分类： sports

In a stunning announcement that has sent shockwaves through the global cricket community, England men’s cricket captain Ben Stokes revealed Sunday that he will retire from all forms of international cricket within days, making the surprise declaration in the middle of the series-deciding third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.

In a video of the dressing room address shared publicly by England Cricket, Stokes told his assembled teammates ahead of Day 4 play: “This is my last two days as your captain and my last two days representing England.” The declaration came with the three-match series deadlocked at 1-1, with the match set to extend into a fifth and final day on Monday to determine the series winner.

Stokes’ bombshell announcement landed just 15 minutes before the afternoon tea break on Day 4. In a moment that encapsulated his legendary career, the all-rounder picked up a New Zealand wicket just moments after his revelation, and received a thunderous standing ovation from the packed Trent Bridge crowd as he led the England team off the pitch at the end of the session. When addressing his teammates, Stokes kept the specific motivations behind his early exit private for the time being, saying: “The reasons can wait (about) why. But I’ve had many trips to the well before for this team and I’ve got one more trip to do.”

Over a 15-year international career, Stokes has cemented his status as one of the most iconic and successful cricketers of his generation. His most legendary performances came in two global title wins: he was the standout star of England’s dramatic, last-ball victory over New Zealand in the 2019 50-over World Cup final at Lord’s, widely regarded as one of the most thrilling matches in cricket history. He then repeated that championship success three years later, playing a pivotal role in England’s 2022 T20 World Cup triumph — the same year he took on the role of Test captain for the national side.

The retirement announcement caps a turbulent series for Stokes off the pitch. After the opening Test at Lord’s, Stokes and teammate Gus Atkinson made headlines when they were dropped from the squad for the second Test. The pair had spent an evening at a London nightclub, where an England team security official was reportedly assaulted by a player from professional rugby side Saracens. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) initially stated the pair had “breached specific contractual obligations”, issued them written warnings, and launched a formal investigation. The independent Cricket Regulator oversight panel later concluded there was “insufficient evidence to establish that any regulatory breach occurred”, and Stokes was reinstated to the side for the deciding third Test.

ECB chairman Richard Thompson paid tribute to Stokes’ transformative career, calling him “one of England’s greatest ever cricketers and one of the defining figures of his generation.” Thompson added: “His performances under pressure, his relentless competitiveness and his ability to produce the extraordinary when it matters most have given me and millions of other fans memories that will endure forever. Beyond his remarkable achievements on the field, his performances have inspired many youngsters to embrace cricket with positivity and belief. We are losing a batsman, a bowler, a captain and a talisman.”

LONDON — The final group stage matchday of the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup delivered a tense opening contest at Lord’s on Saturday, with South Africa securing a hard-fought four-wicket victory over Bangladesh that forced India into a do-or-die battle against unbeaten Australia for the last semifinal spot on Sunday.

Going into the final round of group matches, two elite sides — India, the reigning 50-over ODI world champions, and South Africa, runners-up at the previous two T20 World Cup tournaments — were locked in a tight fight for the fourth and final remaining place in the knockout round. Australia, having won every match it has played so far in the competition, had already secured its own place in the semifinals barring an unprecedented catastrophic collapse, leaving the final knockout spot down to the contest between South Africa, India and Bangladesh.

The historic London ground hosted a day-night doubleheader, and the opening fixture brought no shortage of drama even before the first over of play concluded. In an extremely rare statistical quirk, both teams lost their star top batters to the very first delivery of their respective innings. Opening batter Juairiya Ferdous of Bangladesh swung and missed at a fast ball from South African pace bowler Marizanne Kapp, becoming the South African speedster’s 100th career wicket in T20 international matches. Just hours later, in South Africa’s batting innings, Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt fell to Bangladesh seamer Marufa Akter, bowled through the gap between her bat and leg pad for a golden duck. This rare pair of opening golden ducks had only occurred once before in the history of the Women’s T20 World Cup, during a 2018 contest between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Bangladesh struggled against South Africa’s well-rounded bowling attack. Led by Kapp’s tight 1-for-9, Shabnim Ismail’s 1-for-15, and spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba’s 2-for-22, Bangladesh could only post a total of 117 for 5 after their full 20 overs. Batter Sobhana Mostary top-scored for the side with 42 runs, while captain Nigar Sultana finished unbeaten on 32 runs from just 20 deliveries, pushing her to the top of Bangladesh’s run-scoring chart for the 2024 tournament.

