Category Sports News

England Test captain Ben Stokes is not expected to play for Durham in the early rounds of the County Championship as he continues his recovery from hamstring surgery, says his county coach Ryan Campbell.

Stokes, 33, tore his left hamstring for a second time in five months in December and, having had surgery in the new year, has not played since.

He will not feature when the County Championship begins on Friday, nor will his Durham and England team-mate Brydon Carse, who is still recovering from the toe injury which ruled him out of the Champions Trophy last month.

“My expectation is that it’ll be zero]early-season appearances] – anything else is an added bonus”, said Campbell.

Durham have six County Championship matches before England’s first assignment of the summer – a one-off Test against Zimbabwe – begins on 22 May.

Stokes was initially ruled out of cricket for three months after surgery in January and a Durham appearance closer to the Zimbabwe Test has not been dismissed.

The all-rounder continued his recovery by training again at Durham on Monday. Ten days ago he posted a video on social media of him having a gentle bowl in the nets.

“He’s here nearly every single day working his butt off”, Campbell said.

“The guy had hamstring surgery and was in the next day lifting weights, which I couldn’t believe.

” He’s such a hard-working bloke. He’ll do whatever it takes to be up and running for England. “

Both as a player and leader, Stokes will be crucial to England’s hopes over a huge year in Test cricket.

After Zimbabwe, England play India over five Tests and in the winter travel to Australia for the Ashes.

Stokes is also a candidate to replace Jos Buttler as England’s white-ball captain. Buttler resigned after England’s early exit at the Champions Trophy – a tournament Stokes missed because of his surgery.

Carse, meanwhile, established himself as a key member of England’s pace attack over the winter with 27 wickets in five Tests after making his debut in Pakistan.

An issue with nasty cuts and blisters on his left foot resurfaced during the Champions Trophy, however, meaning he had to be replaced in England’s squad and was subsequently ruled out of the Indian Premier League.

” We’ve known about his foot problems for a year now, “Campbell said.

” It’s not new, but he needs to get it right if he’s going to be playing a lot of Test cricket.

“If we look at it, then I think Brydon Carse is probably the number one priority for England right now with what he’s shown in Test cricket. He’s born for that sort of stuff.

“He’s going to play in the semi-final, for sure”, said Pep Guardiola after Nico O’Reilly saved Manchester City’s FA Cup skins for the second round in a row.

The City manager may have been half-joking – with the words accompanied by a huge smile and laugh – but 20-year-old O’Reilly has certainly added to his growing reputation.

O’Reilly, who has yet to start a Premier League game, came off the bench at half-time to assist two goals in Sunday’s 2-1 comeback win at Bournemouth.

In the previous round he scored twice as they came from behind to beat Plymouth 3-1.

O’Reilly also netted in the 8-0 win over Salford in round three.

O’Reilly joined City as an eight-year-old, having also been scouted by Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton.

He signed his first professional contract in July 2022, alongside 10 other players, including Rico Lewis.

In 2022-23 O’Reilly made headlines with two remarkable goals in the Under-18 Premier League – a stoppage-time scorpion kick winner against Middlesbrough and 40-yard strike against Manchester United – and ended the season as an unused sub for the first team against Brighton.

Last season his development was hindered by injury but he still scored from near the halfway line for City’s under-23 team against Nottingham Forest.

In the summer he impressed Guardiola on City’s pre-season tour of the United States – and started the Community Shield win over Manchester United.

O’Reilly has played in the Premier League and Champions League from the bench this season and started in the Carabao Cup – but his headline acts have been in the FA Cup.

Anyone coming through the academy at a Guardiola club would be best placed to be flexible – and 6ft 2in O’Reilly matches that description.

He is a midfielder – and an attacking midfielder at that – by trade. City’s website says he is “able to operate in a number of attacking positions”.

Yet in pre-season, with Rodri absent, O’Reilly featured as a defensive midfielder alongside Mateo Kovacic in a friendly against Barcelona – in which he scored – and against United in the Community Shield.

O’Reilly played as a centre-back against Salford and as a left-back when he replaced Abdukodir Khusanov at half-time against Bournemouth.

