Prime Minister Andy Burnham has waded into one of English football’s biggest crises in decades, admitting he would be “really concerned” if Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners walked away from the club following a bombshell ruling that found the club guilty of systematically breaching Premier League financial rules for nearly a decade.

An independent commission this week upheld the majority of 115 charges brought against City, concluding that the club had disguised more than £830m in secret funding through “sham” sponsorship deals and had inflated income while suppressing costs by over £900m between 2009 and 2018. The Premier League did not mince words in its response, accusing City of having “systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.” City deny all wrongdoing and are expected to lodge an appeal before the 2 October deadline.

The scale of the findings has sent shockwaves through the game, with fans and pundits openly questioning whether City’s ownership group, led by Sheikh Mansour and the wider Abu Dhabi United Group, can credibly continue at the helm of a club that a legal panel says knowingly ran an elaborate deception scheme for years. It is against this backdrop that Burnham’s remarks have drawn particular scrutiny.

Speaking to the BBC and 5 News on Wednesday, Burnham struck a notably sympathetic tone towards City’s owners, crediting them with transforming Manchester through investment far beyond the Etihad Stadium itself. “They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester, and the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is,” he said. “I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn’t just put into the Etihad and the campus around it but also into the city.”

Pressed on whether the Gulf ownership group might now choose to sell up in the wake of the guilty verdicts, Burnham did not hesitate: “I would be really concerned to lose them.”

The prime minister’s comments carry added weight given the diplomatic and economic ties between the UK and the UAE, a trading relationship reportedly worth around £30bn annually. Burnham was careful to insist he would not get personally involved in the football dispute, telling reporters he would “keep my distance” if UAE officials sought to discuss the case with him directly. “I am not getting directly involved in the process,” he said. “It’s an independent legal process that has to play its course through.”

Yet he also drew a pointed comparison to his own history of campaigning on behalf of Everton, the club he supports, which had a 10-point Premier League deduction for financial breaches reduced to six points on appeal in 2024. “I remember people proclaiming Everton guilty at the time and, with hindsight, I think more people would say that wasn’t fair the way that was handled,” Burnham said, arguing it would be “wrong of me to leap to judgment” on City before its own appeal process concludes. “But they’re very serious charges, don’t get me wrong.”

Burnham declined to say whether he believed City should face relegation, one of several severe sanctions reportedly on the table when an independent panel convenes a separate sanctions hearing in the coming months. Alongside relegation, the panel could impose a heavy fine, deduct points, or even strip City of some of the eight major trophies won during the years covered by the findings — a period that included multiple Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph.

Adding another layer of complexity, the Independent Football Regulator — the government body established in 2025 to oversee the ownership and financial integrity of English clubs — confirmed on the same day that it is monitoring the case closely and has the authority to review whether City’s owners remain fit to hold their licence. IFR chief executive David Kogan said the commission’s findings “raise serious issues” and that the regulator “will use these powers where appropriate, in the interests of protecting the sustainability, honesty and integrity of English football where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing.” Kogan stressed, however, that the regulator would wait for the Premier League’s disciplinary process to run its course before acting.

City have vowed to fight the ruling, describing themselves as “both disappointed and surprised” by the commission’s conclusions and pledging to challenge the verdict “on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.” Manager Pep Guardiola has publicly backed the club and its ownership since the verdict was announced, while City could also face legal costs from the Premier League reportedly running as high as £50m.

For now, the case leaves English football’s most successful club of the past decade — and the government that must balance sporting integrity against diplomatic and economic interests — in a state of genuine uncertainty. Burnham’s carefully hedged remarks suggest Downing Street is keen to avoid being seen as either shielding City from accountability or jeopardising a lucrative relationship with one of Britain’s key Gulf allies, even as the football world waits to learn just how severely the champions will be punished.

Nitesh Siwach (Image credit: X)

India remained in eighth place in the Asian Games medal standings on Thursday after adding more medals across sailing, wrestling, squash and archery.India’s overall medal tally rose to 64 medals – 10 gold, 22 silver and 32 bronze.China continued to lead the standings by a huge margin with 288 medals – 154 gold, 71 silver and 63 bronze. Japan are second with 217 medals, including 59 gold, 79 silver and 79 bronze.South Korea occupied third place with 113 medals – 30 gold, 30 silver and 53 bronze.Uzbekistan are fourth with 56 medals, followed by Iran with 42 and Thailand with 38. Bahrain were seventh with 21 medals.

