Former skipper Nasser Hussain lashed out on England’s batsmen for not adopting the conventional approach following a collapse on day three of the second Test against New Zealand on Saturday. England crumbled on day three before taking a slender lead of 37 runs before the end of the play. The hosts ended the day at 122/9 after losing seven wickets in the final session of the day. Nasser said England are trying to “reinvent the wheel” in the longest format of the game.

“There seems to have been a reinvention of the wheel out there with batting. Techniques out there that everyone else who has played the game before – they are all wrong and we are right,” Sky Sports quoted Nasser as saying. “We’re going to have these odd little techniques, we’re going to have the bat coming across it, we’re going to stand funny, we’re going to swing outside our off stump because everyone else in the history of the game – Viv Richards, you are wrong, and we are right,” he added.

The former skipper said England can’t even give the excuse of the pitches turning since they are playing in the home conditions.“I’m not seeing ‘we are right’ at the moment, whether it be in Sri Lanka where Joe Root carried them, whether it be in India and they don’t have the excuse of the pitches turning here,” said Nasser. Nasser wants England to adopt the old-school method and get that big first innings score when playing Test cricket. “Whether it being the seaming ball or the spinning ball, they are right and everyone else is wrong. And I don’t see a young batting line-up,” he said. “I see Sibley, Burns, Crawley, Root and Pope. There’s no one missing in that top five – then come Stokes and Buttler. They’ve got all the coaches, all the backroom staff – please, just get back to playing normally and getting a first innings score,” Nasser added. Resuming their innings from 229/3, New Zealand took the scorecard to 312/5 in the first session on Saturday. England picked up two wickets in the morning session but New Zealand managed to take the lead by 23 runs.

In the second session, New Zealand was folded for 388 but the visitors took a handy first-innings lead of 85 runs. Moreover, England lost two quick wickets before the Tea as Henry removed both openers. In the final session, England crumbled in front of New Zealand bowlers as they lost seven wickets to serve a probable win for New Zealand on Sunday. England is currently leading by 37 runs but they have only one wicket in hand.

Danish Football Association on Sunday informed that Christian Eriksen’s condition is “stable” and the star player continues to be “hospitalised”. The Euro Cup match between Denmark and Finland had to be stopped in the first half as Eriksen collapsed on the pitch and he had to be taken off due to medical emergency. “This morning we have spoken to Christian Eriksen, who has sent his greetings to his teammates. His condition is stable, and he continues to be hospitalized for further examination,” Danish Football Association said in a statement.

“The team and staff of the national team has received crisis assistance and will continue to be there for each other after yesterday’s incident. We would like to thank everyone for the heartfelt greetings to Christian Eriksen from fans, players, the Royal Families from both Denmark and England, international associations, clubs etc,” the statement further read. “We encourage everyone to send their greetings to the Danish FA, where we will make sure they are all passed on to Christian and his family,” it added.Eriksen’s teammates had formed a ring around him as he was being attended by doctors on the field. The midfielder was carried off in a stretcher. UEFA agreed to restart the match later in the evening. Finland defeated Denmark 1-0 in the opener.

Novak Djokovic won his 19th Grand Slam title after coming back from 2 sets down against 5th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open 2021 men’s singles final at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday. Djokovic clinched glory after downing the spirited Grand Slam final debutant 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Novak Djokovic, who played 18 sets since his fourth-round match, became the first man in the Open Era to win all 4 Grand Slams at least twice. He is only the third man to do so after Roy Emerson and Rod Laver.

“It was an electric atmosphere. I want to thank my coach and my physio, everyone who has been with me on this journey,” Djokovic said post the win.

Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova along with her partner Katerina Siniakova on Sunday won the women’s double title here at the ongoing French Open. This comes a day after Krejcikova won the women’s singles title on Saturday. In the doubles event, Krejcikova and Siniakova defeated the pair of Iga Swiatek and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 6-2. With this victory, Krejcikova has become the first player to win both the women’s singles and doubles event at the French Open since Mary Pierce achieved the feat way back in 2000.

Krejcikova has also become the first woman to win both the singles and doubles events at a Grand Slam since Serena Williams in 2016. On Saturday, Krejcikova fought an intense battle to become the first woman from her country to clinch the French Open singles title since Hana Mandlikova in 1981. Krejcikova defeated Russian tennis star Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to lift her maiden singles major trophy.

