Lions face new injury blow with Mack Hansen expected to miss first Australia Test

The Ireland wing Mack Hansen is expected to miss out on a place in the British & Irish Lions’ team for the first Test against the Wallabies on Saturday with a foot injury. Hansen’s setback comes with the fullback Blair Kinghorn also poised to miss out after both skipped training on Tuesday.The Lions have not yet officially ruled Hansen or Kinghorn out of contention to face Australia in Brisbane, but coach Andy Farrell has already privately picked his side for Saturday and given neither player was able to train on Tuesday, it seems unlikely that either will feature.Losing Hansen is a blow to Farrell, who reserved special praise for the Ireland winger after his performance against Western Force earlier in the tour. Canberra-born Hansen had been pushing Tommy Freeman hard for a place on the right wing before an injury sustained in last Saturday’s thumping 48-0 victory over the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide

Brutal Mitchell Starc spell one to remember amid Australia batters’ tour to forget | Geoff Lemon

Modern sport reporting casually reaches for words like “brutality” and “carnage” where their usage even as metaphor is overblown. The end of the third Test in Kingston, though, warranted both. Australia’s fast bowlers destroyed West Indies for 27, a single run higher than the lowest innings score in Test history.The batting lasted 14.3 overs, the third-shortest innings on record

Ben Stokes left drained after pushing through ‘dark places’ in England win

Ben Stokes said he expended every last ounce of his energy in pursuit of victory after England brought an end to a day of slow-building drama and mounting tension with the defeat of India by the wafer-thin margin of 22 runs in the third Test. “I thought I had taken myself to some pretty dark places before,” he said, “but today …”A game in which both sets of players sometimes allowed their emotions to boil over – behaviour that Stokes said he was “all for” – ended when Shoaib Bashir, playing through the pain of a broken finger that will rule him out for the final two Tests, dismissed Mohammed Siraj to put England 2-1 up in the series.“Obviously it was a great game, a close game,” said Stokes, who hauled himself through mammoth spells of 9.2 and 10 overs across the final day. “You’d think I should be saying it was [one of my best wins], but it’s just quite hard to get my head around it at the moment

Stokes is a destiny man who loomed over Lord’s like the angel of the north | Barney Ronay

The England captain can realistically set his sights on winning the series against India, then the Ashes“I’m not tired. I’m not tired. I’m not tired.” Really, Ben? Really? Well, you’re pretty much on your own in that case old boy, after a day where simply watching Ben Stokes being Ben Stokes felt like a full contact sport, psychodrama, soap opera, and in its stickiest moments like a man engaged in an act of public self‑medication by Test cricket.This fifth day at Lord’s was entirely dominated by Stokes, who loomed over it like the angel of the north, arms outspread, another note in his own extraordinary sporting life

Never mind Bazball, this was Bazbrawl: say goodbye to happy-go-lucky England | Andy Bull

India broke a golden rule in the third Test: don’t try to pick a fight with Ben StokesThere was a large handwritten sign propped against the inside wall of the North Gate of Lord’s. “In affectionate remembrance of Bazball,” it said, the letters drawn in the bacon‑and-egg colours of an MCC tie, “which died at Lord’s on 10 July, 2025. RIP.” The stewards must have taken it off one of the Indian fans who hadn’t read the small print on his fifth-day ticket. Lord’s being the place it is, instead of stuffing it into a bin, they had put it aside and popped an item ticket on the top corner in case the writer wanted to pick it up on his way back out of the ground

Tour de France 2025: Simon Yates wins epic stage 10 as Ben Healy takes yellow jersey – as it happened

What a day and what a stage to cover. Thank you for reading the blog and to everyone who emailed in. It was a fantastic day for Simon Yates and Ben Healy.I think the peloton will be very much looking forward to their rest day in Toulouse tomorrow. I’ll also be having a rest day and will be back covering the Tour de France 2025’s next stage on Wednesday