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Ella McCaughan hit the first women’s T20 Blast century to inspire Hampshire Hawks to a thumping win over Essex at a sun-drenched Chelmsford.

Playing in front of watching England coach Charlotte Edwards, the 22-year-old opener cracked 16 boundaries and shared a competition best stand of 173 with Australian Charli Knott before departing for 106 from 60 balls as the Hawks posted 195-2.

The right-hander has now scored 327 runs across five knocks in this season’s competition, averaging more than 81.

Essex won the toss and elected to bowl first but McCaughan was soon put down on four behind the stumps by Lauren Winfield-Hill after a top-edge, but the breakthrough arrived early as Maia Bouchier got a leading edge to Essex skipper Grace Scrivens in the second over, chipping a catch to Maddie Penna to depart for four from five deliveries.

Knott joined McCaughan and also received another life on nine, with Winfield-Hill missing a stumping, and the Australian made the hosts pay, bringing up her half-century from 39 balls with her seventh four, off Sophia Smale, though she might have been caught just inside the deep square rope by Cordelia Griffiths.

Having raced to her fourth half-century in five innings from just 34 balls, McCaughan kept the pedal down and picked up a single to move to 90 off Esmae MacGregor to retain strike for the penultimate over.

A reverse sweep for four off Smale took McCaughan past Bouchier’s 92 in the 25-run win against Essex at Southampton on 30 May – the previous highest score in this season’s competition.

She brought up three figures with a single from the 57th delivery she had faced but holed-out to Smale at long-on off Scrivens in the final over to end the 173-run stand with Knott.

Freya Kemp hit one of her two balls to the rope to end unbeaten on five while Knott finished 72 not out from 55 deliveries with seven fours, having previously scored just 37 combined across her first three T20 appearances for the Hawks.

The hosts were 46-0 at the end of the six-over powerplay in reply, with Scrivens finding the boundary four times and Winfield-Hill doing so twice, but Winfield-Hill drove straight to Knott at cover to depart for 18 in the seventh over off Daisy Gibb, bringing Lissy Macleod to the middle.

Macleod began positively but with the hosts falling behind the required rate, Scrivens miscued Mary Taylor to opposite number Adams at extra cover to depart for 29 from 28 balls to leave the hosts 66-2 at the end of the ninth over.

Knott took a fine catch inside the rope at long-on to see the end of Griffith and leave Essex 82-3 midway through the 12th over.

Taylor was fortunate to pin Australian Penna in front for one in the next over to pick up her second scalp before Macleod was run out by a direct hit from Freya Davies to leave her side 90-5, ending a bright knock of 30 from 18 balls, with six fours.

The hosts reached three figures in the 14th over and Jo Gardner and Smale set about hauling their side to the 156-run mark to deny the visitors a bonus-point win in a tight fight for the top three spots in the table.

They added 42 in 25 balls before Smale was lbw for 24 from 16 deliveries trying to sweep Adams at the start of the 18th over and Gardner fell to a diving catch at long-off from Kemp for 18 to give Adams a second wicket in the over.

Hampshire centurion McCaughan told the ECB Reporter’s Network: “That was one of the good days. I had some luck early and just tried to cash in.

“I didn’t really expect to make a hundred to be honest. Things are going well and I’m trying not to overthink it, keep my game simple and it seems to be working.

“I’m not trying to hit big sixes, I’m playing the same way as I usually do, but just with a bit more intensity in T20 and staying present.

“I didn’t feel great at the start of the partnership with Charli, but we tried to run hard and we both got into it as we went along.

Australian Olympian Heath Ryan has been suspended by Equestrian Australia after a video emerged that appeared to show him repeatedly whipping a horse.

Ryan, 66, represented Australia in dressage at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

The video – said by Ryan to be about two years old – shows a man striking a horse around 40 times. Ryan issued a statement to say he was acting in “the horse’s best interest”.

Ryan said the horse, named Nico, came to him after an accident which resulted in a female rider needing hospital treatment.

The Australian said that Nico “had always been a problem child and would just not stop” and after the video he was able to rehome the horse.

Ryan said: “I am so sad this was caught on video. If I had been thinking of myself I would have immediately just gotten off and sent Nico to the knackery.

“That video was a life or death moment for Nico and I genuinely had to try my very hardest to see if Nico would consider other options.

“All of this transpired sincerely with the horse’s best interests the sole consideration. Unbelievably it was so successful for everyone except me with the release of this video.”

Britain’s three-time Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin missed the Paris Games last year after a video emerged of her repeatedly striking a horse around its legs with a long whip. She was subsequently banned for a year by the FEI, equestrian sport’s world governing body.

After the Ryan video drew attention, Equestrian Australia said it had received a formal complaint about one of its members and had imposed a provisional suspension from all competitions and events.

The national body said: “Equestrian Australia is extremely alarmed and concerned by the treatment of the horse shown in this footage.

Brighton have agreed a £29.78m (35m euros) deal with Olympiakos for 18-year-old forward Charalampos Kostoulas.

The teenager was undergoing a medical with the club on Thursday, ahead of signing a five-year contract that will start on 1 July.

The deal represents by some distance the highest fee ever received by a Greek club, beating the £16.6m Wolves paid to sign Daniel Podence from Olympiakos in 2020.

Should an add-on of £1.7m for Kostoulas be met during his time at Brighton, it would be a record paid for a Greek player – topping the £30.63m Napoli paid Roma for Kostas Manolas in 2019.

The Greece Under-21 international made his first-team debut in 2024, having come through Olympiakos’ academy.

Kostoulas was a regular starter as the Olympiakos won the prestigious UEFA Youth League in 2024, beating Inter Milan and Bayern Munich on their way to the final, where they defeated AC Milan.

Greek agent Giorgos Panou is credited with launching the career of superstar Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and is now doing the same in football with Brighton’s soon-to-be new striker Kostoulas.

Just as he spotted Antetokounmpo, then a second division Greek basketball player in 2013, he spotted Kostoulas, nicknamed ‘Babis’, aged 15.

He is now on the verge of a record-breaking move and, when asked how the two talents compare, Panou replied: “I felt the same way when I first saw Babis playing three years ago in an under-19s game, aged 15, to how I felt when I first saw Giannis.

“I got the feeling immediately that he is cold-blooded, immense talent, with great body language and ready to take on older, bigger guys without feeling pressure. I saw a potential to grow.”

Chelsea have been credited with interest in Kostoulas in the past, while Brighton are believed to have beaten some of the biggest clubs in Germany to his signature. So why move to the south coast? The answer is, perhaps, unsurprising.

“They won the family and myself with how they talk, negotiate, give all the tools to thrive and have a good track record of developing similar young talents,” Panou added. “So we feel very comfortable, and I’m really sure that Babis will adapt really fast in this environment. It was a no-brainer for me.”