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Ryan Reynolds has praised Wrexham’s “heart” after the club’s impressive rise continued with a determined 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic. Josh Windass’ penalty extended the Red Dragons’ unbeaten run to five matches and lifted them to 13th in the Championship, just four points off the play-off spots, capping off a strong turnaround that has left the Hollywood co-owner beaming with pride.

Reynolds praises Wrexham as they extend unbeaten run

Wrexham continued their impressive surge up the Championship table with a 1-0 victory over Charlton Athletic, further cementing their place as one of the division’s most inspiring stories. The decisive moment came in the 77th minute when substitute Onel Hernandez was penalised for handball, allowing Josh Windass to calmly convert from the penalty spot for his fifth goal of the season. The goal was enough to secure Wrexham’s third consecutive home win and fifth match unbeaten in the league.

The result carried even more significance given the quick turnaround from a midweek fixture against Portsmouth, where Wrexham had ground out a gritty draw. Despite the fatigue, Phil Parkinson’s side maintained their energy and resilience, keeping Charlton’s attacking threats largely quiet. It was another display of maturity from a squad that had once looked out of its depth early in the campaign but now appears to be growing stronger with each passing week.

The atmosphere inside the Racecourse Ground was electric once again, with fans fully embracing their side’s newfound confidence. The energy in the stands, mirrored by the team’s intensity on the pitch, reflected a club that has rediscovered its belief at home. The full-time whistle was met with jubilant scenes, while Ryan Reynolds’ short Instagram post — “This Town. This heart. Forever.” — summed up the pride that has defined Wrexham’s remarkable rise.

AdvertisementGetty Images Sport'Intensity' key to Wrexham's return to form in the Championship

Wrexham’s resurgence has come at a good time. From a nervy start to life back in the Championship — their first appearance in the second tier since 1982 — to now sitting four points off the play-offs, the Red Dragons’ transformation has been a testament to patience, structure, and spirit. The early-season growing pains, marked by defensive errors and narrow defeats, have given way to a side that plays with organisation, confidence, and self-belief.

As Parkinson put it, the “intensity” has returned — a feeling long associated with Wrexham’s ascent through the divisions. The Wrexham boss said:  "I think the atmosphere now and the feeling in the stadium is what we've been used to. Those early games, we didn't quite create that intensity in our play. We had some really good periods in all those games but we got punished in key moments.

"The Oxford game, I thought the support was great. Coventry was special and today, what an atmosphere. We've always spoke about making this place difficult for the opposition to play and I think we've got it where we need it to be, and we've got to keep it there. That comes with the supporters obviously playing their part like they've done so well today, but also the manner of the performance, the physicality.

"I think Issa Kabore kind of typifies that really in his fighting spirit and the defenders winning headers when they needed to and playing with that physicality, and teams know if they come to Wrexham, they're in for a tough afternoon." 

Wrexham's remarkable story from non-league to Championship

Wrexham’s return to the Championship marks one of football’s most remarkable modern success stories — a story written not only through investment but through culture. Since Reynolds and Rob Mac took ownership in 2021, the club has undergone a complete transformation, combining Hollywood ambition with genuine community spirit. What began as a bold experiment has evolved into a model of sustainable growth, media influence, and sporting ambition.

The documentary Welcome to Wrexham introduced the club to global audiences, but it’s their on-field progress that continues to astound. Three consecutive promotions — from the National League to the Championship — were achieved through smart recruitment, shrewd management, and the unwavering backing of the fanbase.

Financial investment from the owners has undoubtedly been key, with improved training facilities, global sponsorships, and Racecourse Ground redevelopment projects all elevating the club’s infrastructure. Yet, beyond the money, Reynolds and Mac’s genuine emotional connection to Wrexham remains the defining factor.

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Getty Images SportWrexham will look to maintain form after the break

Wrexham enter the international break sitting comfortably in 13th place. Phil Parkinson will use the next fortnight to rest key players and prepare for a challenging run of fixtures, beginning with a trip to Ipswich Town on November 22. Maintaining this momentum could turn a season of survival into one of genuine promotion contention.

For Reynolds and Mac, the latest chapter in Wrexham’s journey is further vindication of their long-term vision. The club’s trajectory continues to defy expectation, with performances on the pitch matching the ambition off it.

