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Transfer insider Dean Jones has given an update regarding the future of Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles. 

The lowdown: Stellar servant for Newcastle

Signed from Nottingham Forest in 2014, the defender was an instant hit at Newcastle and was appointed Magpies captain two years later by then-manager Rafa Benitez.

Overall, the 28-year-old Derby-born centre-back has amassed 212 appearances for the Tyneside club across spells in the Championship and the Premier League.

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However, as a new era dawns at St James’ Park following the takeover in 2021, Lascelles is in danger of being moved on under Eddie Howe, with reports that the club would listen to offers for him.

The latest: Lascelles ‘isn’t going to fit in’

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones suggested that the former England under-21 ace may well be on the way out of Newcastle.

The journalist explained how the club could deal with their long-standing central defender, saying: “He’ll be available for transfer in the summer. The circumstances just aren’t going to suit him at this stage and Newcastle are looking to transition beyond him.

“It’s just the vision that Newcastle have right now and, from what I understand, Lascelles probably isn’t going to fit in with it.”

The verdict: Bold call

While it is apparent that Howe will look to strengthen in all departments during the upcoming transfer window, selling a mainstay such as Lascelles is a huge statement of intent from the club and the manager about the direction in which they want Newcastle to go.

The skipper was hailed as ‘absolutely superb’ by Howe for his performance against Chelsea earlier in the campaign, one of 24 appearances he has made in the league in 2021/22. According to Sofascore data, he has won 72% of his aerial duels and 63% of his overall duels in the current top-flight campaign, marking him out as an uncompromising defender.

Under contract until 2024 and holding a market value of £9.9m (Transfermarkt), Lascelles would likely fetch a reasonable fee should a move indeed be on the cards this summer.

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Also, have both captains ever bagged golden ducks in the same ODI?

Steven Lynch07-Jan-2020All Pakistan’s top four batsmen made hundreds in the Karachi Test. Has this ever happened before? asked Jamie Stewart from Canada

Pakistan’s innings of 555 for 3 against Sri Lanka in Karachi last month, in which Shan Masood made 135, Abid Ali 174, Azhar Ali 118 and Babar Azam 100 not out, was only the second occasion that the top four all made centuries in the same Test innings. The other instance came in Dhaka in 2007, when Dinesh Karthik hit 129, Wasim Jaffer 118, Rahul Dravid 129 and Sachin Tendulkar 122 not out as India hustled to 610 for 3 against Bangladesh.There was a near miss at Lord’s in 1993, when Australia’s No. 4, Mark Waugh, was out for 99 after the top three – Mark Taylor, Michael Slater and David Boon – all made hundreds.Abid Ali scored a century in his first Test, after making one in his first ODI. Has anyone else done this? asked Ian Hugo from Nigeria

The Pakistan batsman Abid Ali hit an unbeaten 109 on his Test debut, against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi last month, to go with 112 in his first one-day international, against Australia in Dubai in March 2019.Ali is the first man to achieve this double – but a woman did it a few years ago. The England opener Enid Bakewell hit 113 on her Test debut, against Australia in Adelaide in 1968-69, and an unbeaten 101 in her first ODI, against an International XI in Hove during the inaugural women’s World Cup in 1973.After three Test innings, Ali has 321 runs: only two men have made more. Reginald “Tip” Foster of England scored 355 runs (287, 19 and 49 not out) in his first three innings, against Australia in 1903-04, while Lawrence Rowe hit 336 (214, 100 not out and 22) for West Indies against New Zealand in 1971-72.Who scored four Test centuries – and no others in first-class cricket? asked Chris Jackson from Australia

The man with this lopsided record is the former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy, who scored four centuries in his 119 Tests. In 112 other first-class matches, 55 of them for Queensland, he reached 50 on 17 further occasions, but never made it past 90. Curiously, however, Healy averaged 27.39 in Tests, but 34.05 in those other matches.Kieron Pollard had Virat Kohli caught out for a first-ball duck, only to bag one himself during West Indies’ innings in the Visakhapatnam ODI•BCCIBoth captains bagged golden ducks in an ODI at Vizag in December. Was this a first? asked Sourabh Vyas from India

