Erik ten Hag has decided to do away with his preferred back-four setup after being convinced to stick with Xabi Alonso’s system at Bayer Leverkusen.

Leverkusen to stick with 3-2-5 shapeWing-backs key to structured creativityTen Hag expected to tweak, not overhaulFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Ten Hag has abandoned his trusted back-four philosophy just weeks into his Leverkusen reign, embracing the 3-4-2-1 system made famous by former Leverkusen boss and now Real Madrid manager Alonso. Following strategic talks with sporting director Simon Rolfes, the Dutch coach has begun testing the Alonso setup in training, aiming to maintain tactical continuity in a squad still built around the Spaniard’s philosophy.

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With key figures like Jonathan Tah, Granit Xhaka, Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz gone, the Dutchman must rebuild a new core without dismantling the structure that delivered Leverkusen’s first-ever Bundesliga title in 2023-24 under Alonso. Switching back to a 4-3-3 or signing traditional wingers like Raheem Sterling would have required major squad upheaval. Instead, Ten Hag has chosen to adapt and evolve, with squad versatility now a central part of his rebuild strategy.

WHAT ROLFES SAID

Sporting director Simon Rolfes admitted he nudged Ten Hag toward the three-at-the-back setup used under Alonso.

“I believe it's a good system. We have great stability in it and the players for it. It makes sense to put many of the players on the pitch,” he told .

XABI TACTICS EXPLAINED

Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 system evolved into one of the most fluid and devastating attacking setups in European football, which was also proved with the results. On paper, it resembled a 3-4-2-1, but in possession, it often became a 3-2-5, a formation designed to dominate territory, control tempo, and stretch opponents from side to side. At the base, a back three ensured defensive security and smooth build-up from deep while two midfielders acted as a double pivot ahead of the defence. The system's width came from the wing-backs, who constantly pushed high up the field.

She wants her team to get inspired by the recent success of the Indian men’s team

Daya Sagar27-Aug-20248:27

Newsroom: Is this India Women’s best chance to win the World Cup?

India women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur wants her team to draw inspiration from the India men’s team that won the T20 World Cup in June, when they travel to the UAE for the Women’s T20 World Cup in October. While the men’s team won the title after 17 years and lifted an ICC trophy after 11 years, the women’s team is yet to lift the T20 World Cup. They came close in the 2020 edition, when they were runners-up in Australia.”We have been really inspired by the men’s team, the way they won the T20 World Cup this year,” Harmanpreet said at an event in Delhi, on the same day the India’s T20 World Cup squad was announced. “They worked really hard for this trophy and won some tough matches. We need to learn how they maintained their body language for such matches and how they approached such games. We’re on the same road now and getting ready for our World Cup campaign. The team is working really hard and our attempt will be to give our country and fans another opportunity to celebrate this year.”The women’s side last reached the ODI World Cup final in 2017, when they lost by just nine runs at Lord’s, before going down to Australia in the T20 World Cup final in 2020, and two years later they again lost to Australia, also by nine runs, in the final of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In last year’s T20 World Cup, India went down to Australia in the semi-final, by just five runs, and when they were the favourites to win the Asia Cup in the T20 format last month, they were beaten comprehensively by the much lower-ranked Sri Lanka.Related

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For the upcoming T20 World Cup in the UAE, India are in Group A with Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan. Their first three matches will be in Dubai, before they take on Australia in Sharjah. Will India be under pressure against Australia and the new Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka?”The World Cup is a kind of tournament for which all teams prepare differently,” Harmanpreet said. “So no team can be taken lightly and similarly no team should be overestimated either. Bilateral series have a different kind of pressure and for World Cups there is pressure as well as expectations and hopes of fans. We are working extremely hard to live up to those expectations, we have been holding camps where all players are working hard. We have also worked on the mistakes we made the last time. Now we’re ready with a positive mindset.”The T20 World Cup will start on October 3 in Sharjah with two matches on the opening day. India’s campaign will kick off on October 4 against New Zealand, before taking on Pakistan on October 6, Sri Lanka on October 9 and Australia on October 13. After the round-robin stage, the top two teams from each group will play the semi-finals on October 17 and 18, and the final is scheduled for October 20 in Dubai.

