RESULTS from the Grand Slam, Wimbledon Men's Doubles matches held on Wednesday (July 4, 2019).
First Round Results
(Reuters)
Site Navigation
Search
Latest Stories
Start your day right!
Get latest updates and insights delivered to your inbox.
Related News
More For You
Ben Stokes and Matthew Short of Northern Superchargers walk out to bat during The Hundred match between Manchester Originals and Northern Superchargers on August 11, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo: Getty Images)
Sunrisers Hyderabad to acquire Northern Superchargers in £100 million deal
Feb 07, 2025
INDIAN Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad is set to become the first full owners of an English Hundred team after agreeing to buy Yorkshire’s Northern Superchargers for a reported £100 million.
The Sun Group will be the third IPL-linked investor in the eight-team Hundred competition, following Reliance Industries, which owns Mumbai Indians, and RPSG, which runs Lucknow Super Giants.
However, the BBC reported on Wednesday that Sunrisers would be the first to take full ownership of a Hundred franchise.
Yorkshire chief executive Sanjay Patel confirmed the development, saying, “We are delighted to be entering into an exclusivity period with the Sun Group and will be continuing our conversations with them in the coming weeks with a view to setting the Northern Superchargers up for long-term and sustained success.”
Patel, who was previously managing director of the Hundred, added, “It is clear that they are aligned to the values and future direction of the club and will play a huge part in ensuring we can go on to achieve great success in the coming years.”
Yorkshire, a key county in English cricket, is expected to use the sale to help clear a £15m debt owed to a trust set up by chairman Colin Graves. The deal now moves into an eight-week exclusivity period for finalisation.
The Superchargers have not had much success in the Hundred, a 100-ball competition featuring both men’s and women’s teams.
However, they have notable figures, including men’s head coach Andrew Flintoff and players such as Harry Brook and Adil Rashid.
Meanwhile, IPL investors have also taken stakes in other Hundred teams. Reliance Industries has agreed to a reported £60m deal with Surrey for a 49 per cent share in Oval Invincibles, while Manchester Originals has partnered with RPSG.
If GMR, which owns IPL side Delhi Capitals and English county Hampshire, secures a 49 per cent stake in Southern Brave, it would mean four of the eight Hundred teams would have Indian investment.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which has not commented so far, is offering 49 per cent stakes in each Hundred team while host counties retain the remaining 51 per cent.
Last week, a Silicon Valley consortium led by Indian-American Nikesh Arora, CEO of US cyber-security firm Palo Alto Networks, agreed to buy a 49 percent stake in the London Spirit franchise for a reported £145m.
Warwickshire and Glamorgan have also agreed to sell 49 per cent stakes in Birmingham Phoenix and Welsh Fire, while Trent Rockets remains available for investment.
So far, six sales have amounted to around £466m, with most of the funds to be distributed among the 18 first-class counties, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and grassroots cricket.
The Hundred has faced criticism for taking players away from county cricket at the peak of the domestic season, but the ECB maintains that proceeds from these sales will support the traditional county game.
(With inputs from AFP)
Keep ReadingShow less
Most Popular
ECB chairman Richard Thompson. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
England rejects calls to boycott Afghanistan match
Feb 07, 2025
ENGLAND will play their Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan later this month, England's cricket board (ECB) said, despite calls to boycott the game in response to the Taliban government's crackdown on women's rights.
Last month, a group of British lawmakers urged England to boycott the Champions Trophy group stage match against Afghanistan which will be held in Lahore on February 26.
South Africa sports minister Gayton McKenzie also supported calls for a boycott.
Afghanistan had 25 contracted women players in 2020, but most are now living in exile in Australia following the Taliban takeover of their country in August 2021.
However, ECB chair Richard Thompson said they would play the match after discussions with the government, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the players, adding that the cricketing community alone cannot tackle Afghanistan's problems.
"We remain of the view that a co-ordinated international response by the cricketing community is the appropriate way forward and will achieve more than any unilateral action by the ECB in boycotting this match," Thompson said in a statement.
"We have also heard that for many ordinary Afghans, watching their cricket team is one of the few remaining sources of enjoyment. As such, we can confirm that we will play this fixture."
The Taliban say they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and local customs and that they are internal matters that should be addressed locally.
Last week, Afghanistan's exiled women cricketers were named the first beneficiaries of a new refugee fund started by the Marylebone Cricket Club and Thompson said the ECB had donated £100,000.
"We will continue to press the ICC to take further action, including ringfencing a meaningful portion of funding to support female players from Afghanistan to be able to access cricket," he added.
Thompson also said the ICC should consider recognising an Afghanistan women's refugee team while also supporting and developing displaced Afghan women "to thrive in non-playing roles" such as coaches and administrators.
"What is happening in Afghanistan is nothing short of gender apartheid," he said.
"At a cricketing level, when women's and girls' cricket is growing rapidly around the world, it is heartbreaking that those growing up in Afghanistan are denied this opportunity."
(Reuters)
Keep ReadingShow less
Greg Norman
Greg Norman calls for more golf events in ‘sleeping giant’ India
Eastern Eye
Feb 06, 2025
INDIA is a sleeping giant in golf, Australian legend Greg Norman has said, as he called for more tournaments to be held in the country to help players realise their true potential.
The 69-year-old former world number one, who has 88 professional titles under his belt, spoke of his optimism for India’s growth in the sport.
