Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has signed a two-year deal with French club Lorient, five days after being cleared of rape.

Mendy left City last month at the expiration of his contract, having not played for the Premier League and Champions League winners since 2021.

The 29-year-old was cleared of rape and attempted rape at Chester Crown Court last Friday.

Mendy, who progressed through Le Harve’s academy before establishing himself during three seasons at Marseille, joined City in 2017 for a reported fee of £52million after a solitary campaign with Monaco.

He would go on to be involved in three Premier League title wins with Pep Guardiola’s side but his last appearance occurred during the opening game of the 2021-22 in defeat at Tottenham.

Later that same month, Mendy was reprimanded in custody after being charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in August 2021.

City suspended the French full-back, who was granted bail the following January but only after being charged with three more counts of rape.

In May 2022, Mendy pleaded not guilty to seven charges of rape, one attempted rape and one sexual assault.

The next month he was charged with another count of rape, and in September he was found not guilty on one charge of rape.

Mendy was found not guilty of six counts of rape and one court of sexual assault in January, but the same jury could not reach a verdict on another count of rape and one count of attempted rape.

It saw a retrial and last week Mendy was found not guilty of one charge of rape and one charge of attempted rape, which has allowed the defender to resume his professional career.

Lorient finished 10th in Ligue 1 last season under Regis Le Bris and the player will begin work with his new club on Wednesday.

“FC Lorient is pleased to announce today the signing for two seasons of French international left-back Benjamin Mendy,” a club statement read.

“The native of Longjumeau, who will wear number five with the Merlus, will take his first steps at Espace FCL today. Welcome Benjamin!”

England fly-half Marcus Smith has signed a contract extension with Gallagher Premiership side Harlequins.

The 24-year-old is currently part of Steve Borthwick’s training squad preparing for the World Cup in France.

Smith, who helped Quins to the Premiership title in 2021, made his debut during the 2017/18 season and has gone on to score over 1,000 points in the league.

“I love the club,” Smith said on the announcement of his new deal.

“It’s been my home since the age of 14 and I want to repay the faith shown in me and help Quins win trophies.

“We have unfinished business, we want to challenge for titles and create more memories for our supporters.”

While the length of Smith’s extension has not been confirmed, the club announcement said it will keep him at the Stoop beyond next season.

Tony Khan is hoping for an August bank holiday weekend to remember – culminating in the “most exciting” experience of his life at All Elite Wrestling’s All In show at Wembley.

Fulham’s director of football will be in the capital for their Premier League trip to Arsenal on Saturday, August 26 before spending the evening celebrating his mother’s birthday.

The next day will see professional wrestling return to Wembley Stadium for the first time in 31 years, with Khan’s own promotion – AEW – hosting a show that has already sold over 70,000 tickets without a match being announced.

“I think it’ll be a lot of emotions at once, to go to such a familiar place to me and my family where we’ve had some of our greatest memories,” Khan told the PA news agency about heading back to Wembley, where he has seen Fulham twice win the Sky Bet Championship play-off final and watched the Jacksonville Jaguars – the NFL franchise owned by his father and with whom he holds an executive position.

“If you look at my Twitter account, my header – the background – is celebrating at Wembley Stadium at the final whistle (of the play-off final).

“That was the greatest day of my life to this point, now I’m so happy that this summer I have to look forward to AEW: All In.

“It’s going to be a great weekend because August 26 is my mother’s 75th birthday – we will go up to north London for Arsenal vs Fulham on Saturday and celebrate my mother’s 75th birthday after I get done with the AEW production meeting.

“I’m sure we’ll have a lovely evening in Mayfair, hopefully celebrating a good performance at Arsenal, I hope, and then August 27 is going to be a cultural event.”

While professional wrestling has its share of detractors, Khan insists the sheer volume of tickets shifted for All In – with over 35,000 sold in a pre-sale event – proves it belongs on the Wembley stage.

Asked about the sales, Khan added: “Well, it definitely beat projections!

“It was absolutely the right choice for AEW to debut in the UK at Wembley Stadium and the support from the fans and ticket sales have been unbelievable – it was a bold choice to book AEW at Wembley but it has been vindicated and we haven’t even announced any matches yet.

“For me, personally, it is the most excited I’ve ever been for any event in my entire life.

