Archive June 1, 2025

The London Mavericks defeated the Birmingham Panthers 69-67 to keep their push for the Netball Super League play-off spot.

With only six points to play for in the final two games of the regular season, the Mavericks are now fourth in the standings and six points clear of fifth-placed Nottingham Forest.

However, Forest and Loughborough Lightning, the defending champions, have a difficult matchup with them, who both have qualified for the play-offs while Forest has a better goal difference.

“But we are overjoyed that we are still here, and we will look back over the next two games to just strengthen ourselves,” he said.

The Mavericks, who had a lead of 36-31 at half-time, were nine points behind in the first quarter, but despite turning the game around, they were unable to defeat the Panthers, who had the NSL’s most bonus points, given for narrow defeats.

The Panthers turned the game on its head at the end of the fourth quarter with a five-point lead at the Skydome in Coventry.

However, Emily Andrew’s run of unanswered two-point scores from the Mavericks sealed the victory with the winning super shot in the closing seconds.

Nottingham Forest, who are currently in their first NSL season, won 66-62 on Saturday to defeat Loughborough Lightning, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

At Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, which hosts both teams, they maintained their dominance throughout the entire quarter. Natasha Pavelin and Rolene Streutker, who both scored 41 goals, both had impressive performances.

Loughborough’s winning streak was ended by the victory, which was the longest Loughborough had ever experienced since Forest beat them in round four.

We were very excited because we knew we could do a job, Pavelin told Sky Sports. “We all genuinely believed,” We released four quarters, which is really impressive.

Third-placed Thunder won the play-off game 59-54 over the Cardiff Dragons at Belle Vue Arena on Friday, being inspired by Elmere van der Berg’s 37 goals.

Cardiff’s second ODI

West Indies 308 (47.4 overs): Carty 103 (105), Rashid 4-63

England 312-7 (48.5 overs): Root 166* (139), Joseph 4-31

England won the series by three wickets and won it 2 for 2.

With his sparkling unbeaten 166, Joe Root’s sparkling one-day international record in Cardiff gave way to West Indies for three wickets.

With seven balls left in the series, England hit their 30-ball target of 309 with a game to spare. Root is also his nation’s highest run-scorer in Tests.

His highest ODI score came from Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, and Jos Buttler’s ducks, surpassing World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan’s 6 and 957 runs, which equaled his highest total.

A masterful partnership of 143 with Will Jacks put England within striking distance of victory after Root and Harry Brook combined for a third-wicket stand of 85.

West Indies were kept interested by a fierce spell from Alzarri Joseph, who finished with a score of 4-31, but Root and Adil Rashid calmly ticked off the remaining 21 runs, which were styled by a classic Root drive down the ground.

West Indies’ 308 was established by Keacy Carty’s 103 earlier, which was capped by Brandon King and Shai Hope’s half-centuries, and was assisted greatly by England’s poor fielding.

For the second wicket, Carty and King added 141, but Duckett dropped King on 11 and Duckett also dropped King on 11, wasting a run-out opportunity when both batters were trapped in the middle of the pitch in the middle of the 21st over.

When Carty three balls after scoring his century saw Rashid take 4-63 and Mahmood take three late wickets to mop up the tail, the innings was cut to 205-2.

The visitors were left to regret wasting 14 balls of their innings after the final five wickets were thrown for 50 runs, with Hope receiving little support from the lower order as he reached 78 from 66 balls.

In their opening game, England seamers Carse and Mahmood were lively, with Jewel Andrew’s opener being caught in the second over with some unintended bounce, only for three dropped catches to come.

Carty punished England’s numerous errors with a third ODI ton in his previous four matches, continuing his impressive run of form. The first was a challenging chance that Duckett missed as he dived full stretch at second slip, but the second was a sitter, the batter striking straight ahead of Jacob Bethell to get a short fine leg.

After a flashing drive, Duckett should have taken his chance and fielded the ball into King’s hands instead.

