Opener completes the task of securing draw after rain wrecked day three

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay01-Aug-2025Kent 445 for 8 (Compton 221, Finch 54*) drew with Leicestershire 471 (Rehan 119, Patel 85) The Rothesay County Championship match between Division Two leaders Leicestershire and Kent at Canterbury ended in a draw, after the hosts reached 445 for eight on day four, trailing by 24 when bad light stopped play.Ben Compton hit a career-best 221 and Harry Finch made 54 not out, while Rehan Ahmed three for 134, but the chances of a positive result were effectively neutered on day three, when a mere 9.5 overs were bowled.Leicestershire remain top of the table, while Kent stay bottom.Conditions were significantly better on Friday morning but as soon as Kent passed the follow-on target of 321 a draw seemed inevitable.The nightwatch, George Garrett, survived 67 balls spread across days two, three and four but he was the first man out when he edged Logan van Beek to Louis Kimber for 10.The first shot of Ben Dawkins’ first-class career was a stylish drive that might have gone for four but for the slope, but he was out for seven, inside-edging Ben Green behind.Compton, 111 not out overnight, reached 150 in the penultimate over of the session when he cut Tom Scriven for four and Kent eased to 307 for four at lunch.Scriven subsequently had Joey Evison caught behind for 38, but an elegant sweep off Rehan saw Compton to 200. He took a single off Patel to pass his previous highest score of 217 and was finally out when he came down the wicket to Rehan and was stumped.Rehan then had Matt Parkinson lbw for two and Kent were 429 for eight at tea, after which Finch cover-drove Rishi Patel to bring up his half-century, but play was suspended at 4.40pm and both sides looked as eager as the umpires to shake hands on the draw.

Trent Rockets now in pole position to finish second, which would grant them a Finals spot if the Eliminator is washed out

ECB Media26-Aug-2025Manchester Originals 140 for 3 (Buttler 70, Ravindra 47*) beat Northern Superchargers 139 for 8 (Patel 42, Aspinwall 3-17) by seven wicketsWith the return of Sir James Anderson to the Manchester Originals’ line-up, there was an extra frisson at Headingley for the local derby as the Northern Superchargers looked to record eight wins from eight for the women and men at their northern fortress. Alas for Harry Brook’s side, although they will still be in the Eliminator at the Kia Oval on Saturday, it was not to be.Starting on the same points total as the Trent Rockets but with a significant deficit in net run rate, the Superchargers were looking for a big win to give themselves a decent chance of finishing second in the group stages.The Originals won the toss and chose to field, with Anderson bowling the first ten, and rapidly picking up his first and second wickets in The Hundred, accompanied by a broad grin. He then had Brook dropped in the deep before seeing England’s white-ball captain try his falling-over scoop, the ball merely dribbling a few feet from the bat, Brook ending up on his bottom and Anderson in stitches.Brook (20 off 20) was then caught off Scott Currie and Zak Crawley (17 off 17) holed out, and at 73 for 5 off 67 balls, the Originals were in the box seat.Enter the 40-year-old Samit Patel, three years younger than Anderson perhaps, but still very much a senior citizen in professional cricketing terms. When he was dismissed off the penultimate delivery, he had pummelled four fours and three sixes in his 19-ball 42 and, along with David Miller (30 off 22), given the Superchargers something to defend despite Tom Aspinwall’s impressive 3 for 17.The Superchargers’ opening pair of Jacob Duffy and Matthew Potts were tidy, Phil Salt (9 off 13) and Ben McKinney (6 off 8) struggling to break free but once they had gone, Jos Buttler and Rachin Ravindra (47* off 23) showed just why they are rated two of the best white-ball batters in the world, a thrilling partnership of 99 off 48 ensuring the Originals finished the competition on a high and consigning the Superchargers to a third-place group finish, barring a catastrophic defeat by the Rockets to the Phoenix tomorrow at Trent Bridge.Buttler was imperious, smiting seven fours and five sixes in his 37-ball 70 before being bowled by Adil Rashid, at which point only 10 were needed off 21 balls. Rashid conceded 39 from his 20, the most he has ever leaked in The Hundred, and successive boundaries from Ravindra sealed the deal with seven wickets and 16 balls to spare.Meerkat Match Hero Jos Buttler said: “The surface was a bit tricky, a bit slow. I thought we bowled exceptionally well apart from three or four balls and that allowed us to chase it down. We showed our best cricket in this last game when we were already out of the tournament, which is frustrating.”Overall, over the course of the tournament, we left a lot out there. In a couple of games, we failed to get over the line and we are where we deserve to be in the end. Tonight we showed what we are truly capable of as a team.”