India add medals across sports

India’s silver medals in sailing and Greco-Roman wrestling were among the highlights of the day.Kerala cousins Prince Kurisinkal Noble and Manu Francis won silver in the men’s skiff sailing event. They finished behind China and ahead of Hong Kong, China after winning one race and finishing second in three of the nine races.It was India’s first sailing medal of the ongoing Asian Games.Harshita Tomar and Shital Verma then added a bronze in the women’s skiff event.In wrestling, Nitesh Siwach won silver in the men’s 97kg Greco-Roman category after losing 0-4 to Japan’s Yuri Nakazato in the final. His medal was India’s first-ever silver in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Asian Games.

Asian Games 2026 medal tally

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Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	154	71	63	288
2	Japan	59	79	79	217
3	South Korea	30	30	53	113
4	Uzbekistan	16	21	19	56
5	Iran	12	17	13	42
6	Thailand	12	11	15	38
7	Bahrain	11	5	5	21
8	India	10	22	32	64
9	Kazakhstan	9	19	36	64
10	North Korea	7	8	9	24

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The long-awaited first face-off between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua should have been the headline moment at Olympia London on Wednesday. Instead, it was an odd aside about pop star Dua Lipa from Saudi boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh that had the room buzzing after a largely flat press conference to launch the December 11 “Battle of Britain” at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the man bankrolling the bout, used part of his remarks to explain why the fight ended up in Wales rather than London or, as had long been expected, Madison Square Garden in New York. In doing so, he took an unprompted swipe at Lipa, suggesting the singer had snubbed the event.

“I will be honest today, I know that London wouldn’t give me the stadium until 2am, and I know that Dua Lipa will not perform in the stadium, because she doesn’t like boxing, and maybe she doesn’t like me,” Alalshikh said, drawing puzzled reactions from those gathered for what was billed as the formal launch of one of British boxing’s biggest domestic superfights in decades.

The comment appeared to stem from the logistics of scheduling. With the fight being built around an American pay-per-view audience, a start time in the early hours of the UK morning was reportedly non-negotiable — a demand that ruled out London venues unwilling to grant access that late, and, according to Alalshikh, made any entertainment slot featuring Lipa a non-starter regardless.

Beyond the strange detour into pop-star politics, Alalshikh used the platform to underline just how much it cost to keep the fight on British soil. He said he accepted a $70 million hit in potential revenue to stage the bout in the UK rather than in a more lucrative time zone or location.

“Nobody questioned me about UK. I love the British people, I try to deliver everything for them,” he said. “Put yourself in my shoes, there’s a situation to lose $70m, the best is to have it in a good time zone.” He added that Cardiff won out largely because London simply wouldn’t accommodate the required 2am stadium access. “Wales delivered it, it’s still UK, the town of Ryan Giggs, let’s do it,” he said.

The financial sacrifices were not confined to the promotional side. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s longtime promoter, revealed that his fighter personally gave up a significant sum — at least $10 million — to ensure the fight happened in Britain rather than overseas.

Hearn described a tense phone call in which Joshua was torn between the financial upside of fighting abroad and the emotional pull of headlining at home. “All of a sudden, people are saying, ‘Please bring the fight to the UK.’ He started feeling it, and I had to phone him up,” Hearn recalled. “AJ’s one of those guys, he goes to me, ‘Well, whatever you think,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no, no. It’s your money.’”

According to Hearn, Joshua ultimately had to turn down an eight-figure sum to keep the bout in Britain. “He says, ‘What do you think I should do?’ I said, ‘I think the UK is where the fight should be. I think there’s an element and an edge for you to have this fight in the UK. But it’s a lot of money.’ And he went, ‘F*** it. We’ll do it in the UK.’ Eight-figure difference,” Hearn said.

The financial wrangling and Alalshikh’s odd comments about Lipa threatened to distract from what is otherwise a landmark announcement for British boxing: two of the country’s most decorated heavyweights, finally sharing a stage after years of false starts and stalled negotiations, set to meet in front of a home crowd in Cardiff on December 11.

