Baker

Lesley’s time in the Bake Off tent came to an end after a tough meringue-themed week saw her struggle to impress the judges and become the seventh contestant to leave the competition

Hairdresser Lesley has become the seventh baker to be eliminated from The Great British Bake Off after struggling during the show’s first-ever meringue-themed week.

In Tuesday night’s episode, the remaining contestants were faced with three demanding challenges designed to test their precision and patience.

For the signature bake, they were asked to create mini meringue tarts, followed by a classic yet notoriously tricky soufflé in the technical round.

Finally, the showstopper challenge required the bakers to produce a visually impressive meringue ice cream cake – a task that pushed even the most confident contestants to their limits.

Despite her best efforts, Lesley’s bakes failed to impress the judges, and she was told by co-host Alison Hammond that her time in the tent had come to an end.

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Business development executive Toby, meanwhile, was named star baker by presenter Noel Fielding after delivering consistently strong results across all three challenges.

Lesley, 59, from Kent, admitted she had expected her departure. “Do you know what, I knew it was coming,” she said.

“It’s like ripping the plaster off! Thanks so much for the experience, it has been amazing. I couldn’t get my meringue right and had resigned myself to the fact I’d be going. But I’m proud that I made it to week seven. The other bakers gave me a massive cuddle, which meant the world.”

Judge Dame Prue Leith praised Lesley for her enthusiasm and warmth throughout the competition. “I’m really sorry to see Lesley go,” she said.

“She’s a remarkable woman and, in a way, she’s my ideal baker – she’s just really having a good time. That’s what Bake Off is all about.”

Following her exit, Lesley reflected on how much she had gained from her time in the famous tent. “I think I’ve grown as a person and feel more confident in myself and my abilities,” she said.

“I’ve learned new skills, trusted my gut feeling, and realised you need to step through fear and take yourself out of your comfort zone, that’s how you grow. I’ve had the time of my life.”

Having baked since the age of ten, Lesley said her highlight on the show was “winning the technical in chocolate week.”

Looking ahead, she hopes to open a small baking school, run a “cake shed” where people can buy homemade treats, and write a cookbook inspired by her late grandmother’s traditional recipes.

Lesley will appear on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice with Jo Brand and Tom Allen on Friday, October 17, at 8pm on Channel 4.

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Fast bowler Sonny Baker will make his England debut in the first one-day international against South Africa at Headingley on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old has impressed in The Hundred for Manchester Originals and could be part of the squad for the Ashes tour of Australia later this year.

It is the latest step in a rapid rise for Hampshire’s Baker, who made his first-class debut for England Lions against Australia A in Sydney at the beginning of this year.

Fellow quicks Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse are both included after missing the final Test against India in July. For Archer, it will be his first one-day international since the Champions Trophy in March.

The match in Leeds begins a three-match series against the Proteas, which is followed by three T20s.

Liam Livingstone continued his fine form in The Hundred with a strong all-round display – picking up 2-26 with the ball before scoring an unbeaten 45 from 20 balls to guide Birmingham Phoenix to a seven-wicket win over London Spirt.

Chasing 127, Joe Clarke struck a 25-ball 54 to give the Phoenix a solid platform and captain Livingstone finished the job with a knock that included five sixes and a four.

The 32-year-old, who also struck an unbeaten 69 in the Phoenix’s win against two-time defending champions Oval Invincibles on Tuesday, now has the most runs in this season’s Hundred with 211.

The knock further strengthens Livingstone’s reputation as one of the best finishers in The Hundred. He has scored 543 runs across 17 innings at an impressive average of 49.36 and a blistering strike-rate of 166 in chases.

However, he was left out of the England squads that were announced for the series against South Africa and Ireland on Friday.

The Phoenix skipper also picked up the wickets of Spirit opener David Warner and Ollie Pope as the Phoenix bowlers had delivered a masterclass in death bowling to restrict the Spirit to 126-6 after deciding to bowl first.

“It is a big win for us, we needed it,” said Livingstone after the game.

“We are up against it in this tournament, we know we are, but all we can do is win games and try to improve our run-rate, then we’ll see where we are.”

The tone was set early when Trent Boult sent back Spirit opener Jamie Smith for a duck and though Kane Williamson offered some resistance with a 29-ball 33, the Phoenix never let the momentum slip away.

Remarkably, they did not concede a single boundary in the final 15 deliveries as Boult and Adam Milne tightened the screws to set the stage for the win.

Their second win of the season sees the Phoenix leapfrog the Spirit to sixth place on a superior net run-rate. With eight points, they are also level with the Manchester Originals and Southern Brave.

Baker is also a prolific note-maker, something he puts down to his education.

At the time of his first stress fracture he was targeting a place to study biology at the University of Oxford and now he records analysis on opposition batters in a little book, along with plans and hopes for the future.

“I’ve just found it keeps me involved in the analysis stuff and then really remember it,” Baker says.

“It would be an absolute nightmare if you’re not really sure whether you’re meant to bowl wide or straight and then you pick the wrong one.

“You can’t really justify that to yourself at the end of the game.”

The Hundred means there is already a page in Baker’s notebook titled with the name of an Australian great.

Of the 12 balls Baker bowled to Steve Smith when Welsh Fire hosted Manchester Originals last Monday, three were hit for four and another three resulted in a false shot.

“It has been surreal, writing notes on Steve Smith thinking ‘am I actually going to be opening the bowling at him?'” Baker says.

This is the company Baker now keeps, however and, having rehabbed in Sydney after his most recent back injury, he has spent the past two winters in Australia.

Another will likely come this year with the young quick expected to be part of the Lions squad shadowing the Test team around the Ashes series.