BBC chief football news reporter Simon Stone said: “He had his contract updated in 2023 but there are likely to be talks about an improved deal in light of recent performances.

” There was interest from Chelsea in the winter window but never close. “

Had O’Reilly, who is under contract until 2028, joined Chelsea, he would have followed fellow City academy product Cole Palmer.

O’Reilly spoke to BBC Sport after his man-of-the-match performance on Sunday.

” My instructions were to get involved as much as I can – in the attacking phase and securing the defending phase, “he said.

” It was good to get the contributions with the two assists. I was buzzing.

“Towards the start it was a bit challenging because I’ve not really played there, but I know what I need to do there and I’m just buzzing I can play.

After the Bournemouth game Guardiola said:” Against Plymouth he scored two goals. Today he made the assists.

“He’s a number 10, we cannot forget. But he has the pace, he is so intelligent and quality with the ball.

” In the final third he has vision. He played really good and had an impact. “

City midfielder Bernardo Silva said:” He was unbelievable.

City play Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals at Wembley in late April.

It may not have been a serious promise from Guardiola, but it seems likely that O’Reilly will feature at some stage.

It was once customary for Premier League players to be gifted a bottle of champagne as reward for winning man of the match.

Times have moved on since then, with players now receiving a small trophy in recognition of their display.

But Norwegian club Bryne FK – where Manchester City forward Erling Haaland started his career – have come up with a novel approach by awarding eggs to their player of the match.

The club, based in the south-west of Norway close to the city of Stavanger, were promoted back to the top-flight last season for the first time since 2003.

They were beaten 1-0 by Europa League quarter-finalists Bodo/Glimt in their first fixture back in the top division on Sunday.

But they were kept in the match by goalkeeper Jan de Boer, who pulled off a string of fine stops and saved a second-half penalty.

The Dutchman’s reward? Four trays of eggs, of course.

The prize is a nod to the club’s ties with local agriculture, which is dominated by meat and dairy production.

Such is the association with farming, supporters are often heard chanting “we are farmers and we are proud of it” at matches, and there are ‘ VIP ‘ tickets on sale for fans to watch games from a pitchside tractor.

As Cody Bramwell balanced on the summit of the Kakhiani mountain face in Georgia, it was not just the edge of his snowboard that was teetering over the precipice – his life’s dream was too.

The 30-year-old feared this could be his last chance to make it back to the top of his chosen sport of freeriding, after a season out with injury and subsequent poor form had put the brakes on a promising career.

With plans taking shape to include the daredevil discipline in the Winter Olympics in 2030, he knew this would be the perfect time to make his mark in a sport that rewards those who take the biggest risks.

Until recently, Bramwell had been one of the rising stars of freeriding – which combines the thrills and spills of freestyle skiing and snowboarding with the freedom of off-piste riding, with competitors judged on the tricks they pull and the difficulty of the route they take down a sheer, rocky mountainside.

But for the Swedish-born snowboarder, who has an English father and has chosen to compete for Great Britain, his career now looked to be fading fast.

After being given a wildcard to compete this season on the Freeride World Tour (FWT), Bramwell crashed out of the opening three events and was facing relegation from the top-tier as he prepared to “drop in” for his fourth run in Georgia.

“I was so down and disappointed and kind of thought ‘ oh well, my career is over I guess'”, he said.

Bramwell was bottom of the overall standings with two events of the regular season remaining.

Only the top 60% of the field would retain their pro licence for the 2025-26 season and make it through to the FWT final in the Swiss resort of Verbier.

After claiming successive overall third-place finishes in 2021 and 2022, before missing the 2023 campaign with a broken ankle, he looked set to lose his place in the FWT top tier for what promises to be a transformative year for the sport.

The tour is joining forces with the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), which runs the World Cup programmes in alpine skiing, as well as freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

Developments planned for 2026 include the first Freeriding World Championships, while an application will be submitted to the International Olympic Committee today (Monday, 31 March) to request inclusion in the 2030 Winter Games in France.

Bramwell faced the prospect of missing out on the wealth of opportunities about to open up to the top riders, but he still had one more chance to redeem himself – and this time his stars aligned.

