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The former England batter and captain was a man out of sync with his times in more ways than one

David Hopps26-Aug-2021Ted Dexter, the last great amateur cricketer to play for England, has died, aged 86. An embodiment of a passing age, Dexter’s majestic batting thrilled crowds, and his aristocratic manner captivated the media as well as providing a touch of glamour for a country that was uncertain of its place in the world. Debonair, majestic against fast bowling, particularly when making full use of his tall, athletic frame to drive commandingly off the back foot, and rich enough to live life pretty much as he pleased, his career spanned a changing world.As the 1950s ended, Britain was on the cusp of change as conservatism and tradition came under challenge. In the same year that Dexter made his Test debut, 1958, attempts to end the distinction between amateur and professional failed, but shortly after he captained England for the first time, three years later, it passed into history.Dexter played 62 Tests for England between 1958 and 1968, the last two – entirely unexpectedly – coming after a three-year absence because of a serious leg injury suffered in a bizarre car accident. His average of 47.89 was exceeded, at the time of his passing, by only 12 England batters. He led England in more than half of his Tests, and Richie Benaud, an Australian adversary as captain, was just one prominent player to regard him as a “great”.But cricket was not enough to detain a man who, for all his detached air, possessed an agile mind. Dexter was too successful at his chosen sport – and possessed too many theories about its technique and its need for modernisation – to be fairly described a cricketing dilettante. But he revelled in many other pursuits, all of them rivals for his attention even with the cricket season at its height.Dexter (right) was an innovative captain, to the point that many thought that he often experimented on the field out of boredom•PA PhotosHe was a fine amateur golfer and would once have qualified for the Open Championship had a six-foot putt on the final hole of his last qualifying round dropped in. He flew a private jet and his love for gambling – for a time at least more accurately described as an addiction – led him into ownership of racehorses and greyhounds. He even stood for parliament for the Conservatives, for an unwinnable seat in Cardiff South East in 1964, finishing second to James Callaghan, who was to become a Labour prime minister. In one speech, Dexter allegedly suggested that Labour-voting households could be identified by their “grubby lace curtains and unwashed milk bottles on the doorstep”. Having sampled a very different world, he immediately announced his political retirement.To depict Dexter as a man out of his time is accurate, but not merely in the way one might assume. A throwback to an amateur age, he might increasingly have seemed, but his analysis of cricket’s place in the world was often decades ahead. Dexter had championed one-day cricket before the arrival of the Gillette Cup (initially introduced as a 65-over competition in 1963), he argued for a one-day league, for England central contracts, and his advocacy of four-day Championship cricket began more than two decades before county cricket took the plunge.Dexter was born in Milan, Italy, where his father, Ralph, had set up an underwriting agency. He was one of three brothers and had three half-sisters from a previous marriage of his mother, Elise. His education was a privileged one: three prep schools, one each in Scotland, Wales and England; Radley College, where he was head boy and where Ivor Gilliat, the cricket master, first conferred on him the nickname of “Lord Edward” in reference to a certain hauteur; and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he began two degrees but finished neither, being too consumed with sport and other leisure pursuits to give much attention to his studies. “I was to distinguish myself by failing to attend one lecture all the time I was there,” he was to observe later. There were also two years of National Service, including a posting to what was then Malaya as a second lieutenant, which he found largely boring.Ted Dexter talks to a voter in Cardiff, from where he stood for election as a Conservative candidate in 1964•PA PhotosThe most significant game in his first season at Cambridge came against Sussex when he deposited Robin Marlar, Sussex’s amateur captain, who was later to become a trenchant cricket correspondent, for a mighty straight six. Marlar arranged for him to play a few games for Sussex once term ended but Dexter pulled out – a long-term relationship had recently ended, and as he put it years later, he had become obsessed by a girl in Copenhagen. But his Cambridge batting exploits soon attracted England’s attention. They tried to pick him in 1957 but he was injured. The following season, he made a half-century on debut in an England innings win against New Zealand at Old Trafford, but shortly before he went out to bat, he had learned of his omission from the Ashes party in favour of Raman Subba Row.An injury crisis soon led to an SOS for Dexter, who was found in temporary employment in Paris, and felt obliged to announce his engagement to Susan Longfield, a fashion model, before making the journey. There began a debilitating five-day journey, affected by fog, technical trouble for a plane in Bahrain, and his own throat infection. Unsurprisingly, he began his first tour as 12th man, a job for which he was entirely unsuited; in the lunch interval, he preferred joining oyster parties rather than attending to his team-mates’ needs. He failed in both his Tests as England lost 4-0 but responded with 141 against New Zealand in Christchurch. Largely ignored by England the following summer, and with his wife’s