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An update has emerged regarding the future of Glasgow Rangers goalkeeper Robby McCrorie at Ibrox beyond the end of the summer transfer window…

What’s the talk?

Glasgow Times journalist Chris Jack has revealed that the shot-stopper is now pushing for a move away from the club in the coming weeks.

He tweeted: “Robby McCrorie set for Ibrox exit after Rangers keeper stance change ahead of new campaign.”

In the accompanying article, Jack has claimed that a number of clubs south of the border are keeping tabs on the 24-year-old, who has one year left on his contract with the Light Blues.

McCrorie is said to be frustrated by the prospect of spending next season as a backup behind Allan McGregor and Jon McLaughlin and has decided that he will not be putting pen to paper on a fresh deal at Ibrox.

Supporters will be gutted

Rangers supporters will be left feeling gutted by this claim, as they will surely not want to see the young goalkeeper leave the club.

McLaughlin (35) and McGregor (40) are both in the latter stages of their respective careers, and McCrorie is the closest thing the Gers have to a long-term solution between the sticks.

At 24, he has plenty of years left ahead of him to develop, and he has the potential to become a number one in the future for the club.

However, the decision to hand 40-year-old McGregor a new deal has cast doubt over whether McCrorie will be afforded enough game-time next season to stake a claim for his position in the team.

In the 2021/22 Premiership campaign, the current Light Blues number one allowed his standards to drop. He ended the season with a save percentage of 66% and made four errors directly leading to shots or goals, which does not include shots and crosses with which some observers may feel he could have done better.

Meanwhile, McCrorie played one match – against Celtic in a 1-0 win last August – and kept a clean sheet as he recorded an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.4. Whilst this was only one game, it offered a glimpse of the quality that he has the potential to provide between the sticks.

Therefore, Gers supporters will surely be frustrated that the decision to extend the underperforming McGregor (at Premiership level at least) has now convinced a promising young shot-stopper to decide that he wants to leave Ibrox. They will be gutted by the 24-year-old’s desire for a transfer and must be hoping that he changes his mind in the coming weeks.

AND in other news, Agent delivers big transfer update that’ll leave Rangers supporters gutted…

An update has emerged regarding Sunderland and their interest in signing Robbie Brady in the summer transfer window…

What’s the talk?

According to TEAMtalk, the Black Cats are one of the clubs eyeing up a deal to sign the Republic of Ireland international on a free transfer.

Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman is joined by Middlesbrough and Bournemouth in his pursuit of the winger, who is set to be available after the end of his short-term contract with the Cherries as he helped Scott Parker’s side to finish second in the Championship last season.

Imagine him & Alex Pritchard

Sunderland would complete a trident of former Norwich attackers behind Stewart by signing the winger, as he would join Pritchard and Patrick Roberts in the frontline.

Alex Neil worked with (and signed) both Brady and Pritchard during his time at Carrow Road, and the pair played alongside each other in the 2016/17 campaign in Norfolk.

The Scottish coach previously lauded the Irishman as a “top quality” player, and the 30-year-old’s statistics whilst playing for the Canaries back that up.

In his Championship season under Neil, Brady averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.11 as he managed four goals and four assists in 23 appearances playing at left-back and on the left wing. This came after he played 36 matches under the Scot in the 2015/16 Premier League and averaged an impressive rating of 6.98 in the top flight.

The winger has also shown that he still has what it takes to perform at this level. He averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.03 in six games for Bournemouth as he helped them to get their promotion to the top tier over the line.

In 2016/17, Pritchard produced an eye-catching six goals and seven assists in 19 Championship outings whilst playing alongside the £33k-per-week wizard for half of the campaign before Brady joined Burnley in January 2017.

Both players have therefore proven that they have the quality to make a big impact in the Championship, with both doing so under Neil’s management.

The ex-Norwich boss knows how to get the best out of the pair and will be able to play them alongside each other in attack once again if Speakman can seal a deal for Brady in the coming weeks.

Imagine both of them scoring and setting up goals in the second tier for Sunderland next season, harking back to their days doing just that for the Canaries.

AND in other news, “Only heard…”: Alan Nixon drops big Sunderland transfer claim that’ll deflate supporters…

West Ham United are plotting a move for “promising” Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin this summer.

What’s the story?

As reported in the Sunday Mirror (via Claret and Hugh), West Ham are expected to open talks with Real Madrid this week over a loan move for Andriy Lunin. Any deal could also include the option to buy the player.

The goalkeeping situation at The London Stadium is still undecided with Lukasz Fabianski the only one staying at the club at the moment. There is potential for Alphonse Areola to remain at the club following his loan spell.

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Moyes will be buzzing

Manager David Moyes will be buzzing at the opportunity to sign a goalkeeper as highly rated as Lunin, and if he can secure him permanently it will solve the position at the club once and for all.