South Africa got a solid opening start from Annerie Dercksen and Tazmin Brits in their chase, but regular wickets kept the result uncertain right up to the final overs. Dercksen was caught behind the wicket in the 15th over, Kapp was run out in the 18th, and Nadine de Klerk fell in the 19th, putting the result in doubt before all-rounder Chloe Tryon scrambled two unconvincing miscued shots to cross the finish line and secure the four-wicket win.

Following the hard-earned win, Kapp acknowledged the scrappy nature of the victory, telling reporters: “We seem to always do this but we take the win. A win is a win. Even if it was very scrappy.”

South Africa’s win puts pressure firmly on India, who currently hold a narrow advantage over South Africa on net run rate. To lock in their place in the semifinals, India must defeat Australia in the second match of the Lord’s doubleheader to claim the final knockout spot, in one of the most anticipated final group stage matches in recent Women’s T20 World Cup history.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — One of cricket’s most anticipated teenage prospects will have to wait a little longer for his senior international breakthrough. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old Indian batting sensation who finished as the highest run-getter in the 2025 Indian Premier League, was once again left out of India’s playing XI for the second and decisive T20I against Ireland in Belfast.

This omission marks the second consecutive match the young prodigy has missed out on, after he did not feature in the series opener on Friday. That first match ended in a historic 34-run victory for Ireland, the first time the nation has beaten India in any format of international cricket.

If given his cap in the upcoming five-match T20 series against England, which kicks off next Wednesday, Sooryavanshi — who will be 15 years and 93 days old on the date of the first match — will break the long-standing record for the youngest male player to debut in top-tier men’s T20 internationals. The current record belongs to Ireland’s own Joshua Little, who was 16 years and 309 days old when he made his first T20I appearance.

A debut for Sooryavanshi would also etch his name into Indian cricket history as the youngest player to ever represent the men’s senior national team. The legendary Sachin Tendulkar, widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time, holds the current record for India, having made his Test debut at 16 years and 205 days back in 1989, with his ODI debut following 33 days later.

Across all formats of men’s international cricket, the record for the youngest debutant still belongs to Pakistan’s Hasan Raza, who stepped out for his Test debut in 1996 at just 14 years and 227 days old, a mark that has stood unchallenged for nearly 30 years.

In the second T20I at Belfast’s Stormont ground on Sunday, India captain Shreyas Iyer won the pre-match coin toss and elected to bowl first against the hosts. India handed out senior debuts to two other young prospects: all-rounder Suryansh Shedge and 24-year-old fast bowler Prince Yadav.

National selectors opted to retain the established top-order batting trio of Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, choosing experience over the chance to introduce the teenage prodigy to the international stage on this tour.

Full Playing XI:
Ireland: Tim Tector, Ross Adair, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (captain), Ben Calitz, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Matt Hollard, Liam McCarthy, Jai Moondra
India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Suryansh Shedge, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav

On Sunday at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, New Zealand seized firm control of the third and series-deciding Test match against England, closing the first session of Day 4 at 180 for four wickets. That score gave the side an unassailable 264-run lead heading into the middle period of the day, with young all-rounder Rachin Ravindra falling agonizingly short of a sixth international century just before the lunch break.

Resuming the morning at 120-3, Ravindra and veteran batsman Daryl Mitchell faced a challenging pitch that was producing increasingly inconsistent bounce, yet the pair managed to build a solid, match-changing partnership. Their 129-run stand for the fourth wicket came together when New Zealand was in a precarious position at 51-3 on Day 3, pulling the side out of early trouble to turn the tide of the match.

