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Wrexham are renewing their interest in West Ham's Andy Irving, just months after the midfielder rejected the advances of Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac. The Red Dragons saw a £3.5m deal for the 25-year-old fall through late in the summer transfer window, as Irving opted to remain in east London and fight for first team opportunities with the Premier League outfit.

Irving struggling for game time at West Ham

reports the north Wales club has rekindled their interest in Irving. Despite making six appearances in the top flight this term, the Scotland international is deemed surplus to requirements at the London Stadium. Wrexham are expected to log another bid for the 25-year-old. 

However, they could face stiff competition from Celtic and Rangers, with both Glasgow clubs alerted to Irving's availability as Nuno Esprito Santo looks to revamp his squad in the coming transfer window.

Irving started the first two games of the Portuguese's tenure after he replaced Graham Potter in October. However, both games — against Brentford and Leeds — ended in defeat for the Irons. Irving has been an unused substitute since. 

AdvertisementGetty Images SportIrving explains reasons for staying at West Ham

Irving addressed the links between him and the Red Dragons in an interview back in September. He said: "There was a lot of speculation and media [during the summer], but ultimately for me, I'm in a good place here at West Ham. I really enjoy it here, so I was keen to stay and continue giving my best for the club.

"There was a lot of speculation and media [during the summer], but ultimately for me, I'm in a good place here at West Ham. I really enjoy it here, so I was keen to stay and continue giving my best for the club."

Irving's career in brief

The 25-year-old midfielder joined the Irons during the summer of 2023, completing a €1.7m transfer from Austria Klagenfurt in 2023. Irving rejoined the Austrian Bundesliga side for a loan deal the following season. 

The Hearts academy graduate has had an unusual career, making it to the Premier League via the German third tier. Irving joined Turkgucu Munchen in 2021 after his contract expired with his boyhood club. 

Irving has represented his country four times as a youth player, making his debut for Scotland in a 4-0 friendly win over Leichtenstein earlier this season.  

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Getty Images SportWrexham look to build on promising start to life in the Championship

While he may not have felt Wrexham was the right move for him in the summer, Irving could well be persuaded given the Red Dragons recent turnaround. 

Phil Parkinson's side currently sit in 10th place in the Championship table, and are unbeaten in their last seven games, with a statement 3-2 win over Frank Lampard's Coventry City among that run. 

Wrexham's chief exec Michael Williamson has confirmed that Parkinson will have money to spend in the upcoming January window. Even after making 13 signings in the summer, pundits are calling on the Red Dragons to invest further, as they can push on towards another promotion. Recent reports suggest the Hollywood brains trust at the north Wales club is already drawing up plans for life in the Premier League. Maybe Irving would be wise to take a step down, to maybe return to England's top tier with a club on the rise. 

Ryan Mason is certainly feeling the pressure of being an EFL manager on his shoulders right now at West Bromwich Albion.

Three wins from his opening four games in the Championship as the Baggies’ new head coach helped to lift some early tension, but with seven defeats now next to West Brom’s name in the competitive league, he isn’t looking at ease in the Hawthorns hot seat.

It could have been so different for the West Midlands outfit last time out on the road to top-of-the-table Coventry City, though, as a Aune Heggebo brace saw the visitors race into an unlikely 2-0 lead.

Yet, a red card to Jayson Molumby would ultimately aid the free-flowing Sky Blues, as a 3-2 victory was eventually secured.

Mason will hope he can guide his underperforming team out of this sticky patch and that no knee-jerk decisions happen from the powers that be, with lots of contracts set to expire down the line, which he could have a say over.

Contract issues at West Brom

A number of contracts are set to expire at the Hawthorns next summer, with Mason hopeful he will still be manager for the foreseeable future, regardless of his side underperforming as of late in 17th spot in the second tier.

Josh Maja is one notable name that catches the eye when running through those whose contracts are in play until June 2026, with the injury-prone attacker only starting four games this season, having had to now settle for fewer minutes up against the aforementioned Heggebo.

Only one goal has come the £17k-per-week striker’s way from those limited starts, too, next to the Norwegian’s heftier tally of four, with his injury issues another factor to consider as to whether West Brom will hand him an extended deal or not.

