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The five-time Ballon d'Or winner enjoyed a triumphant return to Old Trafford in 2021, but things turned sour long before he left the club on Tuesday

Cristiano Ronaldo's time at Manchester United has come to an end for good. The 37-year-old's departure from Old Trafford was announced on Tuesday in the wake of a scathing interview in which he revealed his lack of respect for coach Erik ten Hag and spoke of feeling "betrayed" by the club.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner returned for a second spell at the Premier League giants in the summer of 2021.

But after just one disappointing year which culminated in United's failure to qualify for the Champions League, Ronaldo made clear that he wanted to leave for a team competing in Europe's most prestigious club competition.

No deal came through in the summer transfer window, and instead he had to suffer on the bench for most of the first half of the 2022-23 campaign.

The Portugal star has finally been granted his wish, however, and leaves under a dark cloud, bringing an end to a partnership that was once so beautiful and fruitful but ends in bitterness and acrimony.

Here is the story of Ronaldo's second spell at the Red Devils…

GettyThe prodigal son returns!

The prospect of Ronaldo joining fierce rivals Manchester City late in the 2021 summer transfer window and then firing them to domestic and possibly European glory put the fear into the head honchos at Manchester United.

They jumped into action amid reports that their former star could soon be sporting the blue jersey of their city rivals and made sure to lure him back to Old Trafford.

United agreed to pay almost £13 million up front to Juventus and signed Ronaldo to a two-year contract with an option for a third.

And so it was. Over 12 years after he first departed for Real Madrid, the man who helped United to three Premier League titles and a Champions League crown was back.

AdvertisementGettySpectacular second debut

What a way to mark your return! Ronaldo grabbed all the headlines in his first game back for the Red Devils.

United had looked good in their first three matches of the season, but there was a feeling that Ronaldo would add some much-needed firepower to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team.

He appeared to prove that notion spot on when he struck in first-half stoppage time to give United a 1-0 lead against Newcastle in his first game back.

It may have been a tap-in but there was much more to come from the attacker, who came to his team's rescue just six minutes after Newcastle pulled level by restoring United's lead.

United went on to win 4-1 at Old Trafford, giving their fans belief that something magical could happen that season.

GettyA bittersweet Champions League return

Ronaldo also opened the scoring just a few days later as United began their Champions League campaign.

They were supposed to make easy work of a trip to Switzerland to take on Young Boys, and that seemed to be the case when Ronaldo broke the deadlock just 13 minutes in.

The home team fought back, though, and pulled level just before Ronaldo was substituted in the second half.

The former Real Madrid star could only watch on from the sidelines as Young Boys scored a late winner to upset his side and prove that there was still much to be done to get the Premier League side back on top of domestic and continental football.

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GettyRonaldo stings Villarreal and Atalanta… TWICE

United recovered from their underwhelming start to the Champions League campaign and Ronaldo was at the heart of it.

Their second match in the tournament came against Villarreal and Solskjaer's team were shaky again as they fell behind.

Alex Telles pulled United level, though, and just as it seemed like the game was heading for a draw, Ronaldo popped up with a winner deep into injury time.

That was no one-off, though, as United found themselves 2-0 down at half-time in their following Champions League match – against Atalanta at Old Trafford.

Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire brought them back on even terms before Ronaldo headed in another late goal to secure a 3-2 win.

That's not all!

They took on Atalanta again a couple of weeks later and yet another thriller ended with Ronaldo nipping in with a decisive goal in stoppage time to equalise for his side and earn a 2-2 draw.

And in the next game?

You guessed it! Ronaldo struck once more in the 78th minute to put United 1-0 up against Villarreal before Jadon Sancho added another in the dying minutes of the match to seal their qualification for the knockout stages.

