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Wayne Madsen agrees second stint as Derbyshire captain
"Wayne has always shown great leadership qualities and he's a popular member of our dressing room, so I'm delighted he will be leading our team in 2025," Derbyshire's head of cricket, Mickey Arthur, said.
"His experience is invaluable; he has won promotion once as a captain already and I'm looking forward to seeing how his ideas play out on the field.
"Wayne is a player who always leads by example, he is the one that sets the standards in training and with his professionalism, and I know he will approach the role with real pride and enthusiasm."
In a disappointing 2024 campaign, which saw Derbyshire claim the wooden spoon after finishing bottom of Division Two, Madsen was the club's leading Championship run-scorer, with 1005 at 50.25 - the seventh time in 12 seasons that he has crossed the 1000-run mark.
Overall, he has scored 14,601 first-class runs for Derbyshire, putting him ninth on the list for the club.
Madsen said: "It's a real privilege to captain Derbyshire again. I know what it means to represent this great county and its members, and I take immense pride in leading the team on the field.
"David [Lloyd] has done a fantastic job in laying the foundations for me to build on. While results didn't always go our way last season, he and Mickey, with his vast experience and knowledge, have fostered a real sense of togetherness and resilience within the squad - qualities I want to carry forward this year.
"I'm proud to lead this team and excited about what we can achieve under Mickey's guidance. With the talent and character in this squad, we're determined to win games and bring success to our supporters."
RCB in must-win territory against out-of-contention Warriorz
Who's playing
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) vs UP Warriorz (UPW)
Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, 7.30pm IST
What to expect: RCB look to stay alive
The spotlight is on RCB. Placed fourth, the defending champions will have to win both their remaining games, starting with this contest against bottom-placed UP Warriorz, and need to wait for other results to go their way to qualify for the playoffs. Losing even one out of the next two games will put them out of contention. Warriorz, meanwhile, were knocked out by Gujarat Giants on Friday and will look to finish the season on a high.
Four straight defeats after two successive wins have left RCB with more questions than answers. Batting has looked overly dependent on Ellyse Perry with Smriti Mandhana also undergoing a lean patch. The rest of the line-up has been inconsistent. While Renuka Singh, Kim Garth and Georgia Wareham have taken the bulk of responsibility with the ball and have accounted for 25 wickets combined, RCB have been found wanting in the fourth and fifth bowling options. Will a six-day break help them bounce back?
Meanwhile, Warriorz have struggled in both departments, and the constant shuffling of their batting order hasn't helped. Chinelle Henry, despite being explosive at the death, has not gotten a promotion to address their middle-order woes. Deepti Sharma has also had an underwhelming outing as a captain and a bowler, picking up five wickets in seven games at an economy rate of 8.11. Sophie Ecclestone has been the only bowler who has looked threatening.
Form guide
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: LLL (last three matches, most recent first)
UP Warriorz: LLL
Team news
RCB are likely to go with the experience of Sneh Rana and Ekta Bisht in the spin department.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable XI): 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Danni Wyatt-Hodge, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Raghvi Bisht, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Kanika Ahuja, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Kim Garth, 10 Ekta Bisht, 11 Renuka Singh
Gouher Sultana played two matches in Lucknow but bowled only one over and went for 16 runs. It remains to be seen whether Warriorz will bring back Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who has played only one match so far in this edition.
UP Warriorz (probable XI): 1 Grace Harris, 2 Georgia Voll, 3 Kiran Navgire, 4 Vrinda Dinesh, 5 Deepti Sharma (capt), 6 Shweta Sehrawat, 7 Uma Chetry (wk), 8 Chinelle Henry, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Gouher Sultana/Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Kranti Goud
In the spotlight: Ellyse Perry and Sophie Ecclestone
Key stats
Srinidhi Ramanujam is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
Gujarat Giants 178 for 5 (Deol 70*, Mooney 44, Pandey 2-31, Jonassen 2-38) beat Delhi Capitals 177 for 5 (Lanning 92, Shafali 40, Meghna 3-35) by five wickets
By taking down the table-toppers who are already in the playoffs, Giants overtook Mumbai Indians to go second on the points table with a better NRR, although MI still have two games in hand compared to Giants' one. Giants' win also meant it was the end of the road for UP Warriorz, who can't make it to the playoffs anymore. Giants and MI will now face-off in a crucial penultimate league game on March 10 in Mumbai.
The Giants chase was set up by a steady 44 from Mooney, a wonderfully-paced and unbeaten 70 off 49 from Deol and a power-packed 24 off 10 from Dottin before Kashvee Gautam stole the show when they needed 13 from seven.