Virat Kohli and Kieron Pollard were both out first ball in the match between India and West Indies in Visakhapatnam in December. This was indeed the first time both captains had bagged golden ducks in the same ODI. It hasn’t happened in T20Is either or, as far as I can see, in Test matches, although we don’t have ball-by-ball data for several early Test matches.Rohit Sharma hit ten international centuries during 2019. Was this the most? asked Gary Dockerty from Jamaica

Rohit Sharma’s ten centuries in all forms of international cricket in 2019 was the most; Virat Kohli came next with seven, while Babar Azam and David Warner both made six. Kohli, though, scored more runs overall, with 2455 to Sharma’s 2442. Babar came next with 2082.Helped by his stellar World Cup, Sharma led the way in ODIs, with 1490 runs and seven centuries (Kohli was next, with 1377 and five). Marnus Labuschagne was first in Tests, with 1104 runs and three centuries in 2019; Steve Smith was next with 965 and three. Azam, Sharma, Mayank Agarwal and Tom Latham also made three hundreds. In T20Is, two Irishmen led the way: Paul Stirling hit 748 runs, and Kevin O’Brien 729. Nineteen batsmen made one century apiece.For the bowlers, Pat Cummins finished with 99 wickets in all formats in 2019, well clear of Mohammed Shami and Mitchell Starc, who both took 77. Cummins took 59 in Tests, with Nathan Lyon next on 45; Shami led the way in ODIs, with 42, with Trent Boult next on 38. Brandon Glover of the Netherlands and the Nepal pair of KC Karan and 19-year-old Sandeep Lamichhane all took 28 wickets apiece in T20Is.Use our
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Can you crack this quiz and be as dominant as the Aussies at the Gabba? Go on, take a stab and find out

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Nov-2017

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jun-2016Quinton de Kock kept Amla good company and they put on their second fifty-plus stand of the series•AFPAmla brought up his half-century off 37 balls and soon passed 1000 ODI runs against West Indies•AFPAmla extended his fluency and brought up his 23rd ODI century off 89 balls …•AFP… before the 182-run opening stand ended when Kieron Pollard had Amla slicing a loft to long-off for 110 at the start of the 34th over•AFPSix balls later, Jerome Taylor castled de Kock for 71•AFPHaving been promoted to No.3, Chris Morris slammed 40 off 26 balls•AFPFaf du Plessis unfurled scoops and went on to score his second successive half-century …•AFP… while AB de Villiers contributed 27 in a 64-run stand for the fourth wicket as South Africa finished with 343 for 4•AFPJohnson Charles got West Indies’ reply off to a strong start with a flurry of boundaries•AFPAndre Fletcher added 69 for the first wicket with Charles before Imran Tahir had him holing out to deep midwicket for 21•AFPCharles fell two short of a half-century when he was undone by a googly from Tabraiz Shamsi. The left-arm wristspinner then dismissed Denesh Ramdin to reduce the hosts to 121 for 4 by the 22nd over•AFPMarlon Samuels survived a couple of run-out chances before becoming Tahir’s 100th ODI victim•AFPFrom 169 for 5, West Indies were dismissed for 204 in 38 overs•AFPTahir finished with figures of 7 for 45, the best by a South African in ODI cricket•AFP

