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IPL 2022 will begin on March 26 with the final set to be played on May 29. The schedule was drawn up on Thursday by the IPL Governing Council, who also decided that the league phase of the tournament would be restricted to just two cities: Mumbai and Pune. Four venues – the Wankhede Stadium and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, the DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai, and the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Gahunje, in the outskirts of Pune – will host the league phase featuring 70 matches.As for the playoffs, which will feature four matches, the IPL has decided to keep its venue options open for now. A final decision on that, the Governing Council decided, would be taken later based on the Covid-19 pandemic situation in India in April-May.The Governing Council also decided to keep open the option of allowing crowds to attend the matches, subject to permission from the Maharashtra government.ESPNcricinfo has learned that the IPL will finalise and share the tournament schedule by the first week of March. The IPL this time will be a 10-team tournament with the addition of two new franchises – Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans – last October. At a meeting on January 22, all 10 franchises had unanimously backed the IPL’s first option of conducting the tournament in India.The franchises had also favoured limiting the tournament to just one venue – Mumbai – after the debacle in the 2021 season, which had to be postponed at the halfway stage when the second wave of Covid-19 that was sweeping across India breached the IPL bubble. In an internal review, the IPL concluded that teams travelling between multiple cities had been one cause for positive cases within teams in the first half of the 2021 edition. The tournament resumed in September-October, with the second leg played in the UAE – which had staged the entirety of IPL 2020.As for the format during the league phase, it could not be confirmed whether the IPL will follow the 2011 concept, the first time the tournament featured 10 teams. In the 2011 edition, the 10 teams were split into two loose groups, and the tournament comprised 70 league matches and four play-off games, with all the teams ranked in one composite league table. During the league phase, every team played the same number of league matches, which was 14.Each team played the other four in their group both home and away (eight matches), four of the teams in the other group once each (four matches, either home or away), and the remaining team in the other group twice, both home and away. A random draw decided the composition of the groups as well as who played whom across the groups once and twice.Women’s T20 Challenge likely to return
The Governing Council also backed the idea of bringing back the Women’s T20 Challenge, which last took place in 2020. The format is likely to be same as in the 2020 edition, in which three teams – Supernovas, Velocity and Trailblazers – played a total of four matches including the final. The Women’s T20 Challenge usually takes place during the IPL’s playoffs week. No firm decision has yet been taken on whether the women’s tournament will take place at a separate venue – as in 2020 – from the IPL play-offs.Having begun as a tournament to provide exposure to Indian women players as well as unearthing untapped talent – an example being the India batter Shafali Verma – the T20 challenge has grown significantly. In 2020 the BCCI said the T20 Challenge was “financially independent”, with Jio appointed as the first-ever title sponsor. Despite being played in Sharjah and away from the IPL playoff venues, the 2020 edition of the tournament attracted record viewership.The tournament will still have to wait before it expands to become a fully fledged Women’s IPL, however, with BCCI president Sourav Ganguly saying recently that the board was at the level of “formulation” to launch it in 2023.

Lionesses goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck has opened up on the support she received from Chelsea icon Petr Cech while recovering from a stroke.

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Roebuck suffered stroke during 2023-24 seasonKept situation from her Man City team-matesBut found relatable support in Cech & NFL Super Bowl winnerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Roebuck had an infarct in her left occipital lobe, which is a type of stroke, midway through the 2023-24 season and has admitted she was 'lucky' the situation did not leave her blind. The 25-year-old said it was a lonely time, as she kept the news from her Manchester City team-mates, but she was able to find support from two other sportspeople who could relate to her situation in NFL Super Bowl winner Tedy Bruschi and legendary former Chelsea stopper Cech.

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Bruschi had two strokes during a career that included three Super Bowl triumphs with the New England Patriots, while Cech suffered a serious head injury back in 2006 which doctors said could have cost him his life. The Chelsea icon would wear protective head gear for the remaining 13 years of his storied career.

WHAT ROEBUCK SAID

"I had a call with him for about two hours and it was amazing," Roebuck said of Cech in an open interview with . "Although it wasn't directly the same [situation], it was someone I could relate to going through a similar thing.

"He touched on things that nobody else got. No matter how many times I tried to express myself, I couldn't. Nobody could relate to what I was going through. He is now a good friend of mine. He came to watch me train the other day in Barcelona. So, there are positives to come out of it – the new relationships I've formed."

