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Arsene Wenger has always prioritised the Premier League. Through talking up the team’s ability to finish first (even if he didn’t really believe it himself) to ensuring that come the second half of the season when Arsenal were usually well and truly out of the title race, the objective was on finishing in the top four.

Yet it is extremely backwards to place so much importance in the Champions League. The club need UEFA’s top competition for the revenue it brings in; anything in the way of a deep run in the competition is simply a bonus. But since the move to the Emirates, Wenger has always been handicapped in his ability to field a strong team in Europe and continue to force the club over the line for a top four finish.

It’s baffling when you think about it. The club have been in a seemingly endless cycle of never really pushing on in their hunt for silverware, all the while talking up one of the factors that have handicapped them along the way.

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I don’t think Wenger’s tactical ability in Europe needs to be questioned – at least to any great degree. Two semi-final appearances, one which lead to the final in 2006, isn’t really something you’d expect from a club of Arsenal’s experience in the Champions League, but the manager has never had the resources to go all out.

When the team did make the final in Paris, it came off the back of a real struggle to overtake Tottenham for fourth. The same was true in 2009 when the club were eliminated by Manchester United over two legs. Arsenal had done surprisingly well to get as far as they did that year, but had it not been for the injection of life offered by Andrey Arshavin in the January window, Arsenal would almost certainly have failed to make the following year’s competition.

Sometimes it’s worth comparing Wenger to his managerial contemporaries. Manuel Pellegrini has done a lot with the little he’s had in the past in Spain. Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund, right across the board, were hardly a match for Bayern’s endless supply of resources but made it to the final alongside their domestic rivals. And yet Real Madrid have been failures in Europe up until Jose Mourinho arrived and put matters straight, to a degree. The Portuguese led the club to three consecutive semi-finals when the best they could muster previously was a trip to the last 16.

Arsenal’s failure to really deliver on the European stage is a result of the move to the Emirates. Bar 2006, the only season that Arsenal perhaps should have done more with what they had was 2004. Wenger had been building to a team of that ability and ferocity in domestic competition, yet when they failed to get past Chelsea at the quarterfinal stage, Wenger dismantled that squad with near-frightening pace. The importance should have been in building on that team and transferring their Premier League dominance onto the European stage. By 2006, the spirit of the Invincibles was completely absent. Many of the key figures remained, but as a collective the squad was far from an equal.

A lot of this is the reason why I’ve raised the question about the club missing out on the Champions League for a season at least. The problem is fans are too quick to concern themselves with matters on the financial front. They also want to throw in comparisons relating to Liverpool and their struggles to get back into the mix for the Champions League, all the while completely ignoring clubs like AC Milan, Juventus, Napoli, Lyon, and Bayern, among others, who have missed out on the Champions League but have quickly, in most of their cases, returned.

But then you’d have to question whether Wenger and the Arsenal backroom staff would have the same ingenuity to turn the ship around off the back of a season out of Europe. The scouting department comes into play, resulting, often, in poor acquisitions. Wenger has been rightly criticised for his lack of tactical expertise in the domestic game, let alone in Europe, so that adds to the overall problem too.

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The problem with Arsenal is that you can’t pick one fault and isolate it from the rest. It’s a domino effect that allows one poor decision to fall back on everything else. The club’s lack of incentive to change, or even their inability, has resulted in a vicious cycle and stagnation. This summer is billed as the end to all that and the beginning of something new. But for whatever failures the club have had in the Champions League, they do not solely lie with Wenger’s tactical approach.

Should Arsene Wenger be questioned for his results in Europe?