The 23-year-old joined Madrid in 2018 for €14m (£12.3m) from Zorya Luhansk and signed a six-year deal with the Spanish giants. He has only made five appearances in total for the club, having spent a lot of time out on loan.

However, he was a part of the squad this season that lifted the La Liga trophy and most recently the Champions League after beating Premier League side Liverpool in the final.

He is currently contracted until 2024 and is paid £41k-per-week. The Mirror say he is valued at £13m, so Madrid could make their money back.

A recent loan spell with Real Oviedo saw him get a decent amount of game time, he made 20 appearances and kept 6 clean sheets. Moving to West Ham would see him tested at a completely different level and it would be good for his development.

It would be a surprise if the player didn’t want to leave, he might have dreams of succeeding Thibaut Courtois, but he needs to provide himself at a higher level first.

If West Ham are to keep up their exceptional form the in the league over the past couple of seasons then they can’t take too many risks. Would putting such an in-experienced goalkeeper between the sticks be a good idea?

Probably not, but he would likely come in as the second choice initially, and would likely get game time in the Europa Conference League and domestic competitions to prove himself capable.

AND in other news, Moyes eyes bargain West Ham swoop for £15m “cerebral” brute, he’s an upgrade on Dawson…

Southampton forward Theo Walcott is reportedly considering a St. Mary’s exit this summer after it’s been claimed that he is keen on a move to the MLS.

The Lowdown: Walcott profiled

The 33-year-old veteran first joined the Saints on loan from fellow Premier League rivals Everton for the 2020/21 season, but following a successful spell, put pen to paper on a permanent contract with the south coast outfit last summer.

The academy graduate has made 58 senior appearances for the club if you include his initial stint in the mid 2000’s, and despite still having one year remaining on his current deal, it looks as though the former Arsenal man might be heading for the exit door earlier than expected after a new update emerged.

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The Latest: Saints ready to sanction exit

In a new article published by The Sun, it’s claimed that Walcott is ‘eyeing a switch’ to Stateside, and is ‘open’ to a move if any potential suitors are out there, with New York and Los Angeles believed to be among his ‘favoured destinations’.

The source additionally states that Ralph Hasenhuttl is ‘happy to let him go’ at the end of the season, and would prefer to ‘further invest’ in youth during the upcoming transfer window instead.

The Verdict: Raising transfer funds

It comes as no surprise to discover that Walcott will be looking for a move elsewhere over the coming months, especially considering his lack of game time, given the fact that he’s not been involved in any of Southampton’s last 14 outings.

The long-term top-flight servant, who was once dubbed a “massive” player by his ex-Gunners teammate Jack Wilshere, is also the Saints’ highest earner on the wage books, so it’s no wonder that they are trying to move him on in the summer.

The potential sale of Walcott could raise some much-needed transfer funds so that the Austrian boss can go into the market looking for new additions to bolster his ranks ahead of the start of next season.

In other news… an Italian source has delivered a huge Southampton transfer update.

Like a microcosm of a 12-year career, Mathews’ 2019 World Cup has been as vexing as they come

