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Robert Lewandowski is the “best player of all time” says Tomasz Kuszczak, with the Polish star sitting alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

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Prolific Pole boasts remarkable recordStarred for Dortmund, Bayern & BarcaConsidered to sit among GOAT groupFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

At 36 years of age, prolific striker Lewandowski is – much like Messi and CR7 – showing no sign of slowing down. He has hit 26 goals for Barcelona this season, taking his overall tally for the Liga giants to 85 through 122 appearances.

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Lewandowski previously found the target on 344 occasions across eight memorable years at Bayern Munich – which saw him win the Bundesliga and Champions League – while he is also a goal-scoring centurion at Borussia Dortmund. His strike rate is considered to be comparable to a couple of other all-time greats.

GettyWHAT TOMASZ KUSZCZAK SAID

Former Poland team-mate Kuszczak, speaking in association with , told GOAL when asked why the most fearsome of No.9s deserves his own GOAT status: “Robert Lewandowski, for me, if you judge the whole career, not spells of a career – look at many players, they had a great time for six or seven years and then get injured or they change club and don’t do well and have problems, or drop to a lower league somewhere to keep the same glory around them – Lewandowski is still the best player in the world of all time.

“Why am I saying that? Obviously everyone is going to argue with me about it because there are other fantastic players. It is not just because I am Polish and he is my friend. It’s the mentality. If you look at Lewandowski’s career and the amount of goals and what he achieved. He was called, a few days ago, the best player in Germany’s history. If you can achieve that, it is something special.

“With my friends we talk about Robert and the statistics, not the beauty of football – Robert is the executor, he is in the box. It doesn’t matter where he has played, he has always been the same. I am talking about difficult leagues.”

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Ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Kuszczak, who won 11 senior caps for his country, added on what makes Lewandowski special: “When he started playing at Poznan as a young guy, he was exactly the same. Then he moved to Germany to Borussia and he became the top scorer in Germany, he won the Golden Boot twice. Then he moved to Bayern Munich and he kept doing this – top scorer, top scorer. I don’t know how many times, 10 maybe. Then he moved to Barcelona at an age where people could question him and say ‘come on, is he going to be the same?’ And he was the same – first season, won the Golden Boot and was top scorer.

“To keep this pressure on your shoulders as a striker and to perform to score the goals for the club, all the ups and downs, and how to keep the expectations from the club and the fans, he has done it. In the last 12 years, he keeps going. Even when he gets to an age where you can say he’s getting older, at Barcelona it has been the same. There are a few games where he doesn’t score, then he scores two, three, two, three. He keeps going and this is amazing. I don’t know many players like that.

“This is for somebody who likes the statistics and compares players to players of all time, but there are not many players in the top leagues, long-term, who have performed and won so many Golden Boots, scored so many goals.

“If you look at players like goalkeepers, you can see how many saves they made and consistency. You can judge on that. If you judge a striker on how many goals he scored over the years and in different teams and leagues, you don’t get many. And we are talking top leagues and top teams which have big pressure, every game is pressure, it doesn’t matter what the game is, you have to perform and you have to score. This is what people are looking for. He has done it. For me, he is close to Messi. For me, Messi, Ronaldo and Lewandowski. If he can keep doing this for this season and next season, it will be amazing.”

South Africa Women opening batter says Super Overs should only be used to decide T20s

Firdose Moonda21-Sep-2021Super Overs should not be used to decide ODIs, according to South African opening batter Lizelle Lee. Speaking after South Africa lost the final ODI and the chance to seal a series sweep, in the Super Over, Lee said 12 balls are not enough to decide a game that is made up of 600, but was sufficient for use as a decider in T20s.”It’s definitely something that shouldn’t be in an ODI,” Lee said. “You can’t just have six balls (on each side); that’s not going to define what’s happened in an ODI. I totally disagree with it. I don’t think it should have happened. T20 is something where it can happen because on the day, anything can happen. With T20s, if you play a bad game you lose, if you play a good game, you win. ODIs are more about skill, you have to adapt to the conditions, it’s longer periods of batting and longer periods of bowling. I don’t think ODIs should have a Super Over. I totally disagree with it but it happened and it is what it is.”Related

