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Wrexham are currently preparing for a season in the Championship after they finished second in League One to earn promotion up to the second tier.

The Red Dragons are yet to make their first signing since the end of last season, but there will be plenty of work going on behind the scenes to identify targets to improve the team.

Phil Parkinson will have to judge which of his players are ready to make the step up to the Championship after a season in League One, which means that some difficult decisions could have to be made.

Why Thomas O'Connor may be replaced

One player who could be replaced as a regular starter is left-sided central defender Thomas O’Connor, who has been at the club since they were in the National League.

The former Southampton academy graduate has never played above League One level in his career to date, and was a regular starter – starting 25 of his 31 appearances in the 2024/25 campaign – for Wrexham this season.

O’Connor was, however, an unused substitute in five of the last seven matches and it remains to be seen whether or not he will be able to handle the step up to the Championship, a level that he has never played at before.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The BBC reported earlier this month that Wrexham, Norwich, Birmingham, and Sheffield United are among the teams interested in a deal to sign Harry Darling on a free transfer from Swansea City.

His contract with the Welsh side is due to expire at the end of this month, and the Red Dragons are one of the sides looking to snap him up for nothing.

Why Darling would be an upgrade on O'Connor

Parkinson must push to convince Darling to make a move across Wales rather than joining Birmingham, Norwich, or Sheffield United, as he would improve the club’s options at the back.

Despite being right-footed, the 25-year-old Englishman often plays on the left-side of a centre-back pairing and this means that he could take O’Connor’s place as the left-sided centre-back in a back three at Wrexham.

Unlike the current Red Dragons defender, Darling is an experienced Championship defender who has made 108 appearances at that level, which means that he would arrive at the Racecourse as a proven second tier star.

He would be a relatively risk-free signing as someone who has been there and done it and could immediately improve Wrexham’s team, particularly when you take his performances this season into account.

Appearances

31

39

Goals

0

5

Clearances per game

2.9

5.0

Dribbled past per game

0.5x

0.3x

Ground duel success rate

53%

66%

Aerial duel success rate

57%

64%

As you can see in the table above, Darling’s defensive work in the Championship, in terms of his success rate in duels and how often he was beaten by opposition attackers, was more impressive than O’Connor’s was at a lower level.

This suggests that the Swansea star, who was hailed as “outstanding” by former boss Luke Williams, is a big upgrade on the current Wrexham left centre-back, particularly from a defensive perspective.

Darling also, as shown in the table, scored five goals from centre-back, compared to O’Connor’s barren return in League One, and this suggests that he would offer a much greater goal threat in the 2025/26 campaign.

The English titan, who ranked in the top 31% of centre-backs in the league for progressive passes per 90 (3.70), is a ball-playing defender who has shown that he can mix technical quality and class on the ball with strength and reliable out of possession at Championship level.

Big Rathbone upgrade: Wrexham still in race to sign "outstanding" PL star

Wrexham could be about to land a big upgrade on Oliver Rathbone by signing this Championship-experienced ace.

ByKelan Sarson Jun 12, 2025

Therefore, he would be the perfect signing, as a proven second tier star, to come in as a big upgrade on their left-sided centre-back position this summer.

حقق الفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي برشلونة، فوزًا مهمًا على حساب نظيره جيرونا، في المباراة التي جمعتهما ضمن منافسات الدوري الإسباني “لا ليجا”.

وفاز برشلونة بثنائية مقابل هدف، في المباراة التي جمعتهما ضمن منافسات الجولة التاسعة من بطولة الدوري الإسباني.

وفي الدقيقة 90 خطف رونالد أراوخو الهدف الثاني لبرشلونة، بعد تمريرة رائعة من فرينكي دي يونج.

بهذا الفوز، ارتفع رصيد برشلونة للنقطة 22 في صدارة ترتيب الليجا، وتجمد رصيد جيرونا عند النقطة السادسة في المركز التاسع عشر.

طالع.. موعد مباراة برشلونة القادمة بعد الفوز على جيرونا في الدوري الإسباني

وسجل بيدري الهدف الأول لصالح برشلونة في الدقيقة 12، بعدما استلم الكرة من جناح برشلونة لامين يامال، ليمر أمام مدافعي جيرونا ويحرز الهدف بطريقة رائعة. رجل مباراة برشلونة وجيرونا في الدوري الإسباني

وفاز بيدري بجائزة رجل المباراة بعد الأداء المميز الذي قدمه في اللقاء بإحرازه الهدف الأول لصالح فريق برشلونة وتقديمه أداءً مميزًا للغاية أمام جيرونا.

