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Southampton have been one of a number of teams with a managerial vacancy in the Championship during the international break, alongside Norwich, Middlesbrough, and Swansea.

Boro are set to appoint Kim Hellberg from Hammarby and Vitor Matos is in talks to take over at Swansea, but it is Norwich who have made the most eyebrow-raising appointment.

The Canaries have hired Belgian coach Philippe Clement, who has won four domestic cups in Belgium and Scotland and four Belgian top-flight titles in his career, per Transfermarkt, working for Club Brugge, Genk, Monaco, and Rangers.

Norwich are 23rd in the Championship table, with half as many points as Southampton, yet they have attracted a head coach who has won 170 of his 287 league games as a manager, averaging 2.00 points per game, per Transfermarkt.

The latest on Southampton's managerial search

According to Daily Echo reporter Alfie House, as relayed by SaintsExtra, Southampton are set to hand interim head coach Tonda Eckert the next three Championship matches before further assessing the situation.

Manager Focus

Who are the greatest coaches in the land? Football FanCast’s Manager Focus series aims to reveal all.

The Saints play Charlton, Leicester City, and Millwall in those three games, after Eckert beat QPR 2-1 and Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 in his first two matches in the dugout.

House’s update adds that Southampton have spoken with managerial targets and that they do not have a clear standout candidate at this moment in time, which is why Eckert will be given the next three games to stake his claim for the permanent job.

Instead of appointing the interim on a permanent basis, Sport Republic could hire their answer to Norwich’s ambitious Clement swoop by bringing reported target Brendan Rodgers to St. Mary’s.

Why Southampton should appoint Brendan Rodgers

If the Canaries are able to attract a manager like Clement, who has won eight trophies and managed some big European clubs, whilst second from bottom in the Championship, Southampton should make a statement of their own with a move for the former Celtic boss.

Described as “world-class” by Gabby Agbonlahor, like the new Norwich manager, Rodgers would come in with an incredible career behind him and a history of winning games and trophies on a consistent basis. In fact, he won the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership title with Celtic ahead of Clement’s Rangers side.

The Northern Irish boss, who was hailed as a “pillar of strength” by Hoops captain Callum McGregor, is an incredibly experienced tactician who has been there and done it in England and Scotland.

As you can see in the table above, Rodgers is even more experienced than Clement and has won five more trophies in his career, with 11 of those coming at Celtic, and the other two with Leicester.

The Saints target also has experience in getting out of the Championship. He won the play-offs in the 2010/11 campaign after a third-placed finish in the second tier with Swansea, which shows that he also has experience for what Southampton need this season.

Therefore, Rodgers could be a brilliant appointment for the club if they can convince him to make the drop down to the Championship, which is what Norwich were able to do with Clement.

Southampton can end Eckert experiment by hiring "insanely talented" manager

Southampton can replace Tonda Eckert by swooping to hire this experienced former Championship manager.

By
Dan Emery

Nov 18, 2025

Bangladesh have faced England only once in the format, at the 2022 World Cup

S Sudarshanan06-Oct-20253:40

Dean: ‘Having Nat and Lottie feels like a fresh start’

Big picture – a rare meeting

England take on Bangladesh in an ODI World Cup match.The sentence itself is an event. Despite qualifying for back-to-back ODI World Cups – in 2022 and now in 2025 – Bangladesh have faced England only once in the format, and that too in the previous edition.”This is the stage where we show our capabilities so that teams like England and Australia show interest in playing against us,” Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana said on match eve.Related

• Smith puts the skids on South Africa to ignite World Cup campaign

• Nahida Akter's journey comes full circle at the Women's World Cup

As per the new future tours programme which will run from 2025-29, Bangladesh are scheduled to tour England for three ODIs and as many T20Is in September 2027. That is perhaps when the fixture will stop being an event.On the field, both teams are coming on the back of comfortable wins. England’s multi-pronged attack could pose a tough challenge for Bangladesh, whose batters often struggle to force the pace. Conversely, if the track assists spin, Bangladesh’s spin-heavy attack led by Nahida Akter could be more than just a handful for England. Their batters were hardly challenged in the opening game.