Plays of the day from the Group A match between Sri Lanka and Scotland

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Hobart11-Mar-2015The wheelbarrow circle
Kumar Sangakkara had hit the first five legitimate balls of the 36th over for a six and four fours, so when he shaped to scoop Alasdair Evans again off the last delivery, short fine leg Rob Taylor could be forgiven for expecting that one to go to the fence as well. As soon as Sangakkara made contact, Taylor turned and began running to the fine leg fence, almost as if he was expecting to retrieve the ball from beyond the rope. Only, Sangakkara had mishit this one, and instead of hitting the ball over Taylor, he’d sent it to the vicinity of Taylor’s original position. Once the fielder noticed the ball wasn’t going to the fence, he circled back around to collect the ball, his overconfidence in Sangakkara’s abilities having cost his team a single.The unloved 12th man
Being on the cusp of the playing XI is never fun but Sri Lanka took 12th man Upul Tharanga’s misery to new levels when they refused to partake of the drinks he was running on to the field. There was moisture in the air in the first phase of Scotland’s innings and, in their quest to rush through 20 overs and ensure a full game was played, Sri Lanka had spinners operating at either end. When the umpires called for drinks after the 17th over, Tharanga dutifully jogged his tray on to the field. But Sri Lanka didn’t want to slow the game down. None of the fielders moved from their positions. Unneeded twice over in this match, Tharanga was left to wander off dolefully, occasionally glancing back to see if anyone had had a change of heart.The sole separation
Richie Berrington was bowling another handy spell at the death when his own apparel would conspire against him. Berrington landed his front foot on the crease only to find his foot continued to slide forward, instead of gripping the pitch and stopping. The result was a painful tumble and what appeared to be an ankle sprain. The side-on replay, though, showed that his sole had completely torn from the rest of the boot as he landed his foot. The injury meant Berrington was unable to continue the over, with Kyle Coetzer called on to finish it off.The double-strike
When Tillakaratne Dilshan was sweeping Josh Davey’s medium pace for two fours and a six in the 25th over it seemed as if Sri Lanka had planned to go after him. After the batting Powerplay, Davey might reflect that the strategy played into his hands. He picked up the wicket of Dilshan in the 35th over, then in the next over, removed two legends back-to-back. First he had Mahela Jayawardene miscuing one to mid off, then Sangakkara, who had been flaying almost every other bowler, nicked Davey behind next ball.The surprise review
Sri Lanka have been perhaps the worst users of DRS this tournament, often wasting their reviews on hopeless cases but, in this match, conjured a wicket seemingly out of nowhere through the review system. Michael Leask had swiped at a Nuwan Kulasekara bouncer, but though neither the bowler nor the wicketkeeper felt the batsman had hit it, fielder Seekkuge Prasanna was so adamant he had, he convinced his team-mates to ask for a review. Sure enough, Snicko showed Leask had given a feather edge to the ball as it passed over his head, and Sri Lanka’s referral record improved a little.

England’s first Test collapse has has become a recurring failure and one that should be keeping Andy Flower and company awake at night

George Dobell in Brisbane22-Nov-20130:00

‘England weren’t good enough today’ – Carberry

When does a string of aberrations become a pattern? When does a blip become the norm and when does continuity of selection become rigidity of selection?These are the questions England need to answer after a painfully weak display of batting left them requiring something approaching a miracle to avoid defeat in the first Test of the Ashes series.On a pitch that remains sound and true, England collapsed from 82 for 2 to 91 for 8 in a session that brought back memories of the dark days of England cricket in the late 1980s and 1990s.There are, as ever, some excuses. First and foremost, they came up against a fast and unpredictable left-arm bowler who rattled them in a hostile spell of sustained fast bowling. Mitchell Johnson deserves great credit for this.England might also point out that rain has robbed them of time in the warm-up games and training sessions and that both Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior’s preparations were somewhat disrupted by injury. It is true, too, that this pitch was some way quicker than anything they experienced in the recent series in England.But most of those excuses are pretty thin. It’s not as if they could not have been predicted. It’s not as if England have not faced Johnson before or as if they have no experience of these conditions. They knew what was coming and, by the evidence to date, had either not prepared adequately or failed to execute those plans.Nor is it the first time they have started series with a poor batting display. They have failed to reach 400 in the first innings of their last nine Test series – a run that stretches back to the start of 2012 – and on five of those occasions have failed to reach even 200. If an event keeps occurring it cannot be described as a one-off. It has become a recurring failure and one that should be keeping Andy Flower and company awake at night. This has been, for several reasons, an accident waiting to happen.On paper, this is England’s strongest batting line-up for many years. Pietersen and Alastair Cook have scored more Test centuries than any men who have previously represented England and may both be remembered as greats of the game; Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott have averages in excess of 45; Prior averages in excess of 40. Each one of them have played top-class innings under pressure in the not too distant past. If there are better batsmen in England they have not made themselves obvious.

