1. SportThe Sunday Telegraph l http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport l Saturday 24th April, 2016
T
here is a reason most neutral football fans want
to see Leicester City win the Premier League
title this season: to see the smile on the face
of their utterly engaging manager Claudio Ranieri,
writes Mark Ogden
My past life as a sports editor on the London Evening
Standard co-incided with the Italian’s spell as head coach
of Chelsea (September 2000 to May 2004). Despite the
pressures and difficulties he was under, he was always
unfailingly helpful to our sports team.
During his spell at Stamford Bridge we learned some
surprising things about him, not least that for a football
manager he is a very cultured man. He loves his art, his
antiques and his literature. Things were tricky when he
arrived to take over from Gianluca Vialli. The Rome-
born former manager of (among others) Napoli, Fior-
entina and Atlético Madrid was 48 when he arrived in
London and spoke hardly any English. He relied at first
on the helpful Chelsea backroom man Gary Staker to
translate for him while he took English lessons.
In his first season, he was known to make lots of for-
mation changes, rotate the players and introduce the odd
substitute or three during matches, and he laughed when
I asked whether Chelsea’s players thought he overdid the
meddling with formations. “I hear what they’re saying,”
Ranieri said. “I ask my English tutor what is this word
‘tinkerer’?”
Ranieri loved living in London and, as the son of a butch-
er, enjoyed the range of restaurants on offer in the cap-
ital. Lebanese and Indian seemed to be his favourites
for eating out, as well as the Lincolnshire sausages he
would buy from Newark marketplace when he and his
wife would go to antique fairs.
The Italian spent a lot of his spare time travelling around
F O OT BA L L
Manchester United v.
Everton FC
BT Sport +, BT Sport +HD
Kickoff: 13:15.
Chelsea v. West Ham United
BT Sport +, BT Sport +HD
Kickoff: 14:30
CRICKET
Essex v. Somerset
Sky Sports 1
Starts 9 AM, Saturday.
Surrey v. East Anglia
Sky Sports 2
Starts 11 AM Saturday
What’s on Telly
FOOTBALL
Liverpool 1-0 Norwich
M’boro 5-0 Ispwich
Arsenal 2-2 West Brom
CRICKET
Bangladesh def.
Zimbabwe by 5 runs
India def Sri Lanka
by 7 runs.
TENNIS
Andy Roddick def.
J.W Tsong, 6-4, 7-6,6-3
Results at a
glance
Ben stokes opens up
on captaincy, the ECB
teammates and more
“We
do not
dream
continued on pg. 26continued on pg. 27
23
Sharapova struggle
continues withWTA
ban impending
How a man like no other,
crafted a storty like none other
Continued on p 24
T E N N I S C R I C K E T
“

2. Year of the FoxClawing their back up the ranks, Leicester City managed to re-enter the premiership in 2014 afte 8
years outside it. Since then, they faced a bitter struggle to survive, with many writing them off. A year
on, and the Foxes hav eremarkably changed their fortunes winning game after game, to claim their
maiden English league title. Here are four moments defined their ascent to the very top this term.
Gary Lineker
Match of The Day Pundit
Leicester triumph
one for the ages
While Leicester City went on to become one of the best
defensive units in the league, it took them until their 10th
Premier League game of the season to earn a clean sheet.
The Foxes’ hunger for a first shutout eventual-
ly paid off, as they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at King
Power Stadium in October. Claudio promised piz-
za and delivered – not literally of course – as the
squad headed to local pizza house Peter Pizzeria.
‘I pay. They deserve this pizza and today we will eat. It’s
good to stay together,’ he said. ‘It was a very tough game
against Palace — it’s good. I hope they enjoy it today.’
Ranieri laughed: ‘Drink? Drink water, yes.’ Ranieri scoffed
at the thought of buying pizzas in at the King Power Sta-
dium, preferring a restaurant more akin to the cooking of
his homeland.
1 8th Aug, Leicester City 1 Sunderland 0
29th Nov.Vardy scroes eleven straight
19th Dec. A Christmas Miracle
1st May, Captain Morgan seals title
While Leicester City went on to become one of the best
defensive units in the league, it took them until their 10th
Premier League game of the season to earn a clean sheet.
The Foxes’ hunger for a first shutout eventual-
ly paid off, as they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at King
Power Stadium in October. Claudio promised piz-
za and delivered – not literally of course – as the
squad headed to local pizza house Peter Pizzeria.