Form guide

England WLWLW (last five matches, most recent first)

Bangladesh WLLWW

In the spotlight: Lamb and Marufa

She is just 21 ODIs old, but Emma Lamb is already adapting to a second role in England’s batting unit. A natural opener, she scored her only century at the top of the order and was the leading run-scorer in the ECB Women’s One-Day Cup while opening for champions Lancashire. At the start of this English summer, though, Amy Jones was promoted to open, and Lamb was moved to No. 3 when Heather Knight was recovering from a hamstring injury. Now, with Knight back for the World Cup, Lamb is set to take on an altogether different role – batting in the lower-middle order and chipping in with a few overs of offspin. She wasn’t needed with either bat or ball in England’s tournament opener, but could get her first go in this new role against Bangladesh if her team bats first.Marufa Akter will be key for Bangladesh•ICC/Getty Images

Marufa Akter just loves to bowl. After setting the tone in Bangladesh’s win over Pakistan, she lit up their first practice session in India. With rain forcing the team indoors, Marufa was full of energy, bowling at full tilt two days out from the contest. She constantly troubled captain Sultana in the nets, eventually bowling her once. With her ability to move the new ball and generate sharp pace, Marufa could be a real handful for England’s openers – Tammy Beaumont tends to struggle against the incoming angle early on, while Jones prefers a cautious start.

Team news

Given England’s line-up was hardly tested against South Africa, expect them to go in with an unchanged XI.England (probable XI): 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Amy Jones (wk), 3 Heather Knight, 4 Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), 5 Sophia Dunkley, 6 Emma Lamb, 7 Alice Capsey, 8 Charlie Dean, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Linsey Smith, 11 Lauren BellAgainst England’s right-hand heavy line-up, Bangladesh could look to play left-arm spinner Sanjida Akter Meghla for an offspinner in Nishita Akter Nishi.Bangladesh (probable XI): 1 Fargana Hoque, 2 Rubya Haider, 3 Sharmin Akhter, 4 Nigar Sultana (capt & wk), 5 Sobhana Mostary, 6 Shorna Akter, 7 Fahima Khatun, 8 Nahida Akter, 9 Rabeya Khan, 10 Marufa Akter, 11 Nishita Akter Nishi/Sanjida Akter Meghla

Pitch and conditions

A fresh pitch will be used for the game. But it may not behave too differently from the first two tracks. Both the pitches assisted spin as the afternoon wore on but against fast bowling, the ball came nicely onto the bat.As for the weather, there is slight chance of rain. There was rain predicted for the England-South Africa game on Monday, but it stayed dry, while Bangladesh were forced indoors two days before this match due to an unexpected shower.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh’s only ODI against England came at the previous World Cup.
• Only Fargana Hoque, Fahima Khatun and Ritu Moni from the current Bangladesh squad have played an ODI in India before.
• England’s win/loss ratio of 1.0 in 2025, their worst in a calendar year since 2007. They have won three games against West Indies, one each against India and South Africa.
• England will play their 94th ODI World Cup game to be on par with Australia for the joint-most.

Quotes

“With sub-continent conditions comes the offer of extra spin. So, [I am] trying to really make sure that you’re hitting with the spin and going through all your different options. I’ve been sweeping quite a lot, reverse sweeping, which is something that I might not get out in a game straight away, but it’s something that I’ve put a lot of hours into to make sure that when I do, hopefully it goes well.”
“We have a lot of information on them because of our analysts. We want to play our “A” game and don’t want to go by just names. We will try to make lesser mistakes and take confidence from the win over Pakistan.”

Early next year the selectors will need to decide if there’s a spot in a 15-player squad for a reserve keeper

Andrew McGlashan13-Aug-2025

Alex Carey completed an unusual stumping on his T20I return•AFP/Getty Images

The second T20I in Darwin was lit up by Dewald Brevis’ century, but it also highlighted a question Australia have to answer before the T20 World Cup: do they need to have wicketkeeping cover in their 15-player squad?With Josh Inglis suffering from flu which he had played through in the opening game, Alex Carey was flown in ahead of schedule and earned his first T20I since 2021. He pulled off one of the more unusual stumpings to remove Lhuan-dre Pretorius and was Australia’s second-highest scorer with 26 off 18 balls.Related