Teenage spinner claims ten wickets on Notts debut but contest ends in high-scoring draw

ECB Reporters Network01-Sep-2024

Farhan Ahmed emulated WG Grace with his ten-wicket haul at the age of 16•Jack Bird

Surrey saw their romp towards a third consecutive Division One title lose a little momentum as they were forced to settle for a draw against relegation-threatened Nottinghamshire in the Vitality County Championship at Trent Bridge.On a day when their teenage off-spinner Farhan Ahmed’s 10-wicket match haul claimed a 159-year-old record set by no less a cricketing legend than WG Grace, the home side, who had been set a target of 298 to win from a minimum 48 overs when Surrey declared at 177 for nine in their second innings, were 121 without loss when the sides shook hands on a draw at 5pm, openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater having each made half-centuries.The result means that Surrey’s lead of 35 points at the start of this round of matches, after winning seven of their previous eight matches, is cut to 24 thanks to Somerset’s victory over Durham at Taunton. Surrey and Somerset meet at Taunton next week.At the other end of the table, after Warwickshire and Worcestershire both won, the points taken for the draw – a merit worthy achievement after trailing by 120 on first innings – leaves Nottinghamshire 10 points ahead of Lancashire in the battle to avoid being relegated alongside Kent. All sides have three matches to come.Rory Burns made 71 to go with his first-innings 161 with Liam Patterson-White finishing with five for 94 before the declaration came, but the Nottinghamshire left-arm spinner’s achievement was again upstaged by his young team-mate Ahmed, with whom he shared all 53 overs of the Surrey second innings.Already in the record books on his Championship debut as the youngest player to bag five wickets or more in a first-class match in Britain, he achieved another mark of distinction, arguably even more prestigious, when he claimed Jordan Clark as his 10th wicket of the match.This enabled him to replace Grace as the youngest to take 10 or more wickets in a first-class match in Britain – in fact anywhere other than in South Asia.Grace returned the extraordinary match figures of 13 for 84 – on his first-class debut – for Gentlemen of the South against Players of the South at the Oval in June 1865, at the age of 16 years 340 days.With a match analysis of 10 for 247 at the age of 16 years and 192 days, Ahmed lowers the record by 148 days. He bowled a staggering 76.4 overs in the match, which may be a record in itself for a debut appearance.Surrey, who had missed out on a fourth first-innings batting point that seemed theirs for the taking, arguably made another mistake when they declared just shy of an hour after lunch.The timing meant Nottinghamshire would have to score at more than six runs per over to win the contest on a pitch that had yielded at barely three-and-a-half all game, with the Kookaburra ball reportedly hard to get away on a slow surface.Surrey were banking on England off-spinner Will Jacks, who had matched Ahmed by taking seven first-innings wickets, and leg-spinner Cam Steel to exploit the fourth-day pitch but Hameed and Slater were rarely troubled as neither could find a way through.Earlier, Surrey had advanced from 13 for one overnight to 104 for four by lunch, playing in light for that period so gloomy that bowling spin was the only option for Nottinghamshire skipper Hameed.A second-wicket stand worth 57 was broken by Patterson-White, who induced a miscue to short midwicket by Ryan Patel, following up by turning one sharply to bowl Will Jacks three balls later.Patterson-White had Burns dropped at square leg on 39, after which the Surrey captain’s stop-start dithering over a single into the offside off Ahmed saw new partner Ben Foakes run out by Hameed’s throw to keeper Kyle Verreynne.As the tempo increased after lunch, with Surrey now chasing runs for the declaration, Ahmed completed his 10 for the match by bowling Burns and having Clark caught behind in a botched scoop attempt.Patterson-White raised his five for the innings by having Sai Sudharsan caught at deep midwicket and bowling Conor McKerr and Tom Lawes, for his pains getting clubbed for two meaty sixes by Dan Worrall before Burns signalled the declaration.

