The opener has emerged from some hugely challenging periods in his life to be in the mix for the Ashes

Alex Malcolm22-Aug-2025Australia has quickly become very interested in Jake Weatherald.It is unsurprising given last season he was the most prolific opener in the country and chair of selectors George Bailey has said he is “well in the mix” for the Ashes with uncertainty over the make-up of the top three.But it has been a long and at times very challenging journey for the 30-year-old.Related

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He took mental health breaks from the game in 2020 and 2022 during which there were some extremely low moments. He credits wife Rachel, his partner of 15 years and a health professional in Adelaide, with helping him recover and reach a place of contentment, both personally and professionally.”When I went through my dark times, and the times where I was going through all the mental struggles outside of cricket, she was someone who went, maybe cricket is a trigger, but maybe also there’s other life stuff, and how am I going to help you through it?” Weatherald tells ESPNcricinfo.”She was able to identify a lot of things and bring to light a lot of stuff that I didn’t know about myself, in terms of how I could help myself out, what I could do to be healthy.”I was able to take on experiences in a more holistic way, instead of being like, this is do or die. I’ve tried to make it like it’s just a great opportunity to play cricket, perform, hopefully do some cool things and meet some amazing people. She gave me the ability just to compete and enjoy it like I did as a kid really.”Born and raised in Darwin, Weatherald played eight seasons for South Australia before moving to Tasmania. A free-flowing stroke-maker, he thrashed 904 Sheffield Shield runs in 10 games last summer at an average of 50.33 and a strike-rate of 68.27. The next fastest-scoring top four batter with at least 300 runs on the seamer-friendly pitches was Sam Konstas at a strike-rate of 54.10.’I felt like I was the same player I am right now when I made those changes. I was hitting the ball just as well then as I am now, I just couldn’t get a game’•Getty ImagesThere is an air of simplicity to his play, a see-ball hit-ball method that mirrors his former team-mate Travis Head. There is a brashness and cockiness, too, which opponents have noted. But any perception he doesn’t think deeply about the game would be well off the mark.”I can come off sometimes as arrogant or confident,” Weatherald says. “I think half the time it’s a façade.”He works with a private mental performance coach, John Novak, to help get himself into the optimal frame of mind to perform at his best. Novak does not have many cricket clients but has worked with a range of athletes and coaches in other high-profile sports, including working with Australia’s most recent female golf major winner in Grace Kim.”I’ve been working with him for three years now,” he explains. “His way of thinking was always about being positive and reframing everything. And it took me a while to believe in that, and to believe in that sort of mindset, to see everything is an opportunity.”I think as a cricketer you are just naturally pessimistic about everything.

It’s just not beating around the bush…Obviously, I’ve done well, I feel like I’m going well. The question is, do you want to play? For sure, absolutely. And that’s all I can say.Jake Weatherald’s Test ambitions

“But I think for me, it was building up my confidence around who I was as a person, but also who I was as a cricketer. How I wanted to go about it, how I wanted to speak, how I wanted to interact with people, and all that sort of flowed onto my batting. I know if I walk out, everything is a reframe. I’ve got about four overs tonight, late in the day, I’m going to seize an opportunity. I might openly speak about this as an opportunity to score 20 or 30 runs tonight, or I’m going to get through it, I’m going to show them I’m ready to go here.”Johnny has had a big impact on that. He’s been probably the biggest influence over my direct mindset performance stuff.”Weatherald, who only played one four-day match in his first season with Tasmania and explored a move away, hasn’t been afraid to look outside the box for technical batting advice. He is a self-confessed tinkerer and believes it partly explains some of his inconsistent returns during his eight seasons with South Australia.He scored Shield centuries in all of them bar his first in 2015-16 where he only played four games. He twice scored multiple hundreds in a season, including two in a match in 2017-18, but never averaged more than 41 in any given season and averaged 34.25 for South Australia in 60 matches.He’s still grateful for his time there, working closely with batting coach Steve Stubbings, who has also been a key mentor for Head, before joining Tasmania under Jeff Vaughan, another who has had a significant impact on Head’s career, and Tasmania’s current batting coach Mike Smith.