• Inglis out of T20 tour of New Zealand with a calf strain, Carey called up

• Australia in unfamiliar territory in T20I series decider against South Africa

• Australia plan to power through any T20 scenario

• Breathtaking Brevis betters du Plessis

In a home bilateral series it was easy enough for the selectors to make a quick phone call to Carey and have him fly up to Darwin at short notice. But things are trickier in global tournaments where squad sizes are restricted, replacement players need approval and once a player is removed from the squad they can’t return.Inglis is locked in as Australia’s white-ball keeper but there would be a risk of entering a World Cup without another option on hand to take the gloves, particularly with Inglis managing ongoing back problems. None of the other batters in the current T20I squad, which seems likely to form the core of the World Cup group, are viable alternatives behind the stumps.Australia nearly found themselves in such a situation at the 2022 T20 World Cup when Matthew Wade came down with Covid prior to the game against England. Inglis, who was in the original squad, had suffered a hand injury playing golf prior to the tournament and been replaced by Cameron Green. As it was, the match was washed out although Wade would likely have pushed through and played. Australia’s contingencies on that day were potentially David Warner, who once took the gloves in a Test match, and captain Aaron Finch.In Darwin, Alex Carey batted as low as No. 7 in a T20 only for the seventh time, and the first since 2018•Getty ImagesAt the most recent T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last year, Wade and Inglis were both in the 15-player squad, as they were for the 2021 edition in the UAE that Australia won. At the 2023 ODI World Cup, Inglis was in the squad and replaced Carey after one game. Now the duo feature together in the one-day side, with Carey playing as a batter in the Champions Trophy earlier this year.In the 50-over format they can both carry themselves as frontline batters, but that is not so clear cut for the T20I team. Tuesday was only the seventh time Carey had batted as low as No. 7 in a T20 and the first since 2018, with everyone else moved up a place in Inglis’ absence. His two BBL hundreds have come as an opener while he also has a solid record at No. 4. Overall in T20, Carey’s strike-rate is 129.04 compared to Inglis’ 150.98. However, in limited BBL appearances over the last three seasons, Carey has lifted his strike-rate to 146.52, which is higher than Inglis’ 138.57 over the same period.The issue the selectors will need to ponder early next year is whether there’s a spot in a 15-player squad for Carey, where the choice could come down to between him and another frontline batter, to cover for the eventuality where Inglis is unavailable for a game but hasn’t suffered a tournament-ending injury.On the recent tour of West Indies, a key reason Jake Fraser-McGurk was called in as a replacement when Spencer Johnson was ruled out was because the selectors are looking to build on the wicketkeeping side of his game and they wanted cover for Inglis in a condensed series.There is a chance he will have the gloves at some point for Australia A in the one-day series against India A in late September with him and Lachlan Shaw the two keeping options in that squad. But currently Fraser-McGurk doesn’t warrant a place as a batter in the national side – he made 2 in his one innings in West Indies to continue a lean year in T20s where he is averaging 19.41 albeit with a strike-rate of 150.22.

Sometimes an MLB pitcher delivers a ball to the plate so good there’s simply nothing a batter can do.

Such was the case on Monday night when Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt put away Padres first baseman Luis Arraez.

Pfaadt delivered a changeup that dropped so far off the plate that Arraez nearly lost his footing chasing after it. After his swinging third strike, cameras caught Arraez mouthing “Wow,” simply in awe of his opposition.

Arraez is not an easy guy to make look silly at the plate. As the two-time reigning NL batting title champion, Arraez is used to figuring out a way to get on base. But against Pfaadt on Monday night, he was left looking for answers that never came.

The Diamondbacks would go on to win the game, 6–2.

The lasting consequences of a "disastrous property business" has left former Liverpool defender Steve Finnan on the brink of bankruptcy, having become embroiled in a legal battle with his brother, Sean, in 2016. Finnan, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2005, sued his sibling but never saw any money and has since been liable for other legal costs and bills that have not been paid.

• Finnan sues own brother

  The lasting consequences of a "disastrous property business" has left former Liverpool defender Steve Finnan on the brink of bankruptcy, having become embroiled in a legal battle with his brother, Sean, in 2016. Finnan sued his sibling but never saw any money and has since been liable for legal costs and bills that have not been paid.

  After winding down a playing career that 684 appearances for club and country – including spells at Fulham, Espanyol and Portsmouth either side of five years at Anfield, Finnan went into business with his brother. But their property venture failed and the 49-year-old is reported by to have sued Sean some time around 2016 after becoming "concerned about the way the business was being run". That eventually resulted in a High Court settlement awarding the ex-footballer £4 million ($5.3m) in 2018, but Finnan's brother was declared bankrupt a year later without paying up.

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• Getty Images Sport
  

  Series of legal battles

  That was only the start of things, with Finnan going to court multiple times since. The ex-Republic of Ireland international, who played at the 2002 World Cup, launched a £6m ($7.9m) negligence claim against law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, which failed. He subsequently took action against an individual lawyer from the firm over alleged contempt of court. Finnan lost and was lumped with a five-figure bill for the costs. He did not pay and is the subject of a bankruptcy petition at Central London County Court. The former footballer lost another battle when he disputed bills with another firm, Candey, that took over his case and was ordered to pay £120,000 ($158,000).

