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BBC News
41 minutes ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Injury forces Leicestershire's Swindells to retire
Leicestershire wicketkeeper Harry Swindells has been forced to retire at the age of 26 because of a finger was less than two years ago that Swindells produced the finest moment of his career, scoring an instrumental 117 runs against Hampshire in Leicestershire's One-Day Cup final victory at Trent the days before that trophy-winning knock he had been job hunting, as his contract was coming to an end at the the former England Under-19 international was rewarded with a new two-year deal in November said Swindells had "numerous examinations and treatments to rectify the injury", but has since been advised to end his career on medical made 102 appearances and scored 2,717 runs for Leicestershire across all formats in his eight years of senior cricket with the club after coming through the academy. The injury has limited him to appearances for Leicestershire's second XI this year, with his last first-class match in September says it has "been a tough period" but insists "I've achieved my dreams"."I've been immensely proud to represent the club I've loved since I was five years old over the past eight seasons," he told the club website., external"I want to thank the Foxes fans for their unwavering support across my career. I've always felt their love, and hearing them sing 'Harry Swindells, he's one of our own' was always an amazing feeling. Their passion that day at Trent Bridge was truly unforgettable, a shared memory I will treasure forever."
BBC News
5 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
India in England 2026
July1 1st Twenty20 international, Banks Homes Riverside, Chester-le-Street (d/n) (18:30 BST)4 2nd Twenty20 international, Emirates Old Trafford (14:30 BST)7 3rd Twenty20 international, Trent Bridge (d/n) (18:30 BST)9 4th Twenty20 international, Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol (d/n) (18:30 BST)11 5th Twenty20 international, Utilita Bowl, Southampton (d/n) (18:30 BST) 14 1st ODI, Edgbaston (d/n) (13:00 BST)16 2nd ODI, Cardiff (d/n) (13:00 BST)19 3rd ODI, Lord's (11:00 BST)NB Fixtures and start times are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made
New York Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Liam Dawson and the England comeback he thought would never happen
It was early last year that Liam Dawson made a definitive statement on his England future. 'For me, Test cricket is now completely off the radar,' said the then 34-year-old all-rounder. 'I want to enjoy my cricket and try to win trophies towards the end of my career.' There was no wiggle room from a consummate county professional who was not known for big public pronouncements in the few press conferences he gave in an England career spent mainly on the periphery. Absolutely no doubt in his mind. Advertisement So the sight of Dawson punching the air in delight when he took the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal with the seventh ball of his comeback at Old Trafford, almost exactly eight years since his last Test wicket, was an unlikely and hugely satisfying one for England. Not since Dawson dismissed South Africa's Hashim Amla at Trent Bridge — with the help of a review — on the last of his three Test appearances, 2,928 days and 102 Tests ago, had he enjoyed the feeling of taking a wicket for England in the ultimate form of the game. He was resigned, at 35, to never having that feeling again, had accepted that those three Tests and 20 white-ball appearances were the limit of his England involvement and was happy to concentrate on Hampshire and the franchise opportunities that came his way. It was when Dawson turned down Rob Key's invitation to tour India at the start of 2024 after the best summer of his county life that a line appeared to be drawn. Jack Leach, Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and an unknown youngster from Somerset called Shoaib Bashir were all picked instead to carry the spin bowling load in the subcontinent and Dawson headed to the Big Bash in Australia, the South Africa T20 and the ILT20 in the UAE. Not that Key, the managing director of England cricket, was offended by Dawson's reluctance to tour. He understood that a nearly man who had been chosen in the squad or as a travelling reserve in three World Cups, including the triumphant 2019 campaign on home soil, without playing a game had had enough of making up the numbers. Dawson was convinced he would yet again be on the sidelines in India and had no regrets about his decision even when he saw fellow slow left-armer Hartley take seven wickets on debut in England's win in Hyderabad. It could easily have been him. 