He is set to remain with the team until December 2026, a period which includes the ODI World Cup in India and the T20 World Cup in England

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2024Ben Sawyer has been reappointed head coach of the New Zealand women’s team for two years.Sawyer, who oversaw New Zealand’s first-ever T20 World Cup win earlier this year – they beat South Africa in the final – will remain at the helm until December 2026. This period includes the women’s ODI World Cup in India in late 2025 and the women’s T20 World Cup in England in mid 2026.”I’m stoked Ben’s re-signed with us,” white-ball captain Sophie Devine said. “The work he’s done with the White Ferns group and for women’s cricket in New Zealand has been huge.Related

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“The team is in a great spot right now, so I think locking him in for another two years and having that consistency will be big for us.”Sawyer, who has worked as an assistant coach with the Australia women’s team in the past, was first appointed New Zealand head coach on a two-year contract in June 2022, which ran through till the end of the India tour in October 2024. His reappointment follows an extensive review process, according to a NZC press release.New Zealand did not start their year well, winning just one in 13 T20Is heading into the T20 World Cup, but they turned things around in the UAE.”We’re so pleased to have Ben sign on for another two years,” Liz Green, NZC head of women’s high performance, said. “He’s unlocked a lot of belief and trust in this group and to have him stay now is massive, both for the current squad, and the long-term planning for the White Ferns. The consistency and stability is important.”Ben’s played a big part in progressing the White Ferns and helping build the women’s pathway. There was a huge amount of growth during that tournament, a result of what Ben and the coaches have been building over the last two years.”New Zealand will next take on Australia in a three-match ODI series that gets underway on December 19 in Wellington. The squad for the series will be announced later this week.NZC also said that the T20 World Cup trophy will be on display at the upcoming matches, “giving fans the chance to see it up close and capture photos”.

Their historic victory showed how well they had planned after their disastrous World Cup, using their limited resources

Mohammad Isam09-Sep-2019If a team has just performed poorly at a World Cup, a structural overhaul of some kind is usually in order. With Afghanistan, there was a sudden change in captaincy just prior to the event, which hadn’t gone down well with some of the senior players. But, as they crashed out after losing all their nine games, other issues came to the fore, and even the players’ temperament was called into question. Changes were inevitable.In the period since, the ACB handed the captaincy reins to Rashid Khan, and when Phil Simmons left as head coach, they put Andy Moles, the chief selector, in his place on a temporary basis.While Moles’ appointment highlighted the lack of options, Afghanistan have shown over the years that they tend to make the best of whatever resources they have. In fact, their ability to compete despite limited resources is what endears them to the neutral, besides lending more weight to wins over higher-ranked teams.Their 224-run win over Bangladesh in the one-off Test, in their first match since the World Cup, has that wonderful glow. Rashid, one of the best bowlers in the world, took 11 wickets in the match and scored a crucial half-century, in his first match as captain. Rahmat Shah struck the team’s first-ever Test hundred, Asghar Afghan made two half-centuries, and Mohammad Nabi took crucial wickets.ALSO READ: Nabi backs Rashid, blames last-minute captaincy changes for World Cup debacleBut this victory didn’t just come because of them. Ibrahim Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Zahir Khan and Qais Ahmed also chipped in with handy contributions. Afghanistan had depth in their talent pool, and it showed how well they had planned, and prepared.Afghanistan A’s tour of Bangladesh in July made it better. They had dominated that series, winning the unofficial Test series 1-0, and then rain deprived them of the one-day series triumph, with Bangladesh A salvaging a 2-2 draw in the five-match series.Ibrahim was the standout performer then, averaging 96.40 in the seven matches, hitting a century and three fifties. Qais, the legspinner, took 15 wickets including ten in the first unofficial ‘Test’ that they won convincingly. Of the 19 players who toured then, four played the Test in Chattogram. Another six players are in the T20I side that will take part in the tri-series in a few days.Now take Afsar Zazai, the wicketkeeper-batsman. He didn’t score many runs but left Bangladesh with a better understanding of their opponents and pitches. When he saw no grass on the Chattogram pitch, he could even tell his seniors what the home side was planning.Smile while you’re winning – Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi after the Test victory•BCBNabi, who announced his retirement during the Test, said that his faith in this crop of youngsters was the reason behind his decision to leave the format. He said that he has done his bit to achieve the Test status, and now wants the youngsters to build on it.”It is a great feeling [to win the Test match] because we are new in this format,” Nabi said. “We have won two out of three Tests. It shows our domestic structure is strong. The way the youngsters adjusted to the conditions, it was brilliant. It is a bright future for the youngsters.”For the last 15 years, I have served Afghanistan. It was my dream to play Test cricket. We worked hard towards it. We achieved this target in the last seven to eight years. We won the Intercontinental Cup twice and once were runners-up, which helped us gain the Test status. I am really happy to be part of that long journey for Afghanistan. I am leaving Tests because I believe the youngsters have a bright future in Tests. I want to focus on ODIs and T20s, and Insha Allah I will try to keep my body fit for those formats.”Nabi said that the Test win wasn’t just built on potential, but hard work in the camps – in Abu Dhabi and in Chattogram – over the last month. He said that in someone like Ibrahim, he saw the ability to tackle Test cricket. “We had our preparation camp in Abu Dhabi where we spent five days in 46-47 degrees, so it was nice to come here in better weather. We adjusted to these conditions, and we prepared really well for this game. It reflected on how we batted and bowled.”Our batsmen put up a good total in the first innings, and then I must congratulate young Ibrahim for his performance. He proved that he has the ability and talent to play for the national team.”Some of the more senior Afghanistan players, like Rahmat on the first day, also credited the Intercontinental Cup as one of the foundations of their preparedness for Test cricket. But as Zazai said after the fourth day’s play, they are more known for their white-ball exploits, so winning this game was far more important for them in that regard.”It would mean a lot, to be honest. The people know that our players are good enough for white-ball cricket, but we don’t have that much experience in Test cricket,” Zazai said. “So in this Test and the last one against Ireland, we showed we can play Test cricket as well.”It means more than T20 and ODI for us. We discussed in the dressing room that this is an important game for us, to prove in this level.”They didn’t just prove that they have a group of competent cricketers. They proved they were mentally prepared too. After all, they have just conquered tough conditions and opponents away from home in just their third Test.

