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An “important” Glasgow Rangers player has been offered to another club this summer, with his Ibrox future looking in serious doubt.

The Gers know the importance of keeping hold of their most important players this summer, as they look to bridge the gap on Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title race.

One player whose future is reportedly up in the air is Nicolas Raskin – the likes of Aston Villa and Wolves have been linked with signing him – but manager Russell Martin has spoken about improving his game moving forward, suggesting that he doesn’t see him leaving.

“We can get more end product out of Nico by doing a bit less. He has big character, he wants to take the ball but I think he’s had to do a lot in the previous season, whereas now we’re going to ask him to do a bit less, and when he does have to stuff, to do it with real quality, intensity and aggression. So, hopefully, we’ll be able to bring out a more impactful Nico.”

While Rangers supporters may be buoyed by Martin’s comments, a worrying new update has now emerged regarding his future at Ibrox.

Raskin's agent offers deal to Real Betis

According to a fresh update from Estadio Deportivo [via Sport Witness], Rangers midfielder Raskin’s agency, Libera Sports, “offered” him to Real Betis in the last few days, as well as Saint-Etienne striker Lucas Stassin.

The Gers ace is valued at around £8.6m, however, and the report states that it will be difficult for Betis to acquire his signature for a “modest price” this summer. Meanwhile, Radio Sevilla also claim that sporting director Manu Fajardo sees the Belgian as high up on the list of midfield options to come in.

Retaining Raskin’s services has to be seen as priority business for Rangers in the coming weeks, considering what a key part of their midfield he has been since arriving from Standard Liege back in 2023.

The 24-year-old is an influential figure in so many ways, bagging six assists and also winning an average of two aerial duels per game in the league last season, being hailed as “important” by Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia.

Martin has to do his utmost to show Raskin that he is ready to build something special at Ibrox, making the Belgium international a vital part of his plans and building the team around him.

Fernandez upgrade at Ibrox: Rangers want to sign "quality" star for UCL tie

Rangers are still pushing to sign Russell Martin’s top target.

Jul 18, 2025

A new contract for the midfielder would arguably feel as important as new signing that comes in for the Gers this summer, but that feels like far from a guarantee currently.

The West Indies allrounder had ended her international career suddenly in August 2022

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2024Deandra Dottin has come out of international retirement, making herself available for West Indies selection once again, nearly two years after a sudden decision to quit while leading Barbados in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.The development is a boost for West Indies ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October this year.”Representing West Indies in international cricket has always been a matter of great pride and passion for me,” Dottin, 33, said in a letter to Cricket West Indies (CWI) that was part of the board’s statement. “After a period of reflection and thoughtful dialogue with various parties within Cricket West Indies, including Cricket West Indies President, Dr. Kishore Shallow, I am pleased to inform you that I am eager to return to the game that I love, and contribute my utmost to the West Indies women’s team across all formats, with immediate effect.”I am confident that my experience, maturity, and skills will add value to the team as it has done in the past, and I am prepared to furnish my best efforts in every match and training session to ensure the team’s winning trajectory in international cricket. Moreover, I am enthusiastic about mentoring younger players and contributing to the overall development of women’s cricket in our region.”Related

Deandra Dottin warns West Indies to get their house in order

Deandra Dottin announces West Indies retirement

CWI welcomed Dottin’s decision. “Deandra is a player of immense ability and experience,” CWI director of cricket Miles Bascombe said. “We are pleased with her decision to return to international cricket and be eligible for selection. There is no doubt that she could add significant value to the West Indies Women’s teams.”When Dottin announced her retirement in August 2022, citing a “non-conducive” environment within the West Indies set-up, she had played 143 ODIs (3727 runs at an average of 30.54) and 127 T20Is (2697 runs). She holds the record for the fastest century in women’s T20Is – a 38-ball hundred against South Africa in the 2010 T20 World Cup. She also has 72 wickets in ODIs and 62 in T20Is.”It has a lot to do with the board, how they handle stuff and how they handle players and how they actually speak to players,” Dottin said in August 2022 about her decision to retire. “Certain people take things different, so it is a lot of work that West Indies Cricket will need to be done and I think they need to do it as fast as possible because it’s not going to end well for West Indies Cricket or cricket in the Caribbean.Dottin was active on the T20 league circuit after her retirement but hasn’t been in competitive action since September 2023. She will captain the Trinbago Knight Riders team in the upcoming women’s Caribbean Premier League, ahead of a West Indies camp in August in the lead up to the T20 World Cup.

