Former Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is back in football after landing his first job since his Old Trafford exit.

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Woodward left Manchester United in 2022Has now taken up new football-related roleWill work with London-based charityWHAT HAPPENED?

Woodward has been appointed to the board of trustees for Bloomsbury Football Foundation. The charity has described Woodward's appointment as a "huge signing" as he takes up his first football-related position since leaving United in 2022.

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Woodward spent a decade at Old Trafford but was unpopular with supporters, largely due to some poor transfer decisions. He took up a position in 2023 as a non-executive director at eSports company EStars but his latest role is his first football-related position since leaving United. The Bloomsbury Football Foundation is a London-based charity that offers an inclusive football programme aimed at young people.

WHAT WOODWARD SAID

He said: "I am thrilled. This is an exciting opportunity to join a charity that is already having a significant impact on the lives of young Londoners using the power of football. Visiting a Bloomsbury Football session reaffirmed my belief that football has the power to change lives. It is clear the support the charity is already receiving is making a real impact on the pitch. The session represented the diversity of London – the coaches were supportive, players were engaged, and they seemed to be enjoying every minute."

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Woodward will be hoping he can make an impact in his new role but will likely also be watching events at Manchester United with interest. The Red Devils are also set for major changes this summer, with Omar Berrada set to take over as CEO, while the club are also hoping to bring in Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox as part of a shake-up.

Rarely has a line-up been made to look quite so wrong-headed as in Barbados, but here are five more blunders that came back to haunt selectors.

Andrew Miller29-Jan-2019

Selection is easy in hindsight, claimed Joe Root in the wake of England’s 381-drubbing in the first Test against West Indies. But rarely has a line-up been made to look quite so wrong-headed as in Barbados. ESPNcricinfo looks back on five other selection shockers that the brains trust came to rue.India v England, Calcutta, 1992-93Arguably the most scandalous selection of England’s tour of India in 1992-93 occurred before a ball was bowled: David Gower’s and Jack Russell’s omissions outraged MCC to such an extent that a special general meeting was convened in protest. But even if those two causes célèbres had been picked, there’s no chance on earth that it could have made a difference in the series opener at Eden Gardens – thanks to the catastrophic line-up with which Graham Gooch took the field.The facts of the contest speak for themselves. England picked four frontline quicks (combined figures: 6 for 321), with the legspin of Ian Salisbury elevated ahead of John Emburey and Phil Tufnell on account of his greater rhythm in the nets. India, on the other hand, opted for three frontline spinners – Venkatapathy Raju, Anil Kumble and Rajesh Chauhan – who claimed 17 for 354 between them.Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar (both allrounders) bowled just a handful of seam-up in either innings, while England’s only threat came from the part-time offspin of Graeme Hick (5 for 28 in the match). Mohammad Azharuddin (182) outscored England (163) in their first innings, and the tone for the series had been set.India’s Mohammad Azharuddin after scoring a century•Getty Images

England v Australia, Headingley, 1997On his day, Andrew Caddick was as awkward a seam bowler as England have selected in a generation – but it was his awkwardness as a character that seemed to count against him on far too many occasions. His non-selection for the 1998-99 Ashes tour was self-defeatingly dim-witted – he proved his point by taking 10 wickets at Sydney four years later – but a harbinger of that call had come at Headingley in the fourth Test of England’s home Ashes campaign in 1997. The series was locked at 1-1 but, after being stung into action by England’s incredible win at Edgbaston, Australia were the team on the march. They were denied by rain at Lord’s before Steve Waugh duked a dogfight at Old Trafford.But then came Headingley, a traditional seamers’ paradise – and what did England choose to do? In their infinite wisdom, they decided the time was ripe to ditch Caddick, their leading hit-the-deck exponent, and choose instead a rookie left-arm swing bowler. I mean, who’d do such a thing?With Australia wobbling at 50 for 4 in their first innings, legend has it that the series turned when Matthew Elliott, who made 199, was dropped by Graham Thorpe on 29 off the debutant Mike Smith. And yet that narrative ignores the fact that Smith never again came so close to claiming that elusive maiden wicket.Graham Thorpe drops Matthew Elliott off the bowling of Mike Smith during the 4th Ashes Test in 1997•Clive Mason/ALLSPORT