career forging ahead, his gambling ran out of control. “I started on the road to near ruin,” he recalled in Alan Lee’s biography .His worth remained under question when he toured the West Indies in 1960, before an unbeaten 136 in the first Test in Barbados stilled the argument. But it was the next Test, in Port-of-Spain, that lives in cricket history. The grandeur of Dexter’s strokeplay in making 77 and defying the pace of Wes Hall was regarded by many as one of his finest Test innings. When Dexter ran out Charran Singh on the third afternoon, simmering racial tension erupted and tear gas was employed. He had a fine tour and was somewhat desirous of naming him a Cricketer of the Year. “No cricketer since the war has so captured the imagination,” Marlar said of his county colleague.Dexter batting for Cambridge University against the touring West Indians in 1957•PA PhotosAs Sussex captain, a role he fulfilled until 1965, Dexter was initially ambitious to put his ideas into practice, and consecutive Gillette Cup wins in the competition’s first two years had much to do with his innovative leadership. He proved himself an independent thinker and a good listener but a poor communicator, which his friends put down to shyness. He was more self-critical than they were, accepting that “aloof” might be a fair description. Team-mates often suspected he devised a theory in the field for no better reason than boredom. If there was not a theory to explore, he would often just practice his golf swing in the outfield. He was not a captain to let a game drift, and the less important the game, the more his experimentation was liable to become self-indulgent. On Derby day one year, a radio was brought out onto the field and a delayed start contributed to what went down into folklore as one of the longest tea breaks in county cricket history.Dexter played in four Test series against Australia and failed to win one, but if his manner was viewed suspiciously in that country, his talent gained considerable respect from the moment he made 180 in the first Test at Edgbaston in 1961.After the Ashes were lost and the captain, Peter May, had retired, Dexter took over the captaincy of a weakened tour party for a near five-month tour to India (where England lost a Test series for the first time), Pakistan and Sri Lanka, registering his sole Test double-hundred in Karachi late in the tour, by which time the wish to return home had permeated the entire party. He retained the captaincy role for an even longer tour in Australia in 1962-63 – proud of a victory in Melbourne, he rated his 52 as England pulled off a run chase on the final day as the finest innings of his career, a typically idiosyncratic choice. Others preferred to present his 70 from 75 balls against West Indies in the 1963 Lord’s Test as his finest moment, when he dismissed Hall and Griffith from his presence. Hall was a fast bowler at the peak of his powers, and Dexter had condemned Charlie Griffith as a chucker: it was potent stuff. A famous Test was saved with England nine down and Colin Cowdrey batting with his broken left arm in a sling.But his remoteness aggravated social tensions. “I liked the man a lot and he could bat beautifully, but he was no captain of England – he had more theories than Darwin,” Fred Trueman chuntered during the 1962-63 Ashes defeat. Predictably, they were to clash again in Dexter’s last series as captain – the 1964 Ashes series – when he refused to give Trueman the field he wanted to bounce out Peter Burge and Trueman bowled short all the same. England lost the series 1-0, and Dexter’s final Test as captain coincided with Trueman getting to the 300-Test-wicket mark.David Gower and Ted Dexter take a lap around the ground as part of the celebrations to mark Edgbaston’s 50th Test in August 2017•Getty ImagesCalamity then struck midway through the summer of 1965. Then 30, Dexter had spent the day at Newbury races, but his car ran out of petrol on a roundabout below Chiswick flyover in London. Trying to push the car off the road, he lost control and his leg was badly broken. Thanks to a boy passing on a bicycle, an ambulance was called and he underwent an operation later that night. That seemed that, but three years later he came out of retirement for Sussex and – perhaps the last throw of the dice for the amateur cricketer – England unsuccessfully recalled him for two Ashes Tests.After his retirement Dexter dabbled in public relations (lacking an ability or even desire to engage in mass communication, he hardly seemed the sort for it), as a newspaper cricket pundit, and spent 1978 on the European amateur golf circuit – the year he missed the cut for the Open by the lip of the 18th hole. That he would also serve as president of MCC was almost a given, but he showed independent thought there too, championing women’s equality.There were five years, too, in cricket administration when he became chairman of selectors with England’s fortunes at a low ebb in 1988. He often turned up to selection meetings in motorbike leathers. He again ached to modernise thinking, introducing specialist coaches, overseas tours for England A and Under-19s, and demanding that players reported two days before a game. But impatience with England’s failings was widespread, and although Dexter proved more engaging than some who had gone before, his attempts to deal with the media could seem both vague and insouciant, and as such, were doomed to failure. Whether it was explaining away a defeat by suggesting, in mock astrologer’s terminology, that “Venus was in juxtaposition to somewhere else”, announcing a study into Kolkata’s smog levels, or revealing, straight-faced, that there would be an enquiry into facial hair, his mild eccentricities were easily lampooned and did him no favours. He retired again, hurt rather than resentful, a little unfulfilled and not entirely understood.

