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Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde scored two goals apiece to lead Real Madrid to a 5-3 win over Al-Hilal in the Club World Cup final on Saturday.

The celebrations weren't over-the-top after the final whistle blew. Real Madrid, having put away Al-Hilal in a high-scoring Club World Cup final, didn't storm the pitch. Instead, it was the standard slew of high-fives and hugs, a reaction more associated with a win over Elche on a rainy midweek in February than the European crown they captured last May.

Still, there was reason for some smiles. Madrid turned in one of their best attacking performances of the season, putting five past Al-Hilal to win their fifth Club World Cup.

Champions of the world have a nice ring to it.

Vinicius Junior opened the scoring early, capping off some neat interplay with a side footed finish to give Madrid a 1-0 lead. Fede Valverde added a second five minutes later, with Abdullah Al-Mayouf fumbling his relatively tame strike.

Al-Hilal pulled one back after Moussa Marega coasted through the Madrid defence and slipped the ball past Andriy Lunin. There were suggestions that another might come, but Real did just enough to retain a 2-1 lead at half-time.

Karim Benzema quelled any comeback fears with a tap-in 15 minutes after the break. Valverde made it four shortly after, latching on Dani Carvajal's through ball and chipping the keeper to put Madrid out of reach. Al-Hilal stuck around, though, trading goals in a high scoring affair that somehow ended 5-3, with just enough jeopardy to make things interesting.

Much like Chelsea at this tournament a year ago, this was a chance for Real Madrid to hold silverware during a season in which achievements might be in short supply.

Even if the Club World Cup can feel like a dressed-up friendly, grabbing the 100th official trophy in club history was an accomplishment worth savouring.

Getty ImagesThe Winners

Federico Valverde:

His first goal might have been fortunate – the product of a horrible blunder by the keeper – but Valverde badly needed to see the ball hit the net. The midfielder was evolving into a reliable goalscorer before the World Cup, but dropped off immensely after his time in Qatar. But there were echoes of his old self on Saturday evening. Valverde was elegant on the ball and immensely effective in the final third, bagging a brace while being heavily involved in Madrid's suddenly fluid build up play. Yes, the opposition wasn't of the highest quality, but it might be exactly what Valverde needed.

Vinicius Junior:

There was a kind of joy to Vinicius' game on Saturday that hasn't been seen for some time. The winger has been battered with on field mistreatment and rancid racial abuse over the last six weeks. And, not unreasonably, it appeared to be getting to him. But in Morocco, away from the controversy of La Liga, the Brazilian has thrived. He bagged a brace in the final, his third goal of the Club World Cup. There was a real ease to his finishing too, the comfort of a player entirely relaxed and confident in his abilities. He was a delight to watch.

The Club World Cup:

Yes, major clubs in the middle of their league campaigns really don't need to jet off to play a far inferior team. But what a game this was. Madrid probably should have scored five, and really shouldn't have conceded three. But, more than anything, that added to the fun. Madrid never really looked in danger of losing the contest; each goal was a product of individual errors rather than Al-Hilal brilliance. Still, Los Blancos were just careless enough to make it all a bit fun. As far as needless games go, this was a fantastic one to watch.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesThe Losers

Antonio Rudiger:

He wasn't the only Real Madrid player to turn in a poor defensive performance, but Rudiger's wayward play directly contributed to two of Al-Hilal's goals. He was caught out of position on the first, and gave the ball away in the run-up to another. With Militao out and David Alaba working his way back to full fitness, Rudiger is the only fit first-choice centre-back. And his poor spell is something of a concern as Madrid enters a period of must-win contests.

Luka Modric:

Was this Modric's last final in a Madrid shirt? The Croatian hasn't looked the same player since the World Cup, with his 37-year-old legs finally showing signs of slowing down. He was, predictably, handed the start against Al-Hilal, as Ancelotti fielded his strongest XI. But he was the weakest of three Madrid midfielders, and with Dani Ceballos lifting the level after he came on, it's easy to wonder how much longer Modric might be a surefire starter.

Getty ImagesReal Madrid Ratings: Defence

Andriy Lunin (5/10):

Conceded three without doing loads wrong. Probably has more grievances with his back four than individual showing. A wayward pass or two didn't help, though.

Dani Carvajal (6/10):

Seems to have benefitted from some time off, and turned in a lively performance.