Caddick, on the other hand, still went on to glean 24 wickets at 26.41 in the other five Tests of the series – comfortably England’s outstanding performer.England v India, Lord’s, 2018For all that they have been the pre-eminent Test team of the past couple of years, India’s selection has let them down on more than a few occasions – particularly in South Africa and England in 2018, where they slumped to hard-fought series losses that looked more comprehensive on paper than they actually had been in reality.Cheteshwar Pujara’s omission at Edgbaston was a case in point, but nothing was more self-defeating that their absurd team balance for the second Test at Lord’s. The left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep Yadav had been a sensation in the one-day leg of the England tour, so the urge to include him at some stage of the series was overwhelming.Kuldeep Yadav delivers the ball•Getty Images

But, given that the whole of the first day of the second Test had been washed out by rain, and that the second dawned dank and overcast too, the inclusion of Kuldeep, alongside a second spinner in R Ashwin and instead of the seamer Umesh Yadav, beggared belief.Sure enough, James Anderson claimed 5 for 20 to rout India for 107, and in reply, Kuldeep was called upon for just nine flaky overs as England pounded out 396 for 7 declared to set up a thumping innings win, and a 2-0 series lead.England v South Africa, Headingley, 2008One of the weirdest selections of all time, and that’s saying something given England’s reputation for pinning donkeys onto their tails. There was something distinctly amiss about the latter months of Michael Vaughan’s England reign – the team was in transition and Graeme Smith’s South Africa (after finding their feet in a towering rearguard at Lord’s) were suddenly itching to outgun them on home soil.But when Ryan Sidebottom, one of the few stalwarts of that mini-era, went lame on the eve of the match, the selectors decided to replace him with an Australian roof-tiler, two weeks shy of his 30th birthday, whom Vaughan admitted at the toss he knew next to nothing about – Darren Pattinson.Apart from anything else, the decision was a final kick in the teeth for the hard-toiling Matthew Hoggard, who had been dumped unceremoniously during the winter tour of New Zealand, and who now wasn’t even trusted for an emergency encore on his Yorkshire home ground. England were duly stuffed by 10 wickets, and though Pattinson was an all-too-easy scapegoat, Vaughan admitted afterwards that the bizarre circumstances of his selection had left the dressing room baffled and unsettled.Unsurprisingly, he never played again, though his brother James went on to play in the 2013 Ashes … for Australia.Darren Pattinson lies on the pitch after failing to catch Mark Boucher off his own bowling•PA Photos

England v Australia, The Oval, 2009Long before Nathan Lyon rocked up to provide Australia with their most reliable spin option since the mighty Shane Warne, Nathan Hauritz had been plugging away on a diligent line and length, fulfilling an unglamorous role with as much skill and professionalism as he could muster. He was, in short, an easy player to overlook.But by doing just that, Australia squandered arguably their best chance of an Ashes win in England in nigh on two decades. Hauritz had picked off ten wickets in the first three Tests of the series when he was justifiably omitted for the fourth at Headingley – an extraordinary contest in which England were blitzed inside three days to draw the series level at 1-1 and leave everything hanging on the decider at The Oval.Nathan Hauritz at training ahead of the fifth Ashes Test in 2009•Getty Images

But flushed with familiar Aussie confidence, and reassured that their pace attack had the measure of an England team that had seemed to be living on its wits for much of the summer, they failed to pay heed to a suspiciously dry Oval deck. And though Stuart Broad set up the win with the first of his now familiar Ashes rampages, the sight of Marcus North claiming four second-innings wickets was an indication to Australia of what they might have overlooked.Sure enough, England’s own spinner Graeme Swann sealed a nervy victory with four scalps of his own, just when it seemed that a target of 546 might not be completely out of the question.

The Belgian has unfinished business in the Champions League, but a talismanic display against Real Madrid could win over the few remaining doubters

No player has been more influential on Manchester City's modern era than Kevin De Bruyne. There is no question, therefore, that whenever he decides to step away from the club, the void he leaves should be filled by a statue outside the Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola summed up the Belgian's influence after his virtuoso display against Crystal Palace earlier this month. "Ten years in Man City, the numbers, the presence, the consistency has been amazing," gushed the City boss, who had blown kisses towards his playmaker following his stupendous equaliser. "One of the best players in all our history of Man City."