The two came together at KKR in the IPL some years ago, and Brendon McCullum played his part in shaping the Shubman Gill that’s been the star of the England vs India series so far

Matt Roller09-Jul-20251:45

Monga: Gill set the example for India’s batting success at Edgbaston

“A saying that I’ve used throughout my career is that, ‘If you can’t change a man, change the man’,” Brendon McCullum said, chewing over a defeat in the eerie setting of a massive empty stadium in Ahmedabad during IPL 2021. “We’ll probably have to make some changes and try and bring in some fresh personnel who will hopefully take the game on a bit more.”McCullum’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had just been thrashed by Delhi Capitals, and his frustrations focused on their top-order batters. “You’re not always going to be able to hit every ball for four or six, but you can have the intent to do so,” he said. “It’s very difficult if you don’t play shots to score runs, and unfortunately tonight, we didn’t play enough shots.”Both openers were in the firing line: Nitish Rana made 15 off 12 balls, but Shubman Gill’s 43 off 38 was particularly painstaking. After striking at 117.85 across the first seven games of the season, Gill was widely assumed to be the opener who would make way – until the second Covid-19 wave worsened, pausing the IPL season for five months.Related

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“There was a clear disconnect between the style of play the management wanted and what was being produced on the field in the first half of that season,” recalls one insider. McCullum and his captain Eoin Morgan made a point of giving their players free licence to play their shots, but they had overseen two wins in seven games when the league was suspended.But when it resumed in the UAE, both players kept hold of their spots. Rana was pushed down into the middle order, with Venkatesh Iyer making his debut as Gill’s opening partner, and his form – 370 runs in ten innings – was a major factor in KKR’s resurgence, winning five of their last seven group matches and eventually falling just short in the final.McCullum had been an early advocate of Gill, adding him to KKR’s leadership group as a 20-year-old; Dinesh Karthik, Morgan’s predecessor as captain, recalled on the Sky Cricket podcast this week that Gill had been sufficiently headstrong to tell him, “DK , I think it’s time I can open now,” after a run in the middle order.Brendon McCullum was Shubman Gill’s coach at KKR during IPL 2021•BCCIThe trouble was, ahead of the 2022 mega auction, KKR could only retain a maximum of four players. Keeping hold of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy was a no-brainer; for the fourth spot, KKR decided Iyer was their man. “It was disappointing to lose Shubman Gill,” McCullum said before the auction. “But that’s the way life is sometimes.”Gill became one of the first signings for Gujarat Titans, where he has become an IPL superstar. He won the title in 2022, the Orange Cap in 2023, and became captain last year. A KKR official told ESPNcricinfo that Gill did not actively agitate for a move, and that his release owed simply to a familiar situation where the franchise wanted to retain more players than was permitted.He has rarely addressed his change of franchise publicly beyond a light-hearted comment last year. Gill was filming promotional content with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and Indian comedian Tanmay Bhat when Sheeran mentioned his dinner plans with Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood superstar and KKR co-owner. “Ask him why they did not retain me,” Gill said, before bursting out laughing.McCullum only had one more season with KKR, leaving to take up the England job after the franchise missed out on the playoffs in 2022. Gill has come up against him in eight Tests and three ODIs since, and McCullum has watched the player that he helped shape consistently prove himself to be a thorn in England’s side.Gill scored 430 runs in the Birmingham Test•Getty ImagesEighteen months ago, Gill scored hundreds in Visakhapatnam and Dharamsala in India’s 4-1 series win, averaging 56.50 and winding England’s bowlers up. “I said something to him like, ‘Do you get any runs outside India?’ and he said, ‘It’s time [for you] to retire,'” James Anderson recalled; a few weeks later, McCullum told Anderson that England were moving on from him.Anderson’s comment hinted at the popular perception of Gill as a home-track bully, and before the current England tour, he averaged just 27.53 outside of India. But he has been faultless over the first two Tests, with 585 runs in four innings: “Shubman Gill was batting at an elite level,” McCullum said after his 430-run match in Birmingham last week.As captain, Gill has worked closely with two coaches who are very different to McCullum in Ashish Nehra and Gautam Gambhir. There have been small hints of McCullum’s influence when he has spoken about leadership, and his focus on “making players feel secure” in their positions with consistent selection, but he is proving to be his own man.England will have to find a way to combat him this week – not that Ben Stokes was giving much away on Wednesday. “Very good players are allowed to play well, and he has played very well in the first two games,” Stokes said. McCullum knows that all too well: now, his challenge is to cut the monster he helped create back down to size.