‘I pay. They deserve this pizza and today we will eat. It’s
good to stay together,’ he said. ‘It was a very tough game
against Palace — it’s good. I hope they enjoy it today.’
Ranieri laughed: ‘Drink? Drink water, yes.’ Ra-
nieri scoffed at the thought of buying pizzas in
at the King Power Stadium, preferring a restau-
rant more akin to the cooking of his homeland.
POCHETTINO SPUR’D AT LAST HURDLEPOCHETTINO SPUR’D AT THE LAST HURDLE
Several rivals, including Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas and West
Bromn boss Tony Pulis, openly stated that they wanted to
stop Spurs from winning the Premier League despite hav-
ing no part in the title race.
With many neutrals supporting Leicester City already,
Pochettino believes that the football community shouldn’t
have been so open in it’s bias towards the Foxes.
‘Maybe in the last few weeks or months, we know football
people maybe don’t behave like professionals, we need to
be careful,’ said the Argentine.
‘Sometimes my press conferences are boring because I’m
very polite or political. No, I am professional. That’s a big
difference.
‘I don’t want to be popular. I want to be professional. That’s
the most important thing.
‘It’s easy to say big things against our enemy because: ‘oh,
the people love me, I’m very strong, so I’ll say things like
this.’ Come on. We are professional.
‘The managers, the league, the players’ association, need
to say that we must behave professionally. We need to play,
be honest and show integrity and be professional always.
‘When you are professional, not give your opinion, your
personal opinion, if I support Tottenham, play against
some team which fights for the title or to survive then I
can’t give my opinion like a supporter. I need to give my
opinion like a professional.
‘It’s always dangerous when something happens like
that.
‘Maybe in the next few meetings of the Premier League, the
managers and also the staff, we need to sWay that in future
we must be careful with all these comments in public.’
Asked whether it would be possible to build a Totten-
ham dynasty in the mould of Ferguson’s at United, Pochet-
tino replied: “Why not? Sir Alex Ferguson is a very special
person. He was given the security to build his legacy at
Manchester United. I believe we are special too and we can
build it here together.
“This club is special. I feel the love from the beginning,
from the very first day. I am very happy to be here to hopefully
achieve big things. I think the potential is fantastic, with the
new stadium. I think the club is coming to a very tough peri-
od because we are building a new stadium and we may focus
sometimes on that, but at the same time it is very exciting.
“It is important for all to know I believe in this club,
the players, the staff, the supporters and the people here.
This is important. That is why we have decided to stay
here. We have made steps in the time we have been here
and we believe in more time we can achieve big things.”
Pochettino was this week linked to the Paris St-Germain job
and had also been touted as a candidate to replace Louis van
Gaal at United, but he insisted it was a straightforward decision
to commit his future to Spurs.
“It was an easy decision [to agree the contract],” said Pochetti-
no. “When you are happy and feel the love of the people and the
potential of the club is massive, why change, why not stay here?
“Wehavecreatedaverygoodatmosphereinthechangingroom
and the training ground with all the staff. We have an excellent
relationship and I think we can achieve big things in the future.
“I believe in the club, our players, our staff and support-
ers, and for that I say yes to stay here and extend the contract
Fairytale ending: Claudio Ranierikisses the Premier League trophy after 10 months at the helm of Leicester, giving the fairytale story a fairy-tale ending.
“Hewasgiventhesecuritytobuildhis
legacyatManchesterUnited.Ibelieve
we are special too and we can build it
here together.”
After netting a late penalty at Bournemouth in late
August, few could have predicted the goalscoring
run that would subsequently follow for the striker.
Finding the back of the net against Aston Villa, Stoke
City, Arsenal, Norwich City, Southampton, Crystal
Palace, West Bromwich Albion, Watford and New-
castle United, Vardy had already equalled Manches-
ter United great Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s record of scor-
ing in 10 consecutive Barclays Premier League games.
The side Vardy could break his record against? Man-
chester United, of course. It would take a moment
of brilliance to breach the Red Devils’ defence, and
when Christian Fuchs delivered a stunning no-look
pass into the feet of City’s No.9, Vardy made no mis-
takes, before wheeling away in wild celebration.
It was a memorable Christmas Day for Foxes fans all
around the globe, as they witnessed their side dis-
patch Everton 3-2 at Goodison Park on 19 Decem-
ber, as two Riyad Mahrez penalties and a strike from
Shinji Okazaki ensured City would be top of the tree.
In Premier League history, no team had ever been bottom
of the table at Christmas one season and top the next.
