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A fan watches the Delhi Test and comes away entertained and with insights into human behaviour

Abhijato Sensarma21-Feb-2023When watching cricket on television, you hear two or three commentators deliver their opinions about the game. When watching cricket in a stadium, it often seems like you hear a few thousand.The first thing you notice while walking into the Arun Jaitley Stadium is the long line of hawkers selling India jerseys. These knock-offs are as democratic as the sport can get – most sellers have just one size, which doesn’t fit all but is made to. If you arrive early enough, you’ll find plenty of people struggling to get their newly purchased apparel on before rejoining the crowd at the gates to have the edges of their single-entry tickets torn off.In the East Stand, the lower tiers of seats are exposed to the sun, and the back half are in shade. If you’ve decided to not pay an exorbitant amount of money for the drinking water sold inside the stadium, you’ll probably sit in the shade, foregoing some of the visibility in the poor Delhi air for a less dehydrated body.Ice-cream sellers walk about, each holding up two cones, usually a pair of butterscotches or chocolates. Most people ask the price – Rs 100 – and return to watching the match without further comment. A few bring out their weary wallets.As the end of play approaches, the fans try harder to haggle the sellers down to the actual marked price of the items being hawked, as the sellers wipe the sweat from their brows and do their best to get rid of their stock.From the seats in the shade, a flood of India jerseys are on display: trios of Kohli shirts sitting together, a few Rohits, and a healthy number of Dhonis in the mix too. These names are rendered in fonts as diverse as the body types they clothe. There’s a stray Surya in the distance: does the wearer know Shreyas Iyer has replaced Suryakumar Yadav in the XI for this Test?But when Suryakumar jogs around the edge of the boundary before the day’s play starts, everyone in the crowd forgets the fact too. You cannot help but applaud someone you’ve seen and adored on television for so long. Being as close as you’re likely to ever get to the players in the world’s most famous cricket team makes the infectious nature of hero-worship real for everyone.When the players finally stroll out to the middle to begin play, the cheering adds to the delight of being in a collective. If you look close enough, you spot uncensored joy on the faces of people you know would probably hold themselves back otherwise. A man with a salt-and-pepper beard sits in one corner of the stand, wearing a white floppy hat from the days when he probably played the sport himself. He points towards the middle, his other hand paternally across the shoulders of his little kid.Among the most diligent members of staff at the ground are two who are probably invisible on the televised broadcast. As soon as an over finishes and the players and umpires change ends, one of these two hard-working souls climbs up to the top of the digital advertising board at the end the next over is going to be bowled from, throwing a white sheet over it to make it blend into the sightscreen behind it. Meanwhile, the other board is unclothed for it to project its ads to everyone in the other half of the stadium.

With each ball, the anticipation grows – and each time, Pujara presents the full face of his bat in defence. At one point he has a smile on his face, and most people in the crowd are convinced he is trolling them

At one point these two begin their routine after the fifth ball of an over in India’s first innings, believing the over to have concluded, and face the animated wrath of R Ashwin, who gestures for them to put the sheet back on again. Everyone makes mistakes. Including Rohit Sharma, who could be forgiven for thinking his dismissals are being cheered for by the home side’s supporters – but the fans are buzzing with anticipation for the entry of the home favourite, Virat Kohli, instead.Everyone in the stands comes together to chant for Kohli. They egg on his edges and singles with as much enthusiasm as they do his boundaries and quick-run twos (a bit like with tennis, the speed of his running can only be appreciated when witnessed live). A small number of fans, many in Kohli T-shirts, walks out when he is dismissed in the first innings.Then, there are the trolls. Australia burn through all of their reviews quite quickly in the first innings. Each time they make an unsuccessful appeal after it, the crowd chants, “DRS, DRS, DRS”, while making the T-shape in the Australians’ direction.The crowd’s opinions are varied in quality and relevance too. Some begin to chant Kohli’s name after Ashwin stops in his run-up at one point to warn the non-striker for straying out of their crease. When someone asks why they’re shouting Kohli’s name, the response comes: “Because he’s the one who’ll entertain us with fights!”Kohli doesn’t pick any fights. Most of the match passes by without controversy. The biggest point of contention in the stands is when someone gets in other spectators’ line of sight. Each time there is a close call for an Australia batter’s wicket, or a boundary is hit by an Indian, most people rise from their seats – to spot the ball and to celebrate the occasion on their feet.There is a window of a few seconds within which one can get up, hug their friends, record shaky celebrations on their phones, and sit back down again without complaints from neighbouring fans – who usually indulge in the same routine themselves at various points. Inevitably, by the time most people have taken their seats again, a few haven’t. They are duly shouted at to sit down, with furious gestures, and sometimes a choice word or two that are as local in their flavour as they are effective in getting the point across.The only exception is during the final over of the game, on day three. With just one run required for victory and Cheteshwar Pujara on strike, almost everyone in the stadium is standing – the shorter ones on their seats. With each ball, the anticipation grows – and each time, Pujara presents the full face of his bat in defence. This happens repeatedly. At one point he has a smile on his face, and most people in the crowd are convinced he is trolling them rather than sticking to his method of solidity over flair.The crowd trolls him back, chanting, “We want six, we want six.”Pujara pushes the fourth ball over midwicket to collect a boundary instead. As he shakes hands with Srikar Bharat at the other end, then with the Australians, and finally, waves at his family in the stands with the same smile on his face, the fans hug and dance with the people they have spent the match bantering with and saving seats for.In that moment of festivity, with a dozen different chants breaking off and blending into each other, as the phone cameras record the moment in all their amateur glory, you ask yourself: where would you rather be?