Mooney and Deol lay the base
Giants are not known for their power-hitters at the top of the order and they didn't change their template even in a steep chase. They were 15 for 1 after four overs as Mooney and Deol aimed to stay steady after the early loss of D Hemalatha, whose wretched run of form continued. Mooney went over the infield consistently to collect boundaries and it was the fifth over that kicked things off for Giants. Deol got going with two fours in a 13-run over and repeated the feat in the next over when she used the pace of Annabel Sutherland to push the run rate past six as the powerplay ended.
With the asking rate at an exact ten, Giants had a mountain to climb. Mooney made Deol run hard between the wickets and when the duo collected four fours in the space of seven balls just before the halfway mark, the chase was truly alive. Capitals had their forgettable moment of fielding too when Deol, on 27, lofted Jess Jonassen down the ground and Shafali went to her right from long-off but the ball burst through her hands and let go of a chance that potentially cost them the match.
The big hits from the big names
Giants were handed a big blow when Mooney found Sutherland at long-off off Minnu Mani in the 12th over, but that meant Capitals had to try and constrain Giants' big hitters now. And they couldn't. Gardner got off the mark with a four before smashing a glorious straight six off Marizanne Kapp that brought the equation down to 73 off 43 which soon became 66 off 36.
Deol then got a second life, on 45, when Sutherland failed to hold on to a return catch. Gardner unleashed another six, this time off a Sutherland slower ball over midwicket. Deol brought up her first WPL fifty since 2023, off 38 balls, with a boundary to point; and even though Gardner holed out for 22, Dottin and Deol smashed back-to-back sixes to make it 36 off 23. The Capitals quicks took pace off the ball, brought Jonassen back but nothing helped. Dottin smoked Jonassen for 4, 6 and 4 to different parts of the leg-side boundary that shrunk the equation to 16 off 14.
Capitals thought they had a chance when Jonassen finished the over with the wickets of Dottin and Phoebe Litchfield, before Shikha Pandey gave away just two off five balls of the 19th over, but Gautam dispatched a length ball over wide long-on. Deol followed it with a four before Gautam hit the winning runs.
Another Lanning and Shafali half-century stand
Lanning continued to pepper the boundaries on either side off the front foot as Giants continued to pitch the ball up. Shafali got a life on 15 when Tanuja Kanwar couldn't hold on to a return catch in the sixth over despite a full-length dive. She looked a lot more confident with two sixes after the powerplay but holed out for 40 off 37 to deep midwicket where Phoebe Litchfield completed a well-judged catch.
Another Lanning masterclass
Lanning, meanwhile, struck seven fours in the powerplay and continued to punish Giants for their lapses. There was action at the other end too - Shafali's wicket was followed by Jonassen's when she missed a swinging yorker from Dottin, soon after the batter had survived a stumping chance.
Just before that, Giants had also given Lanning a life when Deol almost clung to a juggling attempt after a perfectly-timed leap at mid-off at the start of the 12th over. Deol leapt straight up to intercept the ball with her right hand, attempted a left-handed grab and then even caught the ball with both hands while rotating but the ball popped out when she landed on her elbows. And as the cliché goes, Lanning rubbed salt on the wounds with a glorious inside-out six over the covers for her 34-ball fifty.
Giants' sloppiness wasn't done for the day though. Soon after Jemimah Rodrigues fell for 4, Lanning could have been run-out on 63 when a mix-up with Sutherland meant Lanning was terribly late on reaching the bowler's end. But a wayward throw combined with Priya Mishra's failed attempt to collect the ball extended Lanning's stay.
She next punished Kanwar for two fours in the 18th over and Dottin for another pair of boundaries in the last over. Lanning was on 92 with two balls left in the innings but missed out on becoming the WPL's first ever centurion as she was bowled by a Dottin legcutter. Sarah Bryce carved the last ball for a six that gave Capitals a total that was strong but not enough.
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
WPL 2025 scenarios: How can RCB make the playoffs? Are DC favourites to finish on top?
RCB, who have only four points after six matches, can reach a maximum of eight points by winning their last two games against UP Warriorz and Mumbai Indians (MI). Giants and MI are already placed on eight points, while DC are out of RCB's reach with ten. Despite being well behind, RCB's fate is still in their own hands. So far, DC have sealed a place in playoffs while UP Warriorz are out of the race.
Must-win scenario for RCB
RCB's chances in the WPL 2025 playoffs will end as early as Saturday if they go down against Warriorz. But if they win on Saturday, they will closely follow the game between MI and Giants to know whose net run rate (NRR) they must go past to qualify for the playoffs. Giants currently have a better NRR than MI, and an added advantage for RCB is that their last match will be against MI only.