South Africa’s schedule of two-Test series throughout the World Test Championship has an unintended benefit in preparing them for getting off the starting blocks quickly, which could come in handy in a one-off final. Or at least, that’s the line Aiden Markram came up with, and is sticking to, three days out from the biggest Tests of his and his team-mate’s careers.”A lot of our series have been two-game series, so in order to win, you can’t start slow. That’s helped us along the way,” Markram said after South Africa’s first training session at Lord’s. “We know the importance of starting well, trying to get ahead of the game early and how important each session is going to be. There’s no second dip at it. We have to make sure we hit the ground running and are nice and sharp come day one.”A prominent example of South Africa taking time to get into matches was on their 2012 tour to England, where England got to 267 for 3 on the first day and South Africa appeared lethargic. But they soared back to win that match, the series and the mace, albeit with a completely different generation of players. The luxury of allowing themselves a meander does not exist in a one-off final and has not existed over the course of the cycle because of how few Tests South Africa have played. They could not afford to slip up, much less when they effectively forfeited a series in New Zealand by sending an understrength side in February 2022, which meant they had to win seven out of their next eight Tests.Related

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Still, there are concerns over whether a team that has not played a Test in six months and whose warm-up match only had one full day of cricket will be ready for an occasion like Lord’s and specifically whether their batting line-up will be. Temba Bavuma is the only player in the top seven who has played more than 50 Tests and, before October, one of only three batters – Markram and Kyle Verreynne being the others – to have scored a Test hundred.South Africa’s inexperience is stark, especially when compared with the opposite in the Australian camp. As one illustration, Steven Smith has played two fewer Tests than Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham and Verreynne – South Africa’s top seven without Bavuma – combined. It’s no secret that South Africa’s batting is considered their weaker suit and all eyes will be on how they front up to Australia’s much-vaunted attack. Markram knows that and, after a few days facing his own bowlers in the nets, believes he is ready.”When you’re opening the batting, obviously your responsibility is to calm the changing room down, get the team off to a good start and get us ahead of the game,” he said. “That’s the challenge, that’s what excites us. When you’re preparing against your bowlers who are world-class, it can only help you as a batter, as uncomfortable as it can be at times. But that’s the gauge – that you judge where your game is at.”At Lord’s on Sunday, Markram faced Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen for a lengthy period of time, and with five fifties from 13 innings at the IPL, he considers himself to be in good form. “I’m feeling good. I feel like I’m moving well,” he said. “The IPL is obviously a completely different format but it was nice to come into a game feeling good. I’m pleased to be in that headspace at the moment and when you’re feeling like this, it’s really about cashing in and trying to make a difference for the team.”Temba Bavuma and Pat Cummins with the Test mace ahead of the final•ICC via Getty Images

Markram also has the unique experience of being the only other captain to lead South Africa in an ICC event final this millennium (Hansie Cronje led them in the 1998 Wills International Cup final) – and he has done it twice. Markram was in charge when the South Africa U-19 won the age-group World Cup in 2014 and last year, when the senior side got to the final of the T20 World Cup in Barbados. The latter was the apex of a few weeks of intensity as South Africa reeled off eight consecutive wins to reach the final. In Tests, they’ve now won seven in a row. Are there any similarities?”It has a different feeling, to be very honest,” Markram said. “I think because it’s a one-off game and there hasn’t been a consecutive build-up to it, it does feel slightly different, at least for the time being. Maybe the night before, all of a sudden, it might all align. But for now, it’s got a different feel about it. Also, knowing it’s multiple days of cricket, not just three hours and it’s done.”All the reasons that make red- and white-ball cricket different (time, pressure, narrative) is why this South African team cannot be lumped with the ODI and T20I squads who failed to cross the final hurdle before them, but nuance can often get lost. South Africa know that, so “the few of us that have been a part of previous ICC events that didn’t go our way have dealt with it, chatted to each other and made sure we’ve buried it and taken some good lessons from it”, Markram said. “From now on, it’s more about the excitement of having another opportunity to do the job.”And that will require even temperaments and an understanding that they have to start strongly. “It’s about each guy making sure that they don’t peak too early and get too excited too early, because then you end up draining yourself,” Markram said. “So, managing your loads at training, managing specifics at training, instead of trying to flush everything out in one session, have that gradual build-up so that by the time you get to day one, you feel like you’ve ticked every box, but it hasn’t been at 100 miles an hour. We have to respect the Test match format. It takes a lot out of you from an energy point of view and a psychological point of view. We need to be fresh and ready to go on day one.”

Stokes has encouraged his players to be “smarter” in their decision-making and to get better at “soaking up pressure”

Matt Roller19-Jun-20253:16

Does England’s inexperienced bowling even the scales?