“In 2018, truly one of the greatest experiences of my life was being at Wembley Stadium in the Royal Box when Fulham on our promotion to the Premier League and it feels like it was so long ago.

“Honestly, I was in the Royal Box and I had my notebook and certainly AEW was in there as something I wanted to work on.

“It’s my dream, truly my dream. One my dreams was to bring a big pay-per-view event to Wembley and I actually had written a script for one in 2006 when I was at University of Illinois and it wasn’t the first time I thought about doing wrestling at Wembley – that was over 17 years ago.

“I’ve always wanted to bring a great wrestling event to Wembley Stadium. It’s definitely been a dream of mine and I’m very optimistic that it can be AEW’s finest hour when we debut.”

Republic of Ireland forward Amber Barrett hopes her side can draw on the Moroccan men’s example and defy their proudly-worn underdog status at the World Cup.

In October, Barrett was the woman who booked the Girls in Green’s trip to Australia and a maiden global showpiece when she netted the deciding goal with her first touch in the Republic’s 1-0 play-off victory, stunning Scotland at Hampden Park.

The FIFA world number 22-ranked Republic face a tough challenge in Group B, opening their campaign on Thursday at a sold-out Stadium Australia against 10th-placed co-hosts the Matildas before facing Olympic champions Canada, ranked seventh, six days later.

Barrett said: “I went through the World Cup groups a couple of days ago and there’s not really any other group that you’re saying, ‘Oh, I’d love to be in that group’, because all of the groups are difficult.

“At the end of the day you’re at a World Cup, and you’re playing against the 32 best teams in the world. They’ve all qualified for a World Cup. Ranking and all that goes out the window.

“Looking back to the men’s World Cup, it showed, Morocco getting to a semi-final, who would have said that was going to happen pre-tournament?

“I think at this stage, we’re just really, really going to enjoy every moment of it, and it’s football. Anything can happen.”

In Qatar, Morocco surprisingly emerged top of a group that included 2018 finalists Croatia alongside Belgium and Canada.

The Republic wrap up Group B against Nigeria (40th), the top African side in this ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup.

Barrett, whose Milford, County Donegal hometown moved Thursday’s Mass to accommodate the Girls in Green’s 1100 BST kick-off time, imagines it will all truly hit when she is standing on the pitch for the national anthems.

She said: “I think I’m probably going to be very emotional. I think that’s going to be something that really takes everybody.

“We had a referee course a couple of weeks ago, and the referee from FIFA said that when you hear your national anthem for the first time in major tournaments, a World Cup, it’s very, very special.

“I think when we’re standing there singing ‘Amhran na bhFiann’ (‘The Soldier’s Song’) I think that’s really going to be a moment where everyone’s just like, ‘We’re here and we’re ready to go’.”

The 27-year-old is eager to create new history with her side in Australia, but admits her part in getting the Republic here is something that will long linger.

She added: “It’s funny, now we look back and after the game we’ve said we have such a long time to wait until we go to a World Cup and now we’re days away.

“I think it definitely took me a long time to come off that cloud nine, because I think everybody was just, not shocked, but it was just like you were numb for a few days after.

“It was one of those moments that I will happily never, ever forget, but I hope it’s also now one of those that over the next few weeks we make more memories to relive.”

Australia may have retained the Women’s Ashes but England punctured their air of invincibility by winning both the Twenty20 and one-day series within the multi-format contest.

The tourists’ Test win meant an overall 8-8 draw on points but against the reigning 50-over and T20 world champions, and a side with a legitimate claim as the world’s most dominant in any sport, Heather Knight’s team acquitted themselves impressively throughout – capped by a 69-run win in Tuesday’s final ODI at Taunton.

Here, the PA news agency looks at Australia’s record in recent years.

One-day internationals

Australia had not lost a bilateral ODI series since 2013, also against England, and went into the Ashes on a run of 15 straight wins in the format and 41 in their last 42 matches dating back to the start of 2018.

Even their one loss in that time came in a dead rubber, India winning the third game of a 2-1 series loss in September 2021 by two wickets with three balls to spare.