Three of our mightiest talents get to burrowing

18-Jan-2021Andrew Fidel Fernando, Sri Lanka correspondent: I know when we decided we were going to do a discussion on England v Sri Lanka contests, we were talking about cricket, but just so you are warned, I’m going to be bringing up Governor General Robert Brownrigg and his brutal crushing of the Sri Lankan hill country rebellion into it at every available opportunity.Andrew Miller, UK editor: Seems utterly reasonable to me.Alan Gardner, deputy editor: What is a discussion of England-Sri Lanka rivalry without a mention of “Big Nose” Brownrigg, eh?Related

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Fernando: This is the kind of guilt I was hoping you’d both come in here with.Miller: As we all know, England getting duffed up by colonials makes the world a better place, so hurrah for that.Fernando: Should we do this chronologically? Though Sri Lanka weren’t much of a Test team in the ’80s (due respect to Roy Dias, Duleep Mendis, the Ratnayake non-brothers, and the rest of the clan).Gardner: Sri Lanka gave a more than decent account of themselves against Keith Fletcher’s boys on debut.Fernando: They were even excellent on their Lord’s debut, where Sidath Wettimuny very nearly got a first-innings double ton, and Duleep Mendis kept hooking Botham and Co into the stands. Sri Lanka’s batsmen were so good in that game (on a flat bed, admittedly), Botham was reduced to bowling offspin in the second innings.Gardner: Would be rude not to link an excellent I Was There piece that a colleague – I won’t name names – produced a while back.Sidath Wettimuny made 190 on Sri Lanka’s debut at Lord’s in 1984•Adrian Murrell/Getty ImagesMiller: Nineteen ninety-eight is probably the obvious starting point, because everything tilted on its axis from there.Fernando: Yes, and we’ve had so many memorable series since then, that even the very good showings of the ’80s and ’90s kinda pale into insignificance.Miller: Sri Lanka were basically a rest cure for a decade, 1984, 1988 and 1991, they were quiet comedowns after a bruising West Indies series, and Sri Lanka were patronised on every visit.Gardner: Didn’t the BBC cut to the horse racing, or the news, before the winning runs in 1988? Kim Barnett’s only Test?Miller: I particularly remember Graham Gooch meting out some outrageously bored strokeplay against Don Anurasiri in 1991. He seemed to spend two-thirds of his 174 trying to get out with what we might now classify as switch-hitting, but they were basically reverse slogs.Ratnayake and Ramanayake were interchangeably average. And if Aravinda de Silva was obviously of the highest class, there seemed no inkling that this would become one of the most captivating rivalries of the 21st century; 1998 changed that.Gardner: Sri Lanka, Murali, late summer at The Oval… England might as well have walked into the ring with Mike Tyson and stuck their jaw out, right?Fernando: England had beaten South Africa earlier in the summer and were on a high. And Sri Lanka had never come close to beating them at home. They were the world champs and everything, but I don’t get the feeling England were worried. The game was kind of an annoyance after a long summer.Gardner: And they probably felt they were safe enough after scoring 445 in the first dig…Miller: Indeed. Graeme Hick and John Crawley, two men seemingly competing for one Ashes berth, both made hundreds. And as for Murali, if you will bowl 60 overs in an innings, of course you’re likely to get seven wickets. Big deal …Fernando: They’d kept Sri Lanka in the field for 158 overs. Almost third-new-ball territory.What floors me even now is the confidence Sri Lanka had in that match. To put England in because Murali needed a rest between innings (and they didn’t want to get into a situation where they’d need to think about enforcing a follow-on!), and then to concede almost 450 and still see a path to victory.Enter the berserker: Jayasuriya cut, drove and savaged his way to 213 in response to England’s 445 at the Oval•Getty ImagesMiller: Never better exemplified than by Sanath Jayasuriya’s response in Sri Lanka’s innings. As you all know, Angus Fraser holds a special place in my affections, but Jesus, the treatment he received was beyond contemptuous.Gardner: The only seamer not to concede a gallon, so…Fernando: You don’t often say this about Jayasuriya innings, but he drove beautifully that day.Gardner: Mark Butcher getting stumped off a big-ragging turner in the second innings told you things might be about to go pear-shaped. As Butch put it himself on Switch Hit a while back: “What the hell is going on here?”Fernando: I don’t think there was any other team in the world that would have, at that stage, done what SL did. I don’t think anyone else would have conceived this strategy, or at the very least, believed that it would be their best chance of success.Miller: The confidence was intoxicating. Like Adelaide ’06, but with even more certainty. Had any team ever before gone into a game more or less predicting their spinner would take 16 wickets and that every other facet of their performance was geared towards making it happen? And it became their standard game plan for the next decade!Fernando: Yeah, everything was just a funnel toward Murali getting those wickets. (And this was pre-doosra, even pre-greatness, Murali.)Miller: But it lit the blue touchpaper on a ferocious rivalry. Suddenly we were back at Adelaide the following winter, engaging