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Dean to captain Spirit in place of injured Knight

Dean to captain Spirit in place of injured Knight

BBC News25-06-2025
England spinner Charlie Dean will captain London Spirit in this year's Hundred in place of Heather Knight, who is recovering from a hamstring injury. Former England skipper Knight led Spirit to their first title last year but has been ruled out for the summer after sustaining the injury in the third T20 against West Indies in May.Dean, 24, previously led Spirit in 2022 when Knight was absent with a hip problem and they finished seventh in the table. Knight will stay with the team in a coaching and mentoring role throughout the tournament and has been replaced in the side by Surrey batter Kira Chathli, who has previously represented Oval Invincibles. "We have a great squad and I know the expectation will be high after winning the competition last year," said Dean, who has been with Spirit since the first year of the tournament in 2021. "I am gutted Heather won't be playing with us this year, but it's brilliant that she'll still be around to help us out. Tapping into her experience and knowledge will be invaluable."Spirit have also appointed Chris Liddle, their former pace bowling coach, as their new head coach, replacing Ashley Noffke who has taken a role with Pakistan's men.
A glimpse into England's future?
Analysis by BBC Sport cricket journalist Ffion WynneEngland's Ashes thrashing at the beginning of this year led to criticism surrounding most aspects of their game, but also the management behind the scenes - and this included their lack of succession planning for a future captain. Knight had fulfilled the role so consistently for nine years that as speculation about her future started to swirl, many were scratching their heads as to who could be next. In the end, it was Nat Sciver-Brunt, the obvious candidate as Knight's vice-captain and most experienced player, but there were concerns around her workload as an all-rounder and the pressure she is already under as England's superstar. Dean was another name that was thrown into the conversation, and though she admitted it was probably a little bit too soon for her, this is an indication that she is viewed as a future leader. Exposing their younger players to leadership is something that Australia do brilliantly and this suggests England are taking note. The likes of Phoebe Litchfield, Annabel Sutherland and Tahlia McGrath all lead their Women's Big Bash League teams, giving Australia a wealth of options for when Alyssa Healy steps aside.
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BBC News

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PSG beat Tottenham on penalties to win Super Cup after late comeback

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Rory McIlroy shoots down offer to be player-captain at 2027 Ryder Cup

Times

time2 hours ago

  • Times

Rory McIlroy shoots down offer to be player-captain at 2027 Ryder Cup

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Joe Root dismisses David Warner's jibe as ‘all part of the fun'

North Wales Chronicle

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  • North Wales Chronicle

Joe Root dismisses David Warner's jibe as ‘all part of the fun'

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