Fears for pop-up campsites amid 'ridiculous' new rules

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1 hour ago

May 25, 2026

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New rules for pop-up campsites in Wales are dubbed “unworkable” and “damaging”.

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England v New Zealand: third and deciding women’s T20 cricket international – live | Women’s cricket

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25 minutes ago

May 25, 2026

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Key events

Teams:

England: Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Dani Gibson, Amy Jones (wk), Charlie Dean (c), Sophie Ecclestone Izzy Wong, Linsey Smith

New Zealand: Izzy Gaze (wk), Suzie Bates, 3 Melie Kerr (c), Sophie Devine, Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Izzy Sharp, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel, Rosemary Mair, Bree Illing

Lauren Bell put her feet up for England – Sophie Ecclestone comes in.

For New Zealand – Suzie Bates replaced the beleagured Georgia Plimmer who has made two consecutive golden ducks. Rosemary Mair is back in for Leah Tahuhu.

New Zealand win the toss and will bat first

Melie Kerr calls the coin correctly and decides to have first use of a sun baked pitch.

“We’ll try and have a better start than last time,” she says after her side were tottering at 11-4 in the previous match in Canterbury. The still managed to win though, largely thanks to the experienced hands of Sophie Devine who made an assured 87 with support from a half century scoring Maddy Green. An all round bowling effort then restricted England’s chase and saw them fall 14 runs short. Today it is winner takes all.

Preamble

James Wallace

Hello and welcome to the deciding T20 between England and New Zealand from Hove.

It’s crackin t’flags eh?

The sun is beating down on the south coast and the mercury is hovering around 31 degrees for this third and final encounter.

The team captains are out there in the middle and about to toss the coin…

The match begins at 14.30, as ever please do get in touch with your ~~hopes and dreams~~ thoughts and theories at the link on the left hand of this page.

Let’s do this.

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French Open 2026: Swiatek and De Minaur through, Boulter and Jodar in action on day two – live | French Open 2026

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3 hours ago

May 25, 2026

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Key events

Billy Munday is here to steer you through some more Roland Garros coverage.

Swiatek storms to a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Jones

Tough first round match for Jones. Swiatek may have struggled last year on clay but this was just too easy for her. The world No 3 wins it with three breaks to one but Swiatek’s relentless precision closed it out convincingly on Court Philippe-Chatrier in just under one hour.

Iga Swiatek strolls into round two. Photograph: David Winter/Shutterstock

*Jones 1-6, 2-5 Swiatek (* denotes server): Some double faults from Jones; Swiatek digs deep with a backhand return, and Jones’s backhand goes long under pressure. The Pole breaks serve and takes the game.

Another email comes in on Raducanu’s exit yesterday (see 11.16 BST).

Derek Stubbs writes in:

Winning the US Open was the worst thing that could have happened to her. It was obvious at the time that it was a freak result due to the effects of Covid on so many better players. She has spent her life since then trying to live up to a standard which is simply beyond her – hence the injuries, illnesses, and constant change of coaches, to say nothing of the media hype, which has been totally out of proportion to her meagre achievements and talent.

I certainly think media hype and her injuries have not helped and maybe in another era where the women’s game isn’t as strong as it is now, she would be performing better. We’re also seeing more well-rounded players and less surface specialists. Could she have thrived if she homed in on hard court?

Send me an email if you have any thoughts on anything Roland Garros.

Jones 1-6, 2-4 Swiatek* (* denotes server): Swiatek holds to love. She wins it with an ace after zero errors and Jones has no answers.

*Jones 1-6, 2-3 Swiatek (* denotes server): Jones crawls back after two Swiatek unforced errors opened the door and the Australian’s backhand winner sealed the break. She then holds with a crisp serve on game point.

Jasmine Paolini, a finalist here at Roland Garros, gets through her tricky match against Yastremska where after weathering a scrappy first set with five combined breaks, Paolini dominated the second to seal her first-round victory.

Kasatkina also triumphs with a composed 6-4, 6-4 victory over Sonmez. Both sets featured lively break exchanges, but after Sonmez’s early break for 3-1 in the second, Kasatkina fought back brilliantly, three breaks to two, for the win.

Jones 1-6, 0-2 Swiatek* (* denotes server): The world No 3 wins the opening two games of this set. The unforced errors are pilling up for Jones.

Huge upset as the Paris 2024 Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who won on gold on these courts, is out in the first round after losing to the Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska 6-4, 6-0.

We will bring you the quotes from both players when they come.

Some scores from across the grounds:

Paolini 7-5, 5-3 Yastremska
De Minaur 6-4, 6-4, 1-1 Samuel
Kasatkina 6-4, 5-4 Sonmez
Van Assche 6-4, 4-2 Gaubas

Swiatek takes the first set 6-1 against Jones

Swiatek holds to love and takes the set with a clinical finish – three Jones forehand errors and a body-serve ace wrapped it up in four swift points.

The Pole takes the first set by breaking Jones three times. Jones grabbed one break but Swiatek’s groundstrokes dominated throughout.

Iga Swiatek eases to the opening set. Photograph: Mohammed Badra/EPA

*Jones 1-5 Swiatek (* denotes server): Swiatek is making it look so easy now. Jones never found her footing with three unforced errors surrendered a 0-40 deficit and Swiatek converted at the first opportunity.

Jones 1-4 Swiatek* (* denotes server): Quick game as Swiatek’s only mistake is a double fault to make it 30-15. Another forehand winner and she holds.

