Sciver-Brunt inspires England to wrap up T20 series win over West Indies
Forget Bondi to Coogee – England are queens of a different seaside town,On Friday night at Hove they sealed their T20 series against West Indies with a nine-wicket win, thanks to a three-wicket haul by new-kid-on-the-block Em Arlott and a captain’s innings of 55 not out from their new skipper, Nat Sciver-Brunt,The 27-year-old Warwickshire seamer Arlott, having been handed her England cap just 48 hours previously, apparently impressed Charlotte Edwards, the new coach, so much on debut that she was promoted to open the bowling from the Sea End,She subsequently sent down a consecutive four-over spell of such accuracy that it yielded just 14 runs, despite three of the overs being inside the powerplay,“I was told: ‘You’ll have one in the powerplay and go from there and adjust,’” Arlott said.
“It went well, so we carried on,I didn’t imagine I’d bowl four on the trot,”England’s notably-improved fielding helped Arlott out – Charlie Dean held onto Stafanie Taylor at extra cover, while Sophia Dunkley plucked a screamer out of the air with her left hand at midwicket – but the key intervention was Arlott’s second ball of the day, which shaped nicely into Hayley Matthews and bowled Wednesday’s centurion through the gate,“She was stood miles down leg stump,” Arlott said,“It was just adjusting my line and creating that angle back into her.
”That scalp was tantamount to sealing victory for England just four overs into the game: West Indies limped on, and even survived their 20 overs, but scraped together just 81 runs.Dean struck twice in two balls in the 14th over, breaking the slow-burn partnership of 34 from 51 balls between Shemaine Campbelle and Shabika Gajnabi as an exasperated Campbelle tried to go over the top and Arlott topped off her evening by snaffling the chance on the boundary rope.Arlott, who would likely have made her debut in 2022 against South Africa had it not been for an untimely bout of Covid, said the three-year wait had made her even keener to seize her chance.“It’s felt like a long time coming, so I didn’t want to get to the opportunity and then let it get the better of me,” she said.Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotion“The last time I came into this environment, I don’t think I believed I was good enough, so I didn’t really expect anybody else to believe that I was good enough.
I’ve always struggled going into newer teams and not knowing people,In the winter, I went to Perth and I didn’t know anybody, and made myself do something uncomfortable,And actually it’s been really nice that a lot of people have come up to me being like: ‘You’re a different person than you were 12 months ago,’“I think I’m more content with who I am and not really caring how people take that,I’m really proud of myself for getting to this point.
”England had strolled to a win on Wednesday, but this run-chase was more of a canter: an 82-run partnership between Sciver-Brunt and Dunkley sealed the deal with more than 10 overs to spare.Dunkley continued her form from the first T20, once again nailing the reverse sweep, while Sciver-Brunt’s placement was spot-on in an innings which – for now at least – should put to bed any concerns that the burden of the captaincy might affect her form with the bat.The only note of concern for England will be the continued poor form of Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who was bowled for a first-ball duck by Zaida James.Edwards may well be tempted to swap in Tammy Beaumont at the top of the order for the third and final T20, at Chelmsford on Monday.
Reform UK promises to reverse ban on new North Sea oil drilling if elected
Reform UK has promised to reverse the government’s ban on fresh North Sea oil and gas drilling as a “day one” priority if elected to power, with the taxpayer taking a stake in the projects.Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, has met with senior UK oil executives in recent weeks to pledge the party’s support for the industry, which has been hit hard by the government’s windfall tax and moves to block fresh North Sea exploration licences.Tice told the energy bosses to expect a reversal of the government’s ban alongside billions of pounds of public investment in their projects if the party comes to power in the 2029 election.The public investments would effectively hand taxpayers an equity stake in North Sea fossil fuel developments, which have stalled in recent months after Labour swept to power with a manifesto that promised to end fresh exploration licences for new oil and gas fields.“As long as there’s oil in the North Sea, we should be drilling for it,” a spokesperson for Reform UK said
Thames Water boss ordered to tell MPs if executives received bonus payments
The chief executive of Thames Water has been ordered to tell MPs whether any executives have received payments from a controversial bonus package taken from a £3bn loan.Britain’s biggest water company admitted last week that senior managers were in line for “substantial” bonuses linked to an emergency £3bn loan. Thames claimed the payouts were vital to retain staff and prevent rival companies from “picking off” its best employees. The disclosure provoked fury as the company has said its finances are “hair-raising” and that it came “very close to running out of money entirely” last year.On Tuesday, the environment secretary, Steve Reed, announced the bonuses had been withdrawn by the water company after the Guardian revealed the chair of Thames Water had wrongly claimed they were insisted upon by creditors
Fear, hope and loathing in Elon Musk’s new city: ‘It’s the wild, wild west and the future’
Starbase in Texas, where the world’s richest man has a rocket-launching facility, was incorporated this week. Mars obsessives are flocking there – but some long-term locals are far from happyAlong a flat coastal highway in south-east Texas, surrounded by wetlands and open plains, the artefacts of a new American oligarchy appear in quick succession. Three towering rockets stand upright on the horizon. A fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks speeds by. A large mural of the Shiba Inu “doge” dog stares ahead, its arms crossed
iPhone design guru and OpenAI chief promise an AI device revolution
Everything over the last 30 years, according to Sir Jony Ive, has led to this moment: a partnership between the iPhone designer and the developer of ChatGPT.Ive has sold his hardware startup, io, to OpenAI and will take on creative and design leadership across the merged businesses. “I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this place, to this moment,” he says in a video announcing the $6.4bn (£4.8bn) deal
England thrash West Indies by nine wickets: second women’s T20 international – as it happened
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s reactionHappy days! The bowlers set the game up beautifully. When you’ve got someone only two games into their career who is begging to bowl four overs straight through, it’s a dream. Em was on a roll and it seemed a shame to take her off.Cricket’s a funny game, isn’t it? I lasted two balls on Wednesday and tonight I get a first-ball boundary.We set a high standard with our fielding in the first game but I’m pretty sure we topped that here tonight
Sciver-Brunt inspires England to wrap up T20 series win over West Indies
Forget Bondi to Coogee – England are queens of a different seaside town. On Friday night at Hove they sealed their T20 series against West Indies with a nine-wicket win, thanks to a three-wicket haul by new-kid-on-the-block Em Arlott and a captain’s innings of 55 not out from their new skipper, Nat Sciver-Brunt.The 27-year-old Warwickshire seamer Arlott, having been handed her England cap just 48 hours previously, apparently impressed Charlotte Edwards, the new coach, so much on debut that she was promoted to open the bowling from the Sea End. She subsequently sent down a consecutive four-over spell of such accuracy that it yielded just 14 runs, despite three of the overs being inside the powerplay.“I was told: ‘You’ll have one in the powerplay and go from there and adjust,’” Arlott said
OpenAI buys iPhone architect’s startup for $6.4bn
Scattered Spider is focus of NCA inquiry into cyber-attacks against UK retailers
Most AI chatbots easily tricked into giving dangerous responses, study finds
‘Every person that clashed with him has left’: the rise, fall and spectacular comeback of Sam Altman
Elon Musk claims he will step back from political donations in near future
Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet, UK study finds