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It was not always easy, but a worthy role model and the belated discovery of a cricket club helped keep a childhood passion alive and kicking

Amod Sugiyama01-Jul-2017I never thought a day would come when I would shed a tear while reading a cricket book. Especially when the book was a gloriously funny memoir, Emma John’s .Was it because the protagonist of the memoir was Mike Atherton, her idol growing up, and my favourite person in the cricket world? But while I admire Atherton and eagerly wait for his column every Thursday, I don’t love him the way many Indian fans love Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli.I cried because the book reminded me of my childhood.I was ten years old in August 2005, visiting my relatives in India, when I caught a glimpse of the most memorable Test series ever played. I don’t know if it was Andrew Flintoff’s heroic performances or Kevin Pietersen’s ridiculous hairstyle that made me fall in love with the game, but I became interested right away. Disney villains like Jafar and Maleficent were quickly replaced by Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden in my head. It took almost ten more years for me to learn to respect these two modern cricketing greats.I do not remember much about my previous visits to India before 2005 but my dad tells me now that during a train journey, I was struck by the sight of kids playing cricket everywhere – even on the railway tracks. All I remember from that journey is seeing people throw used paper cups from the train windows. Had I joined them, I might have been a better ball thrower now.My friends say cricket is in my blood. Sure, having an Indian father made it easier to get into the game, but the same didn’t happen to my younger brother. I wanted to know why a blond, slightly overweight Australian man who was apparently bowling much slower than his team-mates was troubling the English batsmen. My brother did not. No, cricket didn’t choose me, I chose cricket.The author learning the game in India as a kid•Sarang UrdhwaresheMy dad bought me a DVD boxset of the 2005 Ashes for my birthday that year and I watched it again and again. Browsing through old cricket scorecards on Cricinfo became a daily activity. I learnt that Test cricket could be both wonderfully exciting (Edgbaston 2005) and incredibly boring (Colombo 1997). I loved listening to my dad’s old cricket anecdotes too, stories of the West Indian greats and Sunil Gavaskar, who was his idol.The epic series of 2005 had made me an England fan and I spent many Saturday afternoons revisiting their previous tours in the last two decades on Cricinfo. It turned out they were not exactly world-beaters in the ’90s. Going through all the scorecards, one man caught my attention. He was the captain of the team for five years in that period and it seemed like he was anchoring many innings, only to find out he lacked partners who could stick it out with him. “Dad, why did Atherton only average 38? Tendulkar averages 57, right?” I asked him one day. “Well, he was an opener. And it was a bloody tough job in the ’90s,” was his answer.I came across the scorecard of the 1995 Johannesburg Test, which Atherton saved by batting for more than ten hours. “How can a man bat for that long knowing his team cannot win,” I wondered. Atherton had been part of the commentary team for the Ashes that year. I could not believe the man with a kind, gentle voice was capable of such a heroic performance. I was also obsessed with Tolkien and at that time and my favourite character was Faramir. Thinking back now, maybe I found some similarities between the young captain of Gondor and Atherton: both were students of history and loved literature. And both could be incredibly brave when they needed to be.Next gen: Kosuke (left) and Naoki Okamoto•Alan MargerisonBut even though I was growing up a cricket fan, my engagement with the game was limited to following professional games on the internet and playing the occasional game in the park while visiting relatives in India until I turned 18. Born and raised in the small town of Takamatsu in Kagawa, Japan, I had no access to playing the game. (This is the excuse I use when I have to explain why I am such a bad cricketer!)Luckily my college prefecture had a club, so I was finally able to play the sport. Shiga Cricket Club (we rebranded the club as Shiga Kyoto Cricket Club this year) was a beacon for cricket-loving expats living in Japan for work or education. When I joined the club five years ago, I was the only Japanese in the team, and all we did was get together on Sundays and have a hit among ourselves in various parks in the area.Now we are playing matches regularly with other teams in this area. There are four university cricket teams and one high school team in our area, though we are still the only adult team around here. Despite all the difficulties – there is no cricket ground in Kyoto, so we play most of the games on a rock-hard baseball ground with matting wicket – cricket is growing here.Our club boasts the best wicketkeeper in the region in Ashley Canning. I owe him for all the stumpings he has got me with my rubbish left-arm spin. But it’s best to leave him alone when he gets out since he will be looking for ways to smash his bat or gloves on something. He’ll be okay five minutes later.Alan Margerison, a Yorkshireman who pretends to be an Aussie, has a good defensive technique, so it’s a shame that we only play 20-over games. He bowls handy offspin too.Indranil Mukherjee (Indi) is not only a good batsman and a true team player but also our team’s fashion guru. Unfortunately, he is pretty busy with his postdoc these days and cannot join us every time. We need you more, Indi!A Shiga match on a baseball pitch•Ashley CanningRemesh Palakkad joined us at the end of the last season and is quickly becoming a central figure in the team. He is a genuine allrounder and our quickest bowler at the moment. I ask him every time whether he wants to take the new ball and he always says no and bowls the second over. We cricketers are superstitious people, aren’t we?Our newest Japanese player, Ikuo Ogita, watched a little cricket footage on CNN years ago and that was how he got interested in the game. He finally started playing this year after finding us on Facebook.However, the two biggest shining lights of our club are a pair of Japanese brothers, Naoki (11) and Kosuke (14) Okamoto, Alan’s family friends. The first time they watched cricket was a Big Bash game on TV during a holiday in Australia. The game looked familiar to them. What form of baseball was this? After a few games in the park while on holiday, they started to practise with a rubber ball. Soon, the temptation of hitting the hard ball became too strong for them and they started to come with Alan to our games. A Japanese version of the Chappell brothers in the making!Emma’s book is a coming-of-age story of a slightly awkward teenager. In chapters three and four, she writes how she tried to be an “evangelist” and introduce cricket to her friends only to find out they “tolerated [her love for cricket] and gently ignored” it. I know how you felt, Emma! I tried too, here in the land ruled by baseball. Some friends and teachers were nice enough to ask me the latest India scores. “How did India go last night, Amod?” “Not good. Lost to Australia again,” was my usual reply while I thought, “Bloody hell, I don’t even support India.”It was tough being the only cricket fan in school. I tried to explain cricket to my school friends many times but to no avail. I now think that the only similarity between cricket and baseball is that you use a bat to hit the ball. They are completely different sports. My friends all thought cricket is a much easier sport to play because there is no foul ball and you can hit the ball to 360 degrees. That is probably true but in cricket, you are judged by your whole innings rather than “one hit”.I sometimes wonder if I’ll get the chance to meet Atherton. “Hi, Athers! Pleasure meeting you. I know you have no idea but you had a big influence on one Japanese teenager growing up. By the way, why on earth did you declare when Graeme Hick was 98 not out in Sydney?”Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