Dottin, Grimmond help WI claim Super Over victory

The Super Over between West Indies and South Africa was the first in a women’s ODI and the third overall. The only other two previous instances was the men’s World Cup final in 2019 and an ODI between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in November 2020. The rarity of the Super Over meant that the South African women’s team was not entirely prepared for it after scores were tied at the end of 50 overs. A team spokesperson confirmed that there was some consultation at the ground before the Super Over took place. “The team manager and officials just checked the tour MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). The team manager explained to the players that it was something that was agreed upon before the start of the series,” Koketso Gaofetoge said.Although Lee disagrees with the concept of the Super Over, none of the team objected to it being played although that emotions were running high after the tie. South Africa thought they may have won the match on the final ball when Mignon du Preez and Sinalo Jafta attempted to scramble a single, but du Preez was run out at the non-striker’s end.She was given out by the on-field umpire and the absence of a TV umpire meant that South Africa could not query the decision. Replays showed it was a tight call, too close for Lee to call. “That’s the sort of thing that is going to get you sometimes because there’s no third umpire or anything like that, ” Lee said. “There are a few players that thought Mignon might be in but you can’t sit on the sidelines and think it’s in or out so that’s just something you have to deal with. At the end of the day, we won 4-1, so we are very happy with the result.”

Barcelona have reportedly met with Marcus Rashford's representatives in Lisbon and are working to thrash out a loan from Man Utd in January.

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Rashford wants move away from Man UtdBarcelona emerge as a potential optionFresh talks held in PortugalFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportWHAT HAPPENED?

As first reported by the forward's entourage met with Barcelona sporting director Deco in Lisbon prior to their Champions League clash with Benfica to push for a move to the Catalan club. It is believed that Rashford has already agreed on personal terms with Barca and sees the Catalan giants as the ideal destination to rejuvenate his sinking career after falling out of favour under Ruben Amorim at Manchester United.

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Despite returning to La Liga's 1:1 salary rule earlier this month, Barcelona still need to raise funds to afford Rashford’s move. The club are actively exploring player exits to ease their financial burden. Eric Garcia, who is garnering interest from neighbours Girona and Italian club Como, is the most likely candidate to depart. However, while Barcelona would prefer to offload Ansu Fati, though he is not attracting many suitors.

DID YOU KNOW?

According to , Rashford has sought assurances from Barcelona about the feasibility of completing the deal in January. While the English forward remains keen on a switch to La Liga, he is prepared to explore alternatives if Barcelona cannot overcome their financial constraints.

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Negotiations between Barcelona and Rashford’s representatives are set to continue later this week, with Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan waiting patiently in the wings. However, time is running out for Joan Laporta to resolve their financial issues and sign their priority target.

Leeds United look set to receive an injury boost when they return to action against Sheffield United after the international break.

The Whites go into this break with a lot of frustration, as they looked on course to seal all three points away at Sunderland on Friday night, but a howler from Illan Meslier snatched a point for the home side in the 97th minute of added time.

Leeds messed up by selling a goalkeeper who's now worth more than Meslier

The Whites allowed the youngster to move on before he could fulfill his potential.

ByDan Emery Oct 7, 2024 Leeds United news and updates

It has been a difficult couple of weeks for the Yorkshire side, as while results have improved slightly, unbeaten in their last four games, injury problems have continued to mount up for Daniel Farke, putting a strain on their current squad.

Leeds look set to be without Max Wober, Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev for a sustained period of time, as all three players have picked up significant injuries. These issues have led to speculation that Farke could turn to the free agent market to bolster his options.

The German revealed that he isn’t a big fan of signing players who are still out of contract in October, but it might be something they have to do if there is something out there that fits with them. The Whites have been linked with a move for free agent Christoph Kramer recently, but it appears that a move is unlikely. It has been claimed that Kramer would reject a move to Elland Road as he wants to remain in Germany, given his recent commitments as a TV pundit.

But the urge to sign a free agent might not be needed as much when the Championship action returns after the international break, as Leeds are about to receive an injury boost.

