UK News
Surrey v Essex, Yorkshire v Sussex, and more: county cricket, day one – live | County Championship
Key events
Surrey’s opponents this season have knocked up opening partnerships in the first innings of 116 (Warwickshire) 156 (Leicestershire) and 152 and counting…
Sean Abbott lets Walter through his fingers (on 53 )as he follows through and stays down on the ground in horror. Essex march on, three figure visions dancing for Elgar and Walter. Essex 149-0
A sunny circuit revealed a few babies, a school trip, and lots of young professionals working from The Oval. Also Dan Worrall (at least I think it was him) going through his impressive paces in a very Australian knee socks, singlet and shorts combo. Reece Topley doing the same in full whites.
Spectators drift onto the Oval outfield like a wave onto the sand. Time to grab some sunshine to warm up, back soon.
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 91-4 v Leicestershire
Trent Bridge: Notts v Warwickshire 96-3
The Oval: Surrey v Essex 128-0
Headingley: Yorkshire v Sussex 103-3
DIVISION TWO
The County Ground: Derbyshire v Gloucestershire 70-2
Riverside: Durham v Lancashire 118-3
New Road: Worcestershire v Kent 65-3
Bad news for Asa Tribe fans, who has just lost his off stump for 24 to Josh Hull. Glamorgan 66 for three.
Dean Elgar is currently tucking into Matt Fisher with white linen napkin tied around his neck, reaches his first fifty of the year with a wristy steer to the rope. Essex 106-0.
Athers also pointed out this morning that only one Surrey bowler is currently averaging under 30 per wicket – teenage Ralphie Albert. Jordan Clark, Tom Lawes and Matt Fisher are averaging 41.66, 54.20 and 58.0.
A couple of young openers to keep an eye on this round: Asa Tribe, currently 23 not out, against Rehan-less Leicestershire (53-2); and Ben McKinney, currently in the field watching Lancashire race to 102-2.
Giant Josh Tongue makes the breakthrough at Trent Bridge, Rob Yates caught at simply at first slip off a brutish ball for 18. Warwicks 67-2.
This Oval pitch looks tasty for the batters. A lovely clunk bat on ball, as Walter drives Fisher through the covers, chased by unidentified fielder in chunky-knit Surrey short-sleeved jumper. Essex 80-0.
Robin Smith Memorial service
Hampshire have announced a memorial service for Robin Smith at Winchester Cathedral on Friday, June 12. Smith, who died in December, aged just 62, played for Hampshire for 21 years, 1982-2003, as well as earning 62 Test caps for England. A live stream of the service will be available.
Thanks to Tim Maitland who has been keeping an eye on events at Headingley and points out a double wicket maiden for Jack White – Sussex 48-2.
Zac Crawley was making merry for Kent. No more, caught for 27, his highest score of the season. Kent are 38 for three, with the unfortunate Beyers Swanepoel in the wickets on his belated Worcestershire debut.
In Division Two, slow going for Gloucestershire (22-1) and Kent (21-1) – though Crawley has raced to 17. Lancashire are scoring at five an over against Durham but have lost Balderson for 14 and Bohannon for 5. Captain Jennings screws in his boots for a familiar stint.
A good morning for batting? You didn’t need to worry about Warwicks, Phil Russell, they’re charging along, now 44-1. But Tongue does have the ball. The opening pairs for Essex (35-0) and Sussex (37-0) are still together, while things are trickier for Glamorgan, 16-1, Byrom out to the indefatigable Ian Holland.
Elgar drives Atkinson for four, oh so elegantly, next ball he’s beaten, next ball an elaborate leave. The light blue Oval seats are already gently filling up with bodies, hunching towards the sun; and, poetically, the pavilion clock is stuck at 4.25.
Joe Ro0t returns for Yorkshire
But we’ll have to wait as YJB won the toss and has inserted Sussex – currently 9-0.
“Yorkshire have been on the back foot for all but the first 14 overs of the season haven’t they?” writes Tim Maitland. “A “losing” draw at Glamorgan, where, despite having the home side 28-4, they spent most of the match behind the eight ball and then that 214-run defeat against Hampshire at Headingley, which the Yorkshire Post reports got this scathing verdict from Anthony McGrath: If we keep putting out performances like that it doesn’t matter if we’re playing in the Bradford Sunday School League because we’re going to lose.”