We must just turn up and wait for what treat he throws at us

Sidharth Monga21-Jun-20252:33

Manjrekar: The world knows how special Pant is

Rishabh Pant would have been right at home in England in an era gone by. Imagine him as one of the schoolboys in Cambridge in the late 1950s and early 1960s, an eccentric inspired by the Beat Generation of America, walking around with little regard for rules and convention, rejecting materialism that came with the post-war relative prosperity, looking all hip and dandy, doing things for rhyme or reason not apparent to observers, offending and confounding anyone who thinks they are an authority figure.Pant is actually quite at home even now. Only Alec Stewart and Matt Prior have more hundreds as wicketkeeper in this country. No visiting wicketkeeper has more than one. He has scored more hundreds in this country than Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli.All he needs is long hair, a fisherman sweater, kohl in his eye, and he could somersault all over the streets. Rish the Beat, he could call himself, along the lines of the mad-genius singer-songwriter and guitarist of that era, Syd Barrett, who went by Syd the Beat for a while.Related

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Pant dances down the second ball he faces. Seemingly goes into his bunker. Occasionally tries to ramp-pull Josh Tongue, the bowler who troubled him the most. Plays proper dirty slogs off Chris Woakes, one of them in the last over of the day. Charges Brydon Carse early on the second morning.When the opposition wicketkeeper, Jamie Smith, tries to coax him into a reckless shot against Shoaib Bashir, Pant tells him the bowler is bowling well and the field is spread out so he can’t. And still goes ahead and slog-sweeps the next ball for the 79th six of his career, going past MS Dhoni and behind only Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma among Indians.He brings up his hundred with a one-handed six, having fallen in the 90s seven times, the same number as his centuries now. On three occasions, trying to hit a six. Once, he hit a six outside the ground, the ball was lost, and he got out to the replacement ball on 99.It’s like nothing really matters. What is a hundred? Just a material possession. The world is just random chaos we must embrace, we are but a minuscule part of what is just a pale blue dot, and the best we can do is live every moment to its fullest: cartwheel when we get a hundred, trudge back slower than Inzamam-ul-Haq when we miss it, sharing every expression of pain with the world. And then do the same all over again without a care for convention or hundreds or that pain of getting out to a creative shot.Rishabh Pant celebrates his century with a somersault•Getty ImagesOf course this is not the 1950s or 60s. Of course Pant is no shooting star. Since his debut, he is only the most consistent Test batter of the most high-profile and the most scrutinised Test team in the world. He just plays a high-pressure game with the lightness of a spiritually awakened person.There has to be some method to Pant’s batting. Until he himself talks about it someday – or he could choose to keep the mystery about it alive – we can only look to make educated guesses from some of the trends.He likes to go after seam bowlers early in the piece. He is more aggressive in more challenging conditions. He likes to hit balls where fielders aren’t, something ridiculously simple when spoken about but hard to execute.Pant is susceptible to balls bowled on good length and angling across or seaming away from him. It would seem all his creative shots are designed to avoid facing those deliveries as much as he can.After he charged down to Ben Stokes second ball, only one out of the next nine Stokes deliveries were pitched on that good length. In this innings, for example, he faced 108 balls of pace and played 22 false shots, a control percentage of a tick under 80. Only 35 of those 108 balls were on a good length of 6-8m from the stumps. He played 16 false shots to them.Pant had a wider range of interception points than other batters. He was likelier than anyone else to meet a quick delivery either more than 3m down the wicket or 0.5m from the wicket. And still his average interception point was further down than others.He thrives in this chaos where he has thrown the bowlers off their lengths. When he was playing just his second Test, having got off the mark with a six in his debut innings, he let Moeen Ali bowl good ball after good ball to him in Southampton. He tried to weather the storm in the traditional way. The storm didn’t subside. He ended up scoring a 29-ball duck, and said never again.There must be no rhythm or plan for bowlers when they come at Pant. The bowlers must be forced to protect as many areas on the field as possible, giving him more room for error when he attacks. Even his batting coach mustn’t know the gameplan. There must not be any yardstick to measure his processes by. We must just turn up and wait for what treat Beat Rish throws at us.

