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De olho na decisão do Paulistão contra o Santos, Abel Ferreira deve preservar alguns titulares do Palmeiras na estreia da Libertadores. O Verdão vai enfrentar o San Lorenzo na quarta-feira (3), às 21h30, na Argentina.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasSantosCarille amplia bom retrospecto contra o Palmeiras e fica perto de cumprir profecia no SantosSantos01/04/2024PalmeirasAbel vê Santos superior ao Palmeiras na final do Paulistão, e reclama do calendárioPalmeiras31/03/2024Fora de CampoBenja critica atuação de jogador do Palmeiras contra o Santos: ‘Mal demais’Fora de Campo31/03/2024

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Endrick é um dos mais cotados a ficar de fora da estreia do Palmeiras na Libertadores. Mesmo sem estar 100% por dores na coxa, o atacante atuou como titular na Vila Belmiro, mas foi substituído no segundo tempo contra o Santos. Além dele, Murilo e Veiga também pode ser preservados visando o jogo de volta no Paulistão.

– Decidimos que só tomaríamos essa decisão depois desse jogo (contra o Santos). Vocês viram o jogo que eu vi. Estamos falando de jogadores que vieram da Seleção e não dormiram. Endrick teve problema no último jogo, Veiga também. Murilo veio da Seleção, não jogou. Isso tem coisas boas e ruins. Vamos analisar o jogo de hoje e ver se eu troco todos, alguns, não troco – disse Abel Ferreira após a derrota na Vila Belmiro.

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➡️ Com R$50 no Lance! Betting, você fatura R$255 se apostar no 1 a 1 entre Santos x Palmeiras

Quem pode ganhar minutos na Libertadores é Gustavo Gómez. Após um mês se recuperando de uma lesão sofrida contra o Corinthians, o paraguaio voltou a ser relacionado contra o Novorizontino e precisa ganhar ritmo de jogo.

A grande decisão entre Santos e Palmeiras será no domingo (7), às 18h, no Allianz Parque. O Peixe pode empatar no próximo final de semana que ainda leva o título do Paulistão. Em caso de vitória da equipe de Abel Ferreira por um gol de diferença, o duelo será decidido nos pênaltis.

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As the season careens into its stretch run, there seems to be a pronounced lack of stakes to the proceedings. Sure, teams are still fighting for playoff spots, but how hostile are these races at the moment?

A Phillies-Mets knife fight for the NL East that we were hoping for a month ago has failed to develop, with New York floundering for months now. Likewise in both Central divisions, where the Tigers and Brewers hold 10- and six-game advantages, respectively. The Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners and Padres are all within striking distance of making their division races interesting, but even still, all four of those teams are very likely to make the postseason even if they fall short of first place.

As of this writing, FanGraphs currently gives 10 teams at least a 96% chance at making the postseason, with the Astros (90.7%) and Mariners (76.8%) rounding out the 12-team field. The team with the next-best odds? That would be the Rangers, who, despite being just 1.5 games out of the AL’s third wild-card spot, have just a 12.2% shot of crashing the field. Last year at this time, the Mets were the team outside the playoff picture with the best odds of making it (38.7%), and eventually did so as part of an inspired run to the NLCS. While the Rangers or another team could make a similar surge, it’s looking unlikely.

Rather than dwell on the absence of white-knuckle pennant races, let’s shift our attention to a different cohort of teams: the also-rans. FanGraphs currently assigns nine teams a whopping 0.0% chance at making the playoffs (the site is not quite ready to wave the white flag on behalf of the Angels, who own MLB’s longest active playoff drought and whose current odds are 0.1%). Though these clubs might be ready to flip the page to 2026, that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons worth tuning in for their final few weeks’ worth of games.

Here’s a player on each of these teams that’s worth tuning in for over the last stretch of the regular season, playoff hopes be damned.

Los Angeles Angels: SS Zach Neto

Neto has been among the few bright spots for the Angels all season long. The 2022 first-round pick broke out last year, his first full season after being rushed to the majors in ‘23, and has taken his game up a level this year. Through 120 games, he has a 117 wRC+ with 25 homers and 24 stolen bases, giving him an outside shot at becoming just the seventh shortstop to record a 30–30 season.