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Headingley06-Jul-2019Shahid Afridi had a hundred comebacks, Ross Taylor batted for years with a growth in his eye before realising it, Irfan Pathan’s unrealised potential is infamous, but as far as ongoing careers go, none is more vexing than that of Angelo Mathews.At 32, he has been captain in two separate stints, been touted as the next all-time Sri Lanka player, been dropped partly for his running between the wickets, resigned from the captaincy, been sacked from the captaincy, refused the captaincy, played more cricket than almost anyone else for three years, missed more cricket than almost anyone else since 2017, led the team to a sublime Test series win in England, led the team to a haunting home ODI series defeat against Zimbabwe, and through all of this, and maybe because of all of this, struggled to deliver on the blinding promise of his early years.WATCH on Hotstar – Mathews’ third ODI hundred (India only)In 2014, when he was laying waste to every attack, playing every kind of innings, on every kind of surface, greatness was thought to be written on the wall for Mathews. In the years since, that wall has sadly turned out to be in a rough part of town, and has recently had graffiti all over it, plus crows nesting in the cracks.Like a microcosm of a 12-year career, Mathews’ 2019 World Cup has been as vexing as they come. In it, he has made two successive ducks, but now also Sri Lanka’s highest-quality century (Avishka Fernando’s ton had been against West Indies – an inferior attack to India’s). He has made the scratchiest match-winning innings of the tournament against England, himself admitting he was “really struggling out there” during his 85 not out off 115 balls. Despite having decided months ago that he was giving up bowling, he delivered the craziest ball of the tournament – one that won his team the game. Mathews stinks up an innings, Mathews dazzles, Mathews mopes, Mathews celebrates, Mathews is constantly in the captain’s ear giving advice and ideas. This, you come to understand, is no ordinary cricketer.Against India, Sri Lanka were 55 for 4 soon into Mathews’ innings, and in his greatest years – circa 2013/14 – a fighting half-century for Mathews from here would have seemed almost inevitable. There’s nothing inevitable about Mathews anymore. He could as easily go scoreless for his first 20 balls before edging behind, as wallop four fours in seven balls and then hole out. Even in his worst spells of form – and man, have those been dire – you could tell this was a player with a wonderful defensive technique, a full array of shots, and pretty much every gear a batsman needs. A 20-odd from Mathews often had everything; the calm defusing of what for many would be an unplayable ball, an imperious pull to sting the boundary boards beyond midwicket, well-placed twos into the outfield, all punctuating a long sequence of desperate wafts.But during the course of this hundred – his third in ODIs, each of them against India – his batting fell into place in a fashion that it has not for him in a year-and-a-half. Though there was reticence at the outset, there was no sense of being bogged down by anything other than Sri Lanka’s precarious situation in the match. Eventually, the best Mathews strokes began to come. The pull shot to the quicks and the straight sixes to the spinner, of course, but also, the aerial reverse sweeps to beat short third man, the constant working into the outfield, and a handsome upper cut to reach triple figures for the first time since 2017.Getty ImagesThe caveat is that this was not the Mathews of old. That Mathews, the great batsman in the making, would have been more aggressive through the middle overs, and finished with a strike rate in excess of 100, having also turned several of those singles into twos. For the first time in this tournament, though, there were hints that after everything that has happened over the last few years, Mathews is still there somewhere. And that maybe, if the dirt of the past few years, which has caked itself around him, can be chiseled at and washed away, perhaps this Mathews can channel that Mathews again.”When the tournament started, a lot of people told me: ‘Angelo isn’t performing,'” captain Dimuth Karunaratne said after the match. “But he knows no matter how much he fails, how to get into that rhythm. He has that experience. He showed the whole team how to bat on this wicket. We need that experience in a team, because we need to give the youngsters the benefit of that experience.”It is very possible Mathews has missed the boat to greatness. He is in what are supposed to be the prime years of batting life. And yet, his captain dwells not on the runs he provides, like captains of Kumar Sangakkara or Mahela Jayawardene did until the date of their retirements, but upon his seniority. For those very fine players, the impact they had on the players around them was merely a supplement; for Mathews, it is now a central tenet of his value.Maybe that is okay, though. Because if after several years of feeling as besieged as Mathews must have felt, if you think as he must that you have been bruised and wronged, and most of all abandoned, having tournaments like this are fine. Maybe turning out to be merely a very good player is enough.

Not up to scratch on what happened in cricket in April? No fear – here’s the lowdown

