logo
Croydon school pupils to take part in first-ever APEX International Cricket Festival

Croydon school pupils to take part in first-ever APEX International Cricket Festival

Yahoo21 hours ago

Cricket legend Sir Andrew Strauss will make an appearance at the festival (Image: Red Consultancy)
Pupils at a school in Croydon are set to participate in the first-ever APEX International Cricket Festival.
The festival, which is set to take place from June 29 to July 2, 2025, will be held at Millfield School in Somerset.
Advertisement
Trinity School, in Croydon, is one of the schools who will be represented at the event.
The wealth management firm Titan Wealth, who are sponsoring the festival and have also played a part in its planning, have said the event promises to be a "transformative experience" for the young cricketers.
It will feature Under-15 teams from South Africa, Namibia, and the UK.
As well as the cricket, the festival aims to teach players valuable life skills and to help them make lasting friendships.
There will be appearances by cricket legends Sir Andrew Strauss and Ebony Rainford-Brent.
Cricket legend Ebony Rainford-Brent will also attend the festival (Image: Red Consultancy)
Advertisement
There will also be sessions led by wellbeing and life coaches on mental and physical health, and career development.
These will aim to teach young players how to handle pressure and how to make the most of their strengths.
Mike Fogden, chief marketing officer at Titan Wealth, said: "This event is not just about cricket; it's about creating opportunities and building a network for young people.
"We believe in the vision of APEX and our team has enjoyed working with the organising committee to create a hugely exciting, well-rounded event.
"We all can't wait for the first delivery."
Advertisement
Titan Wealth's sponsorship of the festival is part of their commitment to nurturing young talent, on and off the field.
They aim to provide a number of internships and work placements for young players as part of a wider sponsorship programme.
The festival has also partnered with cricket charities Bat for a Chance and the MCC Foundation.
These partnerships are intended to ensure underprivileged children can experience the joys of cricket.
For more information and updates, visit apex-festival.com or contact Jo Plinston, head of partnerships and events at Titan Wealth, via jo.plinston@titanwh.com.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Wimbledon storylines: Sabalenka and Gauff, Sinner and Alcaraz and no more line judges
Wimbledon storylines: Sabalenka and Gauff, Sinner and Alcaraz and no more line judges

Yahoo

time25 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Wimbledon storylines: Sabalenka and Gauff, Sinner and Alcaraz and no more line judges