Ben Stokes had a simple message for his England team at Headingley: “It’s about winning.” Speaking ahead of Friday’s first Test against India, Stokes called on his players to show that they are capable of “adapting better” under pressure and prove that they have substance to underpin their attacking style during this series, as he looks to take England “to the next level”.England have won 23 and lost 12 Tests since Stokes took over from Joe Root as captain and now face a defining seven months, with five-match series against India and Australia. They have become the fastest-scoring team in the world and pulled off some historic victories, but Stokes wants his team to be more resilient when they are behind the game.”We have a team identity about how we want to go out there and play the game,” Stokes told the BBC. “We’ve had time to talk as a group, identify areas where we know that we are incredibly strong, but also identify areas that we think we need to get better at. One of those areas was adapting better when we’re up against the wall.Related

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“We know that when we are on top of teams, we are very, very good, and where we maybe have let ourselves down in the past over the last three years is when we have been behind the game, we’ve not given ourselves the best chance of wresting ourselves back into the game, and that’s an area that we have looked at and know that we need to get better at if we want to end up being where we want to end up being as a team.”We still want to be known as a team who play an exciting style of cricket,” Stokes added. “[It’s] not that we never wanted to win every game that we played, but it’s changing what we say and how we say it. We want to be playing exciting games of cricket because we know that’s what brings the best out of individuals and us as a team. But it’s about winning.”England’s recent Test losses have often been thrashings, epitomised by a 423-run reverse in Hamilton at the end of last year, and defeats by 434 runs and an innings and 64 runs during their most recent series against India, 18 months ago. As a result, Stokes has encouraged his players to be “smarter” in their decision-making and to get better at “soaking up pressure”.”It’s just being smarter in those situations when it’s obvious that the opposition is on top of us,” he said. “We just felt like, as a team, that the area of improvement… is actually soaking up that pressure, and allowing ourselves a better opportunity to then apply the pressure back onto [the opposition] in the way that we know we can.”When we have lost, we probably look back on those moments [and think], ‘Could we have been a lot better at slowing everything down, and understanding where we are in the position of the game to then allow us to play in that natural way that we like to go about things?’ Having those reflective moments and honest conversations within the group is what can take teams to the next level.”Ben Stokes – “[It’s] not that we never wanted to win every game that we played, but it’s changing what we say and how we say it”•Getty ImagesStokes batted away any questions about the forthcoming Ashes series, insisting his team are focused only on India. He separately hinted at his desire to turn England into a great team. “We have been good over the last three years. I think results show that,” he told talkSPORT. “But we want to be better than good.”He is also expecting a stern challenge from India despite the recent retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin. “The pool of talent that Indian cricket has is just ginormous,” Stokes said. “[They are] three massive names, three people who have done wonderful things for their country, but it’s not going to be any easier for us because those three big names aren’t here.”England announced their team on Wednesday, with Ollie Pope beating Jacob Bethell to the No. 3 spot in their main selection decision. “Having him at No. 3 since I’ve been captain, over a three-year period, averaging over 40, it speaks for itself,” Stokes said. “Scoring 170 in his last Test match [against Zimbabwe] has shown how well he’s handled that extra scrutiny.”Bethell is set to play for Warwickshire against Somerset in the County Championship from Sunday, while Jofra Archer – who has not played a Test match since early 2021 – will also make his red-ball comeback for Sussex at Durham. Stokes said that the prospect of unleashing Archer against India was a “very, very exciting” one.”Jof’s tracking really, really well to be available,” he said. “I know he’s been absolutely desperate to play Test cricket again for England… Seeing him back out playing and being in a situation now where he’s building back up to be in contention for selection for the Test team again is very, very exciting.”

“There’s a bit of joy when you finish games for the team”, he said after scoring a match-winning century

Shashank Kishore18-May-20251:13

‘DC got it wrong with their bowling match-ups’

Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill felt his team may have conceded “ten to 15 extra” to Delhi Capitals (DC). But B Sai Sudharsan and he more than made up for it with an unbroken 205-run opening stand that powered GT to a ten-wicket win that also put them in the IPL 2025 playoffs. GT now sit top of the table, with two league games – and potentially a home playoff – still to come.”Honestly, at the halfway point, I thought we gave ten to 15 extra,” Gill said on the broadcast. “There was a little bit of grip for the spinners. They [DC] batted well, kept wickets in hand, and utilised the wicket pretty well. When we went out to bat, the talk was to just try and play good cricket shots, and once we were in the flow, we can take the game from there.”Gill, who revealed that the enforced break in the IPL had allowed him to recover from a bug, finished unbeaten on 93, while Sai Sudharsan brought up his second IPL hundred – 108 not out off just 61 balls. Together, the two have now amassed 839 runs (and counting) this season, the most by an Indian opening pair in IPL history.Related

