Category: 6. Sports

Ben Compton was leading Kent’s resistance as they reached 203-3 on day two of their County Championship match with Leicestershire at Canterbury, a deficit of 268.

The Division Two leaders posted 471 after a final wicket stand of 108 between Tom Scriven, who slapped Kent’s bowlers around to make a career-high 99, and Josh Hull, whose 35 was also his highest first-class score.

Compton, however, replied with a mixture of doggedness and adventure to make his 18th first-class century and he was 101 not out when bad light stopped play.

Leicestershire were 386-9 overnight and quickly secured a fourth batting bonus point when Scriven swept Matt Parkinson for four.

Scriven was on 70 when he was dropped by Ekansh Singh at cow corner after mowing a Joey Evison full toss and the number 11 Hull took them past 450 when he drove Parkinson for four.

Parkinson was then denied what would have been a career-best eighth wicket when Compton somehow dropped Hull at midwicket.

If that suggested Scriven’s luck was in, he missed out on his century in agonising fashion. The four that took him to 98 fell just short of the rope; he was on 99 when the batters ran two and the crowd were already applauding, only for the umpires to signal leg byes; two balls later he was plumb lbw to Joey Evison.

Kent survived five dicey overs to reach lunch on 18 without loss but Jaydn Denly was then lbw for 20 to Louis Kimber.

Ekansh got a life when he was on 22. He tried to pull Hull, who nearly had him caught and bowled, only to drop a head high chance.

Compton reached 1,000 runs for the summer when he passed 23, eased to 50 with two off Rehan Ahmed and Kent were 117-1 at tea.

Ekansh went for 33 in the first over after the resumption, driving Ian Holland straight to Scriven at mid on, and with so many young players in Kent’s side the third-wicket partnership between senior players Compton and Tawanda Muyeye always looked like being crucial.

The former’s battle with Rehan Ahmed was gripping, especially in the 90s, as he missed out on a rank long hop and then might have been run out but for a misfield. He was stuck on 99 at the other end when Rehan produced a sharply turning delivery that found Muyeye’s edge and was caught by Peter Handscomb for 46.

George Garrett was sent in as the night watcher and he blocked the rest of the over before Compton stole a single off Green at the start of the 68th to reach three figures and that was the last meaningful action before the light deteriorated and the players went off with two overs remaining.

ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay.

You’ve seen her dancing on social media, on the podium, and everywhere in between. Alison’s love of movement, whether it’s dancing, riding, or being outdoors, is infectious.

Alison earned the biggest win of her career to date in 2023 when she won Paris-Roubaix from a breakaway that she kept alive from the race’s early kilometers. She followed it up the next month by winning that year’s Canadian road race national championships in her native Alberta. Alison is a two-time Olympian and has raced ten times in the world championships, including a sixth place finish in 2021.

In 2024, she won a stage at the Vuelta, rode a strong Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for her teammates, and competed for Canada in the Olympic Games. Just as important as her results was the leadership that she showed on the road.

Alison has continued to show her strength in 2025. She took fifth place at Paris-Roubaix and followed that up with a seventh place finish at Amstel Gold. Alison won her first stage race this May at Gracia Orlová, where she also took a stage win and the points classification. The following month, she claimed the Canadian road race national title for the third time in her career, soloing to victory.

For Alison, winning is important, but it doesn’t matter to her whether she’s atop the podium or if it’s one of her teammates. She’s more interested in making a difference in each race and contributing to the best result possible for the team.

Growing up on her family’s farm in Vermilion, Alberta, Alison had endless opportunities to exhaust her energy by helping with chores or playing with her siblings. But her mother noticed that Alison’s energy never seemed to dwindle, so she signed her daughter up for every sport available in her hometown of 4,000 people. Alison’s curiosity and innate athletic talent led her to take up swimming, compete provincially in gymnastics, go hiking in the Himalayas, and eventually to pick up an old bike that a former farmhand had left behind on her family’s farm. Fast forward to today and Alison is still driven by that same sense of curiosity, but this time she’s wondering just how far she can push her limits on the bike.

Kim le Court became the first African to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes, with her victory on stage five meaning she also took the yellow jersey from Marianne Vos.

Mauritian champion Le Court took a risk as she sat up to celebrate as she crossed the line in Gueret, but she held on to beat fast-closing Dutchwoman Demi Vollering by a wheel.

The 29-year-old was part of a seven-rider group that broke away from the peloton towards the end of the hilly 165.8km route, the longest stage of the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes.

She was the fastest finisher in the group and duly delivered, and now leads France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot by 18 seconds, while Vos drops to sixth after finishing in a group 33 seconds off the pace.

Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner withdrew after crashing in the neutralised zone before the official start, the third successive day on which the American had fallen.

With four stages remaining, on Thursday riders will tackle the first mountain stage of the tour, a 123.7km route between Clermont-Ferrand and Ambert.

“Immediately after the race, it feels kind of surreal, but then you do the interviews, you have the articles written, you see the social posts, and it kind of hits you. It sank in more as time went on.