تحدث مهاجم نادي إيفرتون وفولهام السابق، عن مستقبل محمد صلاح، نجم ليفربول، حيث استقر على أحد اللاعبين ليكون بديلًا للدولي المصري خلال السنوات المقبلة.

محمد صلاح دخل في مشاكل عديدة مع ليفربول، وذلك بعدما جلس اللاعب على مقاعد البدلاء في ثلاث مباريات متتالية في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

ولم يستطع محمد صلاح الصمت جراء تواجده كبديل، حيث صرح لوسائل الإعلام عقب نهاية مباراة ليفربول وليدز يونايتد يوم السبت الماضي بالدوري الإنجليزي أن علاقته انتهت مع المدرب آرني سلوت.

وأشار محمد صلاح كذلك أن إدارة ليفربول قدمت له وعود عديدة الصيف الماضي، لكنها لم تنفذها.

واستبعد محمد صلاح بعد ذلك من مباراة ليفربول وإنتر ميلان والتي لعبت يوم الثلاثاء الماضي بدوري أبطال أوروبا، وذلك كإجراء تأديبي.

وارتبط محمد صلاح بمغادرة ليفربول خلال الفترة المقبلة، مع وجود شائعات حول رغبة الأندية السعودية والأمريكية في ضم اللاعب البالغ من العمر 33 عامًا.

ويرى توماش رادزينسكي، مهاجم إيفرتون السابق، أن جناح فولهام، هاري ويلسون، قد يكون البديل الأمثل لمحمد صلاح في ليفربول خلال السنوات المقبلة.

ويلسون يعتبر من بين أبناء نادي ليفربول، لكنه رحل بعد ذلك ليوقع مع فولهام عام 2021 مقابل 14 مليون يورو.

ويقدم ويلسون مستوى جيدًا مع فولهام هذا الموسم، حيث سجل أربعة أهداف وقدم تمريرة واحدة حاسمة خلال 16 مشاركة.

وقال رادزينسكي في تصريحات نقلها موقع ”Triballfootball”: ”الوضع في ليفربول غريب بعض الشيء، لذا يصعب الحكم عليه من الخارج، لا نعلم ما يجري في ملعب التدريب، أعتقد أن لديهم عددًا كافيًا من اللاعبين وفي رأيي، أبرموا صفقات رائعة في الصيف”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. جاري لينكر يوجه رسالة تحذير لـ محمد صلاح بشأن أزمته مع ليفربول

وأضاف: ”لا أعتقد أن اللاعبين الذين انضموا للفريق يقدمون أداءً جيدًا في الوقت الحالي، لكن ربما لا علاقة للأمر بشخصياتهم أو ما شابه، أحيانًا عندما تأتي من منافسة مختلفة، أو فرق مختلفة، لا يناسب كل فريق كل لاعب، هذه هي طبيعة الأمور”.

وأوضح: “لماذا لا ينضم هاري ويلسون إلى ليفربول؟ إذا كان قادرًا على تقديم هذا الأداء المميز مع فولهام، قبل أن يصبح محمد صلاح أحد أعظم لاعبي الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، اضطر للانتقال إلى عدة أندية أخرى”.

وأردف: “في تشيلسي، لم يكن محمد صلاح يحظى بالتقدير الكافي واضطر للذهاب إلى إيطاليا، ثم عاد إلى الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز ليقدم أداءً استثنائيًا، كل شيء وارد، لا حدود لطموحه”.

وتابع: “الأمر كله يعتمد على اللاعب نفسه، وبالطبع على انسجامه مع المدرب في تلك اللحظة وعلى أداء الفريق”.

واختتم: “عندما تنضم إلى فريق وتبدأ باللعب بتشكيلة وأسلوب جديدين، سيكون الأمر غريبًا عليك، لذا سيتعين عليك التأقلم مع ذلك أيضًا، لكن ويلسون قادر على ذلك”.

