A professional cricketer who was jailed for raping a sleeping woman has had his conviction upheld.

Alex Hepburn, 24, was found guilty at a retrial in 2019 on charges relating to an attack at a flat in Worcester in 2017 and jailed for five years.

His barrister challenged the conviction, arguing texts detailing a sexual conquest "game" should not have been used as evidence at his trial.

On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal denied the bid to overturn the conviction.

The Australian-born former Worcestershire all-rounder was found guilty of oral rape but cleared of a further count of rape relating to the same victim.

Speaking to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire after Hepburn's conviction, the woman said she had been left with facial paralysis and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the judgment, three senior judges, including the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, dismissed Hepburn's appeal, saying: "The conviction is not unsafe."

The attack on 1 April 2017 took place on the first night of a sexual conquest competiton with his team-mates, which he helped set up on a WhatsApp group.