England first-innings totals in the first Test of series since January 2012

• 192 v Pakistan, Dubai, January 2012

• 193 v Sri Lanka, Galle, March 2012

• 398 v West Indies, Lord’s May 2012

• 385 v South Africa, The Oval, July 2012

• 191 v India in Ahmedabad, November 2012

• 167 v New Zealand in Dunedin, March 2013

• 232 v New Zealand at Lord’s, May 2013

• 215 v Australia at Trent Bridge, July 2013

• 136 v Australia, Brisbane, November 2013

Yet England have failed to reach 400 for 17 Test innings – a run that extends back to Wellington in March – and several of their leading players – Cook, Trott and Prior in particular – are enduring runs of poor form too long for comfort and too long to be easily excused. It is no good living off past glories; Hobbs and Hammond have fine records, too. No-one would pick them now.No expense has been spared in preparing this side. They have three batting coaches – Andy Flower, Mark Ramprakash and Graham Gooch – to work with here, they have brought in a couple of left-arm fast bowlers to face in the nets – Harry Gurney and Tymal Mills, who may well be the fastest bowler in England – to replicate Johnson’s line of attack and they arrived in Australia four weeks before the Test series began. Some sides complete whole tours in that time.The most galling aspect of this collapse was how easily England succumbed to Australia’s plans. It took only two balls well angled across Joe Root to lure him into a horribly loose drive; it took only one spell of short bowling to have Trott, jumping around and playing almost exclusively to the on-side, caught behind. Pietersen flicked to the man placed for the stroke at midwicket and Cook, reaching outside off stump, soon nicked one angled across him. Wickets came far too easily for Australia.But it would be simplistic to state that England were simply blown away by pace and bounce. Another nemesis also came back to haunt them: their weakness against spin bowling. On a day two pitch that remains utterly blameless, they made Nathan Lyon appear like Muralitharan on a dustbowl, with Bell and Prior departing to successive deliveries playing across balls that bounced and turned a little as if they had never seen an offspinner before.

Carberry confident of England response

Michael Carberry admitted the bowling of Mitchell Johnson was as fast as any he had experienced, but insisted England could fit their way back into the first Test of the Ashes series in Brisbane.
Carberry, playing his first Test since March 2010, top-scored with 40 but could not prevent England being routed for 136.
“In terms of pace he’s up there with some of the quickest I’ve faced,” Carberry said. “More importantly, he put the ball in the right areas. That’s tough for anyone.
“It’s always hard starting out against a bowling unit that has its tail up, which was the case for some of the guys who came in before tea. Australia had good plans. Early on you can be vulnerable, and we weren’t quite good enough.
“I wouldn’t say shell-shocked. These guys are proven world-class performers. You don’t become bad players overnight. It was just a bad session, which can happen to any team.
“We weren’t up to it today but I’m confident we can prove ourselves tomorrow. Any batsmen, whether it’s in first-class cricket or Test cricket, the first couple of balls are the toughest phase of an innings. If there are some good balls flying around, unfortunately sometimes if it’s not your day, your name’s on it.

Indeed, it might provoke England to reflect on the homogenised strips of lifeless sludge on which too much cricket is played in England. Rarely do developing players experience pitches that aid spin or pace in England, with far too much emphasis given to nagging seam and swing. It is a systemic failure that continues to hold back the international side. The pitch in Perth may be even quicker.Equally, the ECB may reflect on the work permit regulations that they fought for and the central contract situation which has robbed the county game of many of the fastest bowlers. Even the absence of relatively obscure seamers – the likes of Johan van der Vath and Garnett Kruger – has limited the exposure of England players to the pace and aggression they can expect in international cricket. The gap between county and international cricket has grown considerably over the last couple of years.Pace and bounce did not actually account for many of the top-order wickets. But it had left England rattled and it may well have resulted in their footwork being slower and their bats being less straight than they should have been. They looked, just as they had at Perth in 2010-11, more than a little shell-shocked.History tells us that England can rescue themselves from this position. You only have to look at the Brisbane Test of 2010-11 or the Auckland Test of this year to see that. They are unbeaten for a year. But they have given themselves a mountain to climb here and, even if they do somehow salvage a draw – and with so much time left in the game, they may well need some help from the weather to do so – they will know that they have squandered a wonderful chance to take control of this series.