England immediately ended that run by taking the ODI series opener at Bristol by two wickets, continuing their unlikely bid to keep the Ashes alive after back-to-back Twenty20 wins. Australia snuffed out that dream with a tense three-run win at the Ageas Bowl before Nat Sciver-Brunt’s second successive century set England up for a thumping DLS victory at Taunton.

Such was Australia’s dominance in recent years, tail-ender Megan Schutt had faced just three balls in her last 30 ODIs. England ensured she matched that at Bristol alone, and again at Taunton.

Twenty20

Over the same period since 2018, Australia’s record in the shortest format read 56 wins, seven losses and two ties ahead of the England series, with seven matches abandoned without a result.

They had won 22 of their previous 23 T20s – and tied the other before losing to India in a super over – ahead of arriving at Edgbaston for the series opener.

Victory there extended the run by one and left England needing to win all five remaining matches to take the Ashes, though the hosts showed the ability to test their all-conquering opposition who needed 19.5 of their 20 overs and a superb Beth Mooney half-century to chase down 154.

England then won thrillers by three runs at the Oval and by five wickets on DLS, with just four balls remaining, on the back of Alice Capsey’s blistering 46 at Lord’s.

Test

Of course, all that English success counted for little after Australia won the one-off Test by 89 runs. Tammy Beaumont’s first-innings double hundred was in vain as Ashleigh Gardner took eight for 66 in the second.

The relative rarity of women’s Test cricket, and still more so over five days, means a comparable record to the white-ball formats is not available but Australia have not lost a Test since 2014, when England won by 61 runs in Perth.

That run extends to only six games, four of them drawn in between beating England at Canterbury in 2015 and Trent Bridge this time around. All bar one of those have been against England – indeed since 1998 Australia have played England in 19 of their 21 Tests and India in the other two.

One of those draws came in the 2021-22 Ashes, a series in marked contrast to this summer’s as Australia won 12-4 – that four-day match accounted for two of England’s points, with the others coming from a pair of T20 washouts in Adelaide.

Knight said after the draw this time around: “We felt like we were really close and had the players to compete with this very good side. Really pleased with how we’ve done, it’s been hugely impressive.”

Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe has urged the squad to harness the spirit of the underdog ahead of Thursday’s World Cup opener against Australia.

The World Cup debutants begin their Group B campaign against the co-hosts, who are 12 places above them in the FIFA rankings and will be backed by the majority of the 80,000 crowd at Sydney’s Stadium.

It will be only the second match between the nations but Ireland won 3-2 when they met back in 2021, thanks to a goal from Denise O’Sullivan, who has been declared fit for the fixture.

McCabe, who overcome her own injury scare a fortnight ago, said: “Yeah, it is something as a small nation, you kind of carry that (underdog) title I guess.

“We know we are debutants in the tournament, but we know what we want to do. We don’t want to just be happy to be here.

“We want to compete and give Australia, Canada and Nigeria the hardest games possible. That will start tomorrow night and it is exciting.

“We know what Australia have, they have quality all over the park but we also know what we can do.”

Head coach Vera Pauw referenced their slogan ‘outbelieve’ when looking ahead to playing Australia and insisted they would not buckle under pressure after coming through stern examinations with Sweden, Finland and Scotland to qualify for a first-ever major tournament.

“That word will end up in the dictionary because we outbelieve we can do something special here,” Pauw reiterated.

“That is how we ended up here because we outbelieve and we did something that nobody expected, but we are realistic.

“We are very realistic, otherwise you cannot succeed, but the key thing everybody will feel is we have no fear of failure.

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“We are a team who so far we did not collapse on the higher pressure, whether it was away in a record crowd with Sweden, away with a record crowd in Finland or at Hampden Park and in our stadium with record crowds.”

The Girls in Green only arrived in Sydney this week, but were greeted by floods of Irish fans, with a large community based Down Under.

Arsenal midfielder McCabe added: “It’s crazy to think we’re actually here. We landed only a short while ago in Sydney airport, greeted by a number of Irish fans, so it was really nice to see them there.

“They are our home away from home, I guess and to see the numbers who have travelled, the pictures online of people here in Sydney, is really special.

“I think the whole team feel that. Not just players but staff as well, the support we have from here and back home as well. No doubt we want to do the nation proud tomorrow night.”

