Offshore gambling operators using Australian Open to promote illegal services

Offshore gambling operators are using the Australian Open to promote their illegal services, sparking calls for sweeping bans on the unlicensed websites.Australian regulators and sporting professionals have expressed rising concern at the growth of offshore sites, where gamblers are not protected by Australian consumer law and have no guarantee they can withdraw their winnings.One unlicensed offshore e-casino, Vegastars, has offered a giveaway of front row tickets to a night session of the tournament at Rod Laver Arena and a $500 flight voucher.Australian Instagram users were among the 2,500 accounts to comment on Vegastars’ promotional post, which featured the Australian Open logo even though the tournament is not affiliated with the promotion.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailAt least three more unlicensed sites have used the championship’s logo and photos of tennis stars in their social media promotions, while another 10 have advertised Australian Open-themed promotions online

Hans Herrmann obituary

Before leaving his home in Stuttgart to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the summer of 1970, the German racing driver Hans Herrmann promised his wife, Magdalena, that if he won, he would retire from the cockpit. This was his 14th attempt at the French sports car classic and, at 42, he was not expecting to have to honour his pledge.But win he did. He and his co-driver, Richard Attwood, a former Jaguar apprentice, held the lead in their Porsche 917K for the last 12 hours of a race run on a rain-drenched track so treacherous that only seven cars out of 51 starters were able to reach the finish.It was the last event in a career that had seen Herrmann, who has died aged 97, compete in 19 Formula One grands prix for various teams, including Mercedes-Benz, for whom he finished third in the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix on the fast and tricky Bremgarten circuit in Bern

English cricket remains a metaphor for the country as travelling circus rolls on | Jonathan Liew

There will be consequences. There must be consequences. Perhaps there have already been consequences. Harry Brook is very sorry for getting punched by a bouncer in New Zealand. Rob Key is very sorry for overseeing an Ashes tour that in retrospect could probably have been an email

Fans and Welsh rugby chiefs at odds over plan to cut one of four professional sides

Richard Collier-Keywood, the embattled chair of the Welsh Rugby Union, has insisted he has the support of fans and players in Wales as the WRU attempts to drive through radical plans to cut one of the four professional sides.Giving evidence before the House of Commons Welsh affairs select committee, Collier-Keywood – who is facing the threat of a vote of no confidence in his leadership – said he believed “the rugby system was essentially broken” in Wales before he took over and there was widespread acknowledgment that it needed to change.His evidence came on a day when a quartet of Welsh fan representatives testified before that same select committee that he was wrong.Iwan Griffiths, from the Scarlets Supporters Trust, said a poll of their members had revealed that 90% were against the WRU’s proposals. Daniel Hallett, from the Dragons Supporters’ Club, said their own survey had shown “there is no appetite for a potential merger, there is no appetite for jumping ship to another team who have been historic rivals”

Female cricket fans are part of a Broad church | Letters

Kathy Dalwood complains of articles “that make use of male sporting analogies” (Letters, 18 January). I think most female Guardian readers, unlike her, will have heard of Stuart Broad – we tend to be well informed in general, not just about other women. I have been attending men’s cricket matches for at least 40 years; apart from in the rowdy “party” stands, there are usually almost as many women as men in the crowd.Jennifer GaleBideford, Devon I am a female Guardian reader who knows who Stuart Broad is and understood the analogy of someone choosing not to walk. Some of us quite like analogies, sporting or otherwise, and don’t consider them to be akin to “blokey, pub-style chat”

From Ashes hangover to subcontinental scars as England aim to rewrite history

Harry Brook’s side begin Sri Lanka ODI series in poor form but confidence is needed ahead of crucial winter periodA subcontinental World Cup to close an Ashes winter? History tells us this does not end well for England. In 2014 a whitewash in Australia was followed by a group-stage exit at the World T20 with a 45-run defeat to the Netherlands in Chattogram. In 2011 the 50-over side – largely made up of Test regulars – were brutalised by Kevin O’Brien in Bengaluru before exiting with a 10-wicket quarter-final loss to Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Vic Marks, writing for the Observer, wondered beforehand if England had “anything left to give” after so many months on the road.And so to the Premadasa again, 15 years on, this time without the goodwill of a recent series victory in Australia