Before the two batters settled down, King holed out long-on off Rashid and took West Indies to 146-1 at the halfway point before getting the missed run-out.

As England’s seamers leaked runs from their short ball plan, Carty continued to excel and scored a ton from 102 balls in the 35th over while combining with the ever-classy Hope to score freely.

However, Carty’s wild swipe off Jacks was the first of many misadventures as West Indies struggled to capitalize on the platform. Before Justin Greaves, Matthew Forde, and Gudakesh Motie were caught trying to break Cardiff’s short straight lines, Simron Hetmyer was pin to Rashid.

Root dropped Hope at long-off on 73 before taking the next ball, Motie, in a fittingly messy inning, and moved on to the next ball.

Root, who exemplified remarkable calm and assurance from ball one, is not unfamiliar with the crease after top-order failures.

In the first over, Smith was caught behind off Seales, and Duckett’s miserable day came to an end when he was caught off Forde in deep third.

Root’s counter-attacking approach, which whacks 30 from his first 16 balls before taking on Joseph’s short ball, which gave him three runs short of his half-century, allowed him to ease into his innings. Then, two overs later, Butler continued to drag on to his stumps from the same bowler.

Given that Root was on six and that the Windies’ review indicated it was clipping the bails but the umpire’s order, Root was fortunate to survive.

The youngster made 17 before he was flown to Roston Chase to leave England, teetering once more at 133-5. Bethell followed with a patient stand of 40.

Root and Jacks consolidated by hitting the gaps well, the latter reining in his attacking instincts with just two boundaries in his first 50 balls, allowing Root to dominate, launching a four and six in style before effortlessly moving up another gear.

We didn’t take the lead with the bat, so we did. However, we must commend the bowlers for their persistent fighting.

England’s Harry Brook, the country’s captain, said in a BBC Test Match Special: “We probably weren’t clinical enough to take those chances on the field, and we probably could have kept them at 250.”

Joe was incredible, and he’s only improving. He’s a role model for me, he’s such a talented player, such a talented bloke, and he puts up the most effort of any player I’ve ever seen.

Steven Finn, a former England fast bowler, said in a BBC Test Match Special: “Joe Root is just on this constant journey of ticking everything off before him, and now he is head and shoulders above the rest.

His average is far higher than anyone else who has played England’s ODI matches. He was so determined to be there at the conclusion, and how he handled pressure and pressure caused others to fall on him.

George Russell said Max Verstappen “let himself down” by appearing to drive deliberately into his Mercedes during the Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen of Red Bull was given a 10-second penalty for the collision that followed the Briton’s car.

The Dutchman was dropped from fifth to tenth in the overall standings, leaving him 49 points adrift of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who had won the race from team-mate Lando Norris.

Russell said: “Totally unnecessary and sort of lets him down. I’m not sure what he was thinking.

It is absurd to intentionally crash into someone and risk causing damage to your own vehicle as well as a fine.

“In the end, I’m not going to lose sleep over it because I ultimately benefited from those antics”.

Verstappen responded, “He has his view, and I have my view,” adding, “The next time, I’ll need some tissues.”

He said the incident was “a misjudgement,” but he was reluctant to go into more detail about it.

He was also given three penalty points on his licence. He is now 11 and is far from a race ban.

In the clash at Turn Five, stewards decided Verstappen had “significantly reduced (his) speed thereby appearing to allow]Russell] to overtake” but that once Russell was ahead Verstappen “suddenly accelerated and collided with]Russell]”.

You can’t intentionally crash into another driver, Russell said. We are, after all, putting our lives on the line. We’re fortunate the cars are as safe as they are these days. However, we shouldn’t assume it to be true.

It is up to the stewards to determine whether or not it was deliberate. If they do think it’s deliberate, then they need to have a hard precedent.

“Max has a lot of admiration for him,” says one reviewer. It’s unfortunate that something like that still occurs.

Verstappen said he had no regrets about his conduct.

He said, “You shouldn’t regret regret regretting too much in life.” You can only live once, I say.