And yet, over in Madrid, where City were visiting just days later in the Champions League quarter-finals, not everyone was convinced…

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  Baffling criticism

  "If the current Champions League holders and the absolute reference for excellence in the Premier League is characterised by something, it is the absence of an outstanding star. The closest thing to that is the lacklustre Kevin De Bruyne, at 32 years old, the most difficult player in the group to manage," read an article in the highly-respected broadsheet newspaper.

  "The player has been walking a thorny frontier for years. He combines the tendency to gain weight with the inclination to conform. Forced to multiply his mobility by rivals who increasingly sit back in response to City's offensive play, he alternates days of self-denial with days of fatigue.

  "Nobody has a more lethal shot or a more surgical pass. It's just a matter of not being assaulted by dark thoughts that induce melancholy and an urgent need to play by settling in instead of assuming the difficult responsibility of getting into the opposition's danger zones to receive the ball."

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  Not eating at the top table

  The article did point out that De Bruyne was "rediscovering his best form", but the many criticisms of him, which have barely featured in any analysis of his nine years in England, served to underline the fact that, outside of England and Belgium, De Bruyne does not get the respect he deserves. He is allowed in the room with the best players in the world, but he does not eat at the top table.

  It is not known whether De Bruyne is aware of or even cares about some of the negative press he gets in Spain, but he was unable to respond on the pitch at Santiago Bernabeu after falling victim to a stomach bug and vomiting hours before the match.

  He did so with another magnificent performance in the 5-1 battering of Luton, however, in a perfect tune-up performance for Wednesday's showdown at the Etihad Stadium, where he will have another chance to prove his true majesty to the rest of the world.

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  Astonishing goal contributions

  De Bruyne's achievements in the game speak for themselves. He has won 14 trophies with City and been pivotal to five Premier League triumphs. Take his eye-watering numbers of 176 goal contributions in 251 league games, broken down into 67 goals and 109 assists.

  He became the fastest player in the league's history to reach 100 assists, doing so in 237 games, 56 fewer than previous record holder Cesc Fabregas. He is just three assists away from usurping Fabregas as the league's second-highest assist-provider, and soon will only trail Ryan Giggs, who amassed 162 while with Manchester United.

  Then again, Giggs spent 22 years in the Premier League. Considering De Bruyne set up 18 goals last season in the league and has six even in this injury-ravaged campaign, it would not take him too many more years to dethrone Giggs too.

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  Rotten luck

  One reason why De Bruyne does not garner such admiration abroad is that, until recently, City were often out of the picture in the crunch stages of the Champions League, when the whole world was watching. City reached the semi-finals of the competition in his first season in 2015-16, but were hugely disappointing against Real Madrid, losing 1-0 at the Bernabeu.

  They failed to reach the last four again until the 2020-21 season, when they got all the way to the final. De Bruyne was a huge factor in City reaching their first European showpiece, scoring three times between the last 16 and semis. But when it came to the final against Chelsea, luck evaded him. He clashed heads with Antonio Rudiger in the second half, fracturing his nose and one of his eye sockets. City were beaten 1-0, leaving him without a winners' medal.

  De Bruyne was also one of the stars in the 2021-22 campaign, scoring in the quarter-finals against Atletico Madrid and the semi-final against Real. He was taken off in the second leg at the Bernabeu moments before City opened the scoring, and watched on helplessly as his side conceded two goals in two minutes of added-time before losing in extra-time.

  The Belgian had his say when the two sides met at the same stage a year later with a lethal strike from outside the area to level the first leg before playing in his part in the destruction of Madrid at the Etihad. And yet, he endured another miserable twist of fate in the final against Inter, snapping his hamstring in the first half. City went on to win the final and complete a remarkable treble, but the heroes were Rodri and Ederson, not De Bruyne.