Moreover, in the last 10 seasons of the premier league, the
team leading at Christmas would go on to win that league.
Leicester had broken all superstition upto that
point, but entertaining the thought of being cham-
pions of England, after being at the bottom exact-
ly 12 months before, was too special to not celebrate.
AfterwardstheteamcelebratedwithaclassictriptoTony's
pizzeria with a plate of hot wings and cool drink of WKD
2
3
4
Pochettino dejected after a drawing 1-1 to Everton
FO OTBALL
S
omething extraordinary
is happening in the world
of football. Something
that defies logic. Something
truly magical. Something that
makes me well up with emo‑
tion because this something is
happening to my team. The
team I have supported since I
was the size of a multipack of
crisps.
I watched Leicester City
lose in the 1969 FA Cup final
with my dad and granddad
when I was eight and cried
all the way home. I have seen
them get promoted and rel‑
egated. I played for them
for eight years. I even got a
group of like‑minded fans
and friends to stump up a few
quid to salvage the club when
they went into liquidation.
But nothing compares to this.
Nothing. Things like this just
do not happen to clubs like
mine.
Before Monday night’s fix‑
ture against Newcastle, Leices‑
ter are top of the Premier
League. Not just top but two
points clear with a game in
hand, and it’s not September,
it’s March.
This is, with a couple of
notable additions, the same
Leicester side that at this stage
of last season was languishing,
seemingly doomed, at the bot‑
tom of the table.
What has happened since
then is beyond remarkable.
Firstly, under the guidance
of Nigel Pearson, the Foxes
staged the most miraculous of
escapes to maintain their top-
tier status.
Pearson then, much to the
disappointment of the vast
majority of Leicester fans, was
sacked, presumably for the
outrageous behaviour of three
young players on tour, one of
whom was the manager’s son.
Enter Claudio Ranieri. At
this point I feel I should come
clean and say that, like many
others, I felt it was a pretty
uninspired choice. In his pre-
vious job he managed a Greek
national side that lost to the
Faroe Islands. Not that I could
have got away without such
a statement anyway – Twit-
ter would never allow that to
happen.
Oh how wrong I was,
how wonderfully, spec-
tacularly, blissfully wrong.
The Foxes will no doubt
face an uphill battle when they
enter the champions league,
but if the board can retain the
core of their high performers,
Europe could yet be bllue
The bookies agreed with
me, Leicester were the over-
whelming favourites to be
relegated. Who then could
possibly have envisaged what
would transpire?
Gary Lineker can be followed
@GarryLinkeker
Thomas Thorn Smith
Editor-in-Chief
Alasdair Hall
FO OTBALL 25The Telegraph, Sunday 24th April, 2016
Vardy Party: Jaime
Vardy scores his
11th consecutive
goal against United
to break Van Nistel-
rooy's record
WW
The Telegraph, Sunday 24th April, 201624

3. I will probably
never play like this
ever again in my
life,But I’ve done
it once, so at least
I can say that. I
was trying to hit as
many boundaries
as I could because
it was too hot to
run.
E
ngland's 2015 Ashes-winners Ben
Stokes and Jonny Bairstow have
been chosen among Wisden's five
Cricketers of the Year.
All-rounder Stokes and wicketkeeper-bats
man Bairstow, whose prolific run of form
for Yorkshire helped win him back his Test
place last summer and bring a second suc
cessive County Championship to Head
ingley, are joined by New Zealanders
Brendon McCullum and Kane William
son and new Australia captain Steve
Smith.
Wisden has also named Williamson
as Leading Cricketer in the World
after his 2,692 international runs
across the formats in 2015 - the
third-highest annual aggregate
ever.
The historic and prestigious
Cricketer of the Year accolade
can be won just once by any
player, and is judged pri-
marily via influence on
the previous English
summer.
Stokes' and Bair-
stow's were evident in England's thrilling
3-2 Ashes victory, and both went on to fur-
ther enhance their standing through a win-
ter in which their record partnership of 399
against South Africa in Cape Town featured
the Yorkshireman's maiden Test century and
an astonishing display of sustained hitting
as the Durham all-rounder racked up 258.
McCullum's New Zealand were credited by
many at the start of last season with helping
England set a new tone of adventure in a
drawn Test series and a limited-overs run-
fest too.
That accounts in part for the captain and the
prolific batsman's places in Wisden's cov-
eted category - while their compatriot Suz-
ie Bates is named as the women's Leading
Cricketer.