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“There’s a bit of joy when you finish games for the team,” Sai Sudharsan, the Player of the Match, said. “In the break we got, I was thinking on that [finishing games] a bit more. Between overs seven to ten, they bowled really well [DC conceded 30 to leave GT 93 without loss]. The momentum went down a bit.”We wanted to take the game deep, didn’t want to be desperate to take a lot of chances, have a cool enough mindset to take the game deep. And we got two or three big overs that changed the game. In the previous games, I took chances and got out. Here, I was aware enough to take the game deep, and take my chances against the right match-ups.”Asked about the changes in his approach to T20 batting, Sai Sudharsan pointed to growing belief and mental freedom. “I’ve started to believe a bit more,” he said. “From my mindset point of view, the belief I have has gotten better to take the game deeper and win games. I have expanded my batting, explored my batting; mentally I’m a bit more free and expressive.”1:21

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Sai Sudharsan also praised his captain when asked about their partnership and understanding. “When I got after the bowlers, he complements me; we rotate strike and run really well,” he said. “In the middle overs, running is a vital thing for us. When I do some mistakes, he makes me aware, and similarly from my side as well.”Meanwhile, GT batting coach Parthiv Patel credited the pair’s chemistry and risk-free aggression for their continued success.”You talk of high-risk, high reward. These two play low-risk cricket and still have the ability to hit down the ground and get boundaries and sixes,” Parthiv said. “The fours they hit in the powerplay… I feel they know their game, on top of everything. People don’t see how much hard work they put in, creating those basics stronger, that’s why they are scoring runs. They communicate really well.”Last year also, they batted brilliantly. When the season started, everyone thought [Jos] Buttler would be opening. These two knew what they are doing. The opening pair is about chemistry and knowing each other’s game really well, and these two know their games really well.”

Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, has resigned two years into his four-year contract. Walter was initially due to take South Africa to the 2027 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.CSA cited personal reasons for Walter’s stepping down while ESPNcricinfo understands that the pressure Walter faced over his bilateral record, as well as the continuous travel from New Zealand, where Walter lives, were starting to take a toll.”Coaching the Proteas has been an incredible honour, and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together,” Walter said in a release. “The players, support staff, and the South African cricketing community have been fantastic throughout this journey. While it’s time for me to step away, I have no doubt that the team will continue to grow and reach even greater heights.”Under Walter, South Africa qualified for their first men’s World Cup final, at the T20 World Cup in 2024, and the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup and last month’s Champions Trophy. But bilaterally, his record has been poor. In his tenure, South Africa played seven bilateral ODI series and lost three, including their first whitewash to Pakistan. They also played eight T20I series and won just one.Walter always offered the caveat that he very rarely had full-strength sides available to him in bilateral cricket as players were rested, given permission to play in franchise leagues or prioritised for other formats but the context was often lost against the backdrop of bad results.South Africa made it to the semi-finals of each of the last three ICC events.•DP World

Walter also faced criticism over his transformation record, in particular the selection of a squad with one black African player, Kagiso Rabada, at the T20 World Cup. Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe backed Walter’s selection (South Africa do not have a selection panel and leave those decisions to the coach) and also commended the work Walter did in awarding new caps. Across two years, Walter awarded 14 new ODI caps including Gerald Coetzee, Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton, and 13 T20I caps of which Kwena Maphaka was one, and has helped identify a talent pool for South Africa to work with.”It is also important to recognise Rob’s commitment to expanding the talent pool across both formats. While in charge, he ensured that emerging players had the opportunity to develop and make their mark at the highest level, which will be critical for the future of the Proteas,” Nkwe said, and confirmed Walter’s successor will take South Africa to the 2027 tournament. “We have a busy period of white-ball cricket over the next two years as we build towards the Cricket World Cup on home soil. His successor will continue to work towards that 50-over World Cup campaign, along with next year’s T20 World Cup.”There are no clear contenders for the job but the conversation could include former South Africa spin bowler Robin Peterson, who successfully led MI Cape Town to the SA20 title earlier this year and coaches the Warriors franchise (though they were recently docked points for failing to meet transformation targets). Nkwe has previously coached South Africa and could reintroduce himself in some capacity or ask red-ball coach Shukri Conrad to step in, as he did in January 2023, when South Africa hosted England.Conrad has taken the team to the World Test Championship final, which is South Africa’s next assignment in June, and if the team opts for a consolidated role, he may also be given responsibility of the white-ball teams. The ODI and T20I sides will play against Zimbabwe in July before tours to Australia and England and five home T20Is against West Indies ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup.

Quite often, it is impossible to read too much into pre-season but, if Everton manager David Moyes has learnt one thing, it is that he requires more attacking difference makers.

