In a week where top-level international football was embroiled in a horrible pitch invasion incident involving Serbia and Albania, we thought it would be nice to look back at some more jovial incidents involving the weird and wonderful world of ‘things that don’t belong on the turf’.
Through the years there have been some mad, bizarre and plain odd incident of pitch invasions, and here are FIVE that have stuck in our memory…
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West Ham’s answer to Pirlo…
We’ll start with a recent one in the shape of a cheeky West Ham fan. Jordan Dunn ran onto the pitch at Upton Park earlier this season during the Hammers’ clash with Spurs, before taking over free-kick duty for the away side. The Londoner chipped his effort towards Adrian in the home net, but the Spaniard saved with ease… He was later fined £305.
The Anfield cat
//www.youtube.com/embed/iVx3brQT0AU
In a drab draw between Tottenham and Liverpool at Anfield, a bewildered cat strolled into Anfield and onto the hallowed turf. The incident well and truly stole the show and sparked the ‘AnfieldCat’ Twitter account.
The squirrel of Arsenal
Football – Arsenal v Villarreal UEFA Champions League Semi Final First Leg – Highbury – 05/06 – 19/4/06A squirrel runs onto the pitch during the game as Arsenal’s Gilberto Silva and Villareal’s Jose Mari watchMandatory Credit: Action Images / Tony O’BrienLivepic
This writer recalls an incident of being distracted in his Maths GCSE exam by a squirrel on a window ledge, and it seems the furry critters have a habit of stealing the show. In a 2006 Champions League clash between Arsenal and Villarreal, one of the tree-dwellers made it onto the pitch and TV screens across the world.
The Beach ball…
//www.youtube.com/embed/rPKPZchZitg
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Not strictly a pitch invader, but ‘beachball-gate’ in 2009 is one of the Premier League’s most hilarious moments. A Liverpool fan, who was later given a hard time at school, threw the offending inflatable onto the Stadium of Light pitch only to see his antics backfire as Sunderland’s Darren Bent’s low shot cannoned off it and past Pepe Reina…
Greaves in messy incident
//www.youtube.com/embed/-Rl04E0roBg
Way back in 1962 during the World Cup quarter-final between England and Brazil, Jimmy Greaves was on the wrong end of some dog piddle. A stray canine made it onto the pitch before evading a host of players, except for the Three Lions man. Greaves captured the dog, but saw his heroic act repaid with a large urine stain. Rumour has it Garrincha found the incident so amusing that he later adopted the pup.
Clint Dempsey will aim to show Fulham what they are missing when he and his new Tottenham team-mates travel across London on Saturday. Dempsey and Moussa Dembele left Fulham at the end of the summer transfer window to join Tottenham and will face their former team-mates for the first time on Saturday.
In the lead-up to the London derby, Dempsey has claimed he would have stayed at Craven Cottage if Fulham had appreciated him enough.
“If you always felt valued and appreciated enough, I don’t think you’d ever leave but it came to a point where I didn’t feel valued and appreciated,” Dempsey told the London Evening Standard. Not by the fans but by other situations. That’s just the way things went. The situation is difficult because things go on behind the scenes that the fans don’t really know about. The fans were great to me, the chairman (Mohamed Fayed) was great to me but it got the point where I wanted to keep going and try to further my career.”
Tottenham will head to Fulham on the back of successive English Premier League victories having knocked off West Ham 3-1 and Liverpool 2-1 in their most recent matches. The back-to-back wins have helped turn Tottenham’s form around after four consecutive defeats to begin November.
By contrast, Martin Jol’s Fulham have not won in six games, but did manage a 0-0 draw away to Chelsea in midweek despite having only 38 percent possession. Jol will still be missing Brede Hangeland as the towering Norwegian defender completes his three-match suspension against Tottenham.
In some good news for Jol, however, Kieran Richardson could be set for a return after a hamstring problem, although Bryan Ruiz and Alexander Kacaniklic will remain on the sidelines with similar injuries.
For Tottenham, Scott Parker, Younes Kaboul, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Steven Caulker have yet to recover from injury.
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Leeds fans have been reacting to the news that goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald will likely start against Wolves on Wednesday, and needless to say they aren’t best pleased.
Paul Heckingbottom suggested youngster Bailey Peacock-Farrell might get a go in goal at his press conference on Monday, saying he “would not hesitate” to give the 21-year-old the nod.
However, it now appears as though Wiedwald will keep his place for the match against Wolves, with Andy Lonergan injured and the other choices deemed too inexperienced.