Whatever the entertainment lineup ends up looking like — with or without a Dua Lipa appearance — the fight itself promises to be one of the most significant domestic heavyweight clashes in a generation, even if Wednesday’s launch event will be remembered as much for a bizarre celebrity aside as for the boxing matchup it was meant to promote.

The World Grand Prix, darts’ unique double-start, double-finish tournament, continued into its third day in Leicester with the draw wide open following one of the shocks of the season so far.

Defending champion Luke Littler, who has dominated much of the sport’s landscape since bursting onto the scene, was eliminated on the tournament’s opening night by Luke Woodhouse. The result immediately reshaped expectations for the rest of the week, stripping the event of its reigning champion before the second round had even begun and opening the door for a fresh name to lift the trophy.

Woodhouse’s reward for that victory is a last-16 meeting with Nathan Aspinall, one of several second-round ties that made up Wednesday’s card. The format, which requires players to open their leg with a double before they can start scoring, tends to produce unpredictable contests, and Littler’s exit served as a reminder that even the game’s biggest names are not immune to its quirks.

Elsewhere on the schedule, Gerwyn Price took on Ross Smith in a repeat of their recent World Series final, giving fans a chance to see whether that earlier result would be replicated on darts’ televised stage in Leicester. Price, a former world number one and one of the sport’s most combative competitors, has a habit of raising his game in tournament conditions, though Smith has shown he is capable of matching him on the biggest occasions.

Jonny Clayton, the Welsh number two and a regular fixture in the latter stages of major events, was also in second-round action as the tournament worked through its congested schedule. Clayton’s consistency over the past few seasons has made him one of the most dangerous floor players in the sport, and his experience in double-start formats gives him a strong platform heading into the business end of the competition.

The World Grand Prix has long carved out its own identity on the darts calendar because of its insistence on doubles to both start and finish legs, a format that punishes players who rely purely on volume scoring and rewards those with composure on the outer ring of the board. It’s a stern test even for players used to lifting silverware elsewhere, and this year’s early exits suggest the format is once again proving a leveller.

With Littler out of the picture, the chasing pack will sense an opportunity. Price, Smith, Clayton, Aspinall and Woodhouse are among those left to fight it out as the tournament heads toward the weekend, with fans able to follow the action live on Sky Sports through to the final in Leicester.

Further details of Wednesday’s other results were not available at the time of writing, but the shape of the draw already points to an unpredictable finish to a tournament that has specialised in producing them.

I don’t envy Malik Willis.

On a personal level, I wish him nothing but good things in his life on and off the football field. Is he nevertheless going to end up like Jordan Love, Caleb Williams, and Baker Mayfield in Week 4? The NFL’s QBs have all been struggling to overcome what Vikings DC Brian Flores has been bringing.

The image I have in my mind is that of branches being fed into a living, breathing wood chipper that is the Vikings’ defense.

Mr. Willis, an ascending talent playing for a team intent on undergoing a terrible descent, is in a terrible setting in Miami. Worse yet, he’s working without running back De’Von Achane (torn ACL). The Dolphins’ passer therefore appears to be the next in line of promising passers who get demolished by the waves of pressure from Coach Flores.

The NFL’s QBs and the Brian Flores Defensive Machine

Consider some of the basic statistics for the passers who have come up against the Minnesota Vikings:

• Week 1: Jordan Love — 4 Sacks & 10 QB Hits
• Week 2: Caleb Williams & Tyson Bagent — 4 Sacks & 4 QB Hits
• Week 3: Baker Mayfield — 6 Sacks & 3 QB Hits
• Week 4: Malik Willis — ?

Note that neither of Williams nor Mayfield got out of their Vikings game uninjured. In fact, each are still in the process of recovering from injuries sustained against the Vikings. Now, there’s zero reason for glory or applause in that basic fact; nobody should be celebrating when somebody gets hurt. The point is a basic observation: hanging in for a full fight against the Vikings’ defense looks very, very difficult.

Brian Flores is like a heavyweight fighter who is throwing haymakers over and over again. So far, the NFL’s QBs haven’t been able to figure out a way to continue dodging the massive punches.

The 0-3 Miami Dolphins are working with the 31st-ranked offense in the NFL, meaning they’re a single spot away from being in last place. The Dolphins are swimming to a measly 12 points per game. Part of the problem is that there’s a talent deficit all around the roster, a problem that grows worse with the absence of Achane to carry the pigskin.