The West Indies captain was also pleased with the return of opener Evin Lewis for the T20I leg, after he skipped the tour of India last month

Mohammad Isam16-Dec-2018When the best player on tour is injured, the captain and the team management tend to get nervous. Perhaps many captains would think, or even say in private, that they would do anything to ensure that he or she plays the next game. Carlos Brathwaite, West Indies’ T20I captain, said this about Shai Hope, whose back-to-back unbeaten centuries have been the visitors’ only batting beacon in Bangladesh in the past week.Hope felt dizzy after receiving a blow to the head during Friday’s third ODI in Sylhet, but he trained with the squad on Sunday, ahead of the first T20I.”Shai [Hope] is in beautiful batting form, fresh off two back-to-back unbeaten centuries,” Brathwaite said. “Even if Shai has to play with a stretcher, I will volunteer to carry the stretcher between the wickets. He is fine and in good spirits. He is out practising, so hopefully he is close to 100 percent. As long as he is alive, he will play tomorrow.”ALSO READ: WI look to break five-game losing streak against upbeat hostsBrathwaite’s side will further be boosted by the return of Evin Lewis, who missed the India tour and the Bangladesh ODIs. “He is one of the better batsmen in the world. For the last 18 months or so, he has three T20I hundreds and also centuries in regional and franchise cricket all over the world.”He is a definite plus for any team. It is a positive to have in our side. Hopefully he will deliver some big performances which will help us win the game and the series,” Brathwaite said.But of course, injuries and unavailability have been a major bother for the West Indies. Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Jason Holder are injured, while Chris Gayle has been busy with league commitments.”We have had some informal chats about it. We can’t do much as players if we continue to lose. We don’t have much power or say. The group of players needs to find a way to win, regardless of who is and who is not selected. When we start to win, we can pull on experiences on learning how to win games.”Evidently you become more experienced and confident, and start creating your own brand of cricket. We haven’t been able to, because of a lot of chopping and changing for different reasons. The feeling in the dressing room is that whenever a team is picked for a tour, we put our heads together as a unit, and find a way to win games. Once we do that, West Indies cricket will find a way to the top, whichever format,” he said.Brathwaite believes West Indies’ favourite format can get them the much-needed win in this tour, which would also be a bounce back from their wretched year in T20Is. They have won just two out of 12 games in 2018.”The people back home deserve a Christmas gift,” he said. “We hope to close out the year with a win. We still think T20 is our premier format. We obviously haven’t had the results to be in the recent past proud of. But here’s a chance to turn things around and ending 2018 in a good way.”

India’s captain and coach had different reasons for the same sentiment, as they celebrated India’s first series win in Australia since first playing there 71 years ago