*Jones 1-3 Swiatek (* denotes server): Jones is trying to vary her shots and she hits a good slice but Swiatek is beating the teenager with two forehand winners for two break points. A rally of 10 shots follows and another Swiatekforehand winner gives her the break.

Jones 1-2 Swiatek* (* denotes server): Better from Jones. Six shots of baseline exchanges, and Jones finishes it off with a forehand winner past Swiatek to make 30-15 in her favour. Swiatek’s backhand then goes long after 11 shots between the pair. However Swiatek crawls back and takes it to deuce. The pair exchange advantages for a while but Jones strikes and gets the break back with a forehand winner.

*Jones 0-2 Swiatek (* denotes server): Swiatek breaks Jones at love. Three break points at 0-40, sealed with a crushing forehand winner.

Emerson Jones in action during her first round match against Iga Swiatek. Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

Jones 0-1 Swiatek* (* denotes server): Swiatek takes the first game with relative ease, a dominant hold to love. Jones hit three unforced errors as Swiatek’s groundstrokes controlled every rally.

My early prediction is that I am worried this might get ugly. Again, Jones has never played a senior clay court match. Not even a qualifier or a warm up tournament. This is such a big ask.

I will be focusing on the Jones v Swiatek match but will bring you updates across the courts in between. For now, a quick email from Rob:

Watching Raducanu was just sad yesterday. I don’t think anyone can take her slam away from her but it is looking more and more like that was just a freak result that will never happen again.

Do you have any thoughts on Raducanu’s exit? Or any predictions for today’s matches? I want to hear them. Get in touch via email.

Alex De Minaur takes the first set 6-4 against Toby Samuel. The eighth seed broke the Briton in the fifth game after a grueling 23-shot rally, held off a break-back, and sealed it with a 193km ace.

Iga Swiatek kicks off her bid for a fifth French Open title on Court Philippe-Chatrier against the Australian teenager Emerson Jones. Jones has never played on clay at the WTA level – what a challenge this is going to be.

Jasmine Paolini takes the first set against Dayana Yastremska. The Italian holds to love with four clean points to make it 6-5 with Yastremska’s returns kept finding the net or sailing long. In the final game the two traded breaks throughout, but a crucial 0-40 break in the final game sealed it for the 13th seed.

Day two order of play

Here is today’s order of play on the main courts.

Court Philippe-Chatrier

Emerson Jones v (3) Iga Swiatek
Veronika Erjavec v (2) Elena Rybakina
(32) Ugo Humbert v Adrian Mannarino
Hugo Gaston v Gael Monfils

Court Suzanne-Lenglen

(22) Arthur Rinderknech v Jurij Rodionov
(7) Elina Svitolina v Anna Bondar
Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah v (6) Amanda Anisimova
Daniel Merida v (5) Ben Shelton

Court Simonne-Mathieu

(13) Jasmine Paolini v Dayana Yastremska
Stan Wawrinka v Jesper de Jong
(15) Casper Ruud v Roman Safiullin
Anastasia Zakharova v (10) Karolina Muchova

Before we get to today’s action, a recap on what went down on day one. An emotional Emma Raducanu was at a loss to explain her horror start at the French Open as she crashed to a first opening-round loss.

The British No 1 failed to win a game in a one-sided opening set against Argentina’s Solana Sierra, hitting zero winners and making 15 unforced errors. Raducanu looked like she could be heading for one of the worst defeats of her career when she trailed 4-1 in the second set but she found a belated foothold, fighting back to force a tie-break before losing 6-0 7-6 (4).

“It was difficult,” said the 23-year-old, who made 42 unforced errors in total. “I don’t think I’ve fully processed it yet, so it’s hard to speak about the match right now.

“But I have to at least take the fact that, from a set and 4-1 down, I came back and made it competitive in the second set. I’m pretty disappointed. Obviously, I wanted to do better.

“I went on the court, I felt like the conditions were extremely lively and I felt like I wasn’t able to trust my shots and didn’t feel like I had control over the ball. I think probably just a bit light on matches, a bit light on confidence coming into the tournament.

“The first set happened super quickly, and it’s not a nice feeling when the points and the games are going very, very fast. I’m glad at least in the second set I was able to get a few games on the board.”

Elsewhere, tears of joy flowed for Fran Jones after a long-awaited first grand slam victory at the French Open. The 25-year-old Briton has had a torrid year, with a leg injury and concussion keeping her off the court and pushing her back outside the Top 100, and she could not contain her emotions after battling from a set down to defeat former semi-finalist Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6 7-6 (4) 6-2.

“Normally I’m one to say you shouldn’t cry until the tournament is over but I think, everything I’ve been through this year, it’s really been challenging,” said Jones. “I know I’m dangerous on this surface. I know I’ve not been on my best form, but it gives you belief.”

Preamble

Bonjour! The sun is shining in Paris and day two of Roland Garros brings a packed slate of opening-round action with the biggest stars beginning their campaigns across the courts.

Iga Swiatek opens her title bid against Emerson Jones, with the world No 3 expected to set the standard on her favourite surface where she has won four grand slams. Elena Rybakina is also in action, hoping to follow up her Australian Open victory with a strong showing on the clay. Katie Boulter also takes the court, hoping to equal and eventually go beyond her best finish in Paris – the second round.

Rafael Jodar’s rise this year has been one of the storylines of the season so far with the young Spaniard being seeded at the French Open after being ranked outside the world’s Top 700 not too long ago. He faces the fast-paced Aleksandar Kovacevic. Ben Shelton faces another young Spaniard in Daniel Merida while the former champion Stan Wawrinka takes on Jesper de Jong in his final season on tour.

So much action, so much to look forward to. Join me.

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