Jasprit Bumrah to David Warner was the fifth instance at this World Cup of a batsman surviving despite the ball hitting his stumps

Andrew McGlashan09-Jun-2019It has become one of the talking points of the World Cup: the story of the (sometimes) immovable bails. Five times now the ball has clipped, or even clunked, the stumps only for the zing bails to stay in their groove. It follows similar incidents at this year’s IPL and had been seen as far back as the 2015 World Cup.The ICC say that the weight of the zing bails, which have flashing lights built into them, is not an issue with them coming in at somewhere between the weight of traditional bails and the heavy versions umpires carry for windy days.Still, when the likes of Mitchell Starc are clipping the timber at more than 90mph, it is probably fair to ask whether it’s just an extraordinary turn of events or something that needs to be looked into.David Warner looks on as the ball hits the stumps but fails to dislodge the bails•AFP”I think you take the good with the bad in that situation. I suppose with the new – the light-up stumps, the bails seem to be a lot heavier – so it does take a bit of a force,” Australia’s captain Aaron Finch said after seeing Chris Gayle’s stump get flicked by Starc.”I’ve seen it a handful of times now in IPL and Big Bash and stuff where the ball rolls back onto the stumps, where the bails traditionally, one of them will pop off. But yeah, I think it’s just one of those things that you are aware when you’re on the right side of it, you are aware of it a bit easier than when you’re not.”None of the incidents at this World Cup have yet proved pivotal to the outcome, but here’s a reminder of the five lucky batsmen and unlucky bowlers.England v South AfricaRashid to de Kock, FOUR runs, got him, or has he?! What on earth has gone on here? England think they’ve bowled him! It’s flicked the bat on the reverse sweep from outside leg, thumped the outside of the stump and triggered the zing bails but the bails haven’t come off, and the ball has gone for four!New Zealand v Sri LankaBoult to Karunaratne, no run, nearly chopped on! Looking to run it down but had no width whatsoever. Guess what? The ball brushed the stumps, the bails shook but didn’t come off the groove.Irresistible force, meet immovable object•ESPNcricinfo LtdAustralia v West IndiesStarc to Gayle, no run, given out but Gayle reviews immediately! Fullish length on fourth stump angled in, Gayle is late driving as there was a definite noise when it passed the stumps… because the ball has in fact shaved off stump. A little peck! The baby smooch! Not a full pucker to dislodge the bails though. Incredible!England v BangladeshStokes to Mohammad Saifuddin, no run, bowled him … no, the bails have stayed on! Down the leg side, under-edged into the crease, hops up into the timbers and despite an audible clunk of wood, the wicket remains intact!Australia v IndiaBumrah to Warner, no run, Warner drags it back onto the stumps, but the bails refuse to budge. Clatters into the base of leg stump via a deflection off the boot, but the bails stay put. Banged in short and angling across off, Warner can’t get on top of it. He fiddles with it and inside-edges it back onto the stumps. How many times has this happened in this World Cup?

He’s a cricketer capable of extraordinary deeds, but Maxwell’s World Cup has been distinctly bit-part so far … if not in a bad way