Antonio Rudiger (5/10):

Shaky, which isn't very good. Will need to improve in the coming weeks.

David Alaba (6/10):

Given problems by the strength of Marega, and should have done better on the forward's goal. Looked more comfortable at left-back.

Eduardo Camavinga (7/10):

Good at left-back, even better in central-midfield. A delightful player to watch who will surely only get better. Bellingham who?

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Getty ImagesMidfield

Luka Modric (6/10):

Uncharacteristically leggy from the Croatian, who is really starting to show his age. This could be his last final in a Madrid shirt.

Aurelien Tchoaumeni (6/10):

Fantastic at winning the ball, not as good once he'd actually won it. Seemed to get himself banged up – Ancelotti will hope it's not serious.

Toni Kroos (7/10):

Classy, measured, technically sound. A signature Kroos performance, who loves these slower-paced games these days.

Victoria wasted little time rumbling to their second consecutive Sheffield Shield title and 30th overall, capitalising on a weakened South Australia attack to wrap up the final in little more than an hour on the last day of the final at Glenelg Oval

The Report by Daniel Brettig30-Mar-2016Victoria 399 (Handscomb 112, Dean 111, White 78, Worrall 6-96) and 3 for 196 (Stoinis 72, Handscomb 61*, Dean 54) beat South Australia 340 (Ross 72, Weatherald 66, Carey 50, Tremain 3-73, Holland 3-86) and 251 (Weatherald 96, Ross 71, Holland 5-76) by 7 wickets
ScorecardVictoria secured the Sheffield Shield for the second successive year•Getty ImagesA season of youthful batsmanship was fittingly sealed by Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis as Victoria wasted little time rumbling to their second consecutive Sheffield Shield title and 30th overall.Capitalising on a weakened South Australia attack to wrap up the final in little more than an hour on the last day of the final at Glenelg Oval, Stoinis and Handscomb played with freedom in sight of the competition finish line, completing a match in which youthful batting talent was writ large across the five days – Cameron White the only batsman over the age of 30 to make a significant score.Centuries for Handscomb and Travis Dean, alongside strong contributions from Jake Weatherald, Alex Ross and Alex Carey, maintained a telling tale of 2015-16, namely the advance of a new generation to the front rank of Shield batsmen. Of the top 10 run-makers in the competition, only George Bailey was into his 30s, a marked contrast to numerous recent summers when the likes of Ricky Ponting, Chris Rogers, Adam Voges and Michael Klinger were dominant.Generational change is working its way through Australian cricket, and the selectors now have plenty of new names arrayed before them. Victoria’s captain Matthew Wade, in toasting his second consecutive title, was as pleased for the younger members of his team as he was for the coach David Saker, finally part of a shield-winning combination after missing out as a player for Victoria and Tasmania.”The opportunity to win four Shields, and to captain a back-to-back Shield is as good as it gets really,” Wade said. “I’m as proud as I’ve ever been as a captain and of the young players who have come in and taken first-class cricket by storm.”Travis Dean, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, over the last three years they’ve come in and dominated in Shield cricket and then we’ve got Boland and Tremain who have stepped up terrifically well for us in the last 12 months. It’s an honour to play in another Shield.”I was lucky enough to play with and against Sakes as a young kid in Tassie so we already had a good relationship coming into this year. It’s been a big driver for us to get Holland, Tremain and Dean their first Shield and David Saker, who’s been around the game for 20 years, has never won a Shield so to get him a medal is a big honour.”Stoinis struck three consecutive sixes to go beyond his half-century, and while he was dismissed with only a handful of runs required, Handscomb laced a boundary behind point to seal the win and earn a warm embrace from his captain Matthew Wade.The Redbacks were limited in their bowling options, having lost Chadd Sayers due to an ankle problem. They also were unable to call upon the swing bowling of a sore Daniel Worrall on the final morning, leaving Joe Mennie and Eliot Opie to be partnered by the part-time spin of the captain Travis Head. Victoria’s win means South Australia have now gone 20 seasons without winning the title, and Head described a feeling of pride without satisfaction.”Proud, not satisfied, we just spoke about that in the change rooms just then,” Head said. “Last year we won one Matador game and we went nowhere in the Shield. This year to play the brand of cricket we did in the Matador, I think we played a beautiful game of cricket in the Matador Cup and I thought throughout the Shield season, in moments, one thought the best brand of cricket in the season.”I think we got the most bonus points which showed that we played the right way. Moving forward if we get more consistent and play that way, I think we can be pretty scary. It’s been a three-year progress with Jamie [Siddons, the coach], he’s come in year one and we’ve played in two finals. If we look at in honestly and play more consistent that way, it’s going to be scary because we’ve got ourselves in two finals and there are probably a few blokes in the change rooms who are really disappointed with their seasons.”The young blokes that came in stepped up and that’s what we looked for. I think in the past couple of years we probably haven’t had the depth and there’s been six batters rotate through the season and you know that your spot’s pretty safe. At the moment we’ve got blokes in grade cricket who are making a lot of runs and they’re coming in and they’re performing. It’s fantastic to see.”Victoria’s win was marred by a ball tampering offence committed by the bowling coach Mick Lewis, and they were also helped earlier in the season when handed six points due to an unfit outfield at the SCG. Wade and his team will waste little time thinking about those episodes in their moment of victory.”I know that it was all over the South Australian papers today but not really,” he said. “We can’t control that, we were on the ground, it’s an unfortunate incident but when I look back over my career I’m not going to be thinking about Micky Lewis in the gutter. I’ll be thinking about the Shield that we just won.”