Karlan Grant will also be worrying about his future up until the mid-point of next year, with zero goals or assists next to his name this season, while Daryl Dike will surely be sensing that the end of his injury-plagued Baggies career is in sight next year when his deal ceases to be, as the American remains unsurprisingly sidelined still.

He also takes home a whopping £25k-per-week salary, despite his long-standing injury troubles.

However, he isn’t the only high earner that could soon be taken off the Baggies wage bill, as this Hawthorns veteran – who earns more than first team personnel Heggebo and Mikey Johnston – potentially waves goodbye to the Championship club shortly.

The West Brom high earner who could soon be axed

During West Brom’s slump in form, former Celtic winger Johnston has still been a regular scorer of some sweet strikes, such as the one that was hammered home back in October.

Amazingly, though, when looking at West Brom’s wage costs, Jed Wallace comes in as earning more than the standout duo, having also banked £25k-per-week this season, like Dike, as per Capology, even when consistently finding himself out of Mason’s starting XI.

Games played

9

Games started

4

Goals scored

1

Assists

0

Wage costs

£25k-per-week

Contract expiry date

June 2026

Once upon a time, though, in the West Midlands, Wallace was seen as a constant source of creativity down the flanks, with six goals and eight assists picked up during his debut season at the club seeing his former boss Steve Bruce hail him as a “massive asset” to have around the place.

Unfortunately for the ex-Millwall forward, he isn’t producing those same electric numbers now, though, with only two goals coming his way across his last 40 outings in the demanding Championship.

Heggebo managed to put away that same amount just from the tie at the CBS Arena, yet, the former Brann striker only takes home a £15k-per-week pay packet.

Moreover, Johnston, who terrorised Coventry during the first half with two assists, also falls behind with a £12.5-per-week salary.

Therefore, although Isaac Price has been complimentary of his fellow Baggies midfielder this season by stating that he “leads the dressing room”, and he has had past moments of magic, Wallace could soon be shoved to the exit door when his contract expires this coming June – alongside the likes of Dike and Grant – off the back of his performances continuing to dip.

Forget Price: £3m “lion” is West Brom’s best signing since Corberan left

West Bromwich Albion could now have stumbled upon their best signing since Carlos Corberan left in this £3m battler.

ByKelan Sarson Oct 30, 2025

Pakistan could take a few encouraging signs from India’s match against Oman on Friday

Karthik Krishnaswamy20-Sep-20252:35

How can Afridi deal with Abhishek?

Big picture

Remember the 1986 Asia Cup? The one without India, because they did not want to travel to Sri Lanka? Or the 1990-91 Asia Cup? The one without Pakistan, because they did not want anything to do with India?This Asia Cup could have been one of those Asia Cups, but given the two sides of this particular coin, and given how much that coin is worth, we have instead an Asia Cup where India are about to play Pakistan for the second time in a week, with the possibility of a third meeting in another week’s time. But just so we know things aren’t normal, handshakes are off-limits for one team, and the other doesn’t like the match referee.If it’s somehow possible to put all that aside, Sunday’s Super Fours meeting could be quite interesting from a cricket point of view. India will be back on the field less than 48 hours after playing Oman, and if Pakistan watched that game, they may have seen a few encouraging signs:Related

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• Axar hurts his head while fielding, could be in doubt for Pakistan clash

• A left-arm swing bowler, Shah Faisal, bowled Shubman Gill with his third ball and kept beating Sanju Samson’s bat thereafter. Pakistan have a left-arm swing bowler with a Shah in his name.
• At various points, India’s batters struggled for fluency on a pitch without a lot of pace in it.
• India only picked up four Oman wickets.

All this, of course, happened when Suryakumar Yadav didn’t bat even though his team lost eight wickets, and when India rested Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy and got five overs out of their sixth, seventh and eighth bowlers combined. India were in full-on experimental mode against Oman, and they won comfortably anyway.Pakistan know all this, and they know India start as overwhelming favourites. But this is the Super Fours, effectively a new tournament with the slate wiped clean for both teams. And while this is an India line-up of frightening strength and depth, the gap between it and less formidable line-ups shrinks in conditions that typically yield smaller totals, such as those in the UAE. There is even an argument to be made that Pakistan made things harder for themselves in last Sunday’s clash by deciding to bat first in conditions that have tended to favour chasing.Given all that, this could still be an India-Pakistan match that we’ll remember years down the line, for cricketing reasons, even if recent history has given us little reason to believe it.