Our correspondent goes on a culinary bender through Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi, no thanks to the taxi and rickshaw drivers of the land

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Apr-2016March 13
When I come in from the airport on a Sunday, Kolkata residents are spending the late afternoon on the streets. As the taxi goes through a residential neighbourhood, three children are in heated argument over their cricket match. We turn the corner and a group of old men are sitting on a mat on the pavement, in heated argument over their card game. There is an infectious buzz about the city. The old Raj-era buildings are in various states of disrepair, but that just serves to bring them to life.March 14
Almost anyone who has lived in or hails from Kolkata still refers to it as Calcutta. It is a city that industrialised rapidly as the capital of the British Raj during the second half of the 19th century, so perhaps it is understandable if it wishes to hold on to a fragment of what some perceive to be glory days.The reluctance to use post-colonial names, however, extends to street names as well, which makes Kolkata a slightly confusing place for visitors. The map on my phone tells me my hotel is on Shakespeare Sarani, for example, but cab drivers furrow brows and shake heads until I say “Theatre Road”, which is what the British had called it. I can’t say I blame the cab drivers. Not only does it seem odd to take the name of a famous Brit in a name-changing exercise that purports to reassert a local identity, but “Theatre Road” is also so much easier to say.And I can’t say I am surprised by the continued use of old names either. In fact, as a resident of Colombo, I find the new names underwhelming for their relative usability. At home, we have a former Albert Road, which is now officially known as Sri Dharmakeerthiyarama Road. And a Church Road that is more recently Sir Mohamed Macan Markar Mawatha.Where the streets have new names: it’s only tourists who use official road names, and to no avail•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdNice try, Kolkata, but when it comes giving streets names that no one will ever use, Colombo will not, and cannot, ever be beaten.March 15
Though it’s thought the Sinhala people have their origins in East India, the two cultures have diverged substantially when it comes to food. A lot of southern Sri Lankan cuisine is loosely defined by roaring flavours and heat. From the admittedly little I’ve had of it, the strength of Bengali cuisine seems to be subtlety and relative simplicity.The fried river fish at Suruchi – a low-key Bengali restaurant run by a women’s group – bears flavours of mustard and turmeric. The Kolkata biryani at Zeeshan is also far milder than the better-known Hyderabadi equivalent, and features flavour-soaked potatoes.March 16
Many of the cabs in Kolkata are beautiful old Ambassador cars, painted yellow with a navy blue stripe running horizontally just below the window. Almost all these cabs also have “No Refusal” printed on the side, which naturally leads me to believe that the drivers would not dream of refusing me a ride.I approach one and ask if he can take me to Eden Gardens for the Pakistan v Bangladesh match. He shakes his head and drives on. I approach another with what I feel is a very generous fare, but am again rebuffed. This happens at least twice more. I wonder if they forgot crucial punctuation on the “No Refusal” signs. They should instead have read: “No! Refusal!” because in peak hours, that seems to be what potential customers can expect.Raavana: demon to one, king to another•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdMarch 17

A sublime mutton curry at a dimly lit Kolkata institution called Peter Cat, and in the afternoon, my colleagues and I head to the India Coffee House, off College Street. The place can’t have changed much in the last half-century at least. A portrait of Rabindranath Tagore looks over patrons, as rows of ceiling fans whirr overhead. There is even a mezzanine floor above, and the yellow walls are a trove of local art. One line drawing in the corner, which seems to have been done by a Kolkata artist, features a man with a Maori facial tattoo.March 18
The first sign I see as I walk into Bangalore airport reads: “Pollution ” (Stop the Raavana of pollution, change the air). This is a public service announcement from the Indian government, which vilifies Raavana – a mythical king from the drop-shaped island south of the Palk Strait.Way to make a Sri Lankan feel welcome, Bangalore.March 20
Where Kolkata cab drivers gave fairly straightforward refusals, some Bangalore auto-wallahs are wonderfully theatrical about it. I stop a three-wheeler going roughly in the right direction and ask if he would mind taking me to the stadium. He shoots me a look of emphatic disdain, which asks who the hell I think I am and how dare I ask him to go to the Chinnaswamy, crinkles his nose, and without a word drives on.March 22
Nine days into the tour, halfway through a heavenly meal at a restaurant called Junior Kuppanna’s, I get just a tiny bit homesick. The place serves South Indian food, on banana leaves – just like they do in joints all over Colombo or Anuradhapura or Jaffna. And the flavours – of ground coriander, cumin and curry leaves – are close to those encountered in the north of Sri Lanka, just without Sri Lankan touches like cinnamon or and leaves.Humayun’s Tomb: the inspiration for the Taj•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdMarch 23
I had been thumped at squash by former colleague Devashish Fuloria during last year’s World Cup, but I fancied that in the intervening time I had improved enough to match him. This was delusion. My match went about as well as Sri Lanka’s World T20 campaign, except that I couldn’t blame my showing on a bad knee or board politicking. Playing with a broken racquet, Devashish wins six sets to three in an inferno of a squash court. Then perhaps out of sympathy, he books and pays for my Uber back to the guest house.March 24
The man running the small hotel next to our Delhi Airbnb apartment has a good bouncer. I find this out, as I have nothing to do but join the game of galli cricket taking place in the street.My colleague Andrew Miller has gone to a Holi party some way out of town, and without him vouching for me, the security guard will not let me through the gate. I plead with him to at least let me put my luggage in the property. I try to explain that I had had to catch an early flight and hadn’t slept. He looks me up and down with narrowed eyes, then delivers a blunt “no” and shakes his head.Eventually Andrew returns, doused in red and purple dye from head to toe. It is maybe the second time I have met him, and I don’t tell him at the time because it would have been weird, but I’ve rarely been gladder to see another human being.March 25
There is a Delhi bar called Odeon Social that is definitely worth the visit if you like good beer, decent food, and hearing loss. A few of us have come here to watch the West Indies v South Africa match, and though the music is already quite loud to begin with, it becomes progressively more offensive as the match goes on. We are not far apart from each other, but by the end of the evening, smoke signals would have been more efficient than any verbal communication. I am quite certain several frequencies have been lost to my hearing forever.We eventually leave and cross the road to a rooftop bar that is much more relaxed, and affords a nice view down into the street. If only it had shown the game.A view of Delhi from the Jama Masjid•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdMarch 26