Leeds receive injury boost as £50k-p/w ace to return for Sheff Utd game

According to Leeds Live, Daniel Farke has revealed that Daniel James will likely return from injury for Leeds’ game against Sheffield United after the international break. James, who was described as being “electric” earlier this season by football pundit Sanny Rudravajhala, has been out with a hamstring injury since the end of August.

The Welsh international picked up the injury against Hull City, and now, after a period on the sidelines, he looks set to return to action for their mouth-watering tie against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United. Farke said on James’ possible return: “Solomon and James will hopefully come back for the Sheffield United game.”

Apps

89

Goals

18

Assists

12

James, who is said to be on a weekly wage of £50,000 at Elland Road, has got one goal in three Championship appearances this season, that goal coming in the 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in August. Leeds have won three of their six league games during James’ absence, and given he started the first three league games, his return will be a welcome boost to Farke, who is suffering with several injury problems. The 26-year-old now has two weeks to get up to speed in training, and he will hope that can help him be in the matchday squad for the game against the Blades.

Rahkeem Cornwall and Shannon Gabriel included, but Kieran Powell, Alzarri Joseph miss out

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2021West Indies have named uncapped opener Jeremy Solozano in a 15-man squad for their Test tour of Sri Lanka later this month. Allrounder Rahkeem Cornwall was also back in contention while veteran quick Shannon Gabriel was fit to return after a hamstring injury kept him out of the Pakistan series in August, but there was no place for opener Kieran Powell or fast bowler Alzarri Joseph.Solozano, a left-hander who played at the 2014 U19 World Cup and has represented West Indies A, made 74 off 216 balls in the second of two intra-squad “Best vs Best” matches in Antigua, with lead selector Roger Harper praising his “application, patience and composure”.Opener has been a problem position for West Indies in recent times. John Campbell was dropped after an extended spell as Kraigg Brathwaite’s partner at the top of the order, followed by a brief experiment with Shai Hope opening and then the latest international recall for Powell, who initially came in as a concussion replacement for Nkrumah Bonner against South Africa in June.”The Best v Best matches provided the opportunity for the players to spend some time in the middle honing their skills for this tour,” Harper said. “The aim was to simulate as much as possible, the conditions that the team will likely face in Sri Lanka, so it was good to see the batsmen spending time at the crease while putting some scores together and the bowlers looking to build pressure and create wicket-taking opportunities.West Indies tour of Sri Lanka

Nov 14-17 – warm-up match, Colombo

Nov 21-25 – 1st Test, Galle

Nov 29-Dec 3 – 2nd Test Galle

“Jeremy played for the West Indies A team in 2019 (against India A) with success and in the Best v Best matches he displayed a sense of application, patience, and composure, while looking very comfortable against both pace and spin which encouraged the panel to invest in him at this point.”The squad is well balanced, with good depth in all departments. The composition is very similar to the squad that brought us success in our last away tour to Bangladesh, with a few changes in personnel. There are a number of players who are familiar with Sri Lankan conditions and most of the others have good experience in the Indian sub-continent, so they know what to expect and are gearing themselves for it.”Veerasammy Permaul, who last played a Test in 2015, joins Cornwall and Jomel Warrican as the main spin options in the squad, with West Indies looking to repeat their success in Bangladesh earlier this year, where they won 2-0.The tourists will play a four-day warm-up match in Colombo before two World Test Championship fixtures against Sri Lanka at Galle.West Indies Test squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Jermaine Blackwood (vice-capt), Nkrumah Bonner, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Jeremy Solozano, Jomel Warrican

Celtic bounced back from their devastating 7-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in their last match in the Champions League by securing a draw against Atalanta.

The Hoops battled hard in Italy to earn a 0-0 draw against the Serie A side, with Kasper Schmeichel pulling off a string of impressive saves to keep a clean sheet.

Brendan Rodgers’ side rarely threatened at the top end of the pitch, though, as they failed to create a single ‘big chance’, to Atalanta’s seven, and created 0.26 xG.

The Northern Irish manager made a bold call before kick-off by dropping Kyogo Furuhashi for Adam Idah in the centre-forward position, with mixed success.

