Bethell

Dan Bethell claimed his fifth European men’s singles title in Istanbul as part of a successful European Para Badminton Championships for the Great Britain team.

The defending champion once again met Oleksandr Chyrkov in the SL3 final, after beating the Ukrainian in Rotterdam to claim the crown two years ago, and this time saw out a 21-9 21-8 win.

The British team claimed 13 medals in total, including three gold, two silver and eight bronze, which are awarded to players who reach the semi-finals but fail to progress.

“To see so many pathway players performing alongside the GB players is fantastic and shows how much the sport is developing across the country,” double Paralympic silver medallist Bethell, 29, told Badminton England.

“There’s been some amazing performances and victories across the board.”

Englishman Jack Shephard reached the final of the men’s SH6 singles but was unable to defend his title, losing 21-17 21-12 to France’s reigning Paralympic champion Charles Noakes.

But Shephard, 28, did win gold in the mixed doubles alongside 17-year-old compatriot Anya Butterworth, who stepped in after Shephard’s regular partner Rachel Choong sustained an injury before the tournament.

Butterworth also upset the odds to reach her first European singles final, beating second seed Daria Bujnicka in the last four, but had to settle for silver after losing a tight medal match 23-21 18-21 21-11 against Polish top seed Oliwia Szmigiel.

Meanwhile, England’s Krysten Coombs teamed up with men’s singles champion Noakes to win gold in the SH6 men’s doubles.

Scot Andrew Davies claimed bronze medals in both the men’s and mixed doubles in the SH6 category, while Wales’ David Jack Wilson and Englishman Robert Donald finished with bronze in the men’s SU5 singles.

Other British players to win bronze include Emma Louise Stoner (SL4 women’s singles), David Follett (WH1/2 mixed doubles), Curnow Pirbhai-Clarke and William Smith (both SL3/4 men’s doubles).

In May, when Stokes backed Pope following the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, the captain said there was an “agenda” against his then deputy.

Pope made a century in the first innings of the first Test against India in June, but passed 50 only once more in the five-match series.

Bethell, 21, played only one first-class match in the run-up to coming into the England team for the final Test at The Oval and struggled as a result, but the left-hander then made his first professional century in a one-day international against South Africa earlier this month.

“We’ll see a bit more of Jacob Bethell playing in white-ball cricket before the Ashes,” said former Kent and England batter Key. “We know a fair amount about Ollie Pope, but Jacob Bethell will continue to get experience.”

Talismanic captain Stokes missed the final Test against India with a shoulder injury, meaning the all-rounder has not completed any of England’s past four Test series.

However, the 34-year-old stepped up his return by bowling during intervals of his county Durham’s County Championship match against Yorkshire at Headingley on Wednesday.

“He won’t have a lot of cricket before the Ashes series, but that didn’t stop him against India,” said Key. “With the ball, it’s certainly the best I’ve seen him bowl for a long time, if not ever, and that was without playing a lot of cricket going into the summer.

“I have no issues with Ben Stokes at all. He’s generally the type of player that builds and everything he does gets himself ready for these big moments.”

Stokes’ Durham team-mate Wood has not played a Test since August 2024 because of elbow and knee injuries, but Key is “confident” the world’s fastest bowler will be fit for the first Ashes Test on 21 November.

“His recovery is probably a little bit slower than we thought but we’re always erring on the side of caution,” said Key.

“The thing Woody always has going for him is he’s never been someone that needs to play lots and lots of games to get into form. He’s someone that can bowl in nets, bowl in middle practice, then all of a sudden he runs up and bowls 95mph.”

Surrey all-rounder Jacks was chosen as the back-up spinner to Shoaib Bashir, ahead of Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach and Liam Dawson.

Off-spinner Jacks has taken only five first-class wickets this year but, like Bashir, offers England height, as well as the option to boost their batting.

“In what we have coming up, we think Jacks offers a lot of different options,” said Key.

Key also confirmed leg-spinner Ahmed will be named in the England Lions squad that will be in Australia the same time as the senior group, so could be called into the Test party if required.

Jacob Bethell scored his much-anticipated first professional century before Jofra Archer ripped through South Africa as England thrashed the Proteas by a record 342 runs in the third one-day international in Southampton.

With the series gone, 21-year-old Bethell, long tipped for a huge future despite his meagre county experience, delivered on all of his promise by elegantly hitting 110 from 82 balls in England’s cruise to 414-5.

The left-hander put on 182 with Joe Root, who himself stroked a 96-ball 100, to lay a platform before Jos Buttler took on the scoring with a destructive 62 not out from 32 balls.

It was England’s highest total in ODIs for three years and their best effort at home since 2018, while Bethell’s ton, in his 33rd international innings, made him England’s second-youngest ODI centurion after David Gower.

South Africa were well below the standards set in their impressive wins at Headingley and Lord’s which had already secured the series with a game to spare.

They dropped Bethell on 44, gave away 19 wides and were 72-9 in 20.5 overs when the players shook hands with Temba Bavuma unable to bat – England’s winning margin the largest in the history of men’s ODIs in terms of runs.

Archer took four wickets in a fast and hostile new-ball spell, reducing the Proteas to 7-4 and 24-6 from which they never recovered. He finished with 4-18 and Adil Rashid 3-13.

Though the series was already gone, this was a morale-boosting win for England after a difficult run in the 50-over format.

The same sides now play a three-match T20 series starting on Wednesday in Cardiff.

England all-rounder Jacob Bethell said he “probably should have played a bit more” during his testing first home summer in international cricket.

Bethell, 21, impressed in his first Test series last winter but has only played a bit-part role this summer.

Having missed the one-off Test against Zimbabwe while at the Indian Premier League, he lost his place in England’s Test XI and was the spare batter across the first four matches against India before coming in for the fifth.

He only played one County Championship match for Warwickshire in-between and as a result has only faced 387 balls in all formats this summer compared to 1,480 in 2024, leading to questions around England’s management of the talented left-hander.

“If I’m honest, when I wasn’t playing in those Tests, I should probably have played a bit more [in domestic cricket],” Bethell told Sky Sports.

“But I’ll take that on and learn from it. I’ve got a lot of cricket ahead now so maybe that gap was quite nice for me.”