My wife is visiting for the long weekend, so we decide to see a few of the sights. First stop is Humayun’s Tomb – one of the first Mughal garden tombs on the subcontinent, and a precursor to the Taj Mahal. The ponds in the causeway leading into the main building are drained when we visited, but the tomb itself is arresting nonetheless, the marble dome shimmering when sunlight strikes it. There are as many as 100 tombs in the same complex, leading to it being called the “dormitory of the Mughals”, though no one seemed to be bunking.In the afternoon, we visit the Jama Masjid mosque. The highlight of this trip is the climb up the southwest tower, below which the captivating old Delhi neighbourhood stretches out. We can see as far as the bright floodlights of the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, which is hosting the Australia v Ireland Women’s match.March 27
We are staying very near Connaught Place, a zone of three concentric circles that is home to one of the most important business districts in India. At the centre of Connaught Place is an Indian flag about twice as big as any single piece of fabric I have ever seen. It would take a proper hurricane to fully unfurl it.Delhi auto drivers commonly refer to the area as CP, but when they venture the full name, seem to pronounce it “Cannought Place”. This is both endearing and profound, because: “Can you take me to CP please?” In this traffic, “No, I cannought.”March 28
Back to Old Delhi and through the bustling, centuries-old warren of a bazaar, where everything from sarees to meat to electronics to holidays are sold on lanes each as wide as a tree trunk, and shops the size of thimbles. One of the many culinary highlights of the trip is the chicken tikka at Karim’s, which is just through an alleyway near the Jama Masjid. The man behind the counter tells me Karim’s has been in the same family for five generations. There must be a hundred places of business in stone-throwing distance that could make similar claims.March 31
Through the tournament some Sri Lanka fans have theorised the ICC is out to get their team since so many bad decisions have gone against them. In Bangladesh, a number of people had protested the “unfair suspensions” of two key bowlers. A few New Zealand fans have groused their side had to play at five separate venues, in comparison to England, who only played at two. There have been familiar Twitter whinges from Australia about Asian bowlers with dodgy actions.Back in a Kolkata bar for the second semi-final, R Ashwin is shown to have overstepped upon review, and a man at the table next to me bellows: “Why are they only checking no-balls for India? They just don’t want India to win the cup!” It is thought that the Big Three rules cricket. Victimhood must be a close second, though.

A “humble young man” and “a pleasure to be around” are not the words that must be going around in the England players’ heads, considering Trent Boult’s recent form and craftsmanship with the new ball

George Binoy in Wellington19-Feb-2015Trent Boult was sitting on a cardboard box – presumably containing water bottles – all padded up and waiting for his turn to bat at the Basin Reserve nets. An elderly gentleman came by and asked him if he would like a chair, because that box did look rather low, but Boult cheerfully said he was all right.Not long after that Boult’s turn was up, but as he entered the gate, he paused for a moment at a whiteboard listing the net bowlers and their style of operating. He bent down, rubbed out the F from the RAF (presumably, right-arm fast) next to one of the names and sketched in an M (presumably for medium) to the amusement of those close enough to observe his act. The friendly sledge – it must have been – as he walked into the net was inaudible.Those few minutes may not be indisputable proof of Boult’s sunny disposition, but they did not contradict his Northern Districts coach James Pamment’s assertion that he is a “humble young man” and “a pleasure to be around.”England, though, are unlikely to see that side of Boult during their World Cup match against New Zealand in Wellington on Friday, because Pamment also says Boult is a “fierce competitor” – be it fishing or playing golf – and “a very aggressive guy with the ball in his hand.”They have also had problems against left-arm quicks in the recent past. Their batsmen’s failings against Mitchell Johnson across the Tasman sea have been meticulously documented, and even Mitchell Starc has troubled their top order in the recent tri-series. Boult swings the new ball later and to a greater degree than both the Mitchells, and England will have to watch for both deliveries, the one that bends in viciously late and the one that zips across, and spotting the movement is only half the challenge.Brendon McCullum talks about a blueprint his team has been playing to in the lead-up to the World Cup – one that prescribes attacking cricket – and Pamment says Boult is the sort of bowler who complements the New Zealand captain’s philosophy. Boult is at present one of New Zealand’s best two quicks – the other is his good mate and sounding board Tim Southee – across formats and it’s certainly not because they are short of options. It wasn’t so not too long ago, though.When India toured New Zealand in early 2014 and played five ODIs, Boult didn’t get a game. New Zealand chose their specialist quicks from among Southee, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan, Hamish Bennett, Adam Milne and Matt Henry. Boult was reserved largely for Test cricket.”The sheer volume of cricket we were playing meant we weren’t necessarily able to give him [Boult] the opportunity we would have liked to with the white ball,” McCullum said. “Other guys were standing up and performing well. So that’s probably why he didn’t get a great deal of opportunities, but I think the way he’s stepped up and performed the role for us so far – him and Southee are a very dangerous bowling partnership.”His ability to swing the ball – and also the two new balls help too – he’s really developing nicely as one of our strike weapons at the start. He’ll face some challenges where opposition teams will try and be more aggressive against him, but I think he’s got the skills to overcome that. He’s a nice level-headed guy…so I’m confident he will be able to do a good job for us even if he is under a bit of pressure at times.”Boult won his place in the World Cup squad ahead of Henry and then his spot in the XI ahead of Mills and McClenaghan. It wouldn’t have surprised Pamment.”I’ve known Trent for a long number of years. We’re from the same, small district, we’re from the Bay of Plenty,” Pamment said. “His desire and determination to be an outstanding bowler has always been evident. I guess the most significant thing about Trent is that he’s very self-sufficient. He drives himself very diligently. He’s a good learner and he’s always been passionate to be one of the best in the world.”The goal of being among the best in the world seemed distant in 2009, when after a limited-overs tour of Australia during which he didn’t play an international game, an 18-year old Boult had stress fracture of the back that sidelined him for about two years. His brother Jono Boult, who also plays for Northern Districts, said Trent had taken that experience on board. “I think that helped him to getting back to where he is now,” Jono Boult says, “with the strength and conditioning sort of stuff.”Strength, conditioning and athleticism are words often spoken by Pamment when talking about Boult’s growth as a bowler over the last few years. He says a tremendous improvement in the bowler’s fitness has allowed him to exploit his greatest gift.”He’s got a lovely wrist position and the fact that the wrist goes right behind the ball gives him that control,” Pamment says. “And as he’s got stronger as an athlete, he’s increased his pace and he’s increased his accuracy through being stronger at the crease. He’s always presented the ball fantastically well but as he’s got stronger he’s been able to hold himself at the crease and run in with more vigour. It just complements what has always been a great strength of his, which is that wrist position.”He’s a fantastic athlete now and I think he’s still developing as an athlete as well. He’s very diligent around his preparation with his strength and his conditioning. He’s an outstanding athlete first and foremost and then his skills as a cricketer come to the fore.”Pamment also believes Boult can get far better, and given his penchant for self-improvement he could develop steadily over several years to come. “I think he’s got a lot of development to do and he is passionate about doing it. He’s probably enjoying the success that he has been experiencing but he will be working extremely hard to continue to develop, and most importantly to contribute to what is a good team at the moment. He’s passionate about that, I don’t think he’s anywhere near his peak. He’ll get fitter, he’ll get stronger, and his knowledge around what is required to do the job especially in white-ball bowling will only develop with more experience.”Boult’s burgeoning skills were recognised at the IPL auction three days into the World Cup, when a bidding spiral ended with him being bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise for $633,000. There have been concerns in the past of how young cricketers deal with the challenges of sudden fame and fortune. Boult seems well equipped.”He’s from a very good family, a very supportive family,” Pamment says. “He’s very humble, he loves his golf, he loves his surfing, and he’s a pleasure to be with, you know. He’s a nice young man. He’s got a very good balance in his life.”Jono Boult also painted a similar portrait of his brother – that of a “normal sort of Kiwi young guy…into his golf and fishing and surfing. Just the same as other cricketers really, nothing too interesting there!”Apart from the ability to swing the ball prodigiously and late, and accurately, at pace, as England might find out on Friday.