Verstappen and Russell crossed swords during an extraordinary final five laps after a late safety car.

Verstappen had previously been on track to take home the McLarens in third place, having previously done so using a three-stop strategy.

All the leaders and the majority of the field pitted for fresh soft tyres when the safety car was deployed. But because of their three-stop strategy, Red Bull’s choices were limited.

Verstappen had to choose between leaving him on his soft tyres, which he had used for eight racing laps, and pitting for either a new set of softs, which had done one qualifying lap and the in-and-outlaps, some practice starts, and the laps to the grid, or a new set of hard-compound tyres.

Christian Horner, the team’s principal, acknowledged that he would have made the best decision in retrospect if he had been recalled.

This would have put Verstappen in the lead. He would almost certainly have fallen behind McLaren’s and perhaps Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, but that would have put him in fourth place, one place better than he did before his penalty.

Red Bull chose to bring him instead for the new hard tires, which the majority of teams avoided the weekend.

Verstappen questioned the decision upon returning to the track, and then nearly lost control in a massive moment on the exit of the final corner on the restart as he fought to keep pace with the cars on grippier tyres around him.

Leclerc immediately followed him on the straight, the two vehicles barely touching as they converged, and Russell followed him into the corner where they slammed their tires.

Verstappen alleged that Russell had allegedly barged him off the track, and Verstappen expressed anger over the Leclerc incident. But after stewards launched an investigation into him leaving the track and gaining an advantage, Red Bull decided to ask him to let Russell by, to avoid a penalty.

Verstappen was “obviously upset and irritated” and frustrated, according to Horner, who stated they would have an internal discussion about the situation.

Verstappen claimed that the “biggest issue” was with F1’s racing rules.

” What is allowed, what isn’t, is not very natural, “Verstappen said”. And that makes things frustrating. And of course, it occasionally works for you, occasionally against you, and today, it actually worked against me.

According to the guidelines, Russell was entitled to the corner, because he was more or less completely alongside Verstappen – the rules say that a driver overtaking on the inside has to have his car’s front axle at least level with the wing mirror of the one on the outside to be given space.

Due to “both cars were moving slightly toward each other in the middle of the track,” stewards decided not to intervene after the incident with Leclerc on the straight.

No driver was wholly or predominately to blame for this collision, according to the drivers, who were of the opinion that it was an avoidable collision that could have led to a significant crash.

Verstappen and Russell have previously been in heated situations.

After the Qatar Grand Prix last year, they had a significant row and exchanged public insults. That was over an incident in which Verstappen felt Russell had overplayed his hand with the stewards in seeking a penalty for his rival after an incident in qualifying.

Prior to that, there was a verbal altercation at the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, during which they once more insulted one another in public.

Verstappen claimed on Sunday that he was hesitant to talk to Russell about the incident. “I have nothing to say”, he said.

Verstappen has previously shown signs of letting his emotions control him in the car; in the same lap last year, he was given two 10-second penalties for two incidents involving Norris and him.

He also refused to talk about the events with the media after that.

In these situations, it seems Verstappen’s competitive instinct – which is intense – clouds his judgement, and overrides his usual desire to maximise every result.

Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes F1, said: “The great ones, whether it’s in motor racing or other sports, just need to have the world against them and perform at the highest level.”

The world is not against you, it’s just you who’ve made a mistake or screwed up, says one of these greats.

This incident could have significant consequences for Verstappen’s season.

Even though Verstappen has been able to challenge them on particular types of circuits, he was already engaged in a difficult fight with two drivers who were consistently performing well in a McLaren with a higher average performance ceiling than the Red Bull.

He has maintained his composure by maximising his successes, including two impressive victories in Japan and Imola, so far.

The Suzuka win was founded on a breathtaking pole lap, perhaps one of the greatest ever, and the second on an overtaking move on Piastri into the first corner that Russell, in the midst of his criticisms of Verstappen after the Spanish race, called” one of the best moves that we’ve all seen in a long time”.

