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‘A little fairytale’ – Lyon overtakes McGrath in Test wicket-taker list

By in News, Sports News

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Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon has overtaken legendary compatriot Glenn McGrath to move sixth in the all-time list of Test wicket-takers.

Lyon, 38, needed two wickets at the start of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide to overhaul seamer McGrath’s tally of 563.

He moved level by having England’s Ollie Pope caught at mid-wicket with his third ball of the game, before claiming his 564th Test scalp by bowling Ben Duckett three balls later.

Lyon is now the second-highest Australian Test wicket-taker behind the late legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne, who took 708.

He is also the the highest active player in the rankings and fourth-highest spinner, behind former Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Warne and ex-India leg-spinner Anil Kumble (619).

Retired England greats Sir James Anderson (third on 704) and Stuart Broad (fifth on 604) are the only two pace bowlers ahead of Lyon.

“What a bowler. Nathan Lyon deserves to get that,” said McGrath on BBC Test Match Special.

“You wondered what impact Nathan Lyon was going to have in this game. First over, and that was a gem of a ball [to remove Ben Duckett].

“He has been brilliant for Australia. He will go down as one of the greatest Australia spin bowlers behind Shane Warne.

‘A little fairytale’

Lyon returned to the Australia side for this game, having been left out for the day-night pink-ball Test in Brisbane.

It meant that Lyon, who said he felt “absolutely filthy” by the omission, had been left out of Australia’s side in two of their past three matches, and he only bowled two overs in the series opener in Perth too.

Speaking before the game, Lyon, who used to be a groundsman at the Adelaide Oval, said: “I daresay it would be like a little fairytale, I guess, with my history here.

“My first ever Test match here was on the roller here back in 2010 funnily enough against England. So for me to potentially overtake Glenn McGrath here would be pretty incredible.”

In the build-up to the game the South Australia Cricket Association unveiled a commemorative plaque of Lyon on their ‘Avenue of Honour’.

England have opted not to play a specialist spinner in the series so far, with all-rounder Will Jacks asked to combine his off-spin and batting in the past two Tests.

“You’re asking a spinner, but I think it’s incredibly important,” Lyon said when asked about the value of slow bowling in Test cricket.

“I think the variation in Test cricket, understanding that Test cricket goes for five days, and there’s a lot of opportunity for pitches to wear and spinners to be able to produce their craft.

“I’ve always said as soon as the ball spins, there’s more eyes on TVs. You look at when we go over to India, you look at the conditions there and the exciting cricket when the ball is spinning, how many people pay attention to it.

Related topics

  • Australia
  • The Ashes
  • Cricket

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    • 16 August

Cristiano Ronaldo’s fiancée makes cheeky joke about ‘the least he could offer’ her

By in Entertainment News, News

Cristiano Ronaldo, who has made more than 200 appearances for Portugal, became engaged to entrepreneur Georgina Rodriguez in the summer after nearly one decade of dating

Football legend Cristiano Ronaldo’s fiancée joked the “enormous” diamond engagement ring is “the least he could offer” her.

Georgina Rodriguez, 31, said, as she had waited such a long time for Cristiano to propose – eight years to be precise – the huge and lavish ring was justified. The model and entrepreneur, who met the footballer in a Gucci store in 2016, said: “It’s (the ring) gorgeous. It’s the least he could offer me after 10 years of waiting”.

Cristiano, 40, finally popped the question in the summer, after which Georgina showed off the piece of jewellery to her 67 million followers on social media. The couple racked up thousands of compliments and congratulations from their fans.

And speaking in an interview with Elle Spain published on Wednesday, Georgina added: “The truth is, when he proposed, it was the last thing on my mind. It took me a long time to process the enormous stone he gave me. I was so shocked that I left it in my room and didn’t open it in the sunlight until the next day.”

READ MORE: Man who helped Cristiano Ronaldo become football’s first billionaire now ‘under house arrest’READ MORE: Four Man Utd players given ‘special treatment’ when club’s infamous hierarchy was leaked

In the summer, jewellery experts had estimated the gigantic diamond weighed up to 37 carats and had an eye-popping, seven-figure price tag valued up to $5million (£3.74million). Georgina’s interview this week is the first time she has spoken publicly – other than on social media – about the dazzling ring.

But her spouse, with whom she has three children, spoke to Piers Morgan in November in a sit-down interview about the engagement ring. The footballer, who played more than 200 times for Manchester United across two spells, had said: “She (Georgina) asked me for a ring to offer her because it was one of her dreams to have a good stone. And I work hard, work hard and finally I find what she love.”

