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- Cristiano Ronaldo
rik ten Hag has confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo will return to the Manchester United squad for Thursday’s Europa League clash with Sherriff Tiraspol.
The 37-year-old sat out Saturday’s 1-1 league draw at Chelsea as punishment for leaving last Wednesday’s match against Tottenham early and refusing to come on as a substitute.
- Tim Elbera
Things must change for Finch and ugly Aussies
If the stakes hadn’t been so high, Aaron Finch’s ‘anchor role’ would have been funny. In truth, it was agonising and unsustainable, writes DANIEL CHERNY.
There has been plenty of talk over the years about the ugly Australians. But for much of Tuesday night in Perth, the prospect of Glenn McGrath glaring at batsmen and Steve Waugh chirping invective from gully felt much more palatable than what was being dished up.
This was ugly from Australia. Really ugly. From an early stage the Aussies’ body language looked negative. There were scowls on their faces, particularly that of captain Aaron Finch.
Wickets were being greeted with shows of relief rather than joy, passion or excitement. Mitchell Starc played traffic cop, on the lookout for Dhananjaya de Silva straying into unlawful terrain at the non-striker’s end. Pat Cummins dropped Pathum Nissanka. Marcus Stoinis got grumpy with Ashton Agar for a lack of urgency in the field. Cummins also bowled two wides in a final over that went for 20, ending with a boundary that went through Finch following a lame effort from the skipper, one which had him thudding the turf in frustration.
Sri Lanka had squeezed their way to 6-157. It still shouldn’t have been a winning total but it was defendable.
If Finch was frustrated with his fielding, goodness knows what he must’ve thought of his batting. He was playing the anchor role too well: weighing the side down. If the stakes hadn’t been so high, it would have been funny. But in truth, it was agonising.
- Cric Viz
CricViz: The pace drop-off behind Starc’s role change
Mitchell Starc was once Australia’s prize T20 weapon. That is no longer the case, writes CricViz analyst BEN JONES.
Mitchell Starc – once the most fearsome, ultra-aggressive new ball bowler in world cricket – was kept out of the attack until the fifth over, held back as the rest of the attack took a bite of the cherry.
Australia looked at their gun quick, their 150kph wildcard, and they held him back. That one over went well – one run, no wicket – but it felt like a marker. In a game where Australia were desperate to blow the opposition away with the ball, Starc wasn’t considered.
Across the innings he went rather nicely, conceding less than a run a ball despite his wicketless spell, and kept things tight in a game where the Sri Lanka batters rarely threatened to get away. But the sense was, unmistakeable, of Starc moving away from the role where he’s dominated in gold for many years.
The issue for Australia is that it’s entirely deserved.
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