Form guide

India WWWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Pakistan WLWWW2:33

Chopra: Pakistan were timid against India’s spin

In the spotlight: Jasprit Bumrah and Saim Ayub

Three wickets in two games at 15.66, an economy rate of 6.71. Those are excellent numbers in most contexts, but they’re a little… ordinary given that they belong to Jasprit Bumrah and that they make him India’s fourth-best performer with the ball in this Asia Cup. But those numbers don’t really mean anything given the sample sizes involved, and the fact that he has been asked to do unusual things like bowling three overs in the powerplay. And anyway, this is the start of the tournament proper. As in any other game Bumrah plays, he starts it as one of the likeliest figures on either side to win it all by himself.Zero, 0, 0. Saim Ayub has been a valuable performer with the ball during this Asia Cup, but he has literally contributed nothing with his primary skill. That said, he has been dismissed three times playing ambitious shots right at the start of his innings. That sort of intent is exactly what Pakistan have brought Ayub into their line-up for, and this sort of run of low scores is the flip side of that intent. It can happen to anyone; how he and Pakistan react could be the barometer of how fully they have embraced this new way.

Team news

Axar Patel went off the field during Oman’s innings on Friday, after his head struck the ground while he stumbled in the course of a missed catch, and did not return thereafter. There has been no indication from the team management that he won’t be fit to play Sunday’s clash, but if he isn’t available, India may have to depart from the three-spinner strategy they have employed in all their Dubai games, and live with less batting depth than they are accustomed to.Will they shake hands on Sunday at the toss?•Associated Press

India (possible): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel/Harshit Rana/Arshdeep Singh, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.After losing to India last Sunday, Pakistan made two changes against UAE, bringing in Haris Rauf and Khushdil Shah, a frontline quick and a specialist batter, for Sufiyan Muqeem and Faheem Ashraf, a wristspinner and a seam-bowling allrounder. All four bring different things to the table, and it remains to be seen which combination Pakistan go for.Pakistan (possible): 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Salman Agha (capt), 5 Hasan Nawaz, 6 Khushdil Shah, 7 Mohammad Haris (wk), 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed.

Pitch and conditions

Spin is king all over the UAE, but more so in Dubai than in Abu Dhabi. Expect India to go back to three spinners if Axar is fit. Chasing teams tend to get a significant advantage in Dubai – they won 15 straight Full-Member-vs-Full-Member T20Is here at one point – but recent results have been more even – the last five such contests have brought the chasing team three wins and two defeats. Dew, according to Suryakumar, has been less evident than it was during the 2021 T20 World Cup, when India were severely disadvantaged by losing tosses.

Stats and trivia

• India have an 11-3 (10-3 plus the tie they won via bowl-out at the 2007 T20 World Cup) head-to-head record against Pakistan in T20Is.
• Sanju Samson needs 83 runs to become the 12th India batter to 1000 in T20Is.
• Hardik Pandya is four wickets short of 100 in T20Is, while Faheem Ashraf is two short of 50.

Quotes

“Toss hasn’t made much of a difference. The wicket doesn’t change that much. There hasn’t been that much dew either.”
“Our batting has been a little up and down. The conditions are slightly tough for batters, and a lot of the boys have been discussing how best to tackle them. Hopefully our top three can bat longer – if they do, we’ll be in a position to set a good total. And in these conditions, chasing won’t be easy.”

South Africa have lost six of their previous seven Tests in India

Sidharth Monga13-Nov-20252:04

Bangar: South Africa’s spin-bowling allrounders will be critical

Big picture: World Test Champions’ toughest testThe variety of conditions Test cricket offers is evident from how the format’s world champions, South Africa, have not been able to even compete in their previous seven Tests in India, the country of their next challenge. They lost six of those Tests comprehensively, and were on their way in the seventh but for the rain.Even within India, South Africa have struggled in a variety of conditions. In 2015-16, they were outdone by a young side for whom the team management considered raging turners a necessity. Then, in 2019-20, against an established home team, South Africa were blanked by huge margins on good batting surfaces that had nothing for the home spinners, who averaged 27.18 compared to their fast bowlers’ 17.50.The world champions make this trip in 2025-26 not with any significant new faces in their attack but with more experience, and thus more equipped to compete during what has to be South Africa’s toughest tour. Keshav Maharaj was their lead spinner on the previous tour too. Simon Harmer toured in 2015-16. Senuran Muthusamy played two Tests in 2019-20. Kagiso Rabada remains the banker fast bowler.Related

