Sean’s unbeaten target
Crawley hoping to peak with England
NOAKES WINS DEBUT FIGHT
Maidstone boxer Sean Noakes wants to stay undefeated for the rest of the year as he celebrates winning his debut professional bout.
Noakes beat Lee Hallett at the historic York Hall in Bethnal Green last Friday, following in the footsteps of brother Sam in turning pro.
The 26-year-old welterweight is in no rush to be challenging for titles but he cannot wait to go again.
“What I’m aiming to do is finish the year undefeated and then start pushing for titles eventually,” he said.
“But I’m in no rush and will wait to see what my management team want me to do. “I’m excited to keep moving forward. “It’s just nice to get the ball rolling. He was a bit of a tricky opponent who wouldn’t stop running!
“But it went well and I got good feedback.” Noakes also described the noise the fans who had come to support him made upon discovering he had won the fight.
“When they called my name out, it almost felt like the ring was vibrating,” he described.
“My coach said to me afterwards, ‘There’s no better feeling than that’ and I just want to go again now.”
Nerves before his big debut may have been understandable - but Noakes simply didn’t have time to get nervous in the build-up.
He explained: “To be fair, it wasn’t too bad. It all went so quickly that I didn’t have enough time to worry about what was going on.
“But when it came to walking down the ring and I heard the rumble from my fans, that’s when it hit me, but it was all worth it.”
Noakes’ debut victory caps a great month for him, having recently signed a fouryear deal with Frank Warren - the same promoter younger brother Sam works with.
“Eventually, I want me and my brother on the same card,” he admitted. “We have not boxed together on the same card since 2013.
“So it will be nice to do that again but we will wait and see what comes next.”
Kent’s Zak Crawley has suggested his latest England Test call-up may have helped fuel his return to form.
Crawley scored two halfcenturies in Kent’s drawn County Championship Division 1 match against Northamptonshire. He backed up a fluent firstinnings 62 with 84 in the second innings having previously only had one half-century to his name this summer for Kent.
When Crawley does link-up with England, the 24-year-old will work alongside their newlook management team for the first time, which has Brendon McCullum as England’s new Test head coach, former Kent skipper Rob Key as managing director and all-rounder Ben Stokes as Test captain.
Crawley said: “It’s always nice being picked for England and I can’t wait to get going with them. So, it fills me with a lot of energy and maybe that’s why I got a couple of runs this week.
“I’m excited about Brendon McCullum coming in. I love watching him play and I’m sure I’m going to love working with him as a coach.
“I think he might suit me actually - quite a positive coach - so I look forward to seeing if that’s the case. But he’s, obviously, a great character in the sport and I’m looking forward to it.
“If I time my form well and I score runs in Test cricket, that will mean an awful lot to me. That’s not to say I don’t want to score runs every time I go out to bat, and I’ve been disappointed that I haven’t been able to help Kent as much as I’d have wanted to this year. “But everyone knows Test cricket is the pinnacle and, if I can get a hundred in the next couple of weeks, that might put the last few weeks right.” At Northamptonshire, the sides shook hands on the draw with Kent 170-1 in their second innings. “I thought we played pretty well,” reflected Crawley. “The rain on the morning of day two kind of killed our chances of winning on a flat deck.
“But I thought we controlled the game and, if we hadn’t lost half a day, maybe we could have had a crack at them.
“I’ve started to find a bit of rhythm, which is nice. I obviously haven’t scored the runs I wanted to, but I feel in good rhythm now.” Kent Spitfires were due to start the defence of their T20 Blast crown at home to Somerset last night (Wednesday).
They take on Essex Eagles tomorrow (Friday) before trips to Sussex Sharks on Sunday and then Gloucestershire on Wednesday.
Kent wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson has joined Durham on loan for this season’s T20 Blast. Robinson, 23, will still be available for Kent in the County Championship, and may be recalled from his loan at any time - in case of an injury to a Kent player or an England call-up.
In-form Kent opener Ben Compton has been selected in a County Select XI squad which will play New Zealand in a fourday match.
Compton, 28, is part of the 12-man squad that has been named to take on the Kiwis at Chelmsford from today (Thursday).