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Promoted to open, Malan nails his match-up with Hasaranga to propel England to 3-0 win

Matt Roller at the Ageas Bowl26-Jun-2021The long-standing debates over England’s best batting line-up in T20 international cricket will roll on and on until October’s World Cup but this 3-0 thrashing of an abject Sri Lanka side has been a reminder of the oddity of the tournament itself.The draw for the World Cup – initially scheduled for Australia last year, but since shifted to India and now the UAE and Oman – took place 18 months ago, and in the intervening period it has become apparent that England have done well out of it: they have avoided West Indies and New Zealand, both of whom will be significantly stronger than their ICC ranking implies, and will see themselves as favourites against both South Africa and Afghanistan.The result is that even if they are beaten heavily by India in the group stage, they need only beat those two teams, plus the two qualifiers from the preliminary phase, and they will reach the semi-finals, and be two wins away from their long-standing ambition of becoming the first men’s team to hold both World Cups simultaneously.This series proved that, while there are decisions to be made about the side’s best combination and structure, the most important thing for England is that they have a deep, versatile batting line-up which is filled with players that can single-handedly win a game on their day. For Saturday’s thrashing at the Ageas Bowl, they were without three of their first-choice top six – Jos Buttler (calf), Jason Roy (hamstring), Ben Stokes (returning from a hand injury) – while their first-choice No. 3 and No. 4 opened the batting and their back-up finisher came in straight after, yet their win was still a procession.England’s collapse from 143 for 1 after 15 overs to an eventual total of 180 for 6 looked for a fleeting moment like it might cost them after Danushka Gunathilaka punched the first ball of the chase through cover; as it turned out, it would have taken a declaration with five overs left to turn this into a competitive game, as Sri Lanka’s batters collapsed in a heap. This was the sort of clinical performance that should help them annihilate the weakest teams in their World Cup group; unless they come unstuck in two of the other three games, they will cruise through to the semis.Only then will their answers to the important questions come under real scrutiny. Where should Jonny Bairstow bat? How can they get more out of Stokes? Should Mark Wood bowl mainly in the Powerplay, at the death, or a bit of both? And the randomness of certain events – in particular the importance of the toss in floodlit games in the UAE, bearing dew in mind – could render such discussions useless anyway.Related

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And so to Dawid Malan. Countless column inches have been filled, including on this website, by debates over Malan’s value to England’s side: nobody has ever started their T20I career with such compelling numbers and he has ensconced himself at No. 1 in the ICC’s player rankings, but with such a strong set of batting options available to them, his slow-starting method and his occasional struggles on slower pitches, such as the ones expected in the UAE in October, has come under intense – and perhaps unfair – scrutiny.This series has encapsulated the debate: his two low scores on two-paced Cardiff pitches were wholly unconvincing, but his dominant innings of 76 off 48 balls on a better pitch at the Ageas Bowl was one of high class: the other 72 balls in the innings brought only 92 runs off the bat. Even if his form “only has one way to go”, as Eoin Morgan put it at the toss, his rate of success in T20I cricket has been phenomenal.On Saturday, Malan managed what no other England batter has in this series by getting after Wanindu Hasaranga, Sri Lanka’s blond-haired, bright-booted rockstar of a legspinner. Realising that ball spinning into his arc towards the shorter boundary represented a favourable match-up for him, Malan treated Hasaranga with disdain, thumping him for two fours and three sixes and scoring 34 off the 10 balls he faced from him; Roy was the only other man to hit him for four across the whole series.The slog-swept sixes were brutal, but there was a touch of class, too: on 18 off 15, he reverse-swept him into the gap between short third and backward point, and in the same over nailed him over deep backward square leg and lofted him inside-out through the gap in the covers that his reverse-sweep had created.”When you do your match-ups and look at the dimensions of the ground, with a right-hander in [at the other end], my match-up is to take down the legspinner towards that shorter boundary,” Malan explained afterwards. “Even though it was into the wind, that was my role: to take the positive option against him.”If that was an offspinner on that side, Jonny would probably have been over-aggressive against him because that was his match-up. I faced him the other night at Cardiff and didn’t see him that well, and my movements weren’t very good, so it was nice to face him a couple of days later in different conditions and get on top of him.”During his difficult series in India, it seemed as though the drawbacks of Malan’s method outweighed the benefits, but in this innings, the opposite was true. He may not mind the debate rolling on: “I quite like proving a point so when I do get criticism I do like going out there to show those people that seem to have their opinions,” he said.There are similar questions to weigh up in the bowling attack: are Chris Woakes and David Willey viable options as new-ball specialists? Is Chris Jordan still a banker at the death? The absence of much new information from this series means they will not be answered definitively until the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup – and even then, there is another one to follow only 12 months later.

