Category: 6. Sports

The County Championship clash between Division One strugglers Yorkshire and Essex is nicely poised at its midway point after an engaging day two at York.

Essex closed on 248-3 on the opening day, but things were different upon the resumption this morning, with Yorkshire claiming the last seven Essex wickets for 95 on a placid Clifton Park pitch, bowling the visitors out for 368 during the early stages of the afternoon.

Yorkshire trailed by 225 runs after they closed on 143-3 from 54 overs, including opener Adam Lyth’s 65 not out off 172 balls.

This was a tireless display from a Yorkshire bowling unit who gained little reward on day one, with new-ball seamer Jack White returning 3-68 from 27 overs.

He, alongside George Hill and Dom Bess, struck twice during the first half of day two, while Noah Thain compiled an unbeaten 50 not out off 81 balls.

Thain was then one of Essex’s three wicket-takers before close via his seamers, alongside Shane Snater and Simon Harmer. Like Yorkshire’s bowlers had done, Essex’s bowlers also stuck to their task well in difficult conditions.

Essex’s innings was a curious affair, highlighted by the fact they batted through 110 overs on a pitch lacking pace for 278-6 and only one batting bonus point. They really did seem to get stuck between a rock and hard place on day two. Unable to attack whilst being unable to survive.

While Yorkshire did not race away in their reply, they started more positively than Essex had batted. Lyth drove particularly well.

The White Rose county struck three times in five overs for the addition of only three runs just before midday, as Essex slipped from 273-3 in the 104th over to 276-6 in the 109th. With it, Yorkshire secured a second bowling point.

Hill claimed two of those wickets, with England fringe batter Jordan Cox caught behind for 33 playing off the back foot, and Charlie Allison caught slicing to point.

Thain shared a seventh-wicket 56 with Michael Pepper through until early afternoon and reached his fifty off the last ball that he faced, with the last four wickets falling for 36.

Off-spinner Bess picked up two of those. He had Harmer caught at slip and Snater caught at long-on.

Yorkshire openers Fin Bean and Lyth then started their reply confidently either side of the tea break, sharing 81 on a pitch lacking pace.

Both men pulled confidently, with Bean looking a completely different player to the one who had posted a top score of only 31 in the first seven games.

An impressive 224 on a similarly slow pitch against leaders Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge has done wonders for his confidence.

It will, therefore, have been a major frustration to him that he could not go on beyond 31 as, after tea, he was caught behind down leg off Snater’s seam in the 27th over.

James Wharton then drilled Harmer’s off-spin to mid-on having advanced down the pitch looking to hit over the top – 110 for two in the 34th over.

One man who did go on was Lyth. Sandwiched in between the two wickets, he reached 50 for the seventh time this season, this one off 110 balls.

But the fixture’s fourth leg-side strangle did for Pakistan international Abdullah Shafique for four as Thain left Yorkshire at 125-3 in the 41st over. Pepper took a brilliant one-handed catch going to his left.

Survival was the main aim for Lyth and Jonny Bairstow late on. The former was stuck on 63 from the 39th over until the day’s last. He navigated the threat of Harmer, who was excellent for 1-18 from 15 overs.

Early morning wickets on day three will put eighth-placed Essex in a strong position, whereas second-bottom Yorkshire will know batting big is imperative for their own victory hopes.

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Somerset 17-year-old Thomas Rew hit the fastest one-day century for England Under-19s as they levelled their 50-over series against India with a tense one-wicket win in Northampton.

England captain Rew made a sublime 131 from 89 balls, an innings packed full of effortless strokeplay, to break the back of a chase of 291 with England winning with three balls to spare.

Rew’s dismissal in the 40th over was the first of five lost for 49, leaving final pair Seb Morgan and Alex French to get 12 from 11 balls.

But while Morgan showed superb nerve to end 20 not out – he hit a four to seal the win halfway through the final over – the match will be best remembered for the innings of diminutive right-hander Rew, the younger brother of recent England call-up James.

Having come in at 47-3, Rew reached three figures in 73 balls – six deliveries quicker than Ben Foakes, who held the record after his century against New Zealand in 2012.

He put on 123 in 128 balls with Rocky Flintoff, the son of England legend Andrew, who was England’s next highest scorer with 39 off 68.

Rew targeted the leg side against India’s spinners with powerful pulls and slog sweeps while also playing an inventive reverse sweep for four, a glorious drive high over long-on off leg-spinner Mohammed Enaan for six and taking seamer RS Ambrish for 19 runs in one over with off-side drives.

And while his highly-rated brother has scored 10 first-class centuries by the age of 21, he did not score a century at Under-19 level, meaning the younger sibling has pipped him to that mark.

“There is a lot of competition in our family,” Rew said. “He messaged me just now saying ‘well done’ which is nice of him.