— READ MORE: Vikings Pull Off 8 Roster Moves —
— READ MORE: Know Your Enemy: The Miami Dolphins —
— READ MORE: And Now the Vikings’ Practice Squad Gets Nourished —

Willis hasn’t been flawless out there. Miami’s QB1 is completing 57.0% of his passes; his 1 touchdown has been paired with 2 interceptions. Nobody is going to be impressed by his 74.1 passer rating. Nor, for that matter, will anyone be particularly scared by the threat he poses, in no small part due to the complete lack of support around him.

Very seldom, if ever at all, does a team so nakedly commit to tanking as the 2026 Miami Dolphins. Sunday could therefore get really ugly.

In 2026, Willis has been blitzed a total of 26 times, per Pro Football Reference. Brian Flores may double that total in a single game. The DC is going to identify weaknesses and then attack these vulnerable spots with a relentlessness that few can match. If a lineman (or two) can’t keep up, Flores is going to go directly at that spot.

Willis, no doubt, has a role to play. Be decisive out there. Run out of bounds when possible. Make the correct pre-snap adjustments. Throw the ball away when necessary. Do all of the little things well to avoid getting suplexed and to keep his side competitive.

Truthfully, though, that’s not going to be enough. Miami’s coaching staff needs to recognize that a juggernaut of a defense is coming for its passer. Failing to equip that passer with consistently clever, simply sophisticated solutions means getting to a bad spot by the end of the game.

The issue is that Minnesota’s coaching staff is almost certainly better than Miami’s. The roster talent certainly is, so that make things doubly difficult.

Kickoff for the Vikings and Dolphins is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. CT on Sunday, October 4th inside of U.S. Bank Stadium.

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Perhaps the enduring image of this Houston Astros season will be that of their ace exiting the first inning of a must-win playoff game, done in partly by the deficiencies around him, accompanied by the boos of a meager crowd at Daikin Park, with no clear direction for its displeasure.

It felt aimed beyond the pitcher walking from the mound, perhaps at the overall performance of a team unable to meet the standards set by a dominant decade, or its architects. All bear some responsibility in the season that came to an abrupt end on Wednesday afternoon.

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It concluded with a 7-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox, who descended on Daikin Park and swept a best-of-three American League wild-card series to send the Astros into the offseason – and the uncertainties that await there shrouding this franchise’s immediate future.

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Despite two wild-card round appearances in the last three years, the Astros have not won a playoff game since 2023. Some holdovers remain from halcyon seasons, but the aura of inevitability that accompanied them is gone.

The Astros went 81-81 this season, becoming MLB’s first team to make the playoffs with a non-winning record in a full-length season. They had their fewest wins in a full-length season since 2014, when they lost 92 games in the final year of a rebuild.

Their direction since has never seemed less clear. The Astros have posted declining win totals in each of the last four seasons. They dismissed general manager Dana Brown in August, leaving owner Jim Crane overseeing a small group of executives running baseball operations down the stretch.

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Manager Joe Espada is not under contract beyond this year, leaving his status unclear. A porous major-league roster and poorly rated farm system will require whoever is running baseball operations for the Astros to evaluate the club’s long-term trajectory this winter.

For all that, the Astros won their eighth American League West title in 10 years, with every other team in the division finishing below .500. They overcame a brutal start for the second time in three years, rallying from 11 games under .500 on May 21 to go 61-50 the rest of the way.

They managed it despite a roster with myriad deficiencies. Houston‘s pitching staff posted the seventh-highest ERA in the majors. Its outfielders ranked second-to-last in OPS. It carried baseball’s seventh-highest opening day payroll, per the Associated Press, and finished with a negative-32 run differential.

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Houston’s front office acquired six pitchers on major-league deals last winter. They compiled a 5.52 ERA for the Astros this season, with only marquee free agent Tatsuya Imai – who lost his rotation spot and finished as a mop-up reliever – remaining on the active major-league roster at the end of the season.

Just two starters, Peter Lambert and Hunter Brown, reached 100 innings. Yordan Alvarez staged a Triple Crown bid and will likely be the AL Most Valuable Player, but the Astros offense proved much too reliant on its top three of Jeremy Peña, Alvarez and Isaac Paredes, with little depth in the lineup’s lower half.