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Meanwhile, back at Man City, Roebuck found her relationship with head coach Gareth Taylor to be "fractured". The 25-year-old made her senior debut with the club and would play 131 times for them across eight years, but found herself massively out-of-favour in the first half of her final season, even before this scary situation developed. Her final appearance for the club came in May 2023.

"I don't know whether that was me, maybe not hearing the clear communication or the fact that there just wasn't clear communication," she said of that relationship breakdown. "I got my head down and I just tried to work every day, but I think it was a badly managed situation. I've always been professional. I just felt like the respect wasn't reciprocated in that same sense."

Scott Boland’s six-wicket haul on his Test debut allowed Australia to wrap up the Ashes 3-0, by lunch on the third day at the MCG.Australia’s quicks continued their demolition job on England, with Boland adding to his two wickets from three balls during a devastating final hour on the second day, with four more on the third morning to seal an innings victory as the hosts retained the urn.Boland took six wickets in 21 balls in all while Mitchell Starc, who had a big hand in reducing England to 31 for 4 in a cauldron-like atmosphere on day two, added the wicket of Ben Stokes inside the first 25 minutes of the resumption, to end with 3 for 29.Pat Cummins, whose pressure was instrumental in keeping England’s beleaguered batters under Australia’s thumb, went unrewarded in England’s second innings, having helped restrict them to a first-innings total of 185 when he and Nathan Lyon claimed three wickets apiece.But the day – as short as it was – belonged to Boland, who was selected as an MCG specialist after his performances for Victoria and who became the fourth Indigenous Australian to play Test cricket. After taking 1 for 48 in England’s first innings, he was simply unplayable for a side with its confidence beaten and its batting in disarray. In a historic moment, Boland won the Mullagh Medal as Player of the Match, named after Johnny Mullagh, who toured England as part of the Australian Aboriginal team in 1868.With players from both sides cleared to resume after returning negative tests following a Covid scare the previous morning, England’s task always looked insurmountable, even with Stokes and Joe Root still in. But the emphatic way in which Australia rammed home their advantage consigned England to new lows, their 68 all-out the lowest Ashes total in Australia since 1936 and England’s lowest total in Australia since 1904.Starc rattled Stokes’ middle stump with a rapid, fuller ball that sailed through the gate as the batter moved forward in defence to remove the man still remembered for his heroics at Headingley in 2019 but who is in a much different place now after taking an extended break from the game.Scott Boland claimed six wickets in 21 balls to humiliate England•Getty Images

Boland entered the attack and struck with his fifth ball of the day, trapping Jonny Bairstow lbw for 5. Bairstow, dropped by Cameron Green at gully on the first ball of the over, reviewed the lbw decision, but it was upheld on umpire’s call on impact and hitting the stumps.Root must have wanted to disappear when a Cummins delivery struck him in the groin – the third time Root has suffered such an injury in just over a week. He shook it off more quickly than he did Starc’s effort in Adelaide, which came off the back of a serious knock in the nets which had sent him to hospital for scans earlier that day.Root hung around long enough to be England’s top-scorer – yet again – with just 28 this time, but he fell driving at Boland and edging to David Warner at slip. After scoring 1708 runs in 2021, Root ended the calendar year two runs shy of second-placed Viv Richards and 80 off Mohammad Yousuf’s record.England brought up another less-coveted record, however, when Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson departed in the space of three Boland deliveries without scoring, taking their side’s tally of ducks to 54 this year and equalling their worst performance in that department of 1998. Wood spooned a return catch to Boland to give him his five-for and then Robinson fenced at one outside off stump, stabbing a catch to Marnus Labuschagne at third slip.It was Green who bowled last man James Anderson for 2 to seal the result on a day that Australia – and Boland – will long remember. England, meanwhile, face a serious period of analysis if they are to prevent a 5-0 sweep.

Leeds United could allow an in-form youngster to leave Elland Road on loan before the weekend, according to a new update.

Leeds transfer rumours

The transfer market may not be officially open again until January, however, the Whites can still sign free agents and use the loan market for non-league clubs, should they wish.

Daniel Farke and the 49ers Enterprises could dip into the free agent market following serious injuries to midfielders Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev, leaving Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell as his only senior midfield options. At the back, Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk are the only defenders fit due to Max Wober’s injury, which has resulted in Cheikhou Kouyate being linked with joining Leeds.

Reports have claimed a deal to be on and off in recent days, and when asked about Leeds signing Kouyate, Farke refused to confirm the name but did say the club are optimistic they will find “a good solution in the upcoming days or weeks”.