Weaknesses are few and far between for the most imposing team on the planet, but hosts exposed them all the same

Valkerie Baynes30-Oct-2025

Beth Mooney shakes the hand of Jemimah Rodrigues after her sensational innings•Getty Images

Australia’s Death Star imploded under a nerveless assault by India’s batters, who stood up when it mattered to end their opponents’ World Cup dominance and secure a home World Cup final.Having crushed star sides seemingly at will since their 2022 World Cup triumph – including South Africa, this year’s other finalists whom they bowled out for 97 in a seven-wicket victory in the group phase – Australia’s unbeaten run through this tournament was ended by one performance in particular.Jemimah Rodrigues played the role of Luke Skywalker with the innings of her life to lead India through the highest successful run-chase in women’s ODI history, her unbeaten 127 ensuring a five-wicket win in Navi Mumbai.
Harmanpreet Kaur, her Han Solo if you will, contributed 89 to a 167-run stand for the third wicket with Rodrigues. Alongside some crucial strikes by Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh and Amanjot Kaur, who hit the winning runs, they ensured there will be a new World Cup champion on Sunday.Australia were complicit in their own demise.The ball of energy that is Phoebe Litchfield had looked certain to keep their force-field intact with a 93-ball 119 then threw herself about in the field, but Australia uncharacteristically faltered in the crucial moments.”Ultimately we just weren’t sharp enough today, probably in all three facets, to give ourselves the opportunity to win that semi-final,” said Alyssa Healy, Australia’s captain and chief destroyer on many occasions, including as a centurion and the player of the match when her side defeated India earlier in the tournament.”We did pretty well to hang in there. We created a lot of opportunities and let ourselves down in that regard, so I’m probably sitting here disappointed knowing that we did that to ourselves a little bit.”Not taking anything away from the Indian performance, I thought they played really well, but there’s a little bit of an element of, we let ourselves down a little bit. It sort of feels a little bit un-Australian to be not as clinical as what we normally are.”Phoebe Litchfield’s century looked to have done the job for Australia•Getty ImagesHealy had been untidy at times behind the stumps on Thursday, pacing round like a caged animal after the ball pinged off the shoulder of Rodrigues’ bat flush into her thumb when the batter was on 60. The pain was physical but Rodrigues would ensure she hurt Australia deeply too.Rodrigues was on 82 when Healy dropped an absolute dolly of a top-edge, sailing high into the air. It looked as though Healy and bowler Alana King would collide at short midwicket as both ran in under the ball but King stopped in time, leaving Healy to do the rest and she shelled it.It was brilliance, not luck, which finally accounted for Harmanpreet, who miscued a pull off Annabel Sutherland and found Ash Gardner sprinting in from deep midwicket and diving forward to take the ball at full stretch.As the night wore on, the dew clearly made fielding difficult as Australia made more mistakes. When Tahlia McGrath dropped another sitter at mid-off when Rodrigues was on 106 in the 44th over, it felt like the point of no return was near.”Oddly, I think we were still in it with four or five overs to go, probably five overs to go,” Healy said. “Funny things happen in games of cricket when it gets tight like that. If you can put enough pressure on an opposition, things can unfold. So yeah, she [Rodrigues] played really well tonight.”We gave her a couple of opportunities, which didn’t help us, but I thought she played really well. Her mental resilience out there, to get her team over the line was exemplary, so full credit to her.”Credit too, to Litchfield, whose maiden World Cup century was at the core of Australia’s total of 338 – yes, they were bowled out with one ball remaining.All lightning-fast wrists and access-all-areas shot selection, Litchfield had already passed fifty off 45 balls when she shimmied down the pitch and launched N Sree Charani way over wide long-off for six.Next ball, playing her favoured reverse sweep to a low full toss, Litchfield sent Australian hearts into mouths as the ball sailed to short third, where Amanjot collected cleanly, or did she? From Amanjot’s end, yes, it seemed so, and Sue Redfern, the on-field umpire, signalled out, but then third umpire Kim Cotton ruled, rightly, that it was a bump ball, and Litchfield got another life on 62. She made it count.Related