Quite how England respond to their Lord’s thrashing remains to be seen, but for Michael Clarke there was no screaming and shouting after Australia’s opening defeat in Cardiff as he instead trusted his players to answer their own questions

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2015Quite how England respond to their Lord’s thrashing remains to be seen, but for Michael Clarke there was no screaming and shouting after Australia’s opening defeat in Cardiff as he instead trusted his players to answer their own questions: he could not have hoped for a more emphatic outcome.When Josh Hazlewood bowled James Anderson well before the Lord’s clock had struck 5pm on Sunday afternoon, Australia completed an overwhelming 405-run victory to level the Investec Ashes at 1-1. Given the way Australia themselves were out-performed in Cardiff it was a remarkable turnaround – not just a victory but an evisceration.”We didn’t talk too much about Cardiff, once we left that changing room our focus was turning up here and making sure we played some of our best cricket,” Clarke told . “We knew we didn’t play our best, but today the boys up there can look themselves in the mirror and know they played some pretty good cricket”Couldn’t have asked for a better performance from every single player, the way the boys batted – Smith, Rogers, Davey Warner – and the intent through the second innings was outstanding then the execution from the bowlers.”Australia made two changes for this Test. They were forced to hand Peter Nevill a debut after Brad Haddin withdrew for personal reasons and the gloveman responded with seven catches and a jaunty maiden innings. The selectors also decided to ditch Shane Watson for Mitchell Marsh and the allrounder claimed three top-order wickets to help the frontline bowlers dismantle England.”Marshy played really well, his intent shows how much of a team player he is,” Clarke said. “He got two crucial wickets in the first innings, didn’t get a long bowl in the second dig but did a great job as well. Credit to the selectors for going with their gut, it was hard on Watto who has been a fantastic player for us but that’s the advantage we’ve got with the squad.”The eye-catching bowling on the fourth day came from Mitchell Johnson who rattled England with his pace – reviving memories of what happened in Australia – but Clarke devolved questions about any reopening of scars.”That’s probably a question for Mitchell Johnson or the England batsmen. He’s such a great athlete that he can bowl long spells or I can ask him to bowl short spells – it’s about assessing the wicket and the game. Credit to the rest of the attack, too, because the way they operated allowed Mitch to do that.”

Mushfiqur Rahim has admitted it was difficult to set fields for his undisciplined bowling attack, and said that as a captain, he was made to look “foolish” when the bowlers struggled to bowl in one area continuously

Mohammad Isam in Fatullah14-Jun-20151:37

‘Could’ve played Harbhajan, Ashwin better’ – Mushfiqur

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has admitted it was difficult to set fields for his undisciplined bowling attack, and said that as a captain, he was made to look “foolish” when the bowlers struggled to bowl in one area continuously. Mushfiqur also felt that there was much to learn from the Indian bowlers who bowled according to the fields set by their captain Virat Kohli.Mushfiqur fit to keep for ODIs

Mushfiqur Rahim said that he has recovered from his finger injury enough to keep wickets in the ODI series against India, though it did bother him a couple of times during the Fatullah Test.
“I fielded for almost three days and it did hurt once or twice,” he said. “Otherwise, I don’t think I am in a bad situation to keep either. Hopefully I will be fit keeping-wise by the time the ODIs start.”
Mushfiqur said that he wouldn’t use the pain as an excuse for his five-ball two in Bangladesh’s first innings, when he got out nicking a catch to leg-slip.
“I can’t give any excuse about my batting. The injury might have affected me while fielding or keeping but not my batting. I’ll return to keeping in the one-dayers.”

