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Visitors tighten grip on second place after batting out final day at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay11-Sep-2025Colin Ingram passed 1000 runs for the second successive season during a sparkling half-century on the final day of this drawn Rothesay County Championship match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.Despite Northamptonshire declaring 54 runs behind overnight, Glamorgan ran out of time to force a result after most of day three was lost to rain. However, with Derbyshire and Middlesex also drawing at Lord’s, Glamorgan stole a march by earning three more bonus points than both their promotion rivals, further boosting their promotion hopes.It allowed the Welsh County to further cement second position in Division Two. Third-placed Derbyshire now lie 27 points behind, while Middlesex sit in fourth, 30 points back.Former South African international Ingram reached the 1000-run milestone in 10 games after missing two matches in May during Australian Marnus Labuschagne’s stint at Sophia Gardens. His 55, off 85 balls with 11 fours, was his seventh Championship half-century this season to go with three tons.Ingram was joined by Kiran Carlson in a fourth-wicket partnership of 88 in almost 23 overs, while Calvin Harrison took 3 for 46 to take his tally in nine loan games for Northamptonshire this summer to 35. Justin Broad claimed 2 for 18 in five pacy overs.With Chris Cooke making an unbeaten 40, Glamorgan declared on 241 for 7, 295 runs ahead, when the players shook hands on the draw at 4.20pm.Earlier Northamptonshire declared at their overnight total of 413 for 9, 54 behind. Luke Procter found significant movement in his opening spell. After leaving one which jagged back, Zain-ul-Hassan failed to learn his lesson and was bowled in the Northamptonshire captain’s next over, shouldering arms to a similar delivery. Procter almost picked up a second wicket when Sam Northeast edged low to the slips, a diving Broad only able to get his fingers to it.First-innings double-centurion Asa Tribe made 24 before he was caught behind down the leg side off Broad, who then found some sharp bounce to surprise Northeast, keeper Lewis McManus taking the catch above his head.Carlson got off the mark pulling a short delivery from Broad for four, but he got into a tangle against a well-directed bouncer from the allrounder which he could only glove safely over the keeper and slips. Ingram was harsh on anything wide from the seamers and swept and cut the spinners as he moved through the twenties, Glamorgan going into lunch on 95 for 3.After lunch Ingram brought up Glamorgan’s 100 with a thick edge through gully off Ben Whitehouse for four. The debutant almost picked up Ingram’s wicket when he hooked him to fine leg, but Nirvan Ramesh injured himself when he fell attempting the catch, the ball running away for four. After a delay, Ingram dispatched the next two Whitehouse deliveries for four, a dismissive pull shot and a punch through cover, while Carlson pulled a full toss from Saif Zaib for six.Ingram duly passed 1000 runs for the season by swinging Zaib through midwicket before a reverse sweep off Harrison took him to his half-century off 66 balls.Harrison then made a triple breakthrough in the space of 32 deliveries, turning one past Carlson’s bat as he edged through to the keeper. Ingram’s innings ended in bizarre fashion when he miscued an attempted sweep off Harrison onto his foot, the ball looping up to slip where Ricardo Vasconcelos took the catch.Batting with a runner due to a calf injury, Ben Kellaway made 18, but Harrison bowled him around his legs for the second time in the match as he attempted to sweep.After tea, Cooke and Timm van der Gugten played some lusty blows in a partnership of exactly 50 off 141 balls, before Whitehouse claimed his maiden first-class wicket when van der Gugten cut straight to Harrison at point.

Opener shines with 84 at No.4 but seeks conversion inspiration from England’s new leading runscorer