It would be fair to say that, on paper anyway, last week was Arsenal’s toughest so far this season.

Therefore, Mikel Arteta’s side should be pretty happy with seven points from nine in games against Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

However, while the North Londoners were exceptional in the first two encounters, they were uncharacteristically poor away to the Blues, and that has understandably taken the shine off somewhat.

Moreover, while there were underwhelming performances across the pitch for Arsenal, one player in particular was really disappointing and currently looks miles off what fans saw last season.

Arsenal's underwhelming starters vs Chelsea

Starting at the back, and while he has arguably been one of Arsenal’s players of the season so far this year, Ricarrdo Calafiori looked way off the pace on Sunday evening.

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Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Aside from a well-timed last-man tackle on Estevao in the first ten minutes, the Italian looked far shakier defensively than he has all year, losing two of the three tackles he made and getting a silly yellow card when he lost Reece James.

It wasn’t much better going forward either, as the former Bologna man failed to deliver a single cross for the attackers to get onto, and was understandably hooked at the interval.

Things didn’t go much better for Eberechi Eze, as following his hat-trick last weekend and assist against Bayern, the former Crystal Palace star was utterly ineffective at Stamford Bridge.

In fact, while it sounds harsh, it would be a fair assessment to describe him as anonymous on Sunday, as was Gabriel Martinelli, whose most significant contribution was a shot from outside the penalty area in the first half.

Finally, while they were not terrible, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie were clear downgrades on the Gunners’ usual partnership.

Moreover, on top of being less defensively solid, it was clear that they were less confident starting together, which massively impacted the team’s build-up.

With all that said, there was another Arsenal star on Sunday who looked way off the pace, and unfortunately has done all season.

The Arsenal star who has taken a step back

Unfortunately for Arteta, the poor performances on Sunday evening were not limited to the starters, as Myles Lewis-Skelly’s cameo off the bench was one to forget.

The Hale Ender was sent on to replace Calafiori after the Italian picked up his silly yellow card, but just nine minutes into the second half, he got one himself.

That moment sort of summarised the teenager’s display, as while there were a few moments of quality, like a run through the middle of the pitch towards the end, he largely struggled.

He offered little going forward and looked less than secure defensively and in possession, so much so that there were more than a few occasions when you could see Rice getting frustrated with him, notably when under no pressure at all, the youngster played the ball straight to a Chelsea player on the left-hand side of the pitch.

Unsurprisingly, the watching press were not hugely impressed with the youngster, with Arsenal writer Charles Watts awarding him just a 5/10 match rating at full-time.

Minutes

45′

Expected Assists

0.01

Interceptions

1

Ground Duels (Won)

4 (2)

Aerial Duels (Won)

3 (0)

Fouls

1

Key Passes

0

Dribbles

0

Shots

0

That might sound harsh, but his statistics justify it; in his 45 minutes, the 19-year-old produced an expected assists figure of just 0.02, lost 50% of his ground duels and 100% of his aerial duels, didn’t play a single key pass or cross and committed one foul.

The worrying thing is that Sunday was not the full-back’s first poor performance of the season, as he also looked the weakest of the club’s starters against Bayern.

With that said, it would be unfair to blame this entirely on the youngster, club insider Hand of Arsenal, dubbed a “future captain,” as he’s just not been given enough game time.

One of the things that allowed him to play as well as he did last year was that Arteta picked him time and time again, in turn building his sharpness and understanding of the team’s rhythm.

Therefore, while it’s true that Lewis-Skelly has taken a step back this season, fans shouldn’t worry too much, as more games on the horizon should give him more opportunities to play and rebuild that sharpness.

Arteta must drop 4/10 Arsenal star who lost every single duel vs Chelsea

Arsenal were not at their free-flowing best as they drew with Chelsea.

ByMatt Dawson Dec 1, 2025

After smashing his 400th career home run on Saturday night, Angels right fielder Mike Trout shared an emotional message for his family, friends and fans on social media on Sunday.

"400. Last night was surreal," Trout said, alongside a special video montage. "Blessed to play this game I love. Thank you to my teammates, family, and the fans for all the support. Let's keep it rolling!"