From there anything can happen.

Far more unlikely names have been plucked by England to make a Test debut down under.

“I mean, that would be good fun, wouldn’t it?” Baker says.

“I’ll refer back to notes on any matters and Steve Smith is one of the red-ball GOATs [greatest of all-time] so I’d definitely be coming back to that analysis if I end up needing it.

“But let’s just worry about the next few games first. Let’s not get too far out of ourselves.

“We’ve got a Hundred to try and win and then South Africa series to try and win and then Ireland series try and win way before we think about any of all of that stuff.”

Captain Phil Salt compared 22-year-old fast bowler Sonny Baker to England great James Anderson after he shone in Manchester Originals’ 10-run win over London Spirit at Old Trafford.

Baker began Spirit’s chase of 164 with five dots and conceded only four runs when asked to bowl the first 10 deliveries.

He troubled two international greats in David Warner and Kane Williamson, who have a combined 38,000 international runs to their name, with swing and lively pace.

That helped limit the Spirit’s scoring and, despite Australian Warner hitting 71, the hosts, who left out Anderson after defeats in their opening two games, were always in control.

Warner was caught down the leg side off England seamer Josh Tongue with 38 needed from 15 and Baker returned to dismiss Australia international Ashton Turner for 13 – a deserved reward for a fine spell that cost only 22 runs.

“He was outstanding,” Salt told Sky Sports.

“Jimmy had a rest today but that is the closest to what he did, if not better. It will be hard to pick seamers for the next match.”

Anderson also praised the highly-rated Baker, who was awarded an England development contract earlier this year despite having never played a County Championship match at that stage.

“I have seen a lot of footage of Baker but not seen a lot of him live,” Anderson told Sky Sports. “I have been so impressed.

“Tonight he bowled outstandingly well. He has got pace, skill, swings the ball both ways. He has a lot going for him.”

Earlier another talented youngster, 20-year-old Durham batter Ben McKinney, crashed three sixes in a 12-ball 29 on debut to give the hosts a fast start.

From there, contributions of 31 from Phil Salt, 46 from Jos Buttler and 24 by Heinrich Klaasen helped the Originals post 163-6.

We’re nearing the home stretch for kiddie summer movies, moms and dads. Stay hydrated and nourished, because your multiplex chaperone duties aren’t truly over until early August or so, when the fare turns distinctively adult-themed before going full prestige in the child-unfriendly zone of fall awards season.

But with the messy, strained “Smurfs” on offer this weekend, a tired parent may want to bail early and find a last-minute sleepaway camp to shove the little ones off to instead, because this latest big-screen version of the cute-culture behemoth may test your tolerance for all things wee and cerulean. As legacy management goes, it’s more trial than celebration.

Even if you grew up with Belgian artist Peyo’s utopian woodland humanoids (rendered with Hanna-Barbera efficiency for cheap ’80s television), nostalgia isn’t on offer here — just the usual running tap of attention-driven wackiness, creating a fast-growing puddle of gags, colors, songs (including pop icon Rihanna’s contributions) and believe-in-yourself platitudes that feel random, not earned. As deployed by “Shrek” franchise veteran Chris Miller (“Puss in Boots”), animation is less a storied artistic method with which to enchant, so much as a whiz-bang weapon of mass distraction, scalable and noisy.

The Smurfs themselves have come in for something of an origin makeover. No longer simple, communal mushroom-village inhabitants with happy lives centered on personality quirks and avoiding a mean wizard, in this telling (written by Pam Brady) they hail from a line of ancient, cosmic guardians of goodness, a background that feels beholden to the superhero mindset overriding so much popcorn gruel these days. Conversely, the baddies, wizard brothers Gargamel and new antagonist Razamel (both amusingly snarled into existence by voice actor JP Karliak, channeling Harvey Korman), belong to — what else? — an Evil Alliance set on world domination.

Everything about the story, from opening to closing dance party, feels like it was made up on an especially unimaginative playdate by bored kids who’d rather be watching TV. A Smurf called No Name (James Corden) wants to be known for something, like his trait-defined pals Hefty, Vanity, Grouchy, Baker and Clumsy. Close friend Smurfette (Rihanna), the village’s confident, outgoing badass, tries to buck him up, but he sings a boring who-am-I lament anyway.

Papa Smurf (John Goodman) is kidnapped through a portal, the first of many. There’s a missing magical book given the name Jaunty (Amy Sedaris). The Smurf rescue party goes to a disco in Paris. Then the Australian Outback. Outer space too. Natasha Lyonne voices the leader of an underground species of what look like scratchy couch pillows. Razamel hates Gargamel. Papa has a red-bearded brother, Ken (Nick Offerman tiringly doing Nick Offerman), and we learn later, a long-lost sibling named Ron (Kurt Russell). All these brothers, yet I still wouldn’t say family dynamics are a going emotional concern.

Sometimes everyone floats in the air. Mostly, it’ll be your mind. But turn away for one second, and the characters will have likely gone to another dimension. Because, of course, multiverses are really popular now too. Like the kind in which no voice cast member was likely in the same city as any other when they phoned in their lines.

At least the animators looked like they stayed busy. At one point, when dimension-palooza hurtles our tiny blue posse into different animation modes — claymation, pencil drawings, 8-bit video graphics — there’s a whiff of the delightful, meta-zany chaos of classic cartoons. But for the most part, “Smurfs” hews to the textbook silliness of CGI-generated action and attitude humor, only this time so needlessly zigging and zagging it barely has time to convincingly sell its ultimate message of strength in togetherness. An incoherent movie is hardly the vessel for that kind of lesson. When it ends, though, it’ll definitely feel like an example of kindness.