Across seven pre-season friendlies, the Toffees won only once, beating EFL League One outfit Port Vale, scoring just six goals across these fixtures, most notably defeated 1-0 by Roma on Saturday, which somewhat damped the grand-opener of Hill Dickinson Stadium.

So, ahead of their Premier League opener, taking on newly-promoted Leeds United at Elland Road on Monday night, Moyes has already brought in some attacking reinforcements, but now has his sights set on even more.

Everton's need for goals and creativity

So far this summer, Everton have added striker Thierno Barry, arriving from Villarreal for a reported fee of £27m, and attacking midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who has joined from Chelsea for £25m, the pair having scored 11 and five goals for their former clubs respectively last season.

The signing all Evertonians are excited the most about, though, is the arrival of Jack Grealish, who has moved to Merseyside on a season-long loan from Manchester City, while there is an option to make the deal permanent for £50m.

Should that clause be activated, he would break Everton’s transfer record, currently held by Gylfi Sigurðsson.

So, given the huge sums of money involved, with Grealish currently earning £300k-per-week in wages too, albeit Man City will surely be subsidising a huge proportion of that, could the acquisition of a young talent prove to be the better signing?

Well, as reported by TEAMtalk, Everton are interested in signing Tyrique George from Chelsea, with alternatives to Southampton’s Tyler Dibling being considered on the right flank, having seen multiple bids rejected for the £50m teenager.

As for George, the report adds that RB Leipzig are also ‘keen’, while Chelsea are open to a sale at ‘the right price’, with the Blues’ teenager’s estimated transfer market value around £15m, as per Football Transfers.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

So, could he soon swap Stamford Bridge for Bramley-Moore Dock?

What Evertonians could expect from Tyrique George

George has been on Chelsea’s books since the age of eight, making his senior debut for the Blues a year ago against Servette in the Conference League play-off round, racking up 26 senior appearances across all competitions throughout the campaign.

He scored his first goal for the club against Legia Warszawa in April, opening his Premier League account at Craven Cottage against West London rivals Fulham a few days later, before also netting against Espérance Sportive de Tunis during Chelsea’s victorious Club World Cup campaign throughout the summer.

These performances saw him named Chelsea’s Academy Player of the Season for 2025, a prestigious accolade previously awarded to Dominic Solanke, Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount, Reece James, Conor Gallagher, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Hall and other high-profile stars since its inception a decade ago.

Ben Mattinson was certainly impressed, labelling him a “monster”, believing there is “not enough hype” about how good he is, while then-teammate Noni Madueke asserted that George’s “talent is through the roof”, adding that he is “quick and skilful” and possesses “everything to be a fantastic winger”.

So, let’s analyse his statistics in last season’s Conference League, the competition in which the vast majority of his minutes came.

Minutes

765

5th

Goals

1

12th

Assists

2

5th

Expected assists

2.9

2nd

Shots

22

2nd

Key passes

14

2nd

Shot-creating actions

30

2nd

Big chances created

4

2nd

Attempted take-ons

25

2nd

Successful take-ons

14

2nd

Progressive carries

38

1st

Carries into the box

27

1st

Average SofaScore ranking

7.08

9th

As the table outlines, George was a key attacking contributor for Chelsea in the Conference League last season, ranking especially highly when it came to dribbling metrics, namely progressive carries, carries into the opposition’s penalty area and take-ons.

Thus, it is clear that George is an immensely talented teenager, one that could be available for a bargain price, given Chelsea’s constant desire to buy more and more attackers, currently chasing Alejandro Garnacho and Xavi Simons.

Everton could therefore be the team who benefit, potentially signing George at a bargain price, one that’ll prove to be their best signing of the summer in the medium to long term, even better than the arrival of Grealish.

The teenager is a player on the up and, in the right environment, could thrive, so is exactly the profile of player the Toffees need to be targeting, low cost and opportunistic, if they’re going to get back to challenging for major honours and European qualification.

Grealish, on the other hand, is a major risk, having contributed very little at Manchester City across the last two seasons, seeing a miserly 715 minutes of action in the Premier League last season, starting just seven times, scoring a solitary league goal.

Thus, while 29-year-old Grealish could have an impact in the immediate future, Everton are aiming to compete in the long-term under new owners, the Friedkins, and George, a decade his junior, could star at Bramley-Moore Dock for many seasons to come.