Check that out below:

The 11-time All Star's 400th career dinger, which was his 22nd of the season, came in the eighth inning of Saturday's game against the Rockies: a 485-footer to left-center field off a 98-mph pitch from Colorado reliever Jaden Hill. Later, Trout played catch with the fan who caught the ball.

"It's one of the things coming into the season that was on the list," Trout said of the achievement, per ESPN. "I'm just happy it's over. I'm enjoying it, obviously. It sucks the family wasn't out here, but they watched it on TV. My boys back home, my two sons, and my wife got to see it on TV. My buddies back home and my family back home in Jersey, they can stop texting me to hit the 400th. It means a lot to me."

Although the Angels won 3-0 on Saturday (a fitting present for Trout), they still finished the three game series 1-2, as the Rockies proved victorious on Friday and Sunday.

Next up, L.A. will host the Royals starting Tuesday, when Trout could add another homer or two to his already impressive tally.

LOS ANGELES — Two hours after the best player in the history of baseball played the best game in the history of baseball, he headed home from the office. Shohei Ohtani was not holding the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player award or the 2025 World Series swag he had earned that night; the half-dozen members of his agency and his security team trailing him could handle that. And besides, his hands were full: He was pushing a Nuna stroller containing his six-month-old daughter and, in the basket below her, his Nederlandse Kooikerhondje. 

Almost more impressive than the feats Ohtani achieves on a nightly basis—the devastating splitters, the towering home runs, the fact that sometimes, as on Friday, three minutes pass between the two—is this: He is both the most and least normal person at the ballpark. 

The former posture helps him attain the latter performance. He spent two weeks listening to reporters, fans and his own manager question whether his pursuit of pitching greatness was hindering his mastery of hitting greatness. After an excellent regular season—a league-leading 1.014 OPS, plus a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings—he scuffled at the plate in the playoffs. In the National League Division Series, he was 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts, and his swing decisions mystified his bosses. 

“We’re not going to win the World Series with a performance like that,” manager Dave Roberts lamented before the NLCS began. 

TORONTO — When it was over, when after 162 regular-season games and another 15 in the playoffs and now two excruciating innings, the Dodgers won Game 7, 5–4, to repeat as World Series champions, the man who won the game raced to the mound to grab the man who saved it. 

It was Will Smith, the catcher, who launched the 11th-inning home run that stunned the sellout crowd of 44,713 at the Rogers Centre and gave the Dodgers their first lead of the night. But it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Game 6 starter who got eight outs in Game 7 on no days’ rest, who gave him the chance. Twenty-five hours after he threw 96 pitches in Game 6, an outing that followed back-to-back complete games, Yamamoto all but forced his way into the game and threw 34 devastating pitches. 

Manager Dave Roberts had tried not to use him at all, and then he tried to remove him after his second inning on Saturday. “Daijoubu,” Yamamoto said. 

“It’s unheard of,” said Roberts, who struggled to explain how Yamamoto could possibly have done this. “I think that there’s a mind component, there’s a delivery, which is a flawless delivery, and there’s just an unwavering will. I just haven’t seen it [elsewhere]. I really haven’t.”

So the manager let him go back out and close the door for a team that just kept propping it open. The Blue Jays were two outs away from ending a 32-year World Series drought when an unlikely hero emerged. In a game that featured Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., it was Dodgers glove-first second baseman Miguel Rojas, playing in his second game in three weeks, who lined a solo home run over the left field wall to tie the game. 

Each team loaded the bases with one out—the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers in the top of the 10th—and failed to score. Smith, dragging himself around the field after catching all 72 innings of this epic World Series, dragged the Dodgers ahead. 

It almost wasn’t enough. Guerrero, the face of a franchise and the face of a nation, doubled to lead off the bottom of the 11th. Isiah Kiner-Falefa sacrificed him to third. Addison Barger worked a walk. But Yamamoto broke Alejandro Kirk’s bat with one of his signature splitters, and Betts, the shortstop snagged the easy chopper, stepped on second base and fired to first for the double play. The Dodgers, who became the first team since the 2000 Yankees to repeat, were on the field almost before the Blue Jays understood what had just happened to them. 