Rohit smashed 92 off just 41 balls, as India confirmed their spot in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-20241:14

Manjrekar: ‘Rohit’s selflessness the most appealing thing about him’

Rohit Sharma said he needed “to be smart” and “open up all sides of the field” to counter the strong breeze at the Daren Sammy Stadium in a Super Eight game of the T20 World Cup 2024 against an Australia bowling attack that tried to use that same breeze to make life difficult for him. He was smart enough on the day, hitting a 41-ball 92 with seven fours and eight sixes to lead India to a 24-run win and a spot in the semi-finals as the Group 1 toppers.”I thought right from over number one, there was a strong breeze blowing across. But they changed their plan, trying to bowl against the breeze,” Rohit said on the host broadcast after earning the Player-of-the-Match award. “So I had to open up the other side of the field as well. Need to be smart. Like I said, we need to be smart when we play. And that is something that I was backing myself to do.”Rohit also highlighted the need to “not just be one-dimensional” when being challenged by the conditions.Related

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“You’ve got to understand [that the] bowlers are smart as well. They’re going to not bowl into the breeze a lot,” he said. “So you’ve got to open up all sides of the field, [and] not just be one-dimensional. And that is something that was going through my mind all through. I was thinking to hit the ball everywhere possible. And when you keep an open mind and not think about just playing one shot, you can open [up] and access all sides of the field. And that is something that I was trying to do.”India had lost Virat Kohli for a five-ball duck, and got only six runs in the first two overs, after which Rohit went on the offensive. He hammered Mitchell Starc for four sixes and a four in what turned out to be a 29-run over, with two sixes over the covers, and one each over midwicket and short third, the last top-edged.”Look, it’s been a good wicket. And that is something you want to do as a batter – when you see the wickets are good, you want to try and back yourself to play those kind of shots,” he said. “And I’ve been trying to do that for a few years now. So, yeah, I’m glad that it came off pretty well today.”

The last time India had met Australia in a global tournament, it was the final of the ODI World Cup last November. Australia had beaten India by six wickets to lift the trophy on that occasion, but defeat to India in this game has left them hoping for a Bangladesh win, that too by a specific margin, in the last Super Eight game, against Afghanistan.”It is quite satisfying, especially when you play like that,” Rohit said about beating Australia. “We know the opposition and the threat that they bring with them as well. But I thought overall, as a team, we played well. We kept doing the things that we are supposed to do, and what we know the best. And yeah, we can take a lot of confidence from a game like that.”India face England in the semi-final in Guyana on June 27, having lost to them by ten wickets in Adelaide in the semi-final of the previous T20 World Cup in 2022.

Birmingham City sent out a statement of intent last summer when they spent a reported fee of £15m to sign Jay Stansfield from Fulham after their relegation from the Championship.

They smashed the League One transfer record to land the England U21 international on a permanent deal, after he had spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan at St. Andrew’s.

Stansfield still has a long way to go before he lives up to that huge price tag, though, after he scored 19 goals in 37 League One matches this season, including nine goals from the penalty spot.

Despite having the English forward on their books, Birmingham are also reportedly in contact with Rennes to strike a deal for Japanese striker Kyogo Furuhashi, who scored ten goals in 22 league games for Celtic in the first half of the season, and he is not the only striker they want to sign.

Birmingham eyeing up Bundesliga striker

According to GIVEMESPORT, the League One champions will not be satisfied by just signing Kyogo to bolster their attack, as they want another forward as well.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The report claims that Holstein Kiel centre-forward Shuto Machino has emerged as a target for the Championship side, after he caught the eye in the Bundesliga this term.

It states that the Blues want to sign the Japan international to further add to Chris Davies’ arsenal, which could include Stansfield, Kyogo, and Machino if all things go to plan before the end of the summer transfer window.

GIVEMESPORT does not reveal how much it would cost to sign the Japanese marksman, but Birmingham could land an even better striker than Stansfield by landing a deal for him in the coming weeks.

Why Birmingham should sign Shuto Machino

The Blues should push to sign the 25-year-old striker from the German team, after their relegation from the Bundesliga, because he could come in as an even better forward than the former Fulham youngster.

Whilst Stansfield is three years younger and has the potential to develop and improve in the years to come, the Japan international appears to be the superior option in the here and now for Birmingham.

Machino, who was described as a “true goalscorer” by manager Marcel Rapp, ended the 2024/25 campaign with a return of 11 goals in 32 Bundesliga outings, outperforming his xG of 6.43.