Glamorgan bowled out for 265, with promotion already secured

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay24-Sep-2025Lancashire 55 for 0 trail Glamorgan 265 (van der Gugten 53, Crane 42, Bailey 5-51) by 210 runsLancashire took control over Glamorgan with early wickets on day one of the final Rothesay County Championship match.Tom Bailey took a five-wicket haul, including a wicket with the first ball of the game to reduce Glamorgan to 114 for 6 at lunch. An 82-run seventh-wicket partnership kept the visitors at bay until they finally wrapped up the innings on 265 with 20 overs remaining in the day.Personal milestones included a half-century in Timm van der Gugten’s 100th match, Kiran Carlson’s 1000th run for the season, and Mason Crane’s highest score of the summer, 42. But they were not enough to prevent Lancashire from dominating the day.Both clubs’ fates had been decided already. Glamorgan’s second-placed promotion was confirmed after a rain-affected round of fixtures last week. Meanwhile Lancashire, currently in sixth, can rise to third if results go their way.Tom Bailey bowled Zain-ul-Hassan around his legs with the first ball of the match, and with James Anderson absent due to a side strain sustained last time out, Jake Blatherwick shared the new-ball duties and quickly helped reduce Glamorgan to 20 for 2. Asa Tribe, even in his remarkable purple patch, was unable to do much to one nipping away.Blatherwick’s success ended there, and though Tom Aspinwall went unrewarded, Bailey and George Balderson had Glamorgan six wickets down inside the first session.Carlson scored typically quickly to reach 22, and his 1000th run, and though he fell soon afterwards, Chris Cooke put up a fight either side of lunch in what was a session dictated mostly by poor shots to explain the scoreline than anything else.Van der Gugten and Crane’s resisted for a while but Bailey fittingly finished the innings off, having claimed a wicket in each of his opening overs of his first three spells. It fell to Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells to ensure an unscathed final 20 overs of the day. The left-handed duo stood strongly against early movement from Van der Gugten, before a flourish of boundaries from Jennings to close the day on 55 for 0.

He is set to feature in domestic cricket between two ODI series, against South Africa and New Zealand

Daya Sagar02-Dec-2025Virat Kohli is set to return to domestic cricket for Delhi in the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-over competition, the DDCA has confirmed.Kohli, 37, plays only one format now for India – 50-over cricket – and since the BCCI has made it a mandate for contracted India players to feature in domestic cricket, Kohli will represent Delhi when the tournament starts on December 24 in Ahmedabad.”He will definitely play a few games, but not sure about the entire tournament,” DDCA secretary Ashok Sharma told ESPNcricinfo. “It will depend upon his India matches too.”Related

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Kohli recently struck his 52nd ODI century, against South Africa in Ranchi, and was named the Player of the Match for his knock of 135 that was studded with seven sixes.Once the last ODI of the ongoing series finishes on December 6 in Visakhapatnam, Kohli will have enough time before the start of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, it is not clear yet if he will play all of Delhi’s seven league matches, which will go on till January 8, just three days before the start of the ODI series against New Zealand in Vadodara.Delhi will play five league matches in Alur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, and the other two at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Kohli’s home ground for his IPL team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).Kohli last played 50-over cricket for Delhi in September 2013, in the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy which had India Blue and India Red as the other two teams. The last time Kohli played the Vijay Hazare Trophy was in the 2009-10 season. He led Delhi in both those tournaments.In the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – the domestic 20-over competition – Delhi have won two of their four games under the leadership of Nitish Rana.

Loads of Leeds fans have been reacting to the latest transfer news, as reports claim they are close to a deal for Wolves full back Barry Douglas.

According to Phil Hay of the Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds have launched a shock move for Douglas.

The report claims Leeds have actually agreed to meeting the Premier League newcomers’ asking price, with a view to complete the move in the next few days.