Verstappen’s deficit in the championship, which had been headed for Spain, had fallen to 22 points.

Even so, he claimed that the championship “doesn’t really feel like a fight” when he first arrived in Barcelona.

Now, he has taken an action, influenced by a set of circumstances not all of which were in his control, that has made that more of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Verstappen’s response to that, perhaps?

He said, “First of all, I never said that I was in the championship fight.”

With the score at 150-6, the former England captain’s side hit the final ball for a single as Lancashire won by four wickets.

In another North Group match, Northants Steelbacks won by five wickets over Leicestershire Foxes, and Worcestershire won by 60 runs over Yorkshire at New Road.

As Anderson was given the ball for the first over of the match, all eyes were on the leading pace wicket-taker of Test cricket at the Riverside.

In the opening burst of 2-15 from three overs, Tom Aspinwall dropped Colin Ackermann at mid-wicket after Graham Clark was caught in mid-off, Alex Lees at mid-on, and he then delivered just three runs.

Anderson, who received the knighthood in April, caught Ben Raine at fine leg and returned for the 11th over of the innings to pick up Ackermann’s wicket, which included 16 dot balls.

The Durham team added 40 runs not out of 25 balls before picking up a few early wickets at the start of Lancashire’s chase.

In the 12th over, the visitors struggled to get to 80-4, but Josh Bohannon scored a well-judged 31 and Michael Jones scored 55 off 39 balls, including a six through a car park.

The Foxes lost their final T20 match against Derbyshire in 2022, but Logan van Beek’s 42 allowed them to bat out the entire 20 overs for 122 all out.

In their 14th over of reply, Northants were 75-4, but Ravi Bopara’s unbeaten 46 in 40 balls gave them a five wicket lead with four balls to spare.

Worcestershire Rapids’ captain D’Oliveira, who was dropped early in his innings by Dom Bess, hit four sixes in his 79 against Yorkshire to make his highest T20 debut at New Road.

Before holing out against Australian Will Sutherland in their 201-5, D’Oliveira combined for a 117-run effort with Adam Hose, who contributed 54 off 37.

By contrast, Jacob Duffy (2-30) gave Yorkshire captain Dawid Malan a second ball for a duck and Adam Finch (2-19) ran out James Wharton by kicking the ball onto the stumps.

Stevie Eskinazi and Kane Williamson’s opening stand of 45, which was followed by Hayden Kerr’s direct hit at the bowler’s end, saw the home side fall to 25.

After a disappointing Middlesex total of 124-9, an unbroken stand of 64 between Asa Tribe (40 not out) and Daniel Douthwaite (31) delivered the win, which was the best score.

There was a little bit there, so I was pretty happy with that, Crane said, “but it is a bit of a mystery when you come from an outback in terms of knowing what you are going to get.”

Will Smeed led Somerset to an eight-wicket victory over Essex at Chelmsford inarguably the game’s opener, hitting a six and 11 fours in his 81 not out of 54 balls.

Dean Elgar (50) and Matt Critchley (54) each took a fourth-wicket stand of 83 for the home side after coming together after Thomas Rew’s brilliant one-handed boundary catch had removed Paul Walter. However, from 119-3, they lost seven wickets for 29 runs to reach 148.

From the penultimate ball of the 16th over, Somerset were on the verge of winning thanks to a 96-run partnership between Smeed and Tom Lammonby (36).

Holders’ second defeat came against Sussex Sharks at Hove, letting them suffer a loss.

Tom Alsop (58 off 35 balls) and James Coles (43 off 27) combined for 105 wickets as Sussex were bowled out for 173. Top wicket-taker in the 2024 Blast was David Payne, who took three of the three victims.

Thursday, June 3rd,

Glamorgan vs. Surrey in Cardiff (start time: 30 BST)

Friday, June 4th,

Old Trafford: Leicestershire Foxes vs. Lancashire Lightning (18:30 BST)