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Before you knew it, Litchfield was dancing down the pitch to Sree Charani once more and going up and over mid-off to bring up her hundred, off just 77 balls. Back-to-back sixes off Deepti followed, the second a logic-defying switch-hit over deep cover.But that trademark innovation resulted in her downfall, a split-step and attempted lap off Amanjot was mistimed and Litchfield ended up steering the ball onto her middle stump.Litchfield shared a 155-run stand with Ellyse Perry after Healy had departed for just 5 but, apart from Perry’s 77 and Gardner’s 45-ball 63, no other Australian batter produced an innings of note.Litchfield put her body on the line time and again in the field too, in a bid to stem the flow of runs from Harmanpreet and Rodrigues.She produced a superb run and flick back just inside the rope to save a boundary as Rodrigues punched through cover point and, although it was bittersweet she later launched herself to her right at cover and was airborne, fully horizontal, as Rodrigues’ powerful drive flicked her fingertips. In so doing, Litchfield turned a certain four into a single.Litchfield wasn’t immune to the slippery ball either though, struggling to pick it up when Rodrigues slipped trying to retreat to her crease with Healy screaming for the throw to come to her, highlighting the pressure Australia were under.But if Litchfield is the future – and she is at just 22 years of age and with 67 caps already – Australia are in good shape to overcome this setback.Bear in mind, they will spend the next seven months with one eye on clearing a similar hurdle in next year’s T20 World Cup in England, having also bowed out of the 2024 edition in the semi-finals by losing to South Africa.”We’re playing some unbelievable cricket and that’s why it doesn’t quite feel right sitting here at the losing end, not getting to Sunday’s fixture,” Healy said. “The opportunity for some of our players to play in a really high-pressure situation like that is going to do wonders for our group.”The same thing happened in 2017, we reflected on that and thought we could have done things a little bit better under pressure, and where we can be better at little certain aspects of our game.”This is just another recognition, I suppose, to our group to say, ‘you know what, we can be better at little moments of the game’, but I guess for our group to experience that, to be put under pressure and see how we respond, is going to do great things for us moving forward.”If Australia’s semi-final defeat to India eight years ago and their title victory in 2022 is anything to go by, while India and South Africa fight for this trophy, a new and improved world-beating machine is already under construction.

The No. 3 batter talks about making it to the West Indies side, and looks ahead to the ODI series in Bangladesh

Deivarayan Muthu17-Oct-2025While Shai Hope and John Campbell were standing up to India’s attack in the Delhi Test earlier this week, Keacy Carty, another promising West Indies batter, was sweating it out against spin a few thousand kilometres away in Chennai, in the lead up to the ODI series in Bangladesh, which will kick off on October 18. Carty was left out of the Test side for the India tour, but is arguably the first batter on West Indies’ team sheet in ODI cricket right now.The 28-year-old has become a stable presence at No. 3 for West Indies in ODIs, thanks to his ability to construct and reconstruct innings. He can also bat at different tempos – as his strike rates, ranging from the sixties to 100-plus indicate – a rare skill among emerging batters from the Caribbean.Since his ODI debut in May 2022, Carty has slotted in 23 times at No. 3, scoring 1110 runs at an average of 52.85 and strike rate of 85.97. Only Kane Williamson (62.47) and Virat Kohli (58.28) have a higher ODI average than Carty among No. 3 batters who have played at least 20 innings during this period.So what makes Carty tick in this crucial position in ODIs?Related