“The biggest things from that weekend were, firstly, ticking off a dream and a goal of mine – to win a Formula 1 race – but away from that, when you compare it to Hungary in 2023, I was very proud of the improvement I had made, year to year.”

While Oscar made the slow, delayed journey home to Monaco, his trophy was on its way back to the McLaren factory with the team, where it has since taken up its place in our cabinet on the Boulevard alongside our other 198 F1 Grand Prix winning trophies.

As is customary in F1, Oscar had his own replica produced, which was delivered to his flat in the weeks after, where it lives alongside two other keepsakes from that weekend.

“I never used that helmet again, so I have the helmet from that weekend – [in the same condition] as it finished the race – along with the replica trophy,” he explains. “Then there is one other keepsake from Hungary… For those that remember, I was given a €5 note on the Thursday or the Friday of the weekend, which I still have in my apartment. That was a cool moment.”

Not just any €5 note…🔮💶 @OscarPiastri #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/lfRAiKoVcB

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 22, 2024

The reaction from Australia and beyond

One of five drivers from Australia to win a Grand Prix, Oscar joins a list that includes Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Mark Webber, and Daniel Ricciardo. Of the 19 to have started an F1 race, he already has the fifth most podiums and the fourth highest number of Poles, just three years into his career.

Many of those closest to him who were watching from Australia would have been awake to see Oscar stand on the top step and to hear their national anthem in the early hours of the morning, though some of his friends from his home country would have been unable to watch and instead would have woken up to the news.

“It is very special to represent Australia in F1, and to have joined the list of winners – it was a proud moment,” Oscar says. “It is always nice hearing the Australian anthem. There are always a few Aussies everywhere we go, and I can very clearly remember a lot of Aussie flags in Budapest, especially underneath the podium, which was very special to see.

Fast bowler Matt Henry has finished with figures of 6-39 as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 149 in their first Test match against New Zealand in almost nine years.

Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine, who won the toss, wanted his top-order batters to put runs on the board but instead the home team were dismissed inside two-and-a-half sessions on the opening day for their second-lowest innings total this year.

New Zealand were 0-92 when stumps were drawn in Bulawayo, with Devon Conway unbeaten on 51 after completing his 12th Test half century and Will Young also looking solid on 41 not out.

The return of Brian Bennett, Ben Curran and Sikandar Raza in the longer format of the game did not help against the incisive bowling of Henry as he consistently challenged the batters with his intriguing line and lengths.

New Zealand’s sharp fielding saw them lifting the tri-series trophy last week in Harare when Henry bowled a terrific last over and gave away only three runs with South Africa in sight of victory.

But on Wednesday New Zealand missed two catching opportunities when top scorer Ervine (39) and Tafadzwa Tsiga (30) both got dropped early in their innings.

Despite getting second chances, both batters struggled during the 54-run partnership against the immaculate Henry and Nathan Smith (3-20), with third seamer Will O’Rourke also going for just two runs an over in his 13 overs.

Mitchell Santner, captaining the Black Caps for the first time in the absence of injured Tom Latham, hoped his three fast bowlers would get the most out of a soft pitch after he lost the toss and was asked to field first.

And Henry didn’t disappoint.

He got the outside edges of Bennett (6) and Curran (13) during his impressive opening spell of seven overs. He then found the outside edge of Nick Welch (27) at the stroke of lunch to leave Zimbabwe rocking at 4-67.

Smith had reduced Zimbabwe to 3-31 when in-form Sean Williams (2) chopped a short ball back onto his stumps.

Raza lasted for only two runs in his return to the longer format as he fell soon after lunch when he tried to fend Henry’s sharp short ball and lobbed an easy catch to wicketkeeper Tom Blundell.

Henry polished off the tail quickly as Santner pounced on a diving catch and held on to a leading edge of Blessing Muzarabbani after Newman Nyamhuri had been caught by Young.

During the current tour of Australia, Lions officials put pressure on the Wallabies to release more high-profile international players for the tour matches amid concerns about how competitive they would be.

The Lions beat Australia’s four Super Rugby teams by an average of 27.5 points, before sealing a series win with victory in the first two Tests against the Wallabies.

Benazzi says France has no intention of disrupting the usual rotation of Lions tours, which alternate between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa every four years.

Instead he hopes the new global calendar, that begins next year with the first edition of the biennial Nations Cup, will create opportunities.

“Of course, we don’t touch the legacy in the south – you keep that,” added Benazzi.

“We have a lot of projects. We want to see what to expect with the United States – maybe we have a possibility to play there – maybe in Paris or London. We are just thinking about ideas.

“If you have a link between two institutions then it’s easier to project what we want to do – a warm-up before the tour, a special game maybe every four years as well, in our own countries or outside for development of the game.”

A full-scale Lions tour of France is an enticing prospect.

France’s national team, who won this year’s Six Nations, are the strongest they have been for a generation.

At club level, Toulouse, Bordeaux-Begles and La Rochelle have won the past five editions of the Champions Cup, while the likes of Toulon, Racing 92 and Clermont Auvergne also offer high-quality, multi-national squads and atmospheric venues.