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The 19-year-old is joined by Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft but there is no place for Matt Renshaw

Tristan Lavalette14-Oct-2024Teenaged opener Sam Konstas will audition for a Test spot in national team colours after being named in the Australia A squad for the upcoming red-ball series against India A.His spectacular rise has continued after being included in a 17-man squad for the two four-day games in Mackay and the MCG.Konstas, 19, lit up Australian domestic cricket by scoring twin centuries against South Australia in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield. He became the first teenager to achieve that feat in the Shield since an 18-year-old Ricky Ponting in 1993.Related

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With allrounder Cameron Green ruled out of the summer due to a back injury, and Steven Smith likely to move back to No. 4, Konstas has emerged as a contender for next month’s first Test against India in Perth.”He’s in the mix as are plenty of others. I certainly don’t want to single him out,” chair of selectors George Bailey said. “Think the consistency of Cam Bancroft over a number of years, the consistency of Marcus Harris over a number of years, they’ve both had a look at Test cricket as well, so don’t think there’s a need at this stage to put any undue pressure or expectation on Sam.”He’s five games into his first-class career, he’s had a good start and certainly looks like he has a well-organised game that we are really exited [about] and looking forward to seeing at the A level and we’ll continue to watch as that progresses.”Harris and Bancroft are both in the squad but Matt Renshaw, who was the spare batter in the series against West Indies and New Zealand earlier this year, has not been included.Harris started the season strongly after scoring a century and a half-century against Tasmania albeit on a benign Junction Oval surface. Bancroft, who made a pair, and Renshaw both had double failures in the match between Western Australia and Queensland at the WACA.”We still really like Matt’s ability to play,” Bailey said. “As far as Australia A selection goes, part of the process around that is trying to identify opportunities that may come around in the short term but also making sure we do keep an eye on developing opportunities for those players who may become important in different roles in the future as well.”Whilst there’s an Australia A squad there, I think Matt Renshaw, Pete Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, as three examples, are guys who we’ll continue to watch really closely in Shield cricket.”South Australia skipper Nathan McSweeney will captain Australia A in a role he has fulfilled several times previously. Allrounder Beau Webster, the reigning Shield player of the season, has also been named and could be in the mix for Test selection if Australia’s hierarchy decide to go with a like-for-like replacement for Green.Fringe Test quicks Scott Boland and Michael Neser, who claimed a five-wicket haul against WA, have been selected while Victoria quick Fergus O’Neill has been rewarded for his Shield success.Offspinners Todd Murphy and Corey Rocchiccioli are also in the squad and will be firmly in the mix for Australia’s Test tour of Sri Lanka early next year.Cooper Connolly, who made his ODI debut in England, is the only player named in both the ODI and the Australia A squads.Josh Philippe, who left WA for NSW in the offseason, and Jimmy Peirson are the wicketkeepers.The first four-day game in Mackay ends on November 3 ahead of the first ODI on November 4 while the second four-day game at the MCG runs from November 7-10 with the second and third ODIs being played on November 8 and 10.The depth of Shield teams will be firmly tested with those series clashing with the third round of the Shield starting on November 1.”We are really excited by this squad, particularly after some of the tremendous performances to start the Sheffield Shield season,” Australia national selector George Bailey said.”As always with Australia A selection we have picked a side we hope can present performances which are compelling for the upcoming Test summer, whilst also rewarding players for strong domestic form in roles we see as being important further afield.”It will be a great opportunity for these players to shine against a strong Test nation looking to prepare for what is going to be a captivating summer of Test cricket.”

Australia A squad vs India A

Nathan McSweeney (captain), Cameron Bancroft, Scott Boland, Jordan Buckingham, Cooper Connolly, Ollie Davies, Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas, Nathan McAndrew, Michael Neser, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Jimmy Peirson, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Mark Steketee, Beau Webster

Super Kings struggled against spin after a promising start, leaving Dhoni and Jadeja too much to do at the end

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2023MS Dhoni has urged Chennai Super Kings’ batters to take “ownership”, after a middle-overs slump cost them victory against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday night. Chasing 176, Super Kings were well placed at 78 for 1 in the tenth over before Royals’ spinners got to work, reducing them to 113 for 6 by the end of the 15th.Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja nearly pulled off an improbable win with their end-overs hitting – the match ended with Super Kings one hit away from victory having needed 54 from 18 balls at one stage – but the Super Kings captain suggested after the match that it needn’t have come down to that situation in the first place.Related