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-May-2017Retirement dramedies
If expecting to be drinking pals with opposition players you have abused for weeks on end is an Australian persuasion, and defecting to English counties is a South African thing, then in parts of South Asia, retirement is a leading cricketing art form.Like with any creative enterprise, every country has its own particular iteration. Sri Lanka, for example, is the home of the encore. When some players announce their retirements, they do so gazing hopefully at the nation’s sports minister, who makes a point of cajoling certain players into staying for one more series, as long as it makes political sense for him to do so.Often these second comings don’t work out. Sanath Jayasuriya spent his last few innings slashing balls to off-side fielders. Kumar Sangakkara kept getting out cheaply to high-quality spin. In both cases, fans clamoured for renditions of the players’ best work, but were reminded instead of the players’ great flaws – a little like screaming for “Billie Jean” at a Michael Jackson show, only for Jackson to climb onto the roof and dangle a baby from it.India is not beyond unusual retirements either, giving Sachin Tendulkar the grandest farewell of all in a made-for-purpose series from which Tendulkar’s speech remains more vividly in the memory than any of the cricket.But the undisputed grand masters, of course, are Pakistan. Imran Khan scripted one of the great cricketing comebacks when he came out of retirement to play in, and win, a World Cup. More recently, Shahid Afridi has un-retired so many times that for fans to truly believe he is gone for good, he will have to publicly saw his own arms off. Shoaib Malik went in a different, but still dramatic, direction, hitting 245 in his first Test innings in five years, before springing a shock retirement at the end of that series.So has the baton passed to Pakistan’s present old-timers. Misbah ul Haq’s approach to retirements has been the more classical of the two. He first took fans on a rare journey into his mind, despondently raising the possibility of retirement in a stream-of-consciousness press conference following last year’s loss at the MCG, then stating days later that he would play on for a bit. Only now has he confirmed the West Indies series will be his last.Younis Khan, however, has aimed for something fresh and daring, and the genre is so much richer for it. He first came to us in a press conference in Karachi. “People are calling me and asking me not to make any announcement to leave but now is the time,” he said. All settled, then?But wait. What’s this? Two weeks later another Younis quote emerges, in which he suggests he could extend his career, “if my team needs me”.Having ratcheted up the drama with two opposing announcements, Younis returned to us in a gloriously fulfilling final act. Looking dead serious in a video message from the West Indies, this third, authoritative Younis told us: “Younis Khan will retire even if he scores a hundred in every innings of every match”. The way he glowered, and spoke in third person, he seemed to not just be telling fans off for doubting “Younis Khan’s credibility”, but also scolding the other two Younis Khans for speculating on Younis Khan’s future.Misbah and Younis may be two of the more straight-talking men in their nation’s cricket pantheon, but no one can fully avoid the drama vortex that is a Pakistan retirement.[Insert drink-driving joke here]•Getty ImagesLeft behind by the IPL
Thanks to the IPL, many cricketers can finally rub shoulders with international stars and earn the kind of money worth dodging taxes for, but spare a thought for the folks who did not earn a contract.Denied the chance to party in a glam club in Mumbai or a plush Delhi hotel, New Zealand fast bowler Doug Bracewell had to resort to getting drunk in his home town of Hastings, like some kind of worthless pleb. Worse, Bracewell didn’t even have access to a team chauffeur, and – get this – had to personally open the door to his own car, put behind the wheel, and wound up getting picked up by the police and sent to court for drunk-driving.April’s horseman of the Kolpakalypse
With several South Africa players having signed county deals over the last few months, taking advantage of what was effectively a post-Brexit going-out-of-business sale for British visas, county cricket has gained a greater international profile this season than it would otherwise command. The foreign player making most waves last month was none other than the biggest signing of the season: Kyle Abbott. In three matches for Hampshire, Abbott returned 20 wickets at an average of 16.8. This included an especially impressive match-turning 7 for 41 against Yorkshire.The low-key goodbye
Bangladesh have recently had success forging their own path, and in a departure from South Asian tradition, Mashrafe Mortaza – who has led his side with elegance and charisma – made about as nonchalant a retirement announcement as possible. Striding to the pitch for the toss ahead of the first T20 at Khettarama, Mashrafe casually let slip to Dean Jones that this was his last series like he was relaying a hike in the price of bananas, or telling Jones that his fly was down.The parallel
For so long the cricket world laboured under the illusion that N Srinivasan was our very own Senator Palpatine, but in recent months it has emerged that it is in fact Shashank Manohar who has adopted that role. 
Like with Palpatine, Manohar’s rise to the ICC’s top job was as deft as it was swift. By overseeing the ICC’s new financial proposal he too seeks to weaken the very federation he was once charged with protecting, the BCCI.The dream chaser
Less than six months after he played for England, 25-year-old Surrey allrounder Zafar Ansari announced he is retiring from cricket, possibly to pursue a career in law. Perhaps looking across the Surrey dressing room, Ansari caught sight of an older man, hair greying now, whose own dreams of becoming a lawyer lay broken and unfulfilled. Who, after all, would want to end up like Kumar Sangakkara?Heartbreak of the month
No one has ever been sadder about a bust hamstring than Dwayne Bravo, who last month had to pull out of the IPL because of the injury. Below is a brief rundown of that unforgettable press release.Dwayne Bravo: can bat, can bowl, can field, can make ’em weep•CPL/Sportsfile”It is with deep regret that I announce my decision to withdraw…” “My body is not ready to perform at its fullest potential…” “…[I] undoubtedly have the love support of the best sports fans in the world. It is for them that I perform at my best every time I go on to the pitch.” “I sincerely apologise to my Gujarat Lions team-mates, franchise owners, and all my wonderful fans…” “I, too, am deeply saddened and disappointed, particularly because I know how much my fans were looking forward to my return.” “This is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in my career.”I thank everyone for the love and encouragement.The weird fetish
The smell of freshly mown grass has been repeatedly cited as one of the pleasures of the early English season.Come on, county cricket fans. This is why people don’t respect you.The misheard word
In world news, North Korea has raised global alarm by testing ballistic missiles, but Kieron Pollard has found it demeaning to North Koreans that so many people are questioning whether they have the “brains” to reach North America.The who-do-they-think-they-are-fooling announcement.
Sri Lanka Cricket has declared its players will undergo “high-intensity and altitude training” in Pallekele, ahead of the Champions Trophy. While the benefits of training at this venue – among the faster, more seam-friendly pitches in the continent – are clear, it is less certain whether a ground that is not much more than 500 metres above sea level qualifies as an “altitude” venue. There were even suggestions the mountain air would pre-acclimatise Sri Lanka’s players for the weather in England, forgetting that, this being a tropical island, temperatures still regularly breach 30 degrees around Kandy in May, and that pre-series training in Pallekele last year had not, in fact, led to a single win on the tour of England.SLC is also reportedly advising a group planning an expedition across the Sahara to prepare by standing under a lightbulb for a few hours.

