Archive June 3, 2025

Beginning on Tuesday, traffic in England became sluggish.

Jamie Smith was in charge of preventing any potential for them to grind to a halt in the interim.

A freewheeling Smith, who followed a duck in Cardiff with an electric 64 from 28 balls, gave the team that arrived at The Oval on e-bikes after traffic issues in London the boost they needed to win the series.

After the seven-wicket win, Smith, 24, said, “I wanted to push out my chest a little and say that I’m good enough to open the batting.”

On the surface, England’s choice to use Smith as the series opener is straight out of the script from the Brendon McCullum era of English cricket.

Smith was the obvious choice in reality despite regular 50-over openers Will Jacks and Tom Banton initially appearing to be the team’s front-runners; after all, he is Bazball’s favorite son.

In India in 2024, Ben Foakes performed well, but Smith was replaced by Smith in England’s opening Test.

After scoring 70 on his debut and 95 in his third Test, Smith’s performance was encouraging.

There were already suggestions that he should take a job after making his first Test century against Sri Lanka, which Old Trafford- England’s Test number three.

Although Jacob Bethell’s emergence has put that one on hold, Smith was unavoidably called back when McCullum became England’s white-ball coach in September.

Before incumbent Phil Salt was shown the door, Captain Harry Brook made it clear that McCullum was considering opening for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan last week.

Before the series, Brook and Baz said, “We think Smudge might be an unbelievable white-ball opener.”

Brook has started to sound like a jammed cassette when identifying his ideal batter since taking the job, which is not to be criticised.

He has said it repeatedly from Leeds to London, “We want batters who can put their best balls under pressure.”

In the third ODI, Smith could have done it much better.

The Surrey academy graduate scored 20 runs with a strike-rate of at least 200 on a “good length” under the lights at his cricketing home. His bat bat counterparts managed 56 runs off 71 balls in the match against these deliveries.

England is enthralled by Smith because he is only 24 years old and has all of the restrictions of his international career, which include knowing that he can presumably do it all at his best.

He drives through the covers with ease and has a technically strong defense. He can pick the ball off a length and deposit it over midwicket, as he did on Tuesday.

“He’s not a slogger, is he?” He’s playing the right shots, Brook succinctly stated.

England are aware of the value of an opening partnership if Jos Buttler’s final 18 months as captain’s successor are to succeed.

Without Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow’s setting platforms that would have been too big for the 1970s, none of that would have been possible without Buttler’s fireworks and Joe Root’s calmness, which Eoin Morgan’s World Cup-winning team had had.

Under McCullum’s leadership, England’s best performances in tests have always been based on significant opening partnerships, whether it has been in Rawalpindi, The Oval, or Edgbaston.

Similar to Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley’s assault on the red ball, Duckett and Smith attack the white like they are competing in different sports.

Technically speaking, Duckett’s average interception point against seamers is 1.77 meters, 33 cm behind Smith’s.

While Smith tries to hit boundaries in the right field, left-hander Duckett has only 18% of his career runs against pacers in the “V.”

An ideal sounding board would be needed in McCullum, who has a coach who opened 107 times in ODIs and did so in a New Zealand side that reached the World Cup final.

Smith has largely been left to make his own plans during his first week in charge, as one might expect from England’s relaxed style.

Brook remarked, “He knows how to bat.”

He has played for periods in Test cricket, as I have stated so many times before.

Everyone is eager to see how he fares and he’s going to have a good time at it at the top of one-day cricket.

Beginning on Tuesday, traffic in England became sluggish.

Jamie Smith was in charge of preventing any potential for them to grind to a halt in the interim.

A freewheeling Smith, who followed a duck in Cardiff with an electric 64 from 28 balls, gave the team that arrived at The Oval on e-bikes after traffic issues in London the boost they needed to win the series.

After the seven-wicket win, Smith, 24, said, “I wanted to push out my chest a little and say that I’m good enough to open the batting.”

On the surface, England’s choice to use Smith as the series opener is straight out of the script from the Brendon McCullum era of English cricket.

Smith was the obvious choice in reality despite regular 50-over openers Will Jacks and Tom Banton initially appearing to be the team’s front-runners; after all, he is Bazball’s favorite son.