Ravindra, who had looked in imperious form throughout his innings, was finally trapped leg before wicket by England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir when he was just six runs away from a well-deserved century, ending his knock at 94. At the end of the opening session, Mitchell remained unbeaten on 47, while wicket-keeper Tom Blundell had not yet scored, sitting on 0 not out. Through 25 overs of tightly contested play, New Zealand added 60 runs to their overnight total.

Beyond the day’s play, the series itself carries historic stakes for both sides. New Zealand has not won a multi-Test series of three matches or more on English soil since 1999, a drought the side is keen to end on this tour. For England, the pressure is mounting: the side has not dropped a home multi-Test series since 2012, but a defeat here would heap significant additional scrutiny on the team’s leadership.

That pressure already builds after a humiliating 4-1 Ashes defeat to Australia last year, and ongoing questions about the squad’s culture and professionalism have lingered following the controversial disciplinary dropping of star all-rounder Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson ahead of the second Test of this series. With New Zealand firmly in the driver’s seat, England faces an uphill battle to avoid a historic home series loss.

For more than half a century, the Democratic Republic of Congo carried only one painful memory from its brief appearance on soccer’s global grandest stage: a demoralizing 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Yugoslavia during its only prior World Cup run, when the nation competed under the name Zaire in 1974. That outdated, humiliating legacy has been permanently rewritten by a bold new generation of Congolese talent, who etched their names into the country’s history books by sealing a first-ever trip to the World Cup knockout round, setting up an eagerly awaited round of 32 matchup against England.

Saturday’s night’s decisive group stage clash against tournament debutants Uzbekistan looked to be heading the wrong way for Congo early on. Just 10 minutes into the fixture, striker Eldor Shomurodov put Fabio Cannavaro’s side ahead with a clever lobbed finish, putting Sébastien Desabre’s squad on the brink of elimination — a draw would not be enough to send them through, meaning a win was the only acceptable outcome.

The turning point came in the 68th minute, when striker Yoane Wissa, who would end the night as his side’s hero, was fouled in the box by defender Abdukodir Khusanov to earn a penalty. Wissa stepped up to the spot himself, sending goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov the wrong direction with a calm roll into the bottom corner to level the score, unlocking a late flurry of game-changing goals.

Ten minutes after the equalizer, substitute Fiston Mayele put Congo in front, flicking a finish past Nematov at the near post. The goal sparked chaotic, jubilant celebrations, with substitute players sprinting off the bench and across the pitch to mob their match-winning teammate. Wissa put the result beyond all doubt in stoppage time, curling a precise strike into the bottom corner to seal a 3-1 comeback win, sending Congo into the knockout round alongside Cape Verde as one of the tournament’s biggest surprise packages.

This historic result follows an earlier shocking upset for the Congolese side, which held Cristiano Ronaldo’s star-studded Portugal to a 1-1 draw earlier in the group stage — the nation’s first ever World Cup point. Saturday’s win marked Congo’s first ever victory at the tournament, enough to advance as one of the best third-placed teams, and made it the eighth African nation to progress to the knockout round at this year’s tournament.

Speaking after the final whistle, Wissa reflected on the magnitude of the moment, noting the heavy expectations the squad carried heading into the fixture. “The weight on our shoulders was hard to bear,” he said. “We told ourselves we can’t give up, we have to get that win because getting a tie would kick us out. So we got that win.” Head coach Desabre highlighted his side’s characteristic resilience, adding: “We’re a team that knows how to respond when we concede a goal; we keep fighting with determination.”

Wissa emphasized the national significance of the achievement, saying: “We’re going to savor this moment because it’s been tough. All the guys — the substitutes, those who’ve worn the jersey before, and those who’ll wear it tomorrow — we should be proud. Thank you to all the Congolese people; it’s for moments like these that we do what we do. We did it!”

For Uzbekistan, the first World Cup appearance in the nation’s history ended in disappointment with three consecutive losses. Cannavaro, the former World Cup-winning captain with Italy, framed the campaign as a foundational experience for his young side. “I hope this tournament will give us big experience. I hope this experience will give us more motivation for the future,” he said.