Sports
England ‘flexed their muscles’ in Oman hammering
England “really turned up” in their ruthless victory over Oman which put them back in contention for progression at the T20 World Cup, says former England bowler Steven Finn.Knowing another defeat would end their title defence, England dismissed Oman for 47 and emphatically completed the chase in 3.1 overs in Antigua.
The significant boost to their net run-rate means if England beat Namibia in their final group match on Saturday and Australia beat Scotland later that day, England will almost certainly go through.
“It was the perfect result from the moment Jos Buttler turned up and won the toss,” Finn told BBC’s Test Match Special.
“England have just flexed their muscles.”
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid took 4-11 and pace bowlers Jofra Archer and Mark Wood 4-12 as England dismissed Oman in 13.2 overs.
In reaching their target in 19 balls, England set a record for the fastest chase in a T20 World Cup match and made the ideal response to Saturday’s defeat by Australia in Barbados.
“Even when England won the toss and bowled first, or when Oman were 16-2, I don’t think they would anticipated bowling Oman out for 47,” said Finn, who won 126 caps for England across all formats.
“It just shows the power England have, but it is just one step in the right direction.”
England had to complete their chase inside 33 balls to take their net run-rate above Scotland’s, and Phil Salt hit the first two balls for six.
He was bowled by his third delivery, but captain Buttler finished 24 not out from eight balls alongside Jonny Bairstow, who hit the only two balls he faced for four.
Buttler said the result was “just what was needed” after a washout in their opening game against Scotland and the defeat by Australia.
“It was a really good performance,” he said.
“We have had some really good training sessions and spoke about how we need to stay true to ourselves and trust we have got really good players. “We spoke about needing to win two games of cricket and, if we had the chance to affect the net run-rate, that would be important.
“We are still in the same position. We still have a must-win game on Saturday.”
(BBC Sports)
Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool.
The 32-year-old’s previous deal was scheduled to run out in the summer and there had been doubts he would stay with the Reds following comments from him during the season and speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia.
However, he is staying and will have the chance to add to his 243 goals and 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances.
“Of course I’m very excited – we have a great team now,” said Salah.
“Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.
“I have played eight years here, hopefully it’s going to be 10. I’m enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I have had the best years of my career here.”
Salah has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, including 27 in the Premier League as the Reds chase a 20th top-flight title. Liverpool are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with seven games remaining.
Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup with the Reds.
He was one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract this summer, along with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
Netherlands defender Van Dijk has said there has been progress on talks over a new deal but Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.
[BBC]
MS Dhoni will lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Rutraj Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season with an elbow injury.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday. It is a significant blow to CSK, who have made a bad start to their campaign by losing four of their first five matches. They are currently ninth in the points table, above only Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Gaikwad suffered the injury during CSK’s match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30. He was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to fast bowler Tushar Deshpande and missing the ball in the second over of CSK’s unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that game. He played two more games after that and made 5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai on April 5 and 1 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on April 8. After five games, he was CSK’s second-highest run-scorer with 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61; he was CSK’s highest run-scorer in IPL 2024.
“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” Fleming said in Chennai. “We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.
“So we’re disappointed, and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”
Dhoni, 43, had led CSK from 2008 until 2024, when he handed the captaincy to Gaikwad. He had also handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but took back the leadership some way into the season after the team went through a bad run of results. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have won five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League trophies as well.
“He [Dhoni] had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can,” Fleming said. “So that was never a doubt. We’ll look at replacements. We’ve got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first. But yeah, there is an opportunity to see how we can enhance the squad probably moving forward into subsequent years.”
After their home game against KKR on today, CSK play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 14 and Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 20.
[Cricinfo]
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