In India in 2024, Ben Foakes performed well, but Smith was replaced by Smith in England’s opening Test.

After scoring 70 on his debut and 95 in his third Test, Smith’s performance was encouraging.

There were already suggestions that he should take a job after making his first Test century against Sri Lanka, which Old Trafford- England’s Test number three.

Although Jacob Bethell’s emergence has put that one on hold, Smith was unavoidably called back when McCullum became England’s white-ball coach in September.

Before incumbent Phil Salt was shown the door, Captain Harry Brook made it clear that McCullum was considering opening for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan last week.

Before the series, Brook and Baz said, “We think Smudge might be an unbelievable white-ball opener.”

Brook has started to sound like a jammed cassette when identifying his ideal batter since taking the job, which is not to be criticised.

He has said it repeatedly from Leeds to London, “We want batters who can put their best balls under pressure.”

In the third ODI, Smith could have done it much better.

The Surrey academy graduate scored 20 runs with a strike-rate of at least 200 on a “good length” under the lights at his cricketing home. His bat bat counterparts managed 56 runs off 71 balls in the match against these deliveries.

England is enthralled by Smith because he is only 24 years old and has all of the restrictions of his international career, which include knowing that he can presumably do it all at his best.

He drives through the covers with ease and has a technically strong defense. He can pick the ball off a length and deposit it over midwicket, as he did on Tuesday.

“He’s not a slogger, is he?” He’s playing the right shots, Brook succinctly stated.

England are aware of the value of an opening partnership if Jos Buttler’s final 18 months as captain’s successor are to succeed.

Without Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow’s setting platforms that would have been too big for the 1970s, none of that would have been possible without Buttler’s fireworks and Joe Root’s calmness, which Eoin Morgan’s World Cup-winning team had had.

Under McCullum’s leadership, England’s best performances in tests have always been based on significant opening partnerships, whether it has been in Rawalpindi, The Oval, or Edgbaston.

Similar to Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley’s assault on the red ball, Duckett and Smith attack the white like they are competing in different sports.

Technically speaking, Duckett’s average interception point against seamers is 1.77 meters, 33 cm behind Smith’s.

While Smith tries to hit boundaries in the right field, left-hander Duckett has only 18% of his career runs against pacers in the “V.”

An ideal sounding board would be needed in McCullum, who has a coach who opened 107 times in ODIs and did so in a New Zealand side that reached the World Cup final.

Smith has largely been left to make his own plans during his first week in charge, as one might expect from England’s relaxed style.

Brook remarked, “He knows how to bat.”

He has played for periods in Test cricket, as I have stated so many times before.

Everyone is eager to see how he fares and he’s going to have a good time at it at the top of one-day cricket.

Gabby Thomas, a three-time Olympian champion, is the subject of an investigation by Grand Slam Track over the weekend at a meet in Philadelphia.

The American sprinter claimed on Monday that a man had followed her around the track before insulting her as she signed autographs for fans.

In a later post, Thomas, 28, wrote, “Honestly, the heckling is tolerateable; it’s following me around the stadium that’s crazy.”

She continued, “anyone who allows him online is disgusting.”

A man responded to a previous Thomas post by sharing a video of him heckling the sprinter at the 200-meter start, where he was eluded by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, and claimed the outcome helped him win a bet.

“I heckled Gabby, and I made her lose.” And it won, he wrote.

The event’s organizers stated in a statement to The Athletic that “Grand Slam Track is conducting a thorough investigation into the reproachable behavior that was documented on video.

We are looking for the person responsible and will take appropriate action as needed.

Gabby Thomas, a three-time Olympian champion, is the subject of an investigation by Grand Slam Track over the weekend at a meet in Philadelphia.

The American sprinter claimed on Monday that a man had followed her around the track before insulting her as she signed autographs for fans.

In a later post, Thomas, 28, wrote, “Honestly, the heckling is tolerateable; it’s following me around the stadium that’s crazy.”

She continued, “anyone who allows him online is disgusting.”

A man responded to a previous Thomas post by sharing a video of him heckling the sprinter at the 200-meter start, where he was eluded by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, and claimed the outcome helped him win a bet.

