If the first Test had dared England to dream of Ashes cricketing glory, the follow-up at Lord’s was a hallucinogenic nightmare in which Australia inflicted a 405-run thrashing on the hosts, their fourth-worst Test defeat ever. Underpinning the carnage were innings of 215 from Australia’s Steve Smith and 173 from Chris Rogers on a dead-looking pitch - until, that is, it was England’s turn to bat, whereupon they were skittled for scores of 312 and 103. “It was pants down and backsides smacked,” admitted England’s new coach, Trevor Bayliss, to an audience of cheering headline writers. Positives of any sort for England were hard to identify, the fact that the third match of the five-Test series does not start until 29 July perhaps being the main one.
Froome leads Tour
Cycling’s Tour de France headed into its final week with Chris Froome keeping a firm grip on the yellow jersey, although not without controversy as sections of the media voiced scepticism over the Team Sky rider’s dominance. After a stage in the Pyrenees, Froome, who has never failed a drugs test, had to deny “100%” that his team were using ketones, a radical fat-burning agent, claiming he’d “had to Google” it. The denial was not enough to assuage elements of the crowd, who threw urine at Froome, while team-mate Richie Porte said he had been punched and spat at during the race.
GB make Davis Cup semis
It has not always ranked as Andy Murray’s grandest passion but the Davis Cup offered the Scot a degree of redemption for his disappointing Wimbledon semi-final exit, as he inspired Great Britain to victory over France at Queen’s Club and into their first semi-final for 34 years. The good news for Great Britain was that they will have a home semi-final in September; the bad news is they may have to play Australia (see earlier), who defeated Kazakhstan in Darwin thanks to a fairytale return for Lleyton Hewitt. Argentina, who beat a Novak Djokovic-free Serbia, and Belgium, who eased past Canada, made up the last four.
Villa cash in on Benteke
Money! it’s a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash, as Pink Floyd never quite said about the football transfer market. Still, it was advice taken to heart by Premier League Aston Villa, who sold their Belgian striker Christian Benteke to Liverpool for £32.5m ($50.5m). Villa – who evidently don’t view last season’s relegation near-miss as a reason not to sell all their best players – also offloaded midfielder Fabian Delph to Manchester City for £8m. Elsewhere, the owner of Israeli side Beitar Jerusalem showed there was still some morality left in the game, pledging to sell the club in response to fans’ racist and violent behaviour during a Europa League qualifier against Belgian side Charleroi. “I am ashamed and shocked by the behaviour of part of the crowd tonight,” Eli Tabib said. “Tonight officially marked the end of my role in Israeli soccer, and specifically with Beitar Jerusalem.”
Tributes for Jules Bianchi
Tributes were paid to the Formula One driver Jules Bianchi, who died last weekend aged 25 after failing to recover from head injuries sustained in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix last October. The Frenchman’s team, Manor, said: “We are devastated to lose Jules after such a hard-fought battle. It was a privilege to have him race for our team.”
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