Archive November 13, 2025

Wood injury concern for England in tour match

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Stephan Shemilt

Chief Cricket Reporter at Lilac Hill
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England have an injury concern over fast bowler Mark Wood after he suffered tightness in his left hamstring on the first day of the Ashes warm-up match against England Lions.

Wood, playing for the first time since suffering a knee injury in February, left the field midway through the second session at Lilac Hill in Perth.

The 35-year-old will have a scan on Friday. England hope he will be able to bowl on Saturday’s third and final day.

He seemed in good spirits when he left the field, joking with England Lions batter Jordan Cox, whom he had just caught on the boundary.

But any injury to Wood will be a huge worry to England given his injury record.

Wood has not played a Test since August 2024, when he was ruled out of the rest of that year because of an elbow injury.

He returned in white-ball cricket at the beginning of this year but sustained a knee injury at the Champions Trophy which subsequently required surgery.

The hamstring problem is in the same leg on which Wood had the knee operation.

The tour match against the Lions was Wood’s first cricket of any kind in nine months and his first in whites for 15 months.

Still, on a slow pitch he was immediately up to high pace, hitting 91mph in his first spell.

The England selection for the tour game appeared to hint at their plans for the first Test, with Wood part of a five-man pace attack and frontline spinner Shoaib Bashir playing for the Lions.

In recent years spin has played a diminished role in Tests in Australia, and Optus Stadium, the venue for the first Test against Australia starting on 21 November, is particularly suited to seam.

Another England pace bowler, Brydon Carse, missed the first day of the tour match through illness but is expected to join the game in the coming days.

England captain Ben Stokes claimed four wickets in the first two sessions in his first action since July.

The all-rounder has been out since missing the final Test of the series against India with a shoulder injury.

Related topics

  • England Men’s Cricket Team
  • The Ashes
  • Cricket

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Some damage after fire at Exeter City stadium

By in News, Sports News

BBC A fire damaged portacabin. The metal is burnt and there are items on the floor black from the smoke. BBC

An investigation is being launched after a fire broke out at Exeter City’s stadium, causing some damage.

Firefighters tackled the blaze at St James Park after smoke was seen billowing from a portacabin near the Well Street end of the ground at about 22:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue said the fire started in an electrical unit, before spreading to a temporary building – the football club a small area of the stadium had been damaged.

The fire service initially sent three crews, and then two more as the flames were “threatening to spread to one of the stands”.

“Fire crews used breathing apparatus and hose reel jets to prevent the fire escalating,” a fire spokesperson said.

An investigation will be concluded in daylight hours, the fire service added.

A spokesperson for Exeter City Football Club said: “We will be assessing the damage today and will update when we have more information.

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How to shop W7’s mystery makeup box that’s going viral on social media for £10

By in Entertainment News, News

The 10-piece mystery makeup box from W7 has been going viral for its great value, with up to £40 worth of products inside but a price of just £10 at one retailer

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If you’re a makeup lover, you’ll know there’s nothing better than managing to get your hands yourself a plethora of products without breaking the bank. That combined with the element of surprise are one reason monthly beauty boxes are so popular, with shoppers loving getting a whole host of different things to try out for considerably less money.

But if you don’t love the idea of signing up to repeat subscription, a one off mystery box is perfect – especially when they’re only £10. At The Original Factory Shop (TOFS) has currently got the W7 10 Piece Mystery Makeup Box available for just £10, whilst other sites currently stock it for £20.

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The mystery box will contain up to £40 worth of beauty products, with 10 makeup items inside each box. Each item is randomly selected to make each box unique, with no two boxes being the same.

Inside the W7 10 Piece Mystery Makeup Box you can get anything from eyeliners, highlighters and lipsticks to mascaras, blushers and more, so you’ll have everything you need for some festive glam ahead of party season. Although they’re a great affordable little treat for yourself, they also make a fab gift for mums, sisters and daughters for Christmas, or even as a stocking filler or Secret Santa present.

All of the products you’ll get from W7 are suitable for sensitive skin, and the boxes aim for the contents to suit all skin tones and types, so whoever you’re gifting it to will be able to enjoy it. They’re also 100% cruelty free and PETA approved, with nothing tested on animals.

If you’re looking for some other mystery beauty bundles, P.Louise has launched its End Of Line Mystery Bundles which cost either £15, £30 or £40, with the contents decided by which bundle you buy. You could also snap up the P. Louise Fulfilling Dreams Mystery Bundles which are currently on sale down from £36 to £25, and include a carefully curated selection of beauty items with a total value of £60 or more.

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Alternatively, if you don’t need the element of surprise but still want the fun of opening a big box of goodies, LookFantastic’s The Beauty Vault is still in stock for £150. Whilst it might be a little bit more of a splurge compared to the others, the contents are worth over £705, making this a major way to make some huge savings on beauty brands like Medik8, Color Wow, and Fenty.