Adhering to the demands made by the Ranji Trophy captains and coaches the BCCI has advanced the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and changed the format of its inter-state limited overs championship to a group-knockout league format

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jul-20154:47

Aakash Chopra: Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy getting the importance it deserves

Adhering to the demands made by the Ranji Trophy captains and coaches the BCCI has advanced the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy [domestic Twenty20 championship] before the IPL auction and changed the format of both its inter-state limited-overs championships from an intra-zonal-knockout format to a group-knockout league format.Also, the senior domestic season will conclude with the Irani Cup from March 6 to 10, almost a month before last year owing to the World Twenty20, which is set to begin on March 11. The revised domestic schedule will result in a two-month gap between the league and knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy. In addition to that, the Duleep Trophy will not be held in the coming season.Instead of attributing the change in calendar to make the Twenty20 tournament more relevant for IPL franchises and aspiring cricketers, the BCCI stated the revision was made keeping in mind the international calendar. A BCCI release stated, “the schedule has been planned keeping in view the forthcoming Under 19 World Cup and the ICC World T20, and with an intention to complete all our relevant domestic competitions well before the selection for these tournaments, and our players get an opportunity to participate and perform.”In the existing format of the limited-overs tournaments, the teams competed in zonal leagues before proceeding to national knockouts. The BCCI now has decided to divide the 27 participating teams into four groups based on their performance in the previous season. This will mean that teams are challenged to perform against opponents that are not familiar to them.According to a BCCI statement, the Ranji Trophy league stage will be played from October 1 to December 4, followed by the Vijay Hazare Trophy from December 8 to 25.Major tournaments

Ranji Trophy league: October 1 to December 4
Vijay Hazare Trophy group stage: December 8 to 16
Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts: December 21 to 25
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy group stage: January 2 to 10, 2016
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy super league: January 15 to 20, 2016
Prof DB Deodhar Trophy: January 24 to 28, 2016
Ranji Trophy knockouts: February 3 to 28, 2016
Irani Cup: March 6 to 10, 2016

After the New Year’s break, a first after many years, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will be staged from January 2 to 20. The limited overs’ segment will end with the Deodhar Trophy from January 24 to 28. The Ranji knockouts will then be played from February 3 to 28.The BCCI, meanwhile, has introduced more tournaments for women and Under-19 cricketers. “A new Under-19 Challenger tournament has been introduced, which will feature three teams selected by the junior national selectors and provide yet another opportunity to all the players to perform before the national squad is selected for the Under-19 World Cup, to be played in Bangladesh in January,” the release said.”Two new tournaments are being introduced for women cricketers from this year, an Inter-state and then inter-zonal one-day Under-23 tournament and a three-day senior women inter-zonal tournament, which will provide more opportunities to our women cricketers.”

Justice AP Shah, the BCCI ombudsman, has ruled that no case of conflict of interest could be found against former India captain Sourav Ganguly under the board’s rules on the subject