Heckingbottom said:
“It’s one of the most important positions in a team. Every successful team has a top goalkeeper.”
Of course, Leeds haven’t had a successful goalkeeper this season, failing to replace Rob Green after his move to Huddersfield last summer.
Wiedwald was at fault for at least one of the goals in the 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Friday night, and didn’t look particularly convincing at any point, failing to command his penalty area or instil any confidence in his defenders.
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The German stopper was signed from Werder Bremen last summer, where he conceded 64 goals in 34 league games.
Despite the 27 year-old’s poor form, circumstances may force Heckingbottom to start Wiedwald, and Leeds fans have been sharing their feelings about the news on Twitter.
Queens Park Rangers have signed Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Sandro for in fee around £10million, Sky Sports reports.Sandro penned a three-year deal with the Hoops after the two clubs agreed on the price on deadline day.WANT MORE? >>ÂTottenham HotspurÂTransfer NewsÂ|ÂQueens Park Rangers Transfer NewsHe now rejoins former coach Harry Redknapp at Loftus road, who stated: “Sandro’s a proper footballer and a top class professional – he’s an absolutely fantastic signing for us. I couldn’t be more pleased.”He’s been a massive target of mine all summer and I honestly didn’t think we’d be able to pull it off – it’s a real statement from the club, from the owners, to bring in a player of his undoubted ability.”He brings energy, aggression, power and quality. They call him the Beast. He’s not only a top quality footballer, but a fantastic boy as well. He’ll lead by example for us. Tottenham fans loved him and I’m sure the QPR fans will too.”The Brazilian has found it hard to break into the first team under Mauricio Pochettino at White Hart Lane after previously making 60 starts for his former Spurs managers.”I like new challenges and this is one I’m really looking forward to,” said Sandro.”Working with Harry again, who I share a great relationship with, is very special to me. Football is in my heart and I’m very happy at this moment. I’m very pleased to be here and I’m looking forward to meeting my team-mates.”I had a good relationship with the fans at Tottenham Hotspur and I will try my hardest to get the QPR fans to like me. I will give everything on the pitch and fight for every minute. I’m ready and raring to go.”
If you’re a Togolese fan, reports suggesting that Emmanuel Adebayor has temporarily suspended his career with the national team probably don’t’ constitute the best news you’ve heard all season. For Tottenham Hotspur fans however, the ex-Manchester City man’s decision to stay away from the African Cup of Nations next month offers their side a timely boost ahead of the hectic festive period.
And in many ways, it’s a boost that’s felt a long time coming from Adebayor this season. While a combination of fitness and injury issues have understandably lessened his availability for Andre Villas-Boas’ side, the biggest mark he’s made this term was the one on the inside of Santi Cazorla’s leg – and even that was questionable.
Indeed, while Spurs’ No10 might not wield too much control over a niggling hamstring, he’s certainly got the power to decide whether to fling himself into reckless lunges or not. His red card against Arsenal in the 5-2 defeat at the Emirates last month cost his side dearly and in many ways, put both his team and particularly his manager, well in the mire.
A hotheaded derby day red card isn’t necessarily something that Adebayor can be crucified with, but it certainly couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Lilywhites. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but make no mistake about it, the sounds of discontent at White Hart Lane before the West Ham game were a lot more palpable than simply mere whispers.
Andre Villas-Boas and his side have of course subsequently came through the gauntlet unscathed, taking nine points from crunch fixtures against the Hammers, Liverpool and Martin Jol’s Fulham side. The relevance of his absence may certainly seem dampened, but these were vitally important fixtures that Adebayor should have been there for.
The 3-0 win at Craven Cottage on Saturday saw the big Togolese sit out the final game of his three-match suspension, but given the superb recent form of Jermain Defoe, there are no guarantees that Adebayor is simply going to waltz back into the side. And this is perhaps where his first real test since first arriving at White Hart Lane in 2011, may lie.
A man never short of a spot of speculation or a comment or two to the media, supporters have heard Adebayor pipe up several times this season. Although reports of discontent with Villas-Boas over a starting place seem odd, considering his infrequent availability this season, we’ve already heard the ex-Arsenal man claim he’ll leave if Spurs want him to. A fair enough statement perhaps.
It hasn’t stopped there, though. We’ve also listened to Adebayor publicly criticize the team’s performances.