The Astros led the majors in home runs, but just nine teams scored fewer runs from Aug. 1 through the end of the season. Veterans Jose Altuve and Christian Walker were inconsistent. No full-time outfielder on the roster posted an OPS-plus even MLB average, including lone trade acquisition Daulton Varsho.

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Houston claimed its division on the last day of the season, along with a home wild-card series. But as in 2024 against Detroit, it did not win a game in the opening round. The White Sox won a dueling bullpen game in Game 1 on Tuesday, outclassing Houston’s with its variety of looks and high-octane stuff.

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For Game 2, the Astros sent Brown, their ace and a Cy Young finalist last year, to the mound looking to prolong their season. Brown did not escape the first inning, as the White Sox scored four runs against him – aided by shoddy Houston defense – forging a lead they never relinquished.

The Astros pared it to 4-3. And in the fifth inning, they brought Altuve, the face of the franchise, up to bat with the bases loaded and two out. With a paid crowd of 36,015 on its feet, Altuve flied out. Chase Meidroth hit a three-run home run in the next half-inning, a blow that felt final.

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For Houston, then, another offseason begins. On the roster, Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alvarez and Walker are all signed for next season. So are Josh Hader, entering the fourth season of a five-year, $95 million contract, and starter Cristian Javier, who will be in the final season of an ill-fated $64 million extension. Imai seems unlikely to opt out of his deal after a poor first MLB season.

Peña, Paredes and catcher Yainer Diaz are under club control next season, as are starters Hunter Brown, Lambert, Hayden Wesneski and Mike Burrows. Key relievers Abreu and Steven Okert, along with Varsho, are the most notable impending free agents.

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Yet the infield is overcrowded with Correa, who had season-ending ankle surgery in May, expected back healthy next spring. Peña will be entering his last season of club control, meanwhile, the same situation in which the Astros traded right fielder Kyle Tucker two winters ago, inviting the question of whether an organization in transition could explore a similar move.

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The lack of outfield production begs to be addressed. What capacity Houston will have for that remains to be seen. Crane, who has not put forth a timeline or any details about the search for a new general manager, has declared that his team’s contending window will not close under his watch. Another early playoff exit makes it clear: That ambition is facing its toughest test.

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This article originally published at Astros’ season ends in a sweep, raising questions about what comes next for Houston.

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Image copyright Harry-Walsh

Manchester City’s defiant stance in the face of a landmark Premier League ruling has laid bare the depth of the crisis facing English football’s richest club, as executives across Europe wait to see how the fallout from an eight-year investigation will finally play out.

Chief executive Ferran Soriano struck an unbowed tone at a board meeting of European Football Clubs in Copenhagen this week, telling fellow executives that the process was far from over. According to reports of the private gathering, Soriano pointed out that it had “taken eight years to get here and it’s going to take a lot more time” — a reference to the Premier League’s investigation, which began in 2018. He left the meeting without taking questions from waiting media.

The comments came days after it emerged that City had been found guilty of the vast majority of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League, in a case centred on allegations that the club inflated sponsorship income from companies linked to its ownership and made undisclosed “off the books” payments to sidestep financial regulations designed to keep competition fair.

Club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has already sought to reassure supporters, writing in a letter over the weekend that his confidence in the club’s ultimate vindication remains undiminished. “The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began,” he wrote, while acknowledging that legal confidentiality prevented him from sharing the details underpinning that optimism. Even the letter itself, he noted, had been through repeated legal vetting before publication.

What comes next remains genuinely uncertain. Sanctions have yet to be handed down, and the range of possible outcomes is unusually wide for a case of this magnitude — from a substantial fine to a points deduction, or even, at the extreme end, expulsion from the top flight. City have already signalled their intention to appeal whatever punishment is eventually imposed, meaning any resolution could still be years away.

The verdict has reverberated well beyond the Etihad. Rival clubs are reportedly taking legal advice on whether they might be entitled to compensation, given the scale and duration of the alleged breaches and the competitive advantage they are said to have conferred. Elsewhere in the game, senior figures have been quick to weigh in: La Liga president Javier Tebas has called for a “severe” sanction, while Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca’s predecessor-turned-England boss Mauricio Pochettino described the case as reflecting a “period of deception” in the sport. Even within English football’s own dressing rooms the case is a live topic, with figures such as former City goalkeeper Joe Hart publicly backing Al Mubarak’s insistence on the club’s innocence.