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“Before I got the opportunity to bat at No. 3 in back-to-back games, [coach Daren] Sammy basically told me that this is what’s required from anyone that wants to bat in that particular position,” Carty says on the sidelines of a training session at the Super Kings Academy in Chennai. “He brought up the stats and said, ‘This is what the top three in the world is doing and this is what we are doing’.”So we identified a few areas I could improve upon, two-three new skills. Just the willingness to want to do well at the position is what really drives me. I feel in 50-over cricket, you have a lot more time, so you don’t have to be too helter-skelter. If you identify two-three areas where you can get a single, a two or a four, you’re always going to have someone in the circle, so you can always capitalise.”Carty doesn’t want to be left behind by the rapid evolution of the white-ball game. Conditions in the Caribbean, especially at his CPL home base in Trinidad, are often sluggish and unfavourable to playing in the “V” behind the wicket, but he sees his stint at the Super Kings Academy as an opportunity to hone the scoop shot, which could help him manipulate fields and open up new scoring zones in other parts of the world.”The purpose of coming here to Chennai was obviously to improve the way we play spin and the way we think of playing spin,” Carty says. “In the event that a team probably takes out the 45 [short fine leg] and puts him at short midwicket, I remember on one occasion I played it [the scoop] and they put him back. I wasn’t really practising it in CPL that much because I don’t think it would have been that useful. Hitting in front of the wicket is a better way to play in the Caribbean. Here, I’ve been working on a few things indoors, doing drills, and putting it to practice against the spin bowlers.”Carty’s awareness of conditions and his own game came to the fore during his maiden ODI century, against England in a successful chase of 264, which tipped the series decider West Indies’ way in Bridgetown in November 2024. On a slow surface, Carty knew he could simply play out Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid and line up Reece Topley and part-timer Liam Livingstone.In nine ODIs in 2025 so far, Carty has scored 495 runs at an average of 55•Nick Potts/PA Photos/Getty Images”It wasn’t necessarily the quickest pitch,” Carty recalls. “So by the time he [fast bowler Archer] finished his first spell and the first change came out with some spin… it was a night game too. I didn’t think the ball was doing too much nor was the pitch assisting him too much. So on that day, it wasn’t necessarily a big threat for me. I mean, on a different day, maybe a different ball game… But on that day, given all the circumstances, it wasn’t really too threatening.”Any opposition I’m coming up against, I always try to keep their main threat out of the game. I think that would put the team in a better position to do well. So I was a bit more cautious against him [legspinner Rashid]. But I really had the game plan of keeping him out of the game, to then force the other bowlers to be attacking who are probably not as good because we know [Rashid] has about 400 wickets [373 in white-ball cricket] for England.”Learning the game and being interested in expanding your knowledge of the game is going to help you sharpen your skills. I don’t think without attention to detail you can be that good of a player for a long period.”As part of Trinbago Knight Riders, the current CPL champions, Carty has also been feeding off inputs from his captain at the franchise, Nicholas Pooran, and his predecessor Kieron Pollard.”To be honest, it’s been a lot of knowledge and a lot of coaching at TKR,” Carty says. “Pooran is a bit more lenient with me versus Pollard (). That’s just the nature of the individual. But when I’m with TKR, they do come down hard on me in a sense because I guess they feel like I can do well, so they would like to see me do well and do well fast. And it’s not only me – it’s to all younger players as well.Carty has played in four CPL seasons, and he just won his first, the 2025 edition, with Trinbago Knight Riders•CPL T20/Getty Images”Something as simple as – we may finish with practice at 8 o’clock at night, I see a message from Pollard and it’s footage of me batting against spin now versus last year. He would ask me to tell him what I think. Obviously, he’s played a lot of international cricket, a lot of domestic cricket around the world, and has had a lot of coaching from different territories, different conditions and he always shares that knowledge with us.”While Carty plays for Trinidad and Tobago in the CPL, he hails from St Maarten and became the first player from there to represent West Indies in international cricket, against Netherlands in May 2022 in Amstelveen. Funnily enough, Carty was also eligible to represent the opposition, since St Maarten is a constituent country of the kingdom of Netherlands, but his loyalty has always been with West Indies.Daniel Doram, a tall left-arm fingerspinner from St Maarten, who now plays for Netherlands, is among Carty’s good friends. They are team-mates at Leeward Islands, but Carty is looking forward to coming up against him in international cricket in the future.”I remember when I went to bat, one of the players said, ‘Guys, you can have this every day if you want’. I can vividly remember that,” Carty says with a laugh. “Daniel and I are very good friends. He also plays for the same team [Leewards]. So we’re basically the two younger generations that came up and are a part of the team.”He’s obviously playing for Holland now. Hopefully, if we ever play against each other, I can get the better of him (laughs). Yeah, I am eligible to play for the Netherlands, but that part is definitely far off.”Carty top-scored with 52 not out in West Indies’ Under-19 World Cup final win against India in 2016•Pal Pillai/Getty ImagesCarty also credits older St Maarten players like Sherwin Peters and Colin Hamer for shaping his career.”What they learned at the league level, they passed on that knowledge, so I was a few steps ahead of anyone my age,” Carty says. “So it’s basically like a brotherhood and you really don’t like losing because of how they came up. That passion and willingness to win has always been a part of them. As a youngster being a part of it, it’s going to naturally adapt to your demeanour. I’ve not necessarily been a part of a [world-title-] winning West Indies team, but we are improving and I do feel one day things are going to turn around.”Carty is a late bloomer in international cricket. In 2016, he steered West Indies to the Under-19 World Cup title in Bangladesh with an unbeaten half-century in the final against India, but he needed six more years to break into international cricket even as some of his age-group team-mates stepped up to the next level almost immediately after the World Cup.Carty is happy, though, to have taken the stairs, and not the elevator, to the West Indies senior side.”A few guys like Shimron [Hetmyer], Keemo Paul and Alzarri [Joseph] played international cricket shortly after U-19,” Carty says. “I guess you can see why, based on their skillset. For me, it took a bit more time, which is okay. I just felt like I was a bit more… Like I knew my game a bit more.”He has now returned to Bangladesh as a bankable No. 3, well-prepared for whatever the hosts throw at him. While spin is always a factor in Bangladesh, he is also wary of their burgeoning pace stocks.Carty has spent his time in Chennai working on improving his batting against spin•Super Kings Academy”I’ve played in Bangladesh [before] and also watched Test cricket there, where they prepare spin decks. So the work here in Chennai will come into play there,” he says. “Hopefully it will be fruitful, but I’m keeping an open mind because they do have a pace attack that has been doing well for them – Tanzim [Hasan Sakib], Taskin [Ahmed] and the fast guy, [Nahid] Rana.”They also do have quality spinners – Taijul, Nasum and the two Hasans. So it’s going to be interesting to see what type of decks they prepare. But I’m keeping an open mind because I’ve been there twice and the pitches have been amazing.”West Indies missed out on qualifying for the last ODI World Cup, in 2023, and Carty dreams of taking them to the 2027 tournament. “Definitely you want to be a part of the World Cup,” Carty says. “But I’m basically taking it series by series and just trying to get over every small hurdle that we have ahead of us so far.”He isn’t part of the current Test squad or the T20I squad in Bangladesh, but has ambitions of becoming an all-format player for West Indies. Switching from one format to another in a short span has become a tightrope walk these days, but Carty is ready to walk it.”I do want to get back into the Test team. I think where it gets tricky is balancing all three and being able to adapt. Playing Tests today and in three days’ time you’re playing a T20 or an ODI… I feel that’s going to be more difficult. But I do want to be an all-format player for West Indies.”