Graeme Smith made a battling half-century to lift the pressure of expectation from his shoulders

Firdose Moonda in Port Elizabeth23-Oct-2011For Graeme Smith, batting has lately been a little like driving on a road pockmarked with potholes. Every time he has tried to move out of first gear, he has hit a bump and stalled. But in Port Elizabeth he finally found a smooth track on which he could accelerate freely.After three failures, Smith’s broad shoulders would have felt the weight of expectations and they would have stooped a little lower when the innings began, as they have throughout the series. This time though, it was not Smith who departed early, but his partner. Hashim Amla got a leading edge back to Doug Bollinger and trudged to the dressing room without a run on the board.Jacques Kallis came to the crease and eased any jangling nerves Smith might have had by dealing with the next 11 deliveries. By the time Smith had to face a ball, Kallis had already hooked Johnson for six and driven him for four. There was still stress, as Smith had to take guard against a left-arm seamer in Doug Bollinger, who started with a leg-side wide. Instead of following it up with a delivery that would undo Smith, as he did in the T20, Bollinger hurled down a chest-high short delivery that Smith evaded. Then, Smith was off the mark with a prod to point.Kallis’ presence at the other end allowed Smith the luxury of batting himself in. While Smith nudged, Kallis drove, while Smith clipped off the pads, Kallis cut over point, taking the pressure off the former captain. Kallis’ strike-rate was close to 100 in the early stages of the innings, allowing Smith’s to slither down to little more than 50.Smith’s first four, a drive through the covers, was the most fluent shot he played in four innings but he did not get carried away by it and was willing to grind. He started getting bat to ball in a more confident fashion and was not rattled when he had to defend. Even when a Watson delivery kept low and passed the off stump, Smith was unmoved.It was in the 11th over that Smith showed he might be well and truly back. He had survived the left-armers’ assault, been beaten by Cummins’ pace and battled to 13 off 27 balls, with awkward, but at least, apparent foot movement. Cummins bowled a fairly wide delivery outside off, Smith had to reach but he pushed it through the covers with such power that his intent was clear. In the same over, he drove through the offside again, the second time with more conviction and better footwork.The change in Smith after those two shots was evident. He started strutting rather than shuffling at the crease and was confident enough to argue with Mitchell Johnson when the bowler stood in Smith’s way as he tried to complete a run. Words were exchanged and fingers were pointed but Smith was clearly the victor when Johnson missed a simple chance to run him out two balls later. So wayward was Johnson’s hurl that the ball did not land on the pitch.Getting under the skin of the man who had broken his hand twice in the past allowed Smith to grow more confident. All of Smith’s six fours were scored on the off side, a remarkable feat, given his preference for scoring on the leg. He made room for himself, danced down the track and even hustled between the wickets with rare speed.The innings meant a lot to Smith, who looked up to the sky after reaching his half-century. For the first time this season, a home crowd was on its feet for him and there was no jeering. He acknowledged them warmly.The reverse-sweep was the one shot Smith could not pull off. He was beaten when he first tried it against Steve Smith and then caught behind when he attempted it again off the same bowler. The umpire originally gave it not out but the review showed Smith had gloved it. He walked off the field having given away the chance to do something big, but he had done enough for now.

Bangalore are not yet in crisis territory. But if they lose in Delhi on Wednesday, they just might be

