Tag: International

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Cricket

WPL: A Successful Competition 

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The Women’s Premier League (WPL) is a T20 competition based in India and founded in 2022, having its first tournament in 2023. This year, Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their second title on Thursday 5th February with both Mumbai Indians and RCB winning two titles each. In the inaugural competition, Mumbai Indians were winners with Delhi Capitals finishing in second. 

The WPL is a five team competition with a round-robin format, followed by playoffs and proves to be successful in the T20 competition, following the likes of The Hundred in the UK and Women’s Big Bash League in Australia. The five teams include Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and UP Warriorz of which all five have played in all four versions of the competition. 

In India, the cricket craze was always there but after their win in the ODI World Cup 2025, the rise continued throughout the tournament. The final had close to 31,000 fans in attendance which made it an almost sold out occasion, despite being around an hour drive outside of the city with their home team not qualifying for the final. 

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru won against Delhi Capitals in the final which was held in Vadodara. This was the highest chase that was in the final as Capitals put on a target of 203 runs, with RCB reaching this having two balls remaining and winning by six wickets overall. 

After chasing this target (which was the highest set in a final), the RCB recorded the highest successful run chase in WPL history and was helped with a masterclass from youngster Georgia Voll and Captain Smriti Mandhana (after their 165-run partnership). The side was dominant throughout the whole of the tournament after finishing top of the table and going straight to the final. After hitting 87 runs off 41 balls, she was named Player of the Match with Georgia Voll having a composed 79 runs off 54 balls, helping take the game away from the Delhi Capitals. 

In the fourth edition, there were many players that stood out throughout the tournament including some that did not make the final. The top-scorer and therefore winner of the Orange Cap was Smriti Mandhana from Royal Challengers who put on 377 runs across her games. She recently was announced to join the Manchester Super Giants for this upcoming Hundred tournament in the Summer of 2026. Harmanpreet Kaur finished with the highest average overall (68.40 across the games) and reached a total of 342 runs. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Grace Harris had the highest strike-rate (178.19) winning the Super Striker of the Season with both Harmanpreet Kaur and Sophie Devine hitting the most sixes (at 13 each). 

The winner of the Purple Cap (the highest wicket-taker) was tied between Gujarat Giants’ Sophie Devine and Delhi Capitals’ Nandani Sharma with 17 wickets each. Amelia Kerr had the best average overall (15.00), with Lauren Bell having the best economy rate (5.52) and Sophie Devine having the best strike-rate (11.58). 

Receiving the Most Valuable Player of the Season and the best game intelligence award was Sophie Devine with the Emerging Player of the Season being rewarded to Nandni Sharma. 

Categories
International

2026 the year of new beginnings 

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photo taken from @scotlandnationalteam

In the final camp of 2025, there were many new players who got called up from their international side and most countries look to play them in the future including the upcoming World Cup in 2027. 

England: Freya Godfrey

After her stellar start to life at London City Lionesses, she earned her first call up in the most recent camps after being with U23’s in the previous camps. She also captained the U19 on occasions with the 20 year old starting her career at Arsenal before moving this summer. 

She made her debut for the U23 just last October in their 1-0 win against Portugal. Meanwhile in this international break, she remained on the bench for the lionesses and did not make her debut.  

England: Anouk Denton 

The West Ham wingback featured in the previous camp in October to provide cover after Lotte Wubben-Moy dropped out. She even featured in the U23 squad against Germany a few days prior. In the final minutes of their match against Ghana, Denton made her debut for the lionesses and received the legacy number “240”. 

She started at Arsenal before committing to Louisville in the USA for College. After returning to the UK in January 2023, She joined West Ham (who she was on loan with previously) and has been at the club ever since.

Sweden: Beata Olsson 

The forward joined Liverpool this summer and after an impressive start to the season, she received her first call up for Sweden. During this international break, she remained on the bench with Sweden who came fourth in the Nations League after their games versus France. 

The 24 year old joined the WSL from Kristianstads DFF but for her previous clubs, she has been a prolific striker including scoring 27 goals for Florida State Seminoles when at College. 

Wales: Laura Hughes 

The 24 year old recently made the switch from Australia to Wales despite being born in Australia. She plays her club football there,  currently playing for Melbourne City after starting at Canberra. 

