Jack Grealish admits to being left “absolutely heartbroken” by his England Euro 2024 snub, but intends to use that as “motivation” at Manchester City.
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Former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea considered retirement after Erik ten Hag treated him poorly.
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Head coach leaves after almost fours years in the role, having overseen 2017 World Cup success
George Dobell20-Aug-2019
Mark Robinson, coach of England women, addresses the huddle•Getty Images
Mark Robinson is to leave his role as head coach of England women’s team. Robinson oversaw England’s victory in the 2017 World Cup but has subsequently seen his side overwhelmed by Australia in the Ashes amid criticism that few young players have established themselves in the side.Appointed in late 2015, Robinson created waves with his decision to drop Charlotte Edwards, his side’s captain and senior player, after a disappointing showing in the 2016 World T20. But when his new appointment, Heather Knight, led the side to victory at Lord’s in 2017, it seemed English cricket could be at the start of a bright new era.It was not to be. A lack of depth in the game and improvements in the development programmes of other nations saw England’s results falter, with a 12-4 defeat to Australia this summer suggesting a chasm had grown between the sides. Like many coaches before him, Robinson has found that Ashes failure will not be tolerated. England are currently third in the ODI rankings and second in the T20I rankings.”Mark can reflect on his time as England coach with a great deal of pride,” Clare Connor, the ECB’s managing director of women’s cricket, said. “Winning the Women’s World Cup in 2017 in front of a packed Lord’s was a landmark moment for the whole game and his leadership and professionalism were an integral part of our success.”He drove high standards across young players to become the best team in the world as well as coaching them to understand the demands of professional sport.”Mark passionately championed the development of the women’s game during his time in this role and we thank him for all he has contributed to England women’s cricket during such an exciting stage of our journey. However, after discussions with Mark, we have agreed that now is the right time for him to step down as England Women’s Head Coach.”It is important that we give Mark’s successor time to shape the team’s future direction and to begin to develop strong relationships with the players as we plan for the next phase of our international calendar.”Assistant coach, Alastair Maiden, will take temporary charge of the team, whose next commitment is an ICC Women’s Championship series against Pakistan in December. The first task for Robinson’s successor will be to oversee England’s campaign at the 2020 Women’s World T20, taking place in Australia early next year.”Although the recent Ashes was a difficult series, a few hard weeks doesn’t take anything away from what has been a wonderful four years,” Robinson said. “I’ve had so many highlights and memorable moments with the team.”Nothing could ever surpass winning the Women’s World Cup on home soil, but from a pure coaching perspective, reaching the T20 final last November – with a depleted team, three non-contracted players and three players twenty years old or younger – is a huge personal highlight.”It’s been exciting to watch so many players grow and to watch so many records broken, but it feels the right time for me to take on a new challenge and to allow a different voice to come in before the next T20 World Cup in Australia. We have put a lot of groundwork in place, and this, coupled with the new investment into the women’s game will make a huge difference in time.”I would like to thank everyone associated with England Women for all the kindness and support they have shown me and wish Heather and the team all the best for the future.”