Sidharth Monga in Sydney07-Jan-20198:23

‘No one plays Test cricket with more passion than Kohli’ – Shastri

India’s captain and coach are both World Cup winners but they rate this series win in Australia higher than those triumphs, albeit for different reasons. Ravi Shastri, the coach, was part of the India squad that won the 1983 World Cup although he didn’t play in the final. Virat Kohli played through the 2011 World Cup that India won.”I was part of 2011 World Cup team,” Kohli said, “but I didn’t have the emotion of not having been able to win a World Cup before. Playing at home and winning it eventually… a lot of the senior players had that emotion. Yes, it was a great moment for me but if you ask me which moment is more emotional, I would say this one because this is my third tour here and I have seen how difficult it is to win here. And all the struggles that we have gone through in the past 12 months as well as the team.”So, from that point of view this one is more emotional for me. It will definitely be more special, purely because of the fact that we really wanted to win a series away from home. We didn’t want to be a one-match-wonder kind of team. So, having stuck to our task and executed what we wanted and got the result, we, as a team, feel absolutely complete now that we have done what we set out to do…not to show to anyone else but to prove ourselves that yes, we could do it and we have done it. From that point of view this one is more special for me.”For Shastri, this is a win achieved in a purer format. “I will tell you how satisfying it is for me,” Shastri said. “World Cup ’83, World Championship ’85. This is as big, or even bigger, because it is in the truest format of the game. It’s Test cricket, which is meant to be the toughest.”There was the usual combative reaction to criticism – Shastri took another potshot at Sunil Gavaskar’s criticism, calling his shots “blanks” that are “blown away like a tracer bullet” by the time they reach the southern hemisphere – but there was a genuine feeling of relief and pride in Kohli. All the psyching up he had to do, all the effort put in to not let the mind wander ahead of himself, could now be laid to rest. He was asked about his comments before the Test that history doesn’t mean much to him.Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri share a light moment before team photos•Mark Kolbe/Getty Images”We all play mind-games, don’t we,” Kohli said with a smile. “Look, it’s obviously a very proud moment, more so because we understand what we have gone through as a team for the last 12 months. We understand the kind of cricket that we have been able to play, and I was just mentioning the fact that after losing tosses, we have been in competition throughout in the games that we have lost. We understood as a team we were on the right track. What has come in the most historic series for Indian cricket is the cherry on the cake and something that, as I said, in the 10 years that I have played, is the proudest moment that I have experienced.”I am so happy for the whole team because a young bunch of guys, to have that belief and to keep striving for excellence on a daily basis and to get a reward like this, we definitely have to be happy. Although changing history or creating history is still not what I am thinking of, it is pure satisfaction of the hard work of 12 months to understand that what we believed in has been proven right and regardless of the whole world being against you, if you are striving in the right direction with good intent, God’s going to reward you. So that’s what I am more happy about.””So history does matter?””Of course it does.”Shastri, though, continued to be caustic. He was asked if he would like to share this success with captains who – from Lala Amarnath to MS Dhoni – tried their best to win in Australia but couldn’t. “Past is history, future is a mystery,” Shastri said. “Okay? We have won today after 71 years, I’d like to live in the present. And salute my captain for being the captain of the team that beat Australia for the first time in Australia in a series.”When talking about the satisfaction of winning this series, Shastri again referenced teams from the past, and also said Kohli shows more passion for Test cricket than any other captain in the world.”I don’t think anyone plays Test cricket with more passion than he [Kohli] does,” Shastri said. “At least I don’t see any other international captain coming close to him on the field when it comes to showing that passion needed to play the game. He is very expressive, which is different to others. Other captains could have different personalities but Virat is someone who is in your face and it rubs off on all the youngsters who are watching the game in India. His team-mates watch him, they want to emulate him. And to believe that they can be someone like him who can go out there and strive for excellence.”So when an individual puts his neck on the line as captain then the others follow. And you have seen that transition happening over the last two-three years where guys in the team have become more and more confident, about their own ability and the ability of the team as well and it’s made all the difference. I said in Melbourne – I think I mentioned people taking pot shots and firing blanks. I wasn’t joking there, because I knew how hard this team had worked. When you fire from there, by the time it crosses the southern hemisphere, it’s blown away by the wind like a tracer bullet. But lead with something in it can be pretty serious. And that’s what we have fired right through the series against Australia. We were committed, and it jolly well made a bloody difference at the end of it all.”This is not a team of gods or demigods, seniors or juniors. This is an Indian cricket team that will jump over a cliff to win a match for the country. And that’s the determination, that’s the ruthlessness, that’s the mindset with which this team went to play in this series. And hats off to them to show that courage. Today I can say I am proud of my boys and I can also tell them one thing which Virat touched in the presentation – that this team now has an identity to look at any other Indian team from the past in the eye and say, ‘We play proper Test match cricket. You did, we did too,’ without being intimidated.”

Three UAE cricketers – Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza and Rameez Shahzad – who were suspended last month, were asked by the Emirates Cricket Board to issue formal apologies to the Pakistan Cricket Board for criticising ground facilities in Karachi during the Emerging Teams Cup. In a statement, the Emirates board confirmed that the apologies had been “received and accepted” by the PCB.The players had each been handed eight-week suspensions from international cricket for violating the ‘Player’s Code of Conduct’ and requirements for the use of social media. The players had tweeted criticising the ground facilities in Karachi after rain wiped out their hopes of a semi-final spot in the Emerging Teams Cup. They had also been fined and the Emirates Cricket Board has said the collected fines will be donated to a Karachi-based charity. The three players, although unavailable for selection, have been training alongside the national squad, which is preparing for the upcoming series against Nepal.”Following the recent disciplinary sanctions imposed on three of its professional players, Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has today confirmed that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has received and accepted formal apologies made to them by the players,” a statement by ECB said. “As a gesture of good will, ECB will donate the fines imposed on the players to a Karachi-based charity. All three players continue their training and, although ineligible for selection, are currently involved in an intense training programme alongside players that will represent the UAE in the upcoming UAE v Nepal series.”In December, the UAE captain Mustafa, left-arm spinner Raza and middle-order batsman Rameez had taken to Twitter to express their frustration after their match against Hong Kong was abandoned due to rain, wiping out their hopes of a semi-final spot.In a match played at the Southend Stadium in Karachi, UAE had restricted Hong Kong to 87 for 4 in 31 overs before a spell of rain lasting about half an hour interrupted play. However, the venue had inadequate tarpaulin covers to protect the pitch, and water leaked onto the square. Despite several hours of using sponges, the ground staff failed to dry the pitch. As a result, the match was abandoned, with the teams sharing points. A win would have boosted UAE’s prospects of playing the semi-final.The PCB, however, has not made a statement and on the fitness of the venue for future games. ESPNcricinfo understands the Pakistan board is aiming to host women’s international games at the venue in the near future.