MLB announced on Tuesday that Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras will be suspended for six games, and he will be fined an undisclosed amount for his actions against an umpire on Monday.

Contreras has elected to appeal the suspension and will play until the appeal is resolved.

The incident between Contreras and plate umpire Derek Thomas occurred in the seventh inning of Monday night's 7-6 St. Louis win over the Pirates. The first baseman didn't agree with a called third strike during an at-bat, prompting him to look at Thomas. The umpire then ejected Contreras from the game, which sparked a heated reaction from the Cardinals player. As he was pushed back by the Cardinals staff toward the dugout, Contreras tossed his bat toward the field as he continued to yell at Thomas, and the lumber hit one of his own coaches.

The scene didn't end there. Once Contreras returned to the dugout, an entire bucket of Hi-Chew was thrown onto the field, but i's unclear whether Contreras tossed the bucket of candy or not.

As of now, Contreras will compete in Tuesday night's game vs. the Pirates as he's appealing his suspension. Hopefully he can keep his temper under control during this game.

The Cubs franchise and fanbase was shaken on Monday when legendary player Ryne Sandberg died at the age of 65 from cancer.

The Cubs and MLB world alike have honored Sandberg in various ways this week. The Cubs are even introducing a No. 23 patch to their jerseys for the remainder of the 2025 season to memorialize "Ryno."

This isn't the only way the Cubs are honoring the late legend. On Saturday in their home game vs. the Orioles at Wrigley Field, all Cubs players will wear a Sandberg No. 23 jersey without their names on the back. The team will wear the iconic pullover blue jerseys that Sandberg used to wear during his time with the team in the 1980s.

Cubs executive Crane Kenney shared the news on 670 The Score on Thursday, also noting that the jerseys will be auctioned after the game and all the proceeds will be donated to cancer research. The organization plans to celebrate Sandberg's legacy and life all day on Saturday at Wrigley Field.

It will be an emotional day in Chicago on Saturday.

Man United are reportedly planning a bold move to sign one Arsenal sensation who’s now shot to the very top of Ruben Amorim’s transfer agenda.

Arsenal maintain perfect Champions League record after Brugge win

Arsenal extended their flawless Champions League campaign to six consecutive wins after dismantling Club Brugge 3-0 at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday evening, moving three points clear atop the league phase standings.

Noni Madueke delivered a match-winning performance with a sensational brace, whilst Gabriel Martinelli added a spectacular third to virtually guarantee automatic qualification for the last 16 with two fixtures remaining.

Mikel Arteta made five changes from Saturday’s disappointing 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa, with Christian Norgaard deployed as makeshift centre-back alongside Piero Hincapie due to Arsenal’s current defensive injury crisis.

Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel and Cristhian Mosquera were all unavailable, forcing Arteta to improvise.

Madueke opened the scoring with a piece of absolute brilliance after 25 minutes, collecting the ball just inside the Belgian side’s half before embarking on a mazy run, shrugging off multiple challenges and unleashing a venomous long-range strike that crashed off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.

