Archive August 19, 2025

The Brunton Memorial Ground, Radlett, and Metro Bank One-Day Cup are nearby.

Kent 279-6 (50 overs): Leaning 63*, Benjamin 50, Brookes 3-47, Morgan 3-63

Middlesex 283-4 (45 overs): Geddes 141*, Hollman 77*

Middlesex won by six wickets.

Middlesex raced to a six-wicket victory over struggling Kent at Radlett to maintain their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the One-Day Cup. Ben Geddes and Luke Hollman both set career highs.

With five overs to spare, the hosts chased down a target of 280 with the help of Hollman, who had his first century in List-A cricket, a record-breaking 141 run.

Kent won 279-6 with the help of 63 runs from Jack Leaning and 50 from Chris Benjamin, who both had stand of 81 in nine overs with debutant Corey Flintoff, the son of former England all-rounder Andrew, who impressed with a 29-unbeaten effort. Sebastian Morgan and Henry Brookes, both from Middlesex List-A, each took three wickets each.

Ben Dawkins, an England Under-19 international, ripped Toby Roland-Jones over the wicketkeeper’s head to win the opening 52-run partnership with Jaydn Denly after taking three fours from one Noah Cornwell over.

The latter struggled to speak with any fluency, and Brookes’ painful effort came to an end when he cut her off. When Cracknell caught him, Dawkins took his first wicket, falling two short of 50 runs, taking him to eight.

A 47-run leadoff between Morgan and Benjamin and Joey Evison gave rise to a chance for a fourth wicket that was squandered when Brookes dropped Benjamin on 33.

By beating Morgan over third and securing a seventh four through the covers to reach 50, Benjamin profited from the life, but he was immediately defeated by Brookes, bringing the stand of 58 to Harry Finch.

Leaning and Flintoff made their late charge, with Flintoff recalling his father’s heroic batting with two massive sixes, while Kent posted a challenging target by clearing the ropes twice in the final over.

When Cracknell was caught down the legside without scoring, the hosts’ chase got off to the worst possible start.

Michael Cohen then dropped Robson at short-fine leg, but Josh De Caires later made an error-making hook to send Flintoff to the sky at midwicket.

A 50-stand came up in 40 balls with the former England opener cutting and pulling with authority and Geddes launching a huge six into the trees with Robson’s response unleashing a flurry of boundaries. Although Davies planted a six over a square leg, Vison struggled to regain control after being caught behind and staying for a while while Davies was caught behind.

Geddes continued to lead the fight, finishing with his second six at age 50.

In a similar way, Hollman swept Matt Parkinson to the fence while the partnership flourished, and Cohen was dispatched into the trees.

Before Geddes and Hollman reached their hundred and 50 with the aid of a towering six, both batters were dropped.

Nineteen days.

That’s how long it has been since Liverpool’s £110m bid for Newcastle striker Alexander Isak was rejected.

Since then, there have been no further offers.

But it hasn’t stopped the future of the 25-year-old Sweden striker being the biggest talking point of the summer window.

Will Liverpool bid again? Will he rejoin first-team training in the meantime? What happens if a deal is not completed by the 1 September deadline day?

To explain this we need to look at Newcastle’s transfers so far.

After a frustrating summer window, their business has started to pick up.

They signed midfielder Jacob Ramsey from Aston Villa for £40m on Sunday, after securing AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw for a reported £34.6m earlier in the week.

This added to July’s £55m signing of Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga and the loan signing of England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale early in August.

But there is one glaring omission.

None of these are strikers – and they really needed one before Isak’s future was thrown into question after the departure of Callum Wilson.

Sources have told BBC Sport one reason there hasn’t yet been a follow-up bid is that any move would be reliant on Newcastle getting two strikers through door.

Newcastle have maintained publicly that Isak isn’t for sale, but Liverpool know they are looking for two strikers for a reason.

When – or perhaps if – Newcastle do, Liverpool are expected to ramp up their interest with another bid.

So that focuses the mind on to Newcastle’s striker hunt.

Eddie Howe made no bones about it at the weekend.

“It’s not like we are looking at any other area,” the Newcastle head coach said following his side’s goalless draw against Aston Villa on Saturday.

But securing a replacement for Wilson has proved challenging enough – let alone a second additional striker.

Newcastle remain interested in Yoane Wissa but have not yet met Brentford’s asking price of in excess of £40m.

The DR Congo forward, who was left out of the squad for Sunday’s 3-1 loss at Nottingham Forest, wants to join Newcastle.

Although Jorgen Strand Larsen is among a small number of centre-forwards on Newcastle’s radar, Wolves do not want to lose him.

Larsen, only completed a permanent move to Molineux last month after a successful loan spell in which he scored 14 goals in the Premier League.

The club have already let Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri go this summer.

Larsen and Wissa illustrate the difficulty Newcastle face, at this stage of the window, to convince a side to part with another key player.

After missing out on a number of targets this summer, it felt like there had been a shift in momentum in the last week after completed moves for Thiaw and Ramsey.

But don’t forget Newcastle have seen top targets like Hugo Ekitike, Benjamin Sesko and Joao Pedro move elsewhere this summer.

These strikers ended up at Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea respectively and as well as facing intense competition from such clubs, there are other factors at play.

Take replacing Wilson, for instance.

Firstly, centre-forwards want minutes so there were not necessarily a queue of quality frontmen lining up to play a supporting role before Isak stopped training with the group.

Secondly, goalscorers are expensive.

Newcastle may be in a much stronger financial position this summer after substantial historic losses dropped out of the club’s new three-year Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) cycle.

But they still have to be smart to sign what those behind the scenes call the “right” player.

There is not a long list of targets and Newcastle have found that when one coveted striker has potentially become available this summer, his price has then gone up.

That remains a big ‘if’, of course.

Howe has been consistent in his messaging throughout this saga: the door remains open to Isak.

But the Newcastle head coach stressed what happens next is down to the striker, who continues to train away from the group.

It certainly felt a long way back for Isak on Saturday after the away end called the Swede “greedy” following the goalless draw against Aston Villa.

Yet time is against Isak if he is to get a move to Liverpool, particularly when there are few realistic options left on the market who would be capable of stepping up for Newcastle.

Omar Chaudhuri, the chief intelligence officer of Twenty First Group, who previously worked with clubs like Newcastle and Tottenham, has noticed a “greater interest in top-class strikers” compared to years gone by.

“Globally, there have been seven centre forwards moving for 50m euros or more this window, compared to two in 2024, six in 2023, and five in 2022,” he said.

“But clubs should probably temper expectations as to their impact. Of the 19 strikers signed by Premier League clubs for 50m euros or more before this season, perhaps, only Haaland and Isak can be considered unqualified successes.”

No wonder Howe has maintained that the door is open.