Adam Idah's performance in numbers

The Ireland international was seemingly brought in for his physicality and ability to hold the ball up from Schmeichel’s long kicks to alleviate pressure.

It worked to great effect at times, with Idah winning three of his five duels throughout the game, and that allowed the Celtic defence to push up and give themselves a breather from defending for long periods.

However, the 6 foot 3 marksman did not offer the threat that Kyogo does in the final third and struggled to make things happen for the Scottish giants when the ball crossed the half-way line.

Idah ended the match with zero shots on target, zero key passes, and a pass success rate of 74%, which shows that the forward struggled to make an impact in possession.

Chalkboard

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

He was not the worst attacker on the pitch for Celtic, though, as Daizen Maeda put in another underwhelming performance for the Hoops on the left flank.

Why Daizen Maeda should be dropped

The Japan international must finally be dropped from the team after a string of disappointing showings. In his last three appearances in all competitions, the winger has struggled badly.

He has lost 17 out of 22 duels in those three games and failed to provide a goal or an assist for his side, whilst also missing one ‘big chance’ in front of goal.

The Scotsman handed Maeda a player rating of 5/10 and it is easy to understand why they went so low with that, whilst handing the likes of Auston Trusty and Liam Scales 10/10 scores, when you look at his statistics from the match.

Minutes played

74

Dribbles completed

1/3

Pass accuracy

57%

Key passes

0

Duels won

1/8

As you can see in the table above, the Japanese dud lost 88% of his duels against Atalanta players during the match, as he was too lightweight to come out on top in physical battles.

He also failed to create a single chance for his teammates and only completed a dismal 57% of his attempted passes, handing the ball back to the home side to enable their dominance in the game.

Therefore, Maeda was even worse than Idah, who at least completed a respectable percentage of his passes and dominated his physical duels, and should now be dropped from the starting XI after several poor showings.

Celtic had a star who was "similar to Messi", then he left for nothing

The Celtic youngster never lived up to his potential at Parkhead, after being compared to Lionel Messi.

1 ByDan Emery Oct 22, 2024

Chelsea's Todd Boehly is the co-owner of an 'unauthorised' website which resells Premier League tickets at vastly inflated prices.

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Boehly is director of Vivid SeatsUS-based website re-sells Premier League ticketsTickets can cost tens of thousands of poundsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Boehly is an investor and director of Vivid Seats, an "unauthorised" US-based website that resells Premier League tickets to foreign tourists, according to the . The website allows foreign-based users to buy tickets, often for tens of thousands of pounds for matches and other events, and also charges 10 per cent commission and a service fee. Vivid Seats is on the Premier League’s list of “unauthorised ticketing websites” and does not allow British fans to buy or sell tickets as such practice is illegal in the UK.

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Boehly has been co-owner at Chelsea since arriving in 2022 and has a personal wealth speculated at around £6.4 billion. Yet his involvement with Vivid Seats, which sees the Chelsea owner profiting from match-going fans, is unlikely to sit well with supporters. Tickets available on Vivid Seats for Premier League leaders Liverpool's final home game of the current season, against Crystal Palace at Anfield on May 25, start from £1,622 and go up to nearly £20,000.

WHAT CHELSEA SAID

Chelsea have previously condemned the practice of selling tickets for profit. A statement in 2024 read: "Supporters found to be selling their ticket for more than face value will be subject to a club investigation and sanctions, including the removal of season tickets, memberships and access to the away match ticket scheme. This unfortunately occurs more often than you would expect, and the club has been forced to ban many members and season ticket holders. In some cases, the matter will be reported to the police for criminal prosecution. The only place to purchase general admission tickets is via official Chelsea FC channels, including the club website and ticket exchange. Ticket holders can only transfer a ticket to a friend or family member for no more than face value.”