“Leave the abuse at the gate and just respect the players, respect the game”
Daniel Brettig14-Jan-2021
Tim Paine wishes to see no echo of the SCG crowd behaviour after which Mohammad Siraj stopped play to point out his abusers•Getty Images
Australia’s captain Tim Paine has implored spectators at the Gabba this week to do what he says, rather than what he did on the final day at the SCG – treat the tourists with respect and refrain from the abuse that India faced in Sydney.”In terms of crowd behaviour – we don’t condone the abuse of anyone; let alone from the racial standpoint,” Paine said. “So we want people to come along to the Gabba, enjoy the game of cricket, support Australia, support India. Support the umpires if you like. But my suggestion is you leave the abuse at the gate and just respect the players, respect the game and have a good time.”Paine had put his hand up to apologise for calling R Ashwin a “d**khead” among other barbs on a heated final day of the third Test. But with the hosts having now left themselves needing to win in Brisbane to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Paine could not have been much clearer in terms of drawing a distinction several of his predecessors have failed to make.Related
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While he hopes the Gabba pitch will provide enough bounce to make the Indians uncomfortable, he wishes to see no echo of the SCG crowd behaviour that had moved Mohammad Siraj to stop play in order to point out his abusers.”Yeah it [the Gabba] is right up there, no doubt about that,” he said. “It’s a hard place to come and play cricket. Even for Tasmanians and Victorians to come here, it can be challenging to adjust to the different bounce and speed of the wicket. It’s something that has been to the advantage of Australian teams for a long time.”Paine has himself resolved to do likewise this week, and his pre-match rhetoric was a long way from that before the SCG, where he intimated that the series was coming to the boil in terms of tensions between the teams. However, he proved to be the only player on either side to substantially blow his top. At 36, Paine is self-aware enough to acknowledge that he plays his best cricket – which is as a wicketkeeper-batsman near the front rank – when in a focused frame of mind. If distracted as he was in Sydney on day five, he can revert to the very ordinary.”I just think I’ll handle it differently. I let it get under my skin, no doubt about that,” Paine said. “I’ve admitted that – but for me, it’s about rising above it and concentrating on what I’m doing and concentrating on leading my team, not worrying about what is going on with the other side. That’s the focus for us, we’ve spoken a lot this game about controlling what we can control and focusing more inwardly on ourselves. If we do that, we’ll be in a good position.”If you look throughout my whole career, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of staying relaxed for 99% of it. Again, it’s going back to how I play my best cricket [and] that’s [by] having a smile on my face, enjoying cricket for what it is – a game. And at times the other day, I certainly thought I got caught up in the moment. What I’ve been really good at is being able to step back – even just have a look around the crowd at times – and realise that at that very second, you’re captaining your country in a Test match.”It’s something I have always wanted to do, so remind yourself that way to enjoy it. Obviously, I’m going to compete very hard, that’s what I do. I want to win as much as anyone and I’m a competitive player but there’s a fine line. It’s the same with my batting – if I’m too tense and trying too hard to fight hard, then I am a pretty ordinary batter. If I look to go out, relax, have fun and look to score then I’m normally a much better player – it’s just a slight tweak in my mindset. It’s nothing new to me, it’s getting back to what I normally do.”As for the sharp criticisms of numerous in the commentariat – particularly in India and England – Paine said he had taken note. But he was careful not to respond in kind to his fellow Seven commentator Sunil Gavaskar, who let fly with a torrent of calls for Paine to be removed from the team by the national selectors after the ongoing series concluded.”I have [noted what Gavaskar said] but I’m not going into it, [and] getting into a back and forth with Sunny Gavaskar,” Paine said. “I don’t think I’m going to win that. Look, he’s entitled to his opinion. It doesn’t affect us one iota. Anything [that it is doing is] it’s adding to the Test match which is great. So Sunny can keep saying what he wants to say but at the end of the day, it’s absolutely got nothing to do with him.”The Australians lined up to defend Steven Smith this week after further aspersions were cast on his character for stump cam footage of him shadow-batting and re-marking centre during Rishabh Pant’s innings in Sydney. While Smith’s management gave a prepared statement to News Corp stating he was “shocked and disappointed”, Paine argued that several days on, these hurtful words would be melted down and remade as motivation for Australia’s No. 4.”He’s mentally very strong, very tough,” Paine said of Smith. “He knows that at times he’s going to be criticised,[and] he’s handled that pretty well. Not only this week, but since he’s come back into our side. If anything, he feeds off it. His statistics will speak for itself and we’ll see the best of Steve Smith this week.”And we set high expectations for ourselves and last week we didn’t meet them. And when you don’t do that, you leave yourself to criticism and we’ve copped that on the chin. We’re now looking forward to this Test match, [and] controlling what we can control, which has been our preparation and the way we go about this Test. So we can’t wait for tomorrow.”