Osman Samiuddin at Edgbaston10-Jul-2019Hardik Pandya had his moment. Jos Buttler had his moment. Ben Stokes has had a World Cup full of moments, unusual ones for him, but moments. Even Andre Russell had his early on, with the ball rather than the bat. But, also moments.In this esteemed club of freaks, Glenn Maxwell has not yet truly turned in a freak performance at this World Cup. This has not been Maxwell’s World Cup, but it’s equally fair to say that Maxwell has not set the tournament alight. Not yet anyway.Actually, it’s been a weird tournament for Maxwell, and not in a bad way. On several occasions he has threatened to create one of those moments. Like, for example, the India game in which, for 25 minutes, Maxwell threatened to go full Maxwell.Or against Pakistan when, on a tough pitch, for 20 minutes this time, it felt like we may get Maxwell doing a Maxwell. Against Sri Lanka, there was a moment-lite but it was overshadowed by what his captain was doing.There has been the usual frustration about it. Sometimes Maxwell himself has been the source of it – the three dismissals to short balls against West Indies, South Africa and England for instance. On these occasions, it’s been impossible to not go back to what he told ESPNcricinfo before the start of the World Cup: “I’ve always given people an excuse to probably leave my spot open for grabs, and that’s just down to me not performing at the right time or when I have been given those opportunities.”At other times, it’s been his team. Australia sent him in too late in the chase against India and then too early against Pakistan. He was always going to be floating in the batting order but, on that Taunton surface, with a great start already banked, they didn’t need to go so hard so soon – as Aaron Finch would later admit.Given that Australia have, several times in the past, not known what to do with Maxwell, there was little surprise that a report emerged in the run-up to the semi-final against England that Maxwell might be dropped to make way for Matthew Wade. He’s averaging only 22 (though striking at 163 is some consolation), the short ball has done him in (and batsmen are never made to feel more inferior when they’re being done by short balls). Plus Wade’s been in freak form himself for a while.On the surface, it would seem an unlikely route to take, if only because drafting in two new players to play their first World Cup matches at the semi-final stage is something that Pakistan or Sri Lanka might do, but not so much Australia.Glenn Maxwell almost throws himself off his feet•Getty ImagesIt would also be – no matter what the batting numbers say – harsh, because it would misjudge the value Maxwell has brought to this team, in this campaign. He’s been outstanding in the field, which is no surprise, but when needed he’s also filled a massive fifth-bowler-shaped hole in their attack.He doesn’t have a single wicket to show for 49 overs of bowling but, as in the game against Sri Lanka, what has mattered more is how many runs he has not conceded. Until March this year, he had not bowled a full quota of 10 overs in a game since 2015; in this tournament alone he’s done it twice, as well as other stints of 6, 7 and 7 overs. Only once has he really been taken apart, against Pakistan at Taunton in a game in which both sides didn’t play their specialist spinners and all non-specialist spinners went for runs.Finch wasn’t going to announce his XI the day before a semi-final – that too against England – but he did his best to douse down talk of a surprise axing. Maxwell not turning up for an optional training session was “reading a bit too much” into it. More runs would be nice, Finch said, but he was doing much more.READ MORE: Mark Nicholas: Why it is important for England to win this World Cup”Yes, I think runs are around the corner. I think he would have liked to have got a few more runs, but he’s been hitting the ball nicely. I think if you look at his contribution in the field, he’s up there with most runs saved in the field, his great run-out at Taunton to win that game for us against Pakistan in a really tight game, the overs that he’s bowled, he hasn’t got the wickets but he’s bowled really tight, he’s bowled some key overs for us that have allowed us to mix and match our bowlers through them middle overs.”As far as the runs, I’m not bothered about that at all because the way he’s batting, the way that he’s going about his innings, I think there’s some real positives there, so runs are just around the corner and we know how damaging he is. When he gets in, he can be as destructive as anyone in the world, so that is a huge positive.But I think the overall package, the three factors that he brings to the game, is still a very exciting package.”Does it sound a little too much like a freak-level talent is being turned into a – and this is both the best and worst time to dig this one up again – bits-and-pieces player? That he’s filling roles and holes in a team that has found itself as it has gone along in this tournament?Maybe, and maybe, given how Finch, David Warner and Mitchell Starc have gone, he hasn’t needed to be anything more.And maybe that is fine. Australia has not suffered for this switch. But if there ever was a moment for Maxwell to pull out that inner freak again, well, Edgbaston on Thursday won’t be a bad time for it.

England may have had the rub of the green in the World Cup finals, but they were unluckier than most other teams in the tournament.

