T20 World Cup: Who are the outsiders looking to shout Howzat? October 14, 2021 Sunday will see the first over of the seventh Twenty20 World Cup bowled in Oman. The Middle Eastern state, co-hosting the competition with the United Arab Emirates, feature in a preliminary round-robin set of fixtures in which four sides will earn spots against the bigger nations in the next stage, the Super12. The preliminary round [...]
County cricket will return to two divisions in 2022 October 14, 2021 County Cricket in England and Wales will return to a two division structure after using a conference system during the Covid-19 pandemic. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed the news following discussions with the 18 counties that currently play first-class cricket. Division One will consist of 10 teams, while Division Two will feature [...]
Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks diagnosed with cancer October 13, 2021 Wales and Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks has been diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma and will begin treatment next week. The 24-year-old Championship player said: “Although this has come as a shock to myself and my family, the prognosis is a positive one and I am confident that I will make a full recovery and [...]
Indian Premier League gives England cause for concern ahead of T20 World Cup October 13, 2021 The Indian Premier League is one of the best proving grounds in Twenty20 cricket; perhaps the perfect competition for some of England’s stars to find form before the T20 World Cup begins on Sunday. Since the IPL’s return, in the latter weeks of September, seven English players have featured in the competition’s group stage. But [...]
Steve Borthwick has Leicester Tigers roaring once more October 12, 2021 Not since 2011 have Leicester Tigers finished a season at the top of the Premiership table, but four games into the new campaign that is where they are currently sitting pretty. Having been mainstays in the coveted top four places for more than a decade, the Tigers slipped out in 2018 and haven’t been back [...]
Ashes: England pick best available squad for tour to Australia October 10, 2021 After uncertainty surrounding whether the Ashes tour to Australia would go ahead, England head coach Chris Silverwood is confident that the squad he named yesterday can cause an upset on the Baggy Greens’ soil. Barring players who are unavailable through injury and choice, Silverwood has picked the best available squad for the tour, which will [...]
Opinion: Nigel Wray deserves credit after building Saracens’ dynasty October 5, 2021 Empires fall and dynasties cease, but one thing remains when you’ve done something right or simply left your mark: legacy. Nigel Wray, the outgoing majority stakeholder of Saracens, has ensured that; and rugby, on balance, is better for it. Saracens announced at the weekend that, 26 years after he began backing the north London club, [...]
Tom Lawday on his journey to success with Harlequins October 5, 2021 The route to silverware is rarely straightforward and Tom Lawday’s journey to becoming a Premiership champion was anything but. Harlequins back-row forward Lawday spent two years playing in New Zealand as a teenager before sampling university rugby at Exeter, where he was player of the season. He then joined Exeter Chiefs, making 22 appearances, before [...]
World Rugby’s 15 minute contact limit: the solution to injury fears or too simplistic? October 4, 2021 Rugby’s physically demanding nature has seen the sport’s organisers implement advanced concussion policies and a science-based approach to medicine, but they are about to go further. World Rugby, the game’s international governing body, last month issued the recommendation that players be limited to 15 minutes of full-contact training per week, across a maximum of two [...]
Premiership: Five things we’ve learned as the east Midlands rise again October 4, 2021 The east Midlands are on the rugby rise again and more clubs than ever are competing for European places, here are five things we learned from this weekend’s Premiership action. The east Midlands heartlands are back The east Midlands duo of Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints now occupy the top two Premiership spots. The pair [...]