Defending champions left waiting on Birmingham Phoenix result in bid for top spot

ECB Media14-Aug-2024Oval Invincibles missed the chance to confirm their spot in Sunday’s final at Lord’s at Trent Bridge, losing to Trent Rockets thanks to Rovman Powell’s spectacular hitting.The Invincibles are still clear favourites to progress directly to the final as group winners, but Birmingham Phoenix could leapfrog them on net run-rate with a huge win over rock-bottom Manchester Originals on Thursday night. The Phoenix would need to win by around 92 runs batting first, or to chase down a target with around 62 balls to spare.”They’re a very good side,” Sam Billings, the Invincibles’ captain, said. “Their season could have been very different, and we knew it would be a tough match tonight at Trent Bridge, which is a great place to play.”As for us, a lot of positives tonight, we’ve played a lot of very, very good cricket in this tournament and one defeat doesn’t change that. It’s all about adapting to conditions. The Oval has played very different to Lord’s, but there’s a lot of clarity amongst the group regarding their own roles.”Tom Alsop swings hard over midwicket•Nathan Stirk/ECB via Getty Images

Coming to the crease with 95 needed from 52 balls and the Rockets three wickets down, Powell joined Tom Alsop to post an 80-run stand from just 32 balls to take the Rockets careening towards the Invincibles total of 150.Powell’s pyrotechnics delivered four sixes, with one hit off Sam Curran going 101 metres, before Curran induced Powell to miscue a lofted drive to long-on. The Jamaican’s dismissal left the Rockets needing 15 from 10 balls, but Alsop and Chris Green took the home side to victory with six balls to spare.The last two winners of the Hundred men’s competition have experienced contrasting fortunes this term with the Rockets, 2022 champions, suffering four defeats and already eliminated before Wednesday’s fixture, while the Invincibles have been relentless, winning six of their first seven.But in front of 12,000 fans at Trent Bridge, there was little between the teams. Choosing to bat first on a pitch taking turn, Invincibles opener Dawid Malan made a composed half-century against his old side, batting through the innings for an unbeaten 53 off 43 balls to allow the hitters to open up around him.Will Jacks’ quickfire 30 came from 17 balls ensured that the Invincibles dominated the powerplay, before Jordan Cox smashed a 30-ball 39 in a 71-run partnership with Malan.Cox succumbed to Sam Cook, whose figures of 2 for 23 were the most economical of the Rockets’ bowlers, giving Donovan Ferreira free rein to boss the latter stages. Ferreira’s unbeaten 27 occupied just 10 balls and featured three successive sixes to haul the Invincibles up to 150 for 3.Saqib Mahmood, bowling 15 of the first 20 balls of the Rockets innings, was fast and hostile, regularly touching 88mph and accounting for Tom Banton in his opening spell.Saqib Mahmood struck early to remove Tom Banton•Nathan Stirk/ECB via Getty Images

A recovery took place between Alex Hales and Joe Root but when Hales, on 35, misjudged a pull to give Jacks his first wicket, followed by Root lofting a Nathan Sowter leg-break to Curran at long-on, the Invincibles were strong favourites. Step forward Powell and Alsop, who gave Rockets fans a reminder of their quality.

