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Rob Walters has been appointed as the head coach of the New Zealand men’s team. He will be in charge of New Zealand in all formats for the next three years.

Walters, 49, was previously the white-ball coach of South Africa. Under him, the Proteas reached the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2025 Champions Trophy and the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup. However, Walters left his post as South Africa coach in April despite having a contract of more than two years.

Walters previously coached the Otago Volts and Central Stags in New Zealand’s domestic cricket. He led the Stags to the Ford Trophy and Plunket Shield in the 2022-23 season. He also coached the New Zealand ‘A’ team in the 2022 tour of India. He also served as an assistant coach in the IPL.

Walters replaces Gary Stead. Although the New Zealand Cricket Board initially wanted separate coaches for the white and red balls, Walter was ultimately given the responsibility for all versions.

Walter will be in charge of New Zealand from the new cycle of the Test Championship to the 2026 and 2028 T20 World Cups, the 2027 ODI World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Taking charge, Walter said, “New Zealand have been a successful team for a long time. It’s great for me to have the opportunity to work with them. There are many big tournaments and series ahead. I’m very excited, the challenge is also very big. I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Walter will take charge in mid-June. Then his coaching chapter will begin with a tour of Zimbabwe in July.

Getting a place in the Argentina squad was a big surprise. But not only a place, but now the record-breaking debut of Argentina’s emerging young midfielder Franco Mastantuono has also happened. Today, the 17-year-old footballer set the record by taking the field against Chile in the World Cup qualifiers.

Mastantuono has been in the news for a while. There has been a lot of talk about which club he will go to between Real Madrid and PSG. The rivalry between the two best clubs in Europe shows how talented the young footballer is.

And amidst this discussion, Mastantuono made his debut for the Argentina national team today. Today, the midfielder, who plays for River Plate, came on the field in the 84th minute of the match as a substitute for Thiago Almada. After coming on the field for a short time, he touched the ball 8 times in the rest of the match. He made 3 passes, all three of which were correct.

However, these are not all the statistics, Mastantuono set the record by taking the field. He is now the youngest footballer to play an official match for Argentina. In achieving this record, Mastantuono broke Juan Sarnari’s almost 65-year-old record. Sarnari was the youngest footballer to play an official match in 1960 at the age of 18 years, 1 month and 22 days. Mastantuono broke that record today.

Although he is the youngest in official matches, Mastantuono is ranked 5th when friendly matches are taken into account. And at the top of this list is one of the greatest footballers of all time, Diego Maradona. Maradona made his debut against Hungary in 1977 at the age of 16 years, 3 months and 28 days.

The next three are Ernesto Brown (17 years, 6 months and 12 days), Jorge Chechi (17 years, 6 months and 19 days) and Gottlob Wies (17 years, 8 months and 11 days). Lionel Messi is ranked 9th in this list. Messi made his debut in 2005 at the age of 18 years, 1 month and 24 days.

The Champions League T20, which was once considered the World Cup of club cricket, was once held in the style of the UEFA Champions League football.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), two of the ‘three corners’ of world cricket, used to jointly organize the Champions League T20. But it did not happen again after 2014 due to the lack of spectators in the stadiums, lack of interest from cricket fans and lack of interest from sponsors.

After almost a decade, discussions have started to bring back the Club Cricket World Cup. This tournament may return in a new form called the World Club Championship. This was told by Richard Gould, CEO of another influential board in world cricket, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), to cricket website ESPN Cricinfo.

He said, ‘It is in our plans. There will undoubtedly be a World Club Championship for both men and women at some point. This is the next logical step.’

The IPL started in 2008. Since then, the calculations of world cricket have changed. Franchise cricket tournaments have started in different parts of the world.

In 2009, the Champions League T20 saw the light of day. Just as the UEFA Champions League allowed more clubs from the top five leagues (England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France) to participate, the Champions League T20 would have allowed a minimum of three (maximum four) teams from India’s IPL to play.

But this tournament could not generate as much interest as the IPL. As a result, it was declared defunct after six seasons (2009 to 2014) in six years.

In 2009, Richard Gould was the CEO of English county club Somerset. That year, Gould’s Somerset surprised everyone by defeating the then IPL champions Deccan Chargers in their first match in the inaugural edition of the Champions League T20.

Gould now feels that the Champions League T20 started much earlier than it should have. As a result, it failed to become attractive, “That tournament was way ahead of its time. It didn’t live up to the expectations commercially. But it was a very good event.”

The FIFA Club World Cup is starting in the United States this month on a large scale with 32 teams. The Rugby Club World Cup will also be launched from 2028. The Club Cricket World Cup may follow the path shown by football and rugby. The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) team may also be seen there.

However, finding the right time to launch the World Cricket Club Championship may be a big challenge. Now there is international cricket or franchise leagues in all months of the year.