Preview: Nigeria Face Gabon In Crucial 2026 World Cup Play-Off

By in News, sport-news

Nigeria may have missed out on automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup. Still, Thursday’s semi-final play-off against Gabon offers them a lifeline of reaching the competition billed for North America next year.  

The Super Eagles, one of Africa’s football powerhouses, lost the Group C automatic slot to South Africa, finishing on 17 points, one behind the Bafana Bafana after the last round of qualifiers last month. 

In fact, the 2013 AFCON winners only sneaked into the play-offs courtesy of a better goal difference ahead of the Stallions of Burkina Faso. They needed a 4-0 defeat of their neighbour, the Benin Republic, to take over from their fellow West Africans.

Against the Panthers of Gabon at the Stade Prince Moulay Al Hassan in Rabat, Morocco, Nigeria may hope for a similar outcome to progress in their plans of qualifying for the World Cup in the Americas. 

The Super Eagles’ fortunes in the early stage of the World Cup qualifier were terrible; they managed only three points in their first four games. However, they finished on 17 points, which is a sharp contrast to Gabon, which reached the play-offs with 25 points, one behind Group F winners, Côte d’Ivoire. 

READ ALSO: Super Eagles Receive Outstanding Bonuses, Turn Focus To Gabon Clash

Nigeria vs Gabon: Form Guide

Although Nigeria faltered in the initial stages of the World Cup qualifiers, the team has now been steadied under Eric Chelle, who took over in January. The Super Eagles have won three of their last four World Cup qualification games, drawing only one game away to rivals South Africa. 

Their opponents posted a similar result, winning three and drawing one (against Côte d’Ivoire) in their last four World Cup qualification matches. 

Osimhen, Aubameyang Headline Stars to Watch in Nigeria Vs Gabon Play-Off

Not surprisingly, both sides boast of an array of attacking talents with a former African Player of the Year, Victor Osimhen, headlining Nigeria’s squad. Gabon can bank on the experience of Olympique Marseille star, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a former African Player of the Year, who has also featured for some of  Europe’s biggest sides, including Arsenal, Barcelona, and Borussia Dortmund. 

The former scored a historic hat-trick against Benin while the latter netted a haul in the last round of World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria will bank on the Galatasaray star’s rich vein of form coming into this game. Osimhen bagged a hat-trick in Match Day 4 of the Champions League against Dutch side Ajax,  putting him in the competition’s top scorers’ chart ahead of the likes of Erling Haaland. 

Apart from the duo, Gabon and Nigeria also have other players who can do the magic on the pitch. Fulham defender Calvin Bassey and his teammate Samuel Chukwueze, Atalanta forward and current African Player of the Year, Ademola Lookman, and FC Paris’ Simon Moses are all expected to play an integral part in Thursday’s match.

The Panthers equally have Denis Bouanga and Noah Lemina to count on and support the 36-year-old Aubameyang.

Aubameyang’s father, Pierre-François Aubameyang, played for the Central Africans against Nigeria. But his country lost 0-3 to the Super Eagles in a group stage match at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia. 

Aubameyang, who scored all four goals in the dismantling of The Gambia away in the qualifying series, will have regular partners Denis Bouanga and Noah Lemina as co-conspirators against Nigeria. 

Nigeria vs Gabon: A Head-to-Head Record

Before Thursday’s game, the Super Eagles and the Panthers had met on nine occasions, the last being Nigeria’s 2-0 victory over Gabon in 2005. That match was in a 2006 World Cup qualifier, a tournament Nigeria did not qualify for, losing the ticket on head-to-head record to Angola’s Palancas Negras.

But Nigeria have enjoyed the lion’s share of wins against the oil-rich nation, winning five out of the nine games they have played so far. The Panthers’ only victory dates back 36 years ago when they beat the Super Eagles 2-1 in an Italia ‘90 World Cup qualifier.

That defeat was costly for Nigeria, which failed to reach the tournament after failing to get at least the needed one point in Yaounde against Cameroon on the last day of the qualifying series.

Nigeria vs Gabon Match Date, Time, Venue

Competition: 2026 FIFA World Cup Playoffs

Date: Thursday, November 13, 2025

Time: 5:00 p.m. (Nigerian time/WAT) 

Venue: Moulay El Hassan Stadium

Nigeria Vs Gabon: Who Wins? 

As Nigeria take to the field against Gabon on Thursday, it will be a winner-takes-it-all game. For the Super Eagles, nothing short of victory will be acceptable for the teeming fans across the globe.

I’m A Celebrity’s Kelly Brook reveals sad reason she split from Hollywood icon Jason Statham

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Kelly Brook has revealed the reason behind her split from Hollywood icon Jason Statham after pair were together for seven years and even got engaged

Kelly Brook has candidly opened up on her past failed engagement with Jason Statham as she prepares to enter the I’m A Celebrity camp. The model, 45, and Hollywood icon, 58, were together between 1997 and 2004, but Kelly called time on their relationship after seven years.

