Downing Street has stopped short of endorsing a Kane knighthood, but its warm words after the England captain’s Ballon d’Or win have fuelled the speculation. Kane collected the award at the London Palladium on Monday night. He is the first Englishman to win it in 25 years, and the first since Michael Owen in 2001.

Asked on Tuesday whether Prime Minister Andy Burnham would like to see Kane become “Sir Harry”, his spokesperson called the win “an extraordinary achievement” and said Kane had “given an enormous amount to English football”. She added that she would not “pre-empt the honours process”. It was a careful answer, and one that left the door open.

Why a Kane knighthood is not Burnham’s call

The prime minister cannot simply hand out a knighthood. Ministers and government departments can put names to the honours committee, as can members of the public. The sport committee includes the broadcaster Sue Barker and Robert Sullivan, chief executive of the Football Foundation. Number 10’s reluctance to say more is partly about protecting that process.

Timing may also count against Kane. Footballers have often had to wait until retirement for a knighthood. Kane already holds an MBE, awarded after England reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals. Sir David Beckham and Sir Gareth Southgate were both knighted last year, and before them the most recent football knight was Sir Kenny Dalglish.

A mixed record for England’s Ballon d’Or winners

Winning the Ballon d’Or has not guaranteed a knighthood. Sir Stanley Matthews won the inaugural award 70 years ago, and Sir Bobby Charlton also went on to be knighted. Owen and Kevin Keegan, however, never were. Kane is the fifth Englishman to win the award.

Some MPs want to see him join that list. Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour MP for Tooting, told The Standard she hoped Kane would join “the pantheon of England’s footballing knights”. Clive Efford, the Labour MP for Eltham and Chislehurst, said Kane should be honoured “when his career is over”. He also called it a “travesty” that Bobby Moore never received a knighthood.

The season behind the award

The case rests on a remarkable 2025-26. Kane, 33, scored 73 goals for club and country, won two trophies with Bayern Munich and led England to third place at the World Cup. That was enough to beat Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal.

The ceremony itself was emotional. Brazil’s Ronaldo, one of Kane’s boyhood idols, read out his name. Kane spoke on stage for more than ten minutes and thanked his wife, Katie Goodland. “This is a trophy that we celebrate, not me,” he said, and he spoke of wanting to retain the award next year. England manager Thomas Tuchel said he had “run out of superlatives” for Kane’s performances. Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the women’s award for a record-equalling third time.

What comes next

Downing Street also looked ahead. It hoped the award would be a prelude to a trophy for England “before too long”. That appears to be a nod to the 2028 European Championship, which England will co-host with Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland.

No formal recommendation has been announced, and nothing suggests one is imminent. For now the Kane knighthood remains a matter of public debate. Many supporters will want it to come after he has added the international trophy that has so far eluded him.

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File photo: Harry Kane (24685589756).jpg by enviro warrior from england, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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England’s tri-series exit was confirmed in Lahore on Tuesday when Sri Lanka dismissed Pakistan for 110 and chased the target down in just 18.1 overs, leaving Harry Brook’s side with three defeats from three and no route to Saturday’s final.

England had needed Pakistan to win to keep their hopes alive. Instead, Pakistan’s batters folded in 25.3 overs, and Sri Lanka’s eight-wicket victory put them into the final against the hosts. Thursday’s meeting between England and Sri Lanka at the Gaddafi Stadium is now a dead rubber.

Madushanka Does the Damage

Left-arm quick Dilshan Madushanka took a career-best 5-34 after captain Kusal Mendis won the toss and chose to field. Fakhar Zaman fell for five, caught at point off a short ball. Asitha Fernando then trapped Maaz Sadaqat lbw with a yorker, and Saad Baig chipped a catch to short cover as Pakistan slipped to 46-3.

Babar Azam top-scored with 29 but wasted a review when he was plainly lbw to Eshan Malinga. Shadab Khan, who had made an unbeaten 113 to win Sunday’s match against England, lasted five balls. By the time Madushanka returned for a second spell, Pakistan were 64-6, and he removed Hasan Nawaz, Harris Rauf and captain Shaheen Shah Afridi to finish the innings.