“It is up there [with the best innings he has played]. Once I got going I targeted the short boundary and tried to put the pressure back on the bowlers.

“The way Rocky spoke to me and we batted together, really helped us get on the front foot.”

Rew joined Somerset’s academy in 2023, a year after his brother, now 21, made his first-class debut.

James, who has said Thomas is “further ahead” than him at the same age, was named the Professional Cricket Association’s men’s young player of the year in 2023, having become Somerset’s youngest double centurion earlier that year.

He was called into England’s squad for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe earlier this year but did not play.

The five-match series continues at Northampton on Wednesday.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the 14-year-old who hit a century in the Indian Premier League earlier this year, also made 45 in India’s 290 all out. Surrey seamer French took 4-71 for England.

Ben Geddes scored his first century for Middlesex and Naavya Sharma took four wickets to put Division Two leaders Leicestershire under pressure on day two of their County Championship match at the Uptonsteel County Ground.

Badly dropped on 11 on the first evening, Geddes, 23, was eventually out for a career-best 137 as the visitors amassed a challenging total of 534 after being asked to bat first.

Then England Under-19 right-arm quick Sharma – playing in only his third first-class match at 19-years-old – plunged them into disarray with four wickets in 11 balls as the promotion favourites found themselves in unfamiliar territory, despite a half-century from opener Rishi Patel.

Ben Green, the on-loan Somerset all-rounder who had been guilty of the error from which Geddes profited so handsomely, had been the best of a depleted home attack with 3-54 from 28 overs, seamer Roman Walker finishing with a career-best 3-78.

Geddes, who moved to Middlesex from Surrey over the winter, supplemented Sam Robson’s 133 on day one as next-to-bottom Middlesex posted their biggest total of the summer before Sharma (4-24) showed the way to bowl with the much-criticised Kookaburra ball, finding movement that had eluded others.

Tom Helm chipped in with two of his own as Leicestershire plunged from 39-1 to 99-8, as the hosts finished the day on 103-8.

Earlier, Middlesex added a further 102 before lunch to their 336-five overnight for the loss only of nightwatchman Sharma.

Leicestershire could not make more inroads until the eighth over after lunch when Cracknell (38) nicked Green to first slip, the pair having added 92 for the seventh wicket.

Moments earlier, Geddes had pulled Sam Wood for his ninth four to complete his hundred from 167 balls.

Zafar Gohar was caught off bat and pad, before Geddes, having overtaken his previous best (124 for Surrey v Kent in 2022), was bowled by Patel, whose off-spin had not been seen in competitive professional cricket before last week, but now has two wickets to his name.

Noah Cornwell, the 20-year-old left-arm seamer, was leg before without scoring but Middlesex would have been delighted with their work, even though it was worth only three bonus points.

They were happier still to have Leicestershire 39-2 inside nine overs in reply.

Sol Budinger perished for 10 from eight balls, leg before to Cornwell. Trevaskis, promoted to number three in the absence of the injured Rehan Ahmed, fell for three, edging Ryan Higgins to first slip.

Patel and Lewis Hill battled to rebuild, but after the third-wicket pair had added a painstaking 43 in 16 overs, the Middlesex tactic of bowling short to Hill paid off as the former Leicestershire captain was caught behind off the glove, pulling.

What looked initially like a well-worked breakthrough on a pitch that had hardly been helpful until then turned out to be the start of a devastating spell by Sharma that yielded four wickets in 11 balls without a run conceded.

The right-arm quick followed the dismissal of Hill by nipping one away to have Australian Test batter Peter Handscomb nicking behind, before taking two in three balls as Green fended to short leg and Ben Cox was beaten past the inside edge to be leg before, leaving Leicestershire in deep trouble at 88-6.

That became 99-8 as Helm bowled Patel and had Logan van Beek caught behind from consecutive deliveries before Chris Wright survived the hat-trick ball.

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Jake Libby achieved a career-best unbeaten 228 as Worcestershire compiled the third-highest first-class score in their history.

Stand-in captain Libby batted throughout a 10-hour vigil to secure a second Championship double hundred, while underpinning his side’s vast 679-7 declared – the third biggest total in Worcestershire’s history.

His double century was paired with Adam Hose’s on day one – making it the first time two Worcestershire batters had passed 200 in an innings, while Gareth Roderick’s 80 kept Libby company for much of day two.

The declaration at tea left Hampshire 32 overs until close, and during the evening the hosts managed to lose their top three on a lifeless pitch to end the day on 68-3 – an ominous 611 in arrears.

Aged 21, Libby scored a double ton in Nottinghamshire’s Second XI. On Championship debut, Libby scored a 247-ball century. In 2021, he batted for 681 minutes – two minutes shy of the longest Championship innings – to save a match against Essex.