in such an acrimonious follow-up that we even did a whole day of retro commentary to do it justice.Fernando: Before we get there, do we need to fawn over Murali’s 9 for 65? It’s been talked about a lot, as a major event in the Murali story. But to get those nine wickets he had to bowl 54.2 overs (taking the tally up near 115 for the match). This would essentially become his cricketing life for the next decade. Ridiculous numbers of overs bowled. Ludicrous expectations from his team, which he frequently exceeded. All while getting sniped at about his action.Miller: It was his wrist that got me every time, not his elbow. How on earth did he do that?! He was, as Nasser Hussain would spend his captaincy career harping on about, the definitive mystery spinner. And in a pre-slo-mo era, when exhaustive analysis was impossible. The uninitiated had no choice but to play him from the pitch, and fail time and time again.England’s loss to Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup was epochal•Getty ImagesGardner: That wrist moved like a helicopter… and the fizz on a couple of those deliveries, such as Graeme Hick’s lbw, eesh. You’d need a protractor and set square to play that.Miller: Going back a little, though, there was the small matter of Sri Lanka’s World Cup win too. The arse-on-plate-handing at Faisalabad was a truly epoch-defining contest for both teams, but still the England board couldn’t bring themselves to accept that the “little Lankans” belonged at the top table. Or, more pertinently, were enough of a box-office draw, which seems laughable now, given the majesty of their line-up in the early 2000s.Fernando: I’ve never previously drawn this line, but perhaps it was how utterly emphatic that Faisalabad win was that led to the events of The Oval 1998.Miller: Almost certainly. Jayasuriya carried on tonking it as if Phil DeFreitas was still bowling offies.Gardner: Getting royally dumped on by nations you have previously colonised is pretty much standard operating procedure for English cricket. And it can inspire a sort of reverse Stockholm Syndrome. Sri Lanka became one of my default picks to play with on , and I would also manage Lancashire on purely to oversee Murali wheeling away for hours.Fernando: Now on to one of England’s rare glories of that era – their series win in Sri Lanka in 2001.Gardner: This must have been a series you loved, Fidel – one of the massive underdog successes. Plucky Nasser and his boys rocking up and sticking it to the man.Fernando: Truly. And I mean this with no sarcasm, because at the time I thought the whole point of England was that there’s a team everyone could feel sorry for.Gardner: Just look at Sri Lanka’s top order: Atapattu, Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Aravinda, Jayawardene, Dilshan, Arnold. Then Murali and Vaas to mop the plate.Fernando: Arguably Sri Lanka’s greatest top order.England’s 2000-01 series win in Sri Lanka: an underdog story?•Getty ImagesMiller: Without equivocation, that 2000-01 series win (and Asian double after beating Pakistan earlier that winter) was England’s greatest victory in more than a decade. And to think the rivalry hadn’t even been acknowledged until it was red-hot. I’d put the win in India in 1984-85 as the only comparable achievement. The 1986-87 Ashes was the most low-grade nonsense ever.Fernando: And they got properly ruined in the first match at Galle too. Innings victory. Jayasuriya got eight wickets in that game. Murali was surely going to be picking his teeth with the bones of his opponents by the end of the series.Gardner: Instead, it became his last home series (after 1994) where his strike rate was above 100 (hat tip to the ‘s Rob Smyth for that stonker).Miller: Sangakkara also announced himself as a natural-born Test cricketer from the outset.Gardner: And a massive wind-up merchant behind the stumpsMiller: Not least with Mike Atherton. Who, though he manages to wear his learning pretty lightly in his newspaper columns, did rather enjoy going onto the field knowing he was the most intelligent man out there. But suddenly this gobshite Lankan lawyer was out-brainsing him on debut and he didn’t much like that!Fernando: Sanga at the time did wear his learning lightly. His early career sledging and wicketkeeping hijinks are an entire separate Rabbit Hole.Gardner: England were on the receiving end of some absolute howlers in Galle. Although, much to the chagrin of the home side, BC Cooray somewhat evened the scales in the second Test, at Kandy. Nasser Hussain’s blood-and-guts 109 – his first hundred in 15 months – had just a couple of rather fortunate bad-pad let-offs, to put it mildlyFernando: What I will not understand about the second and third Tests of that series is how Robert Croft got all those wickets. Croft probably wouldn’t have made it into a Lankan XI made entirely of spinners at the time.Gardner: Such arrogance. You’ve learned the lessons of empire well, old boy.Fernando: The third game was even more crazy, in a way.Thorpedoed: Graham Thorpe’s 113 in the second innings in Colombo propelled England to their win in the 2000-01 series•Getty ImagesGardner: Thorpe’s Colombo masterclass. Peter Falk couldn’t have played it better.Fernando: Eighty-one all out in the third innings. This is a batting order with at least five batsmen who are now considered serious Sri Lankan greats. One or two all-timers.Gardner: And now you’ve been done by the King of Spain, too. Ashley Giles with 4 for 11, having