India’s chairman of selectors says virtually all 15 spots for the World Cup in May have been sealed

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Feb-20195:28

I was surprised when asked to bat at No. 3 – Vijay Shankar

Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar and Ajinkya Rahane are all in contention for a World Cup berth, according to India’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Prasad said the selectors have virtually sealed the 15 spots barring the “one odd” position, which would be firmed up before the deadline set by the ICC to pick the final squad.If Pant is a “healthy headache”, Vijay, who is seen as a batting allrounder, has brought in a new “dimension” to the World Cup selection with his impressive performances in the New Zealand series this month, Prasad said.”Undoubtedly he (Pant) is in contention,” Prasad said. “A healthy headache. The progression of Rishabh in the last one year is phenomenal across the formats. What we actually felt is he needs a bit of maturity now, gain more experience. That is reason we have included him in India A series wherever possible.”Pant might have only played three ODIs – all against West Indies in 2018 – but his good form in Test cricket and for India A in the last year has received a positive appraisal from the selectors. Prasad admitted about thinking of Pant as a “thick-skinned” person, but that feeling has now been replaced by that of a young player who is showing maturity at the highest level and commitment to the team’s cause.Along with Dinesh Karthik, Pant was earlier seen as the back-up wicketkeeper for MS Dhoni. However, with Karthik having settled down in the lower order in the past 12 months, the selectors are now looking if Pant can be included as a specialist batsman.Ajinkya Rahane plays a lofted drive•Kerala Cricket Association

That position might have opened up also because of the weak form of KL Rahul since the South Africa tour last year across the three formats. In this period, Rahul has just played three ODIs – all during the England tour – and was recently suspended by the BCCI over an off-field controversy. Prasad pointed out that although Rahul was still in the race, he could jump over the competition now only by scoring runs.In contrast, Vijay has now leapt into contention with a promising display during the T20I series in New Zealand, where he was asked to bat at No. 3 in Virat Kohli’s absence. After India lost the series in Hamilton, the Tamil Nadu allrounder said he was “surprised” to bat at No. 3, where he made a 28-ball 43.Prasad agreed that Vijay would be the fourth allrounder in the pool of 20 players the selectors have drawn up to then pick the final 15. “In whatever opportunities he has got, Vijay Shankar has shown the skillsets required at this level. We have been grooming him through India A tours in the last two years. But we will have to see where he can fit in the dynamics of this team.”Until the England tour last year, Rahul was being seen as the third opener by the selectors. With him struggling to find form, the selectors have been forced to look for other options which is possibly why Rahane is once again part of the deliberations.Although he has not played for India in ODIs since last year’s South Africa tour, Rahane has been consistent in List A cricket this season: 597 runs in 11 innings at an average of 74.62 with two big hundreds and three fifties. Two of those fifties came recently for India A in the unofficial ODI series against England Lions in Thiruvananthapuram last month. However, Rahane’s strike rate during these 11 innings has been 77.83; in not even one of those innings did he score at more than run a ball. It was probably his scoring rate that had seen him being left out of the India ODI side last year.”In domestic cricket he has been in form,” Prasad said. “He is very much in contention for the World Cup.”

Lyon was named Test Player of the Year, Marcus Stoinis took the ODI award and the T20I honour went to Glenn Maxwell