'It's not something I want to be doing, running drinks at my age anymore,' said Dawson at the end of that winter. 'I was really happy with what I chose.' But things began to change when Brendon McCullum took over as England white-ball coach and lured Dawson out of international exile by including him in the three-match T20 series against West Indies this summer. McCullum had seen Dawson surpass even his 2023 season in domestic cricket last year when he passed 50 wickets in the County Championship for the first time and, for good measure, scored 956 runs for Hampshire at an average of just under 60. He wanted him back in the set-up for a reasonably low-key series so he could have a closer look. Advertisement McCullum liked what he saw and, having seen Dawson take four for 20 in the first match against West Indies in Durham, decided he would be the next spinner in line for a Test place ahead of the centrally-contracted Leach and Ahmed. It took an injury to Bashir, who broke a finger during England's victory at Lord's, for Dawson's comeback to be complete, England making a pragmatic selection for the fourth Test that went against their Bazball instincts and gave hope to all county achievers. 'I've known Daws for a long time,' said England captain Ben Stokes before a match where England can wrap up this series against India with a game to play. 'I know the cricketer he is and what goes under the radar is his competitiveness. He has earned this call-up on the back of all his hard work at Hampshire and around the world in various leagues. He's a quality cricketer and a very, very competitive one.' As Dawson showed when he finally got the red ball in his hand again. Stokes had kept him waiting until the 39th over for his first bowl against India in Test cricket since his debut at the end of 2016 in Chennai when the hosts rattled up 759 for seven and Dawson took two for 129. Dawson quickly made up for lost time when he had Jaiswal playing for turn that was not there from a left-arm spinner who relies more on control and drift than sharp movement and edged to Harry Brook at slip. Cue that run of delight for Dawson closely followed by his team-mates. Liam Dawson takes his FIRST Test wicket in eight years! 🏴🙌 — Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 23, 2025 That control has largely been lacking from England's spinner since Stokes and McCullum decided Bashir had the qualities to succeed in Australia this winter and vowed to give him an extended run in the side despite his inexperience. Dawson had it in his first spell of 7-0-21-1 and continued to probe away while Stokes was able to attack with his seamers, keeping his head when Shubman Gill twice tried to get after him and when Rishabh Pant hit him just wide of Stokes at mid-off. He finished with figures of one for 45 from 15 overs as India moved to 264 for four, Pant being forced to retire hurt and head to hospital for a scan after suffering a nasty blow on the foot from Chris Woakes. 'I'd said to a few people that, the age I was at, I probably thought Test cricket had gone but to be back involved is really cool and I've got to enjoy each day I get,' said Dawson. 'Test cricket is completely different to domestic level so getting that wicket was a great release. 'I knew what to expect coming back a second time. I'm probably more consistent now and understand pitches a little more. I've bowled a lot of overs the last few years and I feel I'm a better bowler than I was. But it's one wicket. I've done nothing special. Tomorrow is a big day.' Advertisement They may be tidy rather than outstanding figures but there is no doubt England look stronger with the all-round package of Dawson in their team ahead of the callow Bashir. The question is whether he does enough in Manchester and in the final Test at the Oval to convince England to change their Ashes plans. And if Bashir remains first choice in Australia, Dawson could face the dilemma of deciding whether he is prepared to travel as reserve to potentially carry the drinks again. For now Dawson is back doing what he never thought he would be again. And that is cause for celebration for England and all those in county cricket who felt Bazball had passed them by. Click here to read more cricket stories on The Athletic, and follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
County cricket: frustrated fans left hanging for T20 Blast quarter-finals
Narrative, character and jeopardy are the great drivers of engagement whether on stage, screen or in sports. I started this column in 2011 (reporting on a Warwickshire's middle order that comprised Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Muhammad Yousuf) to retain a grip on those elements of the annual county cricket story, a task made more difficult every year. The Blast, having reached the end of its group stage (there must be a better way of marking that?) now gives way to three different domestic cricket competitions before it returns with the quarter-finals in September. Blasts worthy of the name don't usually peter out for six weeks. How can a narrative, so wilfully vandalised, be expected to survive that? Which characters will be back and which will be gone? And how will the jeopardy, the thrilling sense of facing the next challenge en route to glory, with defeat just a wicket or a boundary away, be revived in the hearts of supporters? Much of the media response to the splendid series between England and India has focused on the canvas five Tests provide for these core elements of drama, so why neglect them so carelessly in county cricket's flagship competition? There might not have been much riding on the match at Trent Bridge between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire – but only if you're looking at it as a dead rubber. With the injury to Shoaib Bashir and the call up of 35-year-old Liam Dawson, the ever-popular parlour game 'who should be England's spinner?' was back in town, with Farhan Ahmed's name gaining mentions. It was good timing for the 17-year-old to nip in with a fivefer and an eye-catching hat-trick to boot, especially as Jos Buttler was looking on from the dugout. Lancashire – who had already qualified for the quarter-finals, where they will join Durham, Birmingham Bears and Northamptonshire from their group – soon had Notts in trouble chasing a mere 127 for the win. Tom Moores walked to the crease at 14 for four, but hammered 75 off 42 balls, dismissed going for the winning run with overs and wickets in hand. Tom and his father Peter (now head coach at Trent Bridge) both have plenty of history with Lancashire so it was not 'just another game' – even if players always claim it is. Timing means a lot in life. Sometimes it's a matter of luck, sometimes it's a seizing of opportunity, sometimes it's good planning. Often it's a bit of all three. In the South Group, Kent – who had failed to win their last seven Championship matches and had won only five of their 12 Blast matches – took on basement dwellers Middlesex and Essex. Despite their poor form, they knew that two wins might help them squeeze past Glamorgan and Sussex, whose seasons hit the buffers just at the wrong time. Middlesex captain Leus du Plooy could not find a partner as his team limped to 160 for five at Canterbury, a target first stalked by opener Tawanda Muyeye then destroyed by Sam Billings, who turned back the clock with a boundary blitz. Next up were Essex, whose season is proving as moribund as Middlesex's, with the exception that they had roused themselves to successive wins once they knew their own hopes of a quarter-final berth were gone. At home again (see what I mean about timing?) Kent were set a slightly stiffer target, but Muyeye got them off to a good start and then hung around for a good middle with Harry Finch, before Billings swanned out like Janet Webb at end of the Morecambe and Wise Show to accept the applause. If only the knockout s started this week, we'd be talking about momentum, but I'm not sure we can. The outstanding batter of the competition is probably Derbyshire's mighty Welshman, the 'sixy and he knows it' Aneurin Donald, but even his efforts were not enough to avoid his county picking up the wooden spoon in the North Group. I recall a popular metric in the early days of T20 cricket that suggested the effectiveness of a batter was best evaluated by adding the average to the strike rate. On that metric, the closest to Donald's absurd 250 is Surrey's Will Jacks' 215, all the more laudable for his scoring 500 runs in just 10 matches. It's 13 months since Jacks played in any format for England, but he holds a one-year central contract and he might play again in preparation for the T20 World Cup next year in India and Sri Lanka. In between, he'll make good money on the franchise circuit and, at 26, has a decade or more to play in lots of countries and for lots of teams. Can't be a bad life can it? Well … That said, I wonder if he feels like he really belongs anywhere. Probably at the Oval, where he grew up. But one wonders if the 'guns for hire' franchise players miss the camaraderie that old players always seemed to value. Jacks has represented 13 teams; I wonder if even he can recall all their names, never mind those of his teammates. But I bet he knows his agent well. Northamptonshire, like Kent, will be outsiders in the quarter-finals. They are stocked with gnarled old pros, a casting director's dream were they tasked with recreating a Lancashire League match played on a windswept field in the lee of a barren fell, set in 1954. There's Luke Procter (37), Ravi Bopara (40), David Willey (35) and Ben Sanderson (36), with the latter three ever-present and Procter playing 12 of 14 matches. Sanderson is alone in that quartet in not being an all-rounder, but he's as crafty a seamer as they come – what you would expect of a Yorkie in his 18th season as a professional. He didn't take a single wicket in the last four matches of the group stage but that's not really what Sanderson is about, despite still finishing third on the wickets table behind Riley Meredith and Hasan Ali. Among seamers who bowled 50 overs, only David Payne did so at a better economy rate. Sanderson is a purveyor of control in the midst of chaos, a bowler who knows what to bowl and when – and he has the temperament to deliver under pressure. There's no long list of franchises scattered across the globe on his profile, but very few captains would not want him in their side come the white-ball season in England. Do you want to work less for the same or more money? Would your life be better if you had more time to yourself and more rest? Who is going to say 'no' to any of these questions? Unsurprisingly, not the Professional Cricketers Association. The word 'welfare' is mentioned seven times in the press release issued by the PCA urging reform of the current domestic calendar. One conjures thoughts of cricketers giving up the game to work on A&E wards for a less stressful life. That's not to say the schedule couldn't be more sympathetic to players. It could certainly be smarter – travelling from a floodlit T20 finish to an immediate afternoon start is plainly ridiculous – but how many crickets play every match, early April to late September? Indeed, with a lighter schedule, squads could be reduced as fewer players would be required. Would less cricket mean lower pay for fewer players? Interest parties – players, counties, franchises, administrators, governing bodies and the media – will act in their own interest, framing debates, driving agendas, levering influence. Who will do that for the fans? This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
1News
15-07-2025
- Sport
- 1News
Windies narrowly avoid lowest Test total in Aus thumping
Mitchell Starc has produced one of the all-time great bowling spells and Scott Boland taken a hat-trick as Australia bowled West Indies out for 27 to win the third Test. On a historic day in Jamaica, Australia's quicks ran riot to wrap up a 176-run victory and claim a 3-0 series sweep of the Frank Worrell Trophy. Chasing 204 for victory, West Indies' fourth innings lasted just 14.3 overs and only marginally eclipsed the lowest ever Test total of 26 by New Zealand in 1955. Boland's became just the 10th Australian to claim a Test hat-trick, but it was Starc who ripped the heart out of the hosts with figures of 6-9. Starc took three wickets in the first over of West Indies' second innings and claimed five in 15 balls to, at one stage, have them 5-7. ADVERTISEMENT Playing in his 100th Test, Starc also became the fourth Australian to reach the 400-wicket milestone, joining greats Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Nathan Lyon. Starc's 15-ball five-wicket haul marked the fastest by any bowler in Test history, beating Ernie Toshack from 1947, Stuart Broad's 2015 Trent Bridge effort and Scott Boland's MCG heroics of 2021. Each of those took 19 balls. Starc also became the second man to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings, striking when he had John Campbell caught behind first ball. He then trapped Kevlon Anderson lbw when the right-hander left a ball that tailed in at him, before bowling Brandon King with the last ball of the over. Starc's assault carried into his third over, claiming his 400th Test scalp with another ball that swung into Mikyle Louis' back pad. Shai Hope followed two balls later, again trapped lbw. ADVERTISEMENT At that point Starc had figures of 5-2, with the only runs off him coming via the outside edge of Hope's bat and through the slips. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including Trump's deadline for Russia, legal action against a supermarket giant, and an unusual marathon record. (Source: Breakfast) Starc could have had a sixth victim, had Sam Konstas not grassed two chances at third slip to remove Alzarri Joseph either side of tea. But that opened the door for Boland's hat-trick. Called in for Nathan Lyon, the Victorian edged off Justin Greaves, had Shamar Joseph lbw and bowled Jomel Warrican in consecutive balls. The hat-trick marked Australia's first in a Test since Peter Siddle in the 2010-11 Ashes. In all, four of West Indies' top five were dismissed for ducks, with Louis the only one to trouble the scorers with a four when he edged Hazlewood to the boundary. ADVERTISEMENT Australia's record showing came after they appeared in danger of dropping the Test, when bowled out for 121 in their second innings.
