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Real Madrid have been forced to wear last season's away kit for their clash with Valencia on Saturday – here's why.

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Real to wear last season's away kitPlaying Valencia on the roadCan extend lead at top of La LigaWHAT HAPPENED?

Real face Valencia on Saturday night and will hope to extend their lead at the top of La Liga to nine points with a victory. However, they have been forced to raid the wardrobe and find last season's away kit to wear during the game, due to a bizarre coincidence.

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Real are wearing their purple away kit because both their away and third kits this season match the black Valencia shorts and socks. As a result, because their home kit is white, as is Valencia's, they have been forced into the remarkable step of wearing last season's strip instead.

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Real won the reverse fixture in thumping fashion, as they ran out 5-1 winners at the Bernabeu, thanks to a pair of braces from Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, and a strike from Dani Carvajal. They will be out to repeat the trick this weekend.

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After facing Valencia, Real are back in Champions League action against RB Leipzig on Wednesday in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. Real have a 1-0 lead from the first leg.

Fund-raising is underway for a commemorative statue of Basil D’Oliveira at the entrance to Worcestershire’s redeveloped New Road ground.

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2012Fund-raising is underway for a commemorative statue of Basil D’Oliveira, the cricketer who became the focal point of anti-apartheid protests, at the entrance to Worcestershire’s redeveloped New Road ground.The Basil D’Oliveira Foundation is seeking £70,000 to commission a bronze sculpture of D’Oliveira, who was one of Worcestershire’s most iconic cricketers and who died last November aged 83.Damian, son of Basil and the academy director at New Road, said: “Our family has been a part of Worcestershire for nearly 50 years now. I come in every day and see my father’s name on the stand and hopefully soon I’ll be able to drive along New Road and see his face too.”It is so many years since my father arrived here, but people have long memories and always come up to us to speak about him. We will be very honoured if the statue goes ahead.”John McKenna, the Scotland-based sculptor appointed, was born and brought up in Worcester and went to school with D’Oliveira’s sons.Any additional money would be used to set up an exchange scheme for cricketers in England and South Africa, where D’Oliveira was born. He became the symbol of opposition to South Africa’s apartheid regime after he was called up for England’s tour of South Africa in 1968.South Africa cricket officials, aware that the inclusion of D’Oliveira, as a Cape Coloured, would lead to the cancellation of the tour, exerted pressure on the MCC hierarchy not to select him. MCC’s acquiescence caused a media outcry in England and when D’Oliveira was subsequently chosen because of an injury to Tom Cartwright , the South Africa prime minister B. J. Vorster refused to accept his involvement and the tour was cancelled.The D’Oliveira Affair helped to shift international opinion against South Africa’s regime and caused an end to official cricketing links between England and South Africa until the mid 1990s until the collapse of the apartheid regime.

Saurashtra’s trio of spinners, Kamlesh Makvana, Vishal Joshi and debutant Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, earned their team a first-innings lead of 107 against Madhya Pradesh

