CK Updates
Sophie Ecclestone on overcoming mental health struggles, fitness criticism and World Cup desire
During the Ashes, Ecclestone made headlines for refusing an interview with former team-mate turned broadcaster Alex Hartley, who was working for Australia’s Channel 7.
Hartley, who won the World Cup with England in 2017, had questioned England’s fitness levels after the team’s early exit from the T20 World Cup in 2024.
The team’s fitness was subject of debate for some time afterwards, but when Edwards was appointed as coach, she said that the players would be “held accountable” for their fitness standards and that it was a “non-negotiable”.
“[Those conversations] are quite annoying, because people outside the group don’t see what happens in training, they don’t see how hard the girls work,” Ecclestone said.
“I feel like people are very quick to judge. I don’t ever feel like we were unfit, I think that was unfair.
“But we did feel like we could have made some moves in that area, and we have done. As a group, we are ridiculously fit now. If anyone did want to judge that I would love for them to come into our environment for the day because it’s crazy how hard people work.”
Accusations of cosiness and complacency also followed the team after the defeat in Australia, and after so many years of individual success, Ecclestone became subject of criticism, but says she is now better equipped to handle the “highs and lows” of international sport.
Ecclestone insists that she will still be active on social media during England’s World Cup campaign, which begins against Sri Lanka, as the cricketers seek to emulate football’s Lionesses and rugby’s Red Roses with a home triumph.
England’s last World Cup win also came at home in 2017, but they have fallen short in global tournaments since, most recently losing to South Africa in last year’s 50-over semi-final.
Though Ecclestone and England are cautious of looking too far ahead, she is very honest about how much it would mean to win the trophy after such a difficult time.
“The group of girls around me, I wouldn’t be here without them, they’re so supportive of me.
“I’m quite open with them about how I’m feeling most of the time, so to lift a trophy with those girls and to share a moment like that with them, it’s something I could only dream of. It would be like a miracle ending.”
The statistics are not a surprise to Umar Ali, who plays for Route One Rovers – a semi-professional team in Bradford.
During Ramadan last year, he was racially abused by a group of opposition spectators as he was waiting to come on as a substitute.
“It was our first game playing while we were fasting,” he said. “So obviously we were hungry that day and I was a bit less patient.
“Then when I was getting ready to come on, one of the fans said I should shave my beard off and that I looked like a paedophile.
“One of them picked up a child who was about six, seven years old, and said ‘I bet your wife’s the same age as this child’.”
Umar described the men as in their sixties.
“It’s quite distressing, because they’re older than my dad,” he added. “They’re my grandad’s age, and they felt comfortable enough to stand there and make comments like that.”
Umar said the assistant referee heard the comments and told the referee, who he claims did not take any action.
The police were eventually contacted and the spectators identified. Umar has not been informed of an outcome.
His manager Mohammed Patel was in the dugout during the match and said – while the opposition coaching staff apologised on behalf of their fans – he felt the officials fell short and should have removed those spectators shouting racist and Islamophobic abuse at his players.
Patel said: “It was a really emotional day for us, because the question we asked ourselves after that game is ‘Why is it still happening?’ Some of the things that were said were absolutely horrific.
“In my opinion, more needs to be done from the top down. We’re actively engaging and working with local FAs to try and navigate this problem, but it absolutely needs to be mandated.”
The Northern Counties East Football League fined the opposition club £300 and gave them nine disciplinary points. But Patel says that does not address the real problem.
“We’ve seen harsher punishments for violent conduct on the pitch or red cards, even administrative mistakes,” he added.
“Something as serious as this, we were absolutely not happy with the result.”
Patel has been lobbying the Football Association, but has not yet received a response.
He said: “Precedents need to be set, harsher sanctions need to be introduced. This comes from the top down.”
The FA said in a statement: “We have introduced tougher sanctions for clubs and individuals, a new behaviour improvement programme, and penalty points accumulation charges in the grassroots game.
“This builds on the steps taken to allow for deductions of league points from clubs that are repeated offenders of serious misconduct.”
Gymnast Ruby Evans has won Wales’ first Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow with victory in the floor final.
Evans, 19, performed the final routine of the women’s programme and defeated England’s Abigail Martin into silver, with her team-mate Shantae-Eve Amankwaah securing bronze.
Evans left the arena in tears on Sunday after her disappointing sixth in the all-round individual competition, that after Wales finished fourth in the team event.
Now, after Welsh identical twins Abigail and Emily Roper won bronze medals within a couple of hours of each other on Monday, Evans has delivered gold.
It was the first victory for Team Wales in Scotland and a ninth medal alongside two silver and six bronze.
There is also a guaranteed podium position for boxer Connor Williams after he reached the semi-finals.
An amateur cricket match has made global headlines after a fielder was accused of cheating by clicking his fingers to get a wicket.
The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has started an investigation into a second XI Division 2 game between Saltburn and Norton.
A viral video on social media appears to show a Saltburn fielder clicking his fingers as the ball passes Noman Shabir’s bat before being caught by wicketkeeper Josh Bowes. Saltburn appeal and the umpire gives Shabir out.
It has been suggested that the finger-clicking was designed to trick the umpire into thinking the batter edged the ball.
Saltburn won by 159 runs and are top of Division 2 by 17 points.
“The league have received a formal complaint regarding alleged incidents in a Division Two game on Saturday,” the league said in a statement on X.
“A full investigation has been initiated and until such time as the formal processes are complete no further comment will be made.”
Last week Bowes took eight catches in Saltburn’s 22-run win over Shildon Railway. The men’s Test record for catches by a keeper in an innings is seven.
Bowes leads the league standings with 31 catches, 10 more than any other player.
Rory Cotterill, who captained Middlesbrough second XI during a 29-run defeat by Saltburn last month, responded to a social media post containing the video and alleged two further incidents of cheating by Saltburn in that match.
The original video of the incident has had more than three million views on X, with publications in Australia and New Zealand among those to report it.
The BBC has contacted the league and Saltburn. Norton declined to comment.
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