ESPNcricinfo Stats team16-Jul-2019New Zealand were extremely unlucky not just in the final of the 2019 World Cup – they might have also been one of the unluckiest teams of the tournament, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index. The Luck Index algorithm attempts to attach a run impact to every action of play in a game that has an element of fortuitousness associated with it. The bigger the run impact of the action, the higher the likely influence of the event on the result of the game. Events involving dismissals, or the possibility of them occurring, usually have high run impacts.For instance, in the final, a few events could well have swung the result of the match in favour of New Zealand if their outcomes were different – the most obvious one was the overthrow boundary in the final over of the chase that ricocheted off Ben Stokes’ bat. Your perception of Stokes’ ability to get seven runs off the final two balls – for that would have been the ask had an extra four runs not been scored due to the ricochet – from Trent Boult depends on which team you were supporting, but the result of the match, had the event not happened, is anybody’s guess. There is a degree of uncertainty attached to it; this uncertainty is relatively small as the run impact of the luck event is relatively large.The events that make a bigger impact on the outcome of the match are usually those that involve a batsman getting out or surviving a chance. One such event occurred in the match between India and Bangladesh when Tamim Iqbal dropped Rohit Sharma when he was on 8 off 11 deliveries. Rohit went on to score 104 off 92 balls in the match. Luck Index estimates that drop cost Bangladesh 47 runs: India would have managed a total of 267 instead of the 314 they scored, had the catch been taken. This is estimated by simulating India’s innings assuming Rohit had got out.Bangladesh could have stood better chances of chasing down 268 instead of 315. Things might have panned out differently in the match: India would have been a lot more aggressive in defense of their total, but Bangladesh wouldn’t have been chasing a 300-plus total in a World Cup.And that is where New Zealand really suffered in comparison to other teams in the tournament. They were on the right side of such lucky breaks on fewer occasions than their opposition. If we consider only the events that created a wicket opportunity (whether they resulted in a wicket or should have), and thus were likely to have a clear-cut impact on the result of the game, then New Zealand had a net event count of minus nine in this World Cup. This means over the course of the tournament their opposition benefited from nine more reprieves to their batsmen than New Zealand did. West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh each benefited by eight more events than their opposition.ESPNcricinfo LtdInterestingly England were the second-most unlucky team of the tournament by this measure. They had a net of seven events going against them. The fact that they made it to the final in spite of the rub of the green going against them through the league phase of the tournament shows that a place in the final at Lord’s on the 14th was well deserved.Not least also because England made use of whatever good fortune came their way. The table below shows the aggregate team-wise run impact of the reprieves to the batsmen in the tournament. England are second only to India in those terms, having capitalised on those events to score 199 runs more than they would have scored otherwise. South Africa, on the other hand, didn’t capitalise on whatever luck came their way: their batsmen made their reprieves count for only 28 additional runs.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe chanciest event of this World Cup in that sense was the drop of Eoin Morgan by Dawlat Zadran off Rashid Khan. Morgan could have been dismissed for 28 off 25 balls had that catch been taken. Instead, he went on to score 148 off 71 balls. He plundered 116 runs off the next 46 balls he faced in that match.While Morgan added 120 runs to his kitty because of the drop, England’s margin of benefit is not the full 120 runs, as they had batsmen to follow who could have made use of the balls faced by Morgan to make some runs themselves. This is estimated by Luck Index to be 44 runs. The algorithm considers the strength of the England line-up still to come, and the Afghanistan bowlers left to bowl in the match.But which batsman added the most runs to his own account after getting reprieves? It comes as no surprise for those who followed the tournament that Rohit is the answer to this question. He was reprieved on eight separate occasions by way of dropped catches and missed run-outs in this World Cup. However, he made his luck count by getting five hundreds in the series – the most any batsman has got in any World Cup. He managed to score as many as 474 runs out of his series aggregate of 648 after he got lucky breaks. That is not to say that his runs weren’t well earned. You can get lucky all you want but it will amount to nothing if you don’t make use of that luck. Rohit did, as apposed to someone like Chris Gayle, who got just one fewer reprieve but made his luck count for much less, scoring just 81 more than what he would have scored without those reprieves.ESPNcricinfo LtdWahab Riaz heads the list of bowlers to have been on the wrong side of net lucky breaks – by way of dropped catches and umpire’s calls going in favour of batsmen. Umpire’s calls and close catch calls going against batsmen are considered to be lucky events for the bowlers. Not surprisingly, that list features at the top some of the best bowlers on display in the tournament, including Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes and Kagiso Rabada.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The tussle for primacy between the two world-class competitors has witnessed more twists and turns in the ongoing series against South Africa. Trust it to get more heated

