Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Teddy Draper and joining me, Riyad Al-Samourai from the Daily Mail and Martin Hardy from The Times. Welcome to you both. OK, let's get to The Guardian then. England pull off another miracle is the headline, Martin. A miracle, but it was almost predictable, wasn't it, at times? It felt incredibly composed.
Yeah, there's something very exciting about this Ben Stokes team. So we shouldn't really take it for granted when this drama unfolds in front of us. And I think he was a little bit prickly to the criticism of putting India into bat first, but he has belief in his players.
That belief came through in absolute spades today. I mean, you can rattle off the stats that we have a different game to probably what we had 20 years ago in that England need four, almost four and over to win on the last day of this test. Then you're watching Duckard gets his 50th test from 60 balls. There's a dropped catch on him on 97.
he reverse sweeps his weight to 100 and stokes his afterwards this is the best sweeper that's in world cricket at the minute and plows on and gets 149 and there's not there's always drama with this team which is why it's so watchable um
suddenly it's 253 for four and there's 118 runs needed to win. Mike, Mike Gathart in there perhaps looks at this team and Joel Rootin says, yeah, it was never in doubt, but that there may have been at other times, but this team carries a lot of belief, determination. It mirrors the captain, mirrors Ben Stokes image now. And there are other elements of this, you know, there's a second highest run chase ever for England. The other one being done by a Ben Stokes team and,
there's this kind of pile of statistics that you have to try and get your teeth into but that 188 is the biggest opening sorry biggest fourth innings opening partnership and winning effort in tests and
Just looking through that list and two batsmen, young lads like myself and Ria, they've never heard of Jackson and Ponsford for Australia in 1930 with 172. So they are rewriting cricket history books in front of us. It's thrilling to watch. It always helps that it's heavenly and it has these ghosts of great cricketers and great drama inside there. And I think when Mike Atherton, my brilliant colleague, picked up the microphone to Ben Stokes at the finish and
He just said there's something about him and he isn't there. And Ben Stokes couldn't really disagree.
Certainly was special, wasn't it? I won't ask you, Riaz, about that 1930 Test match, but I'm sure you're well across it as well, front and centre in your mind tonight. But I wanted to ask you about the style of the victory and some quotes here in The Guardian, Simon Burnton's piece from Ben Stokes. When you're chasing down totalers like that, keeping the relaxed vibe as much as we can is so important to the mindset of someone to go out there in the middle. Did you feel that? This is the shift in Baz Bull that it's become more relaxed, more zen? What was your take on it?
It's good fun. I suppose less fun is whatever's happening with my screen here. I appear to be disappearing like Marty McFly in Back to the Future. But look, that was brilliant today. And what you're talking about there, Bas, we've obviously had this conversation for a couple of years ago and sort of wondering,
What is it exactly? I suppose if you think it's a state of mind, I was just looking before we came on, it's at...
I'm not sure where it actually appeared, but that was the sixth time that one of Ben Stokes' teams has chased down a run of 250 or more. The previous record was two. Now, that does come down to being free. It does come down to having that certain level of fairness with it. And I think I was watching it today and I thought,
I don't want it to sound like sacrilege, but I didn't necessarily feel like the win was in jeopardy at any point. It felt like it was under control. Don't get me wrong, it was obviously... It was fantastic. It goes into the last hour. It's everything we should say about what Test cricket should be, what its value is...
You know, the beauty of that, I'd never call that a slow burn. That was an absolutely mad test match. But, you know, stretching something out across five days and it comes down to the last hour. But there is a tremendous merit.
in watching that as a sport. And it's also a vindication of basketball. I'm sure if it goes horribly wrong next week, we'll pivot the conversation and say it's appalling. But there is a reason they can pull off these runs chases. There's a reason why they don't slip into some level of fear. They don't play for the draw.
