🎧 Bam! Could Bamford make the difference?
"I don't know if we should pin all our hopes for getting promoted on Patrick Bamford. It would be an amazing story arc."Adam Pope and Kaiser Chiefs' bassist Simon Rix discuss the worries that plague Leeds fans as the season approaches its conclusion - from finances to tired players to lacklustre results seeing them drop out of the automatic promotion spots.Could the return of Patrick Bamford to the starting XI even prove be the answer to promotion?Listen to the full episode and more on the Don't Go To Bed Yet podcast.
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Bettys loaf cake, beer snakes and polite applause are the perfect antidote to football's tribal toxicity: OLIVER HOLT spends a day basking in the cricket at Headingley
Summer started on a heavy, hot day in Leeds on Friday. It started with the morning sun glinting off the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and cricket supporters striding happily along the towpath through its Victoriana, past Granary Wharf and Monk Bridge Viaduct, towards the cathedral of Headingley, on the hill. It started with a bacon and sausage butty from Ugly Mugs Cafe on St Michael's Lane, opposite the ground, already busy more than two hours before the first ball of this Test summer was bowled, the summer that is a prelude to an Ashes winter in Australia, the summer when Bazball is being told to grow up or go home. Ugly Mugs is David Lloyd's pre-match eatery of choice and there is an item called Rob Burrow's Number 7 on the menu, in honour of one of Leeds' favourite sons. It is a place to watch the cricket walk by. 'You just missed Harry Brook,' one of the customers said to no one in particular, as he peered over the mountain of his full English from one of the outside tables. Queues had already started to form outside the gates. Signs pointed us to summer, too. They pointed to familiar, comforting names such as the Kirkstall Lane End. Inside, the great expanse of the Western Terrace lay empty and expectant and daunting, ready for its bacchanal. The nets were up on the outfield and there was the smack of ball on bat, and the buzz of broadcasters doing pieces to camera. Ben Stokes was on the front cover of the programme, with his collar turned up, and on the desks in the press room there were pieces of loaf cake from Bettys in Harrogate that had been 'steeped' in Yorkshire Tea. And Bumble was here now and Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, broadcasters who have done so much to illustrate their game with colour and life and beauty and complexity. On the field, Stokes won the toss and said, 'We'll have a bowl', and the hum grew a little louder. Some looked up at the sky and saw it was blue and wondered at the wisdom of the decision. Others pointed out that the previous six Tests on this ground had all been won by the team bowling first. Music from a DJ booth called Punjabi Roots drifted over the ground. Yashasvi Jaiswal pushed the first ball of the day from Chris Woakes judiciously away, left the next four and then guided the final delivery through gully to the third man boundary for four. It was the start of a day of elegance and admiration. Jaiswal was a joy to watch. He gave a first hint of what was to come with a sumptuous drive through mid-off from the penultimate ball of Woakes's second over. Soon after, he carved Brydon Carse like a dish fit for the gods, viciously through point to the boundary. Soon, it started to feel as if maybe India were not going to miss Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma quite as much as everyone had thought. Jaiswal and KL Rahul drove and cut with majesty. Stokes offered some resistance, as Stokes always does. England's captain is never less than a force of nature and he removed India's debutant, Sai Sudharsan, for a duck with the last ball before lunch. It was only a brief reprieve. By mid-afternoon, as India began to accelerate away from their hosts, Stokes's decision to put them in started to excite comparisons with Hussain's decision to bowl against Australia at the Gabba in 2002. That didn't end well. On the evidence of the first day, at least, neither will this. But this is only the opening skirmish. Just the first day of summer. England were strong favourites to win this series before the start, so this was just the start this five-Test challenge needed. The first signs are that it will be a battle royal. The crowd seemed to recognise that, too. When Jaiswal was finally dismissed for 101, clean bowled by Stokes, after tea, the crowd crammed on to the Western Terrace — even those involved in the patient building of a gargantuan beer snake — stood to applaud him as he headed back towards the pavilion. That kind of generosity is not uncommon in cricket but after another season of football's endless toxicity and relentless tribalism, it still felt like a cool breeze in the stifling heat of the afternoon. It was not England's day but it was impossible not to appreciate the feast India were serving up. Nor did they relent. Shubman Gill, who some had expected to wilt under the pressure of being the new India captain, ended the day unbeaten on 127. He brought up his century with a stunning cover drive off the bowling of Josh Tongue. It was a sobering day for England's bowlers. Their attack looked light and ineffectual. Maybe Jofra Archer will be back for the second Test at Edgbaston. England need him. Mark Wood is sorely missed, too. His return will take longer. There was no flurry of wickets before stumps. Rishabh Pant took his turn to cut loose. He clubbed his second ball of the day back over Stokes's head for four. Stokes grinned broadly. Game recognised game. In the final overs, Pant hoiked a six high over the midwicket boundary off the bowling of Woakes, as India raced towards 359 for three at the close.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