“I try to keep positive so I don’t really want to think about how bad it could be, but worse than this, I think we’d be gone,” he said, speaking after the 0-0 draw away to Lazio last month.
“At the moment things are looking bad. We just have to try to find a way to get through this. Why aren’t things clicking? I don’t know. We’re all frustrated about the way things are going. We need it to start clicking soon, otherwise, trust me, we will find ourselves in difficulty.”
Again, there’s not much to seemingly criticize from what appears to be nothing much more than a brutally honest, albeit slightly pessimistic, bit of public opinion. Although whether you agreed or disagreed with his sentiments, the phrase ‘time and a place’ has more than a touch of gravitas, here.
Yes, the fitness issues he faced at the beginning of the season wasn’t necessarily his fault and his injury trouble couldn’t have been helped either. But however you frame it, Adebayor’s not been playing anywhere near enough football to begin piping up and offering doomsday like soundbites to the media. He needs to get his head down and concentrate on playing his football.
What we want to see is a fit, fresh and determined Adebayor return to the fore at Spurs. And that includes playing his part as a member of this squad, as well as simply putting the ball into the back of the net.
Despite his goal scoring form, Jermain Defoe isn’t without faults within this Spurs team, with the England man often resembling something of a peripheral figure during games. Emmanuel Adebayor’s all round skillset would appear a better fit for the 4-2-3-1 system that Villas-Boas employs and when he has actually played, Tottenham certainly seem a better outfit in terms of ball retention.
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Although wherever you stand on Defoe’s all round game, the point is that Adebayor isn’t going to be handed a starting place on a plate every week as he was under Harry Redknapp last season. For however gifted his talents may be, he’s going to have to work hard to become a mainstay in the side and on the occasions he may find himself on the bench, there can’t be any room for drama or the courting of sympathy.
Emmanuel Adebayor is going to have a massive part to play if Tottenham really are set to achieve their designs on a fourth placed finish in the Premier League this term. And in many ways, given the abject lack of momentum he’s had so far, perhaps Adebayor’s term is only now truly set to begin.
Bar the flash point at the Emirates, Adebayor has enjoyed arguably one of the most controversy free spells of his career in White Hart Lane. Now it’s time to keep that trend going, with a fuss free, drama free and also a quote free return to form, fitness and availability.
This latest development adds to growing uncertainty about the Champions Trophy
ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2024A fresh twist in the 2025 Champions Trophy has thrown the ICC’s trophy tour into confusion, a day before it was supposed to begin in Pakistan, after the BCCI objected to the PCB’s plan of taking the tour to Muzaffarabad, which is the capital of Pakistan Administered Kashmir, a territory disputed by India and Pakistan.ESPNcricinfo has learned that the BCCI notified the ICC about its objection on Friday, a day after the PCB put out a post on X (formerly Twitter) announcing the dates and venues for the tour would be heading to.It could not be confirmed if the BCCI lodged its objection in writing or verbally. It is understood that no approval or rejection has been made yet and that the ICC is still in discussions on the final plan of the trophy tour.Related
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The PCB’s post did catch the ICC by surprise given that it is an ICC event, and such communication is usually announced through its channels.According to the PCB’s post, the tour is scheduled to start from November 16 but given the BCCI’s objection, it wasn’t clear at the time of writing whether it will now go ahead on that day. On their X post, the PCB said the trophy tour would also take in other popular tourist destinations including Skardu, Murree and Hunza.There is a possibility that the tour may begin in an initial phase by taking the trophy – of which Pakistan are the defending champions – to the venues that are to be used in the tournament – Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi – and then take in the other venues during a second phase of the tour.
This latest development adds to growing uncertainty about the tournament itself, after it emerged last week that the BCCI wrote to ICC stating the Indian government had denied permission for India to travel to Pakistan for the tournament. The ICC conveyed that decision to the PCB. In response, the PCB, which is currently readying its three venues in preparation, has said it would not agree to a hybrid model, a solution BCCI prefers which will allow India to play their matches outside Pakistan.The PCB responded to the ICC earlier this week asking them several questions about the BCCI’s communication, including when exactly it was conveyed to the ICC and what the specific reasons are for India’s inability to travel. They have also asked the ICC to provide to them formal communication from the BCCI explaining the decision and the reasons behind it.Communication between the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi and the ICC leadership is believed to have taken place since on the matter, in a bid to resolve the issue. But the PCB is insisting on responses to the queries it has put to the ICC.The PCB has pencilled in February 19-March 9 as dates for the eight-team Champions Trophy, but the ICC has still not formally released the tournament dates and schedule.