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WHAT VIVID SEATS SAID

The company told the : "As a global business, we are always respectful and cognisant of local regulatory policies and procedures that are in place in any market to ensure we are compliant. As such, our policy restricts the sale of EPL tickets from UK sellers. We can confirm that we do not have any UK sellers listing EPL inventory on our marketplace. Additionally, Vivid Seats does not and has never directly marketed or advertised Premier League tickets to UK customers. Vivid Seats and Chelsea have a longstanding and respectful partnership, which was publicly announced in 2023, where we partnered with Chelsea on their first-ever Premier League pre-season tournament in the USA. Regarding pricing, Vivid Seats does not set the base price for tickets sold on its marketplace or receive any revenue from that base price; only the seller sets and receives the base ticket price.”

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has been left very impressed with a member of his squad, who has worked tirelessly to improve and shown real dedication after the threat of being sold.

Chelsea prepare for Liverpool after solid Premier League run

The west Londoners haven’t lost a single Premier League game since their opening weekend defeat to English champions Man City at Stamford Bridge, which is testament to the excellent job done by Maresca and his coaching staff.

"Underrated" £200k-p/w Chelsea star open to joining Premier League rivals

They’ve registered a serious interest ahead of January.

ByEmilio Galantini Oct 18, 2024

Chelsea boast impressive routine wins over Wolves – who they thumped 6-2 at Molineux – West Ham and Brighton. They’ve also displayed their grittier side on occasion too, with Christopher Nkunku’s dramatic late winner handing them a hard-fought 1-0 win at Bournemouth.

Their two draws were thoroughly entertaining ones as well. Crystal Palace keeper Dean Henderson thwarted Chelsea time and time again to earn the Eagles a 1-1 draw in west London, and the same can be said for Nottingham Forest, with Matz Sels pulling off some truly impressive stops to upset Chelsea’s excellent attack and keep the scores level.

Liverpool (away)

October 20

Newcastle (home)

October 27

Man United (away)

November 3

Arsenal (home)

November 10

Leicester City (home)

November 23

Supporters can be very satisfied with what they’ve witnessed so far, but a very tough test awaits Maresca’s side in Premier League title contenders Liverpool at Anfield.

Reece James will miss the Liverpool game as he continues to get back to full fitness, taking part in full training at Cobham for the first time in months, while midfielder Omari Kellyman remains out with a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, Liverpool are on a fine run of form under new manager Arne Slot. The Dutchman, who took over from Reds legend Jürgen Klopp, has big shoes to fill after his departure. However, Slot has done a fine job of it so far – winning six games out of seven and conceding just two goals, which is the best defensive record in the division.

A trip to Merseyside is as tough as it gets right now, but Maresca will still fancy Chelsea’s chances considering their own promising start to 2024/2025.

He will be counting on star players like Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Moises Caicedo and the rejuvenated Noni Madueke, with an interesting bit of information coming out on the latter man this week.

Maresca happy as Madueke works tirelessly after threat of Chelsea exit

According to GiveMeSport, Maresca has been impressed with Madueke behind the scenes, as the winger showcases true professionalism and dedication to the cause.

Indeed, insiders have suggested to the outlet that the threat of being sold in the summer window has elevated Madueke to another level, and this hasn’t gone unnoticed by Chelsea’s new manager.

The former PSV Eindhoven starlet’s resurrection is said to have caught Maresca by surprise, and his new-found form at Cobham is translating onto the field. Madueke ranks among their top five performers according to WhoScored, bagging four goals in six Premier League starts, and he’s averaged more attempts at goal per 90 in the top flight than any of his teammates.

This isn’t Madueke’s first lot of eye-catching performances for the Blues, so perhaps all he needed was consistent opportunities to impress.

“Noni was very sharp, considering he was not so well on Wednesday, Thursday. He trained yesterday,” said former Chelsea interim manager Frank Lampard on Madueke last year.

“I thought he was really good against Arsenal in a tough game and got his goal. And again today [vs Bournemouth], he’s got a fantastic one-on-one ability to go past people. I like him as a lad, he’s got really good energy.

“He will know that because he’s hungry, and I want that. It’s been a breath of fresh air, him coming in and he’s training well to deserve that.”

Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins is reportedly open to the idea of joining Arsenal this January after the Gunners make shock bid for the striker.