The England international doubled Arsenal’s advantage just 80 seconds into the second period, arriving unmarked at the back post to power Martin Zubimendi’s cross beyond goalkeeper Dani van den Heuvel.

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Martinelli then etched his name into Arsenal history nine minutes later by becoming the club’s first player to score in five consecutive Champions League matches.

The Brazilian cut inside from the left touchline, weaved past a Brugge defender and curled an exquisite right-footed effort from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner.

David Raya preserved Arsenal’s sixth clean sheet of the competition with seven saves, dealing comfortably with Club Brugge’s pressure despite the hosts creating numerous opportunities throughout the encounter.

The Belgian champions, under new manager Ivan Leko following Nicky Hayen’s surprising Monday dismissal, tested Arsenal’s makeshift defence regularly but lacked clinical finishing.

Gabriel Jesus also made his emotional competitive return after 332 days sidelined with an ACL injury, entering as a second-half substitute.

The Brazilian striker nearly marked his comeback with a goal too, smashing the crossbar after being found by Ethan Nwaneri.

Speaking of Nwaneri, who was introduced by Arteta to replace Martin Odegaard in the second-half of their Brugge triumph, a surprise report has emerged on his long-term future.

Man United plan 'audacious' move for Arsenal gem Ethan Nwaneri

The Hale End sensation is now attracting serious interest from Old Trafford, according to a report by CaughtOffside in their Daily Briefing.

Nwaneri has struggled for consistent minutes this season, starting just three matches so far with two of them coming in the Carabao Cup.

He’s an incredible player, one hailed as “Arsenal’s version of Phil Foden and Jamal Musiala” by one analyst on social media, but Arteta is also yet to hand the 18-year-old a single Premier League start this term, with Nwaneri said to be growing ‘frustrated’ and ‘fed up’ with his lack of opportunities.

CaughtOffside state that United are planning an ‘audacious’ January move for Nwaneri to take full advantage of this, with the Englishman now among their top winter transfer priorities.

The report also claims that Arsenal’s ‘financial position has quietly become far more precarious’ than they’re publicly admitting, and they may be ‘forced’ into a high-profile sale.

United believe that they can prise Nwaneri away from the Emirates as a result of this and the player’s own desire for game time, but it is very hard to imagine Arsenal greenlighting any permanent transfer to a direct rival.

There are far better candidates to balance the books, and if Nwaneri is to leave, the far more likely scenario is a dry loan to help further his development elsewhere.

Liverpool are plumbing the depths of a crisis right now, with no respite from the staggering fall-off that has given rise to questions about Arne Slot’s capacity to lead this team forward from the dugout.

PSV Eindhoven rocked up at Anfield and won 4-1 in the Champions League. Only days after Nottingham Forest sent the Reds in a spin after winning 3-0 at Anfield. This is new and dangerous territory.

This palatial stadium, so feared throughout the years, has become a feasting ground for visitors this season. Slot believes he has the backing of FSG even against the backdrop of Liverpool’s worst run of form in 71 years – and, in fairness, the Dutch coach’s side are the reigning Premier League champions – but this the nadir, far more than just a calamity.

On Sunday, Liverpool meet West Ham United in London, desperate to turn a corner and get their domestic campaign back on track. To say the Merseyside outfit need to go back to basics would be redundant. To say they need to stop making silly errors would underline a theme that can be traced back to the opening day of the campaign.

Liverpool are in big bother, and Slot doesn’t appear to have the answers. There are so many different parts of this mess to dissect, but Mohamed Salah’s struggles have raged on, and surely he now needs to be dropped?

Why Slot should consider dropping Salah

Federico Chiesa has not been handed a starting berth in the Premier League this season. In fact, the Italian has only played from the opening whistle in the Carabao Cup.

Salah is only one month away from pausing his club campaign and jetting off to Morocco for the 2025 African Cup of Nations. Then Slot will need to find new wide solutions, so why not help create some coherence beforehand?