Matt Roller09-Oct-2024Ben Duckett was at the non-striker’s end when Joe Root; hit the boundary that made himEngland’s highest-ever Test run-scorer and, after his dismissal for 84, is intent on following Root’s lead in converting his starts into match-defining hundreds. But Duckett was grateful to be batting at all after a dislocated left thumb briefly threatened to rule him out of this series.He suffered the dislocation when taking the catch – off Root’s bowling – that ended Pakistan’s first innings on the second evening of the first Test in Multan. England’s doctor Glen Rae quickly put the thumb back in place, but Duckett was unable to open the batting and feared that it would become “quite sore” overnight.In practice, it healed enough that he was able to come in at No. 4 with his thumb strapped up and he batted with characteristic aggression, hitting 40 off the 31 balls he faced from Abrar Ahmed. Duckett looked to be cruising towards a fourth Test hundred when he was trapped lbw by Aamer Jamal for his fourth score between 70 and 90 since his most recent century, in Rajkot earlier this year.”I’d done the exact same thumb in the same way a couple of years ago,” Duckett said. “When I looked at it, I knew exactly what was wrong with it. We made the decision of giving it as many hours as we could, icing it a couple of times and seeing how it was in the morning. The worry was it was going to stiffen up… thankfully, it didn’t really change too much.”I’d have certainly taken that [84] last night when it happened… I’m obviously really happy with the form that I’ve had. I’m always very critical of myself, and I know we’ve had an incredible day, so it can be looked past, but I’ve got myself in a few times in the last however many Tests, and I’m the first person to know that.”I pride myself on scoring hundreds, and today it felt like it was going to be one of those days until I missed that ball. It’s something that I’m very aware of, and that’s maybe the different side of things now: the mental side of the game of getting yourself into those positions, and really kicking on and going big.”Duckett was unable to open the batting on day two because of his injury•Getty ImagesIt is not long since there was a similar narrative around Root’s own conversion rate: from 2017-20, he passed 50 on 28 occasions but only converted six of those innings into hundreds. But since 2021, he has become a relentless run-scorer, with 15 scores of 50-99 and 18 hundreds in that time – and Duckett believes he can learn that trait from his team-mate.”The one thing now is kicking on and getting those big scores,” he said. “If I ever have that problem, I’d be pretty happy. But these things happen and for Rooty, with the amount of cricket you play, you’re going to go through periods where you don’t get over the line and you’re going to have periods – right now – where he’s cashing in and scoring hundreds for fun.”It’s just a pleasure to share the dressing room with him. You wouldn’t know that he’s achieved what he’s achieved, how he is in the dressing room: he’s such a good man to have and he’s probably still working as hard as he ever has, always grinding away in the nets. We make jokes that he says he’s out of form when he’s getting Test hundreds, so it is probably a good place for him to be.”Duckett has not had his thumb scanned, but is confident that he will be fit to play in Tuesday’s second Test. “I want to say 100 percent,” he said. “Obviously, today went well, and I’m hoping each day is going to get easier and easier… It seems like there’s no clean break, so I think it’s one of those ones where it’s going to be a bit sore for a couple of weeks.”More immediately, his focus is on helping England to win the first. “I would imagine we’ll probably try to bat for quite a lot of tomorrow,” Duckett said. “We’ve got to earn the right to do that and start well in the morning – try to limit the damage, and hopefully get ourselves in a position where, after lunch, we can really push on, and try to score as quick as we can.”[We have to] hope that there’s going to be 10 more chances. The pitch isn’t doing loads, but you’ve seen a little bit of variable bounce and a fraction more spin today… It depends how quickly we score and how well we start in the morning, and then we will be doing absolutely everything to try and take 10 wickets.”

Harry Kane has praised Luis Diaz and his wonderstrike in Bayern Munich's 2-2 draw with Union Berlin on Saturday afternoon. Diaz scored a goal of the season contender in the first half of the stalemate in the capital while Kane was on hand to rescue a late result to maintain Bayern's unbeaten start to the campaign. The striker also held his hands up and admitted his mistake in Union's second goal.

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  Diaz and Kane both net in stalemate

  Centre-back Danilho Doekhi put Union Berlin ahead midway through the second half against Bayern Munich on Saturday afternoon. However, Bayern were level shortly before the break as Diaz scored a stunning individual goal as the pair went in at the break all-square.

  Doekhi scored his, and Union Berlin's second in the 83rd minute, and they must have felt that was enough to secure a huge win in their bid to beat the drop. FC Hollywood levelled matters late on for the second time in the 93rd minute as Kane headed in his 13th league goal of the campaign.

  After the stalemate, Kane praised Diaz's strike, where he fired past Frederik Ronnow from an incredibly tight angle, as Bayern extended their lead at the top of the table to six points.

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• 'I reckon that's probably his best'

  On the Diaz goal, Kane told ESPN after the stalemate: "Incredible to be honest. The way he kept the ball in and got past his defender and then score was, just a special goal, a really, really special goal. He's been pulling stuff out like that all season but I reckon that's probably his best."

  Kane, meanwhile, admitted that he was at fault for Doekhi's second strike that almost cost Bayern the game. And the 32-year-old held his hands up and owned up to his mistake before he made amends deep into injury time, adding: "Obviously it was my mistake for the second goal. So I was itching to get the chance at the end there and put it away and thankfully Tom (Bischoff) put a great ball in and I snuck it past the keeper.

