Archive June 13, 2025

England opener Tammy Beaumont struck 81 from 44 balls to help The Blaze beat Durham and stay unbeaten in the Women’s T20 Blast.

Beaumont gave her side a rapid start to a chase of 189 before Heather Graham’s 34no in 21 deliveries brought them home with an over to spare at 190-3.

Earlier, New Zealander Suzie Bates made 77 from 58 balls to help Durham post 188-5 but it proved not enough.

At Chester-le-Street, opener Bates hit 12 fours for the hosts and shared a stand of 73 with Mady Villiers, who made 36 from 24 balls.

The pair led their side to 80-2 in the 10th over before wicketkeeper Bess Heath hit six boundaries in amassing 45 runs from 27 balls to lift Durham to a decent total.

Despite losing Marie Kelly in the first over of the chase, The Blaze were always up to their task, largely thanks to a Beaumont innings featuring 11 fours and three sixes.

They needed 14 runs from the final 12 balls but Graham took consecutive fours off Lauren Filer before Georgia Elwiss (24no) struck the winning boundary.

By contrast, Somerset are bottom of the standings after a fourth defeat in five games.

They lost the toss at Taunton and struggled to 132-7, Alex Griffiths top-scoring from number seven with 27 from 18 balls.

Lancashire’s chase was well on course with an opening stand of 60 in nine overs but Charlie Dean changed the game as she took 4-9 from her four overs.

Betfred Super League

Hull FC (6) 14

Tries: Barron, Martin 2 Goals: Sezer

Castleford (12) 22

Castleford Tigers earned a fourth Super League win of the season after surviving a late rally to beat Hull FC at the MKM Stadium.

Tries from Innes and Louis Senior either side of Harvey Barron’s score put the Tigers in control.

Further scores from Daejarn Asi and Tom Amone appeared to put Castleford out of sight.

Castleford made a flying start inside four minutes, through Innes Senior’s try in the corner.

A lengthy check from video referee James Vella confirmed he had not gone in to touch, as Rowan Milnes converted from a tight angle.

Less than 10 minutes later, Hull hit back with their first meaningful attack. Yusuf Aydin broke through before being held up yards short from the line as Cade Cust found Barron in the corner.

Louis Senior shrugged off four Hull defenders to power through and score and regain his side’s lead on 23 minutes, exposing a soft centre in the home side’s backline.

Innes Senior and Barron both denied each other certain tries with last-ditch tackles in the corner at either end with the half-time hooter looming.

Hull started the second half with purpose and sensed an opportunity to restore parity again, but were denied a try for offside and then again by more excellent Castleford defending on the line.

But it was the visitors who added to their lead. Asi pierced through Hull’s back line yards from the line. Suddenly, Castleford’s lead was 12 points, after another successful Milnes kick.

Victory appeared secure when Amone powered over the line next to the posts, compounding a miserable night for Hull, which was littered by mistakes.

Hull FC: Rapana; Barrow, Briscoe, Litten, Martin; Cust, Sezer; Ese’ese, Bourouh, Knight, Hardaker, Chamberlain, Aydin

Interchanges: Ashworth, Balmforth, Laidlaw, Eseh; Charles

Castleford: Cini; Simm, L. Senior, Wood, I. Senior; Asi, Milnes; Amone, Horne, Singleton, Lawler, Mellor, Atkin

Interchanges: Westerman, Griffin, Hall, Hill; Okoro

New British men’s 5,000m record-holder George Mills says beating Sir Mo Farah’s long-standing benchmark shows he “can be in the mix with the best” racers in the world and compete for major championship success.

Mills finished fourth in an extremely quick race at the Diamond League event in Oslo, but clocked 12 minutes 46.59 seconds to beat Sir Mo Farah’s previous UK best of 12:53.11 which had stood for 14 years.

As well as knocking more than six seconds off the British record, Mills also beat his personal best by more than 12 seconds.

For George, this record represents a huge boost after missing the World Indoor Championships with a virus.

But he said he was now firmly back on track, with his eyes on the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

“This is the best result of my career,” he said, speaking exclusively to BBC Sport from Stockholm where he competes in the next leg of the Diamond League on Sunday.

“I’ve got a couple of European silvers, but this means we’re on the right track and can be in the mix with the best.”

After missing the 2025 World Indoors in Nanjing in March, Mills and his team had focused on 1500m races so as to avoid tiring him out over longer distances.

Fully fresh, Mills said this was the first 5,000m race he had attempted to “time trial” for 18 months – and it paid off.

“I compete over 1500m and 5,000m, and with 5,000m you need to be more selective with races as it is so taxing on the body,” he said. “Eight laps makes a big difference.

Despite breaking the record, when meeting with his family after the race George was reminded by his younger brother – Oxford United footballer Stanley Mills – that he had only finished fourth.

“We’re all like that,” George said with a smile of his high-achieving sporting family. “When you achieve something like that, you can always do something better.”

According to his father, George has always had the drive and goal-orientated mindset to keep achieving more.

Danny Mills – who won 19 England caps and played at the 2002 World Cup – said being from a family which had never settled after success was playing a part in his son’s improvement.

“He’s grown up in that world, seen how I was, and you don’t always understand what kids take in,” Mills senior told BBC Sport.

“It’s a family where you don’t rest on your laurels. His success is brilliant, but brief, and you have to keep working hard.”

Even so, former Leeds and Manchester City defender Mills acknowledged that obliterating a record set by multiple Olympic gold winner Farah was something special.

“To eclipse a record that has stood for 14 years, breaking the record of a world legend like Mo Farah, that is very special,” he said.

“It was a fantastic night in Oslo – we travel the world, we don’t miss many events as a family.

“We always get to see him post-race, sometimes we have to wait a long time, as he has his warm down and drugs testing to do. We waited up, and saw him after midnight.”

While Mills was caught by Nico Young of the United States in the final 400m, after he led at the bell, his performance laid down a marker in a race which turned into an assault on the world record set by Joshua Cheptegei in 2020.