barely been able to buy a wicket all tour.Fernando: You’ve got Murali getting two wickets in the match, while Giles and Croft are combining to take 11 against one of the top Lankan top orders. What’s wrong, Murali? Can you only get wickets at The Oval?Miller: Probably needs a doosra in his armoury, to be fair. To compete with such classical assassins.Thorpe’s mastery of all conditions that winter, in fact that 24 months, up to and including his ninja-quick double-century in Nathan Astle’s Test in Christchurch, was astonishing.Gardner: Thorpe’s 145 runs without dismissal in the match were clearly the difference. That winter he was an absolute don, having seen England home in the dark in Karachi, too.Fernando: Gotta be one of England’s great series comebacks, no?Miller: Easily. I still rate it every bit as high as the 2005 Ashes. Because it was a far more flawed England team, only recently ranked as the worst in the world. Normal service resumed three years later, when England were crushed in Colombo by an innings and 215, then their third worst thumping everFernando: Speaking of comebacks, Sri Lanka’s 2006 series in England…Gardner: The summer that broke Andrew Flintoff?Miller: Indeed, as I may have spelled out previously, that Lord’s Test rearguard by Sri Lanka marked the most emphatic of full stops on one of the mightiest mini-eras any player can have enjoyed.Sri Lanka’s tour of England in 2006: The beginning of the end for Andrew Flintoff•Getty ImagesFifty overs with a dodgy ankle, in a futile victory bid, and Fred was never the same.Fernando: It didn’t help that England insisted on dropping every Sri Lanka player who came to bat in that innings. Part of a colonial reparations project?Miller: You’re trying too hard to shoehorn the references now.Fernando: Any excuse to throw in a link of Mahela Jayawardene playing. God, what a batsman.Gardner: Eight Test hundreds against England, more than any other team. Although they did all come in SL or at Lord’s, so…Gardner: The 2006 tour I recall most vividly for another ODI pasting – 5-0 and Sri Lanka so dominant that they might as well have been riding around on palanquins while being fanned by shirtless Barmies.Miller: Jayasuriya again… his nonsense did span the ages.Gardner: Saj Mahmood’s series figures: 21 overs, 3 for 173.Fernando: Hah. I remember following that Headingley game on Cricinfo. I saw England had made 320 or something. Then checked back hours later, and it took a full two minutes for my brain to compute what was going on. Such a breathless and unceasing pants-ing.Gardner: Thirteen overs to spare!Fernando: I recall in a Jayasuriya interview a couple of years later him saying how he felt sorry for the England opening bowlers that day, because they hadn’t (at that stage) played for England again after he had shamed them so thunderously. But anyway, any other enduring memories from 2006?Miller: Oh yes. KP’s switch-hit at Edgbaston. Off Murali no less.When left is right: Kevin Pietersen launches into his switch hit at Edgbaston•Getty ImagesFernando: I recall KP’s gloriousness at Edgbaston. And that was against probably the best attack Sri Lanka ever took to England – Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, with Farveez Maharoof and Nuwan Kulasekara also around. Plus main man Murali of course.Miller: KP was magisterial that summer. His first flowering of utter greatness. Post-2005, most of England’s main players wilted for one reason or another – Flintoff, Vaughan, Trescothick, Simon Jones, ultimately Strauss too. But KP just seized his stage. He took it from Flintoff, in whose shadow he’d previously been, much to his badly disguised chagrin.Gardner: Of course, Sri Lanka’s upgrade from playing just one Test at the end of the summer was to being the hors d’oeuvre, welcomed over in May when hand-warmers were almost as useful as mystery spinners. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that they won at Trent Bridge, because it was actually summer by then.Fernando: I just remember watching Murali bowl his first couple of overs on that fourth that day and essentially knowing the game was finished.Gardner: The doosra going through England like a week-old kebab.Fernando: But while we have time, we should probably move on to talking about my favourite England-Sri Lanka series of all – 2014.Gardner: A discussion truly worthy of the great iceberg of a rivalry – acres of beef lurking below the surface. I’m just having fun reminiscing.Fernando: Me too. There is an unreasonable amount of good cricket played by these sides. I guess they’ve often been at around the same level? Middling teams, essentially.Gardner: The 2014 tour, then. It was one of cricket’s more niche sub-genres: a two-Test classic. Payback for 2000-01? England’s erratic genius against the old-school tie of Sri Lankan conformity?Fernando: Sri Lankan teams would never do something as prosaic as interpret a series win as an serving of decades-old revenge. They’re more interested in days-old revenge. They felt properly wronged on that tour, because in the ODIs leading up to the Tests, they had run out Jos Buttler backing up and it had become the usual media frenzy. And Sachithra Senanayake was reported for his action (and few have needed to be reported more).The face of a five-for: Dhammika Prasad celebrates•Getty ImagesMiller: So many chips on so many shoulders.Gardner: I personally loved how King Sanga set out his stall well before the tour to get himself on the Lord’s honours