Hollie Naughton, the squash player from Barnsley representing Canada, is through to the semi-finals in the Commonwealth Games, in which several other town stars will be competing for medals this week.
Naughton was born in Barnsley and grew up in Cudworth before moving to Canada aged ten but has now returned to Yorkshire. She has won matches against players from Malta, Malaysia and India without dropping a set at the games in Birmingham. The semi-finals are tomorrow and the final on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, cricketer Katherine Brunt helped England win their first game of the Twenty20 tournament in the Commonwealths. She played her 100th Twenty20 game in Saturday’s win over Sri Lanka, taking one for eight off three overs. England chased 106 for a five-wicket win. They now complete their group games against South Africa tomorrow and New Zealand on Thursday. Brunt said: “My 100th ODI game was against India at Derby in 2017 and I had an absolute shocker, so I was keen not to repeat that experience. It can be a jinx, 100 caps, so it was nice to break that cycle. I’ve played a long time, I’ve played in Ashes series and World Cups, which have a certain feeling. With this (Commonwealth Games), I can’t explain, but there’s a little bit more on top. It’s a huge occasion and we feel it.”
The other Barnsley people in the games are judo star Lachlan Moorhead, whose competition starts and ends tomorrow, as well as para table tennis legend Sue Bailey who will start on Wednesday as she looks to win a third Commonwealth gold.