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South Africa will also hope that India, who suffered a shock loss against New Zealand last year and are still a team in transition, still haven’t nailed the method to win home Tests. They blanked West Indies earlier this season, but they weren’t entirely invulnerable.Still, South Africa will need nearly everything to go their way to win a Test on this tour, just like it did for New Zealand last year. While India are currently third on the WTC points table, having drawn 2-2 in England and beaten West Indies 2-0, South Africa have only just begun their title defence with a 1-1 draw in Pakistan last month.Form guideIndia: WWWDL
South Africa: WLWWWShubman Gill has been hopping formats frequently since September•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight: Keshav Maharaj and Shubman GillKeshav Maharaj comes to India with experience of 60 Tests; he’s second only to Ravindra Jadeja among left-arm spinners in Test cricket. With India unlikely to offer square turners or assistance for traditional seam bowling, Maharaj will have to bear a heavy workload, and provide wickets and control.Starting September, India’s newest all-format star Shubman Gill has had no break. He got three days, including the travel day, between the T20 Asia Cup in the UAE and the first Test against West Indies in India. Then just four days to travel to Australia and switch to ODIs before going back to playing T20Is in three days. After that, a five-day break, which included travel from eastern Australia to eastern India to captain the team in an important series. Gill is young and fit, and must be itching to play as much as he can, but keep an eye on how well he readjusts to the longest format.Team news: Jurel and Pant both set to playAgainst West Indies, India got away with playing practically a ten-man side. Given India’s need for a seam-bowling allrounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy was understandably given games to develop his skills, but he hardly had a role to play in the series. Now, with their No. 1 Test wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant fit again, India have decided to keep Dhruv Jurel in the XI as a specialist batter and release Reddy to the India A side. The rest of the team should remain unchanged.India (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dhruv Jurel, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed SirajTemba Bavuma should replace Dewald Brevis in South Africa’s XI•Associated Press

South Africa should look to replicate the combination that won their previous Test, against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. The batting ability of their first-choice attack gives them depth without compromising the bowling. Marco Jansen should pip Wiaan Mulder to the XI because there’s unlikely to be assistance for traditional seam bowling. The returning captain Temba Bavuma should take Dewald Brevis’ spot.South Africa (probable): 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Tristan Stubbs, 4 Tony de Zorzi, 5 Temba Bavuma (capt), 6 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 7 Senuran Muthusamy, 8 Simon Harmer, 9 Marco Jansen, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Kagiso RabadaPitch and conditionsEarly indications suggest a good batting track at Eden Gardens, which could possibly bring reverse swing into the picture. There will be little grass on the pitch but it is not expected to be excessively dry or cracked either. A potentially tough task awaits the side that loses the toss.Stats and trivia Gill has won only one toss in seven Tests as captain. South Africa have not won the toss in their previous seven Tests in India. One of these unlucky runs will end on Friday. Kyle Verreynne is five short of becoming only the fifth South Africa wicketkeeper to reach 100 Test dismissals. Jadeja is just ten runs short of becoming only the fourth player in the world to achieve the double of 300 wickets and 4000 runs in Tests.

From watching videos of Kohli, the Tamil Nadu and Gujarat Titans batter has come a long way and is on the verge of stepping into his idol’s boots

Deivarayan Muthu07-Jun-2025″ [Very proud]. To play for the country in Test cricket…”B Sai Sudharsan’s mother, Usha Bharadwaj, says she is very proud, and then trails away, lost for words, when asked about the prospect of her son making his Test debut in England.”We Face-timed him as a family after he got picked in India’s Test squad,” she says. “Me and my husband are here in Chennai, [our] elder son is working in Australia, and Sai Sudharsan was in Ahmedabad.” Sai Sudharsan piled up a chart-topping 759 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 156.17 for Gujarat Titans this IPL season.Related

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• Sai Sudharsan: Feels 'surreal' to be part of India's Test squad