board. Signed up for a county spell with Durham (the sort of place where Sri Lankans had previously been sent to do penance during the English spring), came in super-prepared, made scores of 147, 61, 79 and 55.Fernando: It was very on-brand for Sanga. I wonder if he would truly have felt whole as a batsman if he’d not got there that day.Miller: And there was the context of English cricket in the post-KP fall-out. As toxic as any context has been.Fernando: True, I remember every bloody conversation on tour being about KP.Miller: But thanks to KP, England had gone from being the team that the rest of the world wanted to see lose to being the team that the rest of the world half of England wanted to see lose. His saga basically foreshadowed Brexit. Alastair Cook clinging on by his fingertips, with Giles Clarke’s endorsement of him as having the “right type of family” hardly helping his cause.Gardner: I had a real soft spot for Dhammika Prasad, who took five wickets in the win at Headingley – such a meme-worthy look of delight on his face when celebrating.Fernando: I still have a soft spot. He’s one of the great over-actors in cricket. Everything from the run-up to the appeal to the celebration.Gardner: I have a fetish for unsung Sri Lankan pace bowlers: Nuwan Zoysa, Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhammika.Fernando: Let’s talk about Pradeep in that Lord’s match, though. As a batsman only.Gardner: Dismissed headbutting his stumps in the first innings.Miller: Happens to the best of us.See stumps, hit stumps: Nuwan Pradeep meets the stumps head-on•Getty ImagesGardner: And then not-quite dismissed off the final ball of the match.Fernando: The fact that he even had to face up was because Rangana Herath had done the most Rangana Herath thing imaginable. He was batting nicely and had five balls left to see out the draw. Stuart Broad bowls one that’s a back of a length. It kisses Herath’s glove on the way to the keeper. Herath, with a match to save, and knowing that Pradeep the hit-wicket artist was in next, walks without waiting for the umpire. Turned out his glove had been off the bat and he wasn’t out.Gardner: Herath is, to borrow the nickname given to David Steele, literally the bank clerk who went to war. Although you sense he only signed up for the free rations.Fernando: The confidence in Pradeep’s review of the lbw decision against him on the penultimate ball was memorable as well. As Chris Martin had gone by then, he was probably the biggest bunny in Test cricket. But the force with which he formed that “T” – he was almost scoffing at that decision. And he turned out to have hit the ball, of course.Gardner: Imagine if it’d been back in the days of BC and Rudi making the decisions, without DRS.Fernando: I think everyone went to Headingley thinking, wow, SL got away with one there, but they are going to get decked on this pitch (as South Asian teams are wont to do).Miller: And how we laffed. (Me included, as I was a KP-er at the time.)Fernando: Not laughing anymore? Is this like Bregret?Miller: Even I accept he would probably not be in England’s first-choice XI right now.Gardner: I’m sure we can all agree that it was better this way. Headingley was operatic in its story arc: Sri Lanka batting again 100 runs behind, fall to 277 for 7, only for an Angelo Mathews epic (and Rangana’s 48) to turn the game around. Then England begin day five five down, and not a prayer of saving the Test…Fernando: It was truly a dramatic opus. Moeen Ali was almost Dravidesque on that final day – such was the manner in which he married style and grace to a resplendent doggedness.Gardner: Instead of being flat-capped to death, it became one of the great wins by a touring side in England. But how twitchy did you get during the full 20 overs of defiance put together by England’s last-wicket pair, Fidel?Rebel in a losing cause: Moeen Ali’s maiden Test hundred couldn’t save England at Headingley in 2014•PA PhotosFernando: I was certain that the ball would come. I had thought it would be from Herath. James Anderson had to bat an entire hour. It just didn’t seem like he would. And then in the last three overs, every ball was electric. It was such a dramatic final day that you’d almost forgotten that Mathews had played the innings of his not-insubstantial career the day before.Gardner: Almost tragic, in retrospective, given how flighty Moeen’s batting has become – partly down to England making him bat No. 8 a lot of the time).Miller: It was as if the hurt of failed doggedness was too great for him to risk being dogged ever againGardner: And then it was another unheralded SL seamer who pulls it out – Shaminda Eranga with the perfectly directed bumper.Miller: We’ve completely overlooked the 2012 series, where Herath bowled Sri Lanka to victory in Galle, and another KP classic in Colombo.Fernando: There was also that one fantastic period of play from England at the SSC in 2018, where Ben Foakes and Adil Rashid combined to derail Sri Lanka.Miller: Total cricket!Fernando: I still don’t understand this term. Is other cricket less than total?Miller: That is because you are not as clever as Ed Smith. Or Sanga. Or Athers.Fernando: A veneration of the England chief selector’s unattainable intelligence is as good a place as any to end.Gardner: Great. I’m off to read up on Pradeep Mathew.Fernando: I’m going to go seethe about Brownrigg some more.Miller: And I’m off to recall Jason Brown’s performances in the tour warm-ups in 2000-01.

