Surrey v Essex, Yorkshire v Notts, and more: county cricket day one
Update:
Date: 2025-05-23T08:42:49.000Z
Title: Preamble
Content: Good morning from Cross Country trains, chugging through high spring, the Midlands countryside all elderflower and ash saplings, and green, green, green all around.
I'm on my way to Grace Road to see the runaway leaders of Division Two play feeling-a-little-less -queasy-than-they-did-last-week Lancashire. Loads more to look forward to round the grounds. Play starts at 11am, do join us!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
South Africa's MultiChoice may offer separate SuperSport package from Dstv
JOHANNESBURG, June 12 (Reuters) - South Africa's pay television group MultiChoice may unbundle its sports channels into a separate subscription package, its CEO said on Thursday, a move that might help it retain subscribers. Presenting the group's results a day after reporting a headline loss of 800 million rand ($45 million), CEO Calvo Mawela was asked whether the company was considering separating its sport channels into a separate package. "As part of our product offering, we have always had this project that we ran every year where we look at our packaging structures, similar to what Sky did some years back where they had a basic package, they had a sports package on the side (and) they had a general entertainment package on the side," Mawela said. Through its pay TV, Dstv, MultiChoice offers bundled packages from entry level to premium, which has all the sport channels under its SuperSport brand. But some customers subscribe to the premium package only for sports, often making it expensive to maintain off season, leading to cancellations. "We've accelerated that project in terms of getting us to finalise which direction we're going to take in this financial year. But yes, we are considering all options as part of a broader product offering going forward," Mawela said. The decision to unbundle the sports channels comes as MultiChoice, which is a takeover target of France's Canal+ (CAN.L), opens new tab, lost 1.2 million broadcast subscribers over the year ended March 31, to 14.5 million. It blamed the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, which "has meant that households are struggling to make ends meet and many had no choice but to give up their DStv subscription for the time being." At the same time, the South African market has been affected by the ongoing global shift in video consumption towards cheaper streaming services, social media video and free or pirated video services. ($1 = 17.7674 rand)
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Why tennis players undergoing fertility treatment will have their world ranking protected
Female tennis players over time have expressed great difficulty balancing family ambitions with aspirations for career greatness. However, a new empowering rule introduced by the WTA will help to dispel this conundrum from these players' minds, encouraging them to start a family at a time that suits them. Female tennis players who undergo fertility treatment will no longer feel pressured to rush back to the court after the WTA 's groundbreaking promise to protect their world rankings. Any of the world's top 750 players who wish to freeze their eggs or embryos will now be given a 'special ranking' to provide additional peace of mind when planning to start a family. Players often use the off-season to receive fertility treatment, or are forced to weigh up the dilemma of peak fertility conflicting with top sporting displays. This new rule will not only protect the health of these sporting stars, but ease the pressure to return to competitions if not full recovered or at peak physicality. Here's everything you need to know: Who is eligible? The option can be taken up by any female player who is ranked within the top 750 if the time they spend outside of competition surpasses 10 weeks. More than 320 players are also eligible for up to 12 months of paid maternity leave, which was introduced by the WTA for the first time earlier this year. All players will receive the same level of statutory maternity pay, regardless of where they rank. What is the 'special ranking'? The special entry ranking will allow any eligible player undergoing treatment to enter up to three tournaments within 10 weeks of their return. The SER is calculated by a player's 12 week average, spanning before and during their out-of-competition period. However, players will be prohibited from using this ranking to enter any of the WTA premier 1000 events. These include the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open. Who set this rule up? This initiative was 'very much at the instigation of the players', according to WTA chief executive and Player's Council member, Portia Archer. Player reactions "Being able to have the security to take care of that, have that peace of mind and know we can come back to the tour without working our way up the rankings is such a gift." - Maddison Keys, 2025 Australian Open champion "Someone might be out for three months, someone might be out for one week. Some people gain a tonne of weight, some people can go back immediately. I think when you are family planning, it's better if you have that support." - Sloane Stephens, 2017 US Open champion
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE MARCUS SMITH: How God, Jonny Wilkinson and three little tricks got me through pain of being dropped by England
The Portuguese sun is washing over Marcus Smith and, he hopes, washing away any of the darker memories of a topsy-turvy campaign. Up close, England's superstar No 10 shows no marks of the stresses and strains that came from losing his starting shirt, being shunted into a new position and then to the bench.