Wisden editor Lawrence Booth congratu-
lates England, in his notes section, for their
re-emergence after the World Cup debacle
of early 2015.
He describes their transformation as
"the most uplifting story in international
cricket".
Booth adds: "[in May] a timid defeat in
Barbados was followed by a tumultuous
victory over New Zealand at Lord's - and
England instantly became a side you want-
ed to tell your friends about.
English Cricket's
Ginger Prince
“
“
Ben Stokes, speaks to The Telegraph on the winning the
Wisden award, captaincy and the future of English Cricket.
Dawn of an era:
Stokes embraces his
helmet after a match
winning double
century, against
the West In-
dies
sealing the
series with a
whitewash
3-0
Morgan looks ahead after a
challenging twelve months
E
oin Morgan has a
strong affinity with
Ireland, the land
of his birth. But when the
opportunity came to play
for England, he was on
the first train to Lord’s. He
may have a strong affinity
with his adopted country,
too. But no, he will not sing
the national anthem just to
appease petty Englanders.
The point is that Morgan
has no interest in impress-
ing you. This much has
become increasingly clear
over the past few years.
He maintains a modest so-
cial media profile, speaks
frankly in interviews, signs
as many autographs as he
is asked to. But he will
never be anyone’s totem.
He likes a pint, a round of
golf, a game on the Xbox,
a flutter on the horses, a
night out. But his personal
life is his and his alone.
Morgan is not
the sort of guy
you will find
fraternising
with Fleet
Street hacks
in the hotel bar,
or pimping him-
self out on the celeb-
rity circuit. He is his own
man: quietly but stridently
independent, whether it
comes to his unorthodox
technique, his unortho-
dox captaincy, or even his
unorthodox career path.
He may be friends
with Kevin Pietersen, but
when confirming in a re-
cent interview that Pieters-
en’s England career was
over, he insisted on tak-
ing personal responsibil-
ity for the decision.
(“Kevin will not
be picked,” he
said. “That’s
from me.”
He has no
interest in the
sport’s various
tribes, factions
or cliques. In many
ways, he is English crick-
et’s answer to Rick Blaine,
the character played by
Humphrey Bogart in Cas-
ablanca: “Gentlemen,
your business is politics.
Mine is running a saloon.”
The question comes
when the saloon stops
running the way it should.
As England’s firework of
a World Twenty20 cam-
paign ricochets towards its
final group match, against
Sri Lanka on Saturday,
the form of their lead-
er is a familiar concern.
A concern, because he
has now gone 20 innings
without a half-century in
all forms of the game. Fa-
miliar, because more than
most players Morgan goes
through peaks and troughs,
and there is often no telling
when one will morph into
the other.
Wickets will further drop
but Morgan's will power
will serve to define him.
Jonathan Liew
Cricket Coloumnist
26
by David Todd
Ronay's Corner
Why Andy Flower's England
axe was the best for everyone.
There have been moments
in the past 18 months
when it seemed possible the
best starting point for anyone
compiling an anatomy of the
state of English cricket would
be a shortlist of the things that
aren’t actually broken yet.
Understandably, at a time
when the England team have
won only 22 of 70 interna-
tional matches since the 2013
Oval Ashes Test, the tempta-
tion has been to reach for the
grand narrative of decay and
decline: from the sell-the-fam-
ily-silver disappearance from
mainstream TV of what was
once a national summer sport;
to the sense of wider aliena-
tion exposed by the dropping
from the team of a popular
star batsman.
The England and Wales
Cricket Board has at least been
busy. Heads have rolled, per-
haps even some of the right
ones, and the chairman and
chief executive are “finalising
the job description” for a new
cricket director role that will,
it is hoped, provide a decisive
flushing out of the various
blockages and constipations
clogging the system. Admit-
tedly this has already been go-
ing on for quite a while but ex-
citement is still mounting over
what could yet be one of the
great job descriptions – per-
haps even the outstanding job
description of its generation.
It is easy to mock what is a
very ECB kind of revolution
(when in doubt, appoint an-
other senior manager). But
this a fascinating process in its
own right. With all due respect
to the more orthodox coaching
credentials of Peter Moores, it
is probably worth acknowledg-
ing at this point that in many
ways the person the ECB is
trying to replace with the new
role is Andy Flower. Remem-
ber him?
Andy Ronay can be
followed on @AnRoney
CRICKETThe Telegraph, Sunday 24th April, 2016