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“I think [we lost it] in the middle [overs while batting], we needed a bit more strike rotation,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. “I don’t think there was a lot [of help] for the spinners. Yes, they have experienced spinners, so they bowled very well. They were bowling the right length, but I felt in that period you have [we had] too many dot balls.”If the wicket is slow, if it’s stopping and turning, then I can understand, but with the set batsman and the new batsman going in, I don’t think it was that difficult. So I think the ownership needs to come from the batsmen.”Super Kings needed 21 at the start of the final over, and the responsibility of bowling it fell to Sandeep Sharma. He started with two wides to Dhoni, and low full-tosses off his second and third legal deliveries that Dhoni smacked for leg-side sixes. Thereafter, however, Sandeep pulled things back smartly, nailing his yorkers after changing angle to go around the wicket to Dhoni.Dhoni faced two of the last three balls, only managing to drag them along the ground for singles. In between, Sandeep bowled one ball to Jadeja, angling it away from the left-hander’s hitting arc from over the wicket and conceding another single.Sandeep explained his thought process when he was interviewed by after the match.”In the last over, I wanted to execute yorkers,” he said. “I’ve been bowling good yorkers in the nets. One side of the ground was bigger, so I thought I would use it and bowl at the [batter’s] heel but they turned out to be low full-tosses and went for six. Then I changed my plan and went around the wicket, hoping for a change, and it was good that the result was different.”I bowled over the wicket to Jaddu and my plan was to keep the ball away from his reach. The shots he hit to Jason [Holder] were down the ground. So my plan was to take it away from his reach. And to Mahi , my plan was to change the angle as I got hit for two sixes while bowling at the heel from over the wicket. So I went around the wicket and bowled it wide, and changed the angle.”

England allrounder resorts to bowling two overs of medium pace on return to first-class action

ESPNcricinfo staff and ECB Reporters Network19-Aug-2019Moeen Ali resorted to bowling two overs of medium pace as he endured a difficult return to first-class cricket following his omission from England’s Ashes squad.After a torrid Test match at Edgbaston, Moeen took a “short break” from cricket – which lasted all of two Vitality Blast matches – having been left out of England’s squad for Lord’s.He bowled 39.1 overs, but only managed three tail-end wickets against Northamptonshire, and surprised many by bowling two overs of seam-up swing bowling with the wicketkeeper standing back shortly before tea.As Moeen struggled, centuries from Dwaine Pretorius and Alex Wakely and an irresistible new ball spell from Ben Sanderson set Northamptonshire firmly on course for victory.Pretorius made 111 on his Championship debut and Wakely 102 – his first hundred of the summer – to help Northants take a first-innings lead of 190 before Sanderson claimed 4 for 13 in nine overs to leave Worcestershire 42 for 4 at the close, trailing by 148.It was a second dominant day for the home side who ground out 123.1 overs with the bat to make 376 before Sanderson seized his chance with the new ball in 17 overs Worcestershire were left at the end of the day.He drew edges from Daryl Mitchell to second slip for 4 and from Jack Haynes to the wicketkeeper for 19. Another one nipped away to flick the off stump of Callum Ferguson for a four-ball duck before he brought one back to pin Alex Milton lbw for an eight-ball duck.It was a wonderful spell of nine overs, five maidens, 4 for 13 which left Worcestershire with much to do to avoid an innings defeat.Northants’ day was set up in the morning session by Wakely and Pretorius, who arrived at the wicket for the start of play after Nathan Buck was removed from the game after being struck on the head on the first evening.Pretorius got off the mark straight driving Wayne Parnell for four and went back to cut Moeen’s first ball of the day past extra-cover. He slog-swept Moeen over midwicket for six but then should have been held on 25 when he lifted the offspinner to mid-off but Joe Leach spilled a straightforward chance.Moeen then went round the wicket and Pretorius sent him over deep midwicket again and drove him wide of point to put Northants into the lead. A short-arm pull past mid-on for four and a flashing drive through cover point brought him a seventh four an fifty in 67 balls.Resuming after lunch on 70, Pretorius lustily drove Parnell through cover point and next ball flicked him past midwicket for another boundary. Leach bowled short and wide and was cut hard past extra cover to take Pretorius into the 90s.A flick against Parnell past mid-on for four brought him closer to three figures, which he reached with a push into midwicket in 136 balls with 14 fours and those two slog-swept sixes against Moeen. He swung Ed Barnard to point soon after, becoming Worcestershire’s third wicket with the second new ball.The first of those was Wakely but only after a hard-earned ninth first-class century.Wakely resigned the captaincy back in May and has enjoyed some reasonable form since but this was his first major contribution to a Championship match.Returning on 63, he began his work for day two with a crunching back-foot drive for four off Parnell and two clipped threes through midwicket. An on-drive against Parnell took him past his highest score this season before a nudged single wide of mid-off brought him three figures.It was a grinding effort on a slow wicket in 233 balls with nine fours and a six and Wakely’s delight was obvious. But he could only add one to his lunchtime score before shouldering arms to a Parnell inswinger and losing his off stump.Adam Rossington also lost his off stump for 1 from a beauty from Leach and after losing Pretorius, Northants got stuck, failing to reach a fourth batting point despite only needing 26 in 11 overs. It was the only disappointing element to their day.