The leading run-getter for Delhi Daredevils so far, Shreyas Iyer’s confidence and his ability to score at a quick pace will serve him well, says his coach Pravin Amre
Nagraj Gollapudi22-Apr-20153:20
Agarkar: Iyer unfazed by Mumbai’s quicks
(You know why I said good, right)?” Praveen Amre asks Shreyas Iyer. Amre, the Delhi Daredevils assistant coach, had been floating balls in front of Iyer and asking him to hit along the ground during the team’s training session at Ferozshah Kotla on Wednesday afternoon. Amre’s primary aim was for Iyer, playing his maiden IPL, to meet the ball under his eyeline with the right head position when bat met ball. For close to 45 minutes, coach and student focussed on the minutiae of Iyer’s batting technique.”Once I say good I need to see quite a few things,” Amre says. ” Your pick-up has to be good. Your downswing has to be correct. Your meeting point has to be correct. Your finish has to be correct. The weight transfer has to be correct. There are so many things involved for me to say good. That is my job to make sure to help them understand what is good. Otherwise they (batsmen) are hitting. They are getting the boundaries. But the correctness is important as that will help them become consistent, allow them to play against any bowler, on any wicket.”Amre has known Iyer since he joined Shivaji Park Gymkhana as a 13 year old. Hence it is easy to note the deference in Iyer’s tone when talking to Amre. The familiarity also allows Amre to be open and blunt in his assessment with Iyer.As he was fine-tuning Iyer’s technique, at one point Amre expressed his disappointment at Iyer throwing away a good start he had against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday evening. On 31, Iyer went for a slog sweep against Piyush Chawla. He had a good opportunity to notch his second half-century in the IPL but failed to consolidate a solid start.”In this format getting a good start is very important. Once you get that start you should not lose it because it takes time for the new batsman to settle down,” Amre says. “The entire team gets affected. He got out after 31 and then Manoj (Tiwary) got out similarly after getting a start and eventually the team was short by 20-25 runs. That is why I told him I was angry with him because he got the start but he left in-between. People might say he got 30, but as a coach I know that in the previous match he scored 60 so the team would have benefitted.”So today it was all about purposeful training. It was about making sure Iyer was attaining the shape coaches are pedantic about. Other than asking Iyer not to use his bottom hand too much, Amre asked him to make use of his height and stand on his toes to respond to short balls, what is the right position to leave out the bouncer, and, importantly hear to the “sound” of the stroke to determine its effectiveness.Iyer is the top run-getter for Daredevils after five matches. He has been given the freedom to play his own game, says Amre. Iyer is not the typical Mumbai cricketer. He does not believe in grafting; he likes to dominate. It is the same style of play Iyer has used in first-class cricket where he was the highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy.At 20, asking Iyer to take prime responsibility is not what Daredevils’ think tank wants to do. But they do want him to grow into the role given to him as the season grows.Can Iyer be the X-factor for Daredevils? “He has the X-factor,” Amre says. “He is aggressive and his ability to score runs is a big positive. He is the youngest member in the team. But he is confident. He has more than 800 runs in Ranji Trophy and he has brought that same confidence to the IPL.”
Notts skipper Steven Mullaney makes defiant 74, Stuart Broad strikes early to dismiss Alastair Cook
ECB Reporters Network30-Jun-2019
Peter Siddle back in the wickets for Essex•Getty Images
Recent form was the perfect pointer to how the opening day unfolded in Nottinghamshire’s County Championship match against Essex at Trent Bridge.Winless – and bottom of the table – Notts were bundled out for only 213 in 69.1 overs against a side that are playing with the momentum that sped them to the Division One title in 2017.Essex, second in the standings, will expect to secure a substantial first-innings advantage and reached the close on 72 for the loss of Alastair Cook, a deficit of only 141.The Essex attack shared the wickets around during the first two sessions, with Peter Siddle, Jamie Porter and Aaron Beard picking up three wickets apiece.Without a red-ball victory in more than 12 months – since beating Essex at Chelmsford last June – Notts shuffled their top order around, with captain Steven Mullaney making 74 after restoring himself to the top of the order after winning the toss.Ben Duckett’s season has been feast or famine so far and the left-hander was dismissed in the third over of the day for only eight. He stroked a couple of elegant cover drives before pushing firmly at a Porter delivery and deflected the ball into the waiting hands of Cook at first slip.Mullaney greeted the introduction of Simon Harmer by launching the spinner over deep midwicket for six and two overs later he gave the same treatment to a short-pitched ball from the returning Porter.Nick Browne got a hand to a firm Mullaney slash at backward point but the right-hander offered little else in the way of encouragement as he advanced to a 73-ball 50 with his sixth four.Aaron Beard, who took 3 for 62, ended a second-wicket partnership of 58 when Ben Slater, on 14, edged behind. The seamer followed that wicket with two more during the early stages of the afternoon, although both came from a touch of good fortune. Within the space of four overs he changed the complexion of the day when getting both Chris Nash and Mullaney caught down the leg-side.Nash went aggressively at a poorly-directed delivery and helped it through to Adam Wheater. His skipper also went to a ‘strangle’ to herald a collapse which saw Notts slip from 126 for 2 to 168 for 8.Joe Clarke hadn’t reached 30 in any of his previous eight innings and his barren streak continued when he was pinned lbw by Siddle for 15.Porter, who claimed 3 for 49, picked up two lbw decisions, removing debutant Ravi Ashwin for five and Luke Fletcher for a single.In between, Harmer had struck for the first time, bowling Tom Moores with a full-pitched delivery, for a duck.Siddle, who took 3 for 38, finished off the innings with the wickets of Samit Patel, who played nicely for 39, and Jake Ball for one, caught tickling to leg.Stuart Broad remained undefeated on 19 but gave his team-mates an early boost with the ball, by removing Cook cheaply. Cook’s knock produced only two runs before he snicked behind and had to walk off past the joyous celebrations from his former England team-mate.Browne and Tom Westley consolidated, adding 62 together, the highest stand of the contest so far.