Abhishek Purohit in Rajkot30-Dec-2012
ScorecardBefore this game started, Saurashtra’s only chance of achieving the outright win that would take them to the quarter-finals was believed to be their spin attack, considered to be better than Madhya Pradesh’s. Despite the absence of Ravindra Jadeja and Nayan Doshi, the trio of Kamlesh Makvana, Vishal Joshi and debutant Dharmendrasinh Jadeja showed why that belief was right, earning a first-innings lead of 107. MP’s dismal batting means they too will now have to push for an improbable victory, when a first-innings lead would have sufficed.As was the case on day one, the new ball was productive, with Jaydev Unadkat taking three wickets, including those of Devendra Bundela and Jalaj Saxena in inspired, extended spells of 6-3-7-2 and 6-3-13-1 on either side of lunch. Unadkat had earlier made 20 of the 30 runs he and Makvana added for the last wicket, and carried that confidence into his bowling.The difference between the two sides, however, was the quality of spinners, and the way they were played. There wasn’t a lot of turn from the dry Khandheri pitch, contrary to what was being expected by both sides before the start of the match. Still, Saurashtra’s spinners created chances, half-chances and plenty of excitement among the close-in fielders regularly. While MP’s spinners had been content with cutting down the runs, allowing the opposition to recover from 94 for 5, Saurashtra’s bowled a fuller length, drew the batsmen forward, put in more effort and flight in their deliveries, and generated more bounce. Also, while Saurashtra’s batsmen were prepared to grind it out and wait for runs, MP’s batsmen kept going for their strokes despite the situation demanding some caution.The initial incisions were made by Unadkat. Bowling flat out, he got the sort of lift and zip that had eluded Ishwar Pandey and Anand Rajan in the morning. Saxena did not help MP’s cause by flailing and getting beaten a couple of times outside off. Despite his partner Naman Ojha walking over for a word, Saxena proceeded to play the hook, on the hop, to an Unadkat bouncer, only to be caught at square leg. Rameez Khan played a sharp length delivery from the crease, and lost his off stump, which took such a blow it had to be replaced.Then came the most crucial part of the innings as MP’s best batsmen, Bundela and Ojha, fought. Unadkat reared a short delivery up at Bundela’s throat first ball, which the MP captain defended. The next ball was pitched up, produced an edge, but fell short of the cordon. Bundela responded with a clip to the deep-midwicket boundary.Ojha, a free-flowing batsman, took on spin soon after it was introduced in the 13th over, as he stepped out to lift left-arm spinner Jadeja over mid-on and mid-off. As lunch approached and Ojha continued leaving his crease and lofting the ball, Saurashtra already had a sweeper cover, long-off and long-on for him.Unadkat was at it again soon after lunch though. In the second over after the break, he zipped one across Bundela, which the batsmen could only edge on its way to the keeper. MP were now 57 for 3 and soon slipped to 73 for 4 when Ojha dragged a sweep into the keeper’s gloves down the leg side off Joshi.This was when the difference in the spin attack started to show. The tall Jadeja, the second-highest wicket-taker in the Under-25 CK Nayudu Trophy, put in a lot of work on the ball with an action that had him pivoting on the front foot like the classical spinners of old. He was accurate too, and after some time, had Satyam Choudhary and Udit Birla edging for an alert Shitanshu Kotak at slip to take his 101st and 102nd first-class catches. MP continued to sink, with Harpreet Singh slashing Makvana to second slip, a very sharp chance held nonchalantly by Rahul Dave. Similar chances had gone down in the Saurashtra innings.Unlike the Saurashtra lower order, the MP tail showed absolutely no fight. Anand Rajan drove at a flighted Joshi delivery and was bowled, Ishar Pandey slogged his first ball to midwicket, and Ajay Rajput his second to extra cover.Once again, when they needed to fire in a crunch game, MP came up short. They had batted poorly in the first innings of their quarter-final against Mumbai in the previous season and, this year, had also lost a thriller to them in the previous round.MP did send back Sheldon Jackson in the third over of Saurashtra’s second innings, but Pandey’s length ball barely got above the ankles. MP, who have to bat last, wouldn’t have liked that.

Virender Sehwag has no plans to end his career in the near future, and wants to play for “another two-three years” before considering retirement

