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Arsenal dealt Martin Odegaard injury blow after three-word Norway update

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

It’s been an unfortunate start to the season for Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, who’s been sidelined multiple times through injury already and is now racing to recover from an MCL problem.

The North London derby on November 23rd takes on added significance for Arsenal as they await Odegaard’s potential return from a frustrating spell on the sidelines.

The Norwegian playmaker has become synonymous with Arsenal’s attacking fluency, and his absence has been an unwanted headache for Mikel Arteta.

Amid their pursuit of a first Premier League title in 22 years, the Gunners have done very well to cope through a torrid period of injuries to key attacking players at the Emirates. Odegaard’s latest setback came during their 2-0 win over West Ham in early October, when a collision with winger Crysencio Summerville resulted in a medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee.

The incident forced him off after just 30 minutes and made unwanted history. Odegaard actually became the first player in Premier League history to be substituted before half-time in three consecutive starts, and what makes this injury particularly cruel is the timing.

The 26-year-old had only just returned from a persistent shoulder problem that had already disrupted his campaign. That shoulder issue saw him withdrawn after 38 minutes of Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Leeds United at the very start of 25/26, before an aggravation of the same injury forced him off after just 18 minutes against Nottingham Forest.

Odegaard has completed a full 90 minutes only twice this season, and Arsenal rehab specialists have resorted to pretty unique methods to speed up his recovery.

The former Real Madrid midfielder has been using anti-gravity treadmills at Arsenal’s London Colney training centre to accelerate his comeback, a technique that reduces gravitational load while restoring muscle strength and mobility.

Arsenal’s unbeaten run in all competitions since defeat to Liverpool

Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest

Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Arsenal

Arsenal 1-1 Man City

Port Vale 0-2 Arsenal

Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal

Arsenal 2-0 Olympiacos

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham

Fulham 0-1 Arsenal

Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid

Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace

Arsenal 2-0 Brighton

Burnley 0-2 Arsenal

Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal

Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal

His return would provide a massive boost heading into one of the season’s most important fixtures against Spurs right after the international break, but Arsenal have now been dealt a pretty concerning update.

Credible reports had claimed that Odegaard is battling to be in contention for Tottenham alongside Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres, with Gabriel Jesus the only forward definitively ruled out (Simon Collings).

However, Norway boss Stale Solbakken has now made a suggestion that even the derby may be too soon for him.

Arsenal star Martin Odegaard "some distance away" from injury return

Speaking in a press conference this week, Solbakken stated that Odegaard is actually “some distance away” from his injury return — which makes for a pretty concerning admission ahead of Tottenham’s visit to the Emirates in just 10 days time.

Despite still being sidelined, Odegaard has travelled with the Norway squad to be a presence for morale ahead of crucial World Cup qualifiers against Estonia and Italy.

Arteta will be keeping a very close eye on his players during this international break, which always poses the threat of unwanted injury problems, and defender Riccardo Calafiori gave Arsenal a scare earlier this week after it was revealed the left-back is training alone with a hip issue.

Luckily for the Azzurri and Arteta, Italian medical officials believe that Calafiori will be fit to face Norway on November 16, with the individual training programme most likely a precaution and nothing too serious.

Immediately after their clash against Tottenham, the north Londoners take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Chelsea just four days later, with Arteta hoping he has most of his attacking contingent back and ready to contribute in these vital face-offs.

Only five teams to feature in BPL 2025-26

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Dhaka Capitals and Rangpur Riders are the only surviving teams from the 2024-25 season

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2025Five teams, down from seven last year, will take part in the 2025-26 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Dhaka Capitals and Rangpur Riders are the only surviving teams from the 2024-25 season, with three other franchises – Chattogram, Rajshahi and Sylhet – having gone through ownership changes.This means Chittagong Kings, Durbar Rajshahi and Sylhet Strikers are out of the competition, with Chattogram Royals, Rajshahi Warriors and Sylhet Titans taking their place.Fortune Barishal, who won the last two editions of the BPL, and Khulna Tigers are out of the tournament entirely.The BCB’s media department announced the list of participating teams on Thursday, but did not reveal any details of the new ownership.The BPL player draft is set to take place on November 17. The tournament is likely to be held from mid-December 2025 to mid-January 2026.