RCB are nearly 60 runs behind MI's NRR but will need to beat them by only 20 runs if they can win against UPW by ten runs and MI lose to Giants by the same margin. However, going past Giants will be more challenging for RCB - their collective margin of wins against UPW and MI needs to be around 62 runs if Giants lose to MI by only ten runs.
Are Delhi Capitals through to the final?
DC ended their league phase as the table-toppers with five wins, but their direct qualification to the final for the third straight season will have to wait as both MI and Giants can move ahead of them. MI can finish on the top if they win both matches, while Giants can go past DC if they can beat MI by a decent margin.
Giants must win by 17 runs or 12 balls (for a first-innings total of 180) against MI to go ahead of DC's NRR. On the other hand, MI are about 30 runs behind DC, which means if they lose one of their two matches by ten runs, they should have won the other by around 40 runs.
Stars, Panthers new Cup favorites after deadline
After making arguably the two biggest splashes of the NHL trade deadline, the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers are the new favorites to win the Stanley Cup in 2025, showing +600 odds at ESPN BET.
Dallas acquired right wing Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes and later signed him to a reported eight-year contract extension; Florida picked up longtime Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand.
Before the transactions, the Stars were +700 to win the season's championship, while the Panthers were +750 and immediately shortened to +650 before settling at the current number. Pricing across the sportsbook marketplace varies, with some books showing the Stars as outright favorites and others posting Florida as the favorite as short as +500.
Both teams flew up the odds board past the Edmonton Oilers, who sit at +700 as of Friday afternoon and are not the Cup favorites for the first time since July 2, when the Panthers were favored. The two teams faced off in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, with Florida prevailing.
Edmonton is still easily ESPN BET's most popular Stanley Cup future selection, attracting a leading 22.7% of the bets and 14.2% of the handle. The Panthers have the second-most money at 9.8%, while the Hurricanes have the second-most tickets at 13.4%. Carolina, who had traded for Rantanen in late January, is fourth on the sportsbook's odds board at +900.
The team Rantanen began the season and his career with, the Colorado Avalanche, made one of the other big moves of the deadline, acquiring center Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders. Prior to the trade, Colorado was +1300 to lift the Cup and is +1000 as of Friday afternoon, tied with the Washington Capitals for fifth.
Washington, attracting plenty of attention and special betting markets amid Alex Ovechkin's goal record chase, have taken the third-most Cup futures wagers (8.5%) at ESPN BET. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets, leading the league with 90 game points, are tied with two other teams at +1200 on the odds board, but have attracted the third-most money (9.4%) at the sportsbook. Each team made smaller trades ahead of the deadline.
Source: Browns owner declines Garrett meeting
Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam recently declined a request to meet with Myles Garrett amid the star pass rusher's trade request, a league source confirmed to ESPN on Friday.
NFL Network first reported that Haslam declined Garrett's request to meet and directed him to speak instead with general manager Andrew Berry, who oversees football operations.
A Browns spokesperson declined to comment.
The development comes with both sides dug in on their stances -- Garrett wishing to be traded to a contender and the Browns adamant that they will not acquiesce in the request. Garrett first requested a trade in early February, saying the Browns' future is not aligned with winning right now. A source also said that Garrett is not open to a contract extension with the team.
Berry reiterated at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis last week that he does not intend to trade Garrett, the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski later said Garrett is "part of the present. He's part of the future."
Garrett, a six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro selection, has two years remaining on the record-breaking five-year, $125 million extension he signed in 2020 but has no more guaranteed salary.
In eight seasons, Garrett, 29, has made the playoffs twice. The Browns' 3-14 finish in 2024 was their worst since going 0-16 in 2017, Garrett's rookie year. Cleveland holds the second pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
Titans release sack leader Landry in cap move
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Titans have released outside linebacker Harold Landry III. The move saves the Titans $10.9 million in cap space but increases to $17.5 million if Tennessee designates Landry's release as a post-June 1 move.
Landry led the Titans with nine sacks last season and posted 15 tackles for a loss and 15 quarterback hits in 17 starts. Last season was Landry's third consecutive season with at least nine sacks, including a career-high 12 in 2021.
The Titans signed Landry to a five-year, $87 million contract in 2022. Landry suffered a torn ACL during the preseason and missed all of 2022. He returned in 2023 and finished second on the Titans with 10.5 sacks.