  "I've been playing football long enough to know, this is part of it, mistakes are going to happen. It's just nice to be able to help teams out."

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  Kane aimed dig at Union Berlin

  Post-match, Kane also aimed a dig at Union Berlin for their tactics in the stalemate. The capital side have proven tough to visit this season losing just the once at home. And while Kane admitted that Bayern were in for a tough game, the England captain took aim at the Iron Ones for the way they set up on home turf.

  On the match itself, the forward said: "It was a tough game. We expected a battle and a lot of long balls. Many decisions and small fouls went against us today. It wasn't our best game, but we stayed focused and managed to equalise. That's football, there are games like today where things go against you. We'll take the point."

  The result, though, ended Bayern's winning start to the campaign. Vincent Kompany had overseen nine successive league wins heading into Saturday's game at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei as they failed to fully capitalise upon both RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund dropping points.

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  Even so, Bayern go into the international break top of the Bundesliga, and six points clear of RB Leipzig, who fell to a 3-1 loss at Hoffenheim on Saturday. Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, were forced to share the spoils with Hamburg after they conceded a 97th minute equaliser at Volksparkstadion.

  Bayern return to domestic duties later this month with the welcome of Freiburg before they take on Arsenal in a huge Champions League clash later this month. Both Bayern and Arsenal boast a 100% start to the Champions League campaign, while the pair were also held to 2-2 away draws in their respective leagues at the weekend.

Chelsea got back to winning ways against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the League Cup on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t the perfect performance from the Blues, far from it, but they were certainly the better team and scored some wonderful goals.

Moreover, had Liam Delap not got himself sent off, Enzo Maresca’s side would likely have had a far easier time of things.

The former Ipswich Town star hasn’t had an easy start to life at Chelsea, and now it looks like he could soon have more competition coming from Cobham.

Liam Delap's Premier League record

Chelsea paid Ipswich Town around £30m for Delap in the summer, and while his stock isn’t exactly high at the moment, that was still a brilliant deal.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

After all, during his time at Manchester City, he was regarded as one of the next big things, scoring 35 goals and providing nine assists in 36 appearances for their Under-23 side.

Moreover, once he got his first move to the Tractor Boys last summer, he quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young forwards in the Premier League.

For example, despite playing for a team destined for relegation, the Winchester-born poacher was still able to rack up an impressive tally of 12 goals and two assists in 37 appearances, totalling 2616 minutes.

In other words, the Englishman was able to average a goal involvement every 2.64 games, or every 186.85 minutes for the Suffolk side, which is not bad going considering he’d made just ten appearances in the competition for City in the years before.

However, he has not been so lucky this season.

Prior to his hamstring injury, the summer signing made just three appearances in the competition for the Blues, two of which came off the bench, in which he failed to score or assist a goal.

He won’t even have the chance to open his account this weekend either, as his second yellow against Wolves means he’s suspended for the game against Tottenham Hotspur.

In all, Delap is a player with plenty of promise, but at a club like Chelsea, forwards aren’t always allowed a great deal of time, especially when there is a particularly exciting forward making his way through the academy at the moment.

The Cobham star who could replace Delap

As is the case every season, Chelsea have an abundance of incredibly exciting players at Cobham this season, with Chizaram Ezenwata being one of the most notable.

The 17-year-old phenom, whom U23 scout Antonio Mango claims fans should “get excited for”, joined the Blues from Charlton Athletic and has already become one of the star players for the club’s U18 side.

For example, in 20 appearances last season, totalling just 1279 minutes, the dynamic gem managed to score 12 goals and provide three assists, which works out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.33 games, or every 91.93 minutes.

Impressively, the youngster has become even more of an attacking threat this season.

In just six appearances for the U18s, totalling 534 minutes, he has scored seven goals and provided one assist, which comes out to an average of 1.33 goal involvements per game, or one every 66.75 minutes.

In fact, the teenage goal machine has done such an incredible job in the U18s, that he has now made six appearances for the U21s.

It’s not just the output that should excite fans, though, as he looks to be a complete package.

According to one analyst, he “has a strong physique that allows him to shield and hold up the ball effectively”, and his “off-ball movement is outstanding.”

Ultimately, it is still very early in his career, but Ezenwata appears to be a seriously impressive prospect and someone who could rival Delap for gametime in the coming years.

Enzo Maresca responds to Juventus approach as Chelsea demand mammoth compensation fee

The Old Lady are searching for a new boss after sacking Igor Tudor.

By
Emilio Galantini

Oct 30, 2025