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-2016Justice AP Shah, the BCCI ombudsman, has ruled that no case of conflict of interest could be found against former India captain Sourav Ganguly under the board’s rules on the subject. Freelance journalist Niraj Gunde had filed a case with Shah alleging that Ganguly, who is part of the IPL governing council, was in direct conflict having failed to disclose his commercial partnership with the RP Sanjeev Goenka Group, which owns the football franchise Atletico de Kolkata as well as the company that bid successfully for the Pune IPL franchise.While Ganguly had admitted in his response to Shah that he owned a stake of about 5% in the Atletico de Kolkata franchise, he pointed out that he was not in any way related to New Rising India Pvt. Ltd, which bid for the Pune IPL franchise. Gunde insisted that by not disclosing his relationship with the promoters of the Pune franchise, Ganguly was at fault. He also pointed out to Shah that Ganguly, by being part of the IPL Governing Council, was already aware of who all had picked the bid documents and would have been aware of the bid contents.However, Shah looked at the issue differently. “The Ombudsman considered the application and the various submissions made, and found that none of the conflict of interest rules are attracted in the present instance,” Shah noted in a two-page e-mail that he sent to Ganguly, Gunde and the BCCI.Ganguly’s was the first high-profile case filed with Shah, who took over as BCCI’s inaugural ombudsman, as part of the reforms drive initiated by its president Shashank Manohar last October. Shah said he had also examined whether there could be a possible conflict of interest “beyond what is framed in the rules”, because Ganguly had attended the Governing Council meeting when the bids were opened.”In order to examine this, it is important to understand the bidding process itself. It is clear that the bidding process involved first, the submission of sealed technical and financial bids; second, the opening of technical bids; third, the scrutiny of the technical bids by lawyers; fourth, the opening of financial bids; and fifth, the selection of the lowest bidder among those who had qualified the technical round. All of these steps were taken on the same day in the presence of all the bidders,” Shah wrote in the e-mail, accessed by ESPNcricinfo. “It is clear that members of the IPL Governing Council had no role to play, more so because the final selection of the bidder was based on objective criteria, i.e., the lowest bid.”According to Shah, both he and Gunde were satisfied by Ganguly’s statement that he was returning from London to Delhi at the time the technical bids were opened and subsequently examined by the BCCI lawyers.”The question arises as to whether a member of the IPL Governing Council had any role to play in the bidding process,” Shah said. “If the person had no role to play, other than remaining present during/through the bidding process (because of the post they held), there is no reason to raise doubts about the person’s role, as is the case in the present matter.”The Ombudsman, therefore, does not view Mr Ganguly’s presence or conduct in the bidding process as violating any rules of conflict of interest. The bidding process was transparent, and due process was followed. Under the circumstances, the Ombudsman is of the view that no case of conflict of interest has been established or made out against Mr Ganguly, and therefore, the matter is accordingly disposed of.”

AB de Villiers will miss South Africa’s upcoming two-Test series in Bangladesh while he takes paternity leave but will play the limited-overs matches beforehand

Firdose Moonda27-May-20151:46

Moonda: SA using Bangladesh tour for some experimentation

AB de Villiers will miss South Africa’s upcoming two-Test series in Bangladesh while he takes paternity leave but will play the limited-overs matches beforehand. As cover, South Africa have named wicketkeeper-batsman Dane Vilas, who is one of four new Test caps. Opening batsman Reeza Hendricks, left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada have all earned maiden call-ups which left no room for Dane Piedt or Kyle Abbott, who were part of South Africa’s last two Test squads.South Africa’s limited-overs squad retains the core of its World Cup players with only one new cap. Legspinner Eddie Leie has been included in the T20 squad. Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander will be rested from the ODIs and T20s, from which Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir will also be given time off.Although the Bangladesh tour is South Africa’s first post the World Cup, it precedes a bumper 2015-16 season, which includes four Tests, five ODIs and three T20s in India and the same from an incoming England tour, which explains the part-experimentation on this visit.The first area of South Africa’s focus will be at the top, where they will look for an opening batsman to fill the spot left vacant by Alviro Petersen’s retirement. Stiaan van Zyl is the favourite to assume the role, despite being a regular No. 3, and was moved to open the batting for his franchise, Cape Cobras, last summer. He enjoyed success in the latter half of the season when he scored a century and a fifty in two of the last three matches.Whether van Zyl will get the opportunity to play in that position on the Bangladesh tour will depend on if South Africa’s management prefer to use him in the middle-order in de Villiers’ absence. If van Zyl is deployed lower, instead of reserve batsman Temba Bavuma or reserve wicketkeeper Vilas, Hendricks could get an opportunity to open the batting. Hendricks is a regular opener who has performed well for the South Africa A side but did not stand out last season. He was 15th on the first-class run-scorers’ charts with 540 from nine matches at an average of 31.76, 349 behind the leader Stephen Cook, who is also an opener.The South Africa attack will be overseen by a yet-to-be-named bowling coach for whom the Bangladesh tour will be the first assignment. That person, likely to be Charl Langeveldt, will work with Rabada in his first Test series. Rabada was part of the South Africa squad that won the Under-19 World Cup last year and has been fast-tracked through the franchise and national structures. He was third on the first-class wicket-takers’ list last season, with 39 from eight games at 21.12 including best match-figures of 14 for 105, a franchise record in South Africa.The only thing stopping Rabada from being handed a Test debut is where to fit him in, in an attack that includes Steyn, Morkel and Philander and could also see two specialist spinners playing, given conditions in Bangladesh. For that purpose, South Africa will take offspinner Simon Harmer, who debuted against West Indies, and left-arm spinner Phangiso, who has only played limited-overs matches to date.Phangiso’s first-class record does not stand out, with 109 wickets from 60 matches at 35.20, but he has not played as much first-class franchise cricket as he might have liked, with Lions’ attack well-equipped in that department. He was preferred ahead of Piedt, who took eight wickets on debut against Zimbabwe. He was sidelined for much of last season with a shoulder injury but has since recovered.Phangiso will also play a major role in the limited-overs matches, especially the T20s where Tahir will be rested. There could be a debut for Leie, as South Africa explore their bowling options ahead of next year’s World T20 in India. The Lions’ legspinner has had good results over the last two seasons and finished last season’s T20 competition as the joint second-highest wicket-taker with 14 at an economy of 5.93, the lowest among the top 15 bowlers.The squad to Bangladesh is the last one to be picked by South Africa’s current selection panel, who will be replaced next month. Andrew Hudson has already announced that he will not be available for reappointment.South Africa Test squad: Hashim Amla (capt), Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks, Faf du Plessis, Stiaan van Zyl, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Aaron Phangiso, Simon Harmer, Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada, Dane VilasODI squad: AB de Villiers (capt), Hashim Amla (vice-capt), Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, JP Duminy, David Miller, Farhaan Behardien, Chris Morris, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott, Aaron Phangiso, Wayne Parnell, Ryan McLarenT20 squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Miller, David Wiese, Chris Morris, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada, Aaron Phangiso, Eddie Leie, Wayne Parnell, Beuran Hendricks