Pauw revealed: “We knew there would be fans, but again it is so heart-warming every time the way the Irish are reacting on us. It is not just being there, it is way they are there.”

Meanwhile, Ireland have firmly put their friendly fiasco with Colombia behind them after 101-capped O’Sullivan was confirmed to be fit enough to face Australia.

North Carolina Courage captain O’Sullivan suffered a soft tissue and bone bruise injury during a warm-up match on Friday with the South Americans that was aborted after only 20 minutes due to it being an “overly physical” contest.

But Pauw confirmed: “Denise is fit, she will play.”

McCabe concluded: “For us now it is full focus on Australia. We knew Colombia would be physical but it will be the case in every single game.

“We’re Irish, we don’t shy away from physicality. It is ingrained in us.”

England defender Lucy Bronze said the Lionesses are feeling “empowered” ahead of their World Cup opener after releasing a statement addressing the players’ ongoing row with the Football Association (FA) over bonus payments and other commercial concerns.

In a message from the team posted on social media by captain Millie Bright, the Lionesses said they were “disappointed that a resolution has still not been achieved” but would “pause discussions, with full intentions of revisiting them following the tournament”, which begins for England on Saturday against Haiti in Brisbane.

Bronze, speaking at England’s team hotel on Wednesday, was adamant that the decision to go public about the situation was motivated not just by personal financial benefits but wider principles, and maintained she is “one hundred per cent confident that we will not be distracted by this”.

Bronze said: “I think the players are feeling very empowered. I think it’s the first time as a player group we’ve actually ever sent the message out ourselves, that we’ve collectively done together and set our sights on. So I think in that respect it’s been a very empowered player group last night and this morning and these past few weeks.

“I feel like we felt it was important that we sent the message out, because there has been some talks (and) we want to show that we’re focused for the World Cup, that is our main focus.

“It’s super sad that we have these issues. I think that again, this was something that we spoke about as an England group. We’re not only doing this for ourselves, we’re doing it so that we can set a standard.”

The Lionesses join players from teams including France, Spain, Jamaica, Nigeria, Canada and co-hosts Australia who have in recent months expressed concerns over issues ranging from pay to personnel in their own federations and beyond.

Bronze continued: “It’s unfortunate that it has come before the World Cup, but at the same time, it’s because the World Cup gives us the big stage. It’s when people want to listen to us, it’s when things really matter.

“And that’s why so many teams now are coming out and speaking about it, because it’s the only moment that they get the stage or the opportunity to speak out, which is unfortunate.”

For the first time in a Women’s World Cup, players will be guaranteed performance-related remuneration directly from FIFA, with amounts increasing the deeper teams go in the tournament.

In addition, the Lionesses were also understood to be frustrated by a lack of clarity over what their cut from any commercial deals done by the FA linked to the team will be, as well as the restrictions around their personal sponsorships.

The PA news agency has contacted the FA for comment.

Bronze said the Lionesses benefit from a generally amiable relationship with the FA that leaves the squad feeling optimistic that they can reach an agreement without taking more dramatic steps, like threatening to boycott their Nations League fixtures, set to follow the World Cup in September.

She said: “I don’t think we made any threats as players, I think we’re quite well spoken. And we know how to kind of stand our ground – I can’t say the conversations ever got to be that heated.”

At the same time, Bronze suggested she and her team-mates deserved more, particularly after their victory at last summer’s Euros led to a paradigm shift for women and girls’ football in England, from a 173 per cent uptick in Women’s Super League attendance to a surge in participation at the grassroots level.

She added: “There’s constantly another level and another step you can take. Whether that’s commercially – or on or off the pitch. Whether that’s performance-based, it’s being rewarded for the things you have done.

“We are the European Champions. We have changed the game massively in England, so we want everything to fall in line. If we are going to do well on the pitch, then you would expect things to follow.”

Christian Walker homered twice and drove in five runs as the Arizona Diamondbacks outslugged the Atlanta Braves 16-13 to snap a four-game losing streak.

Geraldo Perdomo snapped a ninth-inning tie with a two-run double and Ketel Marte had three hits and three RBIs for the Diamondbacks, who scored just 11 runs during their season high-tying four-game skid.

Austin Riley went deep twice, doubled and drove in a career-high seven runs, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the National League-best Braves from dropping three in a row for the first time since May 10-14.