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Pune14-Oct-20198:29

Agarkar: India’s call to play three seamers brilliant

It was the fourth day of the Pune Test, and Dean Elgar had just driven Ravindra Jadeja through cover, where R Ashwin had dived to his right, a fraction of a second too late, and failed to stop the ball.Jadeja had addressed these words to the sprawled fielder. He had turned away from the wicket, so the stump mic didn’t pick them up too clearly, but the gist seemed to be, “This guy can bowl, but the other things…”

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Team-mates say these things to each other in the heat of the moment, so this isn’t about reading into Jadeja’s words for signs of animosity between the two spinners. Some bowlers simply can’t hide their annoyance when fielders don’t back them up to the fullest degree, even if they’ve made a valiant but failed effort. Anil Kumble, a soft-spoken man off the field by all accounts, became an embodiment of seething rage whenever someone misfielded off his bowling.But the message contained in Jadeja’s words may well be the one that’s deciding the hierarchy between the two spinners when India need to play just one of them. In the tour of the West Indies that preceded the series against South Africa, India preferred Jadeja over Ashwin in both Tests.It isn’t fielding that kept Ashwin on the bench, notwithstanding the massive edge that Jadeja, perhaps the world’s best outfielder, may have over him in that department. It is, rather, the two players’ divergent batting returns over the last few seasons.ALSO READ: Virat Kohli moves to within a point of No. 1-ranked Steven SmithUntil the 2016 tour of the West Indies, where he batted at No. 6 and made two hundreds, Ashwin was clearly ahead of Jadeja on the batting front. By the end of that tour, Ashwin had scored 1439 Test runs at 34.26, with four hundreds and six fifties, and Jadeja 495 at 20.62, with just the one fifty in 26 innings.It’s been a different story since then, though, with Ashwin’s returns falling away and Jadeja rediscovering his inner batsman. The batsman who came to Test cricket with a first-class average of 53.66, and three triple-hundreds for which he, and India’s first-class system, were mocked rather than celebrated.In this second coming as a lower-order batsman, Jadeja has scored 1226 runs in 40 Test innings at an average of 47.15, with 11 fifties and a maiden hundred. If there’s a single montage that captures India’s domination of home Tests in this period, it’s his bat-twirling celebration of personal landmarks, cutting immediately to a grinning Virat Kohli calling his batsmen back in. Through his Test career, Jadeja has averaged 74.70 when India have declared, with seven fifties and a hundred in 21 innings.He hasn’t just been a declaration specialist, though. Last year’s run of away tours may have begun with question marks still hanging over his ability in pace-friendly conditions, but he delivered whenever he got the chance, displaying not just the strokeplay he is always been capable of, but also the temperament of a top-order batsman.ALSO READ: Wriddhiman Saha’s rare weekend in the spotlightAt The Oval last year, for instance, he came in with India 160 for 6 in response to England’s 332, and made an unbeaten 86. It wasn’t a slap-happy romp like his third-innings half-century at Lord’s in 2014; it was a proper, measured innings where he trusted his defence and his judgment outside off stump. He left 36 of the 101 balls he faced from the fast bowlers, employing shouldered arms more frequently than any other shot.Even during his 91 in the Pune Test, he was quite happy to take his time early on, and was on 6 off 29 balls when Kohli brought up the half-century stand for the fifth wicket. He was on 9 off 44 when he hit his first boundary, a drive against the turn off Keshav Maharaj. He followed this with an incredible bit of timing, a back-foot flick that beat midwicket to his left and then a sprinting, diving deep square leg to his right.R Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja walk off the field•AFPWhen he plays shots like that, and when he gives himself time to settle at the crease before playing shots like that, Jadeja looks like a proper No. 6. There’s a relaxed air about