Smith tackled Yamamoto from behind. Their teammates raced in from the dugout and the bullpen to join them. They jumped up and down on exhausted legs and hugged one another with spent arms and screamed with hoarse throats.

Of course this World Series came down to extra innings in Game 7. It could not be contained by the laws of physics, the columns of scorebooks or even, at times, by the customs of human decency. At one point in Game 7, the only daylight between the teams came when the umpires pushed the players apart. Counting the 18-inning Game 3, this was the first Fall Classic that featured more than eight games’ worth of baseball. Only three of the games were truly close—Games 1, 2, 4 and 5 were decided by an average of five runs—but neither team ever seemed overmatched. 

Still this one was loopier than most. The Dodgers used all four of their World Series starting pitchers, two—Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow—on no days’ rest. The Blue Jays used three of theirs. The fourth, Kevin Gausman, said he would have been available had the game continued.

And for a while it appeared it might go forever. The Blue Jays never seemed to go away. Twice the Dodgers won in what should have been backbreaking fashion—the 18-inning Game 3, and then the wild double play to snuff out a rally in Game 6—but Toronto just kept fighting. It won Game 4, and it nearly won this one. 

Los Angeles’s roster boasts 44 All-Star Game appearances and 22 World Series rings. For the Blue Jays, those figures are 29 and three. The Dodgers’ record $328 million payroll has made some observers question whether they are ruining baseball. The Blue Jays were not interested in narratives, just in wins. 

You can teleport two bowlers from 2020 into a 1998 ODI on a dry Chepauk pitch to have a go at those two in a low-scoring game. Whom do you pick?

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2020 Hot SeatScenario
It’s 1998, and we’ve got ourselves a low-scoring ODI on a cracked up Chepauk pitch in Chennai that is offering turn and uneven bounce. Your Rest of the World XI has scrabbled to 190 against the hosts, India. In the chase, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have the game seemingly locked up at 70 for 0 after 20 overs when you are given a wild card. A portal has been opened to the future, allowing any two bowlers (Indians included) from 2020 to be shipped in for an over each, one to bowl at Tendulkar and one to Ganguly. Whom do you teleport in to break open the game?Sharda Ugra:
You have to get them now. Five more overs and the game is gone. So a gamble is called for. Against a set Tendulkar, you need a left-arm bowler, either a fast bowler or left-arm wristspinner, but not someone of a known pedigree – that puts T on high alert. What we need now is to feed his ego some juicy carrots in the form of an under-the-radar type. Make him look for gimme runs and mistime one into the air. Step up Tabraiz Shamsi, lurking in the shadows of the Imran Tahir spotlight. Against Ganguly, even if this is a breaking Chepauk, no spinners. He knows how to handle that stuff. In the mood, he can extract gimmes from everyone, throw them off their lengths. You need fast, you need fierce, you need both accuracy and variety. Mitchell Starc is the man.Alan Gardner:
In what may seem a counterintuitive move, I’m going to eschew slow-bowling options – despite the turning pitch – on the ground that both batsmen had far better records against spin. It wasn’t such a well-established fact back in 1998, but Ganguly’s weakness against the short ball has to be targeted (even if the young Ganguly might be better able to get himself out of trouble). Who has the meanest bouncer in the game currently? Let’s not look any further than Jofra Archer, who spent the 2019 World Cup pinging helmets for fun. As for Tendulkar, I have a hunch the left-armer’s angle might help unsettle him. With his range of cutters and slower balls that should be perfectly suited to a dry Chepauk, I’m going to bank on Mustafizur Rahman to make the all-important pop for my ROW XI.Karthik Krishnaswamy:
My pick to bowl at Ganguly is a no-brainer: R Ashwin is from Chennai and is lethal against left-hand batsmen. Against Tendulkar, I’d go out of the box and bring on Colin de Grandhomme. He’d be a great option anyway on a pitch with uneven bounce, looking to bowl stump-to-stump, dry up the runs, and force an error, but I’m calling him from the future specifically because Tendulkar disliked facing medium-pacers such as Hansie Cronje, and often got out to them while trying to force the pace when the ball didn’t quite come on.Getty ImagesAndrew Fidel Fernando:
The ball has started to misbehave, jumping at the throat from short of a length at times and shooting into the shins if pitched an inch fuller. Although Ashwin knows Ganguly is uncomfortable against offspin, his eyes are set on Tendulkar. With only 120 runs to defend, World XI have no option but to attack. Slip, point, cover, mid-off and short leg wait in anticipation. Ashwin is sticking to the middle-and-leg line, turning the ball into Tendulkar’s pads. The wicked bounce is troubling Tendulkar, who is also wary of Ashwin’s carom ball. With runs drying up, Tendulkar, who usually likes to dominate, is restless. He is trying to play inside out. Ashwin has gained the upper hand. At the other end, Archer knows what makes Ganguly cringe: the rib-ticklers that dart from short-of-a-good length. Already, Ganguly has had to fold up a few times trying to fend off the short deliveries. Archer has added two slips to show who is dominating. It is a duel of four grandmasters on a checkered pitch. The Chepauk faithful are all eyes.Danyal Rasool:
In seven combined ODI innings that Tendulkar and Ganguly played at Chepuak Stadium, neither ever gave their wicket to a spinner. But since this is a dust bowl, for Tendulkar, I’d throw Kuldeep Yadav the ball. Yadav has begun to hone the wrong’un, and on a turning pitch, the batsman must play at every ball. If Tendulkar feels he could leave a couple alone, just remember the ball Yadav bowled to Babar Azam at the 2019 World Cup. Ganguly is, famously, brilliant against spin, but who could withstand Rashid Khan on such a pitch? Averaging under 19 from 71 ODIs, Khan has raised the bar for legspinners worldwide. A bit of flight, and Ganguly may not be able to resist dancing down the pitch. Should he succumb to that temptation, trouble awaits.