Emma Hayes has explained why Fran Kirby did not start Chelsea's 4-1 victory over Paris FC on Thursday in the Women's Champions League.

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Kirby starts on bench against Paris FCHayes: Decision influenced by upcoming England gamesChelsea have one more game before int'l breakWHAT HAPPENED?

The England star was omitted from the starting XI against the UWCL giant killers at Stamford Bridge, with Hayes opting to field Sjoeke Nusken, Erin Cuthbert and Jessie Fleming in midfield. However, with the scores level at 1-1 heading into half time, the Chelsea boss opted to introduce Kirby for Fleming, with the Blues going on to score three unanswered, second-half goals – two of which were registered by Sam Kerr as she completed a 55-minute hat trick.

AdvertisementGettyWHAT EMMA HAYES SAID

Asked why Kirby did not start, Hayes explained that she had one eye on keeping the attacking midfielder fit for England's upcoming games. "I felt there was a lot of work out of possession that over 90 minutes might have been too much for Fran I said this to Sarina [Wiegman] this morning. It’s so important we keep her healthy for England and Chelsea," she said.

"And while Fran always wants to play in every moment, I felt that was the perfect cameo for her. The team needed it. I thought we didn’t work close enough to Sam [Kerr] in the first half, I thought we struggled to build in a double pivot. I changed that shape after 20 minutes but we were sloppy in the first half."

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Kirby was recently named in Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses squad for vital UEFA Women's Nations League clashes against the Netherlands and Scotland. Following an unexpected away defeat to Belgium in the last international break, England's chances of qualifying for the finals – and thus securing Great Britain's place at next year's Olympic football tournament – are out of their hands.

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Getty ImagesDID YOU KNOW?

Kirby has earned 67 England caps during her career so far, during which time she's netted 18 goals. She made her Lionesses debut all the way back in 2014, scoring in a 4-0 friendly win over Sweden.

Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping their batting and bowling can click collectively again after their previous game against Rajasthan Royals, something Mitchell Starc said had been a problem area for them this season

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit25-Apr-2015Match factsSunday, April 26, 2015
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)Big pictureRoyal Challengers Bangalore broke a run of three successive defeats with what Mitchell Starc called their “most complete performance” of the season against Rajasthan Royals a day ago. Shane Watson’s side was restricted to 130 for 9, and Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers chased that down one ball into the 17th over for the loss of Chris Gayle.They came up short in three batting hit-outs in Bangalore but their bowlers adapted well to a slow pitch in Ahmedabad. Royal Challengers now head further north to meet Delhi Daredevils before they return to base in Bangalore. They will be hoping their batting and bowling can click collectively again, something Starc said had been a problem area for them this season.Daredevils have had their share of breaking losing streaks this year. First, it was their record-equalling 11-defeat embarrassment that ended. A comprehensive win over Mumbai Indians in their previous match then ended a run of nine straight losses at Feroz Shah Kotla. They have had an even run till now with three wins and losses, but even in defeat, they have been quite competitive, unlike in seasons gone past.Form guideDelhi Daredevils WLWWL (last five matches, most recent first)
Royal Challengers Bangalore WLLLWWatch out for…Mumbai Indians were 131 for 5 when Imran Tahir began the 17th over. Four balls into the over, they were 135 for 8. Thirteen wickets from six games and a reasonable economy-rate of 7.7 show how difficult Tahir has been to target in this IPL. It will be interesting to see how the Royal Challengers power-hitters fare against the legspinner.Before the start of the season, Kohli had said that he, Gayle and de Villiers would be able to bat freely because Royal Challengers had added depth to their batting with recent acquisitions. However, after five matches, it is the same three who have done the bulk of the scoring. The other batsmen, such as Dinesh Karthik, Manvinder Bisla, Rilee Rossouw and Mandeep Singh, have not fired. The Royal Challengers support batting cast needs to stand up.Stats and trivia Royal Challengers have the fewest fifty-plus individual scores this season – 3 Shreyas Iyer has hit the most sixes this season – 14 Feroz Shah Kotla has hosted the most T20 games in India – 76Quotes”We always knew that if we get over that two-win mark, we will get a lot of confidence. But we don’t want to rest there. We have a long way to go in this tournament.”

The Brazilian winger found the net again as Carlo Ancelotti's side eased to a 2-0 win, with the England midfielder incensed at not getting a penalty

Rodrygo bagged his fifth goal in three games and Brahim Diaz pulled the strings as Real Madrid cruised to a home win over Granada. Goals in both halves settled an otherwise chippy contest to hand Los Blancos a comfortable 2-0 victory.

After a quiet 30 minutes, Madrid came alive. A flowing move opened the scoring, Diaz, dropping a pass off to Toni Kroos, who arrowed a ball in behind, perfectly placed for Diaz to finish with a delightful dink from close range.

It was a frustrating night for Jude Bellingham, meanwhile, who was constantly fouled by the visitors and yet Granada were rarely punished. He almost talked himself into two yellows on multiple occasions, and will perhaps be challenged to monitor his mouth going forward.

Still, his protestations mattered little. Rodrygo eventually provided the second after the break, latching onto a rebound and lashing the ball home after Bellingham's initial effort was saved.

Madrid had few chances otherwise as Carlo Ancelotti's side simply saw out the game, turning in a composed performance and not allowing the visitors a single shot. This wasn't a glamorous performance, but it was certainly convincing.

GOAL rates Real Madrid's players from the Santiago Bernabeu…

Getty ImagesGoalkeeper & Defence

Andriy Lunin (6/10):

Would be better off counting the blades of grass in games like these as he didn't have to make a single save.

Dani Carvajal (7/10):

Scampered up the right side when needed, delivered a few nice crosses. Removed at half-time.

Antonio Rudiger (7/10):

Kept the dangerous Bryan Zaragoza quiet. Part of a fine effort to ensure the visitors didn't get a sniff.

David Alaba (7/10):

Pinged the ball around and kept things tidy, a comfortable evening for him.

Ferland Mendy (7/10):

Went about his defensive work well, and offered more going forward than usual. He's now clearly the first choice ahead of Fran Garcia.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesMidfield

Toni Kroos (8/10):

Played a lovely pass into Diaz to open the scoring. Composed in midfield, and hardly misplaced a pass. Classy.