2025 is the year of Cal Raleigh.

The Mariners catcher has been on an absolute tear this season, launching 38 home runs before the All-Star break and in doing so nearly eclipsing Barry Bonds' first-half home run record of 39. Raleigh then got to participate in the Home Run Derby, with his dad Todd pitching and his brother Todd Jr. catching.

Raleigh, commonly known among MLB fans as "Big Dumper" due to his sizable hindquarters, took home the Home Run Derby trophy, and soon after landed himself an absolutely perfect endorsement deal.

On Wednesday, Honey Bucket, a provider of portable toilets headquartered in the Pacific Northwest, announced that they'd reached an agreement on a new partnership with Raleigh.

"This exciting collaboration brings together two names that stand for grit, reliability, and performance under pressure. Whether it’s behind the plate or behind the scenes at construction sites, community events, and stadiums, both Raleigh and Honey Bucket share one mission: deliver when it counts," the brand said in its release about the partnership.

"Honey Bucket is the name behind the cleanest, most dependable restrooms in the game. As someone who understands the value of showing up prepared every single day, I’m proud to team up with a company that does the same," Raleigh said.

After his historic first half of the season, Raleigh will hope to stay locked in at the plate as he looks to break the record for most home runs hit by a catcher in a single season, while also helping to guide the Mariners to the postseason for the first time since 2022.

أهدر منتخب مصر الثاني فرصة التقدم بالهدف الأول أمام الكويت في المباراة التي تجمع بينهما الآن ضمن لقاءات بطولة كأس العرب 2025.

وتُقام مباراة مصر والكويت، على أرضية استاد لوسيل ضمن لقاءات الجولة الأولى من المجموعة الثالثة بـ كأس العرب.

ويشارك المنتخب المصري إلى جانب الكويت في المجموعة نفسها، والتي تضم أيضًا الإمارات والأردن، ضمن النسخة التي تحتضنها قطر في الفترة من 1 إلى 18 ديسمبر.

طالع أيضًا | تشكيل منتخب مصر الثاني أمام الكويت في كأس العرب.. شريف يقود الهجوم

وأهدر عمرو السولية ضربة الجزاء المحتسبة لـ صالح منتخب مصر في الدقيقة 38 بعدما صوب الكرة بشكل سيء على يمين المرمى. ضربة جزاء منتخب مصر الثاني الضائعة أمام الكويت

Arsenal are now prepared to break the bank to sign Vinicius Jr, amid a major new update on the forward’s future at Real Madrid.

The Gunners should be well-positioned to start competing for the signatures of some of the world’s best players once again, having announced themselves as serious contenders for the Premier League title as a result of the 4-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Signing the Real Madrid star would certainly be a major statement of intent, given that he is still regarded as one of the best wingers in world football, despite narrowly missing out on the 2024 Ballon d’Or, finishing as runner-up behind Manchester City star Rodri.

Interestingly, an exciting new report has now suggested that the move could be a realistic possibility, following a major new update on the Brazilian’s future at the Santiago Bernabeu…

Arsenal prepared to break the bank for Vinicius Jr

According to a report from Spain, Arsenal are now prepared to break the bank to sign Vinicius Jr, with the Emirates Stadium now one of his most likely destinations, having informed Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez he does not currently wish to sign a new contract.

The winger’s unwillingness to put pen to paper on a new deal stems from a difficult relationship with manager Xabi Alonso, and negotiations have now stalled, which could open the door for a move to north London, and Stan Kroenke & co clearly mean business.

However, the Gunners may need to be willing to make the Brazil international one of their highest earners to get a deal over the line, given that he has been demanding a very high salary to extend his stay with the Spanish club.

In truth, the 25-year-old isn’t having the greatest of seasons, failing to score or assist in his last 10 matches for club and country, so it is no surprise he has fallen down the pecking order at Madrid, most recently being benched for his side’s 2-2 draw against Elche.

The forward’s attacking output has been very impressive previously, however, having contributed a whopping 111 goals and 87 assists in 339 matches for Real Madrid, and Liverpool manager Arne Slot sung his praises earlier this month.

With Arsenal looking to lift the Champions League for the first time in their history this season, it would make sense to bring in Vinicius Jr, who has won the competition twice, and ranks very highly in the 2026 Ballon d’Or Power Rankings…

Where Vinicius Jr ranks in the 2026 Ballon d'Or Power Rankings Ballon d'Or 2026 Power Rankings

Who will be lifting the individual honour in 2026?

ByCharlie Smith Nov 6, 2025

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O Sport venceu o Santa Cruz, neste sábado (20), em partida válida pela terceira rodada do Campeonato Pernambucano, pelo placar de 2 a 1. Os gols foram marcados por Gustavo Coutinho e Fábio Matheus para o Leão e Thiaguinho para o Tricolor.

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Com o resultado, o Sport alcança os seis pontos e chega na 5ª colocação, encostando no Santa Cruz, que mantém a mesma quantidade de pontos, mas com um saldo de mais dois.

⚽ COMO FOI O JOGO?

O Sport abriu o placar aos 39 do primeiro tempo, quando após cobrança de escanteio de Alan Ruiz, Gustavo Coutinho marcou de cabeça.

No início do segundo tempo, Pedro Bortoluzo bateu de fora da área, Caíque França deu rebote e Thiaguinho aproveitou, empatando o jogo para o Santa Cruz, aos 10 minutos da etapa.

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➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

No final da segunda etapa, aos 35 minutos, após erro na saída de bola do Santa Cruz, Fabrício Dominguez roubou, entrou na área e bateu. André Luiz fez a defesa e, no rebote, Fábio Matheus mandou para o gol.