Fans have been growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of transfer activity, but signing the flying Wolves full back would be a huge boost.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”257599″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Leeds’ opening fixtures for the 201819 Championship season”]

The Scottish international was one of the standout players in Wolves’ run to the title last season, racking up 15 assists, mostly from his incredible set pieces.

Marcelo Bielsa is expected to deploy three at the back this season, so signing one of the league’s best wing backs is a no brainer.

Douglas is in the last 12 months of his contract at Molineux, and Leeds fans are getting excited about the prospect of the Scotsman and Luke Ayling flying down the flanks.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

Friday marked 100 days since Jose Mourinho took over as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, shortly after Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking.

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Plenty has happened during his time in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hot-seat, from his opening 3-2 win away against West Ham United, to their FA Cup progression over Southampton.

However, he is still yet to completely win over plenty of Spurs fans, who either don’t trust him or miss Pochettino.

Of his 22 matches up until this point, Mourinho has won 11 games, drawn four and lost seven in all competitions, which is not necessarily that impressive.

This has got Spurs up to sixth in the Premier League table, just four points outside of the top four, but their fans are still far from happy.

A true test for any Spurs fan: Can you match these iconic images with the right results?

One referred to his tenure as the “longest 100 days of my life”, one suggested that the Portuguese tactician has “nothing to show for it”, while another rated it 3/10.

There are some who have suggested that they “miss Poch”, which likely makes it more difficult for Mourinho to make an impression on them.

Mauricio Pochettino managed Spurs from May 2014 up until November 2019, and took them to a Champions League final, which definitely cemented his legacy if that hadn’t already happened.

It is clear that Mourinho has a very long way to go until he is held in anywhere near the same regard as the man he replaced.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has also been criticised by a big-name pundit.

Gazetta World have managed to get Tottenham Hotspur fans looking up with interest here in the Football Transfer Tavern as they seem to think that Roma could well make a move for Erik Lamela.

The creative star has suffered from a torrid time and lack of form since his move to England, and we think a move away could well be what he needs and with Roma willing to bring him back to the club, it could be a deal that goes through before deadline day.

As one of our regulars quips over a couple of games of pool, we think that the player could well leave and after showing a lack of consistent form in north London, few Spurs fans would miss the player who they seem to think was a big waste of money and total flop.

Spurs fans. Would you like to see Lamela leave? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

Bargain buys haven’t exactly been the transfer policy at Manchester United of late, but the squad is definitely in need of some additions as you begin on Football Manager 2016.

Louis van Gaal has built a squad with plenty of talent, but there are some fundamental issues that need to be addressed in the short term.

The Dutch veteran manager might have splashed the cash, but the wonderful world of football virtual reality means that you don’t always have to.

United are blessed with a significant budget from the start of your save, but the way that youngsters develop on the game means you can bring starlets in from all over the world at bargain prices.

Failing that, investment in a bigger name who can give you a decade of service is equally justifiable and might be deemed a bargain in years to come: see Luke Shaw.

Here are FIVE players who could be ideal for your save at Old Trafford…

Marc-Oliver Kempf

This German centre-back will not be as cheap as some of you may have hoped, but a decade or so of service more than makes up for the price tag.

If you work the deal intelligently, you should be able to get the upfront payment below £15million.

With some ideal mental stats and marking of 15, Kempf can play anywhere from centre-back to central midfield and would be an ideal long-term partner for Chris Smalling or Phil Jones.

Timo Werner

A Football Manager legend for several years now and Werner is as good a signing as ever.

His pace would be a welcome addition to the Manchester United frontline and the prospect of a partnership with Wilson and Martial a few seasons down the line is stuff dreams are made of.

A structured deal could see the initial budget hit as low as £10million, but be prepared to pay more if you don’t want to riddle yourself with potential risky clauses down the line.

Will Hughes

Real life links to Liverpool probably don’t do the Derby youngster justice.

If nurtured correctly, Hughes can become a complete central midfield player and comfortably step into the boots of Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Training on marking would be a necessity, but all of this for a cost of only marginally over £10million is a comparative bargain for a club the size of Manchester United.