Fernandinho has officially decided to bring down the curtain on an extraordinary career, drawing to a close more than two decades at the top of the game and a trophy cabinet that places him among Manchester City’s most decorated players of all time. The former Brazil international, now 40, confirmed he will not continue playing, ending speculation that had lingered since his return to Athletico Paranaense in 2022.

• A career built on brilliance and relentless standards

  Fernandinho spent nine seasons at Manchester City after arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013, where he had already earned six Ukrainian league titles and a UEFA Cup. Under Manuel Pellegrini and later Pep Guardiola, he became the anchor of City's midfield. Known for his exceptional reading of the game, immaculate tackling, and unrivalled positional awareness, his influence allowed the club’s creative talents to flourish. Across 383 City appearances, Fernandinho lifted five Premier League titles, six League Cups, an FA Cup and a Community Shield.

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  A fitting final chapter in Brazil

  After leaving Manchester in 2022, Fernandinho went home, rejoining Athletico Paranaense, the club that first introduced him to professional football. His playing time naturally declined as the seasons passed, and the midfielder had not featured since December 2024 in a league match against Atletico Mineiro. Speaking after a charity game this week at the club’s stadium, he made clear his body had given him its final warning. 

  "I’m already tired. I ran for 30-something minutes today and I’m exhausted," he said. "There’s nothing in football that motivates me anymore. I’ve achieved everything I could. Now it’s time to enjoy my family."

  The 40-year-old added that his departure came after he and the club failed to reach an agreement on a new deal. 

  "We didn’t reach an agreement for a new contract, and that’s the most natural thing in the world. I’ve never hidden my gratitude, my respect and affection for Athletico, especially their fans," he said. 

• Guardiola was blindsided with his Man City exit

  When Fernandinho left City, he had not initially informed Guardiola about his decision. 

  "I didn’t know it," the manager told reporters during a press conference. "You gave me the news. We will see what will happen at the end of the season. I said many times we will see what happens. I said at the end of the season we will talk – maybe it is a family decision, maybe he wants more minutes. I would love to be with him."

  Guardiola suggested that the then sporting director, Txiki Begiristain, might have been aware of the development.

  "Maybe Txiki knows it and didn’t tell me," Guardiola said. "I don’t know. It is a surprise for me; I will say to him [Txiki]: 'What happened?' But I know his [Fernandinho’s] intentions. Another player would do it for his benefit. Knowing Ferna, it will not be this.

  "I want the happiness of my players and absolutely we are going to play tomorrow for him and give him the best farewell moment, reaching again the semi‑final of the Champions League and try to go through again. I understand the players want to play, it is completely understandable. Not just because he is 35 or 36. Look what happened with Ferran Torres: he wanted to play so joined Barcelona. I understand Ferna wants go back to Brazil, with his father and mother there, and I am pretty sure the club is going to help him do what he wants."