Landry's 83.1% of defensive snaps played last season led all Titans linebackers. Tennessee used a rotation of Landry, outside linebackers Arden Key and Jaylen Harrell, and defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day to play outside of interior defensive linemen Jeffery Simmons and T'Vondre Sweat.
The Titans granted Landry's agents permission to seek a trade during the combine last month. Nothing materialized, so Tennessee is releasing the 28-year-old pass rusher, making him a free agent.
Landry was drafted by the Titans in the second round (41st overall) of the 2018 NFL draft. He was the final member of Tennessee's 2018 draft class on the roster.
Tennessee has the No.1 pick in this year's draft and hosted outside linebacker Abdul Carter at its facility Thursday.
Sources: Panthers acquire Marchand from Bruins
Brad Marchand will be traded to the Florida Panthers pending a trade call, sources told ESPN on Friday.
It was a late splash at the NHL trade deadline on Friday for the Panthers, who are gearing up for another run at the Stanley Cup.
A source told ESPN's John Buccigross that the Bruins will receive a 2027 second-round choice that turns into a 2028 first-round pick if certain conditions are met.
Marchand, the Boston Bruins' captain, was in the final months of an eight-year deal with Boston that carried a $6.125 million salary cap hit. The captain wanted to stay in Boston; however, negotiations with his camp and the Bruins reached a stalemate over term, sources told ESPN. The Bruins were hesitant to give Marchand a two-year contract.
Marchand, who turns 37 in May, is currently sidelined with an upper-body injury that could keep him out until shortly before the playoffs. The Bruins are currently in Tampa, but Marchand remained in Boston, rehabbing. The winger had three surgeries this past summer -- on his elbow, groin and abdomen. He competed in every game for Team Canada at 4 Nations Face-Off and was effective for the Bruins, scoring 21 goals in 61 games this season.
The defending Stanley Cup champions got even stronger over the past week, notably acquiring defenseman Seth Jones from Chicago. Florida also picked up a new backup goalie in Vitek Vanecek and a depth forward in Nico Sturm.
The Bruins fell out of playoff contention -- in a season that already cost coach Jim Montgomery his job -- and became big sellers on Friday, also trading away veteran center Charlie Coyle to Colorado and Brandon Carlo to Toronto. Earlier, the team traded away Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau.
A Stanley Cup champion with Boston in 2011, and a perennial top-liner who bridged the Bruins' transitions between several different coaching staffs, Marchand, 37, can play the tough minutes for the Panthers as they battle for first place in the Atlantic Division with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Marchand has scored at least 21 goals in the past 12 seasons, and he has hovered between 18 and 19 minutes per game on the ice in the past 10 years for the Bruins.
DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks said Friday that Anthony Davis is improving daily, but gave no indication of when the forward they got in their trade of Luka Doncic might be ready to play again.
The Mavericks said a recent reevaluation of Davis' left adductor strain showed that he "is improving daily and has therefore been cleared for more dynamic on-court movements."
Davis has played in only one game for Dallas since the 10-time All-Star was acquired in that seismic trade on Feb. 2 that sent five-time All-Star and Mavs fan favorite Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Mavericks said center Dereck Lively II, who has been out since Jan. 14 because of a right ankle stress fracture, is progressing in his rehabilitation and has progressed to individual court work. Davis and Lively will be evaluated weekly.
After a dominant first half for the Mavs in a 116-105 victory over Houston on Feb. 8, Davis pulled up lame late in the third quarter. He finished with 26 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks.
Davis was out with an abdominal strain for his final two games with the Lakers and the first two he could have played for the Mavs.
Dallas went into its home game Friday night against Memphis in the final Western Conference spot to get into the NBA's play-in tournament. That was the 11th game for Davis to miss with the Mavericks, who had 18 regular-season games remaining after that.
The Lakers are 9-2 since Doncic made his L.A. debut on Feb. 10 and are on an eight-game winning streak.
Mavericks center Daniel Gafford missed his 10th game Friday because of a right knee sprain. The team said Gafford was "showing progress" and would be evaluated again in two weeks.
Kings' DeRozan fined $25K for criticizing officials
NEW YORK -- DeMar DeRozan was fined $25,000 by the NBA for publicly criticizing officials after the Sacramento Kings' loss to the Denver Nuggets.
"The refs were terrible," DeRozan said after the 116-110 loss Wednesday, according to The Sacramento Bee. "Terrible as s---. Simple as that."
DeRozan scored 18 of his 35 points in the third quarter to give Sacramento a 93-84 lead heading into the fourth.
However, in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets shot 13 free throws compared with the Kings' four. Denver outscored Sacramento 32-17 in the final frame and finished with 30 free throws to 14 for the Kings.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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