Three wickets each for Mahika Gaur and Lauren Filer before Maia Bouchier hits winning runs
Valkerie Baynes09-Sep-2023Mahika Gaur and Lauren Filer showed off more than a glimpse of a bright future for England, each taking three wickets on ODI debut to set up their side’s seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Durham.Combined with three wickets for legspinner Sarah Glenn and Amy Jones’ prowess behind the stumps – becoming the first England wicketkeeper to take five catches in a women’s ODI innings – the duo helped bowl Sri Lanka out for 106 inside 31 overs and the home batters reeled in their paltry target for the loss of just three wickets with 32 overs to spare.Gaur, who at just 17 had played 19 T20Is for UAE before making her England debut in the format with two matches against Sri Lanka during this tour, was handed her maiden ODI cap by retired seamer Katherine Sciver-Brunt and she honoured the changing of the guard with 3 for 26, including the prize dismissal of captain Chamari Attapaththu for just 10. Impressive quick Filer then got in on the act, snaring two wickets in two balls and three in total for figures of 3 for 27 after England won the toss.Legspinner Glenn was England’s only frontline Spinner with Sophie Ecclestone injured – although she would have been rested for the series anyhow – and offspinner Charlie Dean overlooked. She also took 3 for 20 as Sri Lanka failed to halt their slide, sparked – and ended – by Gaur.Gaur’s second delivery in ODI cricket resulted in five wides, a length ball to Anushka Sanjeewani swaying down the leg side and evading wicketkeeper Jones’ attempt to gather. Seven dot balls followed from the tall teen, however, including a gem which shaped back past Sanjeewani’s bat and bounced over the stumps and another which beat Attapaththu’s outside edge after jagging away from an off-stump line.Attapaththu, Sri Lanka’s captain and danger player after playing a decisive role in both her side’s T20I wins over England, chipped a low full toss over midwicket off Gaur two balls later but, at the end of her next over, Gaur snared a prize wicket with a beauty which angled in then moved away to clatter into the top of Attapaththu’s off stump, gone for just 10.When Gaur bowled Sanjeewani with a full inswinger that smashed middle stump, her debut struck dream territory and England were off to the best start they could have hoped for, their opponents reduced to 26 for 2.Glenn trapped Vishmi Gunaratne lbw and then Filer was brought into the attack to excellent effect. Where England had struggled against Sri Lanka’s spinners in losing the last two T20Is, the tourists had no answers for Filer’s raw pace.Filer came on in the 14th over then struck with the third ball of her next, when she did Hasini Perera for pace and bounce, pulling back her length and brushing the glove as Jones did the rest. Then, in the 20th over, Filer claimed the back-to-back wickets of Kavisha Dilhari and Nilakshi de Silva, both caught behindJones also removed Harshitha Samarawickrama off Alice Capsey when England overturned umpire James Middlebrook’s not-out decision and Oshadi Ranasinghe attempting to cut a turning Glenn delivery. Then Glenn bowled Achini Kulasuriya through the gate with one that gripped the surface.Fittingly, it was Gaur who closed out Sri Lanka’s innings with another stunning delivery that nipped into Udeshika Prabodhani, slid between bat and pad and kissed the top of leg stump.Having twice been bowled out inside 20 overs during their defeats to Sri Lanka, England welcomed back ODI openers Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb to the 50-over format and the pair guided their side to 61 without loss before Beaumont fell for 32 attempting to cut Inoka Ranaweera only to find the hands of Hasini, diving low to her right at slip. Lamb was gone in the next over, chipping Ranasinghe to mid-off.Despite Heather Knight gloving her attempted sweep off Dilhari behind with eight more runs needed, Maia Bouchier – another making her maiden ODI appearance – struck the winning runs, a four off Athapaththu through the covers to make it a day for the debutants.