“We are in different parts of the world now, but that call took us back to 2020, when we trained together as a family,” she says.In December 2019, Sai Sudharsan was in tears after he was dropped from Tamil Nadu’s Under-19 team. He was not in great physical shape, and acknowledging it, channelled his hurt into working towards becoming a fitter, stronger player. Early the following year, he began training with his mother, a strength and conditioning coach, who used to be a volleyball player for Tamil Nadu. His father, R Bharadwaj, a former track athlete who represented India at the South Asian Games in Dhaka in 1993, also played a key role.”During the [pandemic] period, we started training together,” Usha says. “I took care of his strength and conditioning, while my husband took care of Sai Sudharsan’s running and ground training. We wanted to make sure he had strength and endurance – the foundation for fitness. If you have both, you can push to play any sport. Flexibility is also important.”Because of Covid, all of us had to be indoors, and fitness became a family activity for us. Sai Sudharsan got addicted to it, and I also showed him videos of Virat Kohli, which motivated him and encouraged to become fitter and stronger. His brother also chucked a lot of balls to him at the nets. He used to do push-ups and then challenge Sai Sudharsan to do it.”It takes a village: Sai Sudharsan with his brother, B Sairam (second from right) and his parents, who have all had played a part in his cricket success•B SairamFrom there on, Sai Sudharsan became obsessed with improving himself and evolving. Having grown up playing on extreme turners in Chennai, he was always good against spin, but his batting against pace needed some fine-tuning. He exposed himself to side-arm throwdowns at speeds upwards of 140kph, and picked up the ramp shot from Gujarat Titans team-mate Matthew Wade.Most batters would have been satisfied with the kind of returns he got in this year’s IPL, but Sai Sudharsan is not most batters. He signed off from the tournament saying he has “a lot of things to improve” as a T20 batter.His coaches and seniors have marvelled at his hunger to train harder and bat longer than anyone else. He has had to be dragged out of the nets by his coaches on occasion. Even when he travelled to Ahmedabad to collect a number of awards after the IPL, he managed to squeeze in some net sessions.”Sai Su is someone who is religious about his nets and practice,” R Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan’s captain at Tamil Nadu and long-time IPL team-mate at GT, says. “How do I put it? He’s mad about practice and there is no room for complacency at all – something that we spoke about even after the IPL ended.Sai Sudharsan receives his Surrey cap from Alec Stewart in 2023. He averages 35 in his five innings in the County Championship, including a hundred against Nottinghamshire last year•Ben Hoskins/Getty Images for Surrey CCC”From 2021 to 2022, there was a massive difference in Sai Su’s game, 2022-23, there was again a massive difference, and so on every year.”That drive to keep getting better is the most amusing thing about him. To do this at 23, the sky is the limit for him.” Sai Kishore considers Sai Sudharsan an inspiration. “I might be a senior to him in terms of age and all, but I’ve learnt a lot from him.”Sai Sudharsan’s first-class average of 39.93 after 49 innings isn’t flash, but India’s selectors see potential and a high ceiling. He also has experience of playing in England, having turned out for a handful of games for Surrey across the 2023 and 2024 seasons.When the club first picked Sai Sudharsan, he had played fewer than ten first-class games and had not made his ODI debut. He made up for the lack of experience with his meticulous preparation. Alec Stewart, the former England wicketkeeper-batter, who was Surrey’s director of cricket at the time, was impressed.Before playing his first game for Surrey, against Northamptonshire in September 2023, Sai Sudharsan turned up for the county 2nd XI in Guildford, trying to acclimatise to the English conditions and the Dukes ball.With Gujarat Titans team-mate Sai Kishore, who says Sai Sudharsan has been an inspiration to him•BCCI”Sai came as an unknown and his experience of the English game was very limited,” Stewart says. “Vikram Solanki [the former England batter and current GT director of cricket] was massive in recommending him to me, and I have so much respect for Vikram. From his first training session, you could see that he was a special talent, and he hasn’t looked back. He loves to bat – whether in the nets or in the middle – and just fitted into our set-up perfectly.”Stewart reckons Sai Sudharsan’s soft hands and his range of shots will serve him well in English conditions.”He plays the ball late, and that’s the most important thing here. If you go too hard and get too far out in front of yourself, when the ball seams, you’re not in control, then your bat can get outside of your eyeline, whereas he plays it under his eyeline, plays it under his eyes, and plays it late. And even if he does nick it a little bit, like Kane Williamson, for example – you can nick it, but it still falls short of slip and that again is a real attribute of Sai’s.”The pitches are quicker here, certainly at The Oval, and to succeed, you have to be able to play off the back foot. You’ve got to be selective to pull, hook, cut or let go. He gets out of the [line of the] short ball well but can also play the uppercut over the slips. He’s got a full array of shots, and he gets them in right order.”The Dukes ball has a tendency to swing more than the Kookaburra and the SG ones, but Sai Sudharsan has had enough practice with it.You shall know him by the colour of his cap: Sai Sudharsan with his harvest of trophies for topping the run table and other feats in this year’s IPL•BCCI”When he’s gone back home, he’s taken some of our Dukes cricket balls back with him,” Stewart says. “I didn’t charge him for them and just let him have them,” he laughs. “But, no… he had that forward-thinking [mindset] and trained with those balls, so that when he comes back to us, or hopefully [is] picked for India on tour, he’ll have had nice practice against the Dukes cricket ball as well.”Some of those will probably be worn out by now because I gave them to him last year, but he’s a quick learner and he practises with a purpose. Yes, he likes volume, but he also likes to improve.”From watching videos of Kohli shown him by his mother, Sai Sudharsan is now a frontrunner to slot into India’s top four in the post-Kohli Test era. Stewart, a veteran of over 130 Tests, has some advice for the young batter.”Obviously big shoes to fill, with Mr Kohli standing down,” Stewart says. “But no one can do what Virat has done. If he can go in and almost not think of ‘I’m Virat’ because he’s not replacing him… Virat has retired. And therefore, can he not be the next Virat but can he be the best version of Sai Sudharsan? Then India have got yet another high-quality cricketer.”Sai Kishore believes Sai Sudharsan won’t be weighed down by the pressure of expectations and backs him to make the step up to Test cricket successfully. “Sai Su has no stage fright,” he says. “He made his IPL debut before he made his first-class debut. Be it TNPL [Tamil Nadu Premier League], TN, county, IPL or India, he was never taken aback by the situation or by the atmosphere. You come across a lot of skilful players, but they may not have the right mindset. Sai Su is supremely skilled and mentally strong, which is quite a rare combination.”India will enter a new era in England without the old firm of Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Sai Sudharsan could be one of the new faces who defines that new era.