Plays of the day from the Super 10s match between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Bangalore

Alagappan Muthu20-Mar-20164:04

Chappell: Evidence confirms Chandimal catch was clean

Pulling the plugA six off the first ball. A four to follow that. Tillakaratne Dilshan was batting like his numbers against West Indies suggested he would. Coming into the game, he averaged 55.56 in eight matches. But like a party that was shut down before it could get raucous, Dilshan’s innings came to a grinding halt when umpire Johan Cloete gave the nod to a vociferous lbw appeal from Carlos Brathwaite. The ball was angled into the pads and it appeared to be missing leg stump comfortably and the cool kids were none too happy with that. A brand new redhead, Dilshan left shaking his head and his old team-mate Mahela Jayawardene tweeted, “Come on, umps! it’s a WC and u have to be better than this.”The slow motion sucker punch
The Dwayne Bravo slower ball has had a grand old run at the IPL, and it keeps embarrassing class batsmen. Today it was Angelo Mathews’ turn. Premeditating a lap sweep, the Sri Lanka captain went down on one knee and was face to face with a big old full toss. Mathews, having given up the option of a stable base, could only flail at the ball. The outside edge looped up and fell straight into wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin’s gloves. At no point in this sequence did the ball touch the ground.The anti-climax
Bangalore made no bones about who it was supporting. Their local boy Chris Gayle was in town and every Sri Lankan wicket was cheered with gusto. So it was surprising when a dropped catch that benefited the West Indian team brought out a chorus of boos. Johnson Charles went aerial and Chamara Kapugedera hunted it down from midwicket. It should have been a dolly, but the ball popped in and popped straight out. A crowd that had been screaming “We want Gayle! We want Gayle!” when the chase began without him thought the wicket would bring their hero out. Guess they weren’t informed that Gayle had twinged his hamstring and spent too much of the first innings off the field to take strike straight away.Too much tech
It seemed it was finally time. Andre Fletcher had played a blinder in his stead, but Dushmantha Chameera claimed his outside edge in the 16th over and it seemed like Dinesh Chandimal had pulled off a fine catch. Umpire Cloete gave it out straight away, but his partner at square leg Aleem Dar wanted a second look. Third umpire Simon Fry was in the hot seat and as is the case with catches that die into the fielder’s hand, the more camera angles that were used, the more doubts crept in. The replays showed the ball bouncing, a sizeable contingent thought it did so only after settling cleanly into the wicketkeeper’s gloves, Fry wasn’t among them and ruled not out.The hometown boy deniedChris Gayle had called Bangalore his “hometown” after blitzing a century against England and his fans had thronged to the M Chinnaswamy stadium by the hordes to see him and they went back home without getting to watch Gayle bat. The man tried his best though. He was by the boundary, padded up, helmeted and armed with his big bat itching to get on the field and entertain the crowd. He had to be jovially dragged off inside by umpire Ian Gould and feeling a touch guilty, perhaps, Gayle came out sans his gear to wave to salute the crowd and indulge in a few selfies

The majority of the crowd that booed Moeen Ali at Edgbaston did not have race or religion in their mind. But a smaller section did, and that should not be condoned