However, Cristiano, who remains a Portugal international at 40, has never indicated why it took him eight years to propose to Georgina, who is a media personality as well as an entrepreneur. Now, though, the couple are making swift plans to arrange their big day. Speaking out the ceremony, mum-of-three Georgina told Elle Spain it will be “a small wedding, 100%, without a doubt”.

Article continues below

Cristiano Ronaldo’s fiancée makes cheeky joke about ‘the least he could offer’ her

By in Entertainment News, News

Cristiano Ronaldo, who has made more than 200 appearances for Portugal, became engaged to entrepreneur Georgina Rodriguez in the summer after nearly one decade of dating

Football legend Cristiano Ronaldo’s fiancée joked the “enormous” diamond engagement ring is “the least he could offer” her.

Georgina Rodriguez, 31, said, as she had waited such a long time for Cristiano to propose – eight years to be precise – the huge and lavish ring was justified. The model and entrepreneur, who met the footballer in a Gucci store in 2016, said: “It’s (the ring) gorgeous. It’s the least he could offer me after 10 years of waiting.”

Cristiano, 40, finally popped the question in the summer, after which Georgina showed off the piece of jewellery to her 67 million followers on social media. The couple racked up thousands of compliments and congratulations from their fans.

And speaking in an interview with Elle Spain published on Wednesday, Georgina added: “The truth is, when he proposed, it was the last thing on my mind. It took me a long time to process the enormous stone he gave me. I was so shocked that I left it in my room and didn’t open it in the sunlight until the next day.”

READ MORE: Man who helped Cristiano Ronaldo become football’s first billionaire now ‘under house arrest’READ MORE: Four Man Utd players given ‘special treatment’ when club’s infamous hierarchy was leaked

In the summer, jewellery experts had estimated the gigantic diamond weighed up to 37 carats and had an eye-popping, seven-figure price tag valued up to $5million (£3.74million). Georgina’s interview this week is the first time she has spoken publicly – other than on social media – about the dazzling ring.

But her spouse, with whom she has three children, spoke to Piers Morgan in November in a sit-down interview about the engagement ring. The footballer, who played more than 200 times for Manchester United across two spells, had said: “She (Georgina) asked me for a ring to offer her because it was one of her dreams to have a good stone. And I work hard, work hard and finally I find what she love.”

However, Cristiano, who remains a Portugal international at 40, has never indicated why it took him eight years to propose to Georgina, who is a media personality as well as an entrepreneur. Now, though, the couple are making swift plans to arrange their big day. Speaking out the ceremony, mum-of-three Georgina told Elle Spain it will be “a small wedding, 100%, without a doubt.”

Article continues below

Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell seeks prison release

By in News, World News

Published On 18 Dec 2025

Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend and accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has asked a federal judge in the United States to set aside her sex trafficking conviction and quash her 20-year prison sentence.

Maxwell made the long-shot legal bid in a Manhattan court on Wednesday, saying “substantial new evidence” had emerged proving that constitutional violations spoiled her trial in 2021 for recruiting underage girls for wealthy financier Epstein, who died in 2019.

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In the lengthy filing, Maxwell, 63, argues that “newly discovered evidence” proves that she “did not receive a fair trial by independent jurors coming to Court with an open mind”.

“If the jury had heard of the new evidence of the collusion between the plaintiff’s lawyers and the Government to conceal evidence and the prosecutorial misconduct they would not have convicted”, Maxwell wrote.

She said the cumulative effect of the constitutional violations resulted in a “complete miscarriage of justice”.

Maxwell submitted the filing herself, not in the name of a lawyer.

Proceedings of the type brought by Maxwell are routinely denied by judges and are often the last-ditch option available to offenders to have their convictions overturned, the AFP news agency reports.

Maxwell’s filing also comes just days before records in her legal case are scheduled to be released publicly as a result of US President Donald Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The law, which Trump signed after months of public and political pressure on his administration, requires the Department of Justice to provide the public with Epstein-related records by December 19.

The circumstances of Epstein’s death and his influential social circle, which spanned the highest reaches of business and politics in the US, have also fuelled conspiracy theories about possible cover-ups and unnamed accomplices

Critics also continue to press President Trump to address his own&nbsp, once-close&nbsp, relationship with Epstein.

The Justice Department has said it plans to release 18 categories of investigative materials gathered in the massive sex trafficking probe, including search warrants, financial records, notes from interviews with victims, and data from electronic devices.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges but was found dead a month later in his cell at a New York federal jail, and his death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell, once a well-known British socialite, was arrested a year later and convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021.

In July, she was interviewed by the Justice Department’s second-in-command and soon afterwards moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas.