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Morne Morkel admitted the team did not anticipate such rapid wear and tear. (Getty Imges) NEW DELHI: India bowling coach Morne Morkel acknowledged that the team was “surprised” by how quickly the Eden Gardens pitch “deteriorated” after a dramatic second day that saw 15 wickets fall and the opening Test tilt strongly in Indiaâ€s favour.Resuming at 37 for 1, India were bowled out for 189, but Ravindra Jadeja (4/29) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/12) put South Africa under severe pressure at 93 for 7, with only captain Temba Bavuma (29 off 78) showing resistance as the visitors held a slender lead of 63 runs.Morkel admitted the team did not anticipate such rapid wear and tear.

‘We need to determine how he got it’: Morne Morkel on Shubman Gill’s injury & pitch quality at Eden Gardens

“Yeah, look, I mean, to be honest with you, even we didn’t expect a wicket to deteriorate so quickly… we all thought when we watched that first couple of hours that it was a good wicket, so it did deteriorate quite quickly, which was unexpected,” he said after stumps.He added that such unpredictability is what makes playing in India demanding.”That’s the beauty sometimes of playing in the subcontinent… you need to be able to adapt and react to conditions quite quickly and that’s the sort of challenge that we’re facing here at the moment.”Despite the surface behaviour, Morkel emphasised that India had backed their strengths.“We’ve got quality with seam and spin… we cover both bases. For us it’s just a matter of what is in front of us and to play that as best as possible.â€He said the pre-match conversation had labelled the pitch as “a good wicket,†with the focus instead on attacking South Africaâ€s batting.“The conversation leading up to the game was that it’s going to be a good wicket and it’s going to be hard work… so we planned more on how we were going to attack and target the South African batting line-up. We took the thought of the conditions out of the equation.â€The plan, he said, was to adjust session by session.“We thought it was going to deteriorate as the match goes on… we would adapt on the day and play it session by session.â€Pointing to Bavumaâ€s composure, Morkel said runs were still gettable.“Temba showed tonight that it is battable if you can rotate strike and have a solid game plan.â€He noted that batting would require surviving difficult spells.“I thought this morning it was going to be a surface where it’s tough to score in stages, but then over two or three overs you can get a couple of runs. It’s just about fighting through those little tough periods.â€KL Rahulâ€s 39 remains the top score in the match, and Morkel said there is no single method that will work on this surface.“I don’t think there’s a set format where you just survive. You need to transfer a bit of pressure onto the bowler, look to rotate strike and be busy at the crease,†he said.“Everybodyâ€s got different strength… itâ€s up to the batter to work out his best way of scoring whether to be attacking, sweep, or just rotate strike.â€He felt India finished below par in the first innings.“We all agree we could have scored 50-60 more… rotating strike is tricky. Unfortunately, Shubman going down early (retiring hurt) meant another new batter at the crease.â€With Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant both taking charge over the course of the innings, Morkel said leadership remains a collective effort.”From the outside it’s calmer… we can throw out suggestions on how we think we can squeeze more or take wickets. At the end of the day, we win together, lose together and plan together,” he said.”Everybodyâ€s got their way… thereâ€s never a wrong or right way. You reflect after the game, look to get better and find your path to a win.”Even with the pitch surprising both sides, Indiaâ€s selection — four spinners with Sai Sudharsan omitted for Axar Patel — suggested a better read of the conditions. But Morkel insisted this wonâ€t become a set pattern.”We’ll take it Test by Test… pick the best XI that we feel can get the win. Not looking too far ahead. Play this game well, take learnings, then arrive in Guwahati and see what we get,” he added.

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EDMONTON — Just one game after taking the bulk of the blame for an overtime loss, Evan Bouchard bounced back big time and provided his team with an overtime win.

Bouchard coughed up the puck on a couple of goals and then blew coverage in overtime as the New York Rangers came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat 4-3 over Edmonton on Thursday. But Saturday was a completely different story as he scored on his own rebound in overtime against the Chicago Blackhawks and added an assist in regulation as the Oilers won 3-2.

The 26-year-old Oilers defenceman said it helped that they caught the Hawks flat-footed with a good change in extra time.

“When you get a tired group with Connor (McDavid) and Leon (Draisaitl) out there, theyâ€re going to make the play,†he said. “I just tried to get open, Leon made a good pass and it went in.â€

Bouchard said it was a relief to exorcise some of his defensive demons so quickly after taking so much heat for Thursdayâ€s collapse.

“Youâ€ve got to learn and move on from it. Itâ€s far from a perfect game,†he said. “I can definitely clean some more things up, but I am glad I got one and contributed offensively.â€

Captain McDavid, who assisted on all three goals, was particularly pleased to see Bouchard get some quick redemption.

“You guys (media) can say what you want about him, we love him in there and we know his best is among the very, very, very best,†he said. “We got his back no matter whatâ€s going on. His play can be better, everyoneâ€s play can be better, but Iâ€m really happy for him to get that big goal and quiet some people a little bit.â€

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Bouchard has taken his tough start to the season to heart and is working hard to get back to being much more reliable.

“I know his game has been frustrating to himself. Itâ€s not like he has been like ‘whatever†and shrugging his shoulders. Thatâ€s not the case with Evan,†Knoblauch said.

“He feels, and so do we, that he can be one of the best defencemen in the NHL every night. He wasnâ€t playing like that, but tonight was more of what I am familiar with. He made some nice plays, the power play went two-for-two and he has a lot to do with that, and he gets the overtime winner.

“Obviously, he has a lot of attention on the mistakes that he has made and hopefully he feels good and gets some recognition for the overtime winner tonight.â€

Draisaitl had a goal and an assist and Jack Roslovic also scored for the Oilers (6-4-3), who have won two of their last three.

Draisaitl extended his points streak against Chicago to 19 games, dating to Oct. 28, 2018, the longest active streak by any player in the NHL against a single team. During that stretch he has amassed an impressive 15 goals and 22 assists. Draisaitl is also in the midst of an eight-game overall points streak, with six goals and six assists over that span.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played in his 972nd career game as an Oiler, passing Ryan Smyth for the second most in franchise history. Nugent-Hopkins is off to a strong start to the season, adding an assist against the Hawks to hit 13 points in 13 games.

Stuart Skinner registered 27 saves to collect the win in net for Edmonton.

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The Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres both entered Wednesday night’s fourth game of the season searching for answers.

For the Senators, it was a chance to rebound from back-to-back losses to Florida and Nashville. For the Sabres, it was about finding any sign of life after an 0–3 start that had some fans in Buffalo wearing paper bags over their heads and calling for their GM’s firing.

So Sens fans hoped this game would be a slump-buster. It was, but not for Ottawa.

The Sabres exploded for eight goals — four times more than they’d scored in their first three games combined — in an 8–4 home win over the Senators. Eight different Sabres recorded multi-point nights, with Zach Benson leading the way with four assists and Cobden native Jack Quinn scoring twice.

For Ottawa, it was their third straight loss, dropping them to 1–3–0 on the young season. As they began life without injured captain Brady Tkachuk for a good long while, the team has now allowed 18 goals during their 3-game funk.

The game’s weird tone was set early. Playing his first game as Ottawa’s full-time backup, Leevi Meriläinen was victimized early by the flukiest of goals — a puck that missed the net by a mile, bounced off the end boards, floated over the crossbar, and banked in off his back.

Meriläinen finished with 19 saves in a rough introduction to the new season.

Sens head coach Travis Green was able to find some silver linings.

“It definitely did not feel like an 8-4 hockey game,” Green told the media after the game. “We spent a lot of time in their zone. Some weird goals went in tonight. When you lose a game like that, you hate to say that your team played pretty well. But we did a lot of good things tonight.

“I thought there were a few moments in the game that we got a little loose with our puck play. They got a little momentum on a couple of those goals, especially the short-handed one. And yeah, we’ve got to stick with the process, though.”

The Senators showed flashes of pushback. Shane Pinto continued his hot start with his fifth goal of the season, while Jordan Spence added three assists in another strong performance. But every Ottawa rally was short-lived — undone by defensive lapses and ridiculous bounces.

“There’s some good and some not so good,” said Thomas Chabot. “We got momentum back in the third, scored two big goals, and then right after their timeout, we allow one. That just can’t happen. But a lot of it is our own mistakes — things we can fix as a team.

“It’s frustrating, but we’ve got to stay together and battle through this.”

The Sabres have now won five straight games against the Senators — their longest active streak against any opponent, according to NHL.com.

Drake Batherson, playing in his first game since last spring’s playoffs, admitted that the team was frustrated but focused on moving forward.

“We were outshooting them, outplaying them there for a while,” Batherson said. “But I’ll give them credit — they’ve got some skill, and we gave up some odd-man rushes. And they’ve got the skill to put it in the back of the net.

“I think any time you lose big like that, it’s better when you play the next day, I think. You can kind of forget about it quicker. So we’re excited. Get home. And yeah, the best thing is playing the next day and getting right back at it.”

That’s exactly what the Sens will have to do when they host the Seattle Kraken on Thursday. Because if Wednesday’s loss to a desperate Sabres team was any indication, the Senators’ own desperation needs to show up fast.

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“You never learn more than when you get your ass kicked,†Craig Bellamy had said matter-of-factly of cherry-picking a friendly against England and, presumably, he kept telling himself that as Thomas Tuchelâ€s side eviscerated his bewildered Wales team within the opening 19 and a half minutes. Bellamy stood open-mouthed, eyes frozen, on the edge of his technical area after Bukayo Saka located the top corner of Karl Darlowâ€s goal to make it 3-0 and the reality is it should have been 4-0 inside 40 minutes. No wonder Bellamy found himself glancing towards one of the giant scoreboards.

In many ways the Wales manager predicted this, jesting a boxing promoter would not pit the teams together owing to the gulf between the squads, and 20 minutes in it felt worth pondering if there was any value in stopping the count. Bellamy defended selecting this fixture, insisting his squad would relish the challenge of facing a team fourth in the Fifa rankings and that the contest would provide him a barometer of where they stand before Mondayâ€s crunch World Cup qualifier at home to Belgium. He spied similarities between England and Belgium and suggested the post-match analysis clips would retain their value rather than requiring them to start over.

There was a touch of pantomime to the pre-match jousting between foes, chiefly the boisterous jeering of each otherâ€s anthems. So much for Bellamy saying the teams cannot consider themselves rivals because of how irregularly they face each other, this the first meeting between the nations since England cantered to 3-0 group-stage victory at the World Cup in Qatar, which sent Wales packing. That match was Gareth Baleâ€s 111th and final appearance in a Wales shirt, withdrawn at half-time after only seven first-half touches. Liam Cullen, the Swansea forward operating in a midfield role, managed a mere four in the opening 47 minutes here; by comparison, the commanding Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice racked up 55 and 50 respectively. The most alarming thing was how quickly this game, too, descended into a nonevent.

The early intentions had been good, David Brooks tearing towards Anderson to pinch the ball before galloping forward inside the first minute. It was one of few Wales actions that spoke to Bellamyâ€s vow that his team would not be tourists. They were, however, undoubtedly second best, England completing almost twice as many passes as they hogged possession and Walesâ€s first shot on target did not arrive until the 56th minute, when Jordan Pickford repelled a Brooks volley. In the first half England managed 25 touches in the opposition box to Walesâ€s five and Walesâ€s sole shot was a wayward Harry Wilson effort that corkscrewed harmlessly away from Pickford.

The Wales defence was missing when England led inside 130 seconds. Bellamy, in a bomber jacket, turned in disgust after Neco Williams failed to track Marc Guéhi and retreated to the dugout to take a second look with his assistant, Piet Cremers. It made for grim viewing and the vast Wembley bowl seemed to swallow those in red and grow bigger every time England breached the Wales goal. Bellamy warned his players to expect “Champions League speed†and Wales struggled to cope with the hosts†speed of thought. A difficult test morphed into an exercise in damage limitation.

