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• Jadeja comes up big to lead CSK to fifth IPL title

  Ravindra Jadeja was the hero as the Chennai Super Kings beat the Gujarat Titans by five-wickets in the final of the 2023 Indian Premier League at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday

  The Titans, after being put in to bat by the Super Kings, made an imposing 214-4 off their 20 overs.

  Sai Sudharsan made an extremely composed 47-ball 96 for the Titans including eight fours and six sixes while Wriddhiman Saha made 54 off 39 balls earlier.

  A prolonged rain-delay with CSK 4-0 after just three balls meant that, upon the return, they needed a revised target of 171 in 15 overs.

  CSK’s formidable opening pair of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad continued their excellent form this season, putting on 74 for the first wicket before Gaikwad went for a 16-ball 26. Conway, who top scored for the Super Kings went, soon after, for a 25-ball 47.

  In the end, an unbeaten 22-run partnership between Shivam Dube (32*) and Ravindra Jadeja (15*) handed Chennai their fifth IPL title, putting them alongside the Mumbai Indians at the top of the pile.

  The match came down to the last two deliveries, with Jadeja facing pacer Mohit Sharma needing 10 to win.

  He hit the fifth ball of the final over for a straight six before clipping the final ball down to the fine leg boundary to secure the win.

  Sharma tried his best with the ball, taking 3-36 from his three overs while Noor Ahmad took 2-17 from his three.

• England will not alter aggressive approach during Ashes – Brendon McCullum

  Brendon McCullum is excited about the “magic” that could occur in the Ashes and has promised England will not move away from their aggressive approach at the first sign of danger.

  England begin an eagerly-anticipated summer with a one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s on Thursday, but already much of the discourse is around the upcoming series with Australia.

  After a string of poor showings both on home soil and Down Under, the script book was ripped up this time last year when Rob Key, managing director of men’s cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board, decided to pair captain Ben Stokes and head coach McCullum together to revitalise red-ball cricket in this country.

  The results were devastating with ‘Bazball’ taking the nation by storm with run-rates going through the roof, draws being discarded and the pressure of losing taken away, but the perennial question throughout England’s run of 10 wins from 12 Tests has been, can it be taken into the high-pressure stakes of an Ashes series?

  McCullum said: “It’s a challenge, but it’s an exciting challenge.

  “The more that’s at stake, the more it’s important to keep it simple and relaxed, to do what gives you your greatest chance.

  “At the first sign of trouble you can’t run away from it, or at the first sign of all the eyeballs in the world watching you, you can’t run away from what’s been most successful for you.

  “That’s when you should be at your clearest, keep things as simple as possible and that will be the message right throughout.”

  Former New Zealand wicket-keeper McCullum is no stranger to battles with Australia, but modestly and perhaps unfairly suggested he was only good enough to scrap against teams wearing the baggy greens.

  That is not the case for his England side, the 41-year-old insists.

  “I’m not as good as these guys are, so you always felt like you were scrapping for something rather than being able to go toe to toe with them (Australia),” McCullum added.

  “The ability to go toe-to-toe with a good side is where the magic happens.

  “I think we’ve got the quality in our team and they’ve got the quality in their team to be a heavyweight contest so I’m excited about that.

  “There’s so much excitement about what’s coming and there’s so much uncertainty for everyone and that’s where I think the real magic has the opportunity to come out. so we’re just excited about it.”

  England’s ‘Bazball’ approach has been heavily debated since it arrived on the scene and at its height, Stokes’ side were scoring at 5.50 runs per over in Pakistan during the winter.

  Whether or not that can be replicated remains to be seen, but McCullum does feel they should only get more consistent with time.

  “To be fair, there’s some stuff we did last year that I didn’t really think was achievable but the guys were able to do it,” he admitted.

  “If you are present and clear of mind, you’re able to make good decisions because you’re not worried about the outcome as such, you’re just able to adapt to what’s required.

  “There will be periods where we’ll have to absorb pressure. It may also be that we’ll be able to put the handle down a bit more and achieve what we did last summer. We’ll just wait and see.”

  A key part of England’s philosophy is a relaxed environment and spending quality time together, which occurred on Sunday when the team linked up for the first time – since the New Zealand series in February – for a round of golf at the Grove in Hertfordshire.

  After facing Ireland this week, England will have 11 days before the Ashes opener at Edgbaston on June 16, but that will not be spent exclusively together, with a mixture of days off, training and some “quality time” arranged before the battle for the urn begins.

  McCullum stated: “I think it’s a good build-up, I think it’s perfect.”

  One man not set to be involved is Ben Foakes after he was left out of the Ireland Test in favour of the fit-again Jonny Bairstow, who will don the gloves and try to replicate his stunning 2022 form where he hit six hundreds.

  “Well, I mean he’s an incredible player,” McCullum said of Bairstow.

  “He’s a rare commodity and he’s able to do some things that other people just can’t.

  “I think if he’s able to recapture even a glimpse of the form which he showed last summer, then our side does look really, really strong.”

• James Anderson and Ollie Robinson should be fit for Ashes – Brendon McCullum

  England head coach Brendon McCullum is confident James Anderson and Ollie Robinson will be fit for the first Ashes Test but has confirmed they will play no part against Ireland this week.

  The five-match series against Australia begins on June 16 but England have fitness concerns over a number of their bowlers.

  Robinson suffered an ankle issue for Sussex earlier this month and Anderson strained his groin while on Lancashire duty while injury-hit pair Jofra Archer and Olly Stone have experienced elbow and hamstring problems respectively already this summer.

  England begin their eagerly anticipated summer with a four-day Test against Ireland at Lord’s on Thursday and while two of their key bowlers will miss out, they should be fine for the Ashes opener at Edgbaston.

  “Yeah we’ve got a couple of niggles so we’re just monitoring those at the moment. I guess every team that goes into a series has got a couple of little things that you need to work through, but pretty confident we’ll have a good squad to be able to pick from,” McCullum insisted.

  On Robinson and Anderson, he added: “For the first Ashes Test, I think they should be fit.

  “They won’t be fit for this one against Ireland. We’ll just have to monitor it over this next sort of while, but we’ve got some great options right throughout the squad.

  “When I first took over this job, people said there wasn’t much depth in English cricket and I disagree with that completely.

  “I think there is an immense amount of depth and we’ve got plenty of good options throughout the squad.”