Because make no mistake, Liverpool’s legendary forward has been so far out of sorts this season it beggars belief.

The 33-year-old isn’t faring much better on the continent, albeit the less physical style of the Champions League allows the Egyptian to play with a measure more freedom. As per Sofascore, Salah has won only 29% of his duels in the Premier League this season, completing just 30% of his dribbles besides.

Is an element of laziness creeping into his game? In fairness, the veteran winger has never been the most combative of defenders, and his incredible levels of prolificness have allowed him to operate in a looser manner, sticking forward when on the transition, for example.

But now that the goals and assists have dried up, Salah is toiling, and it’s raising questions as to whether he should be dropped.

Of course, he’s not the only one. Another of Slot’s mainstays from last year has fallen well out of form, and there’s a case to be made that his position is one that needs attention.

Liverpool superstar has become "lazy"

Last season, Ryan Gravenberch was the unlikely catalyst in a midfield that went on to lift the Premier League title. For his efforts, the Dutchman was awarded the division’s Young Player of the Year.

Gravenberch is not the problem, but his fall-off this season is symptomatic of the deeper chasm that Slot’s side have fallen into. After the defeat against PSV, Liverpool World branded the 23-year-old with a 4/10 match rating, writing of how he failed to give the struggling defenders any protection, albeit catching the eye with his passing in the first half.

On the face of it, Gravenberch didn’t play that badly. He completed 88% of his passes, created a chance, won all three of his ground duels and recovered five balls (data via Sofascore).

But the Netherlands international’s lack of physicality undercut his technical strengths, lacking the requisite aggression and positional value to hold down the fort at number six.

Journalist Jan Riha picked up on this, remarking that he “became the lazy old version of himself” against PSV. For sure, Gravenberch floated through his first Jurgen Klopp-led season at Liverpool, before Slot came along and turned him into a superstar.

FSG have known that Liverpool’s holding midfield position could do with reinforcing for some time. In 2023, a British-record bid was tabled for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo. The Ecuadorian joined Chelsea instead and Wataru Endo was signed as a stop-gap.

Then, at the start of Slot’s reign, Liverpool fought and failed to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. Gravenberch’s emergence eased the frustration from that one, but it’s clear that an anchoring midfielder has been desired for some time, and Liverpool have not succeeded in bringing such a player in.

With Alexis Mac Allister so horribly out of sorts, Gravenberch cannot afford to dart around the midfield in a box-to-box manner. Liverpool need him to be stronger and more commanding in his deep-lying berth.

Slot needs more energy and more intensity from all of his players, but Gravenberch is the nucleus in the centre, and while Salah is rightly facing plenty of criticism for his abject campaign, the Dutch midfielder’s own woes have fallen somewhat under the radar.

Consistently this season, teams have found it far too easy to play through Liverpool, carving them open like a Christmas turkey. Gravenberch needs to be stronger, Liverpool need to be stronger. That’s it for the short term, but is it not becoming clear that FSG are going to need to sign a Fabinho-esque number six going forward?

Slot must drop 3/10 Liverpool flop who was just as bad as Konate vs PSV

Arne Slot must now axe this Liverpool flop after he put in an extremely poor display at Anfield against PSV Eindhoven.

1

By
Kelan Sarson

Nov 27, 2025

Anyone arriving to this West Sacramento neighborhood on Monday evening, both a regular Monday and unlike any other Monday here before, must have felt, among so many swirling emotions and opinions and debates, predominantly … ?

Sure, at least 14,000-some-odd souls were headed to Sutter Health Park. And not for a minor league baseball game—which, under more typical circumstances, is precisely what would have unfolded. Not Monday. Oh, no. Those fortunate enough to score seats were headed to a Major League Baseball game. In Sacramento. Make that West Sacramento. The A’s new home. Er, temporary home. Well, O.K., more like their layover stadium on a lengthy relocation trip with a very long connection between the city they have already departed (Oakland, duh) and the city where they will reside (Las Vegas).