All the buzz about that incredible dismissal
ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2019Ben Stokes:”I was actually in the wrong position. I made a relatively straightforward catch into a hard one. It would have been a regulation catch if I was in the right place. It is one of those that sticks or doesn’t. We do train hard.”Was it better than the one in the 2015 Ashes? Nah. That one was against the Aussies. So that one ranks higher.”The crowd’s reaction behind me was pretty awesome. I just tried to take that in as much as I could. I bowled the next over and Morgs had to come to me and ask if everything was all right, if my heart rate had gone down. Things like that catch do get you fizzed up. I didn’t really know quite how to react to be honest, I just tried to take it in. The crowd today were phenomenal. It’s the best thing about having a home World Cup.”Eoin Morgan:”We see a lot of him in training do stuff like that all the time. You just shake your head because it doesn’t happen every day.”He misjudged it at the start. He ran in, stopped and then I thought it was going to be way over his head. The next leap in that direction … unbelievable.”I’ve only seen a catch like that made before by AB De Villiers in a game in Bangalore.”Moeen Ali:”He ran in for no reason. He screwed it up! [smiles] I’d have just stood there and it would have gone straight in my hands!”We see him do that in practice all the time. He’s always got a great chance of catching those. He’s a big part of this team.”Faf du Plessis:”It was as good as it gets.”Nasser Hussain: (on TV commentary)”No way! No, no way! You cannot do that, Ben Stokes. That is remarkable. That is one of the greatest catches of all time!”Andrew Miller: (ESPNcricinfo ball-by-ball commentary)”Ben Stokes, that is absolute fifth! Absolutely leathered through deep midwicket … and Stokes somehow launched himself horizontally towards the rope, timing his jump like a mortar from its tube, and clinging onto a certain six, in his outstretched, reverse-cupped, right hand! My God, that is an utter, utter worldy! If Alisson got a mitt to a screamer like that in Madrid on Saturday and tipped it over the bar, we would be talking about it for years…”
India spun New Zealand out for 192 and Smriti Mandhana helped chase it down with great authority, scoring her fourth ODI century along the way
ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jan-2019Smriti Mandhana brought up her fourth ODI century•Getty ImagesMuch of the recent months in Indian women’s cricket has been dominated by squabbles, but come match day, the team produced a sensational performance. They were away from home. They were facing one of the traditionally strong teams in the circuit and none of it mattered. India spun New Zealand out for 192 and Smriti Mandhana helped chase it down with great authority, scoring her fourth ODI century along the way. Her innings, which was typically free-flowing, included nine fours and three sixes and wrapped up the game with nine wickets and 17 overs to spare.The match-changing contributions, though, came from India’s bowlers. Their decision to field seemed to be backfiring with New Zealand’s openers putting on a fifty-run partnership. But in the 14th over, Deepti Sharma ran Sophie Devine out and also took care of her partner Suzie Bates as the score slipped from 61 for 0 to 70 for 3.That opened up the middle order for Poonam Yadav, whose array of slow legbreaks got rid of New Zealand’s No 3, 4, and 5. Lauren Down was stumped for 0, while Amy Satterthwaite (31 off 45) and Amelia Kerr (28 off 60) could not make the most of their starts. New Zealand lurched from 136 for 4 to 148 for 7 and were eventually bowled out for 192.India’s openers then put on a 190-run partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues scoring an unbeaten 81 off 94 balls with nine fours and Mandhana, falling to Kerr, only when victory was one hit away.
