Latest news with #PatBrown
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
T20 Blast: Derbyshire beat Foxes in exciting chase
Vitality T20 Blast North Group, Edgbaston, BirminghamLeicestershire 196-5 (20 overs)Derbyshire 197-3 (18.2 overs)Derbyshire beat Leicestershire by seven wicketsMatch scorecard Derbyshire Falcons took East Midlands bragging rights after successfully chasing down Leicestershire Foxes' target of 197 in the Vitality T20 Blast at win lifted Falcons off the bottom of North Group although they still need a continuation of their recent improvement to reach the knockout stages after losing five of their seven games thus the first of two Midlands derbies at Warwickshire's home ground on Saturday, Foxes opener Sol Budinger's bludgeoned 49 off just 24 deliveries to help set an imposing target for the bottom Budinger was eventually dismissed by veteran spin bowler Samit Patel (2-33), the Foxes had rapidly moved to 64-2 at the beginning of the eighth Ahmed and Shan Masood were dismissed in quick succession by Falcons seamer Pat Brown, who finished with 3-51, but Logan van Beek (26 not out) and Ben Cox (28 not out) put on 55 off the final five overs to hand Derbyshire a tough reply, Derbyshire opener Aneurin Donald continued where he left off following Friday's knock of 73 not out against Nottinghamshire with a terrific 60 to help them race to 80-0 after six included the fastest half-century in the club's history from just 18 balls - beating his own previous record set in last year's were given a glimmer of hope when seamer Tom Scriven removed both openers in his first when Wayne Madsen found Matt Salisbury at deep fine leg for Scriven's third wicket, Derbyshire were still 43 runs shy of their target with 32 balls a terrific 52 not out off just 32 balls from 40-year-old Patel, accompanied ably by Ross Whiteley (13 not out), helped the Falcons home comfortably with 10 balls to spare to seal back-to-back victories in consecutive days.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will the 'Abundance' Agenda Make California Great Again?
Up until the 1970s, California was a state known for its commitment to boundless opportunities, with the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown governorship reflective of the can-do spirit that drew people here from across the world. Given the degree to which modern California is noted for its ineffectiveness, wastefulness, and regulatory sclerosis, it's difficult to imagine a California that took its Golden State moniker seriously. Brown "envisioned a future in which economic growth would be driven by a network of state-of-the-art freeways to move people, reservoirs, and canals to capture and transport water and intellectual capital from low-cost institutions of higher education. He sold that vision to the public and, in doing so, as the late historian Kevin Starr wrote, putting California on "the cutting edge of the American experiment," per a Hoover Institution retrospective. The state grew dramatically as a result. The Brown administration built most of the State Water Project in less time than it would take to complete an Environmental Impact Report these days. California officials still have big dreams, of course, but they are more of the social-engineering variety than the civil-engineering type. Brown built freeways that people actually use, whereas today's big project is a pointless high-speed rail line that's way over budget and unlikely to serve any serious need. It took 24 years to build a new east span of the Bay Bridge—and it came in at 2,500% over budget. California can't even house its population now, thanks largely to environmental rules, no-growth restrictions, urban-growth boundaries, and other government regulations. Yet California lawmakers show no appetite to reform the biggest impediment, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), except on a piecemeal basis. Many liberals are frustrated, and conservatives now are the ones most likely to tout the Pat Brown era. But a funny thing is happening as progressives struggle for a response to a revanchist MAGA movement that shows its own nativist hostility to economic growth and opportunity. Many of the Left's more thoughtful voices are essentially re-embracing the types of pro-growth policies that were once a mainstay among Democrats such as Pat Brown. Ironically, it was Brown's son, Jerry, who during his first term as governor (he actually was a good governor in his more recent iteration), pitched the "era of limits" nonsense that mucked up the works. Like all burgeoning political movements, this Pat-Brown-style liberalism has a name: the Abundance Movement. We've seen some signs of its emergence. For instance, the YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) movement has scored myriad legislative victories as it promotes the construction of new housing within the urban footprint. The new book, Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson has sparked the idea's widespread acceptance mostly among frustrated liberals. It's music to my not-so-liberal ears, as the subhead on my 