Andrew McGlashan11-Feb-2019Pat Cummins has been named the Allan Border medalist at the Australian Cricket Awards in Melbourne to confirm him as the standout performer in a tough and controversial year for the men’s game.In a period which included the ball-tampering scandal leading to Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft being suspended it was between Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Aaron Finch for the main award.The voting period of January 9, 2018 to January 7, 2019 took in Australia’s tours of South Africa, England, Zimbabwe and UAE, the one-day series against England after the 2018-19 Ashes, the T20 tri-series which followed plus the recent home season up to the end of the final Test against India at the SCG along with the ODIs against South Africa and T20Is against India.Cummins took 44 wickets across all formats, seven behind Lyon who had earlier been named Test player of the year, with Finch the only other serious candidate with 1302 runs in the voting period in which Test matches are given a greater weighting. Cummins tallied 156 votes, Lyon 150 and Finch 146.Pat Cummins was named the Allan Border medalist•Getty ImagesA look the through the Test batting statistics of the voting period (which doesn’t include the recent Tests against Sri Lanka when four centuries were scored or the suspended trio) highlights the difficulties Australia faced with the bat. Marcus Harris topped the averages with 258 runs at 36.85 and Usman Khawaja the run-scoring with 592 runs at 32.88.Though Cummins missed the two Tests against Pakistan he produced impressive performances in Johannesburg (the Test after ball tampering) and in Melbourne against India and only went wicketless once in a Test, at the SCG when India piled on the runs.His 4 for 24 in the Adelaide ODI against England last season will have earned him an extra points haul to keep him ahead of Lyon and Finch and in the final count that may have been the difference.Though yet to be elevated to the new-ball role, Cummins has become Australia’s most consistent pace bowler and has developed into a handy No. 8 which he showed by scoring half-centuries against South Africa and India.Beyond the wickets, and useful runs, the standout feature for Cummins has been his ability to stay fit throughout two full Australian seasons following an early part of his career that was hampered by regular injury.Marcus Stoinis with Cricket Australia’s Men’s ODI Player of the Year Award•Getty ImagesElsewhere, Marcus Stoinis was named ODI Player of the Year in a period where he was the only player to appear in all 13 matches. He made four half-centuries in 13 innings among his 376 runs and claimed 13 wickets to cement his position the ODI team. By the end of the international season last week he had also earned his first Test call-up and is tipped to be part of the Ashes squad later this year.Glenn Maxwell, fresh from his outstanding innings for Melbourne Stars on Sunday to secure a place in the BBL semi-finals, was named T20I Player of the Year after making 506 runs in 19 matches including an unbeaten century against England in Hobart. Barring a major reversal, Maxwell will be part of Australia’s squad for the World Cup in England but appears unlikely to appear in the Ashes.Someone whose numbers mean he probably should be under consideration for all squads but appears likely to find himself missing out is Matthew Wade. He claimed the Domestic Player of the Year title for his prolific form last season which carried into the 2018-19 of which the first part of the Sheffield Shield counts towards this year’s votes alongside the latter half of the 2017-18 campaign. Across all formats, Wade scored 1509 runs in the voting period with five centuries.The Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award went to Will Pucovski, the Victoria batsman who was part of Australia’s Test squad against Sri Lanka recently. Having been selected with a view to making his debut as part of a revamp of the batting line-up he then saw his spot go to Kurtis Patterson at the last moment. He was later released from the squad to allow him to continue to manage his mental health issues which kept him out of action earlier this season.

