
Punjab Kings edge out RCB in low-scoring match
Punjab Kings edged out Royal Challengers Bengaluru by five wickets to move up to second in the table in the Indian Premier League.In a match reduced to 14 overs per side, the Kings impressively restricted their hosts to 95-9.The loss of regular wickets slowed their pursuit but they were always ahead of the required run-rate.They won with 11 balls to spare - Nehal Wadhera ending 33 not out from 19 balls.RCB, who have now lost all three of their home matches this year, only reached their total because of 50 not out from Australia all-rounder Tim David.They were 42-7 in the ninth over with Phil Salt out for four, Virat Kohli one and Liam Livingstone four.The Kings are level on 10 points with Delhi Capitals, who remain top courtesy of their superior net run-rate.RCB are fourth on eight points.Scorecard, IPL fixtures & results, table
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Rebel league is not for the good of rugby, it is a simple cash grab
Watching the exciting Premiership semi-final between Bath and Bristol, I realised how much I enjoyed the game. We know the Premiership has its difficulties, but the present product is not one of them. This was a game that was as fast-paced and exciting as you could realistically hope to see. This reaction led me to revisit the news about the creation of R360. Their released prospectus for a rebel league proposes the establishment of a 'grand prix' model of 12 franchises (eight male; four female) and it has been reported that they want to attract the top 300 male and female players, many of whom have allegedly signed heads of agreement to participate. Figurehead Mike Tindall claimed in the prospectus that 'clubs around the world are feeling the strain and are being propped up by the international game,' and that 'rugby's lack of innovation and ability to change risks losing its appeal to new audiences and its younger market.' It is claimed that a mixture of Formula One, cricket's Indian Premier League and other institutional investors have expressed interest. There were widely reported aims of producing a 'faster-paced, more exciting format, and a focus on player and fan experience' and a league that 'emphasises player welfare, including mental health support and opportunities for players to build personal brands'. It is said the new teams will visit 16 international venues, including the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Nou Camp and MorumBIS in Sao Paulo. As there are no specifically named investors or broadcasters, and nor are there any details of where the proposed franchises are to be based, what is the reality? Take the less interesting, but crucial, issue of squad numbers. If you assume two thirds of the 300 players are proposed for the eight male teams, you get squads of 25. There is no way that a team carrying that size of squad could compete over the proposed two sets of eight games per season. Even if you had a realistic minimum of two players for each position you would need squads of 30, and just a couple of injuries to props would mean teams could not cover the safety law requirements for specialist front-row replacements. A more realistic number of players would be a minimum of 500 but let us be generous and take 30 per squad. If you were to double the typical salary, as reported, then you could say eight 30-player squads of athletes on around £500,000 could cost £120 million per annum. The Premiership's current overall salary to total costs ratio is 45:55, so annual running costs for the new league could then be roughly £270 million a year. If you took a very, very substantial assumption that the new league would attract around the same annual broadcast income of all rugby's current major competitions, this would produce about £150 million, meaning to break even each of the 64 proposed games would need to make £1.9 million profit. This does not include costs on start-up or for staging games at the claimed venues. So again we ask: realistic or not? Now try doing the sums with 500 players. If R360 wants to make claims, it must answer questions properly. When they highlight the fan and player experience, what exactly do they mean and how will they improve it? It is not good enough to criticise without definition or rely on some Field of Dreams -like 'If you build it, they will come'. How do they propose to fulfil their stated aim for a faster-paced and more exciting game? Which laws, if any, are they going to change? These claims need evidencing and how will any proposed changes address their vaunted claim about player welfare? What do they propose for the British and Irish Lions? We go on. Where are these franchises to be based? The current Premiership proposals at least target existing clubs and supporters. Where will these new fans come from? I presume R360 think that international fans, and completely new supporters, can be converted with their new format, but there is little evidence that this is achievable. Without the support of the unions and World Rugby, the new league cannot exist and why would the current rugby structure allow R360 to simply take its best players, leaving the current, struggling structure to bear all the costs of grass-roots rugby, academy rugby and the emasculated professional leagues that would be left behind? Why would the current game allow a handful of venture capital firms or billionaires to walk off with its top assets without a fight? If it comes to a showdown, the only real sanction the unions have is to disbar R360's players from their international teams. It is a battle they do not need but would be forced to enter. What nobody dares say is that the central purpose of challenger brands like R360 is to damage existing and competing brands, like Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. This is not a proposal for the good of rugby – it is a simple cash grab.


Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
Australia's Hazlewood does not want to miss WTC final again
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - A calf injury forced Josh Hazlewood to miss being part of Australia's World Test Championship win two years ago and the fast bowler is keen to avoid a second such heartbreak as they defend their WTC title next week. Hazlewood is vying with Scott Boland to claim the last slot in Australia's pace attack for the final against South Africa at Lord's from Wednesday. The 34-year-old arrived late in England, after bowling Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title on Tuesday. "I was quite close last time," Hazlewood, who recently recovered from a should injury, said of the 2023 final he missed. "But I feel in much better place this time around, and I think in any format, my numbers over the last two years have been pretty good, so I've got a lot to fall back on. "Skill wise, I still feel like I'm bowling the best I have in my career and it's just a matter of the body holding up, which it has been in the last few months." Hazlewood was Bengaluru's most successful bowler in the IPL but he will need to shift from 20-overs cricket in India to a different format and the different English conditions. Adjusting the length would be particularly crucial, he said. "In the IPL games, I was probably hitting around that seven-to nine-meters in the powerplay, and not really threatening the stumps as much as you want to in test cricket, in particular here in England," he said. "So, it'll just be about pushing that length and touch fuller and still getting that zip through the keeper."


The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
‘Bowling the best I have': Josh Hazlewood stakes claim for WTC final spot
Buoyed by an outstanding IPL, Australia quick Josh Hazlewood feels he is bowling better than at any point in his decorated career. Struck down by niggling injuries in recent years, Hazlewood could be forgiven for starting to taper having already taken 279 wickets from 72 Tests. But the fit-again 34-year-old is going to give selectors significant headaches when picking the XI for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord's, starting on Wednesday. It is an identical dilemma to two years ago when Scott Boland was chosen ahead of Hazlewood, who had been recovering from side issues, for the ultimately successful decider against India. 'I was quite close last time, I just had more of an interrupted IPL leading into that and wasn't quite up to scratch,' Hazlewood said at Australia's training base in Beckenham. 'But I feel in much better place this time around, and I think in any format, my numbers over the last two years have been pretty good, so I've got a lot to fall back on. 'Skill wise, I still feel like I'm bowling the best I have in my career and it's just a matter of the body holding up, which it has been in the last few months.' Hazlewood managed just two Tests last summer, breaking down at the Gabba with a calf injury, as Australia won back the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time in a decade. The right-armer also missed the two-Test trip to Sri Lanka, played on spin-friendly pitches, to make sure he was ready to perform later in the year. Although he did suffer a slight shoulder injury, Hazlewood ultimately played a starring role in Royal Challengers Bangalore's breakthrough IPL title triumph last Tuesday. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Coming off a T20 workload, he has less than a week to get ready for his first Test since December. 'I ticked over some good overs just before the [IPL] final in Ahmedabad, in different weather than [England's], so it was quite a tough session,' Hazlewood said. 'Then every time you play a game in IPL, you're probably going to get almost seven or eight overs in when you factor in warm ups.'