South Africa begin WTC title defence as Pakistan eye home revival

by h79snht.top Uncategorized

Contrasting sides meet in spin-friendly conditions as Test cricket returns to Gaddafi Stadium

Danyal Rasool11-Oct-2025

Shan Masood and Aiden Markram pose with the series trophy•Associated Press

Big pictureThis is a series of opposites and inversions. South Africa, the side that won the World Test Championship this year, visit Pakistan, the team that finished bottom. Two sides historically known for their legendary fast bowling prowess will look to manufacture alternate means of taking 20 wickets, with the conditions set to favour each team’s less decorated spin bowlers. South Africa will look to complete a record-extending 11th straight Test win, while Pakistan have triumphed in just three of their previous 12.Even the venue is a bit incongruous for the occasion. Despite Test cricket returning to Pakistan after a decade-long hiatus in 2019, the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore hasn’t seen much of it, with just one five-day game played here, three years ago. All told, this will be just the second Test since 2009 to be played in Lahore, with the Gaddafi Stadium regaining its original position in Pakistan after the stadium was knocked down and rebuilt ahead of the Champions Trophy this year.South Africa are in a somewhat unprecedented position, beginning a world title defence. An ICC trophy was elusive enough for the side to put any notions of defending one into uncharted territory. But a credible defence will have to go through this awkward test in Pakistan. They will do so without the services of their talismanic captain Temba Bavuma, whom his stand-in Aiden Markram termed “irreplaceable”. As importantly, they will miss Keshav Maharaj for the first Test, needing the internationally less experienced Simon Harmer, Senuran Muthusamy and Prenelan Subrayen to step up.Related

Pakistan prepare for South Africa with precious little first-class cricket

The hosts are in the early stages of an experiment with the surfaces they prepare, one that has brought them results, but also left games heavily dependent on the toss. Pakistan have won three of the four home Test matches played under this system, but three of four have also been won by the side batting first. Pakistan have three finger spinners in their line-up which make their intentions plain, while Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan return to the side after white-ball absences. In theory, Pakistan have a soft enough draw to make qualification for this edition’s final in two years a realistic prospect. But two Test matches, such as the ones coming up, are a long enough time in Pakistan cricket, let alone two years.Form guidePakistan: LWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa: WWWWWIn the spotlightPerhaps it says more about Pakistan than it does about Noman Ali, but the man who celebrated his 39th birthday last week is the most important player for the home side this week. With Sajid Khan struggling to overcome a bout of flu, the left-arm spinner needs to take on even more responsibility on the kind of surface Pakistan will prepare almost exclusively suited to his strengths. Noman last played red-ball cricket in February, but he has taken 36 wickets in his last four Tests, making full use of conditions. Sajid just about picked up the other half, but in his absence, Pakistan will ask even more of the man who has entered his 40th year.Ryan Rickelton is still finding his way as an opener in the longest format•Associated Press