Leicestershire rolled aside for 88 in one-sided encounter at Grace Road

ECB Reporters Network26-Jul-2024Warwickshire made it two wins out of two in the Metrobank One Day Cup with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Leicestershire at the UptonSteel County Ground, Grace Road.Bears’ skipper Ed Barnard, who made a big century and took two wickets in his side’s first game against Essex at Chelmsford, continued his outstanding form in the competition by taking four quick wickets, including that of India Test star Ajinkya Rahane, after putting the Foxes in to bat, reducing the home side to 40 for 4.Craig Miles picked up three wickets, and Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Will Rhodes and Jake Lintott one apiece as Leicestershire subsided to 88 all out in just 25.4 overs.Although former Warwickshire player Chris Wright then took two quick wickets when the visitors began their reply, Rhodes and teenager Hamza Shaikh put together an unbeaten partnership of 85 to steer their side home with 32.4 overs in hand.Both sides came into the match having won their opening fixture, Leicestershire against Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire against Essex. While Leicestershire were unchanged, however, Warwickshire gave starts to Kai Smith, the teenage wicketkeeper fit again after six weeks out with a broken hand, and another 18-year-old in spinner Taz Ali. On a fine day Leicestershire’s supporters turned out in good number in anticipation of the second appearance of Rahane, whose 71 off 60 balls against Notts had left many searching for superlatives.Warwickshire supporters made the journey from the West Midlands in the hope of seeing for a third consecutive century from Barnard, who had followed his 143 in the warm-up match against Staffordshire with an unbeaten 173 against Essex. In that respect they were to be disappointed, but it was the only disappointment they were to suffer on what became a near perfect afternoon for their side.Barnard chose to bowl first after winning the toss, but can hardly have anticipated what would follow, on the same pitch on which Leicestershire had scored 369 for 6 against Notts. The first five overs were relatively uneventful, albeit Foxes opener Harry Swindells played and missed at several outswingers, but fellow opener Sol Budinger appeared untroubled, hitting three crisp boundaries. There was movement off the seam though, particularly for Barnard, and soon after bringing one back to bowl the struggling Swindells, found the edge of Budinger’s bat with a fine delivery which left the left-hander.Opposite number Hill was his third victim, edging a lifting delivery to the wicket-keeper, but his fourth wicket, the key one of Rahane, had an element of fortune about it, coming off a low leg side full toss which the batsman tried to help down to long leg only to turn the bat too soon. The ball struck the back of the bat and looped gently back to the grateful if slightly startled bowler.Leicestershire’s second overseas batsman, Peter Handscomb, also went caught and bowled, in his case chipping a full straight delivery straight back to Rhodes for a duck. The procession continued, Liam Trevaskis edging a delivery pushed across him from Hannon-Dalby low to Rhodes at slip, before a stand of 34 between Ben Cox and Ben Mike gave Leicestershire’s disbelieving supporters faint hope of posting some sort of score.The hopes were quickly and decisively extinguished as Cox chipped a simple catch to midwicket, Mike top-edged an ambitious pull for Ali, running back from mid-on, to take a good catch, a catch made to look ordinary when Rhodes took a really fine diving catch at slip off Jake Lintott to see the back of Scriven.Wright was last to go, bowled off the inside edge, but the seamer at least enjoyed some measure of revenge, trimming Barnard’s bails with a beauty and then winning a leg before decision against Theo Wylie to reduce the Bears to 7 for 2. Thereafter however Rhodes and Shaikh played with increasing comfort to see their side over the line in double-quick time.

Steven Smith’s suggestion to Hardik Pandya is to simply “block out” the boos and the abuse he has been copping from fans at the IPL so far.Smith, target of constant heckling across the globe a few years ago for his role in the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering scandal, said that Hardik needed support from his team-mates at Mumbai Indians, including from Rohit Sharma, who Hardik replaced as captain ahead of IPL 2024 after a 11-year stint.”I’d try and just say, to block it out, it’s all irrelevant,” Smith said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “No one outside knows what you are going through. No one [from outside] is in that change room.”Related

• Relaxed Rohit Sharma eases himself into Wankhede gig

• The People vs Hardik Pandya – why, what, and the way out

• Ashwin defends Hardik: 'Fan wars should never take an ugly turn'

• Moody and Klaasen baffled by Mumbai holding back Bumrah

• Ahmedabad shows its feelings in Hardik's night of agony

Smith was handed a year-long ban by Cricket Australia after admitting to “leadership failure” in the Newlands Test, and was also forced to “step down” as Rajasthan Royals captain in IPL 2018. He said he had treated the heckling he had experienced – including at the 2019 ODI World Cup in England where fans chanted “cheat” – as “white noise”.But can the abuse from fans, coupled with criticism of his captaincy in Mumbai Indians’ back-to-back losses in IPL 2024 by pundits, impact Hardik adversely?Smith suggested that Hardik might have been surprised at the reception because it is not often India’s top players are booed by fans. It is not unprecedented, though, with Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri being at the receiving end at various points in their careers.”Personally, for me, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care. I don’t pay any attention,” Smith said. “You know it’s all white noise, but certainly players do hear things and everyone’s entitled to their own emotions and how they respond to those.”So is it affecting him [Hardik]? Maybe. It’s possible. He probably hasn’t experienced that before in, in any walk of life. So it’s natural, I suppose, and particularly being in India and a star Indian player, to be in that position where some fans are booing you, it’s certainly something he wouldn’t have experienced.”