Federico Valverde (7/10):

Operated as a No.6 for long stretches. Didn't have the opportunity to do much pretty stuff, but was solid throughout.

Brahim Diaz (8/10):

Full of tricks and sharp turns. Took his goal wonderfully, and linked up with Bellingham well.

Jude Bellingham (7/10):

Uncharacteristically loose in the first half. Put a good chance wide, and saw another denied by the goalkeeper. Didn't get any calls all game, and was, quite rightly, frustrated. Almost talked himself into a red on more than occasion. Be careful, Jude.

Getty ImagesAttack

Joselu (5/10):

Failed to convince. Works hard, but doesn't really have the quality needed to succeed all the time.

Rodrygo (8/10):

Broke out the fancy stuff when needed. Scored once again. Now has five in his last three La Liga games. Back to his best.

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Getty ImagesSubs & Manager

Lucas Vazquez (6/10):

Brought on for Carvajal at half-time and was as reliable as expected.

Dani Ceballos (6/10):

A tidy 30 minutes. Will likely have some more opportunities given the injury situation.

Gonzalo Garcia (N/A):

Another runout for the youth product.

Nico Paz (N/A):

No time to make an impact.

Carlo Ancelotti (7/10):

Showed faith in Diaz after a string of solid performances and was rewarded. Will be delighted with Rodrygo's form, too. A routine win that keeps Madrid on top of the table.

Goal takes a look at the best classic World Cup matches of yesteryear in anticipation for this summer's tournament in Russia

GettyBelgium 3-2 Japan | 2018

It took until the 93rd minute for Belgium to claim a 3-2 victory over Japan in their last 16 fixture, staging an incredible comeback after finding themselves 2-0 down just after the break.

Belgium missed a host of chances throughout the game with Romelu Lukaku able to have a hat-trick but spurning every opportunity. Japan – outsiders to win the tie – scored twice in the span of four minutes in the second half to visibly shake Belgium, and were the superior team for large amounts of the game.

Roberto Martinez's side, however, were able to dig deep and score three goals after Japan's opening brace. Jan Vertonghen and Marouane Fellaini (the unlikely hero) netted to make it 2-2 before Nacer Chadli scored in the final minute of stoppage time to cap off a brilliant counter-attacking move by Belgium.

AdvertisementFrance 4-3 Argentina | 2018

It was the Kylian Mbappe show as the young forward slotted home twice and played an instrumental role in the build-up to the first goal to send Argentina and Lionel Messi home at the last 16 stage.

France opened the scoring through an Antoine Griezmann spot-kick but Argentina levelled through Angel Di Maria. Benjamin Pavard netted again to put Les Bleus in the lead before Gabriel Mercardo struck home to equalise – but Mbappe scored twice in the span of four minutes to put his side 4-2 up.

Sergio Aguero scored in stoppage time to make it 4-3 but it wasn't enough to force the game into extra time.

It was a thrilling encounter on all sides that fully allowed France to finally showcase their quality in Russia following underwhelming opening group stage performances.

The victory for France means that Argentina crash out disappointingly, and Les Bleus will face either Portugal or Uruguay in the quarter-final.

GettySpain 3-3 Portugal | 2018

Spain vs Portugal was always the match that would have the most build-up ahead of the 2018 World Cup, and it lived up to the hype and more. Enthralling from start to finish, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty to put Portugal up under four minutes before Diego Costa netted shortly afterwards to equalise. Spain led eventually through a fine Isco screamer and another Costa goal, but it wasn't enough to keep Ronaldo quiet.

The Real Madrid star scored an incredible free-kick just before the end of regular time, bagging a hat-trick in the process and putting his name in the history books as he has now scored in four consecutive World Cups. David de Gea's goalkeeping blunder wasn't even the talk of the match as Ronaldo proved that he remains his country's talisman and could very well lead his team far in Russia. The group game between the rival nations has already earned classic status.