This innings shouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone, especially when it became clear before lunch on day one that the Hampshire bowlers were in for a torturous time with the pitch and Kookaburra ball.

While Hose scored with abandon, Libby frustrated and accumulated. The pair put on 395 with their contrasting style until Hose’s departure late on the opening day.

Nightwatcher Adam Finch and Ethan Brookes fell in the morning session but Hampshire only managed to pick up one bowling point, with Worcestershire counting the maximum five batting points to reverse their batting woes this season.

Finch edged the three-wicket James Fuller behind, while Brookes left a straight one from Kyle Abbott.

But Libby persisted, passing 150 with his sole six – towering Liam Dawson straight down the ground – and found Roderick a similarly stubborn partner.

Roderick had barely scraped 250 runs together in 16 previous innings this season, but given the perfect batting conditions, upped the price on his wicket.

It wasn’t pretty viewing in the roasting south coast sun, but it kept the scoreboard slowly ticking and the Hampshire bowlers, eight of whom were used in total, toiling.

Roderick’s second fifty of the season came in 114 balls, but it was overshadowed by Libby raising his bat on 200 after 399 deliveries.

Roderick top-edged a sweep to fall for 80 and Matthew Waite was carelessly run out before Tom Taylor added 51 with Libby.

With a new ball ready after tea, Libby decided to put Hampshire’s bowlers out of their misery by concluding his and Worcestershire’s innings, having cleared his previous high of 215.

The 679 was the highest Worcestershire score away from New Road and the highest total by a visiting team to Utilita Bowl – second only to the 714 Hampshire posted against Notts in 2005 overall.

Hampshire’s response was not wholly unsurprising after 160 overs of draining fielding in mercury rising temperatures.

Fletcha Middleton and Ali Orr had already been given lives when chances were shelled in the slips, but didn’t cash in.

Middleton never looked comfortable before a hooping in-swinging from Taylor hit his pads in front, while Orr seemed to find rhythm until shabbily turning Finch to leg slip.

Nick Gubbins followed to give Taylor a second leg-before wicket but Tilak Varma and Ben Brown remained for the last 40 balls of the day.

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ST. PETERSBURG — Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, a five-time WTA singles champion and former World No.12, played the last singles match of her professional tennis career Monday at Wimbledon. After announcing in May that The Championships would be her final tournament, the 35-year-old bowed out in the first round against Renata Zarazua of Mexico. She remains in doubles contention, alongside Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.

Wickmayer made her WTA qualifying debut on home soil at Hasselt in 2004. She rose to prominence in 2009, the year she captured her first two singles titles (Estoril, Linz) and advanced to the semifinals of the US Open, where Caroline Wozniacki ended her run. She was the recipient of that season’s WTA Most Improved Player award and went on to attain her career-high ranking on April 19, 2010.

Contesting 11 Tour-level singles finals overall — across all surfaces — Wickmayer’s subsequent titles came at Auckland in 2010, Tokyo [Japan Open] in 2015 and Washington, DC in 2016. She also won three doubles titles, most recently at Warsaw in 2023, partnering Heather Watson — and as the mother of a daughter, Luana, who was born in April, 2021.

Among other highlights, Wickmayer posted nine successive Top 100 seasons (2008-16), registered five wins over Top 10 opponents (including Grand Slam winners Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Marion Bartoli) and holds the Belgian record (jointly with Sabine Appelmans) for most singles wins in Billie Jean King Cup play (25-10).

She leaves the game with a singles win-loss record of 535-373 (all levels) and career prize of more than $6 million. 

Click here for more on Wickmayer’s distinguished career. 

 

Gloucestershire resumed on 279-7 but quickly lost Todd Murphy without scoring and Ajeet Singh Dale for two, as Van der Gugten twice found the edge.

Bracey farmed the strike effectively and punished the odd bad ball with the second batting point coming up in the 104th over, while Archie Bailey finally got his first Championship runs in his fifth match and third innings to earn a few cheers.

Bracey was dropped at deep mid-wicket on 87 off Van der Gugten, and that proved costly as he moved to a third century of the season.

Glamorgan’s frustration grew as fielders moved in and out, Bailey (19 not out) increased in confidence, and Bracey laid about him hitting 13 fours and four sixes, before lofting Crane to long-off.

The economical Ajeet Singh Dale made the first visitors’ breakthrough in scorching afternoon heat as Zain Ul Hassan hooked to fine leg on nine, while Asa Tribe looked in good shape for 35 before edging Bailey to Bracey.

Bailey then induced Kiran Carlson (14) to flick to fine leg, while Sam Northeast (48) seemed on the way to a big score before left-arm spinner Graeme van Buuren got one through his defences to nudge one bail off to the batter’s bewilderment.

At 121-4, Glamorgan had work to do as the ball went soft, after some self-inflicted damage.