For all the noise, though, insiders suggest there is little appetite among Premier League clubs themselves for the nuclear option of stripping City of any of the titles won during the period in question — even as the threat of it lingers in the background of every conversation about sanctions. That tension, between a desire to see the case resolved decisively and a reluctance to unravel a decade of competitive history, is likely to shape the debate for months to come.

The saga arrives at an already fraught moment for the international game. Elsewhere this week, simmering political tensions surrounded a Nations League fixture between Israel and the Republic of Ireland, a reminder that football’s institutions are being pulled in multiple directions simultaneously — forced to police financial fair play at the elite club level while also navigating geopolitics on the international stage.

Whether the Manchester City case ultimately reshapes the Premier League’s approach to regulation, or simply confirms suspicions that its richest clubs operate by a different set of rules, will depend on decisions still to come. What is already clear is that City have no intention of accepting Friday’s findings quietly, and that the next chapter of English football’s biggest governance battle is only just beginning.

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England white-ball captain Jos Buttler believes Brendon McCullum’s controversial removal from the Test coaching role earlier this year may end up being a blessing in disguise for England’s Cricket World Cup ambitions, with the New Zealander now able to pour all of his energy into next winter’s tournament in southern Africa.

McCullum was stripped of his red-ball duties in July, with Stephen Fleming brought in to take charge of the Test side. The 44-year-old has continued to oversee England’s white-ball teams, working alongside specialist mentor Kevin Pietersen, and has since guided the side to an impressive 11 wins from 13 matches, including series victories over both India and Sri Lanka in the one-day format.

Speaking on his For the Love of Cricket podcast, Buttler said the narrower remit had allowed McCullum to commit himself entirely to solving England’s one-day problems ahead of the World Cup, rather than splitting his attention across formats.

“He’s only got one focus now and that is the white ball,” Buttler said. “It’s not that he couldn’t do everything, because he could, but your time is more spread and you’ve got more to think about with the Test team as well. Now he can focus solely on white-ball cricket – T20, yes, but mainly ODI cricket with that World Cup on the horizon.”

Buttler, who led England through their disastrous defence of the 50-over title in 2023, added that McCullum appeared to have channelled his competitive instincts squarely towards ending England’s recent struggles in the format that made them world champions in 2019.

“It seems like Baz is naturally all in on, ‘how do I win this World Cup with this team?’” he said. “I think he can sort of see that World Cup is not that far away. It’s a real target, now his remit has changed from four months ago being in charge of everything to, ‘right, I can really nail down on this’. He’s just got more time and more focus on that. ODI cricket for England has not been consistently great for a couple of years, so there’s some nice growth to go on that, and this summer’s been a really good start.”

England’s white-ball form since the coaching reshuffle has certainly given cause for optimism. A 3-0 clean sweep in the T20 series against Sri Lanka was followed by a 2-1 one-day series win that included a thumping 223-run victory at The Oval, though Sri Lanka did register a 16-run win at Headingley to prevent a whitewash.

The timing of any turnaround matters for England, who have looked short of their best in ODI cricket since claiming the trophy on home soil six years ago. With the World Cup now less than 18 months away, Buttler’s comments suggest the dressing room views the coaching split not as a demotion for McCullum but as a sharpening of purpose.

There was less positive news on the injury front, however. Buttler confirmed he will miss England’s forthcoming tri-series tour of Pakistan after suffering a hamstring injury during the second ODI against Sri Lanka, and is also a doubt for the November tour of Australia. That raises the prospect of England’s most experienced one-day batter missing as many as eight ODIs during a crucial stretch of World Cup preparation.

“I’ve had a scan and I’m waiting to see the specialist. Then we’ll know what the next steps are,” Buttler said of his recovery. “The unknown is often the tough part. Any cricketer just wants a physio or a doctor to tell you, ‘on this date you’ll be back playing cricket’. Unfortunately, they can’t do that just yet.”

With McCullum now singularly focused on the white-ball project and England building momentum in the 50-over format, the coming months will offer a clearer picture of whether the reshuffled setup can deliver when it matters most – though for now, the team’s talisman with the bat will be watching much of that build-up from the sidelines.