Category News

Great Britain set a new world record at the Singapore World Para Swimming Championships by setting the women’s SM8 200m individual medley record-holder Brock Whiston, who also won gold in the women’s SM8 200m individual medley.

Whiston won the Paralympics a year ago with a season’s best time of two minutes, 40.25 seconds, which is five seconds slower than the world record she set in 2019.

The 28-year-old won silver in the 400-meter freestyle and bronze in the 100-meter butterfly at this year’s meet, putting together her medal collection.

“I felt like I had a lot of pressure on myself,” Whiston said.

No one else put pressure on me, but after winning gold in Paris, I merely wanted to come here and demonstrate that I deserved to be on the podium. I’m extremely happy and can’t stop smiling.

Later in the session, GB won the mixed S14 4x100m medley relay, claiming their 13th gold medal of the championships.

A record-breaking four minutes, 2.86 seconds was set by Australia at the 2023 championships by Poppy Maskill, Harry Stewart, Will Ellard, and Bethany Firth.

Before Ellard defeated Brazil in the 100-meter butterfly and Firth won the freestyle leg, Maskill and Stewart laid solid foundations for the team over the opening backstroke and breaststroke legs.

“I’m so happy,” I said! These guys are amazing, they’re so good to swim with, and Firth believes that we’re just setting the bar for the future.

With the format set to be introduced at the 2028 LA Paralympics, Ellard said, “We’ll try different things to keep aiming to get better and better]in this format.”

In the women’s S10 100m freestyle, Faye Rogers won her fourth medal of the week in Singapore by placing first overall in the British record book of 1.00.46.

Despite posting a lifetime best of 33.77 secs, Bruce Dee set a new national record but was unable to win a medal in the men’s SB6 100m breaststroke final by a tenth of a second, while 14-year-old Iona Winnifrith missed out on the podium in the women’s S7 50m freestyle.

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Trent Bridge (day three)

Warwickshire 258 & 133: Hain 42; Abbas 3-18, Hutton 3-30, Pennington 3-52

Nottinghamshire 374: Hameed 122, Verreynne 83; Bamber 3-59 & 20-0

Nottinghamshire (22pts) beat Warwickshire (4 pts) by 10 wickets

A day after collecting enough bonus points to put themselves out of reach of Surrey, newly-crowned county champions Nottinghamshire finished their season in style by completing a 10-wicket victory over Warwickshire with a day to spare.

With a first-innings lead of 116 giving their potent seam attack ample licence to attack in conditions still making batting difficult, Nottinghamshire dismissed Warwickshire for 133 in 54 overs.

Brett Hutton finished with 3-30 and Mohammad Abbas, in what may or may not be his last appearance for the county, took 3-18 to total 32 from nine matches, with Dillon Pennington lifting his tally to 28 with 3-52.

It left Nottinghamshire needing just 18 runs to complete the victory, which they achieved in just 22 deliveries, time enough for Ben Slater to score the 15 runs he needed to total 1,000 for the season before Haseeb Hameed won the match with a glorious cover drive off Nathan Gilchrist for four.

Hameed’s team won the title with 224 points, the skipper leading the way with the bat, totalling 1,258 runs.

Six Nottinghamshire bowlers took 26 wickets or more in the course of the season but none more than Hutton, leading wicket-taker with 38, seven of them in this match.

Having been on the ropes overnight, three down for seven in their second innings and still 109 behind, a Warwickshire side with only a slim chance of improving on fourth place in the Division One table might have been been rolled over even more rapidly under a cloudy sky on the third morning.

Nottinghamshire had been eager to start their full-blown Championship celebrations a day early after making sure of the title on Thursday.

As it was, Will Young was Warwickshire’s only casualty before lunch, falling into what looked like a trap laid by his former county as he clipped a ball from Abbas straight into the hands of Lyndon James at square leg.

Zen Malik took four boundaries in a single over against Pennington but rode his luck at other times, edging the same bowler between second and third slips before surviving a difficult caught-and-bowled chance to James on 16.

Warwickshire were 79-4 at the first break and there seemed a case for tossing Liam Patterson-White the ball to add some variety to Warwickshire’s diet but the left-arm spinner remained stationed in the slip cordon as Hameed kept faith with his seamers, justifiably as it turned out.

There was still something in the pitch, as Sam Hain discovered four overs into the afternoon, caught behind off a ball from James that left him enough to take the edge.

It felt like the key wicket for Nottinghamshire and one well deserved by all-rounder James for a consistently testing spell.

Yet it was Pennington who hastened Warwickshire’s demise in short order, taking three wickets in five balls in his 12th over of the innings.

He dismissed Malik leg before and had Ed Barnard caught behind from a lifting delivery that took the glove before benefitting from some good fortune as Michael Booth looked to have kept out his first ball before it rolled into the stumps, as a consequence of which Warwickshire were eight down and still 12 behind.

They managed to get their noses narrowly in front before Hutton finished them off, still finding movement to pin Tazeem Ali leg before and bowl Nathan Gilchrist, who shouldered arms to one that swung away and then jagged back to bowl him – handing the stage to Slater and Hameed to finish the job.

Notts assistant head coach Paul Franks:

“In 2010, we sort of stumbled over the line in the end after having played brilliantly in the first half of the season, whereas you’ve watched this team finish by winning three games out of three when it was really on the line and you knew the importance of each game.

“To watch these guys go from strength to strength in September is testament to the work they’ve put in. I just feel so proud of everybody that’s been involved to get us to this point.

“Many of this team go back to 2019 to 2021, when we didn’t win for such a long time. Those are the things that fuel you, that move you forward as men.

“When the game is on, there’s so little you can do off the field as a coach. That’s where the quality of the leadership from the captain (Haseeb Hameed) really shone through in that stage.

“This year he has gone from strength to strength. And the true testament of a captain is a team that responds to their leader, not a leader that responds to the team. He’s led by example. His tactics have been spot-on all through.”

Notts and England fast bowler Josh Tongue:

“Words can’t really describe how I’m feeling at the minute. I’ve always wanted to win a Div One Championship and to win it my first proper year here after missing last season is incredible.

“Taking five wickets in my debut game against Durham sort of proved to the lads why it was worth me coming here. I’ve obviously been in and out of the team with England but coming back it just feels such a special place at the minute.

“I’m really happy with what I’ve been able to give because at the end of the day I want to win games of cricket. That’s why I play. That’s why we all play.

“The potential of the team to win titles was one of the reasons why I moved here. I had a great time at Worcester but I just knew it was the right time for me to come to a team like this.”

Warwickshire head coach Ian Westwood:

“We did lots of things right, but we just weren’t able to win the big moments. And that always costs you at the back end.

“Notts are full of confidence, obviously. They’ve been crowned champions now, and that’s for a reason. They’ve been the best side this year, and they just showed us where we need to improve and get to if we want that to be us.

“Warwickshire, we’re a proud club and we want to win things, and so any season that you don’t win anything is going to be a disappointment.