him, a naturalness about the way he sets up at the crease. If he’s made any adjustments in his technique over the years, they’ve probably been subtle ones, and on the surface he seems to have stuck to the same batting mechanics through all his highs and lows. It’s much the same with his bowling.Ashwin, on the other hand, is an inveterate tinkerer, whether it’s all the load-ups he has used while bowling, or all the variations he’s attempted and mastered, or, indeed, all the ways he’s faced up to bowlers.When the ball flies effortlessly off his bat, Ashwin can be a joy to watch. But for one of the most natural strikers of the ball in Indian cricket, it’s strange how unnatural his batting can look until that moment of bat meeting ball. Over the many years of his international career, he’s tried various trigger movements, discarded his bat-tap and taken to waggling an upraised bat behind him, and made multiple changes to his alignment at the crease.There was a time when he used to be, in his own words, “extra side-on”, which prevented him from playing fluently down the ground, and he opened up his upper body to be able to do so. During his only appearance with the bat in this series, in Visakhapatnam, he seemed to have reverted to a closed shoulder position, but it’s not clear if he’ll stick to it in the long term.It may or may not be related to all the tinkering, but Ashwin’s batting output has declined in recent months. There have been a few good knocks, particularly away from home – he made 38 out of a 71-run partnership with Kohli at Centurion; top-scored in both innings of the disastrous Lord’s Test; and scored 25 in Adelaide after coming in at 127 for 6, helping Cheteshwar Pujara through a key part of his match-turning first-day hundred – but there have been no fifties since August 2017. He’s batted 23 times in that period, and averaged 17.90.It’s for all these reasons, probably, that Kohli, while talking about them, has lately tended to say “Jadeja and Ashwin” rather than “Ashwin and Jadeja”.But as important as their batting contributions may be, they will always be judged as bowlers first. When India had to choose between Jadeja and Ashwin in the West Indies, they were choosing between two spinners with exceptional records, with no clear statistical basis to say one was better than the other. You don’t take 200 Test wickets at an average below 25 without being a bloody fine bowler. It’s a caricature to say Jadeja is just a metronome for the captain to wind up and point in the batsman’s direction.But Jadeja hasn’t looked at his best since the West Indies tour. His action has always been mostly shoulder, but at times during that tour and against South Africa it’s seemed shoulder, without the full thrust of his back hip at the crease, and as a result his trajectory has looked flatter than before, without the late dip he gets when he’s at his best. When batsmen have played forward to him in defence, they’ve seemed to get closer to the pitch of the ball than they used to, meeting the ball with the lower rather than upper half of their bat.The lack of dip perhaps explains why he’s been hit for so many boundaries down the ground – he’s conceded 10 sixes and 16 fours in the V in these last two series, not just to the top order but also lower-order biffers like Kemar Roach and Dane Piedt.Since coming back into the XI in Visakhapatnam, meanwhile, Ashwin has been at his teasing best, finding ways to get past batsmen on surfaces that haven’t offered exaggerated help for the spinners. He’s averaged 21.64 against South Africa to Jadeja’s 34.40 and, for once, there’s been some truth to the idea that Ashwin has the tools to trouble batsmen independent of conditions while Jadeja needs a certain amount of assistance. Their first-innings numbers in this series support that idea, with Ashwin averaging 19.45 to Jadeja’s 68.33.Ashwin might not be getting too many opportunities to contribute with the bat just yet, but with the ball he’s done everything he can to remind his captain and coach of his qualities. Nonetheless, Jadeja’s bowling blip, if it’s a blip at all, cannot last forever. This is a tussle for primacy between two world-class competitors, and we will doubtless witness many more twists before the next Test match that has room for only one of them.