And yet, in the neighborhood near the park, only 90 minutes before the first pitch of the A’s “home” opener, the streets nearby were not choked with, well, anything or anyone. No traffic, let alone anything resembling a “jam.” Most parking lots sat empty. The rainstorm expected earlier in the day had not materialized after a morning downpour.

My Uber driver compared this Monday to any other Monday in this neighborhood, after revealing he hadn’t followed any sports since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A cakewalk right here,” he says. “You sure there’s a game?”

Oh, yeah. On the official MLB schedule. Promise. Sold out. Secondary ticket market going bonkers, relative to normal. Just no … fans. Nobody outside the new apartment buildings, many still under construction. Nobody on the path ahead, the one pointed toward a golden overpass, the Tower Bridge which connects this neighborhood to downtown.

This wasn’t exactly a tumbleweeds scenario. It wasn’t exactly not a tumbleweeds scenario, either.

Was that a scoreboard glimmering with images and statistics in the near distance? A faint hint of bass, not yet thumping, in the same general direction?

Then: Street art, sprayed on a slab of concrete, with green dots and a long, green swirl—not unlike A’s colors, amirite?—and an apt phrase painted in pink. It read: .

Now we’re getting somewhere.

All sorts of signs peppered the Cabaldon Parkway, announcing the neighborhood that would soon host a bona fide MLB game. Right? The Bridge District. For a “home” that resembled more of a ghost town, this wasn’t a clue so much as a metaphor. That will be the juxtaposition in the next three seasons for a proud baseball franchise replete with significant players and eras and moments throughout the vast majority of MLB’s history, now in its 154th season.

Winds whipped those Bridge District banners. Nobody lingered at the intersection where visitors turn and head toward the main entrance. One guy—one!—stood at some gated-off entry that didn’t look accessible to anyone at all. One stadium worker, passing by this one guy, yelled out, “Love the A’s hat, baby! He’s VIP! Look at that face! It’s not pretty but it’s his!”

The park’s fences soon rounded into view. Then the park itself. And there it was, the next era of Athletics baseball, among so, so many eras of Athletics baseball, neatly summarized in empty streets, district banners and an innocuous comment. This park may not be pretty, at least in the traditional MLB park sense, but it’s theirs. These seasons will not be like previous A’s seasons. They will be, wait for it, bridge years for a franchise that can stay put, for years and for decades and for more than half-a-century in Oakland, and yet, this same franchise never stays in one place, not permanently. Not yet.

, then, began in earnest on Monday night.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot is only worried about arresting his side’s worrying slump amid reports of him signing a new contract.

The Dutchman is facing the first real test of his Anfield reign as the Premier League champions have suffered four successive defeats as part of a wider run of six losses in seven games in all competitions.

Despite that, reports suggest Slot is in talks over a new deal, but that is not where his focus is.

Slot shocked at Liverpool question before Aston Villa

Asked about a possible new contract, he said ahead of Saturday’s clash with Aston Villa:

Serious questions are being asked of Liverpool and the cause of their severe drop off from the side that coasted to the title last season and won their opening seven competitive games this term.

Slot, who was keen to steer away from “excuses” for his side’s poor run but did cite injuries and a packed schedule, is confident his side have the quality to end their alarming slide.

“The thing that gives me the most confidence is the quality of the players,” he added.

“We have to address certain other things, but if I’m speaking about what we have to improve, people then tell me I’m using excuses.

“So maybe it’s better now just to say we need to address certain things. But there are a lot of positives to go into this week as well.

“We miss nothing. I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have and I am also completely convinced by the strategy and the policy that we have.

Arne Slot sends message about Anfield atmosphere after Liverpool fans spotted leaving early

“But that makes the issue – if you call it an issue – is not all of them have had a proper pre-season or have been injured.

“When three or four are injured you go back to 16 players. I am a firm believer that 20 or 21 players is enough but you have to keep them fit as we did last season.