Captain leads from the front on Finals Day as champions prove value of experience

Matt Roller05-Oct-2020It was typical of Nottinghamshire that, after losing 37-year-old Chris Nash to injury in their semi-final win against Lancashire, the average age of the side for the T20 Blast final on Sunday evening increased. In came Peter Trego, in his first Blast appearance for the county at the age of 39, to smear five fours and a six and provide middle-order impetus to their successful run-chase.Notts have been the Blast’s oldest team this season, with an average age above 30 and over 1700 T20 appearances between the XI that played the final. Their success confirmed their captain Dan Christian’s pre-tournament proclamation that “old blokes win stuff”, as they followed West Indies, Chennai Super Kings, and many other teams around the world by translating experience into titles.”I’m always going to say that because I’m an old bloke,” Christian, 37, laughed. “It’s an embarrassment of riches really, to lose someone like Chris Nash and replace him with someone like Peter Trego.”

#oldblokeswinstuff

Over 30’s brigade.

The kids helped too to be fair pic.twitter.com/r6WTFsC23u

— Dan Christian (@danchristian54) October 4, 2020

Experience has come to the fore throughout their knockout games. Samit Patel, the 35-year-old allrounder, had faced only seven balls before the quarter-final against Leicestershire, but his cameo of 28 not out off 16 took them through; Henry Heimlich would have nodded approvingly at Patel’s success in preventing a choke.”We played around with our order a little bit today, [but] we’ve generally had Samit Patel coming in at eight and Imad Wasim coming in at nine,” Christian said. “Let’s say there are roughly 500-odd [478] games of experience there in the bottom of the order. Samit’s [one of] the highest run-scorers in the history of this competition and Imad has batted in the top six for Pakistan.”To have that kind of depth in your order is just massive for us and it gives the top order so much freedom to be able to go out and play shots and try to knock games on the head, particularly when we chase. We’ve been a really good chasing team all year and that showed again tonight: to be three for not many and Peter Trego comes in for his first game [having] played for 20-odd years – we’re just really lucky to have that kind of experience and that kind of depth.”Dan Christian was Player of the Match in Nottinghamshire’s semi-final and final•Getty ImagesFor Christian, this was the eighth T20 title of his career – only five men have more worldwide – and his second as captain, both of them with Notts. The Blast’s Finals Day has been dominated by talismanic captains in the last five seasons, but few have performed with Christian’s cold-blooded temerity.In the semi-final, reduced to 11 overs after a weekend of persistent October rain, Notts were threatening a wobble with 29 needed off 23 balls; Christian’s response was to heave four consecutive sixes into the empty Eric Hollies Stand at deep midwicket off Liam Livingstone, ending the game as a contest.”I decided that was going to be the over I would try and target to knock the game on the head and not let it get to the last over,” he explained. “Once I got the first six away I thought I might as well go again. Then I got the second one away and thought I might as well go again, and then just kept going. Having that depth and knowing you’ve got the guys behind you, you can play with that kind of freedom.”And against Surrey in the final, he took 4 for 11 from his two death overs to keep Surrey to 127 for 6 from their 16-over allocation – they had looked on course for 150 when he brought himself back on – before firing 21 off 11 balls from No. 6 to kill the game with time to spare. That meant player-of-the-match awards in both the semi and the final.”You have the odd day out,” he said, “but it’s always nice to do it when it really matters in a final and when the game’s on the line – and a semi-final, when you