As Lord’s basked in a heatwave and spectators sought shade, the ground became a foreign country

Rob Smyth at Lord's19-Jul-2013This was the kind of day Lord’s rarely experiences: the sort of day when spectators, never mind players, needed to be weighed before and after play; when clothes transmogrified into wetsuits by midday. By the close of play, hotspots were visible on flame-grilled spectators all around the ground. There are even unconfirmed reports that for the first time in his life Alastair Cook produced a bead of sweat.”I’ve been coming here since god knows when and it’s the hottest I can remember,” one member exclusively told ESPNcricinfo. “Bloody insufferable,” barked another. The MCC Library does not keep a record of the hottest Lord’s Tests – and it’s one of the few things you cannot search on Statsguru – but 2013 must be right up there. On Friday, temperatures again pushed 30 degrees. The ground needed a Nivea Tent.The demand for sunscreen was such that Lord’s could probably have operated a reverse honesty box, choosing the particular price each customer paid. They settled for a blanket fee of £9, the same price as a large glass of Pimm’s. Alcohol, even more than usual, was the Gatorade of the fans. It is often lamented that beer at sporting events tastes a little watery; here that would have been a virtue, such was the threat of dehydration. A lonely pasty salesperson – or, rather, a lonely person who was selling pasties – reinforced the shift in spectator priorities.It was certainly not the day to get stuck in a tiny lift for over half an hour, as happened to a group that included Michael Vaughan just after tea. For those working at the ground – if not, surprisingly, for the bowlers on both sides – this was a day of seriously hard yakka.Catering staff had reason to lament that their uniform shirt is black rather than white. Police officers were permitted to remove their body armour “because of the nature of the sport” but stewards had to sweat under heavy bibs all day. Some were not so unhappy. “I was born in Kenya, so I’m used to the heat,” said one. “I’m loving it. I’m getting paid and I’m getting the sun as well.”The heat was such that, even more than usual, Lord’s felt as much a social gathering as a cricket match: not so much the Lord’s Test as the Lord’s Festival. Even with 16 wickets falling, the on-field action sometimes felt an ambient backdrop to a huge picnic. Even Australia’s pitiful collapse could not shift many spectators who preferred shade to schadenfreude. Lord’s was a foreign country for the day, and the attitude of many mirrored the attitude sometimes expressed after a holiday in unfamiliar country: I loved it, but I never want to do it again.Cricket’s peculiar demographic meant that back-to-front baseball caps sat alongside panamas and flip-flops alongside blindingly shiny brogues. Not that they always coexisted contentedly: when one member caught sight of a topless man whose Levi’s pants were showing above pink-and-white pinstriped shorts, he attempted to discern once and for all whether looks could kill.The Pavilion was the usual extreme-fashion contest, with egg-and-bacon blazers and lurid trousers taking pride of place on this septuagenarian catwalk. The usual Pavilion dress code was relaxed slightly: whenever temperatures reach 85 degrees, a series of notices inform members that they are allowed to remove their jackets. Many members kept their jackets on even when they left the pavilion, as if to do otherwise would invite eternal damnation. There is less flexibility on top buttons and ties – at least officially – so many members went back to their schooldays by using their tie to hide an undone top button.”If I hadn’t got so fat I’d be able to loosen my top button,” said a steward with a similar dilemma. “But it’s fine; we have lots of water and we get regular breaks. It’s just another day really. I’m a sunaholic, so I like it. Mind you, the supervisors get a bit funny about wearing sunglasses – we have to look prim and proper. It’s like the Henley Regatta. It’s Lord’s, isn’t it?”

