England cricket captain Ben Stokes says a masked gang burgled his home – when his wife and two children were there – while he was in Pakistan for the recent Test series.

The 33-year-old said his family did not come to “any physical harm” but a number of “sentimental” items were taken.

Stokes posted pictures of the missing items, external, including the medal for the OBE which he received in 2020.

“By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out while my wife and two young children were in the house,” he said.

“Thankfully, none of my family came to any physical harm.

“Understandably, however, the experience has had an impact on their emotional and mental state.

“All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been.”

Stokes, who lives in Castle Eden in County Durham, said the incident occurred on the evening of 17 October.

The following day, England were beaten by Pakistan in the second Test, with Stokes dismissed for 37.

He returned to the UK after the conclusion of last week’s third Test, which England lost by nine wickets as Pakistan took the series 2-1.

“I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items – which I hope may be easily identified – in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this,” added Stokes.

Ben Askren knows what Francis Ngannou is going through.

Earlier this month, Ngannou made his PFL debut, knocking out Renan Ferreira at PFL Superfights: Battle of the Giants in his first MMA fight since leaving the UFC last year.

Ngannou’s return reignited discussion about his UFC exit, which in turn led UFC CEO Dana White to repeatedly bash his former heavyweight champion, saying Ngannou is “full of shit,” that left because he didn’t want to fight Jon Jones, and questioning Ngannou’s character. It was a full blown attack on Ngannou, one that Askren knows all too well.

“Dana spent years lying, saying I didn’t want to fight the best, I didn’t want challenges, I was running away, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Askren said on his YouTube show with Daniel Cormier. “So, it sucked to have this guy – it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true. Dana has this part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in that case, he didn’t offer me a contract, so he kind of got what he wanted.

“But then I think because I was continuing to have success and people were continuing to follow me, he wanted me off in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. But he’s done the same thing with [Cris] Cyborg, I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience, obviously now Francis. If I thought really hard I could probably think of some other ones. But there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality where, if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people. And because he has a big microphone and because he’s generally very truthful and generally correct, people just believe him.

“So I had to deal with many years of Dana telling lies about me that were very harmful to me, that he had no reason or basis for doing.”

Askren is a former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight champion and widely considered to be one of the best fighters outside of the UFC during his title runs. He ultimately did join the promotion in 2019 when ONE Championship traded him for Demetrious Johnson, and had a newfound positive relationship with White, who lauded Askren’s willingness to fight and promote himself.

Unfortunately, Askren’s UFC career was short-lived as he struggled to find the same level of success in the UFC, going just 1-2 in the promotion before retiring at the end of the year due to injuries. And now that he’s retired, Askren says he simply has no relationship with White.

“I don’t see Dana, ever,” Askren said. “I haven’t seen Dana since I finished fighting. I’m not in that world anymore. I don’t train very many fighters … I kind of just do my own thing.”

Tyler Reddick got into the “Championship 4” in dramatic fashion with his win at the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Entering the final lap, Reddick was in third place behind Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney, but Reddick went to the inside lane and got past Hamlin on Turn 2. He then throttled past Blaney on the outside on Turn 4 and held on to win.

Reddick explained his perspective on the thrilling win on Monday’s edition of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.”

“Things had to play out a certain way. Like, Denny and Blaney getting to racing really hurt their momentum on the corners [and] kept me close. That final lap, I was just hoping I was going to get clean air, and Blaney wasn’t able to cover the bottom. And Denny took such a great distance around the corner that I was able to slide up in front of them, and then Turn 3 happened. That whole last corner just kind of blows my mind,” Reddick told host Kevin Harvick. “I think Blaney was expecting something similar to what I attempted at Darlington with [Chris] Buescher. I think he was expecting me to really just overdrive entry and center and try to clear him in the middle. I think he went to cover that attack, and once I saw that, I saw my window, my opening. I didn’t lift until I got to his door. I didn’t know what was going to happen on the other side of it. I didn’t know if I was going to hit the wall or lose my momentum, but I knew if I wanted to have a shot at battling for the win, I had to at least get even with him.

“Then, my car stuck. It stuck really, really well. I wasn’t even as close to the wall in the middle of the corner and exit as I thought I would be, and I came off Turn 4, and it was just disbelief. I couldn’t believe what just happened.”

Reddick led 97 of 400 laps.

On the season, Reddick is fourth in total points (4,098), with three wins, 12 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 finishes. Christopher Bell, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Reddick are the four drivers in the “Championship 4.”

Reddick has the utmost conviction about the No. 45 team down the homestretch.

“Kind of the name of the game for us over the course of the regular season is just not defeating ourselves. If we have an issue arise, we find a way to put it in the past and move forward. A lot of our best races in the regular season were days where things going into Stage 2 or going into Stage 3, something goes wrong,” Reddick said. “We lose all of our track position, and we have to drive back through the field. We’ve been able to do that time and time again in the regular season. In the playoffs, it wasn’t necessarily going that way for us, but our body of work and the amount of times we’ve had those days and still gotten the finishes is still there.

“I have a high amount of belief in my team, and a regular-season championship shows that we’ve been capable of overcoming things. I knew that we were going to put what happened behind us and get ready for the next stop, the next restart.”