Arizona was involved in its first game in which each team had at least 13 runs, and it was the first such game in the majors since the Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 17-13 on Aug. 27, 2021.

The 29 combined runs were the most in any game this season.

Riley’s first home run was a three-run shot in the fourth inning and gave the Braves a 9-8 lead.

Orlando Arcia’s two-run shot an inning later extended the lead, but the Diamondbacks scored four in the sixth on Corbin Carroll’s RBI single and Walker’s three-run blast.

Arizona’s Dominic Canzone had his first career hit in the eighth to score Walker and tie the game at 13.

Red-hot Giants sweep slumping Reds

The San Francisco Giants continued their surge with a pair of wins over the Cincinnati Reds, getting two home runs from Wilmer Flores in an 11-10 victory in the second game.

Casey Schmitt drew a bases-loaded walk in a three-run seventh for an 11-8 lead and the Giants held on to send the Reds to a season high-tying six-game losing streak.

San Francisco began the night by winning the completion of Monday’s suspended game behind Joc Pederson’s tiebreaking,10th-inning double.

The Reds lost despite home runs in the second game from Joey Votto, Jake Fraley, Will Benson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, a pinch-hit three-run shot for his first career hit.

Rangers’ Eovaldi ties for MLB lead with 11th win

Nathan Eovaldi allowed two hits over six scoreless innings and was backed by home run from Corey Seager and Marcus Semien as the Texas Rangers won their fifth straight, 5-3 over the Tampa Bay Rays in a matchup of division leaders.

Eovaldi struck out two and walked three to become the fifth 11-game winner in the majors.

Semien opened the scoring in the third inning with his 13th home run and Seager’s 14th of the season in the seventh made it 5-1.

Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe went deep for the Rays, who have lost 10 of 13 in July.

Jodie Taylor made history by becoming the first female England player to score a hat-trick at a major tournament when she netted three goals against Scotland, on this day in 2017.

The Lionesses romped to a 6-0 victory in their opening game of Euro 2017, with Ellen White, Jordan Nobbs and Toni Duggan also amongst the goals as England made a fast start to the tournament in the Netherlands.

Taylor – then of Arsenal, who she rejoined last season – fired her country into a 2-0 lead inside 26 minutes in Utrecht before completing her historic feat with a brilliantly-taken lob just after the break.

“The hat-trick meant a lot to me,” said Taylor, then aged 31. “The last two years have been a tough ride. Just to be here fit and healthy is a huge achievement.

“I want to thank the medics for getting me in a good place and for (former England manager) Mark (Sampson) for still believing in me and having confidence in me because without that I wouldn’t be here.”

Taylor went on to finish as the competition’s top scorer with five goals and hit the winner as the Lionesses defeated France in the last eight.

Mark Sampson’s side were eventually knocked out by hosts and tournament winners the Netherlands, a team then managed by current England boss Sarina Wiegman.

Speaking after Taylor’s treble, boss Sampson said: “Ever since we’ve known Jodie, I think everyone has known she is a world-class player.

“Of course, you need the service, but what Jodie has added to her game in the last 12 months in particular is her ability to be an instinctive finisher.”

The British and Irish Lions are set to play in front of a record crowd of around 100,000 at Melbourne Cricket Ground during their 2025 tour of Australia.

The MCG has been announced as the venue for the Lions’ second Test against Eddie Jones’ Wallabies on Saturday, July 26.

The series will begin a week earlier at the 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, with the finale at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, which can hold more than 80,000 fans, on Saturday, August 2.

Two years out from the tour, a nine-match itinerary, beginning on Wednesday, July 2 against Queensland Reds in Brisbane, has been confirmed for the Lions’ first visit to Australia since their 2-1 series success in 2013.

The Lions will have the longest preparation period for a tour in recent history thanks to cooperation from Premiership Rugby and the United Rugby Championship.

Ben Calveley, CEO of the British and Irish Lions, said: “We are delighted to announce the tour schedule as we look ahead to what is to be one of the most eagerly anticipated series in history.”

The Lions’ upcoming tour also includes a warm-up match against a combined Australia and New Zealand side in Adelaide.