”I can’t pretend to have any experience of Bradford Sunday School League cricket, but if it’s anything like the rest of Bradford cricket it’s probably a pretty high standard… and yet I get the feeling that McGrath’s words were not intended as a compliment.
”Fortunately this Root kid they’re bringing in, is a bit handy. His last four matches? 111, 75,61 and 160 (and a 6, probably just to prove that he is human). Those were in Colombo and Sydney and January must seem a long time ago and feel a lot different to 9C at Headingley.
”He’s starting the season on 19,089 runs, apparently (I haven’t personally counted them all). Would you bet against him passing 20,000 before September’s done?”
An email drops, with a spring trill. Hello Phil Russell!
“As a Bears fan I’m nervous about what Josh Tongue and Co are going to do to our top order in the first session. Our last four innings have seen us start 22-3, 23-3, 25-3 and 14-3. No surprise Notts decided to field first!”
Just had a peek – is 13-1 good news? Pennington and Hutton have opened the bowling, Tongue pawing the earth.
Two-year suspension for Doug Bracewell
Former Essex cricketer Doug Bracewell has been suspended for two years by the Cricket Regulator for “an Adverse Analytical Finding for the presence of cocaine and its Metabolite, benzoylecgonine” when he was tested on the 25th September 2025. Bracewell has accepted the sanction. The suspension lasts until 24 November 2027.
Div One table
All teams have played two games unless marked
1 Somerset (3) 54
2 Warwickshire (3) 39
3 Notts 33
4 Sussex 29
5 Essex (3) 28
6 Hampshire (3) 25
7 Surrey 25
8 Leicestershire 18
9 Glamorgan 15
Yorkshire 13
Gus Atkinson, running in from the pavilion end. That familiar tippytoed run, the hands grasped in prayer. Three slips lick their lips. Dean Elgar is squarered up, some juice straight away.
I have a malfunctioning keyboard that s0metimes w0nt type os – though it did then – so apologies – and then- for sometimes having to use a zero.
Surrey have won the toss and will bowl – Noah Thain plays, on the back 0f, I learnt today from Mike Atherton, a hundred in the second team. Atkinson t0 spruce up Surrey’s b0wling.
Football for Surrey, slip catches for Essex here at The Oval. A groundsman with a red bucket and a fork does sporadic aerating. The seats are filling up on the top layer of the Mickey Stewart pavilion, they’re brave, its in full shade.
This is such a gorgeous ground.
Ooops, I think this may have launched while I was tackling The Oval’s coffee machine, apologies for half-formed thoughts.
Rehan Ahmed off to the IPL
Leicestershire are without Rehan Ahmed, off to bench warm for Delhi Capitals. He will miss the next four Championship games. Leicestershire say there are “absolutely delighted.”
Fixtures
DIVISION ONE
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Leicestershire
Trent Bridge: Notts v Warwickshire
The Oval: Surrey v Essex
Headingley: Yorkshire v Sussex
DIVISION TWO
The County Ground: Derbyshire v Gloucestershire
Riverside: Durham v Lancashire
New Road: Worcestershire v Kent
Preamble
Good morning! Another glorious one, if a little nippy. On my walk from Vauxhall station, the scaffolder filing his bucket and the cyclist zipping past in the bike lane seemed unaware that Gus Atkinson was making his first appearance of the season, for Surrey against Essex.
After last week’s mini-round, we return to eight games, with Middlesex and Northamptonshire the only two sides with their feet up. Poor old Gloucestershire, three losses, three points, and hit by the news that Ben Charlesworth will join Lancs in 2027, must press on.
Games start at 11am, do join us.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
Source link
Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
Source link
-
Business & Technology3 weeks agoHSBC UK & Visa test AI shopping with live payments
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoMouser warns against viral hacks to cool overheating phones
-
Business & Technology3 weeks agoValarian lands USD $50 million backing for sovereign AI
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoSNP & Palantir launch AI tools for SAP transformations
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoDWP now checking bank accounts for Universal Credit and Pension Credit
-
Oxford Events4 weeks agoHenley Festival 2026 highlights: Five nights of unforgettable performances and festival moments
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoOde launches free AI voice service for poem recommendations
-
Oxford united FC3 weeks agoOxford United three players who be kept after transfer ban