The idea that Sachin Tendulkar might be a fallible human like the rest of us doesn’t sit well with many Indian fans. And so the wait for the milestone continues

Wright Thompson14-Mar-2012EDISON, N.J. – Not long ago, a group of Indian expats gathered in a restaurant to discuss the continuing struggles of cricket star Sachin Tendulkar. The men could have been in India, so closely does Edison resemble a subcontinent city, or at least the upscale suburb of one. Strip malls line the main artery of Oak Tree Road, block after block of sweet shops and takeaway storefronts, family-owned businesses selling saris and butter chicken. (The word for butter in Hindi is ” Coke. He’s worn a fake beard as a disguise. He’s driven his Ferrari in the middle of the night for a brief taste of freedom. His national importance is so great that he is protected by the Indian equivalent of the Secret Service. Election planners take into account his schedule; politicians know people are unlikely to vote when Sachin is batting. Once, when he failed to reach a century during the past year, a distraught fan killed himself (there were rumours of a huge gambling loss). And all these years, he’s never been ensnared by scandal, or boasted about his wealth and power.These layers of meaning are of utmost importance to the billion fans who follow Indian cricket. No figure in the game shoulders more symbolic power than Tendulkar, whose ascent to global stardom has mirrored India’s own economic rise. Both Sachin and the concept of media-fuelled narrative are children of that rise; heroes and impossible expectations are the Cain and Abel of any society that bruises its way out of the pre-modern.Through more than 20 years, his only real failure was the inability to lead India to a World Cup title. Then, 11 months ago, he achieved that, another storybook ending. It seems important to note here that, while this is slowly changing, a hallmark of Bollywood movies is white-hat saviours and black-hat villains, and crowds have actually set theatres on fire upon the introduction of gray. So the famous T-shirts that say “If cricket is religion, then Sachin is God” are more significant than if they were worn here in New Jersey.After the World Cup was won, India stopped. Crowds of euphoric fans shut down the streets of Mumbai and other cities and towns. Pizza places stopped delivering. They couldn’t get through the throngs. The most common spontaneous chant in Mumbai, echoing down the beautiful Marine Drive, was “Sachin! Sachin!”There was nothing more to accomplish.But there was. He finished the World Cup with 99 international centuries. For cricket neophytes, a century is when a player scores 100 runs in one at-bat. It is like a basketball player dropping 50 points in a game, but more prestigious. The drumbeat began in the press. Indians love statistics and symbolic displays of success. This was a perfect storm, managing to touch the soft underbelly of both national arrogance and insecurity: Thus began a media-driven quest. The 100 comes from adding Test centuries and one-day centuries, which no one had ever thought to do before. It’s not a real statistic, emerging organically like 56 or 61, but born full-grown by the narrative machine. Reaching this record, which wasn’t really a record at all, could deliver the complete victory of the myth. An easy and fitting coronation, it seemed. The defining century shouldn’t take long. He averaged one for every seven or eight times he went to bat.He’s tried 32 times since then. His last century happened 366 days ago.Never-ending symbolism
The longer Tendulkar stays marooned on 99, the more anxiety spreads through the global Indian cricket community. This includes expat neighbourhoods and colleges in the US, where this story has been hiding in plain sight from the rest of us, dominating conversation at tables and in dorm rooms while never raising a peep in the papers. Atul Huckoo’s three dinner companions host a local call-in radio show, and they’ve heard the anxiety creeping into the voices of their listeners, which grows with each failed attempt.”They want to know why,” co-host Amit Godbole said.A year ago from this chilly Monday, Tendulkar scored a century, his 98th, in a dramatic World Cup tie versus England. He got his 99th on March 12, against South Africa. The closest he’s come to 100 since was in November, against West Indies, playing in Mumbai.The at-bat lasted two days. He inched closer, crossing 75 runs, then 80. The crowd chanted his name. At Rutgers University, around 1 am, new graduate student Bhavya Sharma’s phone rang. Campuses, especially those with strong connections to India, are where the Tendulkar watch has been kept most closely in the US, as students explain to class-mates why so many Indians look like zombies in the morning. For reasons such as, say, a phone call from Sharma’s dad in India.”Are you watching?” he called into the phone.She found the match on the internet. Tendulkar was on 90. He scored four more runs. Six to go. The bowler landed it short, the ball bouncing halfway up Tendulkar’s chest. At the last split-second, Sachin opened the face of his bat just a little, and the ball sliced into the hands of a defender. Out on 94. He sighed, and as he reached the edge of the pitch, he looked around at the silent fans.

So many things are happening at once, and they have nothing to do with each other, except in the way that all things are connected. The growth rate is down. Inflation is up. The Indian cricket team is struggling. Its stars are fading. And not only is Tendulkar coming to the last act of his career, he is doing it in failure