While most batters have struggled in Australia over the last four summers, Head has thrived saying he enjoys the greener pitches more than flatter ones

Alex Malcolm24-Oct-2025Travis Head is hoping for seam-friendly pitches in the Ashes and says he enjoys batting on such surfaces more so than flatter ones believing that it presents more opportunities to score.The pitches that will be presented in the Ashes is a major talking point with the Test surfaces in Australia over the past four summers trending heavily in favour of the seam bowlers compared to decades past.Head was the player of the series in the 2021-22 Ashes following stunning centuries on challenging pitches in Brisbane and Hobart. He is hoping for more of the same this summer.Related

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“I probably enjoy batting on those sort of wickets,” Head told ESPNcricinfo. “The flatter wickets, with the grind, that more so challenge technique, I think, over longer periods of time [trying] to eke out runs has never probably come as natural to me with being a stroke player and wanting to get on with it. And the slower, flat wickets probably don’t tend to that. But fast-paced pitches that nip, you can maybe get away with a few things.”And then obviously the way I want to play is if they present opportunities to score, you score. So when they’re greener, they pitch up a little bit more and a bit fuller, and the style that I play, if they miss a little bit, I’m able to hopefully score and get busy.”It’s a run based game. You see some of the great players, like Steve Smith, Joe Root, you blink and they’re on 30 or 40. And that’s something that I’ve always appreciated, and definitely [on] these wickets, you know that you potentially have got one with your name on it. You can still play well. You can still get runs. Sometimes you’ve got that go about it in different ways. But ultimately, it’s a game where you go try and score as many as you can.”Since the start of the 2021-22 Ashes, top seven batters have averaged just 30.22 per dismissal in Test matches in Australia and combined for 24 centuries across 20 Test matches. In the four summers before that, from the start of 2017-18 Ashes to the end of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar series, top seven batters averaged 38.14 across 20 Tests with 34 centuries scored.