Cricinfo staff28-Apr-2008

About three overs into the Bangalore innings there was a grim suspicion – one which would come back to haunt them later in the evening – that Rahul Dravid had actually chosen a Test team looking as much like a Twenty20 franchise as the bearded women resemble men in stoning scene.Bharat Chipli, seemingly the umpteenth opener tried by the Royal Challengers in their four matches, was being jeered by the Chinnaswamy faithful for failing to break Jacob Oram’s shackles, while at the other end Wasim Jaffer was batting like a latterday Ken Barrington, apparently booking in for bed and breakfast.Poor Bangalore. Jaffer, Dravid, Jacques Kallis, even the hastily discarded Shivnarine Chanderpaul (two in nine balls against the Rajasthan Royals on Saturday) – it was hardly a line-up to strike fear into Twenty20 opening bowlers. Moments later, Chipli was bowled by Manpreet Gony and local eyebrows were raised with knowing resignation.And then the Royal Challengers got a stroke of luck. Gony dropped Jaffer at long-on. It was a sitter as boundary catches go. Gony wrung his wrist in pain but the bowler, Palani Amarnath, looked like he wanted to do a Sreesanth (burst into tears, that is, rather than collect a slap in the chops). The mood, already faintly surreal with the looming clouds and the swirling wind, changed.Taking his cue from Ross Taylor – who, remember, was not even snapped up until the second, much cheaper, round of auctioning – Jaffer decided to play shots no one knew he ever had. He went inside-out to drive Amarnath over extra cover for four, and even managed to make the stroke look elegant. He pulled Albie Morkel for six and then played an imperious pick-up off his pads to deposit Joginder Sharma for six more. His half-century, from just 32 balls, came courtesy of a cheeky shuffle across his stumps and a flick to fine-leg for four. Amarnath could barely believe it.But old habits die hard, and that is Bangalore’s fundamental problem. The ball after reaching 50, Jaffer – man who has played two one-day internationals and only two Twenty20 innings of any kind before tonight – drove Amarnath to long-off and the wheels began to loosen on their axels. Nine overs and nine wickets later, they had come off completely.Jacques Kallis nicked one from Sharma and did his best to con Russell Tiffin by walking full circle with his back to the umpire; Taylor, a star in the making, slapped Amarnath to cover; Mark Boucher skewed Gony to third man, where Mike Hussey made a tricky catch look easy; Dravid failed to get the benefit of the doubt – Gony’s shout looked high – and departed first ball; and Virat Kohli lost his leg-stump to the deserving Albie Morkel. The rest seemed determined to run themselves out. “It was one of those days,” said Dravid. The locals might be forgiven for thinking it was actually one of the Groundhog Days.In all, nine wickets fell for 63 in 52 balls. When one of the advertising boards collapsed just before the post-match ceremony, knocking over a trophy in the process, it seemed strangely symbolic. This is a side that might still be scarred from the pummelling it received from Brendon McCullum here nine days ago. But the problem goes deeper than that. Well though Jaffer played, there is only one genuine Twenty20 batsman in the side and that’s Taylor, who is about to join up with New Zealand’s tour of England. Pugnacious he may be, but Boucher can’t be expected to win matches on a regular basis by himself.The sight of Dravid coming in at No. 7 after he had opened in the previous three games suggests the kind of muddled thinking that does not befit a side with Dravid and Martin Crowe at the helm. The Super Kings, by contrast, were able to slot in Mike Hussey and Mahendra Singh Dhoni after Matthew Hayden, and have Stephen Fleming still to come – batsmen who hit the ball in different places and hit it very hard indeed. If just one of them had been playing for the home side tonight, Bangalore might have won.Instead, they have now lost three games out of four and Dravid, who – as an icon player – had a say in the selection of his squad – is scratching his head. Bangalore are not yet in crisis territory. But if they lose in Delhi on Wednesday, they just might be.

England Test coach looking for team to refine method but says he and Stokes won’t change approach

Vithushan Ehantharajah10-Mar-20241:57

What did this series tell us about England’s batting?

Brendon McCullum admits India exposed flaws in England, forcing them to play “timid” cricket, and says refinement and some tough conversations will be on the agenda in the aftermath of their 4-1 defeat.The fact that this was the first series loss of McCullum’s reign did not lead the head coach to sugarcoat his assessment of how matters played out following England’s opening win in Hyderabad. Strong positions relinquished in the next three Tests culminated in the fifth at Dharamsala, where India stomped to an innings victory inside three days.England’s overall record with McCullum at the helm and Ben Stokes as captain now reads 14 wins out of 23, with eight defeats. Seven of those defeats have come in 13 matches since the start of 2023. Though losing to India was nothing to be ashamed of, given they are unbeaten in series since the start of 2013, McCullum conceded lessons needed to be learned to refine the overall approach, along with specific aspects to address once the dust has settled.Related