The Wales fans saw little to be cheered by in the first half at Wembley. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

A quadruple substitution midway through the second half featured Ben Davies, on his 99th cap, Williams, this his half-century for his country, Ethan Ampadu and Wilson depart with the bigger picture in mind. It was at that point that the almost 8,000-strong band of Wales supporters decided to play the hits. “Wales away, a-huh, a-huh, I like it,†they sang on loop, many fans by now, naturally, shirtless. It seemed to translate to the pitch – Wales unhinged, one of those substitutes, Chris Mepham, forcing Pickford into a rare save. Mark Harris, the Oxford striker who also entered off the bench, sent a header over, the cameras panning to Ian Rush in the stands.

Wales had to play a friendly as it is a World Cup qualifying round but defeat will have a negative effect on their ranking – and potentially their ranking for the playoffs next March. The Welsh optimists, Bellamy among them, will point towards the extra day of recovery time – Belgium host North Macedonia on Friday – and the relatively little travel as positives before welcoming Kevin De Bruyne and co to Cardiff.

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On the pitch at least it felt a demoralising evening after so much progress under Bellamy, this only his third defeat since taking charge 15 months ago, but the most important thing is that the disappointment does not linger, that the damage is not lasting. Williams was scratching his head at the interval and he was not the only one left feeling punch-drunk. For Wales, this proved an uncomfortable clinic and Bellamy can only hope his side learn their lessons in time for Monday.

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With the start of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black just days away, there are a lot of patriotic products currently flooding the market. But for accessory lovers, SWAG Golf’s new Ryder Cup collection is truly one for the books.

For those unfamiliar with SWAG Golf lore: the brand was founded seven years ago by four friends in Northbrook, Ill. The quartet had a simple mission: Produce unique clubs and headcovers the likes of which the golf world has never seen. The first products dropped in 2018 and sold out in less than 24 hours. Today, SWAG Golf enjoys a reputation for creating designs that are bright, edgy, whimsical and pop-culture centric all at once.

With licensing partnerships in place with major sports organizations like the NFL, WWE and the MLB, as well as nostalgic entities like Kool-Aid, Street Fighter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Topps, Garbage Pail Kids and more, the brand has amassed a rabid fan base. There’s even a drop calendar customers can access on the website to make sure they don’t miss out on new releases.

These limited-edition Cleveland x SWAG RTZ wedges are money — literally

By:

Jessica Marksbury

In terms of the Ryder Cup, SWAG Golf’s involvement has been on a steady upswing. In 2021 and 2023, SWAG provided headcovers for the captain’s gift to the U.S. Ryder Cup team. This year, for the first time, SWAG was tapped to be the official U.S. Ryder Cup team bag supplier. And now, you too can own the incredible design that will be used by the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and the rest of the U.S. team.

The bag itself is an ultra-luxe Vessel Prime 2.0 Staff bag, which is composed of Tour grade synthetic leather and comes fully equipped with a total of 16 pockets (11 exterior and 5 interior). The bag has a six-way top, dual bottle sleeves, a magnetic, velour-lined rangefinder pocket and a padded single strap. The bag can also be personalized for an extra fee.

The bag’s design is brimming with cool details, including an embroidered Mount Rushmore, stars and stripes, the Ryder Cup logo, and a replica of the Presidential Seal, with the slogan “In Keegan we trust.” The base of the bag also features the famous Bethpage Black warning sign.

In addition to the Staff bag, SWAG’s Ryder Cup collection also includes a stand bag, multiple headcovers, a premium duffel bag and a selection of apparel items like tees and hats and other accessories.

Click the links to view a selection of products below, or shop the entire collection by clicking here. But hurry! Some of these limited-edition items are already sold out, so act now to avoid disappointment!

SWAG Golf Ryder Cup collection favorites

Official U.S. Ryder Cup Team Staff Bag 2025

Trusted by tour professionals and caddies, this staff bag is ideal for those who demand the most out of their equipment.

Official U.S. Ryder Cup Team Stand Bag 2025

The VLS Lux proves that you can have a lightweight stand bag without sacrificing functional details or premium trims.

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