In December 2024, she made her Australian senior debut against Chinese Taipei and in November this year, she was called up to Wales after switching her allegiance. She made her Wales debut against South Korea on 28th November. 

Scotland: Maria McAneny

She made her debut against Ukraine on Friday 28th November and even scored in added time despite being on the pitch for 20 minutes. After an injury to Erin Cuthbert, she played a couple of minutes in their second fixture of the break against China. 

The midfielder plays her football in the Scottish Women’s Premier League for Celtic with the 21 year old also going on loan to Heart of Midlothian in 2021. She made her Celtic first team debut in 2021 after joining the club in 2018. 

Scotland: Miri Taylor 

She made her debut against Ukraine coming on in the 57th minute and since she came on, Scotland kept a clean sheet. She made her first start in the following fixture against China playing just over an hour in their 3-2 win. 

She spent time at Arsenal and Chelsea before moving to America for College in 2018. She was drafted in the 2022 NWSL for Angel City before moving to Liverpool in January 2023. She spent 2024 on loan to Aston Villa where she calls home now, after moving the following summer. 

Republic of Ireland: Sophie Whitehouse  

After College, she went to Tottenham Hotspur and Bristol City without making an appearance for either. She made her club debut in 2022 for Lewes where they made the FA Cup quarter-finals in her first season. She then moved to Charlton in 2024 with a one year contract but extended in the summer, quickly becoming first choice keeper as well as getting Women’s Championship Save of the Season. 

She made her international debut for the Republic of Ireland this camp in a behind closed doors friendly win against Hungary. In April 2023, she was part of the squad when Ireland travelled to the USA for two friendlies. 

Categories
England Women

USA thrash England U23’s 2-4 in final game of 2025

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England rounded off their 2025 internationals with a 2-4 defeat against USA at Wham Stadium in Accrington. Goals from Emeri Adames, Maddy Dahlien, Sarah Weber and Ally Sentnor secured the win for the visitors after their European trip, with Jess Simpson and Keira Barry finding goals for the hosts. 

Within the first two minutes, USA opened up the scoring from Emeri Adames inside the box. There was a loose ball from Olivia McLoughlin on the far side which found USA and Ally Sentnor crossed into the box to Sarah Weber. She then found Adames around the penalty box and her strike saw the bottom right corner. 

After the initial goal, both sides were neck and neck until the 43rd minute where from the far side of the pitch, Maddy Dahlien gave the USA a two goal cushion. Her shot was just inside the box and looped over Faye Kirby after an initial deflection from Evie Rabjohn, into the back of the net.

First Half: England 0-2 USA 

The second half was similar to the first but England halved the deficit after a free kick from Jess Simpson in the 53rd minute. Her free kick over 25 yards out on the near side missed everyone in the box and went straight into the far side of the goal. 

Just one minute after the goal, Faye Kirby was tested again after a long range shot from the USA. In the 57th minute, they found their two goal cushion again after Sarah Weber found the back of the net. Her goal was a cross from Maddy Dahlien which found the 12 yard area inside the box and her shot fizzled past Kirby into the back of the net. 

England found the back of the net and brought them back in it on the 61st minute mark after a strike from Keira Barry. Her shot from the right side outside the box found the back of the net past Purcell in the USA net which gave England another chance. 

USA comfortably scored their fourth goal of the match in the 72nd minute from Ally Sentnor. Her goal came from her own doing, running down the left wing and cutting inside and her shot just inside the box went past Kirby on the left side and went into the back of the net. 

England continued to look for another goal, with Keira Barry looking to find her second with a similar attempt like her goal but it was fired wide. England ended the last international break of the year with a defeat. 

Second Half: England 2-4 USA

Teams: 

England: 

Starting 11: Faye Kirby, Evie Rabjohn (Ward 78’), Jess Simpson, Ruby Mace ©, Gracie Prior, Teyah Goldie, Keira Barry, Lexi Potter, Izzy Goodwin (Lloyd-Smith 85’), Olivia McLoughlin (Parkinson 56’), Mia Enderby (Sarwie 78’). 

Unused Subs: Katie Cox, Natalia Negri, Sarah Brasero, Lenna Gunning-Williams, Hannah Silcock, Cerys Brown. 