  Then, a recent trip to the High Court in an effort to appeal aspects of the aforementioned bankruptcy case resulted in a judge telling Finnan that he was simply employing "delaying" tactics. When the bankruptcy petition was transferred to Central London County Court, Finnan had appealed and managed to get the September date for the final hearing cancelled. He argued that complexity warrants a High Court setting, as well as claiming "bias" against him by the judge.

• Finnan's legal challenge have 'no substance'

  When Finnan's appeal against the bankruptcy petition – relating to a costs order less than £50,000 ($66,000) – was refused, Mr Justice Mellor said: "Standing back, it is surprising that Mr Finnan has challenged this directions order… his complaints are largely procedural and have no substance.

  "I refuse permission to appeal and I dismiss the appeal. I also certify this appeal is totally without merit. It was, at all times, completely hopeless. The petition will have to be the subject of further directions. I think they're best given by a judge in the insolvency list."

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  No further court date set

  As it stands, there is no date for the bankruptcy case to return to court. As it stands, there is no date for the bankruptcy case to return to court. It's a temporary victory for Finnan, although given the outcome of his appeal and the judge's comments, it can only be a matter of time before he has to face the consequences.

  Finnan's final game in professional football was for Portsmouth in the 2010 FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. He was believed at one stage to have embarked on obtaining coaching badges, but sought to make his income post-football in property instead and has never held a formal coaching role. In 2020, fans discovered that Finnan had listed many items of his personal memorabilia for auction, including his Champions League medal from 2005, as well as a replica Champions League trophy and signed shirts. His financial troubles may explain why he made that decision to try and cash in.

Stead has previously coached New Zealand to the WTC title and three limited-overs finals in global events

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2025Gary Stead has replaced Tinu Yohannan as Andhra’s head coach for the 2025-26 domestic season. Stead was the head coach of the New Zealand men’s team from 2018 to June 2025 and oversaw them to the World Test Championship title in 2021. Yohannan moved to the MRF Pace Foundation earlier this year.”Andhra cricket enters a new era under his guidance, aiming for bigger milestones and top-tier performances this season,” the Andhra Cricket Association wrote on social media.Stead, 53, is New Zealand’s most successful coach with three global limited-overs final appearances (2019 ODI World Cup, 2021 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy) and a historic 3-0 Test series win in India. Before that, he had coached New Zealand Women to the final of the 2009 ODI World Cup and the 2010 T20 World Cup. He also coached Canterbury to three titles and a final in the Plunket Shield, New Zealand’s domestic red-ball competition, from 2013 to 2017.Related

• Stead signs back with NZC as high-performance coach

• Stead calls time on seven-year tenure as New Zealand coach

• Not too high, not too low: Gary Stead did it his steady way

As a player, he made five Test appearances for New Zealand and made 278 runs at an average of 34.75. He also played 101 first-class games and 103 List A games, where he made 4984 and 2173 runs respectively.Andhra had finished sixth in their group in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy with just one outright win from seven games. They failed to qualify for the knockouts in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy too, and lost in the preliminary quarter-final in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Andhra will begin the 2025-26 season with a Ranji Trophy game against Uttar Pradesh on October 15.

Also, Nicholas Pooran passes 600 sixes in T20 cricket

Sampath Bandarupalli24-Mar-20251:32

Rayudu: Pant needs to work on his shot selection

210 – The highest target that Delhi Capitals (DC) have successfully chased down in all these years of playing in the IPL. They have chased a 200-plus target down only once before – 209 against Gujarat Lions in IPL 2017.This is also the highest chase for any team against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), with 197 by Rajasthan Royals (RR) last year the previous highest.1.56 – Win probability for DC at the end of the 13th over, according to ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster. DC were six down at that point and needed 94 runs off the last seven overs. The programme had given them a 30.68 % chance at the beginning of the chase.ESPNcricinfo Ltd5 – Number of wins by a margin of one wicket in the IPL, including DC’s victory against LSG on Monday. DC needed 18 runs at the fall of the ninth wicket, the most in those five instances.2 – DC’s 210-run chase is the second-highest successful chase having lost nine wickets in T20 cricket. The highest is 213 by LSG against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2023.7 for 3 – DC’s total at the fall of their third wicket on Monday. Only three teams have recovered from a poorer start to win a match in the IPL. The lowest is 3 for 3 by RR against Deccan Chargers in 2009.Only one team had successfully chased a 200-plus target in all T20s from a poorer start – 5 for 3 by Papua New Guinea when they chased down 204 against Singapore in 2022.