The 20-year old is coming to terms with a year in which he compiled a monumental double ton, stood out of the game with mental health issues, made a return with a new outlook
Daniel Brettig09-Jan-2019Had Will Pucovski simply played out the remainder of the Sheffield Shield season with Victoria, 2018-19 would have already been an exceptionally momentous summer for him, given its rich mixture of experiences good and bad, great and small.As it stands, however, he is coming to terms with a year in which he compiled a monumental double century against Western Australia, stood out of the game for six weeks with mental health struggles, made a return to the fold with a refreshed outlook and coping strategies, and has now been rushed into the Australian Test squad to face Sri Lanka.If this seems a lot to digest, then Pucovski is taking solace from the fact that in those weeks between the 243 at the WACA Ground in October and his return to make scores of 1 and 67 also against Western Australia at the MCG in December, he learned an enormous amount about himself, his mental state and the tools he needed to manage himself and his cricket in the best ways possible. At the age of 20, Pucovski has been considered a talent of note for some time; he is hopeful the rapidity of his entry into Test calculations has coincided with critical life lessons.ALSO READ: How do Australia fix their batting before the Ashes?”I’m feeling really good, as good as I have felt in a really long time,” Pucovski said in Melbourne. “I’ve met some people along the way who have helped me turn things around. There is probably no better time to get exciting news like I have in the last 24 hours. It’s not every day you get called up to represent your country, so it’s been a very exciting couple of days.”Quite a bit sooner [than expected] to be honest. It’s every kid’s dream and to think in two weeks’ time there’s a chance I could be playing for your country is just amazing. You can’t even use words to describe it. It is one of those things … even the joy on your family and friends’ faces when you’ve told them or they’ve got the news, it makes you proud to make a lot of other people proud as well.”A lot of the messages I’ve received today is you’ve got there for a reason, so just try to play your way and embrace that as much as you can. My challenge if I do get picked is to do that, and just try to bat the way I bat, prepare the way I prepare. If things work out, that’s great, but for a 20-year old, it’s just super exciting either way.”A history of concussions had been one complicating factor for Pucovski on his journey through junior ranks into the Victoria side, but it was the spectre of mental health problems that overcame him even as he was embarking upon the innings in October that put his name clearly in the sights of a national selection panel so transparently desperate to find the next great talent as opposed to merely good ones. At first, he confided in Victoria coaches Lachlan Stevens and Andrew McDonald, before linking up with Emma Murray, the mindfulness coach so valuable to the 2017 premiership success of Richmond in the AFL.”They’ve been amazing throughout the whole process,” Pucovski said of the batting coach Stevens and head coach McDonald. “I actually told them what had been going on in Perth, and they’ve been super supportive along the whole pathway back to cricket and then playing that Shield game. As a young man, you can’t really ask for much more than two coaches who are super supportive of you. They basically said ‘mate just sort all that stuff out and your cricket will take care of itself’.”I met a lady called Emma Murray who has worked quite a bit with Richmond, and had a bit of attention with how they have turned things around. She has been a mentor in that space. I have added things like I am meditating every morning, which I honestly never really believed in until she got me on to it and things like that have helped me turn things around. I speak to her regularly and am seeing another woman who helps me with a few different things. Having that team together makes me feel really supported and in a good space to deal with that kind of stuff.”Much of Murray’s work revolves around keeping athletes in the moment, and teaching them ways to return to a state of focus and concentration as quickly as possible following distractions. For Pucovski, these were valuable lessons for someone who had already shown an innate ability to score centuries – exactly what Trevor Hohns’ panel have been crying out for this summer, as they watched the Australian Test team fail to make a single score higher than 79 across four Tests against India.ALSO READ: Will Pucovski is on the cusp of great thingsBy the time Pucovski returned in December, he was far better equipped to manage his own expectations and thoughts, at the same time as he returned to familiar and comfortable surroundings with Victoria. “I think it was just that knowledge that I had enough strategies in place that whatever came across from a cricketing perspective in those four days, that I’d be able to deal with it,” Pucovski said.”That well and truly proved to me that I’m able to do that in a four-day period, and then as I said, dealing with a few things outside of cricket has really