Stansfield, meanwhile, scored ten goals from 10.44 non-penalty xG and 19 goals from 18.32 xG overall in League One, which suggests that the Holstein Kiel forward could be more ruthless in front of goal as a finisher.

Appearances

32

37

Non-penalty goals

9

10

Big chances created

5

6

Dribble success rate

63%

35%

Ground duel success rate

44%

36%

Aerial duel success rate

39%

12%

As you can see in the table above, the Birmingham star scored one more non-penalty goal and created one more ‘big chance’, whilst playing five more matches in the third tier in England, compared to Machino’s output in the German top-flight.

Whilst playing at a higher level, the 25-year-old forward also provided more to his team out of possession by winning a much higher percentage of his physical duels, particularly in the air, which suggests that he would be an upgrade on Stansfield when it comes to duelling with centre-backs.

Overall, Machino’s qualities in and out of possession appear to place him in a better position to be a star as the main number nine for Birmingham in the Championship next season.

That could mean that Stansfield ends up playing on the left flank, where he made eight appearances this term, more often for the Blues, in order to fit Machino and Kyogo, if all goes well, into the starting XI.

Better signing than Poku: Birmingham close in on landing £8m star

Birmingham City might not be landing Kwame Poku, but they’re closing in on an exciting signing in attack anyway.

ByKelan Sarson Jun 24, 2025

If all of these signings are completed, then Davies could have plenty of high-quality options to pick from when it comes to selecting his starting line-ups.

With the summer transfer window fast approaching, Nottingham Forest have now reportedly made contact with a £20m target who used to play for Paris Saint-Germain.

AS Roma eye Espirito Santo move

After a season full of success, Nottingham Forest could be set to become the victims of that success when the summer transfer window arrives. The Midlands club, as is often the case when clubs enjoy an unexpected rise, have already seen the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White linked with moves away and could yet lose manager Nuno Espirito Santo on top.

With reports suggesting that Italian outfit AS Roma are interested in Nuno, the Nottingham Forest boss could leave the City Ground and cause a major shock this summer. It’s a departure that Evangelos Marinakis should hope to avoid at all costs above any potential star players.

Since the boss’ arrival, Forest have simply been a side transformed from a side battling relegation into a side who will be disappointed that Champions League qualification is out of their hands.

Nottingham Forest now ready to take formal steps to sign "elegant" £51m ace

He could replace Gibbs-White.

ByTom Cunningham May 21, 2025

The Portuguese manager may just be getting started, too. With Europa League football, at the very least, now confirmed for next season, Forest should be in their strongest position for quite some time to welcome some of Europe’s impressive talents.

It goes without saying that adding depth in preparation for European football will be crucial to any success next season, and the rumours have already been coming thick and fast over just who could complete a move to the City Ground to add exactly that to Nuno’s squad.

Nottingham Forest make contact with Bulka

According to Polish outlet Meczyki, Nottingham Forest have now made contact with Marcin Bulka over a summer move to the City Ground, with Marinakis now eyeing a £20m move to sign the shot-stopper.

Fresh from a solid campaign in Ligue 1 for OGC Nice, Bulka has earned the interest of Forest and may well find himself on his way back towards Europe’s elite for the first time since leaving Paris Saint-Germain in 2022.

Starts

34

37

Clean Sheets

8

13

Saves per 90

4.74

4.41

Save Percentage

75.8%

74.2%

When compared to Forest No.1 Sels, who has enjoyed an excellent season in his own right, Bulka’s numbers certainly make for interesting reading. The Nice shot-stopper has just about outperformed Sels for save percentage as well as saves per 90, albeit whilst keeping fewer clean sheets.

If Forest are to strengthen, then they could do far worse than welcoming the former PSG man this summer. With plenty of football to share around next season too, having two options so similar in quality would be no bad thing.

With Forest reportedly in contact with his representatives, Bulka could certainly be one to watch in the coming months.

Chelsea already have one foot in the Europa Conference League final after a convincing 4-1 victory over Swedish outfit Djurgarden away from home last night.

Goals from Jadon Sancho, Noni Madueke and a double from substitute Nicolas Jackson secured the victory for the Blues, handing them a three-goal lead ahead of next week’s return leg.

Youngster Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta registered a late consolation goal for the hosts, with Enzo Maresca’s side having the advantage after a dominant showing.

The Italian could claim his first title come the end of the season with the Conference League, potentially coming up against Real Betis or Fiorentina in the final should they reach it.