They know play, what their capabilities are. They've been unshackled. They've been...
given that freedom as it were to be able to go out and play and it does it does show itself in the results but I love the fire and ice of the of the opening pair Duckett Crawley different different kind of things I think so Crawley I thought that fantastic innings and it's it's the slowest he's ever taken to get to 50 you've got you've got Duckett who is sweeping and
I love watching it. There are different styles within that team. I think I was reading a comparison where does this put
Crawley and Duckett compared to, compared to Strauss and Cook. I think, I think, I think that they're averaging slightly higher, but they're still probably about two and a half thousand runs short before we, we start that discussion. But I do, I do love watching this team, even, even when they lose, even when you have moments towards the end of the year against Pakistan or, or,
wherever you're looking at it and thinking is there a sense of way is there a middle ground I think they found that middle ground now like any sporting system there's an evolution to it and I think between Stokes and McCollum I think they've figured that out now
Seem to have, haven't they? Backpage of the sun. Interesting. It's dominant across all the papers as well. Not just the regulars for covering cricket. Heading glee is the sun backpage headline. Stokes hails Ducat as England win yet another Leeds classic. And in the midst of never ending football, Martin, it has taken the backpages, hasn't it? Is it?
How important is it to be a catalyst for youngsters as well, taking up the sport? People like Duckett and Crawley, just to inspire them. Because it's not massive. I went to a state school. It wasn't massive in state schools, is it, cricket? But maybe this will get youngsters playing this summer. Yeah, we've always had moments like Botham in 81. I remember watching Botham and Tim Robinson at Henley in 1987 in the Ashes. So you've always had these moments.
maybe as we're going through a period where sport is competing against another sport and we are watching PSG produce this master performance to win the Champions League and it's fluent, exciting, brilliant football and
We are now seeing that kind of sport in cricket where we want to see front, it's all very much front foot. You said the word vibe before and I can imagine Geoffrey Boycott and Chris Tavre searching for hours to try and understand what that meant. You've seen this change and now it's a sport that's very, very entertaining and exciting and enthralling and, you know, some of us might not like
Certain elements of the shorter forms of the game, the tests, I think test cricket has a certain magic and to go for five days, as Riyadh says, is part of its brilliance. And, you know, to be able to produce drama on the final hour and two sixes to win the test is,
are very important at a time when we're reaching this watershed of it's more sport, more sport. And football just doesn't seem to want to turn itself off at the minute. We used to have two or three months of cricket in the summer and football would take a break, but now football is breathing down its neck. Cricket responds with games like these and they are very, very difficult for real sport enthusiasts to ignore because they're so excited.
Absolutely. And reflect on the back page of the Times as well as we've seen the headline with Mike Aston, chief cricket correspondent at Headingley, never in doubt, England pull off second highest test run chase in serene style, Riyadh. And you can understand what he's trying to get at there, can't you? Absolutely. Like I said, I think it was, you know, even going back to the previous answer, I didn't necessarily feel that there was a massive amount of
jeopardy around it but it was just that sort of sense of control that they were able to put on a match let's not forget in this as well India hit five centuries and lost
I don't know if that's a record, but it's also one of those statistics that jumps out at you and just makes you think, wow. But it is fantastic. I think it sort of sets this series up nicely. I'm not sure where India go from here. They came out and confirmed afterwards that Bumrah was only going to play another two of the tests. That had obviously been...
That had been speculated and reported for a little while. They want to manage his workload. But you take him out at the attack, and I'm not entirely sure where that's going to leave them. Obviously, just to contradict that slightly, he didn't take a wicket in the second inning. That's possibly the most surprising of all of this. But it's really nicely poised at the moment.
It certainly is looking forward to Edgbaston and interesting the effect that match has. People around the office all looking for tickets now to be in Birmingham for that second test that starts a week on Wednesday. Let's talk football, Martin. Come to you with this as well. Newcastle United willing to break club wage record to keep Alexander Isak. What can you tell us?