“One of my initial focus points was to invest into the sleeping giant, which was the Asian tour. India is a sleeping giant when it comes to golf,” Norman said in Gurugram, outside Delhi, on the sidelines of the Asian Tour International Series event last Sunday (2).
He added, “You just look what’s happening in India with the game of golf – it has only just started, right? For the next 25 years, which is a generation, India is right in the middle of them.”
Norman was the CEO of LIV, a breakaway league founded in 2022 and financed by Saudi Arabia.
It introduced rules such as three-day 54-hole tournaments, instead of the traditional 72-hole four-day events. The LIV tournaments have also eliminated the concept of weekend cut and those who start get to play the entire tournament; they are also entitled to prize money.
The International Series is a partnership between the Asian Tour and LIV. It adheres to the traditional 72-hole concept with a cut at the end of two rounds, to ensure players are entitled to points under the world golf ranking system, which refused to recognise the 54-hole LIV events.
The LIV events have also faced significant resistance from the existing PGA Tour (USA)and the European Tour, which claim that the parallel tour “disrupts” the sport by offering players higher prize money and a seemingly more relaxed rules structure.
Norman said LIV can help Indian golf, which previously saw Jeev Milkha Singh, Shiv Kapur, SSP Chawrasia, Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal regularly win tournaments on all three tours till about a decade ago.
However, the winning momentum has been somewhat lost in the past five years.
Norman said, “I [would] love for LIV to come to India, because to me, it’s significant, right? Everything takes baby steps. And, obviously, the international place to enter the league is important to do that. “LIV created a new dynamic for the game of golf, because it gave an opportunity in the competitive golfing world for a new business model... Different formats have come out and enticed millions and millions of people to come into the game of golf.”
He added, “I truly believe LIV will be the true global platform for golf. We want to be in all the continents of the world...We bring a product that’s a plug and play that’s never been done before. We bring franchise models. We’re bringing the youth side of it.”
India’s Anirban Lahiri has joined ranks with LIV, along with some other prominent names like Bryson DeChambeau, two-time Major winner Dustin Johnson and Lee Westwood, a former world number one.
Norman described Lahiri, who has seven Asian and two European titles to his credit, as “not just a great golfer, but a great person”, adding, “he’s a great representative of your country.”
The Australian great was also full of praise for 15-year-old rising Indian golfer Kartik Singh, who made the cut at the International Series in Gurugram.
“He’s captured it. He made the cut. I think it’s pretty impressive. I haven’t seen his swing at golf club...I look forward to seeing his swing at golf club.
Keep ReadingShow less
India handed ODI debuts to opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and fast bowler Harshit Rana. (Photo credit: BCCI)
England bat first in ODI opener as Kohli sits out
Feb 06, 2025
ENGLAND captain Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to bat against India in the first of three one-day internationals in Nagpur on Thursday.
India were without Virat Kohli, who missed out due to a sore right knee.
Joe Root returned to England’s ODI side for the first time since the 2023 World Cup. England had previously lost the five-match T20I series 4-1.
The three-match ODI series serves as preparation for the Champions Trophy, which begins on 19 February in Pakistan and Dubai.
India handed ODI debuts to opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and fast bowler Harshit Rana.
Skipper Rohit Sharma and Kohli had returned to the squad after struggling for form in India’s 3-1 Test series defeat in Australia last month.
Kohli, who had his right foot strapped, was seen walking gingerly during the warm-up.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
England: Ben Duckett, Phil Salt, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood.
Keep ReadingShow less
If finalised within the eight-week exclusivity period, the deal would make Manchester Originals the second team in The Hundred to have an IPL-affiliated investor. (Photo: Getty Images)
India’s RPSG Group buys 49 per cent stake in Hundred’s Manchester Originals
Feb 04, 2025
THE RPSG Group, owners of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Lucknow Super Giants, have secured a 49 per cent stake in Manchester Originals following the latest auction of The Hundred franchises on Monday.
Reports suggest the deal is valued at around £58 million, placing the overall valuation of Manchester Originals, who play at Old Trafford, at over £100m.
RPSG had initially sought a stake in London Spirit but lost out to a Silicon Valley consortium, which is reported to have paid around £145m for a 49 per cent share in the Lord’s-based team.
"Lancashire Cricket confirms that the RPSG Group, owners of Lucknow Super Giants, were the successful bidders during today's auction process for the sale of a stake in Manchester Originals," the county said in a statement.
If finalised within the eight-week exclusivity period, the deal would make Manchester Originals the second team in The Hundred to have an IPL-affiliated investor.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians owners, the Ambani family, acquired a 49 per cent stake in Oval Invincibles for a reported £60m.
All eight franchises in The Hundred, which include both men’s and women’s teams, are expected to be linked with preferred investors as part of a wider push to attract private investment into English cricket.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has positioned this move as a strategy to secure top players in an increasingly competitive global market.
The Hundred has faced criticism from English county fans, who argue the tournament affects county cricket by taking key players away during the season. However, the ECB has said proceeds from franchise stake sales will help support the 18 first-class counties.
Other recent franchise deals include Warwickshire selling a 49 per cent stake in Birmingham Phoenix to Knighthead Capital for around £40m and Glamorgan securing a similar £40m deal with IT entrepreneur Sanjay Govil for Welsh Fire.
(With inputs from AFP)
Keep ReadingShow less
Load More
© Copyright 2025 Garavi Gujarat Publications Ltd & Asian Media Group USA Inc