helped, and Emma has really helped me with that stuff. It’s been a really positive experience over the last couple of months.”I’ve just always tried to bat for as long as I can. If that comes off sometimes, then that’s great and if it doesn’t, that’s part of the game. Probably just trying to take a more relaxed outlook on it has helped me especially in the last couple of years. I try and follow my process as closely as I can and hopefully the results take care of themselves. It’s one of those sports where, as an individual, you are going to fail quite a bit. Getting better at dealing with that has probably helped me quite a bit.”Given the level of scrutiny placed on the Australian Test team in the season after the Newlands scandal, it is natural to wonder how Pucovski may cope with a spotlight that will be squarely on him over the next two weeks, whether turning out for a Cricket Australia XI against the Sri Lankans in a Hobart day-night tour game, or assembling with Tim Paine’s team in Brisbane for their final series prior to the most prestigious of all – an Ashes tour of England later this year. Asked whether there is any danger of a Test call-up clouding the work he has steadily done with Murray and others, Pucovski was optimistic.”It comes to mind but I don’t think so,” he said. “I feel like I am in a really good space, and the people I am working with think so too. It’s one of those things where it is a day-by-day proposition for me that I have to manage. I think it is a good thing to invest time in. I feel like I have done quite a bit of work over the past few months and was able to play that Shield game and loved every minute of it. I feel like I am back in action.”One of the favourite sayings of the selector Greg Chappell is that “talent is a bit like fruit – if you don’t pick it when it’s ripe, it goes rotten”. Both Australia’s selectors and Pucovski are earnestly hoping that the moment of his picking for Test match duty is not a moment too soon.
The former India batsman said at the Dilip Sardesai memorial lecture that the only way to preserve Test cricket was to serve it to viewers at their convenience
Ankur Dhawan in Mumbai01-Oct-2018Test cricket needs saving and the players can be its saviours by embracing day-night Tests, Sanjay Manjrekar said at the Dilip Sardesai memorial lecture. Manjrekar felt that cricket’s “cocky” attitude towards fans and archaic traditions in dissension with the changing times were impeding the format’s popularity. He expressed a need for the five-day game to be offered to fans “as per their convenience”, as they were no longer inclined to flock to cricket grounds during work hours.”The world is ever-changing and with it the taste of people. Don’t be fooled by the crowds at Test matches in England, that’s an aberration. I travel the world and see countries struggle to pull crowds to Test cricket,” Manjrekar said at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai on Monday.”It’s not that there’s zero interest in Test cricket, just that people can’t come to the stadium or watch on TV. That’s because we are cocky. We have kept the timings such that they are working hours. Gone are the days when people would bunk office and fill up every seat at the Eden Gardens. It’s time to be humble and offer Test cricket to fans as per their convenience.”The only way to increase viewership, popularity and thereby its quality is day-night Test matches. Why aren’t we playing more day-night Tests? It’s a no-brainer. It would draw more viewership.”The game’s biggest crowd puller, India, declined to play a day-night Test proposed by Cricket Australia as part of the four-Test series later this year. They were entitled to do so under ICC’s current regulations for bilateral series, which state that hosting a day-night Test requires the consent of the visiting team. However, they are likely to be stripped off that choice once the Test Championship starts, as member boards have recommended it should only be the prerogative of the host nation.It is understood that senior Indian cricketers were wary of being thrown into a pink-ball contest without having trialled it convincingly at home. While the pink ball has been tried in the Duleep Trophy – with mixed reactions from the players – most of India’s Test regulars did not participate. Manjrekar felt that it was paramount that administrators prioritised the greater good of the game as the players, subsumed by the desire to win, are prone to a myopic attitude during their playing days.”The players are wary of it – the pink ball, the dew factor, etc. But I’ve always believed that conditions are never unfair if they are the same for both sides. What is happening is that we want to give perfect conditions for players to play, even if it means nobody is watching. There was a time when the relationship between players and boards, especially in India, was uneasy. They were always at loggerheads. But we must be careful that we don’t go to the other extreme and make players happy, come what may. Not at the cost of the game. Take the bull by the horns. Do what’s best for the game, for its long-term health. And make the players join, even if they are reluctant. They will thank us later. As a player I, too, had a narrower vision of the game than I do now.”