Sharma turned off the game. Across town, a group of her friends did the same, heading for late-night food. It was Thanksgiving break, and the campus was empty and dark. It fit the mood. For these students’ entire lives, everything stopped when Sachin came to bat. One student’s grandmother won’t let anyone in the house move positions. Another’s mom refuses to cook as long until Tendulkar leaves the pitch. Everything stops until Sachin finishes. The past year has awakened people to the reality of Tendulkar finishing for good.In the same way the 1950s symbolically died with Elvis, the first rush of hope created by the new Indian economy will end when Sachin retires. The next generation will be successful but lack some hard-to-define simplicity and earnestness. So many things are happening at once, and they have nothing to do with each other, except in the way that all things are connected. The growth rate is down. Inflation is up. The Indian cricket team is struggling. Its stars are fading. And not only is Tendulkar coming to the last act of his career, he is doing it in failure.Listen to former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar. He told the on Jan. 7: “We might have left the best behind. We’ve been spoilt by success in the past 10-12 years. The big batting guns have long covered up other shortcomings but they are nearing the end. The increased dependence on Tendulkar after more than two decades is a sign of poverty.”What an odd choice of words to describe sporting failure..Blaspheming his own legacy?
The critics have drawn their long swords.Tendulkar has committed the great sin of being fallible. That’s not good enough. Everyone has an opinion about not only his life but about the inner workings of his mind. Fans and former players are calling for him to retire from one-day cricket, saying his play and his cherry-picking events are damaging both the present and future of the Indian team. One paper called the past year a “terminal decline”. The minority view that Tendulkar chases personal records instead of team wins, and that he crumbles under pressure, no matter how disproved by statistics, has gained tenuous traction.”Maybe his time has come,” a former Indian captain said.”He has to go,” said another.”It’s a monkey on his back, which is now a gorilla,” said a former Indian star.”After 50 runs,” tweeted another, “Tendulkar battles the demons in his head.”Those demons, if they exist, are his alone. Team-mates say he hasn’t mentioned the century, even in the safety of the dressing room. Sachin has said little to nothing publically about the close calls, offering a brief and contradictory interview to an Australian television station.”It is easier said than done,” he said. “It is just a number.”People can only wonder. They watch him eat lamb cutlets at his favourite curry house on Beaufort Street in Perth. They see him at a steakhouse in Adelaide called the Stag Hotel, where a DJ spins records on both levels. They follow him in the Sydney airport, Sachin smiling at the firing line of microphones and cameras, barrels bunched together, each attached to the outstretched arm of a reporter desperate for comment. They get none.The rest of the Indian team walks through baggage claim with little fuss. They climb onto an idling bus. This year has been bad for all of them. The entire team was slumping, swept in a Test series by England, then by Australia. Back home, India was boiling, calling for heads, focusing frustration onto Sachin’s personal quest, perhaps hoping this milestone, if achieved, would disinfect the rot of the past year. Or even offer a symbolic fresh start.The beauty of failure
The ghost of an Australian named Don Bradman looms over all of this. Bradman was the greatest cricketer who ever lived. Millions watched his funeral on television. Even in life people deified him, just as they’re doing to Sachin. His son, John Bradman, has spoken out against that worship. , he likes to remind people. John struggled with his dad’s legacy; for a period in the 1970s, he changed his last name, before accepting his fate and changing it back.Bradman entered his last at-bat in 1948 needing just four runs to retire with a career average of 100. The crowd at a stadium in London stood to cheer its dangerous opponent, the rumble and roar raising goose flesh around the stadium. The legend – however much part of a creation myth – says that the reaction brought tears to the stern eyes of Bradman, and, his vision blurry, he was bowled out on the second ball. That last part isn’t myth. The failure is real. He got out on the second ball and disappeared into the pavilion, his average forever 99.94 runs per game. Over the years, this number has turned into a sort of poem about the inevitability of human frailty, and the nature of the game itself.Cricket is defined by failure. In one-day cricket, a batter gets a single at-bat (an innings). In Test cricket, he gets two. A great innings takes hours, even days, and one slip of concentration, one misread of spin or bad angle with the wrists or conspiring crack in the ground – anything – results in an out. With a game so dominated by failure, it’s seen as appropriate that the greatest career ended with it, as a warning against the hubris of future generations. Men come and go. The game always wins.The last days of an epoch
The streets lay cold and empty at half past two in the morning. Suhrith Parthasarathy walked up Broadway, crossed 115th Street, arriving at the stone gates of Columbia University. As a child in India, he and his grandfather woke up at 5:30 in the morning to see matches from Australia, catching a few hours before school. Now a graduate student, he swiped his card and headed to Room 504C of the journalism school, where the window looks out at a bare tree in a tight quad, backed by the soaring glass walls of the library. Tendulkar was about to bat on this Monday night two weeks ago. Suhrith found the feed on the internet and logged into Twitter, joining in a global community.”Everybody wants him to get it,” he sighed, “so they can bloody well go on about their lives.”At Suhrith’s home stadium in Chennai, he’s seen a few Tendulkar centuries, including a famous 136 in a losing effort against Pakistan. A friend who grew up in Dubai found Suhrith in 504C and pulled up a chair. Hiten Samtani has also seen Sachin centuries in person, including two of the most famous. In April 1998, against Australia, India needed a miracle to stay alive in the Coca-Cola Cup. Before Sachin took the pitch, he told his coach: “Don’t worry. I’ll be there till the end.” Sachin finished with 143 and led India into the finals. Two days later, on his 25th birthday, he took India to a win against Australia, scoring 134. The television announcer said, 14 years ago, “This little man is the nearest thing to Bradman there’s ever been.”In the room at Columbia, the monitor glowing green from the pitch, Hiten remembered those long-ago days. “There were no physical constraints on what he could do,” he said. “He could do anything.”That night, Sachin reached 39 runs and then got his feet tangled, blocking a ball bound for his wicket with his leg. Hiten sighed. Suhrith rubbed his hands over his face. They switched off the computer and headed back out into the cold. For two days, they thought this would be Sachin’s last chance until September. Then news broke about the line-up for the Asia Cup, stunning the experts. The Indian cricket board had chosen Tendulkar. An important detail soon emerged:Sachin spoke to the selectors himself.A fleeting triumph over myth
He might never make it to 100.However unlikely, there exists the possibility that the Asia Cup will come and go, and then the next series, then another, with no century. Tendulkar is expected to play Test cricket for a few more years, which means he’ll get chance after chance. But what if he fails? A cricket writer in England, Jon Hotten, argued that, as there is beauty in Bradman’s 99.94, there would be a similar beauty if Tendulkar retired on 99. “It will contain in it this kernel of romance,” Hotten said. “He didn’t quite get the hundred hundreds, because no human being should be able to do that.”Like Bradman’s 99.94 career average, the 99 would be a poem about humanity, and failure, and about the nature of Tendulkar’s career. Because the interesting thing about the past 366 days isn’t simply that he’s failed over and over again, but that he’s kept trying under such global scrutiny. This seems like a final siege of expectation in a career flanked by it, the final struggle between the reality and the myth. What could be a more fitting coda?When you look back, it is not his unapproachable statistics that draw the most admiration, but that he managed them with a billion people on his shoulders. He’s almost at the end, and the final test isn’t of his sporting ability, but of something deeper. “Tendulkar’s greatest achievement,” Hotten said, “is he’s resisted the mad circus that’s around him. Tiger Woods, for example, it’s obviously driven him crazy in some respect. This has happened so many times with people you attach the label of genius to. I don’t know how Tendulkar has remained sane. In a way that will end up being the biggest mystery of all: How did he survive it?”The last year has been tough for fans of Indian cricket•AFPTendulkar is a closed book. He smiles and walks to the centre of the pitch. His play suggests he is bending under the weight, but he’ll never admit it. Nobody knows how he feels about the century. Bradman, for instance, never mentioned his career average in a lifetime of correspondence with the dean of English cricket writers, David Frith. There are all sorts of grievances and private insecurities in Bradman’s crowded, upright hand. But not a word about the failure that came to define his success.What does Tendulkar think about the quest? He cares enough to keep chasing it, but maybe the media and the ex-players and the manic fans are missing the point. Scoring the century doesn’t define his career, but the chasing of it does, the willingness to risk failing for the chance of success. In the past year, Sachin hasn’t blasphemed his career. He has reaffirmed it. The failure to achieve this one thing opens a rare window into the cost of all that’s been achieved already, and elevates, for a moment, the attempt above the result.The sacred journey is a familiar idea in his family. His father, a poet named Ramesh Tendulkar, often explored the theme that life is about the hard work of travelling, not the easy peace of arrival. Once he wrote these words, which now speak for his silent ageing son: .