“A bowler needs to bowl in one particular area and be consistent so that we can plan a field for the batsmen,” Mushfiqur said. “If we set a field for deliveries that are bowled in front of the batsmen and in good areas and then you see the bowler bowling a short pitched delivery, then the captain may look foolish. It depends upon the bowler and what they are executing. If our plan clicks everyone would have said positive things. If it doesn’t people will criticize.”India consistently scored more than four runs an over on the truncated first and third day of the Fatullah Test, eventually declaring on 462 for 6 on the fourth morning. None of Bangladesh’s front-line bowlers, on the other hand, went at less than three an over. Shakib Al Hasan finished with 4 for 105 at 4.28 runs per over while Jubair Hossain gave away 113 runs in 19 overs for his two wickets. Taijul Islam and the lone paceman Mohammad Shahid went wicketless, while the entire bowling attack could muster just four maidens.Combined, the bowlers gave away more boundaries on the legside (28 to 26) than the offside, and there were a noticeable number of rank long-hops from both the spinners and Shahid. Shakib admitted that he needed help from his old coach Nazmul Abedeen to correct his bowling action, while Jubair had been short of match practice having last played a first-class game in February. Shahid understandably struggled for 22 overs and even Taijul had an uncharacteristically poor Test match. Since taking 60 wickets from three Tests against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh have bowled their opponents out in an innings only once, against Pakistan in Khulna.”The captaincy depends upon the entire team and captaincy is a big issue,” Mushfiqur said. “But at this level a bowler comes and tells the captain how he is going to set a batsman up and accordingly a captain sets a field. But in our level there is a big gap here.”If our bowlers bowl one ball here and the other there, then the field setup will never look good. The way Harbhajan and Aswhin bowled, you could always use an attacking field against any side. So hopefully we can learn from this Test and work more on our bowling. It will help our Test cricket.”Mushfiqur admitted that picking just one pace bowler was a strategy they needed to revisit. Mushfiqur is the only captain who has used a single pace bowler in a Test match. The first time was in January last year when he used Al-Amin Hossain as the single seamer. Kumar Sangakkara scored a triple-century in that game and the bowling attack looked just as lopsided here as well. It was particularly unfair on Shahid, who was only playing his third Test match and at times, looked out of ideas.”Maybe had we taken another pacer it could have been good. There might have been a mistake from our side. We take a decision together with logic.”Maybe if we would have won the toss, things would have been different and our four spinners could have attacked their batsmen more. So maybe we can learn from this experience and know what are the positives and negatives of playing with a single pacer.”Mushfiqur also said that Shuvagata Hom may perhaps have been given one too many chances to prove his worth. From seven Tests, Hom averages 21.30 with the bat and 59.12 with the ball taking just eight wickets. After going wicketless in the first innings, Hom had a chance to redeem himself with the bat, but even in his 43-run seventh-wicket stand with Litton Das, it was the debutant Litton who looked far more comfortable. Shuvagata made just 9 off 25 balls.”Maybe it is a point that we need to think about. The way we gave him chances, maybe he hasn’t lived up to the expectations,” Mushfiqur said. “He did well in the last domestic competition, so we thought he could be good in the team. So we have seen him in this Test. If there’s a better option for the next Test series, then maybe someone better will be picked up, not just Shuvagata but any player.”

Man City have trolled neighbours Man Utd by producing a video compilation of their players' knee-slide celebrations at Old Trafford this season.

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City mock United with videoFour players did knee-slide celebrationsCity win twice at Old Trafford in one monthWHAT HAPPENED?