Better move than Grealish: Everton looking to sign "unstoppable" £17m CF

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Aug 11, 2025

Former Australia Test cricketer Stuart MacGill knew he was taking part in a cocaine deal but was oblivious about the scale of the exchange that began under his restaurant.That is the verdict of a Sydney District Court jury that acquitted the former legspinner on Thursday of taking part in a large commercial drug supply in April 2021.The jury heard that the illicit exchange of Aus$330,000 for a kilogram of cocaine was struck between MacGill’s regular drug dealer and the former cricketer’s brother-in-law Marino Sotiropoulos.Related

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The cricketer teed up a meeting under his restaurant on Sydney’s north shore but denied knowing the deal was to take place.Prosecutors argued the deal could not have occurred without MacGill’s prior involvement.While the jury dismissed the Crown’s claims about MacGill’s knowledge of a one-kilogram deal, it found him guilty of the lesser charge of taking part in drug supply.MacGill, whose 44-Test career came in the shadow of Shane Warne, showed little emotion as the verdicts were read.His sentencing hearing was adjourned for eight weeks.

The four-team tournament comes after last year’s initial red-ball edition with two-day games

Mohammad Isam14-Dec-2024

The Women’s Bangladesh Cricket League (WBCL), the country’s first three-day competition for women, will begin at two venues in Rajshahi on December 21. The BCB has organised the tournament to set in motion the process to build its first Test side, although the board is yet to put a timeline in place.”We have to be ready in red-ball cricket,” head of women’s cricket at BCB, Habibul Bashar, said. “Most of our female cricketers haven’t seen the red ball at all. It is all about white-ball cricket for them, as all our domestic cricket is with the white ball. They have only played two red-ball games, maybe. We will apply for first-class status as we have all that’s needed for this type of cricket.”The tournament is going to be played between four teams, grouped by the regions – North, South, East and West. Nigar Sultana, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan and Sobhana Mostary have been named captains of the four sides.”It is a very good initiative from the BCB,” Bashar said. “The challenge was to start it, so we got a bit of time this month. We have the West Indies tour coming up. We needed to start the tournament. We won’t have time until June next year.”Bashar said that the plan was to give the Bangladesh players bound for the West Indies next month enough time, so four matches will be held in December. The rest of the tournament will be played in January.Bangladesh received the Full Member status in women’s cricket in 2021 alongside Afghanistan (which doesn’t have a women’s national team) and Zimbabwe, and this is the second edition of the WBCL, which was played in a two-day format in 2023. Of the countries that have women’s multi-day cricket, there’s the Senior Women’s Inter Zonal Multi-Day Trophy in India, while Australia have recently begun three-day trial games for their red-ball team.

Hosts cruise in chase after England had scrapped a score from the depths of 24 for 4