“It has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available and if a few of them are not available, it comes down a lot to the same players.

“Maybe last season we were more lucky and now we are more unlucky.

“But, no excuses for our results before people say this. We have had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in-between and that would have been difficult for our players last season and players that have been fit all pre-season but that has not been our situation.

“It is nothing to do with the squad depth, it is how we’ve gone throughout the season in terms of injuries and availability.”

Alexander Isak and Allison Becker will again be missing for the Reds against Villa while Ryan Gravenberch will be assessed ahead of the match having returned to training.

One game into the Bangladesh-Pakistan T20I series, the pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium has come under the scanner as expected.While Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson admitted that his batters hadn’t read the pitch correctly, he branded the surface as “unacceptable” for international cricket, after Pakistan were bowled out for 110.Related

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“I think (the pitch) is not ideal for anybody,” Hesson said. “Teams are trying to prepare for the Asia Cup or the (T20) World Cup. It is not acceptable. It is still no excuse for some of the decisions we made with the bat. But this pitch is not up to international standards.”Pakistan had slipped to 46 for 5 by the eighth over, with most of their batters falling while going for big shots. Pakistan’s cause wasn’t helped by three run-outs either, as they eventually folded in 19.3 overs.”We got off to a little bit of a flyer. Fakhar Zaman played four or five shots. It gave us a false indication about how the surface was playing,” Hesson said. “We didn’t help ourselves through the middle. We chose some poor options. When the ball started to nip through, and bounced steeply, we probably didn’t assess that it was a bit more challenging to play high-risk shots. Couple of run-outs also didn’t help.”Bangladesh opener Parvez Hossain Emon, however, disagreed with Hesson’s assessment of the pitch. Emon said that Bangladesh winning comfortably – by seven wickets and with 27 balls to spare – was an indication that the surface wasn’t all bad.”We didn’t feel (it was a bad pitch) as we chased it down in less than 16 overs,” he said. “We could have scored 150-160 runs if we batted the full 20 overs. It may be so that they couldn’t adjust to the pitch. We adjusted better than them. The Dhaka pitch usually benefits the bowlers. We tried to assess the wicket quickly. It was our first plan.”Hesson, though, felt such pitches wouldn’t help even Bangladesh prepare for sterner tests away from home.”You need good cricket wickets to develop cricketers. There was some good wickets during the BPL, to be fair. It is not up to the standard when international cricket is being played.”I don’t think it helps them when they leave Bangladesh. But I think also batting first in these situations is challenging. When you aren’t quite sure whether 100 or 130 or 150 is good enough. I don’t think (the pitch) is good for anybody. It still doesn’t take away the fact that you have to perform better in any surface. We will look at it as a team.”

في تصريحات نارية تحمل الكثير من الرسائل، خرج المدرب الجزائري نور الدين بن زكري عن صمته بعد تداول أنباء حول اقترابه من تدريب عدة أندية من بينها الزمالك، ليؤكد أنه يرفض تمامًا فكرة قيادة الفرق الصغيرة، مشيرًا إلى أن خبرته الطويلة في الملاعب تجعله مؤهلًا فقط لتولي قيادة الأندية الكبرى والمنافسة على البطولات.

وقال بن زكري في حديثه لصحيفة “الرياضية” السعودية: “لست مدربًا صغيرًا، ولا أقبل أن يُحتقر تاريخي بترشيحي لتدريب فرق صغيرة، لديّ عدة عروض من أندية سعودية وخارجية، وما زلت أدرسها بعناية”.

وأوضح المدرب الجزائري أن هناك ما وصفه بـ عقدة الأجنبي داخل بعض الأندية السعودية، حيث يفضّل مسؤولوها التعاقد مع مدربين غربيين رغم وجود كفاءات عربية مميزة، مضيفًا أن الأرقام والنتائج التي حققها طوال مسيرته تتحدث عن نفسها.