“I spoke about the situation. I never confirm any names and I won’t speak about players who are not under contract with us. I just speak about our players.

“We’re having a deeper look into the free agent market. We are also a bit light in the centre-back position, Joe Rodon is on four yellow cards.

“We have a few ideas and we’re carefully optimistic we’ll be able to bring in a good solution in the upcoming days or weeks, but I cannot say names.”

Leeds youngster Luca Thomas could join York City

Heading out of Leeds in the coming days could be young forward Luca Thomas, with National League side York City hopeful of signing the Whites gem on loan.

The 20-year-old has scored eight goals for Leeds’ youngsters in the current campaign and even made a cameo with the senior squad under Farke during pre-season.

York City boss Adam Hinshelwood commented on Thomas and a move from Leeds, revealing the 49ers Group are set for sit down talks on Thursday over a deal.

“Leeds have let him train with us for the last few days, so we can cast an eye over him, and we have done that. We’ve been impressed with what we have seen, so it’s down to us to have a chat with Tony [McMahon, Director of Football] and then speak to Leeds and see what is best.

“We’ve been really encouraged by what we have seen from him and we’re hoping that we will be able to do something there. We’re hoping, he’s been in for a few days and have liked what we have seen so far, so we will sit down with Tony tomorrow (Thursday) and speak to Leeds to see what we can try and arrange.”

Thomas has even been mentioned by some as a player who could become Leeds’ next Crysencio Summerville, so his development will be one to watch if he joins York on loan.

The morning’s warm haze was replaced by the evening’s sharply cut shadows on the third day of this match at Trent Bridge and in similar fashion the precise shape of the contest became clear. Rather than dismiss their opponents and thereby determine their side’s own victory target, Lancashire’s bowlers were roughed up by Lyndon James and Tom Moores in the first half of this day.As a consequence, Steven Mullaney’s declaration challenged Dane Vilas’s batsmen to score 444 in a little over four sessions. It would be Lancashire’s second-highest fourth-innings total in their history after their gloriously doomed 464 at The Oval in 2007 and it would also be the ninth-highest fourth-innings score ever made to win a County Championship game. Supporters who believe they will manage it have been placed in the care of kind friends.No doubt Vilas is in bullish mood. One can imagine Lancashire’s top order telling each other they will bat normally and see where they are an hour before tea on the fourth afternoon. The truth, one suspects, is that the visitors would accept a draw and the eight points that would keep them well in contention to win the title. It looks as though the slow left-armer, Liam Patterson-White, will have a lot of work to do tomorrow and that the second new ball will be significant on a pitch that is easing. But scoring 444 to win a game represents a summit of which few current players have any knowledge.Related

• Rob Keogh provides the ballast as Northants seal impressive 322-run chase

• Mohammad Abbas hobbles for the cause as Hampshire take Championship stride

• Sam Robson piles on career-best 253 as Middlesex tick off the records against Sussex

• Simon Harmer takes season tally to 49 as Essex roll Gloucestershire by an innings and three runs

• Darren Stevens – aka 'God' – has a hand in hefty Kent victory over Worcestershire