It was Pakistan’s second-lowest ODI total at home. Only the 75 all out against Sri Lanka in Lahore in 2009 was worse. Four of their top five made single figures. “Unfortunately, for the last three or four games we are collapsing at the top order,” Afridi said, adding that the team had three days to practise before the final.

A Brisk Chase

Kamindu Mendis made the chase look routine. He was dropped before he had scored and survived an lbw decision on 44 by successful review. He finished unbeaten on 62 from 60 balls, with eight fours and two sixes. His fifty came with a pull for six, after a substitute fielder had touched the boundary while completing a catch. Pavan Rathnayake, who hit a century in Sri Lanka’s record-chasing win in Rawalpindi, added an unbroken 52 with him and finished on 23 not out.

The floodlight towers were not yet fully on when the winning runs came. “We bowled really well in the powerplay,” Kusal Mendis said, though he added that there were still areas to improve.

What the England Tri-Series Exit Means

The England tri-series exit stings because England had rebuilt some one-day momentum this year, with wins away in Sri Lanka and at home against India and Sri Lanka. In Pakistan, though, they failed to chase 303 despite being 120-1, and they lost twice in extraordinary fashion. In one game, Sri Lanka chased 430 against them, the second-highest successful chase in ODI history. On Sunday, Pakistan won by one wicket after a last-wicket stand of 89.

Conditions at next year’s World Cup in southern Africa will be very different, so the results are not a direct guide. Still, after a poor 2023 World Cup defence and a winless Champions Trophy last year, three more defeats are an unwelcome result.

Pakistan finished the league stage on six points from three wins, with Sri Lanka on four. England will play their last game on Thursday, with first ball at 8am UK time. They then travel to Australia for three ODIs and five T20s from 13 November, preceded by a warm-up against a Western Australia XI in Perth on 7 November. That tour now offers their next chance to put the Lahore defeats behind them.

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A drone delay of roughly eight minutes interrupted Fleetwood Town’s Carabao Cup fourth-round tie with Arsenal on Tuesday night, after an unauthorised aircraft was spotted hovering above the pitch at Highbury Stadium.

What happened during the drone delay

According to the Independent, referee Michael Salisbury stopped the game in the eighth minute and took the players off the field as a safety precaution. Fleetwood, the home side, confirmed that the drone was not one they recognised, meaning it had no permission to be there.

Salisbury did not act alone. He spoke with both managers and the ground safety officer while the aircraft was still overhead. Play resumed only once the drone had flown out of the stadium’s airspace, and the match restarted after a pause of about eight minutes. The sources do not say who was operating the drone or why it was there.

A tie already loaded with significance

The interruption came in a fixture that was already drawing attention. League Two Fleetwood were the lowest-ranked side left in the competition. The Standard reports they had knocked out three opponents without conceding a goal to reach this stage, and The Sporting News notes the Fishermen had never before made it this far. A win would send them into the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

Arsenal, beaten finalists last season, were widely expected to progress. Mikel Arteta made nine changes from the weekend’s 2-0 win over Everton, with one eye on Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Liverpool. Max Dowman started, Ilan Meslier made his competitive debut, and Martin Zubimendi returned wearing a protective face mask after a bloodied nose against Everton.

Fleetwood strike after the restart

If the drone delay unsettled anyone, it was not the hosts. Aaron Loupalo-Bi put Fleetwood ahead in the 21st minute, and the Standard’s live coverage had them 1-0 up at half-time. Arsenal pushed for an equaliser late in the first half, and Timber headed wide from a free-kick in stoppage time. Fleetwood held the lead at the break.

The sources available only run to the interval, so the final result is not covered here. What they do establish is that a safety-first decision by the referee cost the match about eight minutes and left the contest otherwise unchanged. The pause also showed how seriously officials take unauthorised drones at live matches. Salisbury cleared the pitch, consulted the managers and the safety officer, and restarted only when the airspace was clear.

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File photo: Home fans entrance at Fleetwood Town FC – geograph.org.uk – 3139837.jpg by Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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While the Victoria Derby garners significant attention, the sprint race for three-year-olds is shaping up as one of the most keenly awaited events of the Melbourne Spring Carnival.

The Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington this Saturday is poised to bring together a formidable collection of colts and fillies aiming to build their reputations for a potential career at stud.

A jump-out involving seven horses at Flemington on Friday provided an indication of some of the runners set to compete in Saturday’s 1200m dash down the famous Flemington straight.

Participants in the 800m jump-out included The Next Episode, Paradoxium, St Gotthard, Natural Fling, and Under Focus, with Paradoxium comfortably crossing the line ahead of his rivals.

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Champion trainer Chris Waller, whose colt St Gotthard finished in third place, emphasized that the session was about gaining experience.

“Experience, that is what it was all about,” Waller stated. “St Gotthard is a relatively lightly raced horse. It was a really good run in the Golden Rose and since then he’s been set for this race.”

“He’s had a quiet trial in Sydney and then the jump-out and it’s all systems go for the big one next week. This is the real pinnacle for a three-year-old colt that hopefully can really stamp themselves as a stallion, and that is what the Coolmore team is all about. He started his two-year-old career late and made an impact straight away. He’s come back really well at three and he’s ready to peak here on Derby Day.”

Waller has an impressive record in the Coolmore Stud Stakes, having secured the win on six occasions, with Switzerland being his most recent triumph in 2024.

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From the outset, Waller has been struck by St Gotthard’s exceptional quality.

“He’s got speed and talent, and James McDonald has been impressed with him right from day one,” Waller commented. “That tells me he’s got the ability and it’s just about bringing it all together and making sure he’s ready to peak.”

Ciaron Maher, aiming for his first Coolmore Stud Stakes victory, watched as The Next Episode finished fifth, in a group, behind the dominant winner Paradoxium.

The Next Episode has been specifically targeted for this Group 1 sprint since his victory at the Gold Coast in May, and followed this with a first-up win in the Danehill Stakes (1100m) at Flemington on October 3.

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Maher, in line with Waller, brought The Next Episode to Flemington to enhance its experience ahead of next Saturday’s race.

“It’s been his aim all the way along,” Maher said. “He was great here the other day and he had a look down the straight before that. It’s a month between runs and he had a nice (on) bridle hit out, and he should present pretty close to spot on.”

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Morkel’s advice to the players is to “Stand near a powerful fan to counter the speedy wind”

The wind at Wellington’s Basin Reserve can change direction without warning, making it a challenging venue for visiting teams. India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel has offered a simple piece of advice to the Test specialists yet to arrive in New Zealand: prepare to deal with the strong winds before stepping onto the field.India will play a two-match Test series against New Zealand after the ongoing T20I and ODI series. The first Test is scheduled to begin at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on November 18.Morkel’s advice to the players is to “Stand near a powerful fan to counter the speedy wind”, which has troubled visiting teams at the venue for years.“We’ve spoken about Wellington, especially before the start of the tour, and we’ve planted those seeds. I spoke to some of the boys who were back in India last night, and they asked what the conditions are like. I said, ‘Make sure you get a very strong fan at home. When you walk into the fan that is going to be your preparation’,” Morkel said ahead of India’s third T20 International.The Indian team is currently in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, which is also known as “Windy Wellington”. Wind speeds reached 120 kmph on Monday.Although the third T20I against the Black Caps is scheduled for Tuesday, Morkel and head coach Gautam Gambhir are already looking ahead to the challenges the team could face in the Test series.“This wind is a different beast. I was in the hotel this morning and the whole building was sort of shaking. So I think it’s going to be a new sort of thing that we add to our books for the guys to get used to and accustomed to with a quick turnaround,” Morkel said.He added that India would need to face the conditions without making excuses, as the wind could affect several aspects of the game, including a batter’s stance and position at the crease.“For us, it is looking forward to that challenge and taking it head-on and not really making excuses. This wind can impact a lot of things, it can impact batting, your stance, your crease, it can impact many factors,” Morkel said.The former South Africa fast bowler has experienced the conditions at the Basin Reserve during his playing career. He said adjusting to the wind in just a few days of training was difficult, making it important for players to approach the challenge with the right mindset.“When I toured here with South Africa, we had certain ways that we went about trying to get used to it. I don’t think you can ever get used to it in the space of two, three, or four days. So it comes down to how you’re going to frame the whole situation: you’re either going to see it as a challenge, or you’re going to see it as a negative and let it down.“Hopefully, we can get those guys in a mental space where they look forward to that challenge. At the end of the day, you need somebody to put their hand up and bowl into the wind, because we can’t have four guys bowling off the wind.”New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell is also aware of the problems the conditions can create for visiting teams. He said the hosts would look to make the most of any discomfort their opponents experience.Bracewell pointed out that wind behaves differently at enclosed stadiums, where it can swirl and change direction, compared with more open grounds such as the Basin Reserve.“It is interesting. At closed stadiums, it swirls around a bit, so it’s probably not as consistent as it is when you play in a slightly more open field like the Basin. We had one game here where the cameras got turned off from one end because it was so windy,” Bracewell said.However, he also sees dealing with different conditions as an important part of international cricket, where teams must adapt to the challenges they encounter around the world.“So that’s the joy of playing here is you get faced with different conditions, and that’s the great thing about international cricket. You go all around the world and have to deal with different things.“So it swirls a bit in the stadium, so it’s not necessarily that there’s going to be one end that perhaps if we’re playing in an open sort of stadium that you could target.

