List of All Articles with Tag 'sp'

The Milwaukee Brewers designated veteran reliever Matt Bush for assignment following a blown save opportunity against the Pittsburgh Pirates

A masterclass of pace bowling has put Australia on course to go 2-0 up in the Ashes after an England team chasing 371 runs to win was reduced to 114-4 in the second test at Lord’s

Sarina Wiegman was “very disappointed” England had not won but insisted the performance was not a concern after they were held to a goalless draw by Portugal in their Women’s World Cup warm-up match at Stadium MK. The European champions’ last home game before departing for this summer’s showpiece in Australia and New Zealand saw them unable to make a breakthrough despite creating a considerable number of chances. Georgia Stanway and Lucy Bronze both struck the woodwork and Alessia Russo was denied by a goalline block, while other notable moments included Rachel Daly having a header saved, Lauren Hemp heading over and Russo firing wide. Lionesses boss Wiegman said: “Of course my first thoughts are that I am, but also the team is, very disappointed that we didn’t win this game. “But we also take a lot of learnings from it and I think at moments we saw the things we really have been working on, that we wanted to show, a way of creating chances. “I think the first half we were a little bit too slow, the ball tempo was, and we had too many players behind the ball or very close to it, and then when we did break lines we didn’t have enough numbers higher up the pitch. I think we did that a lot better in the second half. “We had players higher on the pitch and created more chances, although I think in the first half we created a couple. But we just didn’t score. “I think we had moments that were really good and moments we could have done a little better.” Asked specifically about chances that fell to Daly, who started up front, and Russo, who replaced her at half-time, Wiegman said: “I think the first thing is you want to create lots of chances, and then see how we execute that. “And yes, it’s disappointing of course, they want to be ruthless and score those chances, and today they didn’t. It’s not a worry for me. “It’s just we want to get into those positions. When you got so much into those positions today – I think that’s pretty good. But of course we want to do the final touch too, and that’s to get the ball in the net. So we all know that.” The Dutchwoman added: “That was today a little problem, but if you see how many chances we created – I think we had 23 shots on goal – there won’t be many matches where we then don’t score.” England fly to Australia on Wednesday and face Canada behind closed doors in a final warm-up match on July 14 before opening their World Cup campaign against Haiti in Brisbane eight days later. When Wiegman, who made a treble change in personnel at the interval and six substitutions in total, was asked if she was closer to knowing her starting XI for the Haiti game than she had been before the Portugal contest, she said: “No. I’m not closer now. “I’m not sure if we get closer than this though. At the end you have to make decisions. I think in some positions it’s really tight. We have some time now. So, no, I’m not sure, and this is not the time to make the final decision because we still have a couple of weeks to go.” England were playing a Portugal outfit ranked 17 places below them at 21st and who will be making their first appearance at a World Cup finals this summer. Boss Francisco Neto said: “Playing in this kind of environment is not easy, and the emotional stability that we had during the game, I’m very happy with that, because it looks like the girls are ready for the environment that they will have in the World Cup.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Late reprieve for Ben Duckett keeps England’s hope of miracle chase alive Katie Boulter not feeling pressure of being British number one at Wimbledon Novak Djokovic still hungry as he bids for 24th Grand Slam singles title

Venus Williams is 43 and about to play singles at Wimbledon for the 24th time

American Madison Keys has prevailed in a marathon tiebreaker to win the Eastbourne International final, beating ninth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 7-6 (13) for her second title at the grass-court tournament

The Carolina Hurricanes were able to retain two players — goalie Antti Raanta and forward Jesper Fast — before the NHL’s free agent signing period began

Damian Lillard has asked the Portland Trail Blazers for a trade, a move that will end the seven-time All-Star’s tenure with that team, according to two people familiar with the matter

Injured Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has stunned cricket by batting against England in the second Ashes test at Lord's

Alex Palou says he is not dominating the IndyCar series, even though he pretty much is these days