Gerson

Gerson has an impending transfer to Roma when you start your save, but if you wait until the second summer the Brazilian playmaker should be available for around £7.5million.

The Fluminese man is natural in any attacking midfield position and represents no considerable weakness at the beginning of your game.

The scouts will tell you he could reach the level of Memphis Depay’s potential and its hard to turn down that sort of quality at this price.

Fran Villalba

Another transfer to make you feel old, Villalba was born in 1998.

This Spanish playmaker is only 17 and would probably be due a couple of loan spells before being ready for the first team.

However, if you can manage him correctly he will be an ideal replacement for Juan Mata as a central creative force.

With a flair rating of 17 already, Villalba could be a brilliant player to sign and sell on in a couple of seasons considering that he can be signed for just over £2million.

Check your chocolate-filled advent calendars, folks – we’re now just TWO sleeps away from Christmas day!

Indeed, it may seem like only yesterday we were celebrating New Year’s for 2015, but we’re now just 48 hours away from the short period in which parents up and down the country let an old, chubby, bearded man break into their private property and leave gifts for their naive, impressionable and vulnerable young children. Apparently, that’s a good thing.

We at Football Fancast are all bursting at the seams with festive cheer and the same can be said for Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, a man notoriously fond of celebrating Jesus’s birthday.

He’s already bought new football boots for all of Arsenal’s star players and has even started stuffing his turkey with frogs legs. But worried St. Nick might frown upon his questionable spelling, the Gunners gaffer has asked us to give his Christmas wish list a quick proof read before leaving it at the bottom of his chimney.

Being a rather cheeky bunch at Football Fancast, we feel no remorse in sharing the five items at the top of Wenger’s wish list this year with you lucky souls.

A JOSE MOURINHO VOODOO DOLL

To many, being sacked as Chelsea manager is probably enough punishment for Jose Mourinho, especially with Christmas just around the corner. How he be able to afford a new crutch for whoever the Portuguese equivalent of Tiny Tim is now?

But not to Arsene Wenger, the man who has felt the full brunt of the Special One’s insidious remarks like no other Premier League manager. ‘Specialist in failure’, ‘Voyeur’, ‘the only manager in the Premier League who doesn’t have to worry about his job’ – Le Professeur never forgets.

Consequentially, there’s nothing Wenger would like more this Christmas than a Jose Mourinho Voodoo doll, finding great pleasure in sticking pins and god knows what else into a pintsized effigy of the unemployed Portuguese.

Santa isn’t too big on black magic but Emmanuel Adebayor’s mum can probably help the Arsenal gaffer out.

A TREADMILL WITH GOAL POSTS

A treadmill with goal posts. An item that probably doesn’t exist.

Why would Wenger want this for Christmas? So Arsenal can get more practice walking it into the net.

I’ll see myself out.

ZIPPER GREASE

Every season, Arsene Wenger gets a new, thirty-foot-long puffer jacket. And every season, the Frenchman somehow gets trapped in it as he fails to master the basic mechanics of a conventional zip – leading to much hilarity at his expense on the touchline.

“Convert to buttons!” some Arsenal fans cry. “Stop wearing coats with zips longer than Peter Crouch,” others protest.

But alas, Wenger is a notoriously stubborn man (it took him ten years to get rid of Nicklas Bendtner) and rather than daring to extinct an old tradition now, he’d much prefer to stick with the highly-fashionable telescopic puffer coat with one alteration courtesy of St. Nick – a fresh splattering of zipper grease.

Does such a thing exist? Yes! It’s a little known fact that zipper grease is made from the sweat of the north pole’s elfish slaves. Its sales keeps the local economy steady during the non-festive periods.

MILES AND MILES OF BUBBLEWRAP

Wrapping footballers in bubblewrap is meant to be a stock commentary joke, aimed at any footballer who finds himself spending more time in the physio room than on the pitch.

But having endured injury crisis after injury crisis during every single season of his lengthy north London reign, it’s becoming one of the only strategies Wenger hasn’t actually tried in his thus far fruitless mission to end Arsenal’s love-hate relationship with crocked stars.

Indeed, it takes little more than a slightly-too-feisty tug of war over Christmas cracker to leave Jack Wilshere sidelined for six months with a strained wrist (although his internet search history suggests there might be other causes), whilst the sheer soundwaves from muttering the word ‘injury’ is enough to shatter every bone in Aaron Ramsey’s lower legs.