Numerous players managed to impress during the victory in Sweden, potentially handing the manager a selection headache ahead of the second leg next Thursday at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea’s star performers against Djurgarden

Enzo Fernández started the game at the heart of the Chelsea midfield, once again performing to the high standards he’s set for himself, registering two assists within the first 45 minutes.

The Argentine completed 88% of the passes he attempted, three of which were into the final third, aiding Sancho and Madueke – subsequently allowing them to find the back of the net.

He wasn’t the only first-team player to star throughout the triumph, as centre-back Tosin impressed at the heart of the defence, registering a staggering 111 touches and two tackles won – the most of any player.

The 27-year-old also managed to complete 102 passes and 100% of the dribbles he attempted, having a huge impact with and without the ball at his feet against the Allsvenskan opposition.

The Europa Conference League has been a superb competition for various Blues players to stake their claim to Maresca, with multiple other players doing just that in the win last night.

The Chelsea star who’s rapidly becoming a bigger star than George

Academy graduate Tyrique George has integrated into a first-team player at Chelsea this season, taking full advantage of the opportunities that have been handed his way.

After scoring against Fulham in the Premier League nearly two weeks ago, the 19-year-old was handed a start at the top end of the pitch in the semi-final, but was unable to produce his best display.

George featured for 88 minutes of the contest, only managing 30 touches and 13 passes, unable to make a huge impact on proceedings despite the four-goal showing.

He only managed two efforts on goal, neither of which were on target, unable to take full advantage of the opportunity handed to him by Maresca to start in the final third.

However, the same can’t be said for right-back Josh Acheampong, who had an evening to remember, certainly giving the manager something to think about going forward.

The 18-year-old was handed just his sixth start of 2025, but produced a showing way beyond his tender years, playing a vital role in their victory last night.

He registered a total of 109 touches, completing 86 passes at a completion rate of 98% – thriving with the ball at his feet, looking composed despite coming under constant pressure.

Minutes played

90

Touches

109

Passes completed

86/88 (98%)

Duels won

5

Fouls won

3

Tackles won

1

Dribbles completed

1

The teenager also managed to win five duels – the most of any player on the pitch – along with three fouls won, often being a nuisance to the Swedish opposition.

As a result of his showing, Acheampong was handed a 7/10 match rating by Goal’s Richie Mills, showcasing how impressive he was during the win away from home.

After such a showing, Maresca now has a huge decision to make over his future between now and the end of the season, with the teenager more than deserving of a consistent run in the side.

There’s no denying that George ultimately failed to take his chance, with more hype needing to be directed towards Acheampong, who could save the Blues millions in the years ahead.

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Chelsea have added yet another target to this shopping list for a new striker this summer.

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Aston Villa are now racing to sign an “impressively complete” defender, who could be available for £39m, but there is set to be fierce competition for his signature, according to a report.

Villa's summer transfer plans taking shape

Although Villa’s European exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain was a bitter pill to swallow, they still have an opportunity to make this season a success, with Champions League qualification and a potential FA Cup triumph on the line.

Should the Villans qualify for Europe’s elite competition once more, they should be in a strong position to compete for some top players this summer, and their summer transfer plans are now beginning to take shape.

Having lost Jhon Duran during the January transfer window, Unai Emery is eager to bring in a new striker this summer, and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Cunha is among the targets, with a £75m offer on the cards.

Top 1% for dribbling: Aston Villa could win race for "incredible" £100m star

The Villans are keen on signing a forward, whose club may now be willing to sanction a departure this summer.

ByDominic Lund Apr 16, 2025

Rosenborg’s Sverre Nypan is of interest in central midfield, while Lens defender Facundo Medina may also be targeted to strengthen Emery’s options at centre-back, but there will be competition from Bayer Leverkusen.

According to a report from Just Arsenal, another centre-back Aston Villa have set their sights on is Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez, having put in some impressive performances this season, but there could be fierce competition from some top clubs.

Premier League rivals Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle United and Chelsea are also in the race for Ordonez, while AC Milan headline the interest from abroad, and a deal could be relatively expensive.

Brugge are looking to hold out for €40m to €45m (£34m – £39m), highlighting the 20-year-old defender’s importance to the Belgian side.

"Impressively complete" Ordonez likened to Rudiger

Despite still being very young, the Ecuadorian has been a key player for Brugge this season, making 41 appearances in all competitions, including 12 in the Champions League, before his side were dumped out by Aston Villa in the round of 16.

In light of his performances this season, the Brugge star has also been lauded by football talent scout Jacek Kulig.