Akshay Loomba11-Sep-2014Many Indian fans have had bad press and the finger pointed at them for booing Moeen Ali. It has brought to the fore a range of issues and strong emotions.Firstly, I truly believe the booing of Moeen cannot be and is not religiously directed. The Indian crowd cheer with passion for players such as Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Kaif all of who are Muslim. In the stands supporting India are Muslim Indians and in fact India has one of the highest Muslim populations in the world.When South Africa were playing India in the Champions Trophy last year, when the stands were full of Indian fans and Bharat Army members, there were no boos whatsoever for Hashim Amla who is of Muslim descent so I think the issue is more of the fact Moeen is playing for England which is a big grey area for British-born Asians rather than of his religion.A lot of fans were upset with Moeen’s recent comments challenging the allegiance of British Indians, suggesting British-born Indians should be supporting England. He also unexpectedly went through the Indian batting order in the Test series so was already under the skin of many Indian fans which probably acted as a catalyst in the booing saga.However, I would be ignorant to say a minority of fans weren’t booing purely because he is of Pakistani descent. This should not be condoned in anyway. The reason would stem from the Indo-Pak rivalry in cricket and politics which is a lot more complex and hostile than most people are aware of, although that is no justification and an individual shouldn’t be targeted for where they come from regardless of the extent of the rivalry.Reasoning aside, cheering and booing is part of all sports – what about when Andy Murray was booed by English fans because he is Scottish? – but it should not turn into personal verbal abuse. Bringing it back to Moeen I feel claiming ‘racial booing’ is jumping to big conclusions for the thousands of non-racists booing last Sunday.As you are aware the booing wasn’t just at Moeen but at Ravi Bopara too, being British Asians we want them to do well against other nations but some fans felt betrayed and made them aware of it, similar to the South Africans booing Kevin Pietersen in 2009.Indian fans have booed and given stick to Samit Patel in the past about “eating all the Ladoos” (an Indian sweet dish), and although that was unsettling to him and isn’t a nice thing to say, he took it well and played along with the crowd.I remember the Bharat Army crowd in the past singing the song: and somebody shouted ‘Samit clap your hands’ and so he clapped his hands and the crowd was more accepting to him after that. I feel the hostility shown in the stands to the players is due to a feeling of betrayal, although I’m sure every single one of them would play for England if they got the call up.In regards to recent articles of why British born Indians support India over England, most are actually big England fans in all sports and I myself represent England in Kabaddi as well as run the Bharat Army.Despite this, the vast majority do not support England in cricket because of the general over-reaction to English success and with the big rivalry between England and India in cricket. Many of us see it as our chance to remember our roots and give something back.India is a place of rich culture and history and many British-born Indians are proud to show this off. Cricket gives them an opportunity to demonstrate through colour, song and dance in the stands. The cricket is a time we can show some patriotism for our ancestral roots and cheer along with the whole family. Whether you are a British-born Indian who has been to India or not, the average Joe in the street would still classify you as an Indian as that is still your identity at face value.There are a growing number of British-born Indians supporting England and there is a lot of banter in the stands between the two. I feel with future generations there will be more and more English fans who are of Indian descent.We are in a generation now where our parents or grandparents were born in India and we are born in England so it is a choice many have to make. Growing up I had the choice of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly or Hussain, Stewart and Caddick: Bharat Army or Barmy Army.The Bharat Army cannot speak for every single person in the stands last Sunday but some people have pointed the finger at us. The Bharat Army take up half a stand and not all India fans represent the Bharat Army. We are a supporter’s organisation that encourages families to join us for a cultured sing and dance in the stands to get behind our team and we have always had a great competitive rivalry with Pakistan and Pakistani fans in the past and we hope to continue this.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line