As the MLB regular season winds down, the races for a playoff spot in both the AL and NL are heating up.

So, here at SI Betting, we are going to share a detailed look at the playoff picture every week so fans can see where their teams stand and bettors can potentially find some value in a team that is just outside the wild card race.

Last week, it was pretty clear where each division leader stood, but a huge winning streak by the Seattle Mariners has flipped some things in the American League.

Meanwhile, the New York Mets and New York Yankees are struggling, and the teams trailing them in the wild card picture are starting to make a real push to enter the top three.

Let’s break down the odds for every team that still has a shot to make the playoffs at this point in the MLB season. 

American League Playoff OddsDivision LeadersToronto Blue Jays: -3000Detroit Tigers: -3000Houston Astros: -1400

The AL division leaders have remained the same week over week, but the Seattle Mariners are making a real push in the AL West.

Seattle, which is -1100 to make the playoffs, has won seven games in a row and nine of its last 10 to pull within half a game of the Astros in the standings. Houston still has the inside track to a playoff spot (-1400), but it could end up in the wild card picture if it loses its early-week series with another wild card team – the Boston Red Sox.

Meanwhile, Detroit (six-game lead in the AL Central) and Toronto (four-game lead in the AL East) both have pretty comfortable margins – for now – atop their divisions. An 8-2 stretch by the Cleveland Guardians has tightened things for Detroit, which has a worse record than Toronto in the 2025 season. 

Wild Card RaceSeattle Mariners: -1100Boston Red Sox: -370New York Yankees: -330Cleveland Guardians: +200Texas Rangers: +275Kansas City Royals: +700Tampa Bay Rays: +1800Minnesota Twins: +1800Los Angeles Angels: +5000

Last week, I wrote about the Yankees fading in the AL playoff picture, and they’ve continued to do so by losing a weekend series to the Astros.

New York has a half-game cushion on the surging Guardians and just a 2.5-game cushion on the Texas Rangers in the standings. So, it’s very possible the Yankees could find themselves behind multiple teams if they don’t turn things around sooner rather than later.

Texas has lost four in a row, allowing the Guardians to leapfrog it in the standings. Cleveland may be the team to bet on right now, as it’s peaking at the right time and has a shot at both a wild card spot and the division lead. 

New York and Texas are both third in their respective divisions. 

National League Playoff OddsDivision LeadersMilwaukee Brewers: N/ALos Angeles Dodgers: -20000Philadelphia Phillies: -10000

The Milwaukee Brewers have been so good, winning nine games in a row, that their odds to make the playoffs are off the board, a sign that oddsmakers expect them to be in the playoffs no matter what.

Milwaukee could move to 30 games over .500 with a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night. 

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ lead in the NL West is just two games, as the San Diego Padres (7-3 in their last 10 games) are making a serious push. As of now, it seems like the team with the best record in MLB will come out of the NL, but a lot could change over the final weeks of the regular season.

Wild Card RaceChicago Cubs: -2500San Diego Padres: -1200New York Mets: -280Cincinnati Reds: +320San Francisco Giants: +550St. Louis Cardinals: +650Arizona Diamondbacks: +3000Miami Marlins: +50000

The Chicago Cubs have the best odds to make the playoffs of any wild card team, but I think the Padres may be the safest team here since they are still within striking distance of their division lead.

Chicago is six games back in the NL Central, while the Mets, who have lost seven in a row, are 5.5 games back in the NL East.

If New York continues to struggle, there is a real path for the Cincinnati Reds (1.5 games back in the wild card) to make the playoffs.

Cincy doesn’t have as talented a roster as the Mets, but it did go all in at the trade deadline by adding Ke’Bryan Hayes, Zack Littell, and others. The Reds are +320 to make the playoffs, which is good for an implied probability of 23.81 percent.