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Arsenal see first bid for Ollie Watkins rejectedAston Villa unwilling to let Watkins leave this monthWatkins wants move to the team he supported as a childFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱GettyImagesWHAT HAPPENED?

Arsenal's hunt for a number nine continues this month with the transfer deadline fast approaching in just over 72 hours. The Gunners reportedly made their opening bid for Aston Villa's Watkins earlier this week, which was promptly rejected by the Villains as they are keen on keeping the England international at the club with Jhon Duran's big-money move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr set to be sealed soon.

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Aston Villa are said to be in no mood to let Watkins leave the club in the middle of the season and this late in the window. However, The Daily Mail has now reported that the 29-year-old striker is reportedly open to joining Arsenal this month as he supported the North London side growing up and wants to represent the side before the opportunity slips away.

AFPDID YOU KNOW?

Arsenal are now considering making a second bid for Watkins this month in a last-minute attempt to sign the striker. Nonetheless, Mikel Arteta's side are said to be aware that the bid will likely be turned down by Aston Villa especially if Duran's move to Al-Nassr goes through.

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR ARSENAL?

The Gunners are fully aware of the low probability of Aston Villa accepting their bid for Watkins this month and have therefore also kept tabs on Bayern Munich striker Mathys Tel's situation and could look to sign the 19-year-old on loan this winter.

Head coach rues ‘missed opportunities’ at the T20 World Cup; reserves special praise for Hasaranga

Madushka Balasuriya03-Nov-2021If there was a word cloud for Mickey Arthur, speaking ahead of Sri Lanka’s final World Cup game against the West Indies, ‘consistency’ would be right up there.”Consistency in message, consistency in selection, and consistency in role clarity,” Arthur said, identifying the three key ingredients he believes this young Sri Lankan side needs to regularly compete with the best in the world.”I think in Sri Lankan cricket for years, it’s the inconsistencies that we’ve had as a playing nation that has led to the team kind of not achieving what it should have. I guess it’s led to people being a little insecure, not understanding their positions all the time. And then you get players playing for themselves a little bit because they’re scared, that if they fail once and get dropped, when do they come back to the team? I’m just striving for consistency in everything that we do, and that’s execution, messaging and selection. And then I think that we’ll go a long way with the resources that we have.”Related

Can Sri Lanka quash West Indies' semi-final hopes?

South Africa strong contenders to join England in semi-finals

Sri Lanka might not be winning, but aren't you excited by this talent?

