Brook’s ‘Stone Cold’ celebration in England series win as Root praises ‘great leader’
The wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the surprising inspiration for Harry Brook’s century celebration as the England white-ball captain led his side to a one-day international series victory against Sri Lanka with a thrilling, unbeaten 136.Brook, who was involved in a clash with a nightclub bouncer on the tour of New Zealand earlier this winter, took his gloves off upon reaching his hundred and imitated Austin’s move of bashing beer cans together in the ring before drinking them.“I think you can work it out if you’ve ever watched wrestling,” said Joe Root, who hit his 20th ODI century to set up England’s innings, with Brook joining him in the 32nd over.“I think that’s his way of doing that, trying to show that he wants that approval from the group.It’s through humour.
That’s another area of why he’s going to be a great leader because he has that side to him as well.“He showed his calmness, his clarity under pressure.He also showed humour as well.Hopefully, it’s received in the right way.Definitely no malice behind it.
He’s just trying to have a bit of a joke with his teammates.”Root hailed Brook’s captaincy after Sri Lanka got off to a rapid start in their chase of 358.“They got off to an absolute flyer in that second innings and he was very calm and knew what he wanted to do,” the 35-year-old said.“A team’s throwing a few punches at you and to be able to stay calm, keep in control of everything was another example of why I think he’s going to be an excellent captain.”The pair had worked closely together in the nets on Monday and brought their work to the middle, their unbeaten partnership worth 191.
“We were just talking about angles, using our sweeps, being able to pull the ball from different lines, maybe slightly unconventional to what you do in England or other parts of the world, that can be really effective here,“When you’ve got his ability and his skill level he can put it into practice straight away and it’s just phenomenal to see him take that from yesterday into today,And that’s what we want from any team, you want to be sharing ideas and experience and if there’s anyway you can add to the guys around you and help them that’s your role as a senior player within the team,“I enjoyed watching it from the other end and I’m sure everyone enjoyed watching it in the stands and on the TV as well,”
Hobbycraft issues full recall of asbestos-tainted children’s play sand
Hobbycraft has issued a full recall of children’s coloured play sand after confirming some bottles contained asbestos, presenting “a risk to health”.The Guardian revealed at the weekend that the craft retailer had stopped selling the kit after being alerted to the risk but had stopped short of alerting customers who had already bought the item.The asbestos was discovered by a customer whose children had played with the sand at a party. The parent, who did not wish to be named, recognised it from reports of a recall in Australia and New Zealand and paid for a lab test.She alerted Hobbycraft when three of the five bottles in its Giant Box of Craft set were found to contain fibrous tremolite asbestos
‘It’s a hospitality-wide problem’: night-time traders react to business rates relief plan
Gyms, local shops, restaurants, nightclubs and pharmacies have criticised the government for not extending business rates support beyond pubs and live music venues.The Treasury announced on Tuesday that every pub and live music venue in England would get 15% off its new business rates bill from 1 April, worth an average of £1,650 for each, with bills frozen in real terms for a further two years.However, there was no support announced for other sectors affected by the changes to rates, although there will also be a review of the methodology used to calculate how much hotels should pay alongside a parallel review for pubs.Leading trade bodies said that those overlooked still faced “severe challenges”. They accused ministers of having “suffocated employment opportunities” and said the decision to focus help just on pubs was “simply outrageous”
UK ministers accept $1m from Meta amid social media ban consultation
Ministers have accepted $1m (£728,000) from Meta, the US tech and social media company, to build AI systems for defence, national security and transport, sparking warnings about the UK government’s “alarmingly close relationship with Trump-supporting US tech giants”.The money from Mark Zuckerberg’s company will be used to pay experts to “develop cutting-edge AI solutions … to support national security and defence teams”, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced on Tuesday.The money will pay for four British AI experts, coordinated by the government-funded Alan Turing Institute, to “play a pivotal role in rewiring our healthcare, police, transport systems and more”, said Ian Murray, the minister for data and digital government.The move comes after Meta executives had 50 meetings with ministers in the last two years for which data was available, one of the highest levels of direct access of any technology company, a Guardian investigation found.The government is consulting on a ban on social media use by under-16s, which would have a major effect on Meta’s Instagram platform
At Davos, tech CEOs laid out their vision for AI’s world domination
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week’s edition is a team effort: my colleague Heather Stewart reports on the plans for AI’s world domination at Davos; I examine how huge investments have followed AI companies with little to their names but drama and dreams; and Nick Robins-Early spotlights how lax regulation of autonomous driving in Texas allowed Tesla to thrive.When they weren’t discussing Donald Trump, delegates at the World Economic Forum last week were being dazzled by the prospects for artificial intelligence.Up and down the main street of the Swiss Alps town, almost every shopfront was temporarily emblazoned with the neon slogan of a tech firm – or a consultancy promising to tell executives how to incorporate AI into their business. Cloudflare’s wood-panelled HQ urged delegates to “connect, protect and build together”, and Wipro’s shouted: “Dream Solve Prove Repeat
England beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs to win third men’s ODI and series – as it happened
Harry Brook’s first masterpiece of the winter, lost in defeat, seems an age ago. It was in his side’s first one-day international against New Zealand back in October, his 101-ball 135 somehow landing in the middle of nine single-figure England scores.The nightclub bouncer’s punch followed, the Ashes tour went wrong and then came the reveal of the former. A lot has happened, but moments of genius in the middle always lurk close by when it comes to Brook. Here, in their final ODI of the winter, he brought it all together with an unbeaten 136 off 66 balls, taking England to a prized series victory in Sri Lanka, the decider won by 53 runs
Harry Brook’s brutal century sets up England for ODI series win in Sri Lanka
Harry Brook’s first masterpiece of the winter, lost in defeat, seems an age ago. It was in his side’s first one-day international against New Zealand back in October, his 101-ball 135 somehow landing in the middle of nine single-figure England scores.The nightclub bouncer’s punch followed, the Ashes tour went wrong and then came the reveal of the former. A lot has happened, but moments of genius in the middle always lurk close by when it comes to Brook. Here, in their final ODI of the winter, he brought it all together with an unbeaten 136 off 66 balls, taking England to a prized series victory in Sri Lanka, the decider won by 53 runs
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