James Vince, the Hampshire captain, praised Northeast’s calmness in the situation and believed it probably served to spur him on to produce a significant innings

Andrew McGlashan30-Jun-2018Kent captain Sam Billings criticised the reception given to his predecessor, Sam Northeast, during the Royal London Cup final at Lord’s.Northeast, who left Kent in rather acrimonious circumstances during the off-season, was roundly jeered by Kent supporters as he walked to the crease and again when he reached his half-century. Northeast would have the final say, however, as his unbeaten 75 off 60 balls helped propel Hampshire to a matchwinning total of 330 for 6.But asked if he was happy with the treatment Northeast received, Billings said: “In a word, no. That’s not really cricket, I know it’s a cliché, but Sam’s a classy player, he showed that today. Of course whenever a player leaves a club there will be a bitterness but I don’t think that’s fair at all, really, to be very blunt. I don’t agree with it at all.”It certainly gave the game an edge, everyone felt that in the ground. There was something bubbling there.”James Vince, the Hampshire captain, praised Northeast’s calmness in the situation and believed it probably served to spur him on to produce a significant innings. Hampshire were strongly placed on 193 for 2 when he walked in, but Northeast’s innings ensured they didn’t miss out on posting a record total for a domestic Lord’s final, even though they couldn’t quite scale the heights that looked possible at the 30-over mark.”I said to Sam when we knew we were playing Kent in the final how good it would be for him to get a hundred against them,” Vince said. “He’s obviously played a big part in getting Kent to where they are now, so it’s perhaps slightly unfair but he was fired up to do well for us today.”He’s a very calm man. There was no question that it wasn’t going to faze him. The players he played with have respect for him, the fans are entitled to their opinion and I think he’d respond well to that. It probably gave him the extra incentive to really contribute to us winning.”The most significant innings of the day, however, belonged to Rilee Rossouw who hit 125 off 114 balls to earn the Man of the Match award. Rossouw, who joined Hampshire on a Kolpak deal last year, has not had everything run his way of late, having his front teeth knocked out during the semi-final against Yorkshire in a fielding mishap, and spent 80 minutes stuck in a lift at the team hotel on the eve of the final, but was grateful that everything came together when it mattered.”I’ll take all the bad luck in the world to win a final,” he joked. “I’m happy to relax in victory after two weeks in the wars. I was stuck in the lift for 80 minutes in the hotel last night, on my own. I was actually on my way down to see my wife and my little baby. So I wasn’t happy.”And with my teeth, I dropped a catch in the semi-finals, it went straight through my hands, hit my front teeth, broke the front two right off and chipped a third. The front two are completely gone. I’ve got a good dentist though, so the credit goes to him.”I’m very pleased with my performance today. I wanted this very badly and I’m so happy that the team pulled it off. It feels great to pay back the club for what they have invested in me, I’m very happy.”