Kishan’s 76 goes in vain as SA build on powerplay dominance to chase imposing target down
Firdose Moonda09-Jun-20224:56
Steyn: Miller now seems to hit boundaries whenever he wants
South Africa pulled off their highest successful chase in T20I cricket, and denied India a record 13th successive T20I victory, despite being a batter light in the series opener. Unbeaten half-centuries from David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen, who shared a 131-run fourth-wicket stand, a record for South Africa, built on an impressive powerplay, led by a surprise move to promote Dwaine Pretorius to No.3, and earned South Africa victory with five balls to spare.On a pitch that India’s top-scorer Ishan Kishan described as “not easy”, run-scoring was quicker than expected and boundaries in over-supply. India hit 16 fours and 14 sixes; South Africa 17 fours and 14 sixes.India would have fancied their chances after they made use of some early luck to post their highest total against South Africa – 211 for 4 – and the highest T20I total at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium. Their batters were particularly severe against South Africa’s two spinners. Keshav Maharaj, who opened the bowling, and Tabraiz Shamsi bowled five overs altogether and conceded 70 runs between them, with Maharaj finishing with his most expensive T20I figures of 1 for 43.But in response, South Africa played the powerplay to perfection, and scored 61 runs in the first six overs. They lost captain Temba Bavuma and Pretorius but the latter’s cameo set up the middle order to finish off. Though van der Dussen had a customarily circumspect start, and the required run-rate grew to over 14 an over at one stage, Miller kept South Africa in the hunt in the first half of the partnership. The pair took on the Indian pace bowlers at the end, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel conceding 86 runs in their 8 overs.2:12
Steyn: Rassie could look to improve on the way he starts his innings
Kishan turns uncertain start into cracking finish
Kishan mis-hit three of his first four boundaries and played down the wrong line to almost everything else as India appeared to struggle despite the runs on the board. His opening partner, Ruturaj Gaikwad, also wasn’t striking the ball entirely cleanly. He top-edged Anrich Nortje over short fine-leg but after India piled on 36 runs in five overs and survived the first properly disciplined over, from Wayne Parnell, things changed.Kishan showed his touch when he dabbed Nortje behind third man and then smoked a drive through the covers to finish the powerplay with India 51 without loss. He was unstoppable from there. He slayed the short ball, advanced down the track to hit Shamsi for six three times, and then belted Maharaj through the leg-side for 20 runs off four balls before successfully reviewing an lbw call.Fielding fluffs
South Africa made four errors, and two of them were costly. The first came immediately after the powerplay when Gaikwad pulled a hip-high short ball from Parnell to Pretorius at long leg. He hit it hard, but straight at Pretorius, who could not hold on as the ball burst through his hands for six. Gaikwad was dismissed off the next ball.Then, three balls past the halfway mark, Maharaj shortened his length as he saw Shreyas Iyer coming down the track and Quinton de Kock had an opportunity to stump him, but could not break the wicket in time. Iyer was on 25 and went on to score 36.And three balls after that, Kishan top-edged a slog-sweep to midwicket where Maharaj, van der Dussen, debutant Tristan Stubbs, and Shamsi all converged, but the ball fell between them. Kishan was on 52 and went on to add 24 more to his score, most of it off Maharaj. The very next ball, there was an opportunity to run out Rishabh Pant for a duck at the non-striker’s end, when he wanted to sneak a run but collided with Rabada. Stubbs lobbed the ball over the fielder backing-up at that end. Pant smashed a 16-ball 29.Pretorius promoted
In a surprise move, South Africa opted to move Pretorius rather than Miller or Stubbs to No. 3 when Bavuma was dismissed in the third over but a little bit of digging revealed there was some method to what seemed like madness. Pretorius has batted at No. 3 ten previous times in his T20 career, and once in an international, when he scored his career-best 77*. He punched the second ball he faced through the covers for four, and slog-swept the fifth for six to suggest what he could do and then took three sixes off Hardik Pandya to confirm it. Pretorius swung hard and got the short, full, and length ball over the leg side before Harshal broke through his defences with a slower ball and took out off stump.Ishan Kishan made 76•BCCI
de Kock dismissed and pressure builds
de Kock holed out to Kishan at square leg off Axar Patel, with South Africa’s required rate above 11 an over, and then India applied the squeeze. Between Axar, Avesh Khan, and Harshal, they bowled 18 boundary-less deliveries, which pushed South Africa’s required rate up above 14 an over.van der Dussen shifts gears
It was expected that Miller would be the batter to keep South Africa in the game – given his impressive IPL – and he did exactly that. He broke the boundary drought with 10 runs off the last two balls of Harshal’s second over and then hit Axar for a six onto the third tier of the stands.But van der Dussen, oft-criticised for his slow scoring rate, could not get the ball away as regularly until he broke the toe-end of his bat and had to change it for another. With the new bat, he hit Avesh over his head for four, off a no-ball, and then sent him straight to deep midwicket but Shreyas spilled a simple chance. van der Dussen was on 29 off 30 balls at the time and went on to plunder 22 runs off Harshal’s third over, including sending two full-tosses for six and bringing up fifty off the 39th ball he faced with a six over deep square leg. He brought the requirement down to 34 off the last three overs and then 12 off the last two before surviving an lbw review to hit the winning runs in the first ball of the final over.