Yeah, Newcastle have got one of the most exciting players in world football on their books. He just happens to be 25, which means he's approaching his prime. Scored 62 goals in three seasons in English football for Newcastle United and
is a centre forward which makes him a real rarity and other clubs are watching the situation he has three years left on the contract that he signed there's links with Barcelona Liverpool Arsenal if he was to become available you get the impression that pretty much every major team in the world would be knocking on the door just to see what the deal is
Newcastle are aware of all of this and have like a group of about five or six players who are the top earners and Alexander Rizac is amongst them but not at the top. They are prepared, our story and my contacts have said, to make him the best paid player in the club's history to try and fight off the interest from those clubs that are watching the situation particularly intently. A lot will depend on Alexander Rizac's mood when he and his agent
come July. He has given no indication yet that he wants to leave, but he does want to play for a competitive Champions League club. They hope that qualifying for the Champions League gives them a good start and the fact that he enjoys working with Eddie Howe. Eddie Howe certainly doesn't want to lose him. Newcastle have gone through three transfer windows without signing a player to get to this situation where they don't have to sell, which is why they are now looking to sign players as well. It's just that
Because of the limitations of PSR, the top earner at Newcastle United, which if Alex Izak was to stay, would be beyond £150,000 per week. That's still around a half, perhaps even less than a half, of what the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool with greater turnovers and therefore greater flexibility in PSR can offer. A lot will depend on Alexander Izak. Newcastle want him to stay. That will be borne out by the talks over a new deal and what he will be offered next.
It depends whether he's interested in some of these great clubs. Looking at him, he's 26 this season. This is a big part of his career. And I've said on here before, Alexander is a brilliant player, has one Champions League goal. And I think Erling Haaland may have something like 49 and Kylian Mbappe 63. So you see what he's pushing to be part of that elite group. And I don't think there's anybody who thinks he's not part of that elite group or can't join it.
It's just Newcastle are trying to tie down this brilliant player and keep the interests of other clubs at bay. Indeed, Barcelona mentioned Liverpool, Arsenal, I believe, in the story. Riyad, if they get to keep him, how big a statement is that for Eddie Howe's team? Absolutely enormous. I think he's the best player in the team, in my view. I think...
strikers are at a premium and Arsenal, the very interesting club in that landscape. We know, we know their deficiency. We've known that deficiency there for well over a year and they know that there's going to be no patience whatsoever from their own fans about filling that space. I think Arsenal absolutely need to test that situation. I think
I think what Martin's saying there is absolutely spot on. Isaac's not given any indication of wanting to leave, but at the moment he's in the best case situation he can be. He's watching, he's waiting and...
People can come and test the club. But if you're Newcastle, think about it. What is the value of Izak? And then the second question to that is how easily is someone like that to replace? Well...
Look around the Premier League. It's the hardest position you can fill, particularly with someone who has got experience of playing in this country. It's the Manchester United paradox. They have forever shopping around for strikers and yet to find one that works. Maybe it looks like this window could be one where they fix that issue. So Newcastle don't want to throw themselves into...
into that mess. But I would be utterly astonished if Arsenal didn't test it at some point. Martin, we've got a break pressing, but just finally on this, do you feel, and we will talk Newcastle potential incomings, is this as much about proving the club's ambition to ESAC as it is about numbers, about making the highest paid player? I think you'd probably say it's all in the pot together. Show the player ambition, financial worth, perhaps
put a clause in that you can revisit this situation in 12 months time. There's a lot of moving objects on this and it's, you know, we can't predict the future. We can't predict what Alexander Izak is feeling. He is happy. He is loved. His game is developing. You know, they look after his body in terms of getting him to play so many games. It's just a case of when you sit down and his agent sits down, it's kind of, this is a huge point in his career, which way does he want it to go?
People inside the club think they're going to fight very, very hard to make sure that he's at Newcastle. And I guess that's what Newcastle fans want to hear. And we'll see what happens from there.
Riyadh, come to you via the back page of The Sun. Rash's new loan move. Barcelona are interested in a loan move for out-of-favour Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford. Riyadh, Martin Blackburn reporting here, though, that they are unlikely to offer Rashford a permanent route out of Old Trafford. Turns 28 in the autumn. Riyadh, is a loan deal the right option for him?
It's the right option for him. I don't think it's necessarily optimal for Manchester United. I think so long as Amram's there, the situation's fairly clear for Rashford. He's earning upwards of 300k a week. They want to clear that from the wage bill. That would certainly help with PSR. But at the moment, it's probably...