So why not literally wrap the players in bubblewrap? It might actually work! Then again, it might also lead to some chaffing-induced injuries.

ANYTHING BUT A NEW SIGNING

There are plenty of items on Wenger’s wish list this year – he’s fully aware that he’s been a very good boy – but one thing definitely absent from his note to St. Nick is a brand new January signing.

Indeed, Arsenal may be in the middle of a typically Arsenal injury crisis and may have their best chance of claiming the Premier League title for over a decade, but the last thing Le Prof needs is some stupid world-class signing turning up in north London during the January transfer window and ignorantly improving the depth of the Gunners’ squad with all his bloody talent.

Why do that when you can spend £10k on some lanky teenager from Djibouti? Or better yet, give Mathieu Flamini a new contract? Karim Benzema can humbug off!

When he first arrived at the Boleyn Ground on the back of a club record transfer fee for the Hammers back in the summer of 2013, Andy Carroll was largely expected to propel West Ham up the league table as the undisputed focal point of Big Sam Allardyce’s attack.

As a string of frustrating long-term injury concerns have nonetheless stood in Carroll’s way since he initially introduced himself in front of the Upton Park faithful however, life in the famed East End of London has invariably proven far more difficult for the former Newcastle United striker.

Yet because the 27-year-old Gateshead-born front-man now seems to be enjoying a successful run in Slaven Bilic’s first team plans with the Hammers at the minute, perhaps the good times have just about returned for the player who notoriously cost Liverpool £35million just a handful of short seasons ago.

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So then, is it only a matter of time before Andy Carroll seemingly drops off the boil once again, or are the West Ham fans now finally starting to see the best out of their club’s marquee centre-forward?

Well, although the former England international may not quite represent everyone’s preferred cup of tea when everything is said and done, no one can discredit Carroll’s efficiency inside the final third when things are admittedly going well for the player in question.

Since the 27-year-old striker has enjoyed a decent run in the team for the Hammers this season, the towering centre-forward has undoubtedly looked a great deal leaner out on the pitch, he seems less likely to break down now that the long balls aren’t constantly being pumped up to him under Slaven Bilic – and although anything could easily still happen for Andy Carroll throughout the remainder of the 2015/16 campaign – maybe the tide really is beginning to turn for the often luckless front-man this season.

With the likes of Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini dictating the play for Slaven Bilic’s outfit in 2015/16, Carroll no longer represents West Ham’s obvious route of attack down at Upton Park. The ex-Newcastle and Liverpool forward can in-fact operate away from the spot-light for a change this season – which is something he arguably hasn’t experienced a great deal of since first bursting onto the scene at St. James’ all those years ago.

Now that Bilic isn’t constantly relying on Carroll to provide the knock-downs for his fellow attacking colleagues out on the field for West Ham, the powerful no-nonsense striker can begin to think about getting on the end of finishing moves more often than not, as opposed to finding himself playing exclusively with back to goal for the majority of the 90 minutes as he did under Sam Allardyce.

Of course, Andy Carroll has just about re-established himself as a first team regular at Upton Park in light of Diafra Sakho’s own injury set-back earlier on in the campaign – but as the front-man now has two in two for the Hammers after shaking off a potentially worrying groin concern a few weeks back – the immediate future looks rather promising for the big man.

WANT MORE? >> West Ham transfer news | Latest transfer news

The recently expanded Hammers squad not only serves to ease the burden on Carroll’s shoulders as he goes about his business in front of the Boleyn Ground faithful, but his newly established teammates also allow him to continue getting in strong positions that arguably weren’t possible for the striker in seasons past at West Ham.

Yes, the 27-year-old will never likely stay completely free of injury – and who knows, maybe another long-term complaint is simply waiting round the corner for Carroll right in the here and now – yet as things currently stand for the powerful Englishman, there is no reason to suggest that Andy Carroll won’t push on further throughout the rest of the current campaign.

And if he’s particularly lucky come the final culmination of the 2015/16 season, maybe a sly Euro 2016 call-up could be on the cards for Carroll if circumstances allow this summer.

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