Ryan Rickelton has 638 runs in 19 Test innings, and is still finding his way as an opener in the longest format. Nearly half of those runs, though, came in one mammoth innings earlier this year against Pakistan, when he amassed 259 as South Africa ground Pakistan into the Newlands dirt. There is an unbeaten hundred against Sri Lanka, but aside from that, he has yet to cross 42 in 17 other innings. As South Africa begin their defence and Rickelton takes guard in conditions he has not faced before, it remains to be seen whether his happy memories against Pakistan can overcome his otherwise modest Test record.Team newsPakistan’s biggest headache is the potential unavailability of Sajid Khan as he battles flu. The offspinner did rejoin the Pakistan camp, but Shan Masood said a decision on whether he plays will be taken last minute.Pakistan (possible): 1 Abdullah Shafique/Imam ul Haq, 2 Shan Masood (capt) 3 Kamran Ghulam 4 Babar Azam 5 Saud Shakeel 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 7 Salman Ali Agha 8 Noman Ali 9 Khurram Shahzad 10 Sajid Khan/Abrar Ahmed 11 Asif AfridiSouth Africa captain Aiden Markram kept his cards close to his chest regarding the eleven, though it is inevitable the visitors will also go spin-heavy.South Africa (possible): 1 Aiden Markram (capt), 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Dewald Brevis, 5 David Bedingham (wk), 6 Kyle Verreynne, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Prenelan Subrayen, 9 Senuran Muthusamy, 10 Simon Harmer, 11 Kagiso RabadaPitch and conditionsThe previous week saw unseasonal rains and cool temperatures in Lahore, but that weather system has been washed away. The Test will be played under hot October sunshine. That should help break the surface, almost certainly spin-friendly, up even quicker. It was kept under cover today. The winner of the toss will almost certainly bat first.Stats and triviaSouth Africa have won 10 Test matches on the trot, their longest streak in historyBabar Azam is 251 runs away from becoming the 5th Pakistan batter to 15,000 international runs. Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Javed Miandad are the only players to have achieved that feat.Quotes”It’s a good opportunity for us to start against the defending champions. It will be a good yardstick for us to play against them, especially if we can get a good result against them.” “Preparation has been good. We had a camp back in South Africa where we tried to simulate conditions as best as we could. There was a lot of focus on spin play and our spinners getting used to the ball spinning a lot compared to South Africa.” South African captain Aiden Markram reveals what the visitors tried to do to replicate the conditions they are likely to encounter

New ball or old, Henry will make things happen

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

He was always an excellent new-ball bowler, but Matt Henry has evolved into a fine death-overs bowler now, and being the leader of the attack has freed him up

Deivarayan Muthu07-Mar-2025Between the otherworldly swing of Trent Boult and Tim Southee, Matt Henry’s own swing and seam had often gone underappreciated. In New Zealand’s first ICC competition without Boult or Southee since 2010, Henry has finally emerged from the shadows of those two greats, topping the Champions Trophy wickets chart with ten strikes in four innings at an average of 16.70 and economy rate of 5.32.Much like Boult and Southee, Henry is known to the wider world as a new-ball phenom. When he was a late addition to New Zealand’s squad for the 2015 ODI World Cup, he reminded Martin Crowe of a young Richard Hadlee. Ten years on, Henry isn’t just about swing or seam anymore. He has evolved into a complete fast bowler, who can be just as potent with the old ball.Matt Henry with the old ball? Stop kidding me!Related

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No, really. Since 2023, Henry is the joint-highest wicket-taker, alongside Shaheen Shah Afridi, in the last ten overs in ODI cricket, with 25 strikes in 20 innings (Shaheen has the benefit of bowling in 22 innings) at an economy rate of 6.79. And nobody has a better bowling average than Henry’s 12.36 for a minimum of 200 balls between overs 40 and 50 since 2023.His corresponding numbers in the death between his ODI debut at the start of 2014 and end of 2022 were poor: 23 wickets in 41 innings at an average of 26.86 and economy rate of 8.56.Henry’s outrageous improvement with the old ball has transformed him into an all-purpose, all-format bowler. Since 2023, he is also the highest wicket-taker in international cricket across formats with 136 strikes in 66 innings. Ravindra Jadeja (125), Jasprit Bumrah (124), Afridi (124) and Mitchell Starc (117) all slot in behind Henry on this list.The IPL, the Hundred and the MLC all wanted Henry. You can’t just sit idle with your skills these days. Unless you keep upgrading them, cricket will leave you behind.Henry refused to be left behind. A career-threatening back injury had already left him far behind during his early years. He then spent a number of years watching Boult and Southee, and then Kyle Jamieson, surge ahead of him.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt was the 2023 T20 Blast that unlocked the old-ball skills of Henry. While he continued to attack and hunt for wickets with the new ball, he developed defensive skills with the older, softer one, hiding it away from the hitting arcs of batters with slower balls and cross-seamers. He came away with 31 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 13.25 and economy rate of 7.85 on surfaces that were largely flat and favoured hitting through the line.Henry’s title-winning run at Somerset in the T20 Blast gave him the belief that he could succeed with the old ball as well. Henry doesn’t have a magic slower one, like the knuckle ball or the back-of-the-hand variation, yet, but he can get his offcutter to react differently on different pitches.Look at this dismissal from the 2023 ODI World Cup. Mushfiqur Rahim collapses to the floor like a house of cards. The slower ball hits the Chennai pitch and skids under his bat – as opposed to bouncing higher – and knocks out his off stump.Henry can also get his offcutter to rise at the rib cage or even higher. He drew a mis-hit from Hardik Pandya with that slower bouncer in Dubai last Sunday on his way to a five-wicket haul. His change-ups, bowled without any discernible change in his action, were particularly vital to New Zealand limiting India to 249 for 9.