2020 In his New York Times column, Klein nails the importance of a politics based on abundance—and on the failure of Democratic-run states to live up to any of their grandiose promises: "This is the policy failure haunting blue states. It has become too hard to build and too expensive to live in the places where Democrats govern. It is too hard to build homes. It is too hard to build clean energy. It is too hard to build mass transit. The problem isn't technical: We know how to build apartment complexes and solar panel arrays and train lines. The problem is the rules and the laws and political cultures that govern construction in many blue states." Per Politico, Gov. Gavin Newsom interviewed Klein in his latest podcast. But Newsom plays it too clever by half. "You pick on, understandably, San Francisco. But you can look at almost any city, including a Republican-held city like Huntington Beach, and these same rules and restrictions apply there, and the same frustrations," Newsom said. Well, sure, I've ridiculed Huntington Beach's conservative majority for enacting anti-growth policies—but they fester mainly in liberal cities and states. One cannot build anything here without navigating a maze of regulatory provisions that delay progress, spark litigation or trigger bureaucratic reviews. As Klein added, "In 2023, California saw a net loss of 268,000 residents; in Illinois, the net loss was 93,000; in New York, 179,000. Why are they leaving? In surveys, the dominant reason is simply this: The cost of living is too high." Democrats would have a stronger rebuke to Trumpism if our public services were the national model rather than a laughingstock—and if our leaders learned to value the private sector and not simply build bigger government. Abundance sounds like the right ticket—but only if state officials can return to Pat-Brown-style governance rather than use the term as a talking point. This column was first published in The Orange County Register. The post Will the 'Abundance' Agenda Make California Great Again? appeared first on
BBC News
09-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
United 'need player who has been there and done it'
Boxer and Manchester United supporter Pat Brown, speaking to The Devils' Advocate podcast about Sunday's Manchester derby against Manchester City:"This United squad would be 100% better if they had a natural goalscorer."Rasmus Hojlund holds the ball up very well - he's strong, he's got many years left in him and we have a very youthful team, but if we had a Harry Kane type in the squad it would've been a different story. You just can't buy experience."I take my hat off for Joshua Zirkzee. He's improved so much and has really come out of his shell. I also believe with Alejandro Garnacho that a bit of punishment of not playing him has made him hungrier - but we still need a proper striker that we can rely on who saves the day."There's nothing quite like the Premier League, so United need a player in their late 20s who has been there and done it all."Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
BBC News
08-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Rival players 'too pally - it shouldn't be like that'
BBC Radio Manchester's Gaz Drinkwater, speaking on the Devils' Advocate podcast about Sunday's goalless draw with Manchester City:"It was a really good atmosphere, all throughout the first half in particular."The Stretford End were all on their feet, they really gave it some. I thought the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, it was just a shame nothing came from the performance."I'm relieved in a way that we didn't get beaten or battered."You go into derbies against Manchester City nowadays knowing that they are better than us. Even this season, when they have been really poor, City are still better than us looking at the league table."Boxer and United fan Pat Brown added: "The trap we are falling into though is that we are happy to get these sorts of results. The expectation at Manchester United has dropped so much over the years and it's not right."We were always giving everyone what for before - and we were proud of that. Whereas now it's like we are happy to leave a derby with a draw. You shouldn't want to draw with City, no matter how much better they are."In derbies, you don't see players menacing players any more. You need to have one figure in the team that is strong, because you need that little one percent and that fire."But I feel like all the players now are like: 'Oh yeah, I know you from the national team' and they are all too pally with each other - it shouldn't be like that."I remember that Gary Neville video where he was about to walk out, nobody shook hands with each other, and everyone was stern and ready. You just don't get that in football any more."Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Pat Brown: ‘I wasn't a one-trick pony … but I'm a much better all-round cricketer now'