✅ PRÓXIMO PASSO:

O Sport vai enfrentar o Maguari, pela 4ª rodada do Campeonato Pernambucano, na quinta-feira (25), às 20h, no estádio dos Aflitos. Já o Santa Cruz vai encarar o Retrô, na quarta-feira (24), às 21h, no Arruda.

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Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Alex Cobb, who signed a one-year, $15 million deal this offseason, will likely miss Opening Day due to right hip inflammation.

According to the team's injury report at Spring Training on Wednesday, Cobb received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection last week to address the issue. The inflammation occurred as he was "building his throwing volume" for spring training.

Manager A.J. Hinch told the media that Cobb is unlikely to be ready by Opening Day.

The 37-year-old Cobb was limited to only three starts for the Cleveland Guardians last season due to flare-ups with the hip following surgery. In 16.1 innings of work, Cobb posted a 2.76 ERA in the 2024 regular season. He returned in the postseason, but only notched 5.2 innings of work and was largely ineffective, posting a 7.94 ERA.

Cobb was a buy-low candidate for the Tigers, as the team hopes he can get healthy and stay that way to bolster the starting rotation.

No. 7 continues lower-order fightback before India lose Vaibhav Suryavanshi cheaply at start of reply

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay21-Jul-2025

India Under-19 51 for 1 trail England Under-19 309 (Ekansh 117, Pushpak 4-76) by 258 runsEkansh Singh completed a superb hundred on a second day of England’s Youth Test against India that was severely truncated by rain.Only 28-and-a-half overs were possible between the cloudbursts but that was long enough for Kent right-hander Singh to compile 117 sprinkled with three sixes and 14 fours. Singh was last out, as England’s youngsters totalled 309, having shared an eighth-wicket stand of exactly 100 with James Minto who made 46.Naman Pushpak finished with 4 for 76 for India who lost teenage starlet Vaibhav Suryavanshi for 20 in reaching 51 for 1 before a thunderstorm ended play shortly after 5pmOvernight and morning rain delayed the start until 12.30pm and the showers returned 22 minutes later to drive the players off again. The intervening period was long enough for Ekansh to treat the smattering of spectators to four boundaries, including two sumptuous cover drives.It was 2.15pm before the game resumed but Ekansh had lost none of his rhythm, twice driving the ball back past the stumps for four as he continued to deal exclusively in boundaries on the day until he moved into the 90s. His battle with strike bowler Aditya Rawat was an engaging one, the seamer producing two excellent yorkers both superbly dug out by the batter. There would be no nervous 90s, Ekansh raising his 100 in the grand manner with a huge six over long-on.Minto provided great support, an uppercut over the slips for six resulting in a lost ball, necessitating the third change of the cherry in the short afternoon session.The 100-stand was raised before Minto chipped one straight back to Pushpak after which the end came swiftly. Alex Green became Pushpak’s fourth victim, before Singh holed out on the long-on boundary.India’s reply began in explosive fashion with Suryavanshi and his skipper Ayush Mhatre playing almost a shot a ball. The latter top-edged one over the slips before being given a life by Ralphie Albert when he spilt him at cover, Alex French the unlucky bowler.Suryavanshi meanwhile took a heavy toll of Green, nonchalantly driving him over mid-off for six before slashing one backward of square for another maximum. However, youthful impetuosity got the better of him when he pulled Green’s next delivery down the throat of fine leg – something of a waste, especially given three balls later the rain returned, forcing an early tea.Only 15 minutes more play was possible – just long enough for India to raise their 50.

Celtic centre-forward Kelechi Iheanacho has had a mixed start to life at Parkhead after his move to the club on a free transfer the day after deadline day.

The Nigeria international was signed around 24 hours after Sevilla decided to terminate his contract before the end of the summer transfer window, after the Hoops failed to bring in a striker before the deadline.

Iheanacho has delivered three goals and one assist in six matches in all competitions for the Scottish giants since his move to Glasgow, which is a respectable return on paper.

However, two of his goals have come from the penalty spot and the former Manchester City marksman has missed four ‘big chances’ from open play, per Sofascore.

Brendan Rodgers may be hoping that there is more to come from the left-footed attacker from open play in the weeks and months to come, to avoid having to dip into the market in January to sign another first-choice striker.

The Hoops did sell their first-choice centre-forward in the January transfer window at the start of this year, Kyogo Furuhashi, but opted not to replace him.

Why Celtic did not replace Kyogo Furuhashi

Celtic decided to cash in on the Japan international midway through the 2024/25 campaign after Rennes came to the table with an offer of £10m to sign the attacker.

The Scottish Premiership giants sold him to the French side for £10m, despite him being the first-choice striker at the club, and ended the window without bringing a direct replacement through the door.

Celtic were reportedly in talks with Brondby over a deal to sign Danish centre-forward Mathias Kvistgaarden before the end of the window, but they were unable to get a move over the line. He then signed for Norwich City for £6.9m this summer.

Losing Kyogo was a blow on paper, because he scored 85 goals in 165 matches for the club (Transfermarkt), but his declining form suggests that they got a good deal for him.

Appearances

36

60

xG

20.55

32.73

Shots

88

164

Shots on target

42

69

Goals

27

24

As you can see in the table above, the Japanese forward was incredibly wasteful in front of goal in his last 18 months at the club, underperforming his xG by almost nine goals.