Joe Root has scores of 42, 62 not out, 143, and 103 so far in this series. In general, he averages 67.55 against Sri Lanka, having hit 186 and a 228 in his last series against this opposition as well, those mammoth scores coming in Galle.He sweeps and reverse-sweeps well, tends to be proactive against the seamers, and on the occasions in which he chooses to defend, has one of the best techniques in the game.It is no surprise, that in the approach to the third Test, much of Sri Lanka’s team discussion has centred around this question: “How do we get Root out?”Related

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According to senior batter and former captain Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka have rifled through several plans to Root already, but have been forced to go back to square one by Root’s consistent excellence in this series. They are brainstorming again.”We’ve tried a few things against Joe but they were always unsuccessful,” Karunaratne said. “I think the turning points in the matches have been those Joe Root innings. Even when we’ve played at Galle, he’s hit big runs, but the batters around him haven’t scored as heavily. We really need to minimise the runs he’s scoring.”Homework for Sri Lanka’s bowlers is likely to have been dominated by watching replays of Root bat, with analysis of the likeliest strategies that will bring about his dismissal.”We need to look at his past performances more closely, see where he’s got out, and what kinds of things we can do on these pitches. We need to make a new plan based on that.”Counterintuitively, Karunaratne thinks perhaps this can come about by attacking him less.”Maybe sometimes we attack him too much and he takes advantage of that. Some players don’t like it when we ask them to be less aggressive. Sometimes boring batters out can also be a tactic.”Sri Lanka’s other major problem, however, has been the failure of their senior batters, who between them have produced six fifties in 16 combined innings. Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, and Dhananjaya de Silva – have all had a fifty-plus score, and yet have not made significant impressions.”The seniors have talked a lot about how to perform and ease the pressure on the juniors. The juniors have been doing well, especially Kamindu Mendis. Some people adapt very fast to conditions and some struggle. That’s the way the game is. Every game is quite tough.”For Karunaratne, the fact that Root has scored 153 more runs than the next-best England batter, is proof that batting has been difficult.”In England the conditions are tough for batters, and we saw that even their openers struggled, as well as their No. 3. Apart from Joe Root the others also struggled despite this being home conditions for them. We’re playing after a very long time here.”

Test captain’s wife and family were home during theft of ‘irreplaceable’ memorabilia

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2024

A 32-year-old man has been arrested following a burglary at the house of England Test captain Ben Stokes.The incident took place on October 17 at Stokes’ house in Castle Eden in the North East, with his wife, Claire, and two children, Layton and Libby, present in the house at the time. Stokes said his family did not come to “any physical harm” but stated the trauma “had an impact on their emotional and mental state”.In a social media post on Wednesday, Stokes pleaded for the return of a number of “irreplaceable” items after a masked gang broke into his home while he was in Pakistan for the recently completed Test series. The 33-year-old was playing in the second Test in Multan at the time, and only returned home earlier this week following the conclusion of the three-match series, which England lost 2-1.Durham Police said a 32-year-old man from North Yorkshire was arrested overnight on suspicion of burglary. He has been released on bail while the investigation continues.Of the items taken, which includes jewellery and a designer bag, was the medal awarded to Stokes for his OBE, received in 2020 for services to cricket following a 2019 summer in which he was integral to England’s ODI World Cup success, starring in the final, before putting in a miraculous performance to help them win the Headingley Test against Australia in the Ashes.