Gaurav Kalra07-Dec-20147:43

‘Achieved all I want, now just enjoying my cricket’ – Sehwag

Virender Sehwag has no plans to end his career in the near future, although he last played for India nearly two years ago. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Sehwag revealed he was keen to play for “another two-three years” before considering retirement. The 36-year old said he was still “enjoying playing the game” and will have no regrets if the opportunity to play international cricket doesn’t come again.”As a cricketer, everybody has a dream to play for your country,” Sehwag said. “When I took up cricket seriously, I wanted to play for India. When my dream was achieved, I thought what next? Then a fellow cricketer told me, ‘playing for India is easy, playing for 10-15 years is difficult’. Then I changed my dream to play 100 Test matches. I achieved that as well. Now there is nothing to achieve, so I am just enjoying things.”Speaking before the World Cup probables – from which he was omitted – were announced, Sehwag was asked if he would be fine if the selectors don’t consider him for a national recall. He shrugged and cheekily said, “Yes, whose loss?”You should be happy in your life. Cricketers are worried about their milestones, worried that they should score 5000-10,000 Test runs but I am not fussy. I played 100 Tests and I am still playing the game, that’s what I want to do.”If I retire today or after two years, does it make any difference? Not in my life. Does it make a difference if I score 8000 or 10,000 runs in Test cricket? Not in anybody’s life. Even if I make 10,000 runs, who will be happy? Only me, maybe, because people don’t care about 8000 or 10,000 or 15,000 runs. It is about individual satisfaction.”Virender Sehwag: “Now there is nothing to achieve, so I am just enjoying things.”•ESPNcricinfo LtdSince being axed from the team after the second Test of Australia’s tour to India in 2013 in Hyderabad, Sehwag hasn’t made a compelling case for a comeback. In 12 first-class matches since, he has made 425 runs at an average of 25 with one century. Since his previous ODI in January 2013, he has scored 228 runs in 11 List A matches at 20.72 with two half-centuries.”My approach is the same. Yes, I am not able to give the kind of performances that I used to,” Sehwag said. “If you look at my first-class stats, if I score runs I score them quickly, if I get out, I get out quickly. I have never tried to change my game. In some matches, I told myself to give some time, scored just five runs in 36 balls on green wickets in Delhi where it is difficult to score. It happens. When you are growing older, you have the experience and that can help you score but it’s not possible to get a hundred every time you go out there.”While Sehwag will be batting in the middle order for Delhi this season, he says he would have no problems opening if asked to. “Last season I batted everywhere – opening, one down, two down and three down,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me where I am batting. If the selectors ask me to open the batting, I will do that. When I started playing for India, I was a middle-order batsman, the team management asked me to open the batting and I did that. If somebody asks me to, I will, I have done it in the past. I open for Kings XI (Punjab).”While admitting that he “missed” being part of the India dressing room, Sehwag said he prays and hopes the team “wins whatever match they are playing in.””I fight with my sons when they say, ‘Dad you are not playing, (so) the Indian team should not win’. The priority is that the country should win, it doesn’t matter who is playing. I miss the dressing room but at least somebody else is playing and contributing to the team, winning matches. I am happy about that.”Having been on three previous tours to Australia, Sehwag said that India’s young batting line-up will need to be “given time” before they start delivering results. “I think we have a very good bunch of players, we have to give them time. On my first tours of England, South Africa and Australia, I managed to score a hundred but in the other innings I didn’t score runs. If you look at the old days also when players came in, they failed in 15 innings but they still played 100 Test matches.”

Lord’s was not the first time in recent memory that New Zealand’s batting line-up has crumbled but it was the toughest to take because they had pushed England to their limits for more than three days

Andrew McGlashan20-May-2013Lord’s was not the first time in recent memory that New Zealand’s batting line-up has crumbled but it was the toughest to take because they had pushed England to their limits for more than three days. The morning after it was still raw, as the coach Mike Hesson reflected on the fourth-innings collapse which had left him in shock.He and Brendon McCullum have four days to pick up the pieces and repair fragile confidence but Hesson does not believe the rapid demise, which evoked memories of the South Africa tour at the beginning of the year, will undo the improvement New Zealand have shown over the last couple of months.”Absolute disappointment, stunned is another word,” Hesson said when asked to sum up his feelings. “Having played so well for three of the days and had parity, to perform the way did was very much out of character so it’s frustrating.”South Africa was different, it was the first innings of a series and dictated the way that game went, during this game we had three days of parity, if not being ahead. We are a developing side, we haven’t nailed everything, and occasionally we will have a performance which lets us down.”He also suggested that the enormity of what had been possible for New Zealand, just their second Test victory at Lord’s, overwhelmed the batting line-up although he was also quick to praise England’s performances.”There could be a number of factors – the location, the occasion, the chance to win a Test at Lord’s,” he said. “Throughout the second innings and the fourth innings we got a bid timid with the bat and I think the occasion, and probably the quality of the England bowlers, got to us.”However, Hesson remained determined to ensure that a “shocking” hour would not have to define the rest of the tour after the side had gone toe-to-toe with England, most notably through Tim Southee’s 10-wicket match haul.”We’ve got a lot of good memories to draw on. We played very poorly for that hour before lunch, which determined the outcome of the game, and it’s frustrating that a short period of time could dictate the game.”We are all thoroughly disappointed by that hour, but there were some amazing performances. We caught very well throughout the Test and the bowling was outstanding. Put Tim to one side, who grew another leg in that spell on the third evening, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Bruce Martin in the first innings set the tone.”It’s an experience we need to grow from. But like I said we’ve strung together lots of good days of cricket, we can’t just dwell on the fact we had a shocking hour.”

