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Emirates Old Trafford quarter-final Vitality Blast

Kent Spitfires 153 (20 overs): Denly 28, Wood 3-29

Lancashire Lightning 156-7 (18.3 overs): Livingstone 85*, Jones 28, Klaassen 3-14

By three wickets, Lancashire won.

With a score of 85 from 45 balls, Livingstone’s best T20 Blast of the year, Lancashire’s win over Kent at Old Trafford secured their place in the Finals.

After losing two early wickets, the all-rounder struggled again at 118-6 in search of their 154 target with his nerve to seal victory with nine deliveries to spare.

Livingstone and fellow spinner Tom Hartley (11) stifled the Spitfires’ innings earlier, while left-arm paceman Luke Wood took 3-29 while playing a crucial role with the ball with the ball.

After losing three of their previous four games at this point, Kent seamer Fred Klaassen scored 3-14, but Lancashire made it a point to earn a last-four meeting with either Somerset or the Bears on Saturday at Edgbaston.

The Spitfires’ start was less than ideal because Tawanda Muyeye, the tournament’s third-highest run-scorer, drove Wood’s opening delivery straight into mid-off after winning the toss and choosing to bat.

On his return to the Kent side, Zak Crawley hit a number of straight boundaries before being caught behind after a misjudged a hook off Jack Blatherwick’s slower ball to leave the visitors 65-3.

However, Kent struggled to form partnerships as a result of the introduction of Sam Billings and Joe Denly, who both bowled in tandem.

As wickets continued to fall at the death, Joey Evison (27 from 24) and Grant Stewart (25 from 15) made their best efforts to lower the tempo before being pegged back by a handy two-over stint of 2-12 from Tom Aspinwall.

In the final over, Wood dismissed Klaassen and last man Nathan Gilchrist, giving the innings a total that looked below par, but Kent’s tail did enough to clamber above the 150 mark.

However, Lancashire’s situation quickly deteriorated to 5-2 in reply, with Phil Salt caught in the middle before a Klaassen ball hit Luke Wells on the pads and trickling down his back leg onto the stumps.

Livingstone slammed Nathan Gilchrist for a leg-side six before being denied entry when a short ball veered onto his helmet, and hit the next delivery for a maximum of six more times.

With 22 from 14 before heaved Evison to deep midwicket, Ashton Turner proved a capable foil for Livingstone, even though skipper Keaton Jennings also departed and was caught at backward square off Klaassen.

Livingstone had already scored 25 runs in a single over to send three enormous sixes to keep Lancashire on course by the time he reached half-century.

In three deliveries, The Spitfires leg-spinner struck twice, sending Hartley for a duck and Michael Jones (28 from 17) to put pressure on Livingstone.

London City Lionesses may have lost their first game of the Women’s Super League 4-1, but it is obvious that they are prepared to upset the standing order.

In front of 38, 000 spectators at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, they made their bow in England’s top flight, facing European champions Arsenal.

However, the independent club, which is supported by wealthy American owner Michele Kang and is not affiliated with a men’s counterpart, has sent a clear message that they want to stir up WSL fans.

We want to disrupt. Before kick-off, London City Lionesses CEO Martin Semmens stated on BBC Radio 5 Live that his company’s position is to be competitive and that he believes that any elite sport would require that we compete against the best teams.

The town’s buzzword is the London City Lionesses.

When Kang bought the club, they were Championship regulars when they were formed in 2019 as a breakaway team from East London rival Millwall Lionesses.

Kosovare Asllani, a former Paris St-Germain manager, took over as head coach after six months as a result of her investment.

Cobdown Park, a 28-acre site that they intend to develop into an elite training facility, was moved from Hayes Lane in Bromley by them.

As anticipated, they won the Championship, which has since been renamed WSL 2 from this year, and she quickly pulled out the cash to aid London City Lionesses in recruiting some of the most exciting talents in the world.

While famous faces like Danielle van de Donk and Nikita Parris had already arrived earlier in the summer, a deadline day double coup starring Grace Geyoro from PSG and Lucia Corrales from Barcelona raised eyebrows.

An astonishing turnover and a sprightly sign that London City Lionesses were about to start a new era were the club’s signings for the summer, which included 11 players leaving the club.