There was only one thing the team needed from Clarke on the fourth day – a match-saving century – and unless there is a shocking collapse late on Sunday he has delivered

Ali Cook01-Nov-2008

Michael Clarke is at his most watchable when he is flashing drives and lofting the ball, but it is an innings like this one at Delhi that confirms his status as Australia’s next captain. There was only one thing the team needed from Clarke on the fourth day – a match-saving century – and unless there is a shocking collapse late on Sunday he has delivered. He is now so confident he thinks Australia might even be able to steal a win.At times he was lucky, solid, nervous and gritty, but Clarke avoided all the obstacles to register his eighth Test century at a crucial moment. When he finally reached three figures with a cut for two off Virender Sehwag, Clarke swayed his bat in relief. It had been a taxing day that had started in uncertainty and ended in fulfillment.Four years ago Clarke arrived in a flurry of stunning shots and the cricket world was amazed by the sparkles during his 151 on debut. Since then he has journeyed in and out of the side, become vice-captain and assumed responsibility not only for his own performances, but for the welfare of his team-mates.Occasional rashness remains in his batting and his bright start in the second innings in Bangalore last month ended on 6 when he aimed a firm drive and found cover. Since then he has been more attuned to resisting extravagant urges – although he was fortunate not to be punished for three mistakes on Saturday – and was the most settled of Australia’s batsmen in registering 69 to reduce the huge losing margin in Mohali.A week late in Delhi and Clarke did what his more experienced team-mates could not by getting a century. Dropped by Ishant Sharma before adding to his overnight 21, he battled with his defence, escaped the strike with nudges and occasionally went down the pitch to lift the spinners. Not until he entered the 90s, a stage where he has faltered a couple of times, did the old feelings return.He top-edged a sweep off Sehwag on 90 and had started to leave for the dressing room when VVS Laxman dropped it. Four runs later he attempted a similar shot and was relieved to see Amit Mishra’s miss at deep midwicket. “I was very lucky today, especially in the 90s,” Clarke said. “Without doubt, it certainly helped.”After being dismissed for 112 trying to hit Mishra for six over long-on, Clarke watched as Australia scraped to 577, 36 behind India’s first innings. “All the boys played well,” Clarke said. “We knew with 600 on the board we would have to bat well to put us in a position to win. For me, personally, it’s very rewarding.”By the end of the day, when the visitors had removed Sehwag and the nightwatchman Ishant, Clarke was so pleased with the recovery he was looking at an unlikely, series-levelling victory. “I think we can bowl them out tomorrow,” he said. “India won’t set us a target, they showed that by sending out a nightwatchman tonight.”He dreamed of a repeat of the 2006-07 Adelaide Test when Australia upended England on the final day to win by six wickets. “I hope so,” he said. “We’ve seen this evening what India’s thoughts are, sending a nightwatchman out. They are pretty defensive.”Australia will certainly be the one team out there trying to win the game. We will try and take a couple of wickets early and whatever we have to chase with the bat, we can get those. We will be attacking.” Having thoughtfully got his team into position, Clarke will be ready to return to his youthful ways if the bowlers follow his plan.

Mumbai Indians have signed English left-arm fast bowler Luke Wood as a replacement for the injured Jason Behrendorff for IPL 2024.Wood has been signed for his base price of INR 50 lakh.Wood has 147 wickets from 140 T20s, including five matches for England. While he has featured in several T20 leagues like the BBL, PSL and BPL, apart from The Hundred, this will be his first IPL stint.Behrendorff was ruled out of the IPL after he broke his leg in a freak accident while training in Perth last Thursday just before leaving for India.The injury to Behrendorff, who returned 14 wickets from 12 games last season, compounds problems for Mumbai in their fast-bowling department. Sri Lankan left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka picked up an injury during the second ODI against Bangladesh which has likely ruled him out from the initial stages of IPL 2024.Related

• Behrendorff's T20 World Cup hopes dented after suffering broken leg in freak training accident

• Madushanka to miss rest of Bangladesh tour, initial stages of IPL 2024

• Suryakumar Yadav in doubt for Mumbai Indians' season opener

• 'I've been fit since January' – Hardik confirms he will bowl in IPL 2024

South African fast bowler Gerald Coetzee is also recovering from a pelvic inflammation and could be unavailable for Mumbai’s first few matches.Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Madhwal, Nuwan Thushara and Arjun Tendulkar are the other fast bowlers in Mumbai’s roster, while their new captain Hardik Pandya has confirmed that he is fit to bowl in the tournament. They also have Romario Shepherd as a seam-bowling allrounder.Star batter Suryakumar Yadav, who is recovering after two surgeries, is also a doubt for Mumbai’s opening match against Gujarat Titans.

Newcastle United are prepared to sell striker Alexander Isak if Premier League rivals Liverpool submit an offer of £130 million on Monday.

Newcastle ready to sell Isak to LiverpoolHave set a final price tag of £130mMagpies to cash in even if they can't sign a new strikerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to a report from , Newcastle's Saudi-based owners Public Investment Fund (PIF) have decided to let their guard down and are prepared to facilitate Isak's departure if Liverpool can table a £130 million (€150m/$175m) bid for the striker. Reports earlier this week mentioned that the defending league champions would return with an offer worth £130m, which would break the British transfer record set by Liverpool after capturing Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for £116m.

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The report explains Newcastle will not stand in Isak's way if Liverpool make an offer worth considering, despite having insisted on a £150m (€173m/$203m) fee all summer. The Magpies have tried hard to sign two forwards and recently completed a club-record move for Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart. Newcastle have made big efforts to land Brentford's Yoane Wissa and Wolves' Jorgen Strand Larsen, but approaches for both players have been rebuffed. However, it is understood that Isak's potential exit will not hinge on Newcastle's success in signing another player for the attack.