When batsmen like Sachin Tendulkat, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Sourav Ganguly used to bowl, it helped the main bowlers to have a break. All these part-time bowlers sometimes bowled very well and took one or two wickets as well. At that time, the team management decided for a four-bowler formula in which they included one extra batsman.

Even though Indian captain Virat Kohli is known for his batting, he was seen bowling during the match. A moment came on Day 2 of the intra-squad practice match when Kohli was seen bowling to his opposition captain K.L. Rahul. I was pleased to see that scene on twitter.

The BCCI uploaded a video of the moment in slow-motion and asked fans to explain what would happen next. “Captain vs Captain at the intra-squad match simulation. What do you reckon happened next?” the BCCI post read. Three options were also given in the post—Straight-drive (OR) Defense (OR) LBW. I can only say that Virat was very confident about his bowling in the domestic matches. He broke valuable partnerships. He felt that he had wicket taking ability. In the initial years, he even started bowling in IPL. But when Albee Morkel hit 4 sixes on his four balls, this broke his confidence in bowling.

Virat has taken four wickets in ODI and the same number of wickets in T20I. In ODI, he has taken the wicket of Alastair Cook, Quinton de kock, Brendon McCullum and Craig Kieswetter. In T20I, he got the wicket of Kevin Pieterson and it was very much talked about. Summit Patel, Mohd. Hafeez and Jason Charles were the other victims of Virat.

Virat has wrong foot action and still feels that he can bowl a few overs in the middle. He is keen to bowl for the simple reason to maintain his fitness, to give breaks to bowlers and for the fact that bowling is his passion. I think there is no harm if he bowls two to three overs in an ODI. Dhoni also used his ability from time to time. He can surprise anyone even in this format. He can be a useful change bowler.

(The writer is the Virat Kohli`s coach and Dronacharya Awardee)

GROS ISLET [ST LUCIA]: South Africa’s Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje stole show with the ball before West Indies’ Jayden Seales picked three on debut as 14 wickets fell on opening day of first Test between West Indies and South Africa at Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Gros Islet, St Lucia.

The visitors were clearly on top at the end of the first day as Ngidi (5/19) and Nortje (4/35) combined to dismiss the home team for just 97. Coming out to bat, the Proteas ended the day on 128/4 — a lead of 31 runs with six wickets in the bag.The home team had something to cheer about as debutant Seales bagged three wickets to keep hosts in the game.

While he started with the wicket of Keegan Peterson in his very first over, he had the prized wicket of Aiden Markram (60) and Kyle Verreyne (6) by the end of the day. The start was just what the doctor ordered for the Windies after the poor show with the bat as Kemar Roach sent back skipper Dean Elgar (0) off the fifth ball of the innings.But Markram and Rassie Van Der Dussen (34*) did the hard yards before the Windies debutant sent back opener Markram. At stumps, Quinton de Kock (4*) was at the crease giving Dussen company.While South Africa got off to a poor start with the bat, it was a decent start from the Windies side as skipper Kraigg Braithwaite and Shai Hope played out the first 11 overs and just when it looked they would start to add to the scoring rate as well, Nortje sent both of them back and hit Nkrumah Bonner on the helmet off the very first ball.

Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday progressed to the finals of the ongoing French Open.The 25-year-old Krejcikova defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 to gain a hard-fought victory in the semi-final match here at Court Philippe-Chatrier. Now, Krejcikova will lock horns against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women’s finals of the French Open.

The first set between Krejcikova and Sakkari saw back and forth action and at one stage, it stood level at 5-5. In the end, Krejcikova managed to hold her nerve and she took the first set 7-5.Greece’s Sakkari staged a comeback in the second set and she managed to win it 6-4, and as a result, the match progressed into the third and deciding set.

The third set saw back and forth action between both the opponents and at one stage, it was level at 7-7. However, going for the kill, Krejcikova raised her game and she progressed to the finals of the tournament.

Earlier on Thursday, 29-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova stormed into the finals of the ongoing French Open.

Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the ongoing Grand Slam here at the Court Philippe-Chatrier.

On Friday, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will lock horns in the men’s semi-final while Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will square off in the other semi-final.