need to get your team over the line.”I’ve generally been pretty ordinary bowling here in England, particularly at Trent Bridge, so it was nice to get a couple of wickets. It was a good day for me personally, but I think everyone played really well. We were dominant all the way through – I think we dominated the semi-final and then we dominated the final as well.”ALSO READ: Duckett seals Nottinghamshire’s second Blast title in four yearsThat domination extended across the tournament. Not since 2004, and the days of a five-match group stage, has a team won the competition with only one defeat in their season, as Notts managed this year. They did so with Alex Hales averaging 18.36, Luke Fletcher left on the bench, and Harry Gurney missing throughout with a shoulder injury.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”[Gurney] has been a mainstay of our attack for the last six years since I’ve been here at Notts,” Christian said. “[We were] going in with a bit of a different make-up this year, just playing the one quick with myself as the second seamer. The boys handled it really, really well.”It will be an arduous journey home for Christian, with strict Covid-19 restrictions in Melbourne leaving open the prospect of 28 days’ quarantine in all before the start of the Big Bash, but another T20 title will make that easier to stomach.Notts were again the Blast’s best team: they have won two of the last four titles, have won more games than anyone else across the last four seasons, and have reached the knockouts every year since 2015.Under Peter Moores’ stewardship, they have often resembled a T20 franchise more than a county, recruiting the best young talent from local teams, compiling a squad with the depth to leave Blast stalwarts on the bench, and opting to sign two overseas players this season when most counties had none. It has been an inexorable pursuit of short-form success, but the results are indisputable: with Christian at the helm, Notts have blown their competition away.

His longer-format skills haven’t always translated to T20 success, but he’s raised his game to a new level this season

Sidharth Monga23-Oct-2020As a T20 death bowler, Mohammed Shami has his limitations. Unlike Jasprit Bumrah, he has an orthodox action. Unlike Mitchell Starc, he doesn’t bowl left-arm. Unlike Jofra Archer, he doesn’t bowl 150kph. Unlike Kagiso Rabada, his hard lengths tend to skid on because of his height. Unlike Dwayne Bravo, he doesn’t have fancy slower balls or the experience of having bowled in a million T20 leagues. Unlike in ODI cricket, the ball hardly reverses in 20-overs cricket. Shami’s predicament in the shortest format is not too different to Test legend Dale Steyn’s: take away some swing, add some seam, you have Shami.With that little going for him, Shami is still the Kings XI Punjab’s lead bowler. In a way, on the surface, Shami’s shortcomings show in the team’s overall results. In this IPL, one of his better years, Shami has conceded 12.60 per over in the death (last four) overs of innings. That’s the fifth-worst economy rate among those who have bowled at least five overs in that phase. And yet, Shami has been an essential part of the revival of the Kings XI’s campaign, which features wins over the top three sides in their last three games.In the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Shami contributed with the wicket of AB de Villiers, who had been held back because of the presence of two legspinners in the Kings XI attack. When the Royal Challengers felt the match-ups were right, though, Shami got de Villiers out with a slower short ball.Against the Mumbai Indians, Shami got the big wicket of Hardik Pandya with a hard-length ball in the 16th over, thus limiting the damage at the end of the innings. He conceded just 15 in his last two overs, the 16th and the 19th. And then he returned to bowl a Super Over for the ages with six yorkers to defend just five runs and take the match into the second Super Over, which the Kings XI won.