Alan Gardner06-Nov-2024West Indies made light work of their run chase under the Kensington Oval floodlights, centuries from Keacy Carty and Brandon King setting up a dominant eight-wicket win that sealed a 2-1 series victory over England.Carty’s maiden hundred, from 97 balls, made him the first cricketer from St Maarten to reach the landmark for West Indies. He was followed to three figures by King, who made the most of being dropped twice with a timely knock, his first 50-plus score in ODIs since the World Cup Qualifier in July 2023. Their double-century stand, eventually worth 209, was the highest for West Indies against England in the format.England had scrapped their way up to what might have been a competitive total after a nightmare start saw them 24 for 4 at the end of the first powerplay. Phil Salt knuckled down to play his longest international innings, in terms of balls face, while Dan Mousley was inventive on the way to a maiden ODI fifty. With an injury to Romario Shepherd forcing Shai Hope to turn to Sherfane Rutherford – whose 3.5 overs at the death disappeared for 57 – England had at least given themselves a glimmer.It took one ball of the reply to suggest that conditions for batting had eased, as King spanked Jofra Archer’s opening gambit through the covers. He did the same to the second delivery, with Archer’s first three overs eventually costing 24 – and although Jamie Overton claimed a first ODI wicket with his third legitimate ball, Evin Lewis bounced out for 19, West Indies were already up and running.King finished the powerplay by bashing Reece Topley for two fours in three balls, putting West Indies ahead of the asking rate at 65 for 1 after ten. And while Carty, who picked up his first four by gliding Topley behind square in the same over, had some uncertain moments against the legspin of Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone early on, the second-wicket pair were soon motoring towards the target.Rashid’s first three overs had gone for just seven, but King pumped him down the ground for six to mark a shift in the mood. An edge off Livingstone evaded Salt’s gloves when King was on 44, and the West Indies opener went to a 60-ball fifty in the next over, clubbing Rashid emphatically through midwicket.Carty had been given out lbw to Livingstone’s first ball, but reviewed in the knowledge that there was bat involved. He cut and swept consecutive boundaries in the same over, and later launched Rashid over the deep midwicket boundary as West Indies steadily brought the required rate down while negotiating England’s seven bowling options. After bringing up a 61-ball fifty, Carty again took back-to-back fours off Livingstone, before doing the same to Sam Curran.A muscular pull for six off Topley ended up in the crowd at deep midwicket, as Carty overtook his partner, followed up by a flat-batted four down the ground. Having surpassed his previous ODI best of 88, he reached his hundred with a glide for four off Jacob Bethell’s left-arm spin – removing his helmet and raising his arms aloft as applause rolled around the ground.The moment was repeated at the start of the following over as King, who also saw a cut off Archer burst through the hands of Jordan Cox in the covers on 86, swatted the same bowler through fine leg to raise his third century in the format. King was bowled by Topley with 13 required but the result was beyond doubt.The alacrity with which West Indies hunted down their requirement amply demonstrated why both captains had wanted to bowl first at the toss. Shai Hope, who grew up at Kensington Oval, said he was “not sure what we’re going to get” from the surface – but his seamers certainly knew how to exploit the conditions, leaving England four down and tottering inside the first powerplay.The main source of discomfort for West Indies early on came via an extraordinary on-field contretemps between Alzarri Joseph and Hope, the fast bowler seemingly unhappy with the field set for England’s No. 3, Cox. Joseph could be seen repeatedly remonstrating with his captain from the top of his run-up, and he took his frustration out on the batter, Cox barely seeing a 148kph/92mph lifter that flicked the glove on its way through. Joseph didn’t celebrate and walked off at the end of the over, briefly leaving West Indies with 10 men on the field.Matthew Forde had already struck in his second over, responding to being driven for four by Will Jacks with a similar delivery that went away just enough to take the outside edge. Shepherd then enjoyed immediate success when replacing Joseph, as Bethell slashed at a wide delivery only to be spectacularly held by the leaping Roston Chase at point. When Livingstone fell to another catch at the wicket trying to force a drive off Shepherd, England were flatlining at 24 for 4 with one ball left in the powerplay.One of the England batters still standing was Salt. His half-century in the second ODI was the first time he had batted through the powerplay since June 2022, but he backed up that effort in Barbados – albeit 11 not out off 26 balls told of England’s struggle.He found useful allies in Curran and Mousley, adding consecutive stands of 70 for the fifth and sixth wickets. Curran, again up the order at No. 6, was proactive from the outset but fell looking to take on Chase’s offspin. Mousley then continued the rebuilding effort, with Salt grinding away to a 79-ball fifty – by far the slowest of his five in ODIs.England were 163 for 5 at the end of the 40th but lost Salt in the following over, King’s athleticism at deep midwicket resulting in a comfortable relay catch for Joseph. Shepherd then collapsed after catching his studs in the turf and had to be helped from the field, as the momentum shifted again. Mousley fell shortly after reaching fifty but lower-order cameos from Overton (32 off 21) and Archer (38 not out off 17) saw Rutherford’s medium-pace take a battering and 100 runs bleed from the last ten overs. That ended up as a footnote after King and Carty took charge.