Is Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff's olive branch a sign of things on court? Is Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's dominance of men's tennis about to go up another level? Is the disappearance of line judges going to cause more problems than solutions? Advertisement And will the biggest battle at Wimbledon this fortnight be not on the court, but in it? Wimbledon 2025 promises to be a cracker. Here, 's tennis writers, Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare, chart some of the key storylines to follow over the next fortnight. Where does Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff's rivalry go from here? Sabalenka is having an outrageous season. She is constantly making finals. She has won tournaments in Brisbane, Miami and Madrid. She is more than 2,000 points ahead of world No. 2 Gauff in the WTA rankings race that counts points won this season. But it also hurts her that she doesn't have the three titles she wanted to win more than all the others: the Australian Open, the French Open and Indian Wells. (And Stuttgart. The one that comes with the Porsche. She really wanted to win the Porsche. And the lost the final there. Again.) Advertisement Sabalenka isn't great at losing, just like most champions. She finds it so crushing to lose these matches that while it's happening, while the world is watching, she's visibly miserable. She's yelling at herself. She's yelling at her box. Every champion who loses feels this way, and only some let it out. It makes Sabalenka one of the most compelling players on the tour, because fans — and her rivals' fans — live every moment with her like it's their career on the line. After losing to Gauff at Roland Garros, Sabalenka spoke, first on court and then in her news conference, about how horribly she played. She barely gave any credit to Gauff until after the event. Then she apologized for what she called her 'unprofessional' comments, then they came to Wimbledon and made a TikTok or two. Gauff said they were good, so the rest of the world should be too. Then Wimbledon posted that on their own social media, which came off more strangely. Should a tournament be casting its top seeds as best friends? Does the tennis world not want more rivalries? The grass suits Sabalenka. She's the favorite, hands down. She has the power for it, the serve and the movement, as well as her ever-evolving variety and touch and feel. She's only won Grand Slams on hard courts, and Wimbledon is the Grand Slam that completes a career, so the pressure is there, but she might be far enough ahead of her rivals not too matter. Gauff's forehand grip makes it very difficult for her to win on such a low-bouncing surface. Madison Keys, who beat Sabalenka in Australia, could trouble her. Markéta Vondroušová, a potential third-round opponent, beat Sabalenka in Berlin and has won Wimbledon before. The 2022, champion Elena Rybakina cannot be discounted. Iga Świątek, who uses a similar forehand grip to Gauff, has been making the Bad Homburg grass in Germany her living room this week. Advertisement And if Sabalenka does make the final, it's more likely than not that said final will be stressful, that she will not play a perfect match, because no one ever does. Can she win? And if she can't, can she redirect her energy away from the way it manifested in Melbourne, Indian Wells and Paris? Sabalenka is a big Novak Djokovic fan. Djokovic is an incredible winner — obviously, 24 Grand Slams. He's also an incredibly gracious loser, in public. That's taken as the thing to be in tennis — even if some needle is good for business and for the sport. Who can break the Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner streak — and when? Remember what it was like to be a tennis fan this time of year between 2006 and 2008, when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer played in the final of the French Open and Wimbledon for three consecutive years. Federer won the U.S. Open in each of those years, and the Australian Open in 2006 and 2007. Advertisement It was an incredible rivalry and a testament to their dominance of the sport. It was great. Wasn't it? Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have now won every Grand Slam since the start of 2024. It's great. Or is it? And if it isn't, can anyone who's going to be contending in three years (that means anyone not named Djokovic) do anything about it? This is the question that Holger Rune, Lorenzo Musetti, Jack Draper, Ben Shelton and some players even younger than them are going to have to start answering. Tennis, meanwhile, might have to get better acquainted with the difference between a player's ceiling and their current peak. Draper has won a Masters 1,000 title, the rung below a Grand Slam. So has Rune. So has Jakub Menšík. Musetti has been in a final at that level. Shelton reserves his best tennis for the majors. But it's João Fonseca who gets the most adulation, who looks the player best positioned to challenge the Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly despite never being ranked inside the top 50. Advertisement Why? He's 18, sure, but Menšík is barely 19 and inside the top 20. Draper is No. 4 in the world. How can this Brazilian guy be the one compared to them? Now we get to ceilings. Alcaraz and Sinner finished inside the top 40 in their first full seasons on the main ATP Tour. Fonseca is on his way to something like that. He has a cannon forehand. He can direct his backhand down the line almost better than he hits it crosscourt. He can take rackets out of top-10 players' hands. Just not consistently yet, and he hasn't worked out how to grind reliably when his first plan doesn't work. Menšík and Learner Tien, who Fonseca beat to win the ATP Next Gen Finals last year, are more ready for deeper runs than Fonseca is for now. For the long term? The Brazilian is ready for the biggest things in the sport. So is someone coming into disrupt this duopoly anytime soon? Or will Djokovic have to look at the younger generation and realize that, at least for now, he has to do it himself? To use a favorite phrase of Sinner and Alcaraz, 'Lets' see…' How will the removal of line judges impact the tournament? When the supposedly impregnable electronic line calling (ELC) malfunctioned at the Eastbourne Open this week, the whoops of delight from the traditionalists might have been heard over the high winds on the UK's south coast. Advertisement At the first sniff of technical trouble at Wimbledon, except something even more unabashed. For the first time in the event's 148-year history, it has dispensed with human line judges in favor of ELC, which is used at all ATP Tour-level and combined events and two of the other Grand Slams but is not immune to glitches. At Eastbourne last Monday, a misleading image disagreed with the system's call during a first set tiebreak between Fonseca and Zizou Bergs. Players are overwhelmingly in favour of ELC, because of how it removes doubt and takes away their need to self-officiate. Until this year, players had to challenge a call they disputed in a timely fashion, meaning that they had to think about their next shot, whether or not to challenge and what their opponent would do on their next shot all at once. If the technology does fail at Wimbledon, then each court will have a couple of match officials to step in, but assuming all goes to plan, players and fans will have to get used to a relatively bare court, with the elegantly dressed line judges who have been such a feature of Wimbledon throughout its long history absent. Will that absence be meaningful at this year's event, or will everyone get used to it very quickly and move on? Only time — and perhaps some dubious calls — will tell. Why is the High Court as important as Centre Court? Bubbling away in the background at this year's Wimbledon is the All England Lawn Tennis Club's (AELTC) ongoing legal battle over 39 new grass courts. It wants to construct them, including an 8,000-seat stadium, on the old Wimbledon Park golf course. Doing so would almost triple the size of Wimbledon's grounds and allow the AELTC to host qualifying on site, as the other three majors do. Advertisement The Greater London Authority (GLA) granted planning permission at a hearing in September 2024, but after appeals led by the Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) group, a judicial review will take place Tuesday July 8 and Wednesday July 9 of 2025, right in the heart of the tournament's second week. During the hearing, the AELTC and SWP will outline their arguments, with a decision expected a few weeks later. The case is proving to be a major headache for the AELTC, which is desperate to press on with its expansion plans. Not being able to host qualifying on site (and not being able to pull in the revenue that would come with that) sees it, it says, lose ground on the other three majors. At the pre-tournament briefing a couple of weeks ago, Wimbledon chair Debbie Jevans said that the need for the transformation 'becomes ever more apparent as we see our fellow Grand Slams staging fully integrated three-week events by welcoming many more spectators and staging charity and community events during the qualifying week and, crucially, providing the players with a stage benefiting their sporting excellence'. It feels like no Grand Slam is complete these days without high-level discussions going on in the background, and this year's Wimbledon will be no different. And what about an absent champion? For only the second time since 2004, there will be no Andy Murray in either the singles or doubles draws. Advertisement Last year's opening week — and most of its matches — was dominated by questions of whether he would be healthy enough to compete. Murray withdrew from the singles at the last minute on the first Tuesday, then he staggered through his men's doubles match with his brother Jamie two days later. On middle Saturday came Emma Raducanu's decision to jilt Murray at the altar of the mixed doubles event, with the Brit needing to rest her wrist for singles competition. It's probably a relief for all involved that there is no major Murray storyline this time around. Last year was a painful end in many respects, and the rest of the event got sucked into a vortex by its gravity. The statue of him, which will arrive on the grounds in time for 2027, will have to do stand in his stead: he is not planning to attend at this time. It will fall to one of the other Brits, like Raducanu and Draper, to step up in his absence. Tell us which storylines you are looking out for in the comments. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Sports Business, Tennis, Women's Tennis 2025 The Athletic Media Company