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  What comes next for Fernandinho?

  Attention now shifts to Fernandinho’s future beyond the pitch. The Brazilian has previously expressed interest in coaching, and Manchester City have a history of integrating former players into roles across their academy, global network or ambassadorial programmes. With his intimate knowledge of Guardiola’s system, he would be a valuable addition should he choose to pursue the coaching path. However, as he mentioned, right now, he would opt for a quieter period dedicated to family life, after spending years at the elite level. 

Sri Lanka have history on their side, having won their last five T20Is against Pakistan going back to October 2019

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Sep-20252:03

Chopra: SL could bring in an extra seamer in Abu Dhabi

Big PictureLet’s cool things down a little. Two high-profile, highly-charged matches have happened. Some hands have not found the company of other hands at times around cricket matches where hands and other hands are supposed to find the company of hands.We are not naming names, or specifying political indiscretions. But at least on Tuesday, there should be some peace. Perhaps even some love.Pakistan vs Sri Lanka tends to be borderline sappy.Related

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Both these teams also have some pride to resurrect. The reasons for Pakistan’s self-esteem doldrums are obvious. If Sri Lanka was Pakistan’s roommate in a sitcom right now, they’d be telling Pakistan to get their act together with an arm around their shoulders with insults dressed winkingly as compliments. Pakistan might point out that Sri Lanka aren’t doing so hot themselves, having lost to Bangladesh in the first Super Four match. Sri Lanka might respond by asking Pakistan to count the number of Asia Cup trophies on their cabinet. (Because this preview is written by a Sri Lankan, Sri Lankans get last word in all arguments.)Sri Lanka and Pakistan have not tested themselves against each other in T20Is for a while. The last time they played was in 2022, when in the 2010s they used to almost ritualistically have full tours every year.On the surface, they seem evenly matched, however. Pakistan have batting firepower issues. Sri Lanka have batting firepower issues. Pakistan are ranked seventh. Sri Lanka are ranked eighth. Both teams are attempting revivals. Sri Lanka believe theirs has really started. A win against Pakistan will help affirm it.Form guideSri Lanka: LWWWLPakistan: LWLWWIn the spotlightHaris Rauf has only played two T20Is against Sri Lanka, but has five wickets, and an economy rate of 6.85 against them. He was also Pakistan’s best quick in the last match against India, taking 2 for 26. Sri Lanka tend to back themselves against left-arm seam, with so many left-handers in the top order. But in the last match, they did lose three wickets to Mustafizur Rahman.Nuwan Thushara has become known for his outswing at the top of the innings, which has yielded him valuable powerplay wickets. In the last match however, Bangladesh’s Saif Hassan countered Thushara by running down the track and bludgeoning him straight. Thushara is a reasonably experienced bowler now. Can he bounce back?Pitch and conditionsAbu Dhabi tends to be one of the higher-scoring venues in the UAE. Although slower bowlers can sometimes prosper there. Sri Lanka won both matches here in the group stage.Team newsAlthough licking their wounds after the loss to India, Pakistan may keep the same XI.Pakiistan (possible): 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Saim Ayub, 4 Hussain Talat, 5 Mohammad Nawaz, 6 Salman Agha (capt.), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Mohammad Haris, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar AhmedSri Lanka are seriously considering adding a bowler. Maheesh Theekshana may come back into the XI.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Mendis (wk), 3 Kamil Mishara, 4 Kusal Perera, 5 Charith Asalanka (capt.), 6 Kamindu Mendis, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Nuwan ThusharaSri Lanka have won both their matches in Abu Dhabi so far•Getty Images

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have won all five most-recent T20Is against Pakistan, a streak going back to October 2019.
• In the UAE, however, Pakistan have won four T20Is against Sri Lanka, out of seven encounters.
• Openers Pathum Nissanka and Sahibzada Farhan are the tournament’s No. 2 and No. 3 runscorers so far, behind india opener Abhishek Sharma. Sri Lanka’s other opener, Kusal Mendis, is fifth on that list.Quotes“We tend to have four ‘proper bowlers’ and then Dasun Shanaka, Kamindu Mendis, and me, have to make up the other overs. But this is T20, and even our best bowlers sometimes go for 40 or 45. If we had another bowler, it would help. But we’re still deciding how to go forward.”Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka doesn’t have a fixed plan just yet