Kulig has likened the youngster to Real Madrid star Antonio Rüdiger in the past, given his pace, tackling and heading ability, which indicates he could be capable of going right to the very top.

Ordonez is yet to prove himself in a major European league, but his performances for Brugge this season indicate he could now be capable of making the step-up, so it is promising news that Villa are in the race for his signature.

When you’ve had it as good as New Zealand have had it for so long, letting go is hard. But things change, and the world moves on

Andrew Fidel Fernando30-Sep-2024Letting go is hard, especially when what you are letting go of is the best you’ve ever had.Defeats like Sunday’s just didn’t happen to New Zealand’s men’s Test team over the past 10 years. Since 2014, there have been two innings losses, both significantly less-heavy than this Galle loss. The first was against Australia in Brendon McCullum’s farewell series in 2016, which ok, qualifies as a horror-Test. (One of the great regrets of the great New Zealand years, is that they never got a Test series win over the opposition they love to beat most). But the other innings loss was against Pakistan in Dubai in a 2018 series New Zealand ended up winning 2-1.Related

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And yet, as if checking off a bingo card of Test misery, New Zealand have in their last match managed to: Lose by an innings and 154 in a series they lost 2-0. Take no more than five wickets in a Test in which they lost 20. Bowl so many overs in one innings that they faced the indignity of having the third new ball available. Have their bowlers become such fodder, that a segment of the match (the overs after tea on day 2) were little more than an opposition milestone-getting exercise. Be shot out for a two-digit score in the first innings.All this, for a side that not only has a World Test Championship title in 2021, but who very arguably were the most consistently competent team over the past decade. Since 2014, New Zealand have collapsed for less than 150 only seven times in 147 innings – that percentage of 4.76 is the lowest for any Test side. And in 160 bowling innings, they’d never conceded 600, which every other WTC team had, at least once. That is until this Test, in which they were both all out for 88, and conceded 602 for 5.You tot all this up, peer down XI at the ages of many of the players in this team, and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that there is, now, a bookend to something spectacular. One bad series doesn’t make New Zealand a bad team, of course. But they are on four Test losses in succession, now, having also gone down 2-0 to Australia earlier in the year.What have they got coming up? Oh. Three Tests in India? So, basically the most difficult assignment in cricket? Since 2014, only England and Australia have ever defeated India at home. Even then, we’re talking about lone Test wins in series India have generally dominated.Up next for Kane Williamson and co is a Test series against India•AFP/Getty ImagesYou wonder if this New Zealand team are that heroic character about to meet their end after years of triumph. Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi facing down Darth Vader in the Death Star. Famed warrior Boromir falling from many arrow wounds while cutting down dozens of orcs. Augustus Gloop getting sucked into the Wonka factory pipe while guzzling chocolate from the river.And you wonder most about one of New Zealand’s finest heroes. Tim Southee, the second-greatest wicket-taker his country has ever seen, leads this team. Since the start of 2022, he averages 38.86, across 21 matches – a fifth of his playing career.Follow this strain of reasoning, and you begin to stray into the truly uncomfortable. Is Southee’s captaincy shoring up his place in the team? Matt Henry averages 23.56 since the start of 2022, even if this record is largely down to dominance at home. Is he more likely to be threatening than Southee in India, though? We are into walking-on-eggshells territory for everyone, including, you suspect, for New Zealand’s selectors. Do they grit their teeth and hope Southee comes right? He average 28.70 in India, which is excellent for a visiting quick. But is Southee, still Southee?Some sentiment may come into the decisions to be made over the next weeks and months, and that is as it should be. Emotion is part of what draws us all into international cricket; as with any sport, its only intrinsic value is to the people playing it. And yet it feels as if the questions now facing New Zealand are not those of a thriving Test side, but one that must focus intensively on regeneration. If the India tour goes as most India tours tend to do, all this may only feel more vital.

“You wonder if this New Zealand team are that heroic character about to meet their end after years of triumph. Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi facing down Darth Vader in the Death Star. Warrior Boromir falling from many arrow wounds while cutting down dozens of orcs”

There are shoots of growth already there, though. On two dusty Galle tracks, Will O’Rourke was the standout seamer, his average of 23.12 the best for any quick in the series, as he frequently troubled Sri Lanka’s batters with menacing bounce at speeds of close to 140kph. Rachin Ravindra was New Zealand’s highest scorer in the series, his 92 in the second innings of the first Test a knock that suggested he should be locked in at No. 4 for the foreseeable future.Glenn Phillips has been around for a while, but has on this tour been a threatening offspin bowler in addition to making a mark with the bat – truly a choose-your-own-adventure cricketer in the same realm TM Dilshan (also an occasional wicketkeeper, and gun fielder) had lived in, in a previous era. Ben Sears, one of their fastest bowlers, could do with another outing.In general, this feels like a team that will increasingly feel the pressure to usher in fresh ideas, fresh faces, and strategies at cricket’s newest cutting edge, which they no longer seem to be at, though it wasn’t that long ago that they were transforming the sport’s whole landscape.But things change. The world moves on.When you’ve had it as good as New Zealand have had it for so long, letting go is hard.

