Rob Smyth's Blog, page 72

South Africa beat England by 58 runs to win second men’s T20 – as it happened

Rilee Rossouw pounded an unbeaten 96 as South Africa squared the series with an emphatic victory in Cardiff

3rd over: South Africa 32-0 (de Kock 14, Hendricks 16) There’s the first six, pulled elegantly over square leg by Hendricks off Curran. The next ball goes for four as well, flicked easily to fine leg.

I’m already starting to feel a bit punch drunk, trying to describe all these boundaries, so frick knows what it’s like to be the bowler. Thirteen from Curran’s second over.

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England beat South Africa by 41 runs: first T20 international – as it happened

Moeen Ali smashed an 18-ball fifty, England’s fastest in T20 cricket, in a spectacular runfest that included 29 sixes

2nd over: England 16-0 (Roy 4, Buttler 12) Kagiso Rabada shares the new ball. Roy, still searching for form, misses a hack on the run and survives an optimistic LBW appeal. Too high. But it’s a cracking over from Rabada, just three from it.

1st over: England 13-0 (Roy 2, Buttler 11) South Africa start with the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj, as they did in the ODIs against Jason Roy. He sweeps a single to get off the mark, and then Buttler gets a first-ball boundary after a misfield from Heinrich Klaasen in the covers.

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England 4-0 Sweden: Women’s Euro 2022 semi-final – as it happened

Alessia Russo scored an outrageous backheel as England roared into the final on a euphoric night at Bramall Lane

England (4-1-4-1) Earps; Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Daly; Walsh; Mead, Stanway, Kirby, Hemp; White.
Substitutes: Hampton, Roebuck, Greenwood, Carter, Stokes, Scott, Parris, Kelly, England, Toone, Wubben-Moy, Russo.

Sweden (4-2-3-1) Lindahl; Ilestedt, Sembrant, Eriksson, Glas; Angeldal, Bjorn; Jakobsson, Asllani, Rolfo; Blackstenius.
Substitutes: Falk, Musovic, Andersson, Nilden, Kullberg, Hurtig, Blomqvist, Seger, Rytting Kaneryd, Bennison.

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England complete dominant series win over South Africa – as it happened

The 17-year-old Freya Kemp bowled superbly on debut as England finished the multiformat series with another comfortable win

4th over: England 41-1 (Wyatt 12, Capsey 25) Chloe Tryon brings herself into the attack, and ruins an otherwise good over with a rank long hop that Wyatt launches over extra cover for four.

3rd over: England 34-1 (Wyatt 7, Capsey 23) An inswinger from the new bowler Ayabonga Khaka is tucked fine for four by Capsey, who has charged to 23 from 12 balls. This is her first innings for England, at the age of 17, and she’s batting like this. The phrase “I don’t understand the youth of today” doesn’t have to be a lament. Capsey’s batting is charming, infections and entirely alien.

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England v South Africa: third ODI abandoned after rain descends – as it didn’t happen

Disappointment all round as the deciding ODI at Headingley was called off with South Africa on 159-2

1st over: South Africa 5-0 (Malan 2, de Kock 3) Reece Topley has taken 11 for 76 in his last three ODIs, many of them with the new ball. It takes him a few deliveries to find his range, but his last is a jaffa that straightens past the outside edge of Quinton de Kock.

The players are out, and the in-form Reece Topley will bowl the first over.

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France 1-0 Netherlands: Périsset penalty knocks out defending champions – as it happened

France reached their first European Championship semi-final after finally breaking the Netherlands’ resistance in extra-time

2 min “Ah!” says Charles Antaki. “The director has found, early doors, the fan with the thing on her head which is either a curling stone or a round of cheese. The latter is probably more likely, given that she’s a Netherlands fan, but presumably there is some curling done on canals in the winter?”

You’re asking me? I am an expert in very few things, and canal curling is emphatically not one of them.

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Northeast scores 300 and Hants beat Gloucs in a hurry: county cricket – as it happened

The top three in Division One all won, while Sam Billings and Sam Northeast had us reaching for the record books

Gloucs v Hants

There’s a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms in Cheltenham, so Hampshire might have their work cut out taking the final six wickets (and knocking off however many runs they need).

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England 2-1 Spain (aet): Women’s Euro 2022 quarter-final – as it happened

The hosts were given an almighty scare before Georgia Stanway’s spectacular goal put them into the semi-finals

The Fiver’s big-match preview

Here’s Karen Carney on Spain’s strengths (and weaknesses)

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South Africa beat England by 62 runs in first one-day cricket international – as it happened

Ben Stokes’ ODI career ended quietly with bat and ball as England were well beaten by an impressive South Africa in Durham

4th over: South Africa 27-0 (Malan 14, de Kock 11) Just when he seemed to have got through his early nerves, Potts has a shocker. He hands Malan two friendly length balls, both driven for four, one past cover, the other straight. And then he follows up with a wide. When you play with a different ball, as Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow have shown in the past week, it’s suddenly a different ball game.

3rd over: South Africa 16-0 (Malan 5, de Kock 10) Sam Curran ties de Kock down well for four balls, then spoils it by giving him a freebie – a wide half-volley, duly despatched to the cover boundary. Kumar Sangakkara spots that the offside ring is not in the right place: “they need to be a triangle”.

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Iceland 1-1 France: Women’s Euro 2022 Group D – as it happened

Dagny Brynjarsdottir’s injury-time penalty was not enough for Iceland, who went out of the tournament despite not losing a game

1 min Peep peep! Iceland get the match under way. They’re in their stylish blue strip; France are wearing white.

The captains, Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir and Wendie Renard, embace warmly in the centre circle. It’s time for action.

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