Liam Livingstone, England’s uncapped selection for the Test tour of New Zealand in March and April, believes he is better placed to impress in red-ball than white-ball cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jan-2018Liam Livingstone, England’s uncapped selection for the Test tour of New Zealand in March and April, believes he is better placed to impress in red-ball than white-ball cricket, after missing the chance to establish his credentials in two T20 appearances against South Africa last summer.Livingstone was drafted into the Test squad this week in place of Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance, who paid the price for England’s 4-0 defeat in the recent Ashes despite not playing in any of the five matches.At the age of 24, Livingstone is widely regarded as one of the most naturally talented batsmen in English cricket, and was appointed as Lancashire captain in the off season, taking over from Steven Croft.Known for his hard hitting and a wide repertoire of strokes, Livingstone enjoyed some notable moments of success in 2017, in particular his maiden List A hundred – a blistering knock of 129 from 83 balls for England Lions against South Africa A at Northampton – and a career-best 224 for Lancashire against Warwickshire in the Championship in September.However, when he was picked for England’s T20 side against South Africa in the aftermath of the Champions Trophy in June, Livingstone looked a touch overawed by the experience – he made 16 runs in two innings, running himself out on debut at Taunton before missing a full-toss to be bowled for a golden duck in the series decider at Cardiff.Looking back now, however, Livingstone believes that experience will stand him in good stead as his England career progresses. “The Twenty20 was a good experience for me, but my red-ball game is totally different,” he told ECB.co.uk.”I’m a lot more assured with my red-ball game than I am in T20 cricket so I’ll definitely go into the environment with a lot more confidence in my ability to perform, which will help me. It will be nice to get in and around that and hopefully show what I can do.”Livingstone’s call-up follows his decision to forego the opportunity to ply his trade in the T20 leagues around the globe, and instead spend a second winter away with the England Lions in Australia.”I spoke to Andy Flower about this at the start of the winter,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to play Test cricket for England, and going to Australia with the Lions was the best way to give myself the best chance of doing that.”I could have tried to play T20 cricket around the world, but I still don’t see that as the strongest part of my game. I wanted to work on different areas of my red-ball game, and I was able to do that for our first two weeks in Brisbane.”While training with the Lions in Queensland, Livingstone was able to attend the first day of the Ashes at the Gabba, an experience which heightened his desire to play Test cricket.”To see the amount of interest out there, it was quite exciting,” he said. “People are saying that Test cricket’s becoming less important, but as players I don’t think that’s true at all. It’s still the toughest part of the game, and the format you get the most pleasure from succeeding in.”T20 is great for the sport and it brings in the viewers. But you look at the Ashes and the full stadiums, there’s still a lot of interest in Test cricket, and as players it’s still what you want to play.”Obviously the England team have had a tough Ashes, everyone knows that. But I’m sure everybody will be excited going into a new series, and I know it’s a very talented group of players. I’m just looking forward to getting in amongst it.”