Despite losing key players before and during the tournament, King, Allen, Powell and Gordon stepped up to prove the experts wrong

Deivarayan Muthu01-Oct-2022Not many gave Jamaica Tallawahs a chance to qualify for the CPL 2022 playoffs, let alone make the final, including former West Indies spinner and now commentator Samuel Badree. Every time Tallawahs’ Pakistan import Mohammad Amir would bump into Badree, he would remind Badree of his pre-tournament prediction and Tallawahs’ determination to prove him – and several others – wrong.After leading Tallawahs to an unlikely title – their third overall and first since 2016 – Rovman Powell also expressed his hurt at the “disrespect” that was directed at his team in the lead-up to the tournament. Having said that, there was also a good reason behind experts not giving Tallawahs a chance before the start of the tournament.Related

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In 2020, Chris Gayle had exited Tallawahs in acrimonious fashion after a spat with Ramnaresh Sarwan. In the same year, Andre Russell called Tallawahs the “weirdest” team he has ever played for and it was only a matter of time before he would link up with Trinbago Knight Riders.The star-studded Knight Riders and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, who had won CPL 2021 and the inaugural 6ixty this year, were the pre-tournament favourites, with Barbados Royals emerging as the dark horses. All these three teams had most bases covered while Tallawahs’ line-up after the draft appeared top-heavy and lacked a solid left-hand batter. Tallawahs also picked just one experienced seamer in Amir and punted on South Africa’s Migael Pretorius and local seamer Nicholson Gordon, who had not played an official T20 before CPL 2022.They had only one proper wristspinnner in Sandeep Lamichhane, but he was released from the tournament without playing a single match in the wake of his suspension by the Cricket Association of Nepal. After somehow sneaking into the playoffs, Tallawahs surmounted tremendous odds to become the first team to win the CPL final after having finished fourth in the league stage.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the final, too, the odds were stacked against them even before a ball was bowled. Amir, who had grabbed a chart-topping nine wickets in the powerplay this season, was ruled out with a groin injury he sustained during the second qualifier. Then, his replacement Pretorius, who had leaked 24 runs in two powerplay overs, jarred his back while attempting a catch in the outfield and hobbled off the field.That Tallawahs won despite losing two key bowlers was down to the (Jamaican for being fearless) of their Jamaican boys. On the big night, when the title was on the line, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Gordon and Powell all stepped up to make up for the absence of Gayle and Russell, who were both central to their victories in 2013 and 2016, and tear open a portal to Tallawahs’ future.Powell was overshadowed by Russell for much of his early career. When he first burst onto the scene, Kolkata Knight Riders’ CEO Venky Mysore described Powell as a junior Russell. During his first IPL stint with KKR in 2017, he was picked as a back-up allrounder for Russell. But in the last one year, he has emerged out of Russell’s shadows and carved out his own identity as a gun T20 player.ESPNcricinfo LtdPowell consciously worked on his technique against spin with Robert Samuels, the elder brother of Marlon, adding the sweep and the use of the feet to his repertoire. His improved game against spin was vital to Tallawahs’ strong start in the tournament and it was fitting that he was there at the finish along with King, another Jamaican star.Like Powell, King has also been bothered by spin in the past, but he ruthlessly took down Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Joshua Bishop in the final. After belting Mujeeb through the covers against the turn, King lined up the inexperienced Bishop for four fours in the 12th over that put Tallawahs well ahead of the game. King then rushed Tallawahs home with a flurry of boundaries against Mujeeb as well, completing his homecoming from Guyana Amazon Warriors in grand style.King’s 75-run third-wicket stand, off just 35 balls, with Powell thrilled many Jamaica fans, including Powell’s school-mate and sprinter Yohan Blake.

Happy for my school friend Powell @Ravipowell26 keep on doing it. Big up yourself king @bking_53 love the way you keep your head.

— Yohan Blake (@YohanBlake) October 1, 2022