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Ashwin bags nine in his 100th Test as India cruise to innings win

“Sometimes, you can get away with things,” McCullum said. “But when you’re exposed the way we have been in the back end of this series in particular, it does require some pretty deep thinking and some adjustment to make sure we’re staying true to what we believe in.”If anything, we got more timid as the series went on, and that was because of the pressure that was applied to us by the Indian line-up, not just with the ball. With the bat, they put us under a tremendous amount of pressure, too.”There are some things where you can get a little bit of luck on your side and you paper over a couple of the cracks. When you are exposed in the way we have been here, you know that you have to get better in some areas. The next couple of months will be us working out that and making sure when we come to the summer we are a more refined version of what we are at the minute.”Of frustration for McCullum were the missed chances over the last seven weeks. The third Test in Rajkot, when India were 33 for 3 on day one and ended up with 445 before England lost 8 for 95, having been 224 for 2 in their first innings, is one “at the forefront” of his mind. Allowing India to recover from 177 for 7 on day two of the fourth in Ranchi is another, as the hosts narrowed what should have been a vast first-innings lead, eventually chasing down 192 to seal the series.”We were placed under a lot of pressure in those games, and we had our opportunities when we were in front of the game and we weren’t able to close it out. Whether that affected our approach a little bit and put some doubt in our minds that wasn’t there early in the series, I’m not really sure why at this point in time.”They probably outplayed us at the style of cricket that we want to play and made us start to retreat a little bit. So that’s something that we will have to change.”England suffered one final collapse on day three in Dharamsala•Associated Press

The notion the England set-up is too cushy was dismissed out of hand by McCullum, along with the suggestion that a relaxed team environment lent itself to a lack of ruthlessness both here and in last summer’s drawn Ashes. He stopped short of divulging whether tough conversations were had on this trip, insisting “they should remain private”, but insisted both he and Stokes have no truck for players coasting given the support and encouragement afforded to them.”We didn’t get where we’ve got to in life and in our careers without having some sort of hard edge,” he said. “For us, we judge the input, the enthusiasm, the energy and always giving to the team, and the want to develop as a player. Not to be content with being the player you are now.”Occasionally, as we all have in our lives, someone might have to give you a little nudge and say, ‘Do you think you’ve got it right here?’ In your own way, you might then recalibrate and put your energy into gear, but that’s just natural. That’s part of running a cricket team. It’s just like running a family. It’s no different.”McCullum was also reluctant to reveal the “couple of areas” that require his immediate focus but stated they will be a priority when he and Stokes reconvene after a break. The squad will fly home on Tuesday, with McCullum heading back to New Zealand before he begins “plotting” to rebuild the team from this setback. The next assignment is a three-Test home series against West Indies, which begins at Lord’s on July 10.One area is certain to be around personnel, particularly with the emergence of Lancashire left-arm spinner Tom Hartley and Somerset offspinner Shoaib Bashir. The pair were the only two uncapped members of the touring party but finished as the leading wicket-takers, with 22 and 17 dismissals, respectively. Hartley’s tally, supplemented by 185 runs, had him second on the wicket-taking charts, four behind R Ashwin.Jack Leach, who left the tour with an injured left knee after just one appearance, has been Stokes’ No. 1 spinner. But the emergence of Hartley and Bashir means Leach now faces competition for his spot.”Jack will understand that himself,” McCullum said. “He will be proud of it, because he is a guy that invests in the team. Whilst he is desperate to be the number one spinner for England, he is also connected to try to help these other guys. He was the first person that rung Bash after he got selected and he was fantastic working along Tommy Hartley, along with Rehan Ahmed.”It’s a good place to be when you’ve got depth and different types of options. We’ve got to embrace that and there will be some challenging selections throughout the summer. That’s a good place to be. Rather than scrambling to find someone, we’ve got plenty of depth, so just need to make sure we get it right.”Another situation to negotiate is the wicketkeeper role, after Ben Foakes donned the gloves for the duration in India, having been usurped the previous summer by Jonny Bairstow. While Foakes was close to immaculate behind the stumps, taking 12 catches and effecting four stumpings, both he (205 runs at an average of 20.5) and Bairstow (238 at 23.8) underperformed as part of a misfiring middle order.While Bairstow, who brought up 100 caps in the fifth Test, could reprise the role he performed last summer, now may be the time to move on from the Yorkshireman and blood a new option, whether that is Ollie Robinson (Durham), Jamie Smith (Surrey) or James Rew (Somerset).”We’ve got time to be able to work out what we want moving forward,” answered McCullum when asked if Bairstow, Foakes or a new challenger will take the gloves this summer. “I don’t really need to go into that anymore.”I think Foakes has kept brilliantly here, and obviously Jonny had a decent series with the bat in the Ashes as well, so there are good options and we’ve just got to make sure we make the decision that we feel gives us the most amount of – I guess – weaponry to be able to ensure that we are able to go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the world and we’ll make that decision in time.”Ben Foakes had a good series with the gloves but could again find himself out of the picture at home•Associated Press