Savannah Marshall and Franchon Crews-Dezurn go head to head in Manchester tonight, with the latter’s undisputed super-middleweight titles on the line. Marshall is aiming to bounce back from the first loss of her professional career, a points defeat by Claressa Shields in October, and to regain her status as a world champion. The Briton, 32, lost the WBO middleweight title in her clash with Shields, who became undisputed in the division by outpointing Marshall. Now, however, the Hartlepool fighter has another shot at becoming an undisputed champion herself, as she moves up a weight class. Like Marshall, Crews-Dezurn suffered the only loss of her pro career when she squared off with Shields, but that was back in 2016, in Crews-Dezurn’s pro debut. Since then, the American has won eight straight fights, most recently beating Elin Cederroos on points in April 2022. The 36-year-old, despite her sporadic bouts in recent years, took exception to Marshall’s claim this week that she is ‘lazy’, as the opponents took part in a heated press conference. Follow live updates from the main-event fight, and its undercard, below. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Savannah Marshall and Franchon Crews-Dezurn trade barbs before huge title fight Ben Whittaker on his life-changing moment: ‘I was bleeding and crying – it flipped a switch’ Anthony Joshua removes stumbling block in Dillian Whyte negotiations Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder’s teams meet in London for talks over Saudi Arabia fight

Adam Yates has pulled away from his twin brother Simon Yates to win the first stage of the Tour de France, with race favorites Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard finishing not far behind

England were unable to make the most of their chances as they were held to a goalless draw by Portugal in their send-off warm-up match at Stadium MK ahead of the Women’s World Cup. Georgia Stanway sent an effort against the bar, Lucy Bronze’s header hit the post and substitute Alessia Russo was denied by a goalline block as the European champions created a number of opportunities to no avail. Other notable moments included Lauren Hemp heading over and Russo firing wide from fine positions in a somewhat frustrating last home game for the Lionesses before departing the country for this summer’s showpiece in Australia and New Zealand. Sarina Wiegman’s players fly to Australia on Wednesday and face Canada behind closed doors in another, final warm-up on July 14 before opening their World Cup campaign against Haiti in Brisbane eight days later. The Dutchwoman made three changes to her starting XI from April’s 2-0 loss to Australia, the team’s first defeat in their 31st outing under her. That included regular skipper and Milton Keynes native Leah Williamson, ruled out of the World Cup by an ACL injury, being replaced in defence by Alex Greenwood, who started at left-back, with Jess Carter in the centre. Women’s Super League Golden Boot winner Daly also came in, getting the nod ahead of Russo up front, as did Lauren James for Chloe Kelly. With Millie Bright, squad captain in the absence of Williamson, unavailable as she continued to build back up after knee surgery, goalkeeper Mary Earps skippered the side. Taking on a team ranked 17 places below them at 21st and heading to their first World Cup this summer, England made a lively start, with Daly seeing two headers saved by goalkeeper Ines Pereira in quick succession early on. Daly was subsequently just unable to get a touch on James’ cross into the danger zone just past the quarter hour mark, and Ella Toone struck wide moments later. The hosts then struggled to build much momentum for the remainder of the half, with an acrobatic 35th-minute attempt over the bar from Daly the only real effort of note, until Stanway, making her 50th England appearance, diverted the ball against the bar from Hemp’s cross shortly before the interval. Wiegman made a treble change at the break, with Russo, Kelly and Niamh Charles being brought on for Daly, Toone and Greenwood, and the opening stages of the second half saw two Kelly shots saved by Pereira either side of Hemp heading over from a great position. England’s pressure continued as Russo took the ball around Pereira only to be thwarted by an Ana Borges’ block on the line, Bronze headed against the post and Russo then struck wide when looking certain to score. Having had little to do, Earps then survived a scare as she misjudged a pass from Hemp and the ball rolled past the post and out for a corner. England dealt comfortably with that, as Pereira then did with efforts from Russo and Charles. Russo tried her luck twice more after that but saw the ball go wide again on both occasions as England failed to secure a sign-off victory before heading Down Under.