However, with the Reds just 1.5 games out of a playoff spot, they may be undervalued at this price.

رفع فيل فودين مهاجم مانشستر سيتي، رصيده في جدول ترتيب هدافي الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، بعدما سجل لصالح فريقه أمام سندرلاند.

ويستقبل مانشستر سيتي خصمه سندرلاند على ملعب “الاتحاد” ضمن مباريات الجولة الخامسة عشر للدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز “البريميرليج” لموسم 2025-2026.

وسجل فودين الهدف الثالث لصالح مانشستر سيتي في شباك سندرلاند، وذلك بالدقيقة 65 من عمر المباراة.

ويحافظ النرويجي إيرلينج هالاند مهاجم مانشستر سيتي، على صدارة ترتيب الهدافين برصيد 15 هدفًا.

ورفع هوجو إيكتيكي رصيده التهديفي أيضًا، بإحراز هدفين لصالح ليفربول أمام ليدز يونايتد في مباريات الجولة ذاتها. ترتيب هدافي الدوري الإنجليزي

1. إيرلينج هالاند، مانشستر سيتي، 15 هدفًا.

2. تياجو، برينتفورد، 11 هدفًا.

3. فيليب ماتيتا، كريستال بالاس، 7 أهداف.

4. داني ويلباك، براتون، 7 أهداف.

5. فيل فودين، مانشستر سيتي، 6 أهداف.

6. بريان مبيومو، مانشستر يونايتد، 6 أهداف.

7. أنطوان سيمينيو، بورنموث، 6 أهداف.

8. ريتشارليسون، توتنهام، 6 أهداف.

9. هوجو إيكتيكي، ليفربول 5 أهداف.

10. برونو جيماريش، نيوكاسل، 5 أهداف.

11. نيك فولتماده، نيوكاسل، 5 أهداف.

12. محمد صلاح، ليفربول، 4 أهداف.

13. كودي جاكبو، ليفربول، 4 أهداف.

ويمكن متابعة ترتيب هدافي الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، موسم 2025/26، محدث بشكل مستمر من هنا.

Manchester United have now received an offer for an “insane” player ahead of the January transfer window, and he’s said yes to the move…

Man Utd could offload "insane" player in January

Just when Man United were looking like they might have turned a corner, they were brought crashing back down to earth against Everton on Monday night, with the Toffees emerging as 1-0 winners, in what was David Moyes’ first-ever win as a visiting manager at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils were unable to take anything from the game, despite playing against ten men for the majority of the night, with Idrissa Gueye being shown a straight red card after striking his own teammate, Michael Keane.

Having gone the five previous Premier League games undefeated, the loss serves as a reminder that the current squad is still some way off being able to compete for major honours, as pointed out by Ruben Amorim in his post-match interview.

As such, there is work to be done in the January transfer window and beyond, and Man United now have a decision to make when it comes to Joshua Zirkzee’s future, as AS Roma have submitted a loan with an option to buy offer for the striker.

That is according to a report from Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), which states Zirkzee is now edging closer to joining Roma, having ‘said yes’ to the January move, although it is currently unclear whether United are willing to sanction a departure.

The Dutchman is valued at €40m (£35m), with the Italian club willing to include an obligation to buy if they qualify for the Champions League, but it is not specified what sort of fee they would be willing to shell out.

Man Utd should cash-in on Zirkzee this winter

The 24-year-old has flattered to deceive ever since his arrival at Old Trafford, scoring just three Premier League goals in 37 appearances, and his recent performance against Everton was less than impressive.

The Netherlands international squandered one big chance and received a SofaScore match rating of just 6.3, the joint-lowest of any player, excluding Gueye, who was dismissed after just 13 minutes.

Alongside Zirkzee: Man Utd's "waste of time" must not start again for Amorim

Ruben Amorim has a bold decision to make over the future of one Manchester United flop.

ByEthan Lamb Nov 25, 2025

Having been lauded as “insane” by scout Ben Mattinson in the past, the £105k-a-week forward could succeed elsewhere, and he may have a part to play until Benjamin Sesko returns from a knee injury.

However, Amorim should definitely move Zirkzee on in the January transfer window and bring in a new striker to rival Sesko for a starting spot, with Man United recently renewing their interest in Bayern Munich star Harry Kane.

Tottenham Hotspur need a striker. How many times have we heard that one over the past couple of years?

Replacing Harry Kane at number nine was always going to be an onerous task, a glaring spotlight against Ange Postecoglou at the start of his tenure.