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Noah Roark brought his own keyboard to play Fortnite during the area’s first esports tournament at Chillicothe Middle School on June 11, 2019. I prefer mechanical switches to membrane switches, said Roark.

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Noah Roark brought his own keyboard to play Fortnite during the area’s first esports tournament at Chillicothe Middle School on June 11, 2019. I prefer mechanical switches to membrane switches, said Roark.

PARIVISION, Team Spirit and Team Yandex remained unbeaten in round-robin play Sunday at the PARI Universe tournament as each team earned 2-0 sweeps.

OG joined them in the winner’s circle.

The $250,000, 10-team Dota 2 event is starting with a round-robin group stage, with all matches best-of-three. The top four teams in each group move on to the double-elimination playoffs, with the last-place team in each group eliminated.

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The playoffs also will feature best-of-three matches until the best-of-five grand final on Nov. 1. The championship team will receive $45,000 for the club, $80,000 for the players.

Yandex took care of 1w, Spirit downed Astra Invicta and PARIVISION controlled BetBoom Team, as each squad improved to 3-0 in matches and 6-0 in games.

Yandex won in 34 minutes on Radiant and in 24 minutes on Dire, as Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf of Jordan posted a 18-5-25 kill-death-assist ratio.

Bohdan “Batyuk” Batiuk of Ukraine had a KDA of 18-5-27 as Spirit won in 28 minutes on Dire and 55 minutes on Radiant.

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PARIVISION swept for wins in 24 minutes and 37 minutes, both on Radiant. Alan “Satanic” Gallyhamov of Russia led his team in kills on both maps, totaling 18 to go along with two deaths and 15 assists.

OG went three maps but won 2-1 over Liquid, advancing their record to 2-1 (4-3 in games). OG wrapped a 48-minute win on Radiant and 67-minute win on Dire around a 33-minute loss on Dire.

John “Natsumi” Vargas of the Philippines grabbed 12 kills in the first game to spark OG, finishing with 22 for the match. Valery “SSS” Lazarev of Russia added 16 kills in Game 3 to get OG across the finish line.

Liquid fell to 1-2 (3-4 games) while Astra is 1-3 (3-6). 1w and BetBoom have failed to notch a victory and are close to elimination with one more day of matches left.

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The remaining group-stage schedule:

Monday

Group A — OG vs. GamerLegion

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Group A — Team Yandex vs. Team Liquid

Group B — Team Spirit vs. PARIVISION

Group B — BetBoom Team vs. LEGION

PARI Universe prize pool, with player prize money and club share

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1. $125,000 ($80,000, $45,000)

2. $50,000 ($32,000, $18,000)

3. $30,000 ($20,000, $10,000)

4. $15,000 ($10,000, $5,000)

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5-6. $10,000 ($10,000, none)

7-8. $5,000 ($5,000, none)

9-10. none

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–Field Level Media

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