CSA has recommitted to transformation targets but the absence of black African players remains glaring

Firdose Moonda04-Jan-2020Temba Bavuma’s ears must be burning. Though he is not involved in the Newlands Test and is not even in Cape Town after being released from the squad, everyone in South African cricket is talking about him.This was the venue where Bavuma scored the only hundred of his 39 Test career to date, against this opposition, so naturally there were going to be throwbacks. But it doesn’t end there.Some use that hundred as evidence Bavuma has what it takes to play at this level, others point to the absence of any others to say that he doesn’t. There are those who believe Bavuma should return to domestic cricket and break down the door with runs and those who believe his presence, regardless of form, is essential for purposes of representation. And then there is CSA.The board’s press release on Saturday, reaffirming their commitment to transformation and denying that the recent ream management overhaul is a whitewash, may not have been intentionally about Bavuma, but it was.

Has nothing to do with form.. you score one 100 in 5 years you question technique and temperament.. some batsman just can’t cut it at the top level. Just another case of it

— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) January 4, 2020

It came two days after Faf du Plessis said the team does not see colour, which sounds like a nice statement but is naive in the South African context. This country has, since 1652 when the Dutch East India Company arrived on its shores, seen colour. It saw colour through slavery, colonialism and Apartheid and sees colour even more in democracy. But the rainbow nation is not without shades of grey.The key takeaway from the statement was the reassurance given to black Africans that they still have a place in the game in South Africa. There is a difference in this country between black and black African and it is both problematic and necessary. While all black people were affected by the evils of the Apartheid regime, the black African population were the most severely marginalised and mistreated. They are also, by far, the biggest majority. Redressing the wrongs committed against them is non-negotiable but where does that leave other black people, those who are coloured, mixed-race or of Indian descent?Recently, here in the Western Cape, the Cape Cobras wilfully missed their transformation target when they went into a fixture with two instead of three black African players but seven players of colour overall. The Cobras communicated their decision to CSA and one of their arguments was that in offering opportunity to players of colour and not discriminating between the different black races, they were doing their bit for transformation. As far as the Cobras were concerned, CSA did not disagree with them, especially since the subject had also been discussed at the coaches’ conference last year.ALSO READ: Bavuma told to find way back through ‘weight of runs’CSA, who were still governed by the Thabang Moroe administration at the time, were due to have an enquiry into the matter but since the crisis and changes in the executive, the whole saga has quietly gone away. Now it seems CSA may not be so lenient.”Transformation targets have been set for all our teams below the international level that have to be implemented on a game-by-game basis,” Chris Nenzani, CSA’s president, said. “This is an obligation to a very important bottom-up approach. The CSA board is mandated to enforce these policies without exception and to take corrective action where non-compliance occurs.”That means the differentiation between players of colour and black African players will remain rigidly in place at domestic level, where teams are required to field a minimum of six players of colour, of which at least three must be black African. The national team also has a target – six players of colour of which at least two must be black African – but theirs is calculated on average over a season, “to give team management the flexibility to select teams based on the unique match-to-match requirements and in line with obtaining objective realities,” according to Nenzani.So South Africa’s new management are not in any trouble . They have gone into the first two Tests against England with only four players of colour (Zubayr Hamza, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada) of which one (Rabada) is black African, and will need to make up the numbers in other fixtures. Part of the reason South Africa have fallen behind the target is because of injury – Lungi Ngidi would almost certainly have played ahead of Anrich Nortje if he did not have a hamstring injury. The other part is form. Bavuma, who started the summer with a hip niggle, was declared fit for Newlands but dropped. And that’s what people are angry about.

We are just crossing fingers that Rabada doesn’t get injured otherwise there will be no [black players] leftMakhaya Ntini

