What Owen Farrell and Jack Willis can learn from history of Lions bolters
W hat's the French for bolter? With one day left until the British & Irish Lions squad is announced, bolt-flation is at a record high. The 2025 edition has the added glaze of British stars strewn over the Channel in various forms of exile. There have been France-based players on every tour this century, but these were Celtic, not Anglo-Saxon. The RFU's policy, disqualifying Top 14 talent from representing their country, animates the surge.
Pre-eminent are two former England captains in Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes. Farrell suffered a head injury at the weekend in a season plagued by issues and defeats. One has the feeling that even if you interviewed him on the field during an actual Lions Test, he wouldn't admit he had
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The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Australia learn cricket's oldest lesson as South Africa turn the tables in WTC
Right from the start of the day, there was an inevitability that this match was Australia's. They started 218 runs in front, in the third innings, walking back onto a Lord's field where 28 wickets had fallen in the previous two days. They had the four-star bowling attack, their opponents had the shooting-star batting order, one that had flashed and vanished in its first sighting. Soon this would be compounded by the Temba Bavuma's hamstring injury. The lead as it stood looked a chance to be enough, and first would come the chance to increase it a smidgen more. The sense of inevitability only grew as that smidgen broadened into a big dirty smudge. There is nothing more galling for a cricket team than a long tenth-wicket partnership. Every ball is more annoying than the one before. Things had started right, Kagiso Rabada in his second over of the day trapping Nathan Lyon with only four runs added to the score. On four wickets for the innings, nine for the match, Rabada was ready to complete twin milestones. Except they didn't come. Not in his third over, nor his fourth. Not his fifth, not his sixth. Not even his seventh. When he was taken off after drinks, fading with fatigue, it must have been galling to the entire side, their champion deserving that last swipe of icing on the cake. Instead, not content with seeing off the major threat, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood just kept batting: 135 balls, 59 runs, to the stroke of lunch. Starc made a few Test fifties early in his career, including a 99, as slap-and-slash affairs. He hadn't made one in the last six years, but over that time his batting has probably been better. He has made 20s, 30s, 40s, over long periods, in tough situations, when resistance was needed. Look at the previous World Test Championship final, the last Ashes in England, some of the most difficult outings against India. Today's unbeaten 58 was one of his best, by far his slowest score of anywhere near that size, facing 136 balls, more than anyone in the Test to that point. So a session of frustration, surely a distraction for South Africa as a lead inverted its final numbers from 218 to 281. Then an early wicket for who else but Starc as Ryan Rickelton nicked an outswinger. Starc again, as Wiaan Mulder chipped to cover for 27. Bavuma's hamstrings have always popped like champagne corks on New Year's Eve, and the South African captain did another when he was on 9. It was still inevitable, it seemed. Australia were on their way to win. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion But there was one wrinkle. For all that the Starc and Hazlewood stand drove South Africans mad, every run they made was also an example to the same team of how much easier run-making had become. The pitch metrics showed that movement had eased through the air and off the surface. The sun was shining brightly. And while it was the fourth innings of the Test, it was also only the third day. Those who pay attention to county cricket will know there has been a Lord's trend, at least recently, of scores growing bigger as matches goes on, with surfaces easing as chases are made. A month ago, Middlesex spinner Zafar Gohar sealed a chase of 366 at eight wickets down. Most followers of the Australian Test team would find themselves short of the required standard on reaching the Zafar Gohar round of their local pub trivia night, but that is a fact with some bearing on Australian fortunes. Because over the next session and a half, that inevitability shifted. Bavuma batted on despite the injury, riding some luck with a dropped catch, injuring Steve Smith in the process, then growing into an unbeaten 65. At the other end was Aiden Markram, who had looked like a million dollars from the outset, riding the bounce and diverting the pace of Australia's celebrated quicks, using their gifts to build his score. As the runs went by, South Africa became the team untroubled, Australia the team starting to scramble, and by stumps the pairing remained intact with only 69 more to win. Markram started his career with a fourth-innings hundred against Australia, and has reached that career's peak with another here. The first time he still ended up on the losing side; this time, he mustn't. Cricket is fond of dishing out the lesson that nothing can truly be known, or in more frank terms, the lesson that you, the one making the assumptions, are an idiot, actually. No matter how many times the lesson is taught, each fresh instance of an opportunity will see some portion of us fail to remember it. Australia were going to win this, it was inevitable, until they weren't. South Africa will win it from here, that too is an inevitability. Which means it might happen. Or it might not.
BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
Suarez 'so happy for Liverpool' after title win
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
ATP roundup: Reilly Opelka bags upset in Netherlands
June 13 - Reilly Opelka hammered 24 aces and knocked off top-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) on Friday to advance to the Libema Open semifinals in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Medvedev built a 4-1 lead in the second-set tiebreak before self-destructing with three consecutive double faults to finish the one-hour, 36-minute match. Opelka will face unseeded Belgian Zizou Bergs, who held off Estonian Mark Lajal 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). The other grass-court semifinal pits No. 2 seed Ugo Humbert of France against Canada's Gabriel Diallo. Humbert needed only 67 minutes to complete a 6-1, 6-4 win over Portugal's Nuno Borges, while Diallo reached his second ATP Tour semifinal with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 upset of third-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov. BOSS Open Led by No. 1 Alexander Zverev, the top four seeds advanced to the semifinals with straight-sets wins in the quarterfinals in Stuttgart, Germany. Home favorite Zverev saved both break points he faced in a 7-5, 6-4 win against Brandon Nakashima and moved on to face No. 3 seed Ben Shelton, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Czech Jiri Lehecka. Shelton fired 18 aces and guaranteed a spot in the top 10 for the first time in Monday's rankings with the victory. Shelton's fellow American, No. 2 Taylor Fritz, will meet No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the other semifinal. Fritz fired 12 aces in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Hungary's Marton Fucsovics, while Auger-Aliassime ended 17-year-old German Justin Engel's memorable run with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory. --Field Level Media