Ingram and Kellaway applied themselves studiously in the evening session, despite the dual distractions of hundreds of swooping gulls, and the distant strains of Oasis sound-checking at the nearby Principality Stadium.

Kellaway reached his half-century off 83 balls with seven fours, while Ingram passed the landmark off 103 balls in the final over, but Glamorgan were content to see out the day without too much aggression against some tidy bowling.

Gloucestershire’s James Bracey told BBC Bristol Sport:

“I’ve just got to stay in rhythm and keep contributing with the bat, making the most of favourable conditions this morning, and it’s good to be in a vein of form still.

“It was a really crucial partnership to get us up to 380, we needed that or a few more, and it was good fun batting with Archie.

“I was guiding him through it and he seemed to enjoy it, his batting’s come on so much and the extra 90 runs or whatever come in really handy.

“When the ball goes soft, (the game) becomes a bit slow but that’s where you’ve got to be creative and use your spinners to full effect. Both teams have bowled well so far, hence the slower pace.”

Glamorgan’s Timm van der Gugten told BBC Sport Wales:

“We’re pretty happy with how the day ended though they got a few too many when they batted, we probably dropped a few chances and let a few run-outs go.

“The way Kellers and Colin batted at the end swung it back into a good day at the end.

“I’m not a massive fan of the Kookaburra ball though I get where they’re coming from in introducing them. They play very differently here than they do in Australia though I guess it creates opportunities for different types of bowling.

“Everyone’s in the mix (for promotion), but we’re pretty happy with how we’ve been playing after the first three games. We weren’t at our best at times at Leicester but it feels like we’ve clicked back into it again this week.”

Emma Raducanu’s latest Wimbledon campaign started off without a hitch, as the Grand Slam champion eased past one of her rising compatriots who hopes to follow in her footsteps.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

In an opening-day clash on Court No. 1, former Top 10 player Raducanu moved past 17-year-old wild card Mingge (Mimi) Xu 6-3, 6-3, booking a spot in the second round of her home Grand Slam for the fourth time in her four main-draw appearances.

Raducanu needed 1 hour and 25 minutes to prevail in Monday’s battle of the Britons. It was the first time two British women faced off in the first round of Wimbledon since Anne Keothavong (now the current Billie Jean King Cup captain for Great Britain) defeated Naomi Broady in 2011.

Grand Slam experience pays off: Raducanu knows what it’s like to have career breakthroughs as a teenager. At age 18, she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut here on home soil at 2021 Wimbledon, and raced to the Round of 16.

Her teenage dream reached a fever pitch in her second Grand Slam main draw at the 2021 US Open. There, still only 18 years old, she won 10 straight matches to become the first qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title.

World No. 40 Raducanu continues to excel when kicking off majors. She is now 11-2 in Grand Slam first-round matches throughout her young career.

Tale of the match: Raducanu was in charge from the jump on Monday, bookending the first set with service breaks in the first and last games. Raducanu never faced a break point and hit only four unforced errors in the opening frame.

World No. 318 Xu, making her Grand Slam main-draw debut, found more winners in the second set (13, compared to her eight in the first set). Xu broke her more experienced countrywoman two times in that set.

However, Raducanu ended a flurry of five straight breaks with a forehand winner down the line to lead 4-2, and she was untroubled on serve after that.

Raducanu slammed an unreturned serve to close out her first match point and return to the second round. All told, she won three-quarters of her first-service points, and she finished the match with 25 winners to 12 unforced errors.

Vondrousova awaits: Raducanu will face a fellow Grand Slam champion in the second round, and a Wimbledon titlist to boot — 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.

In one of the trickiest first-round draws of the event, Vondrousova of the Czech Republic ousted No. 32 seed McCartney Kessler of the United States 6-1, 7-6(3) in 1 hour and 25 minutes — the same length as Raducanu’s win.

This was a tough draw because both Vondrousova and Kessler won grass-court titles exactly eight days ago — Vondrousova took the title at WTA 500 Berlin (her first title since 2023 Wimbledon) and Kessler prevailed at WTA 250 Nottingham.

In the clash between grass-court champions, former Top 10 player Vondrousova raced to a 6-1, 5-1 lead before Kessler (seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time) stormed back to force a tiebreak.

Despite her big lead, Vondrousova never had match point until the breaker, but she eventually closed out her first Wimbledon win since she beat Ons Jabeur in the 2023 final.

Rivalry breakdown: Vondrousova leads Raducanu 2-1 in their head-to-head. Interestingly, Raducanu’s win came right here during her breakthrough run at 2021 Wimbledon, when she beat Vondrousova in the second round.

Vondrousova, though, avenged that loss at 2022 Billie Jean King Cup. She then beat Raducanu earlier this year in Abu Dhabi.

More to come…