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GettySpain 1-5 Netherlands | 2014

Spain had all their hopes of defending their 2010 glory by being hammered 5-1 by the Netherlands in the group stages that sent shockwaves across football. Xabi Alonso opened the scoring through a penalty won by Diego Costa, but the Netherlands retaliated thick and fast through Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Stefan de Vrij to break the hearts of the three-time, back-to-back world and European champions.

An anomaly in the Duckworth-Lewis rain calculation system has been addressed in the formula being used at the World Cup, adding a third name to the complex calculation in the form of Australian academic Steve Stern

Daniel Brettig01-Mar-2015An anomaly in the Duckworth-Lewis rain calculation system has been addressed in the formula being used at the World Cup, adding a third name to the complex calculation in the form of Australian academic Steve Stern.The “Duckworth Lewis Stern” formula pays more heed to the issues created by the trend of ODIs towards higher scoring, providing a more layered calculation for instances when tallies cross the 300-mark or beyond, or when extremely high-scoring overs have the potential to change the scenario dramatically.A long-running criticism of the system had been that the weighting of wickets meant a team chasing a high target in questionable weather was better off playing conservatively and keeping wickets in hand rather than being more proactive in chasing the target.”The difference between Duckworth-Lewis-Stern and the original Duckworth-Lewis is DLS starts adjusting the formula if scores get really high,” Professor Stern said. “So it is an improvement for T20 matches and one-day matches with very high scores.”Professor Stern has taken over from the Englishmen Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis as the ICC’s rain formula custodian following the retirement of the older men. Stern was born and raised in the United States but developed a taste for cricket after moving to Australia in 1994. He works in the Science and Engineering faculty of the Queensland University of Technology.”No one wants the game to be uninterrupted more than me. But if it’s only a shower nobody wants the game to be called off,” he said. “The system isn’t designed to be a substitute for a full game but, if part of the game is interrupted, it’s preferable to have some kind of game.”I am trying to educate more people in the game about the method and get it more into the standard parlance of cricket. I think it’s incredible that even international players don’t know the basic underpinnings of the rule – imagine saying the same thing about the lbw law!”The previous edition of the World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand, in 1992, was marred by slack over rates and also a simplistic rain-rule calculation that left South Africa with the impossible task of scoring 22 runs off one ball in their semi-final against England at the SCG. A brief shower had interrupted play when the South Africans required 23 runs from 13 balls.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has summoned Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for a review of the team’s performances in Sri Lanka

Umar Farooq01-Sep-2014PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has summoned Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq and the head coach Waqar Younis to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Tuesday for a review of the team’s performances in Sri Lanka. Shaharyar will meet the team manager Moin Khan in Karachi on Wednesday. Pakistan lost the Test series 2-0 and the ODIs 2-1 to Sri Lanka, prompting concern from the board ahead of the 2015 World Cup.ESPNcricinfo understands the meetings will be on a one-on-one basis. Misbah has Shaharyar’s backing for the captaincy ahead of series in the UAE against Australia and New Zealand, but the PCB could reduce the 10-man coaching staff. Moin’s dual role as manager and chief selector is also under scrutiny.The pool of players that traveled to Sri Lanka remains the nucleus of the World Cup probables but the PCB is concerned about team unity, which according to one official, had deteriorated. With less than six months to go to the tournament, the PCB is reluctant to make major changes, and Moin had said Misbah would stay captain until the World Cup. However, ESPNcricinfo understands some players are not in favour of such a view.The PCB persisted with Misbah as captain despite Pakistan being whitewashed 3-0 in South Africa in 2012-13, and performing poorly in the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. This was largely because of his prolific form in 2013, when he was the top-scorer in ODIs. However, he is 40 now, and his form has not been as good in 2014.There has been speculation in the media that a lobby is trying to bring about a change in captain, with Shahid Afridi being proposed as the favourite. Afridi’s form, however, has been poor. He has been wicketless in his last six ODIs and his batting is unpredictable.Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf was one of the voices advocating Afridi as captain. “If the captaincy remains with Misbah you can’t expect improvement in results,” Yousuf said. “He has been the captain for four years and has not been able to find a proper combination. I think it is imperative we have Afridi, who is aggressive and can lead in a better way.”