Sri Lanka A fought back on the second day of their match with the England Lions in Pallekele, with spinners Dilruwan Perera and Malinda Pushpakumara to the fore

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Dilruwan Perera scored 37 and then claimed two top-order wickets•AFP

Sri Lanka A fought back on the second day of their match with the England Lions in Pallekele, initially through a bright half-century from Sandun Weerakkody and then with the ball as spinners Dilruwan Perera and Malinda Pushpakumara shared five wickets between them.Despite the Lions securing a 149-run first-innings lead, they were in some difficulty second time around after being reduced to 85 for 6, before an unbroken partnership between brothers Sam and Tom Curran lifted them to a lead of 261 with four wickets standing.Keaton Jennings, the Lions captain, was the only member of the top six to pass 16, as Dilruwan and Pushpakumara wheeled their way through 31 of the 40 overs possible before bad light brought an early close.Toby Roland-Jones, who had struck 82 and taken two wickets in his first over on the first day, earlier claimed 4 for 51 as Sri Lanka A were dismissed for 167, although that score represented something of a recovery from their overnight position of 29 for 4.Weerakkody began by taking the attack to the Lions, scoring the majority of the 29 added in 4.5 overs with his captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, before Tom Curran effected the run-out of the latter with a throw from mid-off. Weerakkody fell just before lunch, lbw to Ollie Rayner for 68 out of 109, but Dilruwan and Pushpakumara then added 45 for the seventh wicket to add further respectability to the score, before Roland-Jones and Rayner shared the last four.Sitting on a comfortable lead, the Lions lost Haseeb Hameed for a duck – to go with his first-innings 4 – after he left a straight delivery from Lahiru Gamage. Dilruwan then had Nick Gubbins and Tom Westley lbw, before Pushpakumara claimed three in five overs as the tourists wobbled from 71 for 3 to 85 for 6 under gloomy skies.

A round-up of the second day’s action from the Ramadan T20 Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2013
ScorecardShabbir Ahmed finished with 5 for 23•Pakistan Cricket Board

Shabbir Ahmed’s five-wicket haul powered United Bank Limited (UBL) to beat Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by four wickets.PIA captain Shoaib Malik, after a Man-of-the-Match performance in the last game, became Shabbir’s first victim off only the second ball of the match. PIA lost another early wicket when Shabbir removed Malik’s opening partner Agha Sabir with the score at 34 in the fifth over. Faisal Iqbal’s run-a-ball 48 steadied one end, but a flurry of wickets in the death – five in the last 19 balls, capped off by Shabbir dismissing Ali Raza and Fahad Iqbal off the last two balls of the innings limited PIA to 129.Opener Asif Ali started UBL’s chase positively, striking three sixes and a four but Salman Saeed struck in successive overs to leave UBL at 37 for 2 in the sixth over. With the asking rate hovering at a modest 6.5 per over, Mohammad Sami and Faisal Athar came together and added 35. Sami and Mohammad Irshad fell off consecutive balls in the 17th over, but Athar, who had five fours to his credit, held firm as UBL won the match with five balls to spare.
ScorecardYounis Khan, who remains outside Pakistan’s limited-overs, hit a brisk half-century to drive Habib Bank Limited to a competitive score before part-time offspinner Asad Baig ran through Water and Power Development Auhtority’s middle order to complete a comfortable victory.Imran Farhat, another experienced player who finds himself sidelined from the national team, failed to give HBL a strong start after they won the toss. His opening partner Baig fared better, making 29 as he shared a 41-run stand with No. 3 Fahad Masood. The run-rate picked up in the second half of the innings as two senior players, Younis and Hasan Raza, put together 55 in 33 deliveries. Raza hit three sixes in his 27, and Younis struck seven fours in his unbeaten 54.In the chase, WAPDA were in a reasonable position in the 13th over, with Sohaib Maqsood’s 40 guiding them to 93 for 3. It unravelled spectacularly after that, though, as their final seven wickets went down for 15 runs. What made it more galling for WAPDA was that the wickets weren’t taken by regular bowlers – Baig, who has only one wicket in his 27 first-class matches, bagged 4 for 12
while Raza, who has 27 wickets in 175 domestic one-dayers, took two in his first three deliveries to wrap up the match.

