Author: James Martin
The streaming wars have come for professional football. Amazon spent the better part of 12 months backing up the Brinks trucks to try to lure anyone and everyone away from the traditional NFL broadcasters to prop up its new Thursday Night Football vehicle – ultimately landing Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit for a reported $24m per year combined.And while Amazon was expected to be the great disruptor in the broadcasting arms race, it’s at one of the traditional networks that the merry-go-round has had its most transformative effect. ESPN pinched Joe Buck and Troy Aikman from Fox, handing over a…
England will face Australia in the final of the women’s Cricket World Cup after a comprehensive defeat of South Africa by 137 runs.Danni Wyatt was dropped five times on the way to 129 from 125 balls as England set a total of 294 for South Africa to reach.However, they got off to the worst possible start with openers Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt both losing their wickets cheaply to Anya Shrubsole with the new ball. The run chase never really got going, England’s Sophie Ecclestone dispatching the middle order and ending a spell of brief resistance from Shabnim Ismail before…
Hull City are facing up to the very real threat of being forced to play games behind closed doors because of the behaviour of their supporters, Hull Live can exclusively reveal. The club are growing increasingly concerned after a marked rise in incidents this season and questions from the Football Association and EFL over how the Tigers plan to tackle the growing problem. The latest issue came during the 3-1 home defeat to Luton Town in City’s last Championship outing at the MKM Stadium when a young supporter ran onto the pitch to take a picture with goalkeeper Matt Ingram,…
Hull FC will travel to Wigan Warriors full of confidence as they look to lay down a marker in the Super League, says Andre Savelio. The Black and Whites make the journey to the DW Stadium on the back of three successive wins in all competitions, having seen off Leeds Rhinos, Huddersfield Giants and Sheffield Eagles over the last few weeks. Brett Hodgson’s side now have the opportunity to move level on points with joint-league leaders Wigan, St Helens and Catalans Dragons by extending their winning run to four games against Matt Peet’s side. Of course, Savelio knows picking up…
9.50pm EDT 21:50 11th over: England 45-1 (Wyatt 32, Knight 1) Khaka sends down five dots. Good cricket this. Ebb and flow. Nip and tuck. Bat v ball. Green v Blue. Wyatt drives a single off the last ball. 9.47pm EDT 21:47 10th over: England 44-1 (Wyatt 31, Knight 1) Drop! Lizelle Lee grasses one at wide slip! Wyatt pokes at a length ball from new bowler Masabata Klaas but the chance goes begging. Wyatt then rubs a big dollop of sodium chloride in the wound by crunching a cover drive for four! Don’t run for that! Wyatt has looked…
With all due respect to the Disney marketing department, the most magical place on the planet was a few miles northeast of Orlando’s theme parks on Sunday night. That’s how Exploria Stadium must have felt to the US and their exuberant fans, at least, as a Christian Pulisic hat-trick helped deliver a 5-1 thrashing that hoisted Gregg Berhalter’s men to the brink of Qatar 2022. A tricky and occasionally torturous qualifying campaign is now all but certain to enjoy a happy ending. Of course, the US know from agonising experience that weird things can happen on the final night of…
Gareth Southgate has emphasised that Harry Maguire retains his full support but knows he cannot give the beleaguered defender any guarantees over a starting place in his England team at the World Cup later this year.Maguire had hoped the international break would offer him the chance to reset after his torrid period at Manchester United. During the 29-year-old’s last game for United, the Champions League last-16 exit at home to Atlético Madrid, the Old Trafford crowd cheered his withdrawal six minutes from time.However, when Southgate started him in England’s second game of the break – the 3-0 win over Ivory…
Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has signed a three-year contract to become PSV Eindhoven head coach from next season, the Eredivisie club confirmed.A former Netherlands international, Van Nistelrooy will take on his first senior management role with PSV, where he spent three years as a player from 1998 to 2001. The 45-year-old will succeed Roger Schmidt, who will leave when his contact expires at the end of this season.“I have been working towards this moment for years,” Van Nistelrooy said in a statement. “I am proud and convinced that I am ready to take a…
His mother, Brandie Kurtz, said his therapy wasn’t approved through Georgia’s Medicaid program until recently, despite her continued requests. “I know insurance, so it’s even more frustrating,” said Kurtz, who works in a doctor’s office near her home in rural Wrens, Georgia. Those frustrations are all too familiar to parents who have a child with autism, a complex lifelong disorder. And the pandemic has exacerbated the already difficult process of getting services. “You would never allow a kid with cancer to experience these waits,” said Dr. Kristin Sohl, a pediatrician at University of Missouri Health Care and chair of the…
This was an extraordinary, historic night and it got a game to go with it. 91,553 people came to the Camp Nou, the biggest ever attendance for a women’s football match and if this is anything to go by, they will be back. In the semi-final, for a start. They haven’t had this much fun for a long time, maybe ever, ending the evening exhausted but elated. Goals from Mapi León, Aitana Bonmati, Claudia Pina, Alexia Putellas, and Caroline Graham Hansen saw Barcelona come from 2-1 down on the night to defeat Real Madrid 5-2 to win the clásico and…