India future already looking bright as new generation step up to fill Kohli and Sharma void
LEEDS, England, June 20 (Reuters) - The retirement of two Indian batting icons in less than a year piled the pressure on the next generation to step up, and new skipper Shubman Gill and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal look ready to fill the void left by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Losing the India bowler with the second-most test wickets in Ravichandran Ashwin as well as former captains Kohli and Rohit in quick succession left India facing a daunting task during their tour of England. With England missing several frontline bowlers through injury for the series opener at Headingley, India were keen to make their mark. Jaiswal and Gill proved that there is still plenty of depth left in the Indian batting line-up, with both scoring centuries on Friday as the visitors piled on the runs to end day one of the first test on 359-3. The next 10 tests could define how the combination of skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum are viewed, after plenty of highs and lows over the past few years, with the Ashes series in Australia following India's visit. Putting India into bat to apply further pressure, at a ground where each of the previous six test matches have been won by the side bowling first, 23-year-old Jaiswal proved that the tourists had quickly transitioned from the old to the new. The scourge of England, however, was not overawed by any stretch, as he became the first Indian batter to score centuries in his first match in both Australia and England with a flawless display of off-side batting. Three of Jaiswal's five centuries have come against England. In total, he has now amassed a colossal 813 runs in 10 tests when facing McCullum's side. "We spoke a lot in the middle (with Gill) and we just made sure we tried to play session by session," Jaiswal told reporters. "Try to get as many runs as we can get, put the ball in the right places. "We enjoy playing together, there is amazing camaraderie between us. The way he batted was incredible, so calm and composed given the circumstances. I always enjoy batting with him. "Everywhere I go, everything I do in cricket, I love it. Of course some moments are more special than others." While Jaiswal dealt with the heat on a scorching Leeds day, Gill could not have been under more scrutiny. Without a test century outside of Asia, Gill came to the crease in Kohli's number four position in the order, with quick wickets before lunch swinging the momentum in England's favour. After back-to-back fours in the 32nd over settled his early nerves, Gill sprayed boundaries to all corners, bringing up his hundred with a glorious drive through the covers. Just five India captains have reached three figures in their first match as skipper. Gill now has the opportunity on day two to go really big and really make his mark.
Leader Live
3 hours ago
- Leader Live
Michael Vaughan ‘staggered' to see England bowl first at Headingley
The tourists enjoyed a dream start to this summer's five-match main event, taking control with a commanding total of 359 for three as Yashavi Jaiswal (101) and new captain Shubman Gill (127no) made themselves at home in Yorkshire. England's batters would have been forgiven for wishing it was them piling up the runs on a friendly surface, rather than chasing the ball around in 28 degree heat, and would have had the chance had Gill called correctly. Like Stokes he planned to bowl first, following a trend that has seen six successive victories at this ground by the team who took the the field. But Vaughan, who grew up playing his cricket here for Yorkshire, was still surprised to see his successor gamble against long-term convention. 'I'm an old school traditionalist here at Leeds: when the sun is shining, with dry weather, you bat,' he said. 'I was staggered when he said he was going to bowl. Traditions are out the window. You look at the England side and their strength is in the batting. There is inexperience in the bowling at the moment, but Ben clearly had a gut feeling, and sometimes that has worked.' Vaughan also cautioned against marking the game down as a guaranteed run-fest, pointing to the presence of the inimitable Jasprit Bumrah in the away dressing room. Backed by a big chunk of scoreboard pressure, the paceman is likely to pose a serious threat regardless of conditions. 'We won't know for sure until we see Jasprit Bumrah bowl on it,' said Vaughan. 'He can bowl you out with anything. Until I see that, I will hold my judgment on how flat this pitch is.' With England wearied by their work, they sent out short-term bowling consultant Tim Southee to make their case. The recently retired New Zealander, who has taken over the mentoring role following James Anderson's return to county cricket, said: 'When you win the toss and bowl you expect to make early inroads but the Indian openers negotiated that first hour or so pretty well. 'If there was a little bit of moisture left in it, it was probably going to be this morning. You look at the surface and make the decision based on what you think will give you the best chance. Not all the the time do you get it right. But credit to the Indian batsmen, in particular Jaiswal and Gill, they played a couple of great hands.' Jaiswal, who continued his dominant form against an England side he took for 712 runs in the previous series on Indian soil, was jubilant. 'It was very special, it meant a lot to me,' he said. 'I just wanted to get in and do something for my team, for my country and for myself after the work I have put it. I loved it.'