“He’s always had the reputation of being an outstanding new-ball bowler, but you see the development in his game is using that slower bouncer and different fields, etc at the back end. He’s a much more rounded bowler and that’s why he’s having success across formats”Shane Bond on Matt Henry

Shane Bond is so impressed with Henry’s versatility that he rates him as one of New Zealand’s best ODI bowlers. “When you look at New Zealand’s great one-day bowlers, you think of Trent Boult… but Matt Henry has been his partner-in-crime for a long time. If you line up their records, it will be pretty similar,” Bond said on ESPNcricinfo’s Match Day show. “He’s got an exceptional one-day record, and he just continues to be a world-class bowler now. He does it on the big occasions.”He showed that he’s really developed his skills at the back-end of the innings. He’s always had the reputation of being an outstanding new-ball bowler, but you see the development in his game is using that slower bouncer and different fields, etc at the back end. He’s a much more rounded bowler and that’s why he’s having success across formats.”Two of New Zealand’s frontline quicks, who usually operate with the old ball, Lockie Ferguson and Ben Sears, were sidelined from the Champions Trophy even before the start of the tournament. All of Will O’Rourke, Nathan Smith and Jacob Duffy had never played in an ICC tournament before this Champions Trophy, but despite various setbacks, Henry has made Black Caps’ seam attack work across four venues in two countries.ESPNcricinfo LtdHe won’t agree that he’s the leader of this attack, but he certainly has all the attributes of one: he fronts up to bowl across phases, produces significant breakthroughs and is often spotted at mid-on or mid-off, passing inputs to the rookie bowlers and putting his arm around them, like a protective older brother embracing his younger one, when they get hit.All of New Zealand perhaps went down with Henry when he landed awkwardly on his shoulder to grab the catch of Heinrich Klaasen at long-on in the semi-final against South Africa. Henry then picked himself and New Zealand up, returning to bowl two boundary-less overs at the death to go with the wicket of Kagiso Rabada with a grippy offcutter from over the wicket. New Zealand are hoping that he will be fit for the final.India, of course, will be more familiar with new-ball Henry. He blitzed through their line-ups in the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final in Manchester and more recently in the Bengaluru Test last year with his mastery of the upright as well as the wobble seam. He even tricked Shubman Gill into playing across the line with an inducker when New Zealand met India in Dubai.Henry makes things happen with the new ball. Now, he can make things happen with the old ball too. Bet against Henry 2.0 at your own peril.

SL opt to bowl, India rest Bumrah and Dube

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka won the toss in the dead-rubber against finalists India. They made one change with bowling allrounder Chamika Karunaratne making way for batting allrounder Janith Liyanage.India meanwhile rested Jasprit Bumrah and Shivam Dube, with left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh and right-arm seamer Harshit Rana coming into the XI. India captain Suryakumar Yadav was happy with the toss decision, saying he would have opted to bat too.Asalanka, at the toss, said this was an important game despite a place in the final no longer up for grabs. He said he wanted to keep India down to 175.Sri Lanka XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera, Charith Asalanka (capt), Dasun Shanaka, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan ThusharaIndia XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh