Rob Smyth's Blog, page 84

England v New Zealand: third women’s ODI – as it happened

Lea Tahuhu and Maddy Green starred as New Zealand kept the series alive with a nervy three-wicket victory at Leicester

Review! Loud appeals as Tahuhu’s delivery hits Beaumont on the front pad, but the on-field umpire is unimpressed. New Zealand sent it upstairs, and there’s heavy breathing from the TV umpire, who sounds like he’s just had to sprint from the gents. Happily his job is straightforward: it looks out, and it’s swiftly demonstrated that it is out.

2nd over: England 6-0 (Winfield-Hill 4, Beaumont 1) Sophie Devine’s over starts with a wide, and ends with a single flicked down the leg side.

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Valencia 1-2 Real Madrid: La Liga – as it happened

Real Madrid went top of La Liga after Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema scored late goals to steal all three points and shatter Valencia

7 min Real have their first spell of possession. A stinging shot from Valverde is blocked unwittingly by Hazard, then Casemiro shoots wide from 20 yards.

3 min Valencia have made a lively start, pressing Madrid high up the field. Hugo Duro has started on the left, as expected, though he might switch with Guedes as the game progresses.

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West Ham 1-2 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened

David de Gea saved an injury-time penalty from Mark Noble, who came on just to take it, and ensured Jesse Lingard’s spectacular goal was the winner

Jadon Sancho is on the bench today. Have Manchester United bought a dud? No, behave yourself.

“I was fortunate enough to watch United against Tottenham several times when Greaves and my hero, Denis Law , were both on the field,” writes David Gaskell. “The excitement was electric. However, I seem to recall that Greavesie, like Bobby Charlton was a very fair player and was cautioned. Denis, on the other hand, presumably because of defective eyesight, could often catch the opposition with a misplaced tackle. Can anyone confirm that Jimmy was virtually spotless?”

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Aston Villa 3-0 Everton: Premier League – as it happened

The substitute Leon Bailey inspired a rousing victory for Aston Villa, with all three goals coming in a delirious ten-minute spell

Sky are also suggesting Everton will play 4-2-3-1, with Demarai Gray as the No10. We’ll soon find out.

The Premier League results so far

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Wolves 0-2 Brentford: Premier League – as it happened

A masterclass in centre-forward play from Ivan Toney helped Brentford continue their impressive start to life in the Premier League

9 min: Toney has a goal disallowed! It was a nice finish, steered into the net off the far post, but Mbuemo was offside in the build up. Play was allowed to continue until Toney scored, and then the flag went up. VAR confirmed it was the right decision.

7 min Traore skins Ajer on the left edge of the area but then runs into trouble. Wolves keep the ball alive until Moutinho clips a cross straight into the arms of David Raya.

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England beat New Zealand by 30 runs: first women’s ODI – as it happened

An excellent 89 from Heather Knight and some tight new-ball bowling set England up for a narrow victory at Bristol

6th over: England 34-0 (Winfield-Hill 15, Beaumont 15) Four more to Beaumont, scrunched through the covers on one knee when Kerr overpitches. She looks of a mind to continue her outstanding record against New Zealand.

5th over: England 30-0 (Winfield-Hill 15, Beaumont 11) Devine’s radar has been slightly askew. She started her previous over with a wide and begins this with three in four balls. It doesn’t end particularly well either, with Winfeld-Hill skimming another lovely drive past extra cover for four. This is becoming a really good start for England.

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England beat New Zealand by 30 runs: first women’s one-day international – live!

An excellent 89 from Heather Knight and some tight new-ball bowling set England up for a narrow victory at Bristol

6th over: England 34-0 (Winfield-Hill 15, Beaumont 15) Four more to Beaumont, scrunched through the covers on one knee when Kerr overpitches. She looks of a mind to continue her outstanding record against New Zealand.

5th over: England 30-0 (Winfield-Hill 15, Beaumont 11) Devine’s radar has been slightly askew. She started her previous over with a wide and begins this with three in four balls. It doesn’t end particularly well either, with Winfeld-Hill skimming another lovely drive past extra cover for four. This is becoming a really good start for England.

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Manchester City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Women’s Super League – as it happened

A controversial own goal from the City keeper Karima Benameur Taieb gave Spurs a memorable victory in a dramatic match at the Academy Stadium

City take the lead from their first corner. It was such a simple goal: Greenwood, on the right, curled it to the near post, where the criminally unmarked Hemp looped a header into the far corner.

4 min Beckie moves elegantly away from Neville on the right and puts in a low cross that is cleared at the near post.

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The Joy of Six: Leeds United v Liverpool Premier League meetings

A look at classics from a Tony Yeboah special in 1995 to a symbolic defeat for David O’Leary in 2002

What’s your favourite: Liverpool or Wimbledon? Tony Yeboah won Goal of the Month in August and September 1995 for two screamers, at Elland Road and Selhurst Park, both scorched off the underside of the bar from distance. The Wimbledon goal, a manic, impromptu explosion of brilliance, has greater charisma and was the BBC’s Goal of the Season. But the goal against Liverpool involved a more difficult skill, volleying a ball that was dropping from the heavens.

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England v India fifth Test called off after Covid case – as it happened

The Old Trafford Test was cancelled shortly before 9am due to concerns among the Indian players about the Covid cases in their camp

Mike Atherton is talking on Sky Sports News. He’s pointing out that the elephant in the room here is the IPL, which is due to resume on Sunday week – only four days after what should have been the last day of this Test. And he reckons that decision of Chris Broad’s that I mentioned just now will be subject to a lot of negotiation. He’s not in any doubt about which way that negotiation will go. “I don’t think forfeiture will be the end result, for sure.”

And we still don’t know the final score in the series. It’s either 2-2, if this is a forfeit by India as the ECB originally said, or 2-1, if it’s “match abandoned”, as the ECB implied by withdrawing the word “forfeit” almost as soon as they’d uttered it. The latest suggestion is that that decision goes to the ICC match referee – Chris Broad, father of Stuart.

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