A round-up of the day’s play from Group C Ranji Trophy matches played on December 1, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Robin Bist scored 51 on the final day•Sivaraman KittaThe match between Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur ended in a draw, with Uttar Pradesh consolidating their position on the points table at third place. Rajasthan began the day with the openers having put on 15 overnight. Within three overs the first wicket went down when Siddharth Saraf was caught behind off the bowling of RP Singh.Vineet Saxena and Ashok Menaria enjoyed a brief stand of 38 before Imtiaz Ahmed had Saxena bowled. Menaria went on to hit 40 before he too suffered the same fate. Robin Bist, Rajesh Bishnoi and Chetan Bist hung around long enough to register fifties and force the draw.Rajasthan finished the final day with 253 for 6, with Chetan Bist not out on 61. Imtiaz had best figures of 3 for 58.
ScorecardIt took exactly 19.5 overs for Bengal to wrap up the Services first innings for 304 and ensure three points by virtue of 127-run first innings lead from their fifth round group B encounter played at the Airforce ground in Palam today. Saurasish Lahiri was the most successful bowler for Bengal with 3 for 69, while Ashoke Dinda took 3 for 97. They both should be credited for slogging it out on a 22-yard track which is probably one of the flattest this season.Read the full report here.
ScorecardBy the end of the opening session on the third day, the result, or rather the lack of one, seemed a foregone conclusion. Neither side had the bowling to force an outright win, so it was down to a shootout for first-innings points between two strong batting line-ups. Saurashtra salvaged three points in a stalemate at the MA Chidambaram Stadium while the hosts, Tamil Nadu, had to live with just one point despite putting on 565. That only 14 wickets fell across four days with neither team taking all ten wickets in an innings, showed the imbalance between bat and ball.Read the full report here.

The in-form David Willey produced another breathtaking innings on the second day of promotion-chasing Northamptonshire’s match against Glamorgan.

29-Aug-2013
ScorecardDavid Willey took his T20 batting form into the Championship with a blistering 81•Getty ImagesThe in-form David Willey produced another breathtaking innings on the second day of promotion-chasing Northamptonshire’s match against Glamorgan.Willey followed up his century against Warwickshire in the Yorkshire Bank 40 three days ago with a stunning 81 – his highest first-class total – off just 73 balls, including six huge sixes. It helped Northamptonshire build a big first-innings lead as they were eventually bowled out for 453, 212 runs ahead of Glamorgan’s total, with Andrew Hall hammering 91 not out off 134 deliveries and Mike Reed taking 4 for 109.The hosts began the day on 85 without loss, 156 runs behind their opponents, with their captain Stephen Peters resuming on 39 and James Middlebrook on 38. It did not take long for Peters to reach 50 off 80 balls in the third over of the day but he was to perish on 61 when he edged Reed to Jim Allenby at first slip to break the opening stand on 115.Middlebrook then completed his half-century off 73 deliveries, but he departed for 59 when he sliced a loose drive off Reed to Glamorgan captain and wicketkeeper Mark Wallace.Alex Wakely threw his wicket away on 36 when he gave Gareth Rees an easy catch at mid-on and gift Reed a third wicket before Dean Cosker removed Ben Duckett when he was taken by Wallace. Glamorgan’s fightback continued as Andrew Salter’s terrific delivery clipped David Sales’ off stump to dismiss him for 48 before Steven Crook nudged the very next ball to Wallace.But Willey reinforced his side’s innings with a spectacular half-century off just 51 balls as Northamptonshire reached tea on 309 for six. He and Hall went on to set a new record seventh-wicket partnership for the county against Glamorgan, surpassing the 105 made between William Denton and Benjamin Bellamy at Swansea in 1922.Willey went past his previous first-class best of 77 – made against Leicestershire in May – before he tentatively edged Wagg to Allenby at first slip to end the partnership on 115. Hall then became the fourth Northamptonshire batsman to go past 50, off 85 balls, as the relentless hosts claimed a full set of batting bonus points with 13 overs to spare.Reed then took out Trent Copeland’s off stump after the Australian had bludgeoned 34 before Northamptonshire wicketkeeper David Murphy feathered Allenby to Wallace. Cosker was to end the hosts’ innings – and the day’s proceedings – when he trapped Muhammad Azharullah lbw for 2.