Pat Brown is reluctant to call it a comeback but, five years on from the last of four white-ball caps for England, the seamer who rose to prominence with a wobbling knuckleball heads into the new season buzzing from a winter spent with Andrew Flintoff's Lions team. Abdominal soreness meant Brown missed the one-off unofficial Test against Australia A in Sydney that completed the Lions' tour in late January but he is now back at Derbyshire, fully fit, and ready to start the County Championship at home to Gloucestershire on Friday. As the bottom side in Division Two last year with one win from 14, the only way is up. It was a positive time in an England setup for Brown, his skills impressing during a pre-Christmas camp in South Africa to get him picked for the trip to Australia. Then, against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane, he claimed a five-wicket haul which included a sizzling hat-trick. His only regret? The four-day match did not have first-class status. 'You could say I picked a good time for my first five-fer and a hat-trick but it doesn't count towards my stats,' says Brown, with a wry smile. 'My best first-class figures are still two for 15 but I was picked on a red ball tour of Australia, so it's obviously not what I have done in county cricket so far but more what they see in me.' This is very much England's modus operandi these days, with the 26-year-old among a number of recent picks being looked at for their attributes rather than their figures. Brown is eager to get among the championship wickets this season, even if, by his own admission, white-ball cricket remains his forte. England have ultimately noted how Brown's pace is back up to the slippery mid-80s mph on the speed gun, while his armoury has developed considerably since the two-year spell for Worcestershire in the T20 Blast that got him fast-tracked into Eoin Morgan's white-ball side in late 2019. The knuckleball, a sleight-of-hand slower ball that snakes unpredictably and has its origins in baseball, was very much his calling card back then. 'The rise I had was pretty quick but I don't feel it came too soon,' says Brown. 'I got a back stress fracture and missed the next tour to South Africa, so that was why it stopped really. Although that one ball – the knuckleball – was so effective and came out well that it probably did mask some of the weaknesses I had. 'I would feel more prepared to play international cricket now. I knew deep down … not that I was a one-trick pony … but I relied heavily on that ball. I'm a way better all-round bowler and cricketer these days. Playing for England doesn't quite feel like yesterday, especially after going on a Lions tour full of 20-year-olds. I wouldn't call it a comeback … more a return to where I see myself and where I want to be.' Unconvinced he was viewed as a red-ball cricketer by Worcestershire, and in need of a fresh start after a run of injuries, Brown moved to Derbyshire 12 months ago after being taken by Mickey Arthur's vision. Five wickets from six first-class outings last summer is something Brown is keen to rectify soon and after working with Flintoff at the Lions – his head coach in the Hundred also – he sounds like he is walking tall. '[Flintoff] has been amazing,' Brown says. 'Who he is was slightly lost on some of the younger lads in the Lions. Not completely, but some of them weren't even born when he dominated the 2005 Ashes, so they didn't get as starstruck as some of the older lads. He is an incredible bloke, everything you'd want your hero to be. 'You get so much backing and belief, you don't feel a bad game or spell from being given up on. He is less technical, he lets Neil Killeen [England pace bowling lead] cover that and may throw his two cents in occasionally. It's more his experiences in the game and off the field; the sort of things Level 2, 3, 4 [coaching badges] don't teach.' Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Brown has also learned a fair bit about life these past 12 months, his world rocked last May when Josh Baker, best friend and former teammate at Worcestershire, died suddenly at the age of 20. Brown spoke at Baker's funeral and, more broadly, his outlook towards cricket has been reshaped by the loss. 'It took me a week to get everything down I wanted to say. I was bricking it,' says Brown. 'But it was really nice to honour him and tell people how I saw him and the friendship we had. As I said on the day, Bakes was already the life and soul of the dressing room, which, at just 20 years old, was a pretty impressive feat. '[The grief] is still a tough thing. Day to day it gets easier but you still have days where you think about him and it doesn't seem easy at all. I don't want this to be taken the wrong way but it has probably been good for my cricket and my perspective. 'I know how shitty life can be, so going at six an over or not taking a wicket is nothing to get stressed about. It has taught me to take the importance out of it and just enjoy the ride. I know Bakes would love to still be here playing cricket and so the day to day ups and downs of the sport don't hold me back any more.' This forthcoming summer may not be a comeback per se but given Brown's journey to this point, it is impossible not to wish him well.