This is why his exit was not as big a blow as it would have been after the 2022/23 campaign, which may also be why the club felt that they did not have to directly replace him.

Celtic star is ready to leave the club

Moving forward to the present day, one of the players who was tasked with replacing Kyogo’s goals in-house is now looking to leave the club in the upcoming January transfer window.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

According to journalist Graeme Bailey, versatile Celtic attacker Daizen Maeda wants to move on from the Scottish giants ahead of the second half of the season.

Speaking to 67HailHail, the reporter said: “Maeda is ready to leave and I am told a move to England is very much on his radar, and he does have interest.

“Whether Celtic will let him out in January remains to be seen, but he will only have a year left come the summer and at that point he will go.”

This comes after Maeda revealed that a move away from Parkhead was blocked by the club during the summer window, which led Rodgers to claim that it has been a “difficult” situation for the forward to manage since the window closed.

Why losing Maeda would be a bigger blow than Kyogo's exit

It would be a bigger blow for Celtic to sell the Japan international in the upcoming January transfer window than it was to sell Kyogo to Rennes at the start of this year, for several reasons.

Firstly, the Hoops do not have the attacking options across their frontline that they did to soften the blow of losing Kyogo. They signed Jota from Rennes, Adam Idah scored 20 goals in all competitions last season, and they had Maeda.

Now, Jota is currently out with an ACL injury, Idah was sold to Swansea on deadline day, Sebastian Tounekti, Michel-Ange Balikwisha, James Forrest, and Hyun-jun Yang are all yet to score a league goal, and Iheanacho has scored one goal from open play.

Benjamin Nygren

4

Daizen Maeda

2

Kelechi Iheanacho

2

Johnny Kenny

1

Luke McCowan

1

Reo Hatate

1

This means that Rodgers may not have the confidence that he had when Kyogo left that the players he already has at his disposal can cover the goals that the team would lose if Maeda moved on.

Another reason why the winger’s exit from Parkhead would be a bigger blow than Kyogo’s move to Rennes is that his recent form for Celtic has been more impressive than the striker’s was at the end of his time in Glasgow.

Maeda won the Scottish Premiership Player of the Year award for the 2024/25 campaign just five months ago, after scoring 33 goals in all competitions last season, per Transfermarkt.

Kyogo did not make it into the Team of the Year, let alone the Player of the Year conversation, in the 2024/25 or 2023/24 campaigns, which shows that he left Celtic 18 months after his ‘prime’.

Maeda, who was lauded as “phenomenal” by former Rangers boss Barry Ferguson, is only a few months away from being crowned the best player in Scotland and is the team’s second-top scorer in the Premiership at the moment, having scored the winner against Motherwell last weekend.

This is why losing him in January would be an even bigger blow than losing Kyogo was, because he is more important to the team, because of his performances and because of the supporting cast, than his international teammate was at the start of the year.

As bad as Ralston: Celtic flop is in danger of becoming the next Forrest

One of Celtic’s players is in danger of becoming the next James Forrest at Parkhead.

ByDan Emery Oct 8, 2025

If Maeda does get his wish and moves on from Parkhead in January, Celtic and Rodgers may not be able to afford not to replace him with a new signing.

As rumours continue to surround Ruben Amorim’s future, Manchester United have reportedly joined the race to sign a much-needed midfield reinforcement in 2026.

Ruben Amorim sack update

Despite some reports suggesting that he has just three games to save his Man United job, Amorim reiterated that a meeting with club chiefs was nothing more than routine earlier this week.

Reports claimed that INEOS had already lined up the likes of Andoni Iraola and Marco Silva as potential candidates to replace their struggling manager, but Amorim has since shut down any rumours that he could be on his way out of the club.

The former Sporting Club boss also reiterated that now is not the time to change his 3-4-2-1 system, telling reporters: “No, no, no. Not once [have I thought about changing]. Not even the Pope [can make me], it will not change.”

It’s a decision that continues to split opinion. Amorim’s win-rate suggests that things wouldn’t get worse with a change in system, but he looks unlikely to change things up in the face of yet more disappointing form.

Before the manager changes once again at Old Trafford, INEOS may decide to change the players. Ahead of 2026, Old Trafford chiefs have reportedly set their sights on beating Arsenal to a talented midfield target, who would be an instant upgrade on their current options.

Man Utd racing Arsenal to sign Agoume

As reported by Caught Offside, Man United are now racing Arsenal to sign Lucien Agoume from Sevilla in the January transfer window. The Gunners already made an approach to sign the talented Frenchman in the summer, but their failed move has now potentially left the door ajar for the Red Devils to move in.

Praised for his “amazing” profile by analyst Ben Mattinson, Agoume is the type of player that United should do everything to sign when the chance arrives.

The midfielder is still just 23 years old and about to enter the peak of his powers. If Amorim is looking to replace an ageing Casemiro, then he should look no further than the Sevilla star.

Man Utd keen to sign £70m Champions League star with same agent as Mainoo

He’s a man in-demand…

By
Tom Cunningham

Sep 20, 2025

Jumping ahead of Arsenal in the race for the midfielder won’t be easy, but United already proved their attraction by landing Benjamin Sesko in the summer.