The Guardian

• England Women, 250-3, beat South Africa, 129-6, by 121 runs • Tammy Beaumont hits 116 in world record total Another day, another record. A slew of them. England demolished South Africa by 121 runs top begin their T20 tri-series campaign in rampaging style. But that margin, the biggest ever, only warrants a passing mention such was the mismatch at Taunton with Heather Knight’s side posting a w...

Spain have won for the first time at this World Cup, beating Iran 1-0 in Kazan thanks to Diego Costa’s goal. As a result the 2010 winners are level with Portugal at the top of the group, having drawn 3-3 with their Iberian neighbours on Friday. Iran are third, with three points. Costa scored the only goal of the game and it was the result of extraordinary luck, with Ramin Rezaeian’s tackle cann...

Jorge Sampaoli’s team are geared to an extraordinary degree around their star but heads-down servicing of the princeling may not be the way to win a World Cup Fame, fame, fatal fame. It can play hideous tricks on the brain. Here is an unexpected World Cup statistic. With the opening seven days of Russia 2018 done, one outfield player has run less over 90 minutes than anyone else in any position...

Expectations could barely have been lower for the World Cup hosts, but with qualification for the last 16 confirmed a wave of optimism is lighting up the nation – and the tournament They chanted it inside the St Petersburg Stadium on Tuesday night. They chanted it in Moscow, above ground in the fan zone and below, in the metro. They chanted it in the restaurants and bars, and later, inebriated,...

• Manager sustained injury during day off from training • ‘It is better this is me than one of the players’ Gareth Southgate has become the first major casualty of England’s World Cup campaign after dislocating his right shoulder while running near the team’s base on the Gulf of Finland. The national manager suffered the injury while jogging in the beach resort of Repino on Wednesday, a schedul...

• Swiss goes down 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 to 2010 champion • Marin Cilic sees off Gilles Müller 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 There was a clear sign on Wednesday that Stan Wawrinka has fully recovered from his persistent knee problems. He lost to Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-1, but the troublesome joint was strong enough for Wawrinka to smash his racket over it after a missed forehand that cost him a break of serve. Wawr...

• Trainer Stoute claims record 76th Royal Ascot winner • 2-5 favourite Cracksman denied by jockey James Doyle One Ascot legend handed the baton to another here on Wednesday, as Frankie Dettori’s golden run of form came to an abrupt halt and Sir Michael Stoute claimed outright possession of the all-time trainers’ record at the Royal meeting. Poet’s Word, a five-year-old who embodies Stoute’s pat...

• Giroud to lead line with Griezmann and Mbappé in support • ‘When he is not there we realise just how useful he can he be’ Considering how many of the World Cup aristocracy did not manage to win their opening games in Russia, the France camp have raised a collective eyebrow about the negativity that swirled around the three points they collected against Australia . Questions came thick, fast a...

• Keeper was unaware of going record time without conceding • Åge Hareide confident of big display from Christian Eriksen The Schmeichel family have made so much history during their glittering goalkeeping careers that neither Kasper nor Peter realised another record had fallen during Denmark’s defeat of Peru in their opening game. Kasper, by keeping a clean sheet on his World Cup debut, edged ...

• Riders should refuse to race, says Tour de France legend • Hinault: ‘Chris Froome should not be at the start of the Tour’ Bernard Hinault, the five-times winner of the Tour de France, has called on riders in this year’s race to strike in protest at the presence of Chris Froome, who is awaiting the outcome of an adverse analytical finding for the asthma drug salbutamol. Since news of the test ...

• ‘The standard has gone through the roof’ in ODIs • Sam Curran and Craig Overton join England squad After vaporising Australia at Trent Bridge , and demonstrating why sweets and sandpaper are seemingly this year’s must-have items for fielding teams, Alex Hales declared his belief that the 500-run barrier is ready to be broken in one-day cricket. England’s world-record total of 481 for six on T...

Eoin Morgan’s captaincy is central to the huge progress, so much so that Ben Stokes needs to be fit and bowling well to get a place back It was only a few weeks ago that English cricket was reckoned to be in crisis; the team was losing to Pakistan in Test cricket and to Scotland in a 50-over game while the sages in the offices of the England and Wales Cricket Board were concocting a camel of a ...

A strong finisher in the Yorkshire Cup during May, John Gosden’s colt has a fine chance of following up at Ascot The John Gosden/Frankie Dettori express, which chugged along so nicely on Tuesday, went slithering off the rails and down a mountainside on Wednesday. But the Newmarket duo have an excellent chance to get back on track with Stradivarius (4.20) in the Gold Cup. This flashy chestnut, a...

• Footage appears to show fans at World Cup singing fascist song • FA condemns ‘disgraceful’ conduct and pledges to help inquiry British police are working with the Football Association to investigate a video that has surfaced online apparently showing England fans at the World Cup in Russia performing Nazi salutes. The video shows two fans performing a Nazi salute and singing a fascist chant w...

• Group A: Uruguay 1-0 Saudi Arabia (Suárez 23) • Uruguay and Russia through to the last 16 Uruguay sealed their place in the last 16 with an 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia that means the host nation Russia are also through to the knockout stages. Luis Suárez opened the scoring from close range after 23 minutes. The Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed al-Owais attempted to claim an inswinging corner but g...