After all, no man has ever scored more goals in a Tottenham shirt than the England captain, who is also far and away the Three Lions’ record scorer, with 76 strikes from 110 matches.

Harry Kane

435

280

Jimmy Greaves

376

266

Bobby Smith

316

211

Heung-min Son

454

173

Martin Chivers

350

167

After a year, Dominic Solanke was signed for a £55m fee, but he has struggled with injuries, and is out now under Thomas Frank’s wing until December, at the earliest.

What the Lilywhites needed was for loanee Randal Kolo Muani to maintain fitness and find form as the club’s leading striker over the coming months.

However, he too has fallen victim to a cruel injury blow.

The latest on Kolo Muani's fitness

In August, Tottenham added Kolo Muani to their ranks for the duration of the 2025/26 campaign. The Paris Saint-Germain forward had fallen out of favour in the French capital and spent the second half of last season on loan with Juventus, where he scored 12 goals and impressed with dynamic and stylish forward play.

Spurs felt they had sealed a shrewd signing for the season, and perhaps they have, but the France international spent the early weeks of the term out injured, and though he’s started three of the club’s past four matches in the Premier League, he has yet to score or assist.

And he won’t anytime soon. Withdrawn at the interval against Manchester United last weekend, it has since come to light that the 26-year-old has fractured his jaw and will need to see a specialist. This will rule him out of action for six to eight weeks.

Mathys Tel scored in the draw to the Red Devils, but Frank actually has another Spurs prospect who could not only fill in at number nine but realise his potential as the club’s next Kane.

Spurs' new version of Harry Kane

Kane devastated Premier League defences for so many years before leaving Tottenham for Bayern Munich in 2023. His time in Germany has been laden with goals, and he has convinced the few detractors that he is one of the greatest forwards of his generation.

How Dane Scarlett would love to emulate his idol. The Tottenham forward has already mimicked his countryman in spending a series of terms out on loan with lower-level clubs, and he has now found a place in Frank’s first-team squad, coming off the bench as Spurs beat Copenhagen in the Champions League last week.

The 21-year-old graduated from Tottenham’s youth academy several years ago, making his senior bow under Jose Mourinho in 2021, the Portuguese coach even hailing the youngster as a “diamond” of a prospect.

He is fast and sharp-witted and a “fantastic finisher” besides, something that has been picked up by Frank this season, who then spoke of the player’s potential and his need to play games.

In a fully-fit Spurs squad, this might be somewhat difficult, but he has been handed a golden opportunity to impose himself with Kolo Muani and Solanke both out of action for the foreseeable future.

Did Scarlett not score his first senior goal for Tottenham under Postecoglou’s wing in the Europa League last term? This could be the mood-lifting gambit the club needs after a difficult, yet somewhat progressive, start to the campaign.

From an attacking standpoint, Tottenham have left plenty to be desired across the opening weeks of the season. However, by unleashing the new version of Kane in the homegrown Scarlett, they might just turn the tide and realise their potential under Frank’s wing.

Spurs flop who's been "swallowed in the PL" must be dropped for Odobert

Thomas Frank can unleash Wilson Odobert by ruthlessly dropping this Spurs flop.

2 ByDan Emery Nov 10, 2025

Major League Baseball's national television rights are up for grabs.

According to John Ourand, the league is discussing a potential rights package with Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and NBC. Those talks reportedly are more focused on the all-encompassing broadcast rights that will open in 2028 instead of solely on ESPN's current package that it is opting out of after the 2025 season.

Amazon is already a streaming partner to MLB via its partnerships with the FanDuel Sports Networks and YES Network. Comcast owns a few regional sports networks around the country, including NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports Philadelphia, that broadcast local team games. Netflix has yet to broadcast any baseball, but it has begun entering the sports live streams by airing the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight and a pair of NFL games on Christmas Day.

Ourand also reported that Fox Sports is interested in airing the annual Home Run Derby, which has been televised live by ESPN since 1998.

MLB and ESPN agreed to opt out of their television deal that was set to run through the 2028 season last week. In a letter to all 30 team owners, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred cited ESPN's dwindling number of subscribers and lack of baseball coverage on the network's shows outside of games for the reasoning behind his decision to opt out. ESPN, however, has reportedly disputed that the breakup was indeed "mutual."

ESPN will continue to honor the deal in place through the 2025 season, airing each week along with the Home Run Derby and the wild-card round of the playoffs.