****

It has been a poor start for Mumbai Indians to IPL 2024, where they have suffered two defeats in two games, first against Gujarat Titans in front of a near sellout crowd in Ahmedabad, and then in Hyderabad where Sunrisers Hyderabad registered the highest IPL total, which Mumbai lost by 31 runs. Smith said that while he could understand the Ahmedabad crowd coming down heavilty on Hardik as he left Titans to rejoin Mumbai Indians. However, he failed to get the “context” of why fans in Hyderabad joined in.Hardik Pandya did not get a warm reception in either Ahmedabad or Hyderabad•AP Photo / Mahesh Kumar

Hardik was picked by Titans and appointed captain immediately after Mumbai Indians released him ahead of the 2022 mega IPL auction. Titans won the IPL in their maiden season and reached the final in 2023, establishing Hardik as a successful leader. Last November, though, Mumbai Indians pulled off a coup of sorts by bringing Hardik back into their fold via a monetary trade, details of which have remained a source of intrigue. Immediately after that, Hardik was appointed captain.In his first media briefing, responding to a query on whether he had spoken with his predecessor Rohit, Hardik was vague, triggering a critical response including vitriolic trolling on social media.In 2017, Smith was installed as captain at Rising Pune Supergiant replacing MS Dhoni, who had then recently retired as India’s white-ball captain. It was a challenging moment for Smith, but he said that Dhoni had supported him all the way.”It was an enjoyable season and we had some success that year [2017], I suppose, which helped as well,” he said. “But MS was great with everything that he did. He was supportive, he helped me in any way that he could. He was great behind the stumps, obviously. He’s got a great view of what’s going on in the game and the angles that sort of take place on the field, and was able to sort those out and get people in the right areas.”Hardik is in the middle of a challenging time, losing the first two games their IPL season. It’s a big one for him. He’s filling big shoes with Rohit Sharma, who’s been the most successful captain [with Dhoni] in IPL history, lifting five titles, and it hasn’t started well for him.”So he’s under a little bit of pressure at the moment and it’ll be interesting to see what the reception’s like in their first home game at Wankhede in a couple of days’ time. We have heard a few boos going around at the grounds, which… that’s been disappointing from my aspect. But I’m intrigued to see what the reception’s like in Mumbai. We know how big a star Rohit is and how much he is loved inside that stadium.”2:25

Should Hardik have reassessed his plans?

‘Hardik’s made a few tactical errors’

Outside of the noise, Smith said that Hardik had erred tactically against Titans as well as against SRH.”I feel like he’s under a little bit of pressure. I think he’s made a few tactical errors in the first couple of games: batting himself a little bit low, probably in the first one, is my assessment. And then, in particular in the second one, [Jasprit] Bumrah only bowling one over in the first 13 overs was in my mind just a little bit mindblowing,” Smith said. “He [Bumrah] is the best bowler in the world and to have only bowled one over when the team’s got 173 on the board in the 12th over, I was in disbelief, to be honest.”I’m sure he is going to learn from that. As a captain, you have to have plans in place for the start of the game. And clearly the plan was to bowl Bumrah straight up to Heinrich Klassen. But you’ve got to shift your plans when things aren’t going well. And it didn’t look like they shifted. They sort of just kept doing the same thing. It was a bit of a blunder in his first outings.”Now then, can Rohit do for Hardik what Virat Kohli did for Smith in 2019?Five years ago, during the World Cup match against Australia at The Oval, Kohli put an arm around Smith during the game and asked Indian fans, who had been heckling Smith, to stop booing.”It was lovely, wasn’t it? I remember that game and Virat – I walked past him and sort of gave a little fist bump, I think, from memory. It’s nice when someone does something to… you are in the middle of a game, you are playing against an opponent. I thought it was really nice gesture.”Maybe someone can do something [similar for Hardik]. Maybe it’s Rohit Sharma. Maybe he stands up and says, ‘guys, what’s going on, let’s support this guy’. I don’t know. That could happen, I suppose. Well, we’ll wait and see.”

From IPL 2024 onwards, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be known as Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The franchise made the announcement on Tuesday and marks the first change in its name since its inception in 2008.The announcement was made shortly after RCB held an event at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, recently crowned WPL champion Smriti Mandhana, and others from both the men’s and women’s teams were present.