England XI 379 (Bairstow 98, Burns 68) v WI President’s XI
ScorecardJust under four years ago, Jonny Bairstow made an eye-catching 98 at the start of an England tour of the Caribbean to signal a new phase in his career.In that match, Bairstow unveiled his new, shoulder-high backlift; a technical change that helped improve his balance and bring his bat down straighter. By the end of 2016, he had set a new record for the most Test runs by a wicketkeeper in a calendar year.This time he is facing a different challenge. Having lost the gloves, for a while anyway, to Ben Foakes, he has been forced to reinvent himself as a specialist batsman. And with the middle-order positions taken, he knows that he must establish himself at No. 3 if he is to retain a place in the side.It’s not his ideal position; he makes no secret of his desire to reclaim the wicketkeeping gloves. And there may be, he warns, a “bedding-in period” as he adapts to the mental and technical demands of the position.But the early signs are that the challenge may bring the best out of him. Having ended the Sri Lanka tour with a century in Colombo, he made another 98 here that suggested he could yet develop into the man England have been looking for since the decline of Jonathan Trott.There are, of course, some caveats. This pitch – while better than the surface used in the first warm-up match – is slower than those anticipated in the Test series (in Barbados and St Lucia, in particular) while the attack, despite containing two bowlers with Test experience, is nowhere near as demanding.The fact that England scored nearly 400 in the day – and that they took 19 wickets against the same opposition the previous day – tells you much about the chasm in quality between these two sides.Still, this was a much-improved effort from Bairstow after a loose dismissal in the first warm-up game. England have been struck by how much this version of the Duke’s ball has swung and for how long it has remained hard. As a consequence, top-order batsmen have had to leave well and ensure they remain as compact as possible. His driving and sweeping, in particular, were very impressive.”I just want to be playing,” Bairstow said afterwards. “At this moment in time I’m batting at three; who knows what will happen down the line. Down the line you want to be doing something you’ve done the last 10-15 years.”It’s a case of going out and doing what I need to do and trying to adapt again to a different role in the side. You’re probably going to be facing the new ball, fresher bowlers on fresher pitches, so there will be a bedding-in period and you might not get it right every time. It will be different to batting at No. 5, 6 or 7 and coming in later in the day.”Underlining the low-key nature of this match, Bairstow fell – caught on the midwicket fence – attempting to reach his century with a six.Moments earlier, when he had 94, he had been reprieved after it transpired Miguel Cummins had over-stepped when having Bairstow caught at mid-off.But such ‘milestones’ hardly matter. Not only will none of the scores from these games count towards the players’ career statistics – these matches do not carry first-class status – they are more about gaining form and fluency ahead of the serious business ahead. Bairstow, at least, should go into the Test series with confidence high.So should Rory Burns. Having seen off the new ball with admirable ease, he appeared every bit as fluent as Bairstow in making a 65-ball 50 with eight fours. Especially punishing against the short ball – be it from pace or seam – he also put away anything over-pitched. He was eventually stumped attempting to drag one from outside off through midwicket.There were runs for Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid, too. Taking full toll of a tiring attack and some support bowlers, all three looked in fine form and underlined the impression that England’s lower middle-order may well prove vital once again.Where once there may have been concerns about Jos Buttler missing out – he fell to an outside edge as he attempted to guide one down to third man and goes into the Test series having had just one bat on tour – these things are viewed differently these days. England will take comfort in the form he showed in the BBL and trust to his training and temperament to ensure he is ready for the first Test. Ben Stokes and Joe Root were both rested, though Stokes may bowl on Friday.Moeen Ali, meanwhile, was unable to take advantage of a let-off on 1 – Jermaine Blackwood, who is having a grim few days, dropped a straightforward chance in the slips – while Keaton Jennings again fell early as he prodded half forward to the admirable Raymon Reifer.Reifer, a left-arm swing bowler somewhat in the style of Keith Barker, was the pick of the bowlers, though Cummins and Chemar Holder also had their moments. Alzarri Joseph was rested in the hope he might be fully fit for the first Test.

Harry Kane says he is always motivated to score against Arsenal because he wants to prove them wrong for releasing him as a youth player.

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Kane has great record against ArsenalWas released by Gunners as a childFeels he still has "point to prove"WHAT HAPPENED?

Kane was a constant thorn in Arsenal's side during his time at north London rivals Tottenham, scoring 14 goals in 19 appearances against the Gunners. He built on that record last week on his return to the English capital with his new team, Bayern Munich, when he scored in the 2-2 draw in their Champions League quarter-final tie.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

There are only two teams – Everton and Leicester – that Kane has managed to score more goals against and he admits that being released by Arsenal as a nine-year-old is a key factor behind his hunger for goals whenever he comes up against them.

WHAT KANE SAID

Kane told : "We played them at least twice a year for the last 10 years [with Tottenham] and it was always a big occasion, big moment. Maybe it was in the back of my mind, being released from a young age, and there is always a point to prove.

"I am the type of player who, throughout my career, has had points to prove along the way. I don’t think that ever leaves you. It will always be in my DNA, until I retire. There will always be a reason to prove someone wrong or to prove myself I can do something.

"I don’t think specifically back to that and think ‘I was released when I was nine years old, I really have to make a difference tomorrow.’ Now I am at Bayern Munich it is about being a top team in the Champions League. Of course I have history with them [Arsenal], but all I can do is try to help Bayern Munich."

GettyWHAT NEXT FOR KANE?

The 30-year-old will hope to add even more goals to his record against his old rivals when Bayern host Mikel Arteta's team in the second leg of their European tie this week. The two teams play the return fixture in Munich on Wednesday.