Half-centuries by Matt Pardoe and Thilan Samaraweera took Worcestershire to 198 for 3 on a rain-shortened first day in their Division Two clash with Leicestershire at New Road

08-May-2013
ScorecardHalf-centuries by Matt Pardoe and Thilan Samaraweera took Worcestershire to 198 for 3 on a rain-shortened first day in their Division Two clash with Leicestershire at New Road.Pardoe shared in partnerships of 78 with Moeen Ali and 69 with Samaraweera as Worcestershire finally started their home programme a month late because of on-going building work at the ground.A five-storey executive block and a 120-bedroom hotel created a new backdrop in the riverside corner as Pardoe, determined and disciplined for close to four hours, reached 50 in the championship for the first time in 20 innings.Given an opportunity to pin down an opening spot following the departure of Australian Phil Hughes, the young left hander kept his side on a steady footing after Daryl Mitchell’s edge to third slip in Ollie Freckingham’s third over.Relegated from Division One last September, Worcestershire have yet to find their feet at the lower level after a draw with Lancashire and defeats by Glamorgan and Hampshire in three away matches.Fellow strugglers Leicestershire, another side without a win, were again without three front-line seamers, including former captain Matthew Hoggard, when Ramnaresh Sarwan lost the toss.The stand-in bowlers kept things reasonably tight and Freckingham might have had a second success when Moeen got off the mark with a streaky boundary in his first Championship innings since signing a five-year extension to his contract.Unusually for New Road, the pitch encouraged Leicestershire to try Jigar Naik’s off-breaks only 40 minutes into the first morning and before lunch they also gave a couple of overs to a second spinner in Josh Cobb. There was even a hint of turn as Naik conceded only one run in three overs but the runs began to flow with leg-side sixes for Moeen and Pardoe.Moeen also hit seven fours in making 48 from 77 balls before a misplaced square drive off Rob Taylor found Michael Thornely at point. The unflustered Pardoe maintained a one-run-an-over tempo deep into the afternoon before he was bowled by Naik as he propped forward after making 59 from 174 balls.By then Samaraweera was showing glimpses of his Test quality after an early incident in which he stood his ground when it appeared he had turned a catch to short leg off left-arm seamer Taylor.However, the ball only found its way into Matt Boyce’s hands after bouncing up from his body and then deflecting from the grille on his helmet. After consultation between the umpires, the Sri Lankan was given not out and went on to complete his second fifty for the county. He was unbeaten on 52 when a second stoppage for rain ended the day with only 13 balls bowled after tea.

ESPNcricinfo previews the Ranji Trophy final for the 2012-13 season, between Mumbai and Saurashtra

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran in Mumbai25-Jan-2013

Match facts

January 26-30, Mumbai
Start time 0930 (0400 GMT)

Big Picture

Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, among a couple of other batsmen, will be missed by their respective Ranji sides in the final•AFP