The Black African Cricket Clubs (BACC), who held a meeting last week during the Centurion Test, make up some of those people. They questioned whether CSA’s acting director of cricket, Graeme Smith, could be trusted with on development, given his background. When they spoke about Bavuma, they referenced the support – financial and otherwise – that he has had in becoming an international batsman, which requires significantly more resources than becoming a bowler. Bavuma is from a middle-class family and went to an elite school, St Davids, essentially walking in similar shoes to a white player. The BACC asked what happens to people who do not have those advantages and at the moment, very few people have the answers.CSA has hubs situated in townships and programmes aimed at nurturing players from diverse backgrounds but very few of those players come through. The bulk of the country’s cricketers (and rugby players) are produced from a handful of Model C – the highest-quality government school formerly reserved for white children only – and private schools. Those who can afford to access the structures that can turn them into professional sportspeople, do and those who can’t, most of whom are black African, are lost. For that to change, CSA and the government have to work together to increase facilities and therefore opportunities for all at grassroots level.The trouble is that there is an impatience, perhaps a justified impatience 29 years post-unification of sports across the racial barrier, for change to happen at all levels, not just the bottom.The country is demanding black African heroes. In 2019, rugby delivered with Siya Kolisi the captain of the World Cup-winning side. At the start of 2020, cricket has regressed, according to some, with only one black African player in the Test XI. “We are just crossing fingers that Rabada doesn’t get injured otherwise there will be none left,” Makhaya Ntini told ESPNcricinfo.Ntini knows what it’s like to be the only black African in the side, the flag-bearer for a nation carrying the weight of expectation on his shoulders alone. It is what turned him into the loudest and most boisterous member of the squad, a persona that could not be criticised. He also knew that as soon as his performance dipped, even a touch, “I would be gone, just like that.”Ntini played his entire career under pressure to perform and fear of being dropped. He survived because success stalked him and because he did not talk about the challenges. Now, nine years since he retired, he is more willing to address the issues that came with being a representative for things much bigger than himself, and he thinks asking Rabada or Bavuma to shoulder the same burden would be “unfair”.Graeme Smith, Enoch Nkwe, Mark Boucher and Linda Zondi at the unveiling of South Africa’s new coaching structure•AFPThe same word could be used to describe the circumstances of players on the other side. Those who are chosen ahead of black African players can become targets for the anger of people who feel underrepresented and disenfranchised. Rassie van der Dussen is an example of such a player. He knows that there is a groundswell of support for Bavuma to return, and he would be forgiven for looking over his shoulder rather than at the next ball. But he isn’t doing that.”Growing up, it [transformation] is something we have been aware of, it’s something that is a reality in South Africa, not only in sport but in all aspects of life,” van der Dussen said. “As a white player, as any player, you are there to do a job, to put in performances and win games for your team. It’s not about thinking about this guy must play or that guy must play. You get an opportunity and you can’t do much if you don’t get the opportunity and you work hard for the opportunity and you’ve got to try do everything in your power to make sure you are ready when it comes.”Simple. Or maybe not.Equality of opportunity for players of colour, and specifically black African players, is what South Africans want, but that can only be achieved if there are enough people to offer that opportunity to. There are currently no black African batsmen in the top 23 run-scorers on the first-class charts (Wandile Makwetu is 24th). Eight of the top ten batsmen are white. There’s more representation in the bowling department where Malusi Siboto sits second, Lutho Sipamla joint-seventh and Tshepo Moreki joint ninth.The real question South Africans need to be asking is why they aren’t more players of colour on the domestic circuit who can provide the national team with options. The answers will lie in the same historical injustices previously mentioned and in the steps that need to be taken to spread the game to various different parts of the country and its people. It has been 29 years, but they are still not close to being fixed. Instead, talk in South African cricket centres on Bavuma, in whom this complicated scenario is encapsulated.

Liverpool have lost themselves over the past several weeks, crashing out of the Champions League and then losing the Carabao Cup final before the March international break.

Having returned from the spring pause to claim a tetchy but lifting win in the Merseyside derby, fans felt that Arne Slot’s side had replanted their feet ahead of the business months of the season, using the three points gained as a springboard.

However, errors were rife on Sunday as Liverpool fell to defeat at Craven Cottage and Slot was condemned to his first Premier League defeat on the road.

Still, it’s not all bad, the Reds are still 11 points clear at the top of the division, set to end four years of Manchester City dominance. All that without having dipped into the transfer market for nearly two years.

Indeed, the £12.5m signing of Federico Chiesa remains the only deal struck since Ryan Gravenberch arrived in 2023. Somehow, Slot, in all his tactical genius, has taken Liverpool to the next level, despite the frontline leaving something to be desired at times.

Liverpool's frontline in 24/25

Liverpool ended the 2024 summer transfer window having failed to sign their top target in Martin Zubimendi and adding only injury-prone Chiesa to an already well-stocked frontline.

The squad is rather fantastic, but Slot deserves all the plaudits for making the requisite, title-clinching adjustments.

The architect of all attacking success would be Mohamed Salah, of course. The 32-year-old has posted 32 goals and 22 assists across all competitions and is undoubtedly one of the greatest players in both Liverpool and English football’s history.