Pep Guardiola's side hammered United 3-0 in their own backyard last month, before City's women's team eased to a 3-1 win against their local WSL rivals less than a month later. Erling Haaland and Phil Foden were among the goals for the men, while Lauren Hemp and Khadija Shaw hit the target for Gareth Taylor's side. All four players celebrated their goals with knee slides on the Old Trafford turf, and City's social media team couldn't resist making a compilation.

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Guardiola's side have become accustomed to winning at Old Trafford in recent years, but the women's team made history by winning the first-ever WSL Manchester derby played at the famous stadium. Not content with only mocking United online, City and England winger Chloe Kelly shushed the home crowd after Jill Roord scored City's equaliser on Sunday.

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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR CITY?

City's men's or women's sides will have to wait until 2024-25 for their next chance to embarrass United at Old Trafford. Both are above the Red Devils in their respective leagues with United struggling to keep pace with the leading packs.

Peter Moores has been sacked as England head coach after just over a year into his second stint in the job. The decision is the first for Andrew Strauss, who has been appointed as the new director, England cricket.

Alex Winter09-May-20155:11

England fire Peter Moores as head coach

Peter Moores has been sacked as England head coach after just over a year into his second stint in the job. The decision is the first for Andrew Strauss, who has been appointed as the new director, England cricket.Paul Farbrace, the assistant coach hired by Strauss’ predecessor Paul Downton, will take charge for the New Zealand series beginning on May 21 before a permanent coach is found ahead of the Ashes, which begins on July 8. Jason Gillespie, the Yorkshire coach, is the favourite for the role but ESPNcricinfo understands he has not yet been contacted by the ECB.Moores, 52, led England through a disastrous winter of one-day cricket, culminating in their failure to qualify for the knockout stage after losing to Bangladesh. And having made progress in the Test arena with a resounding victory over India last summer, England’s 1-1 draw in the West Indies served to further convince the management that a change of coach was needed.Strauss on Moores

“Moores is one of those people who can never sit still, always coming up with new ideas. In the county cricket environment, his methods had proved very successful. … However, international cricket differs from county cricket in the sense that players need far less pushing and prodding in order to get themselves up for a game of cricket. Every time they go out there to play, they are playing for their careers. They are bound to be up for it. What is required at the highest level is a coach who is able to calm players down, allowing them to play to their strengths and installing confidence in their methods.”
Andrew Strauss, on Peter Moores’ first spell as England coach, Driving Ambition, 2013

“Peter is a man of great integrity and has offered a huge amount to England cricket,” ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said. “He is admired by the players, his colleagues at the ECB and right across the game and deserves both our deep thanks and the widest recognition for his commitment and contribution.”The last year has been a period of transition and rebuilding in which Peter has nurtured new talent, developed new players and laid the foundations for the new coaching structure to build on. This decision has been made as we focus on the future and our need to build the right approach and deliver success over the next five years within a new performance structure.”Moores, whose last match in charge was the washed out ODI in Dublin on Friday, said he was walking away having given his all to the role: “I believe time will show that I have been instrumental in the identification and development of a new group of England players who will go on and bring honour and success to the England badge. I am a passionate Englishman who believes in hard work and an investment in the right people will bring its rewards.”My record in developing players stands for itself and though we have had some frustrations along the way I am confident that this team will go on and bring the success the supporters desperately want to see. I knew when I took on the role that this was going to be a tough period for English cricket and I would need time and support to get new players through. My frustration is not being given that time.”The appointment of Moores’ replacement will be made by Strauss, the 38-year-old former England captain who won two Ashes series, who now has the responsibility for the “long-term strategy of the England men’s team and developing the right coaching and management structure to support it”. The head coach will now report to Strauss and the future of national selector James Whitaker is now in doubt.”Andrew’s breadth of ideas, his passion for England cricket and his proven leadership skills shone out,” Harrison said. “He was an exceptional England captain, is an authoritative voice on the modern game and has a wealth of experience building successful teams. Andrew’s also widely respected across the sporting landscape. We’re delighted he’s joining us at the ECB as we set out to create a new strategy for the game.”Another former England captain Michael Vaughan was initially linked with the role but following talks with the ECB last week ruled himself out. Vaughan had envisaged the role as possessing more power. More should be learned about the extent of those powers from Strauss and Harrison on Tuesday.Gillespie is the leading candidate to replace Moores, although he has given no firm, indication he would definitely take the job. He is very highly regarded having led Yorkshire from Division Two of the County Championship to the Division One title last season – their first Championship since 2001.Gillespie turned down the opportunity to take over at South Australia last week and is also close to the incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves, formerly chairman of Yorkshire, but he is highly content at a job share which splits his responsibilities between Yorkshire for eight months of the year with the remainder in Australia’s as coach of Adelaide’s T20 franchise, Adelaide strikers. He has a young family and is understandably reluctant to spend 250-plus nights a year on the international circuit.Justin Langer, also a former member of the dominant Australia side of the 1990s and 2000s, has emerged as a potential coach, too. Langer is the current coach of Western Australia but has strong links with English cricket after eight years with Middlesex, where he played with Strauss, and later at Somerset. Langer is seen by many as the successor to Darren Lehmann as Australia coach but may be tempted to lead their Ashes rivals.The future of England Test captain Alastair Cook remains unclear. He has now lost the two figures who publicly backed him – Downton and Moores – but Strauss has always spoken highly of his leadership credentials.