Prior to the start of this World Cup, Sri Lanka had won just seven of their last 30 completed T20Is, dating back to the start of 2019 – three of which came in a single series against Pakistan. In that time the playing XI and squad have been chopped and changed significantly, the most drastic of which occurred earlier this year following the bans handed out to the trio of Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella – three ever-present members of the squad in the past few years – for breaching bio-bubble protocols.However, as improbable as it may seem, from that nadir the selectors have seemingly happened upon a group of players to match their considerable talents – a group that Arthur is keen to keep together for as long as possible.”I sit here really comfortable with our bowling structure,” Arthur said. “Maybe one seamer can be a left-arm quick, but Dushmantha Chameera is world class at the moment. I love our two mystery spinners – they give us that little kind of mystique if you like – I think our fifth and sixth bowlers are adequate, so I’m comfortable with that. Our batting is getting better and better all the time, and I guess for me it’s just striving to get that batting working as a well-oiled machine.”We fielded well at times, and one of our goals and ethos as a team is to become the best fielding side in the world, but when I watched how clinical England were in that department – and England have showed stability within their core group for a long period of time – that’s something that I’m striving for with this Sri Lankan side.”‘Every time I see him, he excites me as a cricketer’ – Arthur on HasarangaAmong his wards, it’s unsurprising Arthur reserves special praise for Wanindu Hasaranga – the newly crowned No.1 T20I bowler in the world – a player he has been almost smitten with since taking charge of the side two years ago.”He just excites me. Every time I see him with a ball, with a bat or in the field, he excites me as a cricketer. I think I’ve said from the start, when I saw him for the first time, we’ve just got to keep supporting him cos he’s a wonderful, wonderful player. He’s riding the crest of a wave at the moment, he’s in good form, he’s a confident player, his confidence is sky high, and I just get really, really excited for what he’s going to achieve for Sri Lankan cricket down the line.”But it doesn’t happen by chance, he works unbelievably hard at his game and doesn’t leave anything to chance through his preparation. He’s a genuine a world superstar at the moment.”Mickey Arthur was all praise for Wanindu Hasaranga•ICC via GettyTurning his attention to the current campaign, Arthur, while proud of his team’s efforts, can’t help but rue some of the missed opportunities. Sri Lanka followed an early win against Bangladesh with three straight defeats against Australia, South Africa and England. In each of those losses, particularly the latter two, Sri Lanka had moments where the game was there for the taking. Against South Africa, the match was virtually won before David Miller teed off in the final over against Lahiru Kumara, while against England, having had them on the ropes, Sri Lanka’s seamers – Kumara again among the guilty parties – were unable to execute their plans effectively, though Jos Buttler being the batter is a heavily mitigating factor.”With all the games before (in the qualifiers) it had actually been the pacers that had gone less than the spinners, so we kind of did our planning around what we thought of as our best attack – what we thought were our two best spinners and two best pacers,” explained Arthur of the team’s decision to persist with two seamers. “I still think it was the right way to go, I don’t think we executed quite well enough with our seam bowlers, but our spinners were obviously amazing in that game.”The disappointing thing for me is that in every game we’ve played, be that Australia, be that South Africa, be that England, we’ve had opportunities to win the game, and I continually stress with our boys that in any T20 game there’s going to be an opportunity to win it, and if you’ve got the ball in the hand or if you’ve got the bat in the hand you’ve got to understand, you’ve got to identify that moment, and then you’ve got to be ready for it. A couple of moments have presented themselves and we just haven’t taken them.”Those missed opportunities are going to be the thing that haunts me when I look back.”‘We’re turning the corner’ in T20Is But while those results were undoubtedly disappointing on paper, they have sprouted a healthy dose of optimism in Arthur and others watching on.”I said before the campaign that I thought T20 was our worst format, and we know that we’re in a building phase as a cricket nation, but I think we’re turning the corner. You always talk about in coaching, you know, ‘roots to grow and wings to fly,’ and I think we’ve allowed them those wings to fly.

“The guys are absolutely shattered, they’ve given their all for this campaign. We’ve been on the road for a long time now, we’ve been in bubbles over the last 11 months for about 240 days.”Mickey Arthur

“The Sri Lankan nation can be incredibly proud of the attitude, the intensity, and the work ethic of this group. They’ve been wonderful. We’ve shaken up the World Cup. We’re not going to qualify (for the semifinals) this year, but Sri Lankan cricket is now in good hands.”Sri Lanka’s next game against the West Indies won’t have any context in terms of this tournament with both teams out of contention for a semifinal berth, but there is still the small matter of the impact it has on qualification for next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.The 12 teams in the Super 12 stage of the 2021 tournament have automatic qualified Australia 2022, however, from those 12, only the winner, runner-up and next six highest-ranked teams as of November 15 will go straight through to the Super 12 stage of next year’s World Cup, with the remaining four teams needing to play in the first round.A win for Sri Lanka could potentially earn them the necessary ranking points for automatic qualification to the Super 12s, though Arthur says his players are simply focused on making one final push to go out on a “massive high,” in a tournament that has left them “shattered” both mentally and physically.”Every game for us is so important and I’ve stressed with the players, it’s now about us preparing physically and mentally. The guys are absolutely shattered, they’ve given their all for this campaign. We’ve been on the road for a long time now, we’ve been in bubbles over the last 11 months for about 240 days. And these guys are shattered mentally and physically but they’re up for tomorrow because they want to end on a high.”Yeah, we haven’t won games, but we’ve pushed sides. But whatever we’ve done we’re going to be judged by what we do now in the last game. Our preparation has not changed. We’ve got all our bowling meetings, batting meetings, our analytical work – it’s all being done in the next couple of hours. The guys are putting their minds to it for one last push, cos they want to end this World Cup on a massive high.”