Fast bowler confident India can chase down the target in the fourth innings
ESPNcricinfo staff08-Feb-2021Ishant Sharma acknowledged that his career has been “quite a rollercoaster” after becoming the third Indian pacer, behind Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan, to get to the 300-wicket milestone in Tests – in his 98th match, against England in Chennai. Long hours out in the field as England made merry have left Sharma “a bit sore”, but he feels the Indian bowling unit has done a “pretty good job” considering the “road” England played their first innings on.England, after winning the toss, batted through the first two days before stopping at 578, and after taking a 241-run lead, added 178 more, leaving India to chase 420 to win the first of four Tests. India reached 39 for 1 by close on the fourth day, still 381 away from the target, but Sharma sounded a positive note.Related
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“First two days, actually I was feeling like we were playing on a road, to be very honest,” Sharma, who got to the 300-landmark when he trapped Dan Lawrence lbw on Monday, told the official broadcaster. “But then, on the fourth day, it started turning a bit, and then we caught a bit of a break. But I think we bowled pretty well, even those two days when nothing was assisting us as fast bowlers, and the spinners as well. I think we contained them 260 on a flat one on day one, I think we did a pretty good job.”[On the fifth day] I think it all depends how we start up tomorrow. If we get a good start, then I’m sure we can chase this down, because we have a batting line-up who are very fearless. So we are obviously very positive about this, so it’s just about the start, and then we look how we go through the innings.”Fortunately for Sharma, the England second innings lasted just 46.3 overs, giving him enough time to pick up the wicket he needed to get to 300 – the slowest of 35 bowlers to get to there in terms of matches played – but allowing the sore body to rest. He is, after all, coming back from an injury. After the 2020 IPL, where he played just one match, he had only played four T20 matches for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.”Quite a rollercoaster life till now – I enjoyed it, pretty much, a lot of experiences through my career,” Sharma said of the feat. “There’s a lot of mentors in my life, who taught me how to bowl in the subcontinent, and even when we go abroad, what kind of lengths you need to go to… so I think I enjoyed that quite a lot.”I’m a bit sore, just played a four-overs game, a T20 game, in domestic and then came back and bowled straightaway 35 overs in three or four days on the field, so you can say I’m a bit sore.”Paying tribute to his colleague, R Ashwin – at the other end of the spectrum among 300-plus wicket-taker as the quickest in the world to the mark, in 54 Tests – said at a press interaction, “Ishant has been one of the most hard-working cricketers I’ve seen in that Indian team. He’s worked extremely hard for more than just one reason, because being that tall itself requires a lot of facets to be managed through a career which has panned out almost 14 years, if I’m not wrong with the numbers.”From the Ishant that went to Australia, got Ricky Ponting out, and then has gone through so many other tours, he’s had his fair share of injuries. For a fast bowler to get close to 100 Tests in India is not a joke, and it’s a fantastic, fantastic achievement. And 300 club – he’s the third Indian fast bowler to get there and the only one closer to him after that is probably Javagal Srinath, who is match referee at this game. So I can keep going and keep complimenting Ishant. I really do wish to see him get to 400 and probably 500, which would be a sort of a roadmap for a lot of quicks going forward.”
Matt Rawnsley had only re-joined the club in March 2018
ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2019Worcestershire have announced that chief executive Matt Rawnsley has left the club with immediate effect.In a terse statement, the club offered its thanks to Rawnsley and said that the board “wish him every success in the future”.Club chairman Fanos Hira will handle club matters while the position is vacant, while the club’s ‘cricket steering group’ will continue to take control of cricketing affairs.The circumstances of Rawnsley’s departure are unclear, though the club said that further comments would be made “in due course”.Since Rawnsley re-joined the club in March 2018, Worcestershire had won their maiden T20 Blast title in 2018, and again reached the final this season where they suffered a last-ball defeat to Essex.But they only finished eighth in the Championship in 2019 having been tipped by most for a promotion challenge, which represented their worst finish since the introduction of two divisions in 2000.Rawnsley also sat on the board of Birmingham Phoenix – the Edgbaston-based side in the Hundred – and was an advocate of the new competition. It is expected that his successor will replace him in that role too.