It has been reported that Serie A giants AC Milan are going to try to recruit Arsenal centre-back Jakub Kiwior during the January transfer window.

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AC Milan want to sign Kiwior Arsenal signed centre-back last January Milan suffering from defensive injuriesWHAT HAPPENED?

The gifted 23-year-old was acquired by the Gunners for £20 million from Spezia in January of last year, but he has only made intermittent appearances for the North London team thus far. This season, Kiwior has made ten appearances across all competitions; however, most of them have been cameos off the bench. Italian publication Calciomercato claims that AC Milan have been closely monitoring the defender for the past few weeks and are keen on bringing Kiwior back to Serie A. Due to multiple injuries, AC Milan are presently missing Simon Kjaer, Pierre Kalulu, Mattia Caldara, Malick Thiaw, and Marco Pellegrino in defence.

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Calciomercato also reports that Antonio D'Ottavio, the sporting director of Milan, and Geoffrey Moncada, the technical director, have been "working intensely for a few days" to attempt to recruit him "on a loan deal with an option to buy." At the moment, Arsenal are hesitant to let Kiwior go, however, "discussions will continue" over a possible agreement over the upcoming weeks.

DID YOU KNOW?

Kiwior's career peaked while playing for Spezia in Serie A, so perhaps a loan return to Italy can help him regain his form. In light of this, it will be intriguing to watch if AC Milan can entice the defender away from the Emirates during the next winter.

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR KIWIOR?

Arsenal have games coming up thick and fast and with the season-ending injury suffered by Jurrien Timber, Kiwior may well be in the running to start one of those games with the Champions League group stage game against PSV being one of the key opportunities considering the game is a dead rubber for both sides having secured their places in the next round.

City and United account for six of the spots after both teams notched impressive victories against Chelsea and Fulham respectively

Getty Images1Anthony Martial | Manchester UnitedMartial was directly involved in two of Man Utd's three goals against Fulham, scoring one and assisting another.AdvertisementLaurence Griffiths2Sergio Aguero | Manchester CityThe Argentine striker scored with all three of his shots on target against Chelsea, netting his 11th hat-trick in the Premier League.Laurence Griffiths3Raheem Sterling | Manchester CitySterling netted a brace and created two goal-scoring chances in Man City's 6-0 win over Chelsea.ENJOYED THIS STORY?

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Getty4Paul Pogba | Manchester UnitedPogba scored with both of his shots on target against Fulham, netting two of Man Utd's three goals at Craven Cottage.

Chris Gayle is not retiring from any form of the game, but a recurring back injury will keep him out of West Indies’ upcoming home Test series against England