Dwarshuis injured on debut but Labuschagne leads fightback with ball then bat

Andrew Miller19-Sep-2024Australia 317 for 3 (Head 154*, Labuschagne 77*) beat England 315 (Duckett 95, Labuschagne 3-39, Zampa 3-49) by seven wickets It was a tale of two unconventional opening batters at Trent Bridge, both aggressive left-handers, both with a love of placing bat on ball, especially through anything remotely off-line or length. But where Ben Duckett’s innings ended tamely, on 95 from 91 balls, to open the door for a spirited Australia fightback, Travis Head’s powered onwards and upwards, to 154 not out from 129, and ultimately to a seven-wicket victory in the first ODI.That converted century, Head’s sixth in 66 ODIs and his second against England, was the fundamental reason why Australia overcame the odds, including a sickness bug that robbed them of a swathe of key names, not least Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc – two of the “big three” (alongside the absent Pat Cummins) without any of whose presence Australia had lost each of their last eight completed ODIs against England.The other reason was the resilience of their makeshift attack, stretched to eight personnel including four spinners once Ben Dwarshuis – fresh from bowling Phil Salt on his international debut – had been forced to leave the field after just four overs with a strained pectoral muscle.At the scene of their then-record pummelling in 2018, and with Duckett and Will Jacks proving once again what an invitingly flat pitch Trent Bridge can be, Australia had been bracing themselves for another huge chase at 213 for 2 in the 33rd over.But then, up popped the lesser-spotted legbreaks of Marnus Labuschagne, whose haul of 3 for 39 in six overs not only included the key scalps of Duckett and Harry Brook, both to looping return catches, but also lit a fire under Australia’s premier leggie Adam Zampa, who responded to a leaky first three overs with final figures of 3 for 49.Marnus Labuschagne struck in each of his first two overs•Getty ImagesMatthew Short’s offspin also returned a maiden ODI wicket, and when Head served notice that this contest now belonged to him, by picking up Jacob Bethell and Adil Rashid with consecutive deliveries, England had been bowled out for 315 in a dramatic collapse of 8 for 102 in 17.1 overs. In total, Australia’s spinners claimed 9 for 190 in 30.4: it was a combined impact that England’s own spin cohort, led by Adil Rashid – who remains one wicket shy of 200 in ODIs – couldn’t come close to matching.Labuschagne, like Head, was only just warming up in that phase of the game. After arriving almost slap-bang in the middle of Australia’s chase, at 169 for 3 in the 27th over after Cameron Green had become Bethell’s maiden ODI wicket, there was almost no one better equipped to act as a foil to the now free-flowing Head. His pitch-perfect innings of 77 not out from 61 balls included the winning boundary off Jacks with a full six overs left unused, to cap an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 148 from 107 balls.This was the de facto reboot of England’s ODI fortunes, after their destruction at the 2023 World Cup and leaving aside a barely remembered campaign in the Caribbean in December. A new-look team, led for the first time by Brook, showed promise in patches, not least during Duckett and Jack’s 120-run stand for the second wicket from exactly 100 balls. But even while the going was good in the first half of their innings, Eoin Morgan in the Sky commentary box considered their approach to be no better than “measured”, the sort of damningly faint praise that suggested they ran the risk of being mown down by a more emphatic performance.So it proved, with Australia outgunning England by 10 sixes to eight, five from Head, and three from Steve Smith in a notably aggressive cameo at the top of the order. After the early loss of Mitchell Marsh, Smith’s commitment to attack pushed his team ahead of the rate at 69 for 1 after the powerplay, and allowed Head, with a run-a-ball fifty, to settle in for the longer haul.Head had a moment of fortune on 6, when Brydon Carse – in from the boundary at deep point – all but clawed down a replica of Ben Stokes’ “you cannot do that” epic from the 2019 World Cup. But the feature of Head’s early innings was a fascinating duel with Jofra Archer, making his first ODI appearance in 18 months. Armed with the new ball, Archer bowled a handful of unplayable deliveries, including a cutter that left Head wide-eyed with wonder, but he was also picked off for 53 runs in six overs, including a fabulous flick for six off the toes that obliged him to return the look of incredulity.Ben Duckett can’t believe what he’s done after falling for 95•Getty ImagesFor England, it was a case of what-might-have-been, not least for Duckett, whose self-admonishment was plain as day after he gave away an international century for the second time this month, after his 86 in the Oval Test against Sri Lanka.In his first opportunity to reprise that now-familiar opener’s role in ODIs, Duckett took particular toll of a nervy Sean Abbott, clubbing four fours in an over en route to a 49-ball fifty, meaning that Marsh was already searching for alternate bowlers, even before it had been confirmed that Dwarshuis had strained a pectoral muscle with an off-balance shy from the outfield.Zampa had been the scourge of England’s batting in their most recent ODI encounter, claiming 3 for 21 at Ahmedabad in the 2023 World Cup. However, Jacks thumped his second ball back over his head for six, and as the hundred stand came up in 86 balls, he’d leaked 27 runs in his first three-over foray by the end of the 19th.In his 100th ODI, however, Zampa couldn’t be kept out of the action for long, as Jacks drove on the up to cover, but by the time Brook had stepped into two superbly poised drives over cover for six off Short’s part-timers, England were ominously placed on 201 for 2 after 30 overs.Enter Labuschagne, for what seemed to be a speculative spell of legbreaks. However, his impact was that of a perfectly deployed secret weapon. With the fourth ball of his spell, he landed a googly that stuck just enough in the pitch to confound Duckett’s back-foot push, and he reached to his left to pluck the simplest of caught-and-bowleds. One over later, out came that googly again, and Brook this popped another mistimed push straight back to the bowler.Jamie Smith came and went for 23, caught in the deep two balls after Aaron Hardie at deep midwicket had been forced to sacrifice a chance in order to save the boundary, and at 256 for 5, England’s hopes of a 350-plus innings were back in the hands of their main men from the T20I series, Liam Livingstone and Bethell, who was making his second format debut of the week.Zampa, however, still had three overs up his sleeve, and no sooner had he returned to the attack, Livingstone chose to take him down. It was a suboptimal option. A huge thrash through the line skewed to Green at long-on, and the rest came meekly. Far too meekly, as it turned out.