Salah has been nothing short of breathtaking this season, but there’s no denying he’s plateaued in recent fixtures. However, frankly, this is an annual thing, the dreaded spring drop-off, and he deserves a place in the team next season as Liverpool go again.

Still, Liverpool have been brilliant in attack, top of the Premier League and having scored the most goals (72) too. They’ve all chipped in, with the likes of Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo both going from strength

Streamlined into a more focused left-flanking role, Gakpo has matched his haul of 16 goals and six assists from last season having played just under 800 minutes fewer, equating to nearly nine full matches.

However, it’s not all perfect. Darwin Nunez is set to be sold this summer, while Diogo Jota looks a shadow of his former self. Such departures would in turn create one or two exciting vacancies.

Liverpool need something new, and sporting director Richard Hughes may well have the perfect Premier League star in mind.

PL star wants to sign for Liverpool

Last week, TEAMtalk claimed that Liverpool have made contact with Matheus Cunha’s representatives ahead of a potential summer move. The Wolverhampton Wanderers forward’s £62.5m release clause goes live after the end of the 2024/25 season and he wants a move away.

Excitingly, Football Insider have recently reported that the Brazil international is hoping to sign for Liverpool. All FSG need to do is match that release clause.

However, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest are also keen and Liverpool need to ensure this one doesn’t slip away from them, should their interest truly be concrete.

What Matheus Cunha would bring to Liverpool

Cunha has been at Wolves for over two years, joining in January 2023 on an initial loan from Atletico Madrid before signing permanently for an approximate £35m fee.

He’s long been highly regarded in England, but the Brazilian’s performances for Wolves this term have really underlined the level of his ability, notching 15 goals and four assists across 29 matches.

Though he shares similar positional virtues to the likes of Diaz and Gakpo, Cunha’s dynamism would be sure to see him marry right into Slot’s complex and multi-layered vision.

Attacking midfield

21

12

4

Centre-forward

4

1

0

Left winger

2

2

0

Right winger

1

0

0

Quite the versatile approach, eh. What’s more, Cunha is proving to be a prolific player across those variegated roles, his technical flair and dogged attitude lending itself to numerous areas of attack.

He’s also playing for Wolves. Good team, resilient and balanced under the wing of Vitor Pereira. However, the Old Gold hardly boast Liverpool’s degree of offensive ability, and one can only imagine the success that Cunha could find in Slot’s system.

Especially when you consider that he’s sort of outstripping Liverpool’s left-sided forwards, Gakpo and Diaz, this term.

Matches (starts)

26 (24)

28 (17)

30 (23)

Goals

13

8

10

Assists

4

3

5

Shots (on target)*

3.3 (1.3)

1.6 (0.6)

1.9 (0.8)

Big chances missed

2

5

8

Pass completion

78%

84%

86%

Key passes*

1.7

1.1

1.6

Dribbles*

1.9

1.0

1.5

Ball recoveries*

4.2

2.1

3.0

Tackles + interceptions*

1.8

1.2

1.1

Duels won*

5.7

3.0

3.7

There’s a lot to unpack in that table, but it’s curious to note at a glance that Cunha has outscored both of Liverpool’s men while carrying the ball forward more frequently, getting stuck in with more challenges too.

All told, he’s a “versatile pressing machine” – in the words of reporter Kaustubh Pandey – who has refined his potency in the final third at an outfit not exactly known for its attacking output right now.

Indeed, Wolves have created 51 big chances in the Premier League this year, well behind Slot’s Liverpool (89 big chances created). In fact, no team has created more than the table-toppers.

But it doesn’t matter when Cunha is so extraordinarily clinical. He’s missed only two big chances in the league this year. Two. That’s having scored 13 goals. You can refer back to the table to see how that compares to Liverpool’s stars, but it’s clear to see that the deadliest of the bunch dwells not at Anfield but in Black Country.

He’s also been hailed for his “perfect” deliveries by The Athletic’s Steve Madeley. Another string to the bow.

He wouldn’t come cheap, but Cunha could fit snugly into an interchangeable Anfield frontline and provide Liverpool with that bit of incisiveness in front of goal to ease Salah’s responsibilities and ensure that Slot’s side fire on all cylinders into the later stages of the season.

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