Heading towards the Wankhede Stadium, there is little sign that the biggest first-class match in the domestic calendar is about to begin. Instead, on the walk up to the stadium, you are greeted by a series of posters advertising the Hockey India League going on at the adjacent hockey ground. Even inside the Wankhede there are more logos of the Women’s World Cup, which was shifted out of the ground at the last minute, than the Ranji Trophy.Saurashtra, though, need no reminders about how big a game this is. This is the first time they have made it to the title clash since independence, since the time they took up their present name back in 1950-51. Their title wins in the Ranji came when one of their previous incarnations, Nawanagar, triumphed in their debut season in 1936-37 and another team which included players from the region, Western India States Cricket Association, in 1943-44. Their most experienced player, Shitanshu Kotak, has the unwanted record of being the highest Ranji run-getter without having won the title.One key member of their set-up who has been involved in a Ranji final is long-standing coach Debu Mitra, who played in 1968-69, losing to Mumbai. Ahead of this year’s final, he says his advice to the Saurashtra players has been: “Just go and play another match, that’s all.”Mitra’s words are an attempt to reduce the sense of occasion for his players, but for several men in the Mumbai team, this just another match. The captain, Ajit Agarkar, has won six Ranji titles, Wasim Jaffer has seven, and they also have Sachin Tendulkar. Add to that Mumbai’s awesome record in Ranji finals – 39 titles in 43 attempts – and it becomes clear why the home side are overwhelming favourites despite a less than stellar league campaign this season.Both sides are missing two batsmen who pile up the runs in domestic circuit, but while Mumbai have the depth in talent to absorb the loss of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, Saurashtra’s bench is less robust and the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja affects them severely.Two areas where Saurashtra can feel they have an edge over Mumbai are fielding and spin bowling. While Mumbai have shelled plenty of catches this season – notably Kshemal Waingankar grassing a sitter from Wriddhiman Saha to allow Bengal a draw, the seven chances turfed against Punjab, and Iqbal Abdulla putting down last man Ishwar Pandey in the nerve-jangling seven-run win over Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra have been sharper in the field. Mitra even credited the run-out of Uday Kaul in the first innings as the turning point of the semi-final against Punjab.Also, their spinners – Kamlesh Makwana, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Vishal Joshi – have all played key roles in Saurashtra’s progress this season, while Mumbai have had little variety in the spin department after the injury to Ramesh Powar, with Ankeet Chavan sometimes playing as the lone slow bowler.Still, there will be few willing to bet against Mumbai taking title No. 40 next week.

Form guide

Mumbai DDDWD (Most recent first)
Saurashtra WDWDD

Players to watch

Sheldon Jackson made his Saurashtra debut back in 2006, but before this season he had played only a solitary first-class match. He’s making up for the lost time with a series of crucial knocks: on a difficult track in Rajkot, when almost everyone else struggled to make runs, he hit a century to earn an outright win over Bengal; he came up with big runs in the quarter-final against Karnataka; and in the semi-final, there was a century in the first innings and an unbeaten 44 in the second when the rest of the batting keeled over. Saurashtra need another big effort from him in the final.As in almost every match that Tendulkar has played, he will again be the star attraction. It is a rare occasion when he fails in the Ranji Trophy, and he will add one more record to his glittering career if he scores a century in the final – that will take him level with Sunil Gavaskar for most first-class centuries by an Indian, with 81.

Team news

Agarkar said he didn’t think there would be any changes in the Mumbai XI from the semi-final game over Services.Mumbai (likely) 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Kaustubh Pawar, 3 Hiken Shah, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Abhishek Nayar, 6 Aditya Tare (wk), 7 Ankeet Chavan, 8 Ajit Agarkar (capt), 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Vishal DabholkarSaurashtra are likely to make one change to their side, leaving out one of their three spinners to bring in a quick bowler.Saurashtra (likely) 1 Shitanshu Kotak, 2 Sagar Jogiyani (wk), 3 Rahul Dave, 4 Jaydev Shah (capt), 5 Sheldon Jackson, 6 Aarpit Vasavada, 7 Kamlesh Makvana, 8 Vishal Joshi, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Chirag Jani, 11 Siddharth Trivedi

Pitch and conditions

January is among the most pleasant of months in Mumbai, with the temperature perfect for playing cricket. The surface at the Wankhede this season for Ranji matches has been batting-friendly but the curators have had very little time to prepare the track as the venue for the final was only decided a few days ago. Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah expected the pitch to provide more assistance for the quick bowlers than for the spinners.

Stats and trivia

• Sachin Tendulkar in Ranji finals at the Wankhede: 47 and 96 (1991), 140 and 139 (1995), 53 and 128 (2000), and 105 and 43 (2007)
• A century for Wasim Jaffer will give him the most hundreds in the Ranji Trophy, taking him past Ajay Sharma on 31 and will also help him reclaim the record for most Ranji runs

Quotes

“I suppose it comes with experience as we have got more than one guy who has played more than one final. That generally helps in winning big games.”

“Against Bombay you always need to score big runs and then put pressure at the start as if they don’t get a good start, they sometimes collapse.”