What’s more, Lancashire’s ascent of Nanga Parbat began atrociously when one of the team tripped over his ice axe and fell flat on his face at Base Camp. Luke Fletcher’s fifth ball of their second innings pitched just outside off stump and would have clattered into it. Alex Davies chose to play no shot to the delivery and was leg before wicket on the back foot. The opener trooped off having collected a pair and George Balderson replaced him, no doubt thinking he might as well have carried on opening the batting. Sodding this for a game of soldiers might also have crossed his youthful mind.Balderson, however, has all the makings of a very fine all-rounder, a “proper cricketer” the coaches call his kind. During a rather surprisingly wicketless final session he and Luke Wells batted with few alarms against an attack that rarely lost its focus. Wells, whose effect on the Emirates Old Trafford dressing-room has been much greater than his two fifties might suggest, duly reached his third when he eased Dane Paterson through midwicket and collected his tenth four.Then the cries of Mullaney’s fielders as they crowded Balderson in the closing overs of the day were more an attempt to unsettle the batsman than a genuine reflection of threat. But the 20-year-old has already seen most of that before and he batted with gentle composure. All the same, while a close of play score reading 115 for 1 represents a fine platform, it is open to grave doubt whether it is a platform for victory.Visiting supporters, of course, will simply be grateful that their cricket ended rather better than it began. The first hour of play was remarkable in that 16 overs were bowled but it was notable in that James and Moores scored 47 runs, as the Nottinghamshire pair made it clear they intended to carry the attack to Tom Bailey and Danny Lamb. This was in clear relief to the tempo of the cricket on Monday evening and it shifted the balance of the match. The expectation of Lancashire’s bowlers gave way to mere hope and their batsmen watched in lonely trepidation as the home side’s lead grew.At lunch Nottinghamshire’s advantage was 334, a number with 91-year-old Bradmanesque echoes. James had reached his fifty off 149 balls and Moores off 62 balls fewer, a reflection of the younger man’s self-denial on Monday evening, when batting was tougher and Lancashire probably thought they would be chasing a far more manageable target.Nottinghamshire batted on deep into an afternoon session in which they hoped to take energy out of Lancastrian legs and steel out of Lancastrian minds. Forty minutes after lunch, though, Moores swung Wells straight to Steven Croft at deep midwicket and thus fell three short of his third first-class century. Instead of reaching the landmark with three nousy pushes into the many gaps he had chosen to get there in the grand manner only to depart in the not-so-grand fashion.At first James approached his own landmark differently. A first century is one of professional cricket’s arrival lounges; people notice it even though there have already been plenty of reasons to pay attention to James’s cricket. However, after getting a little tied down by Wells and Steven Croft’s spinners he tried to lift the leg spinner down the ground only to sky a catch to Josh Bohannon at mid-off and troop off with a career-best 91. Bailey then bowled off spinners and dismissed Brett Hutton – it really was that type of session – before Mullaney declared with a lead of 443. It looked more than enough. Surely it still is?

Preparing to make up for a frustrating summer transfer window, one Newcastle United insider has shared an exciting message amid Paul Mitchell’s decision to send scouts to two specific countries.

Newcastle transfer news

A rethink was needed at St James’ Park after Newcastle ended the summer transfer window without reinforcement within their backline and without an attacking addition to replace the likes of Miguel Almiron and the injury-prone Callum Wilson.

It is failure that Mitchell is well aware of after his first window at the helm, explaining in a recent interview relayed by The Athletic: “There are things we got wrong in our strategy, for sure. If we could have signed a player that we actively felt could make a really good squad better, would we? Of course we would have done.”

International manager drops hint over "excellent" Newcastle star's injury

More frustration for the Magpies…

ByTom Cunningham Oct 3, 2024

Amid the constraints of PSR, the Magpies, for all their riches these days, found themselves limited on the spending front before failing to agree deals for the likes of Crystal Palace star Marc Guehi. In a summer-long pursuit, Newcastle went all-in on Guehi, only for the England centre-back to stay put at Selhurst Park.

Summing up their struggles, Mitchell and Newcastle have since been forced to have a rethink it seems. According to Mark Douglas of iNews, Mitchell has picked out Germany and France for Newcastle to scout intensively, with one insider revealing that the Magpies want to be “best in class” when it comes to recruiting, developing and either utilising or selling young talents from around the globe.

Newcastle are also hiring a full-time psychologist to work with the loans team in an attempt to boost their young players and loanees. They expect the development of a massive pool of Yankuba Minteh style talents to help avoid any future PSR sanctions – Liverpool’s £50m+ influx from selling Fabio Carvlaho and Sepp van den Berg to Brentford this summer is seen as the perfect example.

Finding a way past the rules that limited them in the summer would, of course, be the key to further arrivals in 2025.

Newcastle must get 2025 transfer windows right

After suffering as a result of their squad depth – or lack thereof – last season, Newcastle should have had a plan in place. Months later, of course, it quickly became apparent that any plan had been scuppered by PSR concerns and all their eggs had been thrown in one basket for a Guehi deal which they never managed to get over the line.

Things must be different in 2025. The likes of Mitchell should match the strong start of Eddie Howe’s side with key additions that may even bring the Magpies back to the Champions League level they found themselves at just a couple of years ago.

The rumours have already started on the reinforcements front too. The likes of Jonathan David have especially stolen the headlines, with the Lille forward set to become a free agent upon the expiry of his current contract to ring the alarm bells of clubs looking to land a top striker and avoid spending big.

Following the tough fallout of his first window in charge, there’s no doubt that Mitchell will be keen to earn instant redemption at St James’ Park, whilst once again avoiding the dreaded PSR sanctions.