Australia v India: first men’s Test, day two – as it happened

That’s all from us today, thanks for your company and correspondence. Time to knock this OBO cat humanely on its rock hard head. We’ll be back for day three tomorrow for what is normally known as ‘moving day’ although India have already manoeuvred themselves into a commanding position in Perth. Toodles!Here is Geoff Lemon’s report of day two of the first Test:While we wait for the full report of day two in Perth, here’s one Barney Ronay made earlier:That’s yer lot. What a day for India, they finish day two in the ascendancy with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s unbeaten opening partnership making the Aussies toil

Russell claims Las Vegas F1 GP pole with Verstappen just ahead of Norris

George Russell absolutely shone in claiming pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix under the glowing neon of the Strip with a superb lap for Mercedes but while he has every chance to convert it to a win, the focus in sin city will be on the big prize, with the world championship battle finely poised for Saturday’s night’s potentialtitle-deciding race.Max Verstappen who was fifth, had the edge over title rival McLaren’s Lando Norris in sixth. The pair line up alongside each other on the grid, perhaps far more than Verstappen might have hoped for given how the Red Bull struggled for pace in practice. Yet the pressure is on Norris who must get in front of Verstappen and make up places on the world champion.Qualifying just in front of his rival ensures Verstappen is still in a strong position to claim his fourth consecutive world championship

The challenge for England is clear: they have to shut Japan out | Ugo Monye

The message within the England camp should be loud and clear this weekend: we are not conceding any tries against Japan. As much as Eddie Jones will be revelling in coming back to Twickenham, in trying to exploit whatever insecurities England have on the back of five straight defeats, this is not a Japan side that will harbour genuine hopes of an upset. The target for England, then, after an autumn of defensive frailties, should be to tighten up. To make sure that even if the result is not in doubt, they defend their line with all they’ve got.It can be difficult when the drop-off is so pronounced having faced the back-to-back world champions in South Africa

World Chess Championship 2024: Ding Liren v Gukesh Dommaraju pre-match questions, answered

When does it start? Who’s tipped to win? And why isn’t Magnus Carlsen playing? We (mostly) have the answersChina’s Ding Liren is defending the world chess championship against fast-rising Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju over the next three weeks in Singapore. It’s the first time in the 138-year history of world championship matchplay that two men from Asia will compete for the sport’s most prestigious title.But is that all you really need to know? What about the format, how much they’re getting paid and why the world No 1 is watching from the sidelines? Read on for all the answers …The best-of-14-games match is scheduled to take place from 23 November to 15 December at Resorts World Sentosa, an island resort off Singapore’s southern coast. It’s only the second time a world championship match has been held in Southeast Asia and the first since 1978, when Anatoly Karpov retained his title by defeating Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio City.Ding Liren became China’s first men’s world chess champion by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi last year on tiebreakers in Kazakhstan

Jofra Archer is caught between an Ashes rock and a Mega Auction hard place | Barney Ronay

Jofra Archer has sensationally re-entered the Mega Auction and people on the internet are annoyed. You’ve got to hand it to the Indian Premier League. It is relentlessly inventive in its language, even if the direction of travel is always towards exhaustion by superlatives. So a six becomes a HyperWang Mobile Attack Maximum, a good catch the Standard Cement Super Happy Sex-grab Of the Day. By the same process, what could possibly be better than an auction? A big auction? A very big auction? No

Eddie Jones will be at Twickenham ‘with bells on’ despite suffering illness

Japan have expressed confidence Eddie Jones will take his place in the coaching box against England on Sunday in what will be his first return to Twickenham as an international coach after he on Friday night pulled out of his pre-match press conference due to illness.Jones, who was sacked after seven years as England head coach in December 2022, is said to be “unwell but nothing too serious”. He has come under considerable scrutiny of late after comments made by Danny Care in his autobiography that the Australian oversaw a toxic environment, ran a “dictatorship” and acted like a “despot who disappeared people” by bullying staff members and players.Shortly after Care’s accusations were made public, Jones claimed to have no knowledge of them, saying: “I haven’t read the book, I haven’t read the comments, so I have no idea what you’re talking about. Apologies