They are bidding for their first tour success since beating the Wallabies a decade ago, having lost 2-1 in South Africa two years ago following a tied 2017 series in New Zealand.

Crowds were unable to attend matches against the Springboks in 2021 as the three Tests were played behind closed doors due to coronavirus restrictions.

Ieuan Evans, chairman of the British and Irish Lions, said: “Lions tours to Australia have always been memorable occasions and the 2025 tour promises to be no different.”

The British and Irish Lions are also exploring the concept of an inaugural Lions Women’s Tour following “positive findings arising from a feasibility study”.

Lions’ 2025 tour: July 2 – Queensland Reds (Brisbane); July 5 – NSW Waratahs (Sydney); July 9 – ACT Brumbies (Canberra); July 12 – ‘Invitational’ Australia and New Zealand team; July 19 – Australia (Brisbane); July 22 – Melbourne Rebels (Melbourne); July 26 – Australia (Melbourne); August 2 – Australia (Sydney).

Ben Stokes insists his England side are ready to give everything they have to level the Ashes and take a memorable series all the way to the wire.

The hosts find themselves 2-1 down after three pulsating games, losing tight finishes at Edgbaston and Lord’s before coming through strongly at Headingley to keep their hopes of regaining the urn alive.

Another win this week at Emirates Old Trafford would tee up a winner-takes-all decider at the Kia Oval, while Australia are looking to seal an outright victory on English soil for the first time in 22 years.

The stakes are clear for both teams, but England have the added wrinkle of knowing a rain-affected draw would be enough for Australia to retain the urn as holders.

The weather forecast predicts things to take a turn for the worse over the weekend, meaning much of the running will need to be done in the first three days.

“Everything is on the line. The team knows there’s no point holding anything back in this game,” Stokes said.

“Everyone is going to go out there this week and throw absolutely everything at it. If we were to shy away from the task at hand, then I think that wouldn’t get my best out of us as a team in terms of the personnel that we have at the moment.

“Obviously knowing we need to win this one, knowing that we could have a bit of weather around taking some time out of the game, that probably suits us even more to be honest.

“It would be amazing (to go 2-2), that last game would be everywhere. If that does happen and we do go to The Oval level, we’ll be challenging 2005 for one of the best series in England.”

Australia abandon spin

In 1993 at the Old Trafford, the late Shane Warne delivered his famous ‘ball of the century’ to dismiss Mike Gatting. Thirty years down the line and Australia have decided to go in without a specialist spin bowler for the first time in 120 Tests. The last time they picked an XI without a specialist slow bowler was against India in January 2012, when they went for an all-seam attack at the WACA. Nathan Lyon would have been certain to play had he not torn a calf at Lord’s, but his stand-in, Todd Murphy, was only trusted with 10 overs in the third Test and has been axed in favour of the returning Cameron Green.

Anderson eyes the honours board

James Anderson has taken five wickets in an innings 32 times in his Test career, more than any other English bowler in history. Yet he has never managed it at his home ground, despite having the Pavilion End renamed after him. His best figures of four for 38 came against South Africa in 2017 and the 40-year-old would dearly love to go one better and etch his name on the honours board in what could be his final appearance here. He struggled to make an impression on docile surfaces in the first two Tests and will be eager to make his mark.

Broad’s latest landmark

Anderson’s new-ball partner Stuart Broad is the top wicket-taker in the series with 16 and needs just two more to reach the magical figure of 600. That would make him the fifth member in one of cricket’s most exclusive clubs. David Warner accounts for 17 of Broad’s scalps and the Englishman will be licking his lips at the prospect of renewing that rivalry after the left-hander was spared the axe.

Social media moment

After Sir Alastair Cook incorrectly implicated Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey in failing to pay a barber in Leeds, despite the gloveman not having his hair cut, Carey finally took the plunge and got his locks trimmed in Manchester. Steve Smith was on hand to vouch for his payment.

Data point

Tournament favourite Gerwyn Price and world number one Michael Smith both crashed out the Betfred World Matchplay on a dramatic evening in Blackpool.

Price missed a match dart in a thrilling 13-11 tie-break defeat to Joe Cullen before Smith blew a 3-0 lead in an 11-7 last-16 upset against Chris Dobey.

