India beat Australia in historic chase to reach Women’s Cricket World Cup final – as it happened

As heart rates stabilise east of GMT, I’m off for a soothing vada pav at Manchester Chit n Chaat (as kindly recommended by Krishnamoorthy’s cousin). Thank you all for your company and your emails – sorry I didn’t get around to them all.There will be a new winner of the Women’s World Cup on Sunday. See you there.Harmanpreet Kaur, with the face of a woman dazed by events

India chase down record total to stun champions Australia and reach World Cup final

India pulled off a dramatic record run-chase to knock the reigning champions, Australia, out of the World Cup, led by an outstanding century from Jemimah Rodrigues.Rodrigues was dropped three times by Australia, on 52, 83 and 106, eventually finishing unbeaten on 127 as the seven-time world champions uncharacteristically cracked under the pressure of defending 338. Running back from mid-off, Tahlia McGrath spilled the third of those chances from Rodrigues in the 44th over, while Annabel Sutherland sent down two wides in a wayward 48th over which cost 15 runs.It was left to Amanjot Kaur to reap the rewards of Rodrigues’ staying power, striking the winning runs from Sophie Molineux’s 49th over with nine balls to spare.The historic run-chase – the highest ever achieved in women’s ODI cricket – had hung in the balance after Harmanpreet Kaur miscued a pull to midwicket in the 36th over, out for a run-a-ball 89 with 113 runs still needed from 88 balls

Thunder guard Nikola Topic, 20, undergoing treatment for testicular cancer

Oklahoma City Thunder say their 2024 first-round draft pick, Nikola Topic, is undergoing chemotherapy to treat testicular cancer.Thunder’s general manager, Sam Presti, said on Thursday that doctors are “extremely positive” about Topic’s outlook.“Our only expectations for him are to focus on this,” Presti said. “This is his most important priority. He’ll be back playing basketball when he’s able to, but we’re not putting any time length or expectations on that obviously

Breeders’ Cup 2025: all-conquering O’Brien arrives with sights on new record

Aidan O’Brien’s gallop towards an extension of his record for Group One wins in a season has slowed a little in recent weeks, but there was still a shield-beating sense of theatre about the scene as his team for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar this weekend made its way to the track for morning exercise on Wednesday.Unlike 2024, when City Of Troy was being aimed at the Classic, there is no obvious headliner in the O’Brien lineup, but plenty of the horses trotting past in a well-ordered single file have banked at least one Group One already this season and four are expected to set off as favourite.Minnie Hauk, the Arc runner-up and a three-time Group One winner over the summer, heads the market for the Turf on Saturday, while Gstaad (Juvenile Turf), Precise (Juvenile Fillies’ Turf) and True Love (Juvenile Turf Sprint) are also all likely favourites for the three turf events on Friday’s card for juveniles. Other runners from the yard at single-figure odds include The Lion In Winter (Mile) and Havana Anna (Juvenile Turf Sprint), and the Ballydoyle squadron is, as so often, at the heart of the European challenge at the meeting.O’Brien needs a single success this weekend to take sole control of the record for Breeders’ Cup with 21, one more than the late D Wayne Lukas, who died in June

England’s Ashes debacle and review was meant to change everything. Did it? | Raf Nicholson

England have been knocked out of a World Cup after losing a match they were expected to win, thanks to a one-off innings which nobody saw coming. Sound familiar? That’s because it describes two events involving England which took place almost exactly a year apart: on Wednesday, their 50-over semi-final exit at the hands of South Africa; a year ago, their loss in a must-win group stage match against West Indies in the 20-over version.In the interim, a 16-0 Ashes debacle and a post-series review which was meant to change everything. Did it? Time to delve a little more deeply into those two World Cup exits. In 2024, England fell to pieces, dropped five catches, and allowed a bish-bash-bosh innings from Qiana Joseph to win the day

England at risk of 2027 World Cup embarrassment and in need of ODI upswing

Harry Brook has admitted that he is flummoxed by England’s inability to get consistent results in recent one-day internationals, saying that some of the supposedly stellar talents in his squad – which includes up to seven batters he insists “would get into any team in the world” – “just haven’t performed well enough”.“It is disappointing, isn’t it?” England’s white-ball captain said, as he looked ahead to the third and inal fixture in an already-lost series against New Zealand. “You go round every single player there and you think: ‘Bloody hell, there isn’t many teams that they don’t get into in the world.’ It’s disappointing we haven’t performed as well as we could. Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hand up and say they’ve been the better team