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Isak's relationship with Newcastle and their fans is at an all-time low. Having joined the club in 2022, the Sweden international became one of the best strikers in the world after scoring 54 goals in just 86 Premier League games. In the last two seasons, he has registered tallies of 21 and 23 goals in the top-flight, which earned Isak a demigod status among Newcastle fans. However, he has been training away from the squad and hasn't made a single appearance this season after publicly expressing his desire to leave. Since then, fans' love for Isak has turned to borderline hatred, with shirts reading the words "Isak is a rat" put on sale outside St James' Park.

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Earlier this week, Newcastle's owners met with Isak at the player's house to reach a resolution regarding his future. However, the 25-year-old has stood firm on his decision to seek pastures new this summer. Newcastle's hierarchy is believed to have offered Isak a new contract in an attempt to keep him at the club for another season. The new contract would reportedly include an exit clause which would allow Isak to leave next summer for a fixed price. Liverpool sending a formal proposal for the ex-Real Sociedad marksman is not set in stone as things stand, however. They signed Hugo Ekitike in a big-money move from Eintracht Frankfurt earlier this summer and the Frenchman has started his life at Anfield with a bang, scoring thrice in his first four games.

Vipers wobble to 136 for 6 needing 207 after Seren Smale’s 99 puts Thunder in strong position

ECB Reporters Network01-May-2024Nancy Harman got Southern Vipers over the line in a tight three-wicket victory over Thunder to give the holders three wins in a row.Allrounder Harman, in her first appearance of the season, came to the crease with Vipers wobbling on 136 for 6 needing 207 – and behind the DLS with rain about. But she beat her previous best of 23 not out to guide her side to victory, and continue Vipers’ unbeaten record against Thunder.Earlier, England A batter Seren Smale beat her previous best of 94 – scored against Central Sparks last season – and bagged her third career Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy fifty but ended up heartbroken after being run out on 99.Vipers chose to bowl first and strangled Thunder in the opening 10-over Powerplay, with Shachi Pai bowled by Linsey Smith and only 16 runs coming.But Smale and Katie Mack got the innings into gear with a risk-free approach of singles and only eight boundaries making up their 94-run stand. The partnership underpinned the innings, albeit not coming at any great speed, as Smale reached her half-century in 84 balls.She earned lives on 53 and 65 – a caught and bowled spilled by Smith and a drop at deep midwicket – but showed great skill to pepper her innings with six fours, all coming in the V.Mack and Fi Morris both fell with the score on 111 within two balls of each other. The Australian was involved in a classic run-out mix-up before Morris skied a pull to give Alice Monaghan the Vipers’ first wicket to pace this season.Ellie Threlkeld was bowled trying to ramp Mary Taylor and Naomi Dattani drove straight back at Charli Knott, but Danni Collins joined with Smale to put some impetus into the back end of the innings.All eyes were on whether Smale could convert to three figures for the first time in her career. She had to contend with not getting a great deal of strike and wickets falling at the other end.Collins – after putting on 41 in a 21-ball 23 – and Tara Norris fell to Smith in consecutive balls. The left-arm spinner ended up with 3 for 19, and the most economical spell for a Vipers bowler for the second week in a row.Phoebe Graham was castled by Taylor as Smale needed five runs in the final two overs. But she only faced four balls before she was run out attempting to reach the landmark and she remained sprawled in her dived state for a while before dragging herself off.Vipers’ reply got off to a stuttering start as Norris hooped an in-swinger to bowl Ella McCaughan with the fifth ball of the innings before Knott ended her run of 41, 58 not out and 40 when she hit to short midwicket.With rain around, Vipers tried to match the DLS target – Georgia Adams crashing a series of straight boundaries with aplomb. But Abi Norgrove advancing and getting castled to make it 46 for 3, saw DLS rocket from 52 to 70.Adams and Georgia Elwiss put Vipers comfortably ahead of the rate with a partnership oozing in quality before Elwiss was strangled down the leg-side and Emily Windsor was beaten for pace by Graham.Adams reached her 50 in 62 balls – her 15th half-century – but top-edged Dattani behind to swing things back to the visitors. Then Rhianna Southby, Harman and Monaghan scored the last 72 runs to guide Vipers to victory with 39 balls to spare.

Alexander Isak’s hopes of securing a switch to Liverpool have taken an unexpected twist, with the Swedish forward now reportedly ready to consider a nuclear option that could see him unilaterally terminate his contract at the club.

• Isak wants to force an exit from Newcastle
• The forward is training alone with Sociedad
• Could even unilaterally terminate his contract

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Magpies initially claimed that an injury had prevented him from travelling with the squad on their recent tour of Asia. However, it has now become increasingly apparent that the striker’s absence stems from his determination to engineer a move to Anfield, as revealed by

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  Isak has made it known to Newcastle’s hierarchy that he has set his heart on joining the Premier League champions. His representatives have reportedly communicated his desire to leave St James’ Park and relocate to Merseyside, emphasising that Liverpool is the only destination he is interested in.

  Despite Isak's clear stance, Liverpool have yet to submit a formal bid for the striker. The Reds recently completed the £65 million ($86m) sale of Colombian winger Luis Díaz, a move expected to free up funds for a potential incoming marquee signing. The Magpies have placed a hefty £150m ($198m) valuation on their star forward, who ended last season as the club’s top scorer. The Saudi-backed ownership group at Newcastle are reportedly unwilling to entertain any offers below that figure, hoping to maximise the return on a player who played a key role in their 2023/24 campaign, including a goal in their Carabao Cup Final triumph.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Behind the scenes, there is growing concern that the standoff could escalate further. Should Newcastle continue to block a transfer or price Liverpool out of a deal, Isak and his team may explore a drastic alternative, unilaterally terminating his contract.

  This potential ‘nuclear option’ has become more feasible following a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2023. The court sided with former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra in a case that challenged some of FIFA’s longstanding transfer rules. The decision ruled that certain restrictions placed on players were inconsistent with European Union law, particularly regarding labour mobility and anti-competitive behaviour. Isak’s camp is believed to be aware of the implications of this ruling and may view it as a last resort should Newcastle hold firm on their valuation.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR ISAK?

  With less than a month to go before the Premier League kicks off, time is running short for all parties to find a resolution. Newcastle remain hopeful that they can convince Isak to stay or at least secure a fee that reflects their valuation. Meanwhile, Liverpool may be biding their time before making a formal approach, knowing that the player’s growing frustration could eventually force Newcastle’s hand.