On the bowling front, McCullum singled out fast bowler Gus Atkinson, an unused member of the squad, for a debut this summer – “He’s got something that we need to take a good look at” – and Matthew Potts, who took 23 wickets in McCullum’s first six Tests and impressed for the Lions out in India with 20 dismissals at 16.95.McCullum has also challenged those outside the group to catch the attention of the selectors with big domestic performances, as he looks to broaden the net. As things stand, the only batter to have been dropped since McCullum took charge is Alex Lees.”It’s certainly not closed at all it’s just that at this stage these are the guys we believe are the best cricketers to win a series. You give them time for that plan to play out. If it doesn’t play out, of course, if someone is banging down the door you look at that. Certainly nothing is closed to anyone it’s just that you have to bang the door down.”As the first two years of McCullum’s tenure come to a close, the focus now is on the next phase of this project, which culminates in a home series against India, followed by the Ashes in Australia in 2025-26. Series against West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand await this year for a group of players who have been backed to the hilt so far. And while changes are coming, McCullum wants to retain a lot of what has made England an engaging and watchable side after the previous lows of just one win in 17 before he came on the scene.”It would be foolish of us to throw away the good work we’ve done in search of something else over the next little while. The skipper and I have total conviction in our methods and we won’t backing away from that. We’ll be trying to refine that absolutely, but we won’t be backing down from the way we think this environment should run. We’ve just got to make sure we are getting the best out of people.”We didn’t get what we came for [in India]. But I think so much good is going to come out of this series; I really do. It’s given us an opportunity to take a step back and look at areas we need to improve and have the conviction in ourselves to ensure that we make those changes and drive the team forward.”

Former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been relieved of his duties as Besiktas manager after the Turkish Super Lig giants crashed out of the Conference League play-offs. The Norwegian coach, who joined Besiktas in January this year, arrived on a one-and-a-half year deal but lasted only eight months in the role.

• Besiktas sack Solskjaer
• Turkish side lost Conference League play-off
• Beaten 1-0 by Lausanne in the second leg

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Turkish giants Besiktas have confirmed the departure of head coach Solskjaer just eight months after the Norwegian joined the club. The decision was taken by the club's board following their exit from the Conference League play-off round. Besiktas lost the second leg of the tie 1-0 at home on Thursday as Lausanne qualified for the league phase, winning the fixture 2-1 on aggregate.

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  WHAT BESIKTAS SAID

  The official statement from the Turkish club read: "Our contract with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been terminated following a decision made at the board meeting. Following the meeting, our chairman, Serdal Adalı, thanked Solskjaer for his services to date. We respectfully present this for the public's information."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Besiktas was Solskjaer's first managerial job since he left United's head coach position in 2021. After joining the Turkish club, the 52-year-old guided them to a fourth-place finish in the Super Lig. The club started the 2025-26 league campaign with a 2-1 win over Eyupspor, but things went south after the clash on August 18 as they first drew against Lausanne before losing the home tie.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR BESIKTAS?

  Besiktas are yet to announce Solskjaer's replacement and will next be seen in action in the Turkish league on Sunday against Alanyaspor.