Amazon (AMZN) Unveils $54 Billion UK Investment Plan for 2025–2027
Amazon (AMZN) Unveils $54 Billion UK Investment Plan for 2025–2027

Yahoo

time35 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Amazon (AMZN) Unveils $54 Billion UK Investment Plan for 2025–2027

Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the 12 stocks that will make you rich in 10 years. On June 24, the company revealed a £40 billion ($54 billion) investment plan in the United Kingdom over the next three years (2025–2027) to expand its operations and infrastructure. Pixabay/ Public Domain The investment includes £8 billion ($10.9 billion) previously pledged by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in September 2024. This amount was for building, operating, and maintaining data centers in the UK from 2024 to 2028. The additional funds will support the construction of four new fulfillment centers. Two facilities in the East Midlands are scheduled to open in 2027, and previously announced sites in Hull (2025) and Northampton (2026). Each fulfillment center is expected to create approximately 2,000 jobs. Amazon said that additional investments will cover new delivery stations across the UK, upgrades and expansions to the company's existing network of over 100 operational facilities. The tech giant also stated that it expects the investment to contribute £38 billion ($51.7 billion) to the UK's GDP over the period in focus. Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a global technology and e-commerce company. It operates online and physical stores. The company offers many products, including electronics, apparel, groceries, and media. Amazon also provides cloud computing services through AWS, and offers devices like Kindle, Echo, and Fire TV. While we acknowledge the potential of AMZN as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None.

FBI Warning Issued As 2FA Bypass Attacks Surge — Act Now
FBI Warning Issued As 2FA Bypass Attacks Surge — Act Now

Forbes

timean hour ago

  • Forbes

FBI Warning Issued As 2FA Bypass Attacks Surge — Act Now

The FBI issues Scattered Spider attack warning. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation issues a cybersecurity alert, you would be well advised to pay attention and take action. Whether that's involving malicious SMS messages, AI-powered phishing attacks, or, as I recently reported, the skyrocketing number of ransomware threats. And ransomware is the subject of this latest, critical, warning from the FBI. This time involving the Scattered Spider threat group which has made headlines after taking responsibility for multiple retail sector attacks including that against Marks & Spencer in the U.K. which is estimated to have cost the high street chain at least $600 million. Now the group is targeting the airline industry, the FBI has warned, both directly and through the entire supply chain. Here's what you need to know. FBI Confirms Scattered Spider Attacks Targeting Transportation A June 26 report from ransomware analysts at Halcyon warned that there were 'indications that Scattered Spider is also now targeting the Food, Manufacturing, and Transportation (particularly Aviation) sectors in the US.' This has now been confirmed by the FBI which provided a statement to me by email that said: 'The FBI has recently observed the cybercriminal group Scattered Spider expanding its targeting to include the airline sector.' The statement continued to confirm that the ransomware group is using the same methods during this surge of attacks into new sectors, namely 'social engineering techniques, often impersonating employees or contractors to deceive IT help desks into granting access.' Specifically, Scattered Spider looks to bypass mutli-factor authentication, commonly referred to as MFA or 2FA, by using various methods to get those help desks to 'add unauthorized MFA devices to compromised accounts.' Scattered Spider has been on the FBI radar for a number of years, with a joint cybersecurity advisory alongside the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published in 2023 in response to what it described as 'activity by Scattered Spider threat actors against the commercial facilities sectors and subsectors.' The FBI told me that it is currently actively working with aviation and industry partners 'to address this activity and assist victims,' and urged anyone who thinks their organization may have been targeted to contact their local FBI office. In the meantime, beware of anyone asking for unauthorized 2FA devices to be added to accounts and follow established security processes and procedures to the letter, no matter what the person making the request may say.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store