England are a fifth of a way to a glorious 0-0 Ashes scoreline

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013The Brisbane Test was, in football terminology, A Game Of Two Halves – the first an intriguing old-fashioned Test match of wrenching tension, shifts of momentum, and hard-fought battle between bat and ball; the second a trademark 21st-century run glut on a featureless pudding pitch that appeared to have been rolled with Mogadon and told that if it did anything naughty it would have its Christmas presents taken away.The first 130 overs brought 403 runs for 15 wickets (figures courtesy of ProperTestCricketTM Inc.). The next 284 overs gave the world 962 runs for seven wickets − two of which were tail-end hoicks, and two of well-set centurions trying to hit a six. There was some outstanding batting by the five hundred-makers, spectacularly, record-shatteringly dogged resistance by an England team ideally suited to digging in to save a game, some schoolboy fielding by Australia, and some pedestrian bowling and passive captaincy by both teams.England claimed one of their greatest Ashes moral victories. Given that these have been as rare as actual victories in recent jaunts Down Under, this is not to be sniffed at. Reports are that those Australians who have tried sniffing at it sneezed violently and took themselves off to bed with a headache.The real winners were the pitch and the slightly baffling Kookaburra ball, which rendered decent, if not world-class, bowlers utterly toothless, gumming away at Cook, Strauss and Trott like a somnolent baby on a week-old rusk. So much so that they must have ended the match feeling that having a medieval dentist yank their incisors out with a pair of rusty pliers, having used a crowbar to the face as an anaesthetic, would have been a preferable means of achieving toothlessness than bowling for two days on that Brisbane track. Indeed Mitchell Johnson ended the match seeming to be bowling like Shakespeare’s seventh age of man – not merely sans teeth but sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.Not one of the seven billion people or so on earth today would claim that this Australian bowling attack (for want of a better word) is the greatest in baggy green history, but even some of the greatest bowlers from Australia’s cricket’s pantheon would have been left tweaking their moustaches in frustration on this surface, which provided further evidence that the currency of the heroic rearguard has been seriously and artificially devalued in recent years. Indeed, a spokesman for the estate of 19th-century bowling whizz Fred “The Demon” Spofforth issued a statement saying that his client is “delighted to be dead, rather than bowling at Brisbane”.Thus the game drifted from cricketing fascination to statistical curiosity and psychological point-scoring, the pointiest of which were scored by England.It all added up to a curate’s omelette of a Test, which was ultimately glorious for England, agonisingly ominous for Australia, and, presumably, skull-crushingly tedious for the neutrals; and which, whilst confirming that there is little on paper between two teams who justified their current mid-table world rankings, will have left Australia far more concerned than England.This is partly because Strauss’s men are now 20% of the way to a triumphant 0-0 series final scoreline, and the evidence of this Test suggests that both bowling attacks may struggle to upgrade their 0 into a 1. Fortunately for Australia, the evidence of the 2009 series also suggests that the evidence of any Test between these two sides is of absolutely no relevance to the next match. The evidence from which should equally be shredded and buried before the following game. Eighteen months ago, “having the momentum”, the much-prized, much-claimed momentum, proved to be almost entirely counter-productive, and ultimately for Australia, going to The Oval after obliterating England at Leeds, lethal.Nevertheless England will be buoyant, having once again brilliantly underperformed in their first innings in order to make their ultimate avoidance of defeat all the more psychologically boosty. Only Collingwood of the England top six did not show form, and, given that Hussey (almost caught at slip) and Strauss (fractionally not lbw) demonstrated how fine the line is between first-ball nought and match-changing century, golden-duck victims Prior and Broad can both claim to have essentially scored brilliant centuries in the first innings.England’s bowlers all performed creditably if not penetratingly in their one innings of relevance, and with more luck, or a differently regulated umpiring review system, could have snipped off the Hussey-Haddin megapartnership much more quickly.They may struggle to dismiss Australia – other than double successes in Bangladesh early this year and in swinging conditions in New Zealand three winters ago, England have now taken all 20 opposition wickets in just one of their last 19 overseas Tests (a spectacular horsing of South Africa in Durban a year ago), dating back to the start of the last Ashes in Australia. However, the official Confectionery Stall hunch is now that if they do so once to secure a victory, it should be enough to ensure at least a drawn series, as it was against South Africa.For Australia, only Siddle really threatened in England’s first innings, and the second was a slow, surgical dismemberment, albeit in those meaninglessly lopsided conditions. Australia should bring it at least two, and arguably three, physically and mentally unscarred bowlers for Adelaide.And how refreshing it was for English cricket followers to see an Australian team ready, willing and able to drop simple catches at critical times. This traditional staple of cricket at all levels has been largely eschewed by the baggy greens for two decades. With one notable exception, when Warne shelled Pietersen at the Oval in 2005, rocketing to the top of the Player Who Least Deserved To Cost His Team A Series chart.How refreshing also for England to see their own unspectacular left-hander grind out a massive double-hundred, rather than suffering the southpaw ploddings of others – take that, Gary Kirsten. And Justin Langer. And Allan Border. And Mark Taylor. Cook, freed from the summer torment of Amir and Asif, scored more runs in one match than he had in either of his two previous Ashes series. He might have played more awkward-looking strokes than you would see at the average Overcome Your Lifelong Fear Of Dogs group on an outing to an Alsatian petting zoo, but as statements of intent go, it was majestic.It was all set up, of course, by Strauss. In the first innings. His third-ball duck may have been greeted with horror by many Northern Hemisphere fans, but it was exactly the start England needed, as it constituted a blaze of relative glory – his team had lasted a 21st-century record three balls before encountering disaster in Australia. After Harmison’s first-ball horror four years ago (a delivery that put the “miss” very firmly into “missile”), and Hussain’s noughth-ball flat-track insertion in 2002-03, Strauss’s third-ball duck represented a discernible, arguably exponential, stride of progress. Boosted by the surge of confidence those first two wicketless balls sent coursing through their non-baggy blue veins, England comfortably romped to their first non-rain-assisted Brisbane non-defeat for 24 years.Roll on Adelaide. And hopefully some cricket where wickets fall more often than once every 48 hours.

Last year’s Ashes revealed cracks in Australia’s batting. Justin Langer has the job of mending them