Goals: Simpson (53’) and Barry (61’) 

USA: 

Starting 11: Neeku Purcell, Evelyn Shores (Jackson 83’), Jayden Perry, Eva Gaetino, Riley Jackson ©, Ally Sentnor (Tordin 83’), Maddie Dahlien (Schupansky 64’), Sarah Weber (Tiernan 63’), Abi Brighton (Lemos 64’), Ayo Oke (Thompson 46’), Emeri Adames (Lema 89’). 

Unused Subs: Elizabeth Beardsley.

Goals: Emeri Adames (2’), Maddie Dahlien (43’), Sarah Weber (57’) and Ally Sentnor (72’) 

Categories
International Lionesses

“I make decisions to win”; Sarina Wiegman releases final Lionesses squad of the year

Sarina Wiegman announced a 25 player squad for the final international camp of the year today with a few faces returning to the camp for the first time since the euros. In other news Freya Godfrey earns her maiden lionesses squad, making the step up from the under-23’s for the first time.

Firstly, she spoke on Mary Earps’ autobiography saying: “She’s retired now, and we had incredible times and I always cherished that, and I’ve really enjoyed that… I make decisions to win … we have two incredible people in the goalkeeper group… overtime the competition has been really really hard, we had a very good goal keeper unit and the two goal keepers were competing for the number one spot.”

Following this, she was asked about Ellie Roebuck and how close to returning to the squad the keeper is, to this she said “‘We have a group of goal keepers we keep a close eye on… she is a little bit further way.”

Freya Godfrey earned her first senior lionesses call up this camp, Wiegman spoke highly of her saying “She’s done well, at the beginning of the season she was injured but I think she came back very well… she’s a young player that can bring something different to the squad.”

One key player kept out of the squad was Lauren James, although the forward only came back from her injury last week, she was a name people expected to see within the squad.

To this, Sarina said “She’s moving forward well… I think she just needs a little more time to get to full fitness… I don’t want to take any risks.”

In other news, Lauren Hemp is back in the squad for the first time since the Lionesses Euro winning campaign, Wigwam spoke on her recent form and how much of a key player the forward is within the squad saying “first of all, it’s really nice for her, I think she really enjoyed herself at the weekend, we could all see that she had a good performance and of course she is an important player for us… and we are very happy to have her back.”

Last time out, Michelle Agyemang suffered an ACL injury whilst playing Spain and since then Katie Reid has suffered the same injury, one that’s becoming far too common in Women’s football. Wiegman was asked whether she thinks it’s an issue within the amount of football young players are playing compared to seasons prior, to this she said, “its a very hard question for me to answer because I’m not in that environment, I think everyone who’s in the women’s game and at that level is trying to make it better for the players… I think the gap to international football is a big one, one we need to close… as always, you want to improve academies to get prepared, to get good level games and to get the programming right, but i think everyone in our environment is working on that to improve it

Leah Williamson is missing out on camp through injury, along with Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter meaning England’s defence is likely to have a new, youthful look this window, something that may be a concern to some but Sarina expressed her confidence saying “It always gives an opportunity to other players to step up, players play at a high level at their club so their experience… so i think there’s a lot of experience players have so they’re used to that… it’s absolutely an opportunity to step up and show where the players are more in the squad now.”

She followed this by saying “Lucy is leading, Keira is leading, Alessia has a lot of experience now so she is leading now also up front, Lauren Hemp, she’s not necessarily an old player but she has a lot of experiences”

Finally, England’s world cup qualifying draw was revealed last week, with the lionesses drawing Iceland, Spain and Ukraine, upon being asked what she thought of the draw, Wiegman said “i think it’s an exciting draw again, of course we are always stuck with Spain, but we haven’t played Ukraine and Iceland so im excited about that, the different opponents.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Sophie Baggaley, Khiara Keating, Anna Moorhouse

Defenders: Lucy Bronze, Niamh Charles, Anouk Denton, Grace Fisk, Taylor Hinds, Maya Le Tissier, Esme Morgan, Lotte Wubben-Moy

Midfielders: Laura Blinkilde-Brown, Grace Clinton, Missy Bo Kearns, Lucia Kendall, Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Keira Walsh
Forwards: Aggie Beever-Jones, Freya Godfrey, Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, Beth Mead, Jess Park, Alessia Russo