Rob Smyth's Blog, page 19

New Zealand v England: first men’s cricket Test, day two – as it happened

The centurion Harry Brook was dropped four times as England recovered from 71 for 4 to finish on 319 for 5

85th over: New Zealand 325-9 (Phillips 42, O’Rourke 0) Carse shows Will O’Rourke his bouncer but also sends in some sixth-seventh-stump outswingers that are safely left alone.

Well, that wasn’t too hard. Brydon Carse thunders in, drops it short, and Southee toe-ends a pull shot into the deep where Gus Atkinson safely holds on.

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New Zealand close on 319-8 v England: first men’s cricket Test, day one – as it happened

Kane Williamson made 93 and Shoaib Bashir took four wickets as the Crowe-Thorpe trophy got off to an entertaining start

Right, anthems sung, players out. Chris Woakes has the ball. Cricket imminent.

“Why is Bashir playing instead of Leach?” harrumphs Paul McIntyre. Well, because he’s England’s first-choice spinner in all conditions, as Ben Stokes put it in Pakistan last month.

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India beat Australia by 295 runs: first men’s Test, day four – as it happened

Travis Head’s defiant 89 delayed the inevitable in Perth, where India completed a crushing victory just after tea

8th over: Australia 19-4 (Smith 4, Head 1) A maiden for Siraj, bowling to Head, who is playing just about everything to the leg side, hopping about a bit just to keep the ball out.

7th over: Australia 19-4 (Smith 4, Head 1) A couple of singles from the Bumrah over, both batters nudging to the leg side, keeping out the threat.

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The night when Tony Morley’s magic and Aston Villa faced the very best

Juve’s visit to Villa Park this week conjures memories of when both clubs were at the centre of the football world

The champions of Europe side by side with more than half the champions of the world.” The first line of Barry Davies’s Sportsnight commentary is so succinct that, 41 and a half years later, there is no need for a new introduction. Aston Villa’s European Cup quarter-final against Juventus in 1983 had a unique selling point.

The clubs meet again on Wednesday in the Champions League but back then Villa were the holders of the trophy – although six of the Juventus team had started for Italy when they beat West Germany in the 1982 World Cup final. And they had the best player from the teams that finished third and fourth, France’s Michel Platini and Poland’s Zbigniew Boniek.

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Southampton 2-3 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened

Mohamed Salah scored twice to win a chaotic game where Southampton held the lead only for errors to cost them

5 min Southampton play out nicely from the back, with Harwood-Bellis finding Fernandes in a bit of space. He cuts across a shot from 25 yards that is comfortably held by Kelleher.

4 min Liverpool have made a relaxed, confident start, with the first few minutes taking place almost exclusively in the Southampton half.

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Australia v India: first men’s Test, day one – as it happened

India end wild day on top after fierce Jasprit Bumrah spellSteve Smith falls for golden duck as hosts fall to 67-7

Thanks Marty, and good morning from Perth, as it is here. Lovely day, stripes of high white cloud, no precipitation in them, and strands of blue in between that mean we’re getting periods of sunshine. And it’s mild! Temperate! Not the anvil-busting Perth temperatures of legend. At least not until later in the week. Australia won’t mind bowling in the cool conditions.

The countdown is well and truly on to the first ball in this blockbuster five-Test series. Thanks for following along to this point – Geoff Lemon will now steer you through the rest of the build up and across the first half of the day’s play.

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Australia v India: first men’s Test, day one – live

Updates as the series gets under way at Optus Stadium in PerthAny thoughts? You can email Rob here

Thanks Marty, and good morning from Perth, as it is here. Lovely day, stripes of high white cloud, no precipitation in them, and strands of blue in between that mean we’re getting periods of sunshine. And it’s mild! Temperate! Not the anvil-busting Perth temperatures of legend. At least not until later in the week. Australia won’t mind bowling in the cool conditions.

The countdown is well and truly on to the first ball in this blockbuster five-Test series. Thanks for following along to this point – Geoff Lemon will now steer you through the rest of the build up and across the first half of the day’s play.

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Football Daily | Rúben Amorim: the most hyped Premier League newbie since 2016

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The countdown is on. Not to World War III, or to a former writer of this tea-timely email’s appearance on the Christmas Strictly, or even to Rúben Amorim’s first game as Manchester United manager. Nope, the ticking clock has been wheeled out to inform us that, at the time of writing, planet earth is precisely 23 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds and 0 sanity from Amorim’s first pre-match press conference as Manchester United manager.

‘Rúben Amorim’s ‘grandpa’ coach at Man Utd ‘can’t say two sentences in English’’

‘Man Utd’s fans ‘jaded’ as Rúben Amorim predicted to ruin his career’.

‘Five things we learned from Rúben Amorim’s first training session’.

‘Rúben Amorim has ‘very own whistle’ as he calls time on Antony’.

‘Marcus Rashford gives three-word verdict on Rúben Amorim’s first Man Utd training session’.

‘Casemiro gives two-word verdict on Rúben Amorim’s first Man Utd training session’.

‘Rúben Amorim ‘will make exciting Man Utd request’ ahead of Ipswich debut – EXCLUSIVE’.

‘Supercomputer reveals how difficult Rúben Amorim’s first five games are at Man United – and how it compares to their Premier League rivals’.

‘Supercomputer predicts Rúben Amorim’s Spotify 2024 Wrapped playlist’.

‘Five things we learned from Rúben Amorim’s choice of trainers for this first training session’.

‘What Rúben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation reveals about his preferred lovemaking technique’.

Let’s not give Wales too much credit (yesterday’s Football Daily); after all, it was only Iceland they beat. Surely any half-decent side could make easy work of them to advance in an international tournam … oh” – Chad Thomas.

BC.Game, Leicester City’s shirt sponsor, reportedly being declared bankrupt could prompt a few questions for the board about what kind of diligence they did and how this might affect their already wafer-thin PSR in the entirely unlikely event of them not having got paid up front. After all, this was a Curaçaoan crypto-casino whose social media abomination TwiXer post announcing their sponsorship attracted 2.2billion views, making it one of the most viewed of all time. Given they’ll presumably now be looking for a new sponsor, perhaps the team will soon turn out decked out in John Terry’s monkey pics” – James Blanchard.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Bahrain 2-2 Australia: World Cup 2026 qualifying – as it happened

The Socceroos needed a 96th-minute equaliser from Kusini Yengi to salvage a point after a wild end to the match in Riffa

2 min My word, what a start. The defending was terrible from Bahrain. In fact, Baqer’s errant backpass may have been their first touch of the entire match.

It was a shambles of a goal, not that Australia will care. The right wing-back Sayid Mahdi Baqer played a dreadful backpass, badly underhit, and Yengi was in. He walked round the keeper Lutfallah and reversed a shot that the diving Lutfallah could only push into his own net.

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Poland 1-2 Scotland: Nations League – as it happened

Andy Roberson’s injury-time header settled a pulsating game and earned Scotland a relegation playoff in the Nations League

1 min Peep peep! The match is under way.

Mood music

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