“I heckled Gabby, and I made her lose.” And it won, he wrote.

The event’s organizers stated in a statement to The Athletic that “Grand Slam Track is conducting a thorough investigation into the reproachable behavior that was documented on video.

We are looking for the person responsible and will take appropriate action as needed.

Huge-name retirements, a stunning display against Portugal before being overshadowed by Spain days later. Has England’s week been a positive or negative experience?

After two testing matches in the Women’s Nations League, Sarina Wiegman’s team arrived in Switzerland to prepare to defend their European title in the following month.

After goalkeeper Mary Earps announced her shock international retirement and key defender Millie Bright withdrew from the squad to concentrate on her mental and physical well-being, manager Wiegman had her hands full.

Hannah Hampton was increasingly more likely to take the top spot, according to Paris St-Germain stopper Earps, who had fallen down the pecking order.

However, Wiegman acknowledged that Earps would have made a valuable addition to the Euros squad and that her choice had been “hard.”

As England prepared to face Portugal, the news caused a significant turnback, putting pressure on Hampton and raising concerns about the squad’s morale.

They thrash Portugal in front of a jubilant crowd at Wembley, and the outcome was admirable and emphatic.

Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood, and Georgia Stanway all got minutes after recovering from knee surgery, while Aggie Beever-Jones brilliantly capped the England attack’s depth with a brilliant hat-trick.

Even though their week did not come off well as a top Spain side fought back in style to advance to the Nations League semi-finals with a 2-1 victory, those positive signs cannot be forgotten.

Anita Asante, a former England defender, stated to ITV that the most crucial thing is that the right players receive the necessary preparation before the Euros.

Former Lionesses midfielder Karen Carney commented, “It’s great we got Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood in shape.”

It’s a good position for them if we get them back fighting. I’m confident that England will advance through the group stages.

Carney acknowledged that England had to “perform” in the second half when Wiegman tried to bring some of her underclassmen into the hands of world-class players.

Just before midfielder Fran Kirby announced her international retirement, she names her Euros squad for the week and makes her senior debut Missy Bo Kearns, caps a giddy week for the Dutchwoman.

Carney added that “sometimes you have to go through these moments because the bigger picture for the summer is giving the players the minutes they need.”

“We felt disconnected and the changes in the second half really hampered England.” Because Wiegman has a lot to learn, it is a positive.

The England boss echoed that sentiment, saying she was unconcerned and could take advantage of the defeat to Spain as another “learning moment.”

However, despite the obvious positives, most notably Portugal’s performance following such a disruptive build-up, the second-half display in Spain’s defeat demonstrated that they still have work to do.

They don’t have much time to get up to speed because France, the Netherlands, and Wales are waiting for them during the Euros’ group stages.

Many people believe that Spain will be the favorite to win the tournament, and they will undoubtedly pose one of England’s biggest challenges in the process.

The second-half dominance of Montse Tome’s side and constant pressure on them would have been unsettling, and Claudia Pina should have had more goals than the two.

On BBC Radio 5 Live, former England international Lindsay Johnson declared, “It’s back to the drawing board against our old rival Spain.”

England “looked confident in that low block” in the first half, and they made the transition to Spain.

“In the second half, England really lost ground, Spain really stepped up their game, and England was unable to escape Spain.” They were “chasing shadows”

Captain Leah Williamson acknowledged how difficult it has been for her side to perform recently away from home.

The Lionesses’ Women’s Nations League campaign has been inconsistent.

In Portugal, they were held to a 1-1 draw before losing to Spain at Wembley a few days later in February. They defeated Belgium 5-0 at home in April, before falling 3-2 in Leuven.

It’s the new England, we’ve been saying it’s been saying for a long time. So we also wanted to try various things, Williamson said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

You have seen very good sides of us, but there was more inconsistency than we like. They represent the levels we must continue to strive for, with the goal of being prepared [for the Euros].

We would have liked to win [versus Spain] in my opinion. That would have greatly improved our sense of self-assurance, outlook, and general mood.

“But we still have a lot of work to do.” I prefer to have a lesson now than in a month, as we always say.