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2015Chris Gayle is not retiring from any form of the game, but a recurring back injury will keep him out of West Indies’ upcoming home Test series against England.”Definitely want to play the T20 World Cup next year for West Indies, there’s no doubt about that,” Gayle told ESPNcricinfo. “I’ve got a few concerns and a few injury [cases] to try and solve. I’ll give myself some time and hopefully look back at it and see how well I can actually progress for West Indies cricket at this point in time.”I’m actually out of the Test series, the back won’t hold up for that format at this point in time. But I haven’t retired from any format as yet. As I go on I will keep informing WICB about my progress in the future with West Indies cricket.”West Indies were knocked out of the World Cup on Saturday after losing their quarter-final against New Zealand by 143 runs. Gayle made a 33-ball 61 in an attempt to keep West Indies in touch with the asking rate in a chase of 394. Gayle said he suffered a groin strain during the game, but his back didn’t trouble him too much.”[The back] actually held up well, to be honest with you, in the outfield for 50 overs and then opening the batting,” he said. “It wasn’t too bad, slight scare again with a niggle in the groin, so all that was happening, and you have to take the conditions into consideration, it was a bit cold and you’re feeling some pain.”West Indies lost to Ireland in their opening match of the World Cup, and went through an up-and-down ride that eventually carried them into the quarter-finals. Gayle felt West Indies had played good cricket and were a ‘good all-round team’, even though they missed Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard – whose omissions he had spoken out against before the tournament.”I thought we played some great cricket,” Gayle said. “Yes we missed [Bravo and Pollard], but I thought we did well. We had a good all-round team, and the guys played some crucial innings for us.”It was a situation where you look at it, we reached a quarterfinal, anything could have happened, you just need two good games. You chase 390 runs, psychologically it will affect your batters, but if we actually had a better plan or structure chasing these sort of targets, it could have helped us in some sort of way.”[We were bowled out for] 250 with 19 overs to go, that goes to tell how dangerous we can be, but just to get the mindset right and get a hold of everything and the players to actually believe we can make these things happen.”The WICB appointed Jason Holder, the 23-year-old allrounder, as West Indies’ ODI captain months before the World Cup. Asked how he rated Holder’s captaincy, Gayle said he had room to improve but wished him well, and hoped he would hold the team together in the future.”There’s always room for improvement,” Gayle said. “There’s no doubt about it. Nothing wrong with a young captain, but goes to show [how] inexperience can play a big part in this sort of tournament. Can Jason actually grow from this, get more structure behind him and more support in this area? Then hopefully he can build on this and use this as a learning experience.”It’s never going to be easy, coming here and captaining in a World Cup for the first time, it’s always going to be a mind factor and lot of pressure is going to be there on a youngster like that, but in the future, I wish him well, hopefully he can use this as a learning experience, and can get better. Just keep your players together and just hold them and stick with them.”Gayle looked forward to working with Phil Simmons, who will take over as West Indies’ coach after the World Cup. Simmons, the former West Indies allrounder, has just ended an eight-year stint with the Ireland team.”I know Phil from a personal point of view, I know him well,” Gayle said. “He’s a good man, he has done well with Ireland and he’s one of us as well, so there’s no doubt about it. We know how we can actually become a stronger unit.”I didn’t know he was appointed, so that’s news to me at this point in time, so I wish him all the best and hopefully he’ll have a successful coaching career with West Indies and can uplift West Indies cricket and take us further in international cricket and help the Regional [Tournament] as well.”In West Indies’ group match against Zimbabwe, Gayle made 215, the first double-century in World Cup cricket. In Saturday’s quarterfinal, Martin Guptill bettered his effort and smashed an unbeaten 237. Gayle was one of the first West Indies players to congratulate Guptill when he went past 200.”Yeah, fantastic,” Gayle said. “[Guptill] batted well, we know his capability. It was a good wicket out there, it was a belter out there, small ground, small boundary, but we can’t take anything away from the fact that he batted superbly. He set up his innings fantastically. Congrats to him on getting the double century, 237 I think, I wish him all the best furthermore in his career, and he’s a wonderful player as well.”

Former Australia captain and renowned television commentator Bill Lawry, 77, has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2014Former Australia captain and renowned television commentator Bill Lawry, 77, has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.”On behalf of Cricket Australia I congratulate Bill for his induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. It is a thoroughly deserved honour,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said. “Bill was one of the finest opening batsmen the game has seen and is part of an elite group who had the privilege of captaining his country.”However Bill has made just as big an impact off the field as one of the most well known and loved cricket characters in the country through his long and fruitful association with the Nine Network. He has been synonymous with the game for generations of fans who have enjoyed his endless enthusiasm and insights.”Lawry played 67 Tests between 1961 and 1971, scoring 5234 runs at an average of 47, with 13 centuries and a best of 210. He captained Australia in 25 Tests in the last three years of his career. After he retired, Lawry began his career as a cricket broadcaster with Nine in the late 1970s.