Shami's improvement since IPL 2019, & his great yorkers this season is a great encouragement to all of us that improvement, even at a later stage is not beyond any of us if we work hard at it.

— Ian bishop (@irbishi) October 20, 2020

Against the Delhi Capitals, Shami bowled the 18th and the 20th, conceding just 13 runs, taking out Marcus Stoinis with an attempted yorker and Shimron Hetmyer with a perfect one. The Capitals eventually ended short of a challenging total by ten runs, by the estimation of their captain Shreyas Iyer.It’s not just his economy of late, but also the wickets that Shami has been taking, which has helped take the heat off the other overs. He has taken nine wickets at the death in this IPL, behind only Rabada’s 11. It can be argued Rabada benefits from the pressure created by his excellent bowling unit whereas Shami’s wickets actually buy his colleagues some relief. Let us be wary of over-estimating the worth of wickets at the death, because teams keep on hitting regardless, but you are still better off – even if slightly – bowling to batsmen who are not de Villiers, Pandya, Stoinis or Hetmyer.Shami has turned it around with yorkers. Not even counting the six he nailed in the Super Over against Mumbai Indians, Shami has bowled a higher percentage of yorkers than Bumrah, Archer or Rabada. Only T Natarajan has bowled more yorkers than Shami at the death this IPL. And this is going by the definition of the yorker according to the pitch maps: within two metres of the stumps. Sometimes a batsman is charging at you, and you shorten the length to york him, which then ends up being counted as a slot ball. Shami has a few there that have resulted in dots or singles.The yorker is a risky delivery, which is why it is tried so rarely. The margin for error for someone like Bumrah is greater than that for Shami. The Super Over is a good example, where Bumrah got away with two full-tosses because his action gives you less time to react. Shami had to get each one of his yorkers right.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf you look at overall numbers and not just the death overs, Shami has had an impressive IPL. For starters, he has bowled hardly any easy overs: all but 36 of his deliveries have been bowled in the powerplay or at the death. That is why his economy rate of 8.43 needs to be put in perspective. Let our Smart Stats do it for you. His Smart Economy rate is 7.5; among those who have bowled at least 20 overs in this IPL, only six seamers have done better. Add to it 16 wickets, not one of which is of a tailender. That is why his Smart Wickets tally is greater than Rabada’s; at 18.74, it is only behind Archer’s 18.83.ESPNcricinfo LtdShami has not gone into the off-season and added a new ball or remodelled his action or approach. Perhaps he has practised his yorkers more this year. Perhaps this being the only cricket for a major part of this year has helped him. Perhaps the slower nature of the pitches in the UAE has given him a slightly bigger margin for error, and thus more confidence and clarity, to go for the yorkers. However, it seems the biggest difference is that he has been allowed to take absolute charge of his bowling. You look at KL Rahul, his captain, and you know there is zero micromanagement. Rahul’s interview after that Mumbai match said as much: Shami said he wanted to bowl six yorkers, and Rahul just discussed the fields with him.Shami has responded well to the responsibility. If the Kings XI continue to bat as well as they have in the last three games – especially the chaos that Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran have introduced to the middle overs – Shami and their death bowling remain key to their qualification chances. So far, Shami the death bowler has been the revelation of this IPL, but the test of all these revelations lies in over-exposure. We will know in the coming games, but to carry an attack such as Kings XI’s this far is an achievement that should not be written off.