The exits of the high-profile pair leave the competition wide open after reigning champion Michael van Gerwen suffered a shock first-round loss at the Winter Gardens.

World number four Price needed only bullseye for a place in the quarter-finals, having fought back from 8-5 down to lead Cullen 10-9.

But the Welshman, who averaged 100 and threw 11 180s, was unable to capitalise and then punished by the fine finishing of Yorkshireman Cullen, who secured victory with his second 112 checkout.

“It was just a case of trying to keep concentration – I knew I was playing terrible,” Cullen told Sky Sports.

“I just didn’t feel comfortable more or less the whole way through the match, but then when it came down it that’s probably the most comfortable I’ve been, so that 112 was pretty sweet.

“It was just a really funny game. Even at 10-8 down, I felt I could still win because I knew Gezzy wasn’t playing like he normally does. The finishes definitely won me the game.”

Price’s surprise elimination was swiftly followed by Dobey winning 11 of the final 15 legs to knock out top seed Smith.

“I don’t think I was ever in the game early doors, but I clawed my way back into it and, once I got in front, I didn’t want to let him come back, so I’m delighted with that,” said Dobey, who is through to his first quarter-final at the tournament.

“I thought my finishing was pretty spectacular compared to what I’m used to.”

Two-time semi-finalist Daryl Gurney awaits Cullen after he showed signs of returning to his best in dismantling 2018 champion Gary Anderson.

The Northern Irishman averaged 104 and hit 73 per cent of his checkouts in a superb 11-4 win over the Scot, who himself averaged 102.

“You were nearly thinking I was back, like the old Daryl, the one that was number three in the world,” said Gurney.

“There’s not many people that are going to beat Gary Anderson like that. For me to go and do that, I’m over the moon.”

In Tuesday evening’s other match, Nathan Aspinall defeated Dutchman Danny Noppert.

The 32-year-old from Stockport triumphed 11-9 and awaits Dobey in the last eight.

Michael Beale hopes he is closing in on another two additions to his Rangers squad.

The Gers boss, who has signed seven new faces this summer, was speaking after the Light Blues went down 2-1 to Newcastle in Allan McGregor’s testimonial at Ibrox.

The visitors took the lead in the 16th minute through Miguel Almiron, but in the 64th minute Dutch attacker Sam Lammers levelled for the home side with an Ibrox debut goal.

However, with three minutes remaining, Scotland Under-21 defender Ashby headed over McGregor’s replacement, home debutant Jack Butland, for the winner.

Beale was asked about Feyenoord’s Brazilian attacker Danilo and Ecuadorian midfielder Jose Cifuentes from Los Angeles FC after the game.

He said: “Danilo is a player that we like, I think a lot of people like.

“He’s not the only forward we are talking to, but he’s the one that’s out there.

“Cifuentes is again a player we like and we hope that’s one that can be moved on.

“I think we need to bring in one more midfielder. He’s powerful, he works the corridor, he can play deep or he can play as an eight.”

Asked if he hoped players would be in before their first league game against Kilmarnock on August 5, Beale said: “Yes, definitely.

“You can see we did a lot of our work early. The boys have only been back two weeks and tonight was our first game in front of the public.

“I won’t put a number on how many will come in, the market is moving quite quickly.

“We have real set targets and we’ve managed to get some done. I am really pleased with the work we have done.

“We will see some outs in the coming days as well. We are ahead of schedule.”.

On that note Beale was also asked about midfielder Glen Kamara, who has been linked with Leeds.

He said: “There have been quite a few enquiries for Glen. We gave him an extended break due to his international stuff in the summer and unfortunately he has been ill for the last few days.

“He didn’t come to Germany with us, but he’s due to return to training in the coming days. That will be ongoing, the speculation.”

On Scott Wright, linked with a move to Turkey, the former QPR boss said: “Scotty this summer has had one or two enquiries. He’s at an age where he wants to go and play regularly.

“I can’t guarantee that – he’ll have to fight for his minutes like everyone else here.

“I’m not willing to guarantee anyone that they’re going to play and I think he’s at an age where he’s good enough to play and he probably feels that he’s spent a lot of time here trying to get into the team.

“We’re off on Wednesday which gives him a chance to speak to one or two people and maybe make some decisions for himself. But there’s nothing guaranteed on that one.”