happened and hopefully I can keep continuing my good work.”Related

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It’s been a year of great success for Varun. His team, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), won IPL 2024. He finished as the team’s highest wicket-taker, and second-highest overall, with 21 wickets from 14 innings. That ended in May. In August, Dindigul Dragons won the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). His team, again, though captain R Ashwin is the face of the set-up. Varun got 2 for 26 in the final. And was joint-highest for his team with Sandeep Warrier at 12 wickets for the tournament, fifth-highest overall.And now this international comeback.”After IPL, I played a few tournaments and one of those was the TNPL. It’s a very good tournament, and high standard [of cricket] also,” Varun said. “That’s a place where I worked a lot, with Ash [Ashwin]. We won the competition also, and that gave me the confidence here, because it was good preparation for me for this series.”I just want to stick to the process because that’s what I have been following in the IPL also. So I don’t want to go over and beyond what’s there right now. I just want to stay in the present. That’s why I don’t want to think too much or express too much.”On Sunday, Varun was introduced in the fifth over. Off his second delivery, Towhid Hridoy swept him in the air in the direction of debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy at deep square-leg; Reddy ran forward for the catch but lost the ball in the lights and let it go for four. Varun got Hridoy in his next over, and then Jaker Ali and Rishad Hossain, fooling the batters with his bag of tricks, but wasn’t happy about the drop.He wasn’t going to say it, though.”I thought it could have gone my way, but I can’t complain,” he said. “But, yeah, thankful to god.”

Despite the loss, the West Indies captain reckoned there were a lot of positives to draw from the two-Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-20243:06

Brathwaite: ‘We needed a bigger first-innings score’

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite reckoned that not taking the lead despite bowling South Africa out for 160 in the first innings of the second Test was a key reason behind his team’s 40-run loss in Providence.Electing to bat, the West Indies bowlers led by Shamar Joseph’s five-wicket haul had South Africa on the mat at 97 for 9. Dane Piedt and Nandre Burger then added a 63-run stand for the final wicket to take South Africa to 160. In reply West Indies were bowled out for 144, conceding a 16-run lead.While Brathwaite agreed that South Africa’s last-wicket stand was vital, but felt West Indies’ batting effort in the first innings was “just not big enough.”Related

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“Yeah, if you look at it, obviously it was quite big,” Brathwaite said on South Africa’s last-wicket stand on the opening day of the Test. “But bowling them out for 160, I was happy. That partnership for them was, was good. You know, it’s cricket where partnerships do happen. So, I won’t really stress on that too much.”But what I would say is our first innings total needed to be bigger. We needed to get a lead from it. I think that was very important. You can never complain about the bowlers’ effort to bowl them out for 160 but yeah, the batting effort in the first innings just wasn’t big enough. We had to fight back into the game. And, in the end, we fell short.”Despite losing the series 1-0 after the first Test ended in a draw, West Indies had a few positive takeaways from the two games. Shamar Joseph didn’t play the first Test but came back to rattle the South Africa top order with 5 for 33 in the first innings. Jayden Seales was West Indies’ highest wicket-taker with 12 which included 6 for 61 in the second innings in Providence while Jason Holder scored a half-century in the first innings. Brathwaite also singled out Alick Athanaze as someone who he sees scoring a “lot of Test hundreds”.Jayden Seales picked up his best figures in Test cricket in the second innings•AFP/Getty Images

“I think bowling-wise, you look at Shamar coming back in, not playing the first Test, and coming in bowling out South Africa on the first day. Jayden throughout the series, continued to keep coming despite the hot conditions. That was a positive,” Brathwaite said. “You see the two spinners, one of the first time two spinners played together in the Caribbean, and they did well, in particular this game where both of them were under three runs an over. That’s one thing we asked for, and that was great to see.”I think Alick, his innings was important to continue to keep learning as batters. Alick has a world of potential. I can see him scoring a lot of Test hundreds, but we just got to keep thinking about our game, finding ways to improve. Pretty pleased with the bowling effort throughout the series, and batting-wise, we scored above 200 in three of the innings. So it is just for us to aim to do it more consistently, and that’s always the task. We always hear about being consistent. And I think mentally it’s to find ways to be better.”While the prospect of Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Seales in future Test matches serves as a delicious prospect, Brathwaite also pointed out that he is very excited about the batting unit.”As I said, the future is very bright for our fast bowling unit, and we’ve still got Kemar Roach, with loads of experience on it. You know, he still has a lot of Test matches left in him. So it’s very exciting,” Brathwaite said. “But I must say, I’m very excited about the batting unit. I really think the line-up we have, can do the job. And obviously, I’ve been asking for more Test matches. We had five on the back. And yes, we didn’t come out with guys averaging above 50. But I think once we learn from this, going forward will be easier, and obviously being mentally tough is most important in playing Test matches.”So, I am excited for the fast bowlers, but I really believe that this top five can do a good job for West Indies. So, we just got to keep believing.”

England will hand debuts to the Surrey duo of Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith for the first Test against West Indies at Lord’s, which begins on Wednesday.Chris Woakes also returns to the XI, his first Test appearance since being named player of the series in last summer’s Ashes, while offspinner Shoaib Bashir makes his home debut after three Tests in India at the start of the year.Atkinson, who has made 12 appearances for England in white-ball cricket, was unused on the tour of India but has been earmarked as a long-term pace option, registering in the late 80s and early 90s mph at his most fluent. A breakthrough 2023 summer saw him earn selection for the ODI World Cup, though he was omitted for this summer’s T20 World Cup. This season, he has taken 14 County Championship wickets at 29.78 for Surrey, who lead Division One.England XI to play West Indies•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Smith, meanwhile, will assume the gloves as England move beyond Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow. The 23-year-old has been in fine form across all formats and marked his maiden call-up with his second first-class century of the season. He is currently Surrey’s top-scorer with 677 Championship runs at 56.41 with a strike rate of 76.67. He earned two ODI caps against Ireland at the end of last summer and will slot in at No. 7 with Harry Brook returning to the No. 5 position having missed the India series following the death of his grandmother.Ben Stokes slots between the pair at six, and is back to fulfilling his allrounder duties, which has allowed for the selection of Bashir. After impressing with 17 wickets in India, England underlined their faith in the spinner by selecting him in the squad ahead of Jack Leach, despite the fact Bashir had to move on loan to Worcestershire for first-team opportunities with Leach the No. 1 spinner at Somerset.Related

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Woakes adds to that balance as an option with the bat, and will likely be an ever-present this summer in what is set to be a transitional period for England with the impending retirement of James Anderson.England XI: 1⁠ ⁠Zak Crawley, 2⁠ ⁠Ben Duckett, 3 ⁠Ollie Pope, 4⁠ ⁠Joe Root, 5 ⁠Harry Brook, 6⁠ ⁠Ben Stokes (capt) 7⁠ ⁠Jamie Smith (wk), 8⁠ ⁠Chris Woakes, 9⁠ ⁠Gus Atkinson, 10⁠ ⁠Shoaib Bashir, 11 ⁠James Anderson