طالع أيضًا | محامي جوميز يفتح النار عبر “بطولات” بعد إيقاف القيد: الزمالك تنصل من الاتفاق

وأكد: “أنتمي إلى السعودية بكل مشاعري، وسأبقى فيها حتى نهاية حياتي، فهي بلدي الثاني وأشعر أنني واحد من أبنائها”.

وعن الأنباء التي ربطته بتولي تدريب الزمالك أو النجمة السعودي، رفض زكري الخوض في التفاصيل، مكتفيًا بالقول: “لن أتحدث عن أي أسماء أو كيانات في الوقت الحالي، لكن العروض كثيرة ومتنوعة، وهذا أمر طبيعي بعد سنوات طويلة من العمل في السعودية”.

ويملك زكري سجلًا تدريبيًا حافلًا في الكرة السعودية، إذ قاد خمسة أندية هي: الرائد (2013-2014)، الفيحاء (2019)، ضمك (2019-2020)، الأخدود (2024)، وأخيرًا الخلود الذي أنهى معه مشواره الموسم الماضي، ومنذ رحيله لم يرتبط رسميًا بأي نادٍ جديد.

Centurion reflects on the moment he knew Australia were broken before his own wave of emotions breaks

Andrew Miller14-Jun-20251:53

Steyn on SA’s WTC win: ‘We saw the biggest of the biggest come through’

Aiden Markram’s long walk back to the pavilion at the end of his epic, trophy-seizing century, ought by rights to have been one of the proudest, most self-reflective moments of his life.With a mere six runs still needed for World Test Championship glory, here was his chance to soak in the moment, and stride off the hallowed turf of Lord’s with a salute to all corners. Surely, with 136 fourth-innings runs to his name, Markram knew in his heart of hearts (if not quite in his frontal cortex) that he was the man who had just exorcised some 30 years of South Africa big-stage failure.That wasn’t quite how the man himself allowed the moment to unfold, however.”I wish I could have,” he said. “But that’s me being me when I get out. I’m always angry.”At least looking at the building in front was pretty special. And then, naturally, the walk up [the stairs] was incredibly special. So at least there’s one or two memories from that.”Related

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Bavuma still unbeaten as captain as South Africa end 9722-day wait with WTC title

Markram’s reaction was perhaps the final vestige of South Africa’s suspension of belief. Despite all of the well-worn caveats that the nation has learned to factor into impending glory, the thronging support in the stands had long since abandoned their reticence. Perhaps the biggest clue that the game was up, however, came from the reaction of Australia’s own fielders.Travis Head’s sharp take at midwicket created barely a flicker of recognition. For most people in the crowd, the first inkling that Markram was out came as he clasped his own helmet in agony and turned on his heel. But soon afterwards it was clear, as one by one, the Australians trooped up to shake his hand. It was wonderfully magnanimous in the moment, but their body language wasn’t just beaten, but broken.”I noticed it for sure,” Markram said. “Obviously, it was a great touch from their side. There’s quite a bit of banter had on the field. But all is well that ends well, I guess. It’s always nice to be appreciated from that position.”Perhaps he’s still in a trance, still locked into the duty of delivering an innings that, by every conceivable measure – grandness of occasion, fourth innings, and against a relentless attack of unprecedented quality and longevity – earns it the right to be considered the greatest Test innings ever produced by a South African.”Nothing’s hit me just yet, so maybe that’s a good thing, but something needs to hit me soon, to get out all the emotions, because it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.”It was Aiden Markram’s third fourth-innings hundred•ICC/Getty Images