It's probably a sign of where Rashford's at, that they can't find anyone to stump up the 40 million to take him. Now, for Rashford with Barcelona, I find that a strange one. It's clearly the move he's got his heart set on it. He's spoken about it recently. But bear in mind, they've got Rafinha on the left wing. They're looking at Nico Williams. They want him. What does that mean for Rashford? Third choice. I...
at this stage in his career, he's 27 years old. I can't see any merit in a 27-year-old who is clearly capable of elite football but just needs to relocate that ability to play elite football, that spending a season on the bench playing
Third choice, second choice at best, I would say. I can't see how that works out. Now, the situation up front is interesting there. They've got Lewandowski. He's pushing 37. He scored 27 goals last season. They do need a backup for him.
maybe that ends up being an option. And no one in their right mind would ever say there's a bad move to Barcelona, obviously. But if you're Marcus Rashford and you're needing to get that career back on track, I think...
I think there are possibly more appealing options for him to consider, and that would involve taking a sizeable wage cut. And it's very easy for me in this chair to tell another man what to do with his salary. But at the moment, it's just such a sad scenario.
with him and we saw that uplift at Aston Villa. It would just be nice to go and see Marcus Rashford go somewhere, play football with a smile on his face and find his best again. Well, as a boy, I'd love to have been a footballer playing in Barcelona, but maybe not according to Riyad's painting of the picture there, Martin. What do you make the Guardian have? Rashford's dream move to Barcelona a step closer. Could it be a dream move?
I think for just about any footballer, it's a dream move to Barcelona. If you're 27, you're not going to get another game for Manchester United with the current manager. And the reports seem to suggest that Hansi Flick is a fan of Rashford.
What we are seeing now in terms of the evolution of the game is that front four or five are pushed so hard to press, to track back, score goals, create goals. A lot of the time it comes 60, 70 minutes in games they're getting substituted and therefore there is a rotation probably between about five forward players.
Rashford does give you the versatility of being, I would have loved him to have gone as a centre forward about four or five years ago and somebody said, you're going to stay there until you get the hang of it. Whether you play off the shoulder, whether you become a bit stronger, he has incredible speed. Two years ago, I still think he scored the goal of the season for Manchester United away at Arsenal.
Everything that he has in terms of can run with the ball is quick, strong and can finish. I still think there's a player in there, as we saw and Riyad alluded to there, at Aston Villa with four goals and six assists in 17 games. And he gave them a huge boost, his sign. And that's a big problem of trying to fit a £350,000 or whatever it is, wage per week into a football club. And we hear that Barcelona won't pay £40 million for him.
This, as I said at the start, everybody would like to sign for Barcelona, especially if you don't have a club at the minute, in theory, because he's not going to get a game. But I think there might be a bit of merit in this for Barcelona, who are still a very young team. And we saw that in the, they should have beaten Inter Milan in that semi-final and given us this great Champions League final, instead of which a little bit of naivety in that injury time at the Nou Camp costume happened.
Rashford gives them a little bit of that what is he 10 years older than I mean he may be a player that appeals and we'll see how he does I would like to see him do well I still think he's a very exciting footballer
Absolutely. I suppose Man Utd fans have been a bit divided on Rashford in the past. Also on the goalkeeper, Onana, who says he won't quit is the headline in The Star. Jeremy Cross reporting after Monaco inquired. So, Riath, in around 30 seconds or so, what are your thoughts on Andre Onana? Could he be the number one to build a team around? I would strongly suspect for United fans that they've seen enough in the past two seasons. If they get the opportunity to get...
And I believe Martinez does want to play there. I think, I think it makes total sense to push on with him. I,
Up until recently, you'd make a very good argument that he's one of the, well, he is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. And Inanna possibly needs another chance elsewhere, whether or not that's Monaco, whether that's Saudi Arabia. Time will tell. He says he wants to stay there. Good for him. It's nice to see a United player with a little bit of fight about him. But if you were Manchester United, you might well take that decision out of his hands. Yeah.