And she has revealed to feeling “neglected” in the romance as Jason’s Hollywood career began to flourish. Despite her own career going from strength to strength at the time, Kelly claimed on a podcast recently that the star had began failing to show up for her.

Speaking on the How to Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast, Kelly confessed she had previously been a ‘people pleaser’ that didn’t put herself first. However, she explained that as she has got older, she has learned to be more ‘selfish’.

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Speaking to the host, she said: “I have been in the past such a people pleaser and wanting to be friends with everyone and wanting to be there for everyone and not putting myself first. It hasn’t served me so unfortunately, as I get older, I’ve become more of a selfish b***h and I don’t really care anymore.”

It was then that the host asked her about her previous love life before her marriage to Jeremy Parisi in 2014 and how her attitude may have affected outcomes. “I think definitely in my first relationship there was definitely elements of co-dependency,” she said.

“There were elements of me putting my career and my life on hold. I had a really good job at MTV. I remember I was hosting a daily show there, and it was just after I’d got fired off The Big Breakfast and I got a really great show there and I was there for about a year and my boyfriend at the time was an actor.

“I remember he got offered a few roles in things, as like a bouncer on the door in EastEnders doing something and he had so much talent and charisma and I was like, ‘Do you know what? We just got to go to America. I just think it’s going to be the making of us if we just go'”.

However, she said this move, although helping Jason, saw her own career stagnate somewhat. She went on: “But I had this really good job and we had no money and I quit my job and we went and I was there as this support network for him and watched his career flourish, whereas mine floundered a bit because I didn’t have the same opportunities.”

She admitted such was the success and her support of it that she sometimes felt neglected to the point that she “fell out of love” with her then-fiancé. Explaining how she thought it was a tough but right decision, she says she told Jason he hadn’t been there for him when he questioned her reasoning.

“So it was just a really hard time, but I think that was the first time where I really did something for myself and it was the best decision,” Kelly added.

While Kelly has since married Jeremy, Jason went on to find love with Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in 2010. The pair are currently engaged and share two children, Jack, eight, and Isabella, three.

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Sharon Osbourne reveals struggles sleeping after Ozzy’s death as Jack enters I’m A Celeb

By in Entertainment News, News

Sharon Osbourne has opened up about the difficulties of sleeping alone in the aftermath of her husband Ozzy Osbourne’s death, days before her son Jack is due to enter I’m A Celeb

Sharon Osbourne has candidly opened up about her personal struggles in the wake of her husband Ozzy Osbourne death. The 73-year-old star was heartbroken when her beloved partner died in July at the age of 76, and she along with her children Jack and Kelly Osbourne have now launched the first instalment of their The Osbournes podcast in months.

The release comes more than a year after their last instalment and pays tribute to the late rock legend and discuss their own bereavement. The three of them recorded the episode seated around a large wooden table adorned with publications featuring the Black Sabbath star.

Sharon confessed: “I hate going to bed at night.” Kelly then said: “I mean, I slept with you for the first two months so that you weren’t on your own. But then I felt like you needed some space.

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“I wake up and for the first three seconds I feel normal. And then I remember everything. Mornings are the hardest for me.

“What is the morning? Because it happened in the morning. And I used to spend most of my time with Dad in the morning.”

The 41-year-old mum-of-one admitted she hadn’t grasped just how “horrible” it would be to lose her cherished father. The star had been unwell for years prior to his death from a heart attack.

Speaking through tears, Kelly continued: “I never realised just how horrible grief is. I never knew I was capable of loving somebody so much and missing somebody so much. I just, I never thought there’d be a day where he wouldn’t be here.”

Sharon asked: “But then how blessed are you to have had a dad like him?” Kelly revealed that her dad would “hate” to see her in tears and confessed that she has found solace in her three year old son Sidney, who she shares with her rocker fiancé Sid Wilson.

She expressed: “I’m just so grateful that Sidney got to meet him. And that they had such a special little relationship. If it wasn’t for my baby boy..”

Dad-of-four Jack concurred: “Having the kids has been a huge help.” The TV star, 40, has managed to find some silver linings amidst his sorrow. He elaborated: “It is both horrible and beautiful in the way that it forces you to unpack and examine things.

“Like, yeah, it sucks that he’s gone, but also, for me, it has led to a huge amount of gratitude and love and like really cherishing moments that at the time you take for granted.”

Jack is currently Down Under preparing for a stint in the I’m A Celebrity jungle. He has revealed his family are supportive of his decision, but admits he will miss them all.

Jack told us: “Mum and Kelly, yeah they are absolutely going to be watching. They are supportive.”

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He explained how hard it will be not to talk to the pair or his wife and family. “It’s absolutely going to be hard leaving them behind. I have got lots of kids, my wife, and my family still in the wake of my dad passing. It is going to be difficult, that is for sure.”