Interview by Brydon Coverdale19-May-2011″If you don’t put yourself under pressure in practice situations, it’s going to be very hard to handle the pressure when you’re out in the middle”•AFPHow does your role change now that you’re the assistant coach?
For me, in a lot of ways now it’s a whole different ball game. My involvement over the last 18 months has been basically in a batting consultancy role, coming in and out for Test matches. In a lot of ways that’s difficult, because you have a little bit of time with the guys and then you’re away again, and there are big gaps in between. The role I’m taking on is a full-time assistant’s role, which means I’ll be with the team the whole time, in one-day, Twenty20 and Test cricket. Hopefully I’ll be able to form some really good relationships with the players. My experience as a player is that the best coaching came when I was able to develop good relationships.Is it more important to work with the players on the technical side of things or the mental side?
It’s an interesting question when you’re coaching at this level. There are obviously some small adaptations that can be made, and everyone can always improve, but in my opinion at Test level the biggest improvements come mentally, with the mindset and the way the guys approach the game, and also recognising the responsibilities of being a good person on and off the field. It’s a big responsibility, playing for Australia.Do you agree that during the Ashes that there were some technical faults among the batsmen, especially edging balls they could have left?
Everyone can keep developing their technique, but my experience would tell me that if you’re edging balls or getting bowled a lot, it tends to be that you’re not watching the ball as closely as you should be. And if you’re not watching the ball closely, it’s generally that you’re down on a bit of confidence or you’re distracted. That’s what mental toughness is about, having 100% attention on the next ball bowled to you. That process is critical. If you get the processes right, I’d suggest that most of those guys, with the techniques they have got, wouldn’t be nicking them. They wouldn’t be getting bowled or lbw because if they have got a really strong and positive mindset, they’ll move quicker, they’ll pick up the ball earlier, their feet will move quicker into position, and they’ll invariably be hitting the ball more in the middle of the bat. There’s always that question – is that technical or is that mental? I would suggest, at that level it often looks like it might be technical, but with these guys who have made a lot of runs before, it’s usually that they’re not quite clear in their minds.Australia’s batting in the Ashes didn’t go to plan. What can be done to turn that around?
The whole Ashes series was extremely disappointing. You could never dream that Punter and Michael Clarke would have the series they had. We’ve got such high expectations in Australian cricket, which is great, but I think there’s got to be some patience – not so much with those senior players, at the end of the day they’re the ones who win you games in the short term – but with the younger kids.If you go back over history, Ricky has been dropped three times from Test cricket, so he had to learn from a young age and go away and get better. Michael Clarke has been dropped a couple of times, Matthew Hayden was dropped a couple of times, Damien Martyn was dropped a couple of times, Steve Waugh was dropped, even the great McGrath and Warne were dropped. The point is that the young guys coming through – Usman Khawaja, Phillip Hughes, Callum Ferguson, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, whoever the next guys are coming through – you’ve got to be patient with them. At the time they came in, it was just unfortunate that our captain and vice-captain didn’t have great series. That had an impact. We lost Simon Katich after the second Test, and while Mike Hussey had a great series, our senior batsmen probably didn’t have the series we’d been hoping for. That hasn’t happened very often.

“It’s hard to take a bowling-machine technique into a first-class game or a Test match, because on a bowling machine you can survive in first gear. In a Test match or a first-class game, you’ve got to be in fourth or fifth gear every single ball”

Ricky Ponting said earlier this year he’s concerned about some of the young batsmen in domestic cricket having poor techniques. Do you share that view?
I would. You can spend some time with the bowling machine or having throwdowns, and that’s good to forge some muscle memory. And if you use them well, they’re excellent to use, but ultimately you’ve got to marry that with spending a lot of time facing bowlers in the nets, and under pressure. Because if you don’t put yourself under pressure in practice situations, it’s going to be very hard to handle the pressure when you’re out in the middle.In this day and age, bowlers don’t tend to bowl so much. You don’t often see a lot of the state players or senior players playing at club level, so you get two ten-minute hits on a Tuesday and Thursday night against bowlers. Then at state level, a lot of the coaches in the set-up don’t like their bowlers bowling too much in the nets because they want to keep them fresh for the contest. So you don’t get to face high-quality bowling in the nets enough. If that’s the case, it’s hard to take a bowling-machine technique into a first-class game or a Test match, because on a bowling machine you can survive in first gear. In a Test match or a first-class game, you’ve got to be in fourth or fifth gear every single ball.What’s the answer to that problem? Do bowlers just need to bowl more in the nets?
It’s a really hard discussion, because if you ask the sports scientists, there are strong arguments that they’ve got it right, that they should be bowling a certain amount of balls. If you talk to some other coaches – I know Mickey Arthur came out and said recently that they should be bowling more. You’ve almost got to break them down and then they’ll come back stronger and keep coming back.It’s like players being patient – you’ve got to get dropped, like Phil Hughes was, then go away and get better, then come back and that’s the progress of becoming a great or a very good player. To keep working, working, working, and if you do break down you’ve got to go away and get better. We all know that this is a long-standing argument around Australia. Should they be bowling more? In an ideal world for batsmen, absolutely, it would be great to be able to face bowlers more on different wickets, so you can bat under pressure. The other argument is that if you do that, you won’t have them to bowl in the nets. It’s a real balancing act at the moment, and I’m sure that’s being discussed in all sorts of forums, not only here but around the world.