Prior to winning at Homestead, Reddick finished 35th in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The win marked his first top-10 finish in seven races (Sept. 8) and his first win in the NASCAR playoff.

Reddick is in his second season at 23XI Racing after winning two races in his first season with the team (2023). He spent the previous four seasons at Richard Childress Racing (2019-22).

Two races remain in the 2024 Cup Series season, with the XFINITY 500 at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday, followed by the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway the following week.

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FRANKIE DETTORI and John Gosden are getting the band back together at Del Mar.

When Frankie gets the leg up on Emily Upjohn it will be the first time he has ridden for his old boss since this meeting last year and he grinned: “John hasn’t changed a bit – he is still bossing me around!”

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The four-year-old is one of the leading fancies for the Breeders’ Cup Turf this weekend as she takes to the track for the final time before retirement.

The last time she won a race was with Dettori on her back in the Coronation Cup in June last year, and he got reacquainted with his old pal with a gentle gallop around the Del Mar turf track yesterday morning.

Dettori said: “I haven’t ridden Emily for over a year, I think I was the last one to win on her.

“She had a nice look around on the turf, we will probably do a little bit more with her tomorrow and inject some speed into her work. I think she has a great chance.

“It’s great to be back on her again and taking orders from John – like the good old days!”

The Italian, 53, has been based in the US for a year now and he is very much in the swing of Californian life.

He said: “I get up early and go to bed early. My wife Catherine and I are in the gym doing yoga every day.

“It’s not that uncommon to ride well into your 50’s in this country, while back in England everyone is just waiting for you to retire!

“I needed this challenge, it has really reinvigorated me. It’s not easy, we have been on the road a lot and going around the country with eight suitcases, but it’s been a lot of fun and it’s gone better than I expected.”

Gosden, who arrived in San Diego late on Tuesday night, was on hand to watch Dettori put Emily Upjohn through her paces.

He said: “The jockey is in as good a form as ever. At this stage in his career, this lifestyle is absolutely perfect for him and he is very excited to be back on this filly.

“We’ve decided to roll the dice and have a go at the Turf with her. I think the three turns and longer trip will suit and we think she has an excellent chance.”

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EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – It’s been a while since Amir Albazi was last in action.

Almost a year-and-a-half later, Albazi (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will finally resume his career when he takes on former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno in the main event of  UFC Fight Night 246 on Saturday. The road back to fighting has been a rocky one. The Iraqi fighter had to undergo a pair of surgeries to address some serious health issues that put his UFC career in jeopardy.

“Before my Kai Kara-Fance fight, I was struggling with some health issues,” Albazi told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 246 media day. “I didn’t really know what it was, but after my fight it showed that I had something called supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). That’s the medical name for it. It’s basically irregular heart beat. My heart rate would go up to 239, so I had to do a heart surgery.”

The problems for Albazi didn’t stop in the summer of 2023. After defeating Kai Kara-France, Albazi was scheduled to fight Moreno (21-8-2 MMA, 9-5-2 UFC) in Mexico City this past February. However, he had to pull out from the bout to address another health issue.

“After the heart surgery, I kept training for the fight against Brandon Moreno in Mexico City, and then my left arm literally stopped,” Albazi said. “I couldn’t lift my arm up, I couldn’t jab, I couldn’t do anything, but I still kept training. … After I got my first MRI, the first doctor said, ‘You shouldn’t be fighting anymore. Find a 9-to-5.’ I kept going to different doctors and when the UFC doctors found out, they literally pulled me out of the fight and I had to go straight into surgery. They told me (I was) one punch away from getting paralyzed. So after that surgery, here I am. It’s the longest break of my career.”

After having neck surgery, Albazi had to wait six months until he could begin training again. He now feels healthy and thankful to do what he loves once again.

“To be honest, it feels amazing, and I’m just grateful and happy to finally be back in another fight week,” Albazi said. “Also, I’m a main event, so this means a lot, and it’s a great opportunity for me to put my stamp back on this weight class and show people what I’m made of and show people what I can do in this division.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 246.

06:00

Circuit Closed

06:30 ~ 07:00

Circuit Inspection

07:45 ~ 08:30

Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 56th Edition – Qualifying 1

09:20 ~ 10:00

Macau Grand Prix – FIA FR World Cup – Free Practice 2

10:15 ~ 10:45

Macau Roadsport Challenge- Qualifying

11:00 ~ 11:30

Greater Bay Area GT Cup (GT 4) – Qualifying

12:10 ~ 12:40

Macau Roadsport – Macao SAR Establishment Cup- Qualifying

12:55 ~13:25

Macau Guia Race – Kumho FIA TCR World Tour Event of Macau – Qualifying 1

13:30 ~ 13:45

Macau Guia Race -Kumho FIA TCR World Tour Event of Macau – Qualifying 2

14:05 ~ 14:35

Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup – Qualifying

14:55 ~ 15:35

Macau Grand Prix – FIA FR World Cup – Qualifying 2

16:15 ~ 17:00

Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 56th Edition – Qualifying 2

18:00 ~ **

Circuit Opened