wakeup

Discussions surrounding England’s inability to play spin are beginning to sound like a broken record.

Without a doubt, however, it is their most pressing concern.

In 2022, England averaged 42.3 against spin in T20s, losing 25 wickets.

The following year, they lost 46 wickets at an average of 18, and so far in 2025 they have lost 41 at 19.9.

Their gameplan against slow bowling seems muddled, torn between attack and defence with batters regularly trapped on the crease or caught from attempted aggression.

And while the approaching World Cup is in the longer format of the game, England’s opponents will have their bowling strategies in place already, such is the predictability of their weakness.

Edwards has also accepted England’s huge need for improvement in the field, where they have been poor against India, with regular misfields and four dropped catches in the last five overs alone in the third encounter at The Oval.

“It’s a mindset thing under pressure, but it’s an area we work really, really hard on,” said Edwards.

“We are not going to hide away from that.”

India’s fielding improvement, meanwhile, has been astronomical. They have charged in from the boundary to stop twos, regularly hauled the ball in from the ropes after covering masses of ground, and completed some staggering catches.

At Edgbaston, this was epitomised by Em Arlott and Sophie Ecclestone backing out of catches on the boundary, letting the ball bounce in front of them and saving the runs instead.

Radha Yadav, meanwhile, sprinted and dived full-stretch to dismiss Amy Jones in spectacular fashion even when the game was pretty much in England’s hands.

Edwards and many players have cited India’s huge improvement, largely a result of the Women’s Premier League, which has been in existence for three years, and they regularly play in front of packed crowds where every game matters.

But The Hundred is not too dissimilar for England, and they cannot use the excuse of not being under pressure enough when, for example, this does not seem to be an issue for Australia in international cricket. They are relentless, whoever they play, and India are following a similar trajectory.

This scrutiny will not go away for England until they have a trophy or an Ashes series in the bag.

And on that basis, yes – they will be judged come next July.

Lehe Ledu Liangjiang Holiday Hotel, a popular family resort in Chongqing, has become a huge viral hit in China thanks to its red panda wake-up service, that is now attracting heat

A Chinese hotel has been told it must stop waking guests up with red pandas.

Lehe Ledu Liangjiang Holiday Hotel, a popular family resort in Chongqing, currently offers guests the chance to be awakened by the russet-tinted mammals. Many guests are attracted to the hotel solely for its red panda wake-up experience, which involves one of the fluffy animals being led into a guest’s bedroom in the morning.

The animal is then allowed to walk around the room freely and climb onto the duvet-covered bed if it wishes. The service has become a hit online, earning the title “the world’s cutest wake-up service.”

One British couple, Reanne and Ben, documented the experience on their YouTube channel On Tour With Dridgers. In their video, the red panda can be seen wandering along the hotel corridor with a staff member, entering the room, chomping a chunk of apple, and then climbing onto the couple’s bed.

The seemingly friendly and relaxed panda allows the duo to stroke it while eating apple from their hands.

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Now, the Chongqing Forestry Bureau has asked the hotel to stop all activities that allow contact between guests and red pandas. It has sent a team to the hotel to conduct an on-site investigation and said it will release the results of this visit soon.

While the nature of the Forestry Bureau’s concerns is not currently clear, the attraction has long attracted criticism online from those who warn it could lead to injury of both animal and human, as well as the transmission of diseases. The general welfare of the pandas is also a concern.

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The hotel said that the red pandas are borrowed from a zoo, have been vaccinated, and are cared for by dedicated staff. They told China Newsweek that four red pandas are kept on-site and are on a rota for guest visits.

Sun Quanhui, a scientist from the World Animal Protection organisation, told the Global Times that red pandas are a nationally protected wild species. Sun said that they should not be kept as pets or used for tourism-related entertainment, warning that their sensitive natures could lead them to become stressed in such an environment.