Throwing caution to the wind, he aced his run in Georgia to claim just the second win of his career and first in five years. A second-placed finish in the next event in Austria saw him jump to third place in the overall standings and qualify for the tour final.

Even better was to come in the sport’s spiritual home of Verbier, where Bramwell produced a jaw-dropping run to win FWT’s blue-riband event.

“I guess I just earned so much confidence from that win in Georgia”, he explained.

“Every time I am up at the start I am asking myself ‘ what am I doing here? ‘.

” Standing at the start gate is stressful, but as soon as you drop in I am like ‘ OK, this is what I love to do’.

With the shackles off, Bramwell began his descent of Verbier’s Bec des Rosses with an audacious backflip over an exposed rocky outcrop, then navigated a breakneck passage through a narrow gully, hurtling through a cascading shower of falling snow before ending with a soaring 360-degree jump.

Judges score each competitor on the difficulty of the line they choose down the mountain, the fluidity, control and technique shown in their run and the style of their jumps, as well as the amount of time they spend in the air.

Bramwell claimed victory in Verbier with an impressive score of 92.67 out of 100, and moved from rock bottom after three events to finish the season in second place overall.

“Winning the whole tour would have been amazing, but at least now we have some more chances”, added Bramwell. “The Xtreme Verbier is the most legendary freeride competition, so to win that for the first time is the biggest dream ever”.

The Briton is now looking forward to a much brighter future, and the potential to one day step on to an Olympic podium.

That possibility is by no means assured, but FIS told BBC Sport that it was finalising documents to put forward freeride as an Olympic discipline for the 2030 Winter Games, with the International Olympic Committee due to make a decision in December.

FIS secretary general Michel Vion said: “From FIS ‘ standpoint, freeride clearly meets all the evaluation criteria, including a strong position on promoting sustainability and environmental responsibility. Freeride is ready to bring value to the Olympic movement”.

“To be an Olympian would be the craziest dream ever, that would be so cool”, added Bramwell, who switched to represent Britain in 2021 and says his father Peter and his family in Norwich love to cheer him on in GB colours.

Last season, Everton reported losses of £53 million.

The club has lost a total of £570 million in its seventh straight year, which is lower than the £89 million deficit from 2022-23.

Everton were given eight points last season for two separate Premier League profit and sustainability violations, including those involving the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, for which they were responsible.

After all clubs were determined to be financially compliant, the Premier League announced in January that it had not yet charged any clubs for violations in the years 2023-2020.

Everton was later informed that an outstanding PSR charge related to an earlier PSR charge would not lead to further action.

Clubs can lose up to £105 million over the course of three years, subject to PSR regulations, before facing sanctions.

Everton’s losses over the past three seasons total £187 million, but expenses incurred as a result of investments in infrastructure and youth and women’s teams can be taken into account when calculating PSR losses.

In time for the 2025-26 season, Everton are expected to relocate to a new 52, 888-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock this summer.

Everton also provided the following:

The group refinanced the club’s debt, including the £ 350m debt on the new stadium, to more favorable terms.

Additionally, Moshiri’s interest-free shareholder loans have been converted into equity.

In January, Everton fired manager Sean Dyche and installed former manager David Moyes in his place.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are the only other golfers to have earned more than $100 million (£77 million) on the PGA Tour than Rory McIlroy.

The Northern Irishman won the $338, 000 prize at last week’s Houston Open, placing him fourth overall in the standings.

Since making his first appearance on the Tour in 2010, the 35-year-old has amassed 28 victories in 262 different events.

Woods, 49, passed $100m in prize money in 2012 and currently stands on $120m, with 82 wins in 378 events.

Phil Mickelson, who earned $97 million, left the PGA Tour in 2022 to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour for a rumored $ 200 million.

The PGA Tour increased prize money at 12 events to match the breakaway tour’s in 2022 as a result of the launch of LIV.

Since June 2023, the PGA Tour and the European-based DP World Tour have been in discussions about a merger.

Only the four majors offer players from the rival tours the chance to compete against one another, the Masters, US PGA Championship, Open Championship, and US Open.

McIlroy has won three of his four majors, the 2014 Open Championship being his final one.