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BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Nice little chip off the left peg'
Owen Farrell captained the British and Irish Lions to a 24-19 win over the First Nations and Pasifika XV on was Farrell's first full 80 minutes since the end of April and he put in another solid outing, setting up Jamie Osborne's first try with a deft Andy and Owen Farrell however never get too carried away."How do you think he played?" Andy Farrell asks his son in response to that question."He asked you," Owen replied."Nice little chip off the left peg. Some good things from him. But there are always work ons."Owen added: "I enjoyed it. There is always things you can do better obviously. But I loved being out there. I loved that it was difficult, that it was hard. I feel like I've been in a tough match now. So I'm grateful for that."Owen Farrell missed out on a first Test bench spot against Australia to Marcus he done enough to come in for the second Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday?


BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ecclestone considered quitting after Ashes criticism
Spinner Sophie Ecclestone says she considered quitting cricket following the criticism of her during England's Ashes defeat last one of the leading bowlers in the world, refused to do an interview during the defeat in Australia which led to questions over England's attitude and ability to handle 26, took a brief break from cricket earlier this year and was left out of England's white-ball series against West Indies at the start of the summer to manage an injury."During the West Indies series, I wasn't actually sure if I was going to come back and play cricket," Ecclestone, who has returned for the ongoing series against India, told Sky Sports."It was a tough time." The issue surrounding Ecclestone, which threatened to overshadow the Ashes, arose after the first T20 in spinner turned down a TV interview with former England spinner Alex Hartley who was in Australia working for the BBC radio team and other television networks. Hartley questioned the fitness levels of some of England's players last England's Ashes fate was confirmed, managing director of England women's cricket Clare Connor described the episode as "an unfortunate incident that won't happen again".Ecclestone first spoke about the subject to the BBC in May, when she said she had "moved on" and "learned from" the speaking prior to England's third one-day international against India in Chester-le-Street, Ecclestone disputed the fact she "refused" to do the interview, instead suggesting she wanted to focus on her warm-up."I feel like that went down a wrong way and a few things were said," she said."I was just concentrating on cricket at that moment but a lot of things were being said which wasn't ideal for me."Ecclestone said the incident "took a lot out of me" and led to people suggesting she is arrogant."That's not me as a person," she said. "It was hard to take at that time."Ecclestone returned to the England fold for the first T20 against India in June and has taken nine wickets in seven matches, including 3-27 on Saturday in the second ODI win at Lord's."I've got a smile on my face again and I feel like I wouldn't have done it without the girls," Ecclestone said."People like [team-mates] Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, and my family and friends, I couldn't have done without them."I definitely wouldn't be here and picking up wickets at Lord's if it wasn't for them."


The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Ben Stokes suggests rule change after England were fined during India series
Ben Stokes has called for a change to the way over rates are assessed by the ICC, after England were docked two points in the World Championship for their slow play at Lord's. The England captain, who has confirmed he is continuing his one-man protest at the International Cricket Council by refusing to sign the post-match paperwork, accepts that spectators can be frustrated by how few overs are bowled and how rarely teams deliver the 90 that are scheduled for the day. But Stokes feels there needs to be more common sense and argued there should be different criteria for matches in England – and Australia and New Zealand – compared to countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, where spinners can bowl the majority of overs and get through them far quicker. 'I'm not signing the form, no,' Stokes said. 'I can understand it from an external point of view around the overs, I really do. But it's a very tough thing to do when I feel there's more to it than just getting round, getting told: 'Oh, just quicken up, get through your overs.'' Stokes argued the compressed nature of the fixture list for England's series against India has made it harder for the fast bowlers, while the injury suffered by off-spinner Shoaib Bashir at Lord's meant the seamers had to shoulder a bigger workload in the third Test. 'There's a lot that actually goes on out on the field,' Stokes added. 'You've got fast bowlers bending their back consistently. Throughout the course of a game, the [number] of overs is going to come down. You've just got tired bodies. We played for five days. That was our 15th day of cricket [in the series]. 'We obviously had an injury to Bash, so we couldn't turn to our spinner as much as we would've liked to on day five, so we had to throw seam at them for pretty much the whole day. That's obviously going to slow things down. There are periods in the game where you do try and just slow everything down, more tactically if anything, like that. 'Over rate isn't something that I worry about, but that's not saying that I purposely slow things down. I do understand the frustration around it, but I honestly think there needs to be a real hard look at how it's structured. 'You can't have the same rules in Asia, where spin is bowling 70 per cent of the overs, to have the same laws in New Zealand, Australia, England, where it's going to be 70 or 80 per cent of seam bowled, because the spinner's over takes less time than the seamer's over. Common sense would think that you should look at changing how the over rates are timed in different continents.' Stokes also feels the attacking style of batting that England have affects the over rate, with more time spent retrieving the ball after it has been hit for four or six. 'I wonder if scoring rates have got anything to do with that as well,' he added. 'The ball's getting hit to the boundary more often. It's obviously going to take a lot longer. 'I think there's just so much that influences how your over rates can be affected, that it can't just be as simple as, 'This is the time, this is what you need to do,' because you want to keep the quality of cricket as high as you possibly can. 'And there are times in games where there isn't a game on the line, where you will just throw the ball to [the] spinner to get your overs round, but then that's just... you're playing in an international game, where you're just trying to get your over rate back. I don't think people want to come and watch that.'