State of Origin is on tonight

Tonight, New South Wales and Queensland will lock horns for Game II of the Men’s State of Origin.

The Blues are playing to keep this year’s series alive while the Maroons are looking to extend their State of Origin winning streak to three series in a row.

And whatever happens, we get to do it all again tomorrow night when NSW and QLD face off in the Women’s State of Origin decider in Townsville.

You can stream tonight’s game on channel 9 or 9Now. Kick-off is at 8:05 pm.

CARN THE BLUES!

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Stat of the day

7
The number of Australian women who have made it through to the second round of Wimbledon qualifiers. 22-year-old and world number 177 Olivia Gadecki upset 100th-ranked Maria Timofeeva in her third career victory against a player ranked in the top 100. She faces French player Harmony Tan in the next round.

Quote of the day

“It’s probably been the most traumatic thing I’ve experienced. I’m getting quite emotional thinking about it. I think more [because of] the severity of it and how it’s impacted my fiancée — that’s probably been the hardest thing to be honest”.
Melbourne Demons player Christian Petracca on the two weeks after he sustained a lacerated spleen, punctured lung, and four broken ribs in the King’s Birthday clash against Collingwood. Petracca is out for the rest of the season.

Random fact of the day

Felicity Aston, from England, was the first woman to ski across Antarctica alone. She travelled 1,744km over 59 days. 

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In case you missed it…

🏉 Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield’s one-match ban for a dangerous tackle has been overturned at the AFL Tribunal. Dangerfield is now free to play against Essendon this Saturday at the MCG.

⚽ At the Euros, Austria (25th ranked) upset the Netherlands (7th) 3-2. Austria has been the surprise of the tournament so far, topping a strong group that includes France, the Netherlands and Poland. They now advance to the Round of 16 where they will play the Group F runner-up.

⚽ Star England goalkeeper Mary Earps is set to leave Manchester United when her contract expires in June and is reportedly headed to French club Paris Saint-Germain. 31-year-old Earps has appeared 50 times for England and starred for the Lionesses when they defeated the Matildas in the 2023 World Cup semi-final.

🏉 Scott Barrett has been named captain for the New Zealand All Blacks as part of a 32-man squad set to face England in a two-match Test series. The first game is scheduled for 6 July at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. New coach Scott Robertson also named five first-time All Blacks.

🏊🏽‍♂️ Former U.S. Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps and Allison Schmidt have told U.S. Congress they’ve lost faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency. Their testimony follows revelations earlier this year that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned substances without consequence in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics. Five of those athletes won medals. 

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The U.S. Olympic athletic trials have continued this week in Eugene, Oregon. Here are a few of the stories making headlines.

Defending Olympic champ falls in 800m

Athing Mu, the reigning Olympic women’s 800m champion, tripped and fell 200m into the 800m final and finished ninth, ruling her out of the event at the Olympics. Mu is still eligible for the 4x400m relay team which will be announced after this week’s trials. 

16-year-old makes 400m final

16-year-old Quincy Wilson ran the men’s 400m in 44.59 seconds to qualify for the final. It was his second record-breaking time (for under 18s) at the trials, having broken a 42-year-old national record for the fastest under-18 400m days earlier. In the final, however, he finished sixth and failed to qualify. Quincy Hall won gold with a personal best of 44.17 instead. Wilson may still be considered for the 4x400m relay team. 

Crouser books ticket to third Olympics

Reigning Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser qualified for his third Games at this week’s trials. Crouser will head to Paris as the current world champion and world record holder in the shot put, aiming for his third consecutive Olympic gold.

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We are reaching the pointy end of the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup, with the first semi-final of the tournament tomorrow between South Africa and Afghanistan. The second semi-final will see England and India battle it out for the remaining spot in the final early Friday morning (AEST).

South Africa v Afghanistan

South Africa (aka the Proteas) are the fifth-ranked team in the world and are chasing their first-ever T20 World Cup title. Their best results in the tournament’s 17-year history came in 2009 and 2014 when they made the semi-final. 

The Proteas are unbeaten so far at this year’s tournament and they have demonstrated fine form beating heavyweights England and the West Indies on their road to the semis.

Afghanistan, ranked 10th in the world, have made the final four for the first time in any international cricket tournament, upsetting Australia along the way. They are the underdog in this matchup against South Africa. The Afghans will be relying on their opening batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is the leading run-scorer at the tournament so far (281 runs), to set them up. 

England v India

England are the defending champions and third-ranked team in the world so it is no surprise they have made the final four. However, they have faced setbacks on their way, losing to both Australia and South Africa, but winning against the U.S., Oman, and Namibia all when an early exit seemed imminent. England won in 2010 and 2022.

India is the number-one-ranked team in the world and the only other unbeaten team in the tournament. Beaten by England by 10 wickets in the 2022 final, India will be looking for redemption and their second T20 World Cup victory. Their only previous victory at this tournament was in 2007.

How to watch

South Africa v Afghanistan will be streamed on Amazon Prime at 10:30 am tomorrow 27 June.

England v India will be streamed on Amazon Prime at 12:30 am on Friday 28 June.

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