But there was a moment, as Markram marched through to his century late on the third evening, when the mask cracked and the enormity of his performance seemed ready to engulf him. With a stiff upper lip that would doubtless have earned the approval of the many English public-school boys in the stands, he quickly gulped down his emotions – though not without ducking a request for a close-of-play word to the cameras – and reset himself to perform his duty.”Yeah, it was weird last night. I was pretty emotional,” he said. “From about quarter past five, the game had slowed down. I had a bit of time to look around and see all the fans, the family, all the mates that were there … I was looking at the changing room. I was like, ‘Yes, we are now getting close’, and it caught me off guard. Then the hundred happened, and a couple of tears leaked out that I was trying to fight.”Markram reached the close on 102 not out and, with just 69 runs still to get on the final day, he went on to sleep “horribly”.”I tried to take a sleeping tablet, it didn’t work,” he said. “The mind just couldn’t switch off. But fortunately, today wasn’t ever going to be a full day, so I knew it would be fine.”Markram went the full journey in the course of this contest. Way back on that frenzied opening day, he epitomised South Africa’s hunger with his highly-strung display in the slips – first, by being the distraction as he dived across David Bedingham from second slip, then by clinging on as Wiaan Mulder repeated the dose from third, as Kagiso Rabada cranked open the contest with two Australian wickets in four balls.Later that day, his lesser-heralded offspin extracted a well-set Steven Smith for 66, and on the stroke of lunch on Friday, he finally ended Australia’s dogged tenth-wicket stand as Josh Hazlewood holed out to cover.In between whiles, however, he had also fallen for a sixth-ball duck in South Africa’s ropey start to their batting display. And, having made 4 from five balls as captain in Barbados last June, as South Africa’s last appearance in an ICC final fell agonisingly short of glory, he admitted that the urge to stay in the moment was his single biggest driver, when his chance came again to steer his country’s fortunes.Aiden Markram got a well-deserved drink from a friend in the stands•PA Images via Getty Images

“I thought a lot about the T20 World Cup last night and how hopeless I felt sitting on the side after getting out,” he said. “I was like, I don’t want to sit there again. So, this gave me a bit of motivation to make sure I stayed at the crease, if I could. But never once thought about the achievements and what would come with it. It was always about just trying to get the job done and trying to win.”That mindset meant that, throughout his game-breaking 147-run stand with Temba Bavuma, there was never any question about backing up his captain’s desire to soldier on, even after his left hamstring gave way just six runs into his critical knock of 66 that spanned three-and-a-quarter hours.”To see his hammy go was obviously a bit worrying,” Markram said. “We got to tea, and he said he felt he could still keep going, but he wanted to know from my side if the twos becoming ones would affect me.”I said, ‘there’s no chance’. It’s about the partnership, staying out there for longer, getting the ball even softer, even older, and that’s exactly what he did. He still managed to run twos and threes, so I think there was a lot of adrenaline there, but he showed a lot of leadership and character. Maybe not the big, big numbers, but the ones that really make a difference, and that was tremendous for us.”Besides being his most important innings, this was also Markram’s third century in five Tests against Australia, a team against whom he is clearly primed to raise his game. “Australians and South Africans are pretty similar,” he said. “They play the game hard, they play the game to compete, they play the game to really win, and it brings out the best in us. It’s just a battle between two teams that really don’t have any interest in losing.”And now, South Africa are the World Test Champions – an accolade earned in spite of the many well-documented brickbats they faced in the build-up, both in terms of their unusual route to this final, as well as the baggage that such a contest brings with it. “It’s as big and as tough as it gets,” Markram said. “All the questions that have been asked in the past have fortunately now been answered.”And now, at the very last, perhaps he’ll get his chance to savour the moment, now that he has lived it to the fullest. The first inkling of this occurred in the moments before the presentation, amid the melee on the outfield, and the tears and euphoria of his team-mates.Markram was beckoned by a familiar face in the stands, and after some initial hesitation, he trotted over to let his personal party begin.”Yeah, that was cool,” he said. “That was one of my mates from school. He wanted me to come over. And I was like, ‘man, I can’t, it’s too busy. It’s chaos’. And then he was like, ‘Oh, here’s a beer’ … and I was like, okay! I’ve had my first one for today, and I’m pretty sure there’ll be a few more.”