Kieron Pollard has been rested from the West Indies ODI squad for the three-match series against India, starting November 21, due to an injury

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2013Kieron Pollard, the West Indies allrounder, has been rested from the ODI squad for the series in India because of an injury. Kemar Roach has also been ruled out of the series, which starts on November 21, with a shoulder injury.West Indies recalled Kieran Powell, Veerasammy Permaul and Narsingh Deonarine, after they had not been chosen for the tri-series against India and Sri Lanka and the home series against Pakistan earlier this year. Powell, Permaul and Deonarine last played for West Indies in the ODIs against Zimbabwe and were not a part of the squad for the Champions Trophy.The trio had been part of the West Indies A squad that recently toured India, playing first-class and List A games against the India A side. Deonarine was second highest run-getter for West Indies A in the first-class matches – 276 runs in three games at an average of 46 – and scored a fifty in the only List A game he played on the tour. Permaul also had a good outing for West Indies A, finishing with ten wickets in two first-class games.The other notable inclusions in the squad were fast bowler Ravi Rampaul and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. Rampaul had suffered an ankle injury in the tri-series against India and Sri Lanka and was also sidelined for the home series against Pakistan. He returned to competitive cricket for Trinidad & Tobago in the Champions League T20. Ramdin, who has played just seven ODI games this year, had been dropped frequently due to indifferent form. His last ODI fifty was against India in December 2011.West Indies’ ODI form has been poor of late, with only seven wins in 20 matches this year. Their record away from home is worse, with five losses in as many games in 2013. Their last ODI series win was against Zimbabwe in February this year. In the previous series between India and West Indies, in India, the visitors lost 4-1.Squad: Dwayne Bravo (capt), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Narsingh Deonarine, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons

Former Portugal and Barcelona star Deco has revealed the unique skill set possessed by Cristiano Ronaldo that left him stunned.

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All-time great started out as a tricky wingerMorphed into a record-breaking frontmanHas risen to the very top of the world gameWHAT HAPPENED?

Deco, who is now sporting director at Camp Nou, took in 57 international appearances alongside CR7 during his playing days. They only suffered 10 defeats when lining up together, with both men making their senior debuts for the Selecao in 2003.

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Ronaldo has gone on to become a five-time Ballon d’Or winner and all-time great, but that potential was always clear to see. He used to leave team-mates amazed in training and on match days, with Deco spotting one particular trait that he had never seen in anybody else.

WHAT DECO SAID ABOUT RONALDO

Deco has told of what makes Ronaldo so special: “Simply being around someone who was obviously different, on and off the pitch. I was struck by his ability, his speed and the way he played. His game had a lot of intensity. He tired out the opposition – he didn’t let the opposing full-back breathe. That was something I hadn’t seen in any player up to that point. He always had great technical ability, too. It was amazing to watch him.”

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Ronaldo started out as a tricky winger, as he danced around opposition full-backs with quick feet, but quickly morphed into a fearsome frontman and is now the proud owner of countless goalscoring records. He is still going strong at 39 years of age, with there no sign of the evergreen icon slowing down at Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr or with the Portuguese national team as they ready themselves for Euro 2024.

Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who finished the Ranji season with 645 runs including four successive fifty-plus score in the knockouts, has been named as the captain of the 15-man Rest of India squad

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2016Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who finished the Ranji Trophy season with 645 runs including four successive fifty-plus scores in the knockouts, has been named as the captain of the 15-man Rest of India squad. They will play 41-time Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai in the Irani Cup at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, starting March 6.The squad, which was announced shortly after the Ranji final, featured two Saurashtra players – Sheldon Jackson and Jaydev Unadkat. Jackson tallied 538 runs in 10 matches at 57.41, while Unadkat had a breakthrough season after injury, taking 40 wickets at 20.12.The squad also included the top two wicket-takers of the season – Jharkhand left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and Assam pacer Krishna Das. Punjab pacer Barinder Sran, who recently made his international debut in Australia, and Vidarbha offspinner Akshay Wakhare were also in the bowling mix.Karun Nair, who scored 500 runs this season compared to last time’s 709, was one of the two Karnataka players in this year’s Irani Cup squad, along with Stuart Binny. Vidarbha’s Faiz Fazal and Jammu and Kashmir’s Ian Dev Singh add more weight to the batting line-up. Andhra’s Srikar Bharat was the other wicketkeeper in the squad apart from Ojha. Assam’s Arun Karthik, who was the third highest run-getter this season behind Shreyas Iyer and Akhil Herwadkar, and allrounder Jalaj Saxena, who piled up 588 runs and 49 wickets, didn’t find a place in the squad.Rest of India squad: KS Bharat, Faiz Fazal, Karun Nair, Sheldon Jackson, Naman Ojha (captain), Stuart Binny, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Nathu Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Barinder Sran, Krishna Das, Sudip Chatterjee, Ian Dev Singh, Akshay Wakhare.