Who knows what they can do if their goal is to compete in the Champions League in the near future and not?

After surviving to the horrifying defeat by Arsenal, Preucher said, “With the leader I have in Michele [Kang], we know where we want to go.”

“But we are talking about the WSL, which is probably the most difficult league in the world,” so even if we are ambitious, we are aware that it will be challenging and won’t be possible in a week.

I can’t tell you how much time we need. We must allow for many of the new signings to adjust to their new home and league.

With a newly promoted side playing at the home of the European champions, there was a gap between the London City Lionesses and Arsenal.

The gap was not noticeable in the first 20 minutes, when London City blew the script and dominated the proceedings while keeping the rowdy Arsenal home crowd at bay.

In the 17th minute, Asllani scored a penalty to give the newcomers a 1-0 lead.

Arsenal appeared a little shaken up and unsure of how to deal with the unfamiliar opposition in front of them, which was reward for their disruptive start.

It’s really difficult to play against them because of how they play and how they set up. It needed to be accustomed to for us. We needed to re-establish our connections and get used to the rhythm, according to Arsenal’s manager Renee Slegers.

“When we did that, I believe we did it really well and the pitch opened up,” she said. The connections are still being made between London City Lionesses.

There were a number of players who weren’t in the squad, as well as a lot of good players. They compete against one another very well. They will be problematic for the league.

Arsenal won the game with two goals in the final ten minutes as an exhausted London City struggled to cope with the pressure.

It was a learning curve and a reminder of the growth they require if they want to consistently compete with England’s best.

However, Precheur’s admission that he was “delighted” at full-time and his harsh assessment that London City “only existed” in the second half demonstrated that they will not accept just being a part of the WSL.

His greatest challenge? transforming a team of well-known, well-known players into a cohesive unit.

We can adapt to the WSL, they say. One of our challenges will be to adapt to WSL 2, which has a completely different intensity and rhythm, he added.

“Fortunately, we hired players who are familiar with this level of intensity and rhythm.” All we need to do is form a team right away.

“I have a job to do to create some cohesion and connection to defend and attack together,” I said. Many of the players have only just begun playing for a week.

Betfred Super League

Warrington Wolves (12)

Goals: Ratchford 2

Leigh Leopards (10) 34

Leigh Leopards’ victory at Warrington is more depressing, adding more misery to Wolves head coach Sam Burgess.

Warrington lost its sixth game in seven games after Wolves chairman Stuart Middleton had publicly supported former England dual-code international Burgess following his defeat by a Leigh side that was chasing a home elimination final.

Leigh were largely unaffected by the eighth-placed Wolves thanks to Keanan Brand and Matt Davis scoring points with 10-0 in the first half, despite the 36-year-old himself saying that he was “truly believing” in what he can do as Warrington manager.

Leigh won their first away game against Warrington since 17-10 Stones Bitter Championship victory at the Wire’s former home ground of Wilderspool in April 1987, and Brand added two more tries for his hat-trick.

The hosts conceded a penalty with their first touch, when Marc Sneyd’s kick to the start of the match sailed straight into touch, as a way to sum up the Wolves’ woes.

After being given possession of the ball on the halfway line to begin the game’s first set, Leigh and Warrington had to wait until the halfway point before Brand dived over in the right corner after Hanley let him free at the end of a powerful passing move.

Leon Hayes, who was only playing his second game back after a 15-month injury layoff, was forced to leave with a suspected broken arm, which only made things worse for Wolves.

Warrington struggled to recover from handling errors as they attempted to regain control of the game, but they succeeded in holding Leigh to just one more try before the break, which Davis scored with a clever kick from Edwin Ipape under the posts.

Leigh’s early second-half try was turned down by Jack Hughes, but Brand’s added try put Adrian Lam’s side in a comfortable position shortly after.

Changes: Thomas, Wood, Holroyd, Powell, Holroyd, and others

Hodgson, Brand, Niu, Hanley, Charnley, O’Brien, Lam, Pene, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Hughes, Liu, and Brand are Leigh Leopards.

Trout, Tuitavake, Davis, and Dwyer are exchanges.