Editors' Picks: Fiery friendlies take centre stage on big weekend for F1 and cricket
Saturday, March 23rd
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad - 15:00 CET
The IPL will be well and truly underway by Saturday afternoon when Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad go head-to-head in a really intriguing clash.
Both franchises acquired marquee signings in the auction, with Aussie quicks Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins moving to Kolkata and Hyderabad respectively - becoming the most expensive players in IPL history in the process.
Sunrisers finished bottom of the table last season, but under the leadership of newly-appointed captain Cummins, they will be looking to make more of an impact this time around, and possess stunning batting firepower with the likes of Aiden Markram, Travis Head and Henrich Klaasen.
The Knight Riders have a plethora of batting quality too (as does every IPL team), with Phil Salt, Andre Russell and Shreyas Iyer among their ranks.
There will be a lot of star power on show in Kolkata, and it promises to be an incredible occasion in front of a raucous Indian crowd. Which side will be able to get their IPL campaign off to a dream start?
England vs Brazil - 20:00 CET
This clash between England and Brazil at Wembley is one of the standout fixtures of this international break - even with the context of the encounter just being a friendly. Many England fans are hoping to see some of the high-profile squad debutants make their first appearances for the Three Lions, with manager Gareth Southgate rewarding the likes of Anthony Gordon, Jarrad Branthwaite, Ezri Konsa and Kobbie Mainoo with their first senior call-ups.
While Southgate will see this contest, plus next week’s game against Belgium, as a chance to experiment with his squad ahead of Euro 2024, he will want to piece together some strong performances with wins. Because although England are unbeaten since the last World Cup, an unremarkable 2-0 win over Malta was followed by an unflattering 1-1 draw against North Macedonia in November, leaving fans underwhelmed and demanding more.
Getting the England faithful back on side here won’t necessarily be an easy task, especially taking into consideration the hold Brazil have had over their hosts across the last three decades. They’ve suffered defeat in just one of the last 11 international meetings between the two although this time around, the Selecao are travelling without key stars like Neymar and Casemiro.
France vs Germany - 21:00 CET
Competing but, more importantly, impressing at the European Championship is always a huge event for the top nations of the continent. Outside the World Cup, this is the event for the UEFA members. The competition is especially key for Germany this time as they are hosting it. What’s more, they are coming off a terrible run in major tournaments by their lofty standards.
At the last Euros (delayed to 2021), Germany won just one match and went out in the round of 16. At the last two World Cups, they have failed to get further than the group stage. With seven titles across both tournaments, this is scandalously bad for Germany. Their poor run continued post-Qatar and resulted in the removal of head coach Hansi Flick back in September. Soon after, precocious talent Julian Nagelsmann was appointed to resurrect Die Mannschaft to their former glory.
Being the hosts of the Euros means that Germany don’t have to qualify for the tournament but, equally, lack the practice that qualification offers. They must thus rely on friendlies such as this to prepare. And there are few better ways to test yourself than against one of the world’s best sides.
Didier Deschamps’ France side are truly stacked with quality from back to front, where they can call on the sublime Kylian Mbappe. However, despite Germany's broader lull and recent poor form (they have won just two of their last 10 friendlies), they are not to be written off. With Toni Kroos coming out of retirement for the approaching tournament and a talented new creative core emerging around Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, Germany are just the right coach away from being an international force again. The question is: Is Nagelsmann the right coach?
Only the Euros will tell but this friendly will give us an insight into the current state of both these heavyweights. Interestingly, they met in a friendly right after Flick was dismissed, with Rudi Voller taking temporary charge. The Germans won that one 2-1 but who will have the last laugh in Lyon this time?
Sunday, March 24th
Australian Grand Prix - 05:00 CET
You may find it difficult to get excited about the third race of the Formula 1 season given Max Verstappen dominated a somewhat dull opening two rounds, but last year's Australian Grand Prix produced countless collisions, three red flags and more drama than we'd had in the first two races combined, and who's to say that won't be the case again?
With the cars always being so close to the walls on the tight and twisty Albert Park circuit, a safety car or two is almost guaranteed, and that significantly reduces the chances of Verstappen cruising to victory yet again, while guaranteeing some thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing at the restarts.
What could also threaten the Dutchman's dominance is the fact that it's the first race that teams will be bringing upgrades too, giving the rest of the field their first chance to improve their machinery and close the gap to Red Bull.
McLaren and Ferrari are both expected to bring updates to Melbourne that they hope will gain them a few milliseconds at the least.
An issue with the circuit in the past has been the fact that it's been extremely difficult to overtake, but an extra DRS zone has been added and a chicane has been removed with the aim of changing that. As a result, we might just get enough on-track action to keep those of you in the Western hemisphere awake should you choose to stay up late or drag yourself out of bed at an ungodly hour for this.
