Football
Goals from Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill
took England to a 3-0 win over Scotland in the Group F World Cup qualifying
match. After four matches of the campaign, England are still to concede a goal.
Scotland had much of the play, at least until England scored their second, but
are now facing an uphill battle to qualify.
A James McClean goal gave the Republic of Ireland an
excellent 1-0 win away to Austria, and they now top Group D. Wales slipped to
third in the same group after only drawing 1-1 at home to Serbia.
Northern Ireland enjoyed a comfortable 4-0 win over
Azerbaijan to move ahead of them, on goal difference, into second place in
Group C.
Cricket
After their batting problems in Bangladesh, England can take
a great deal of heart from their performance in drawing the First Test against
India in Rajkot. Centuries from Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Joe Root led the way
to a massive first innings score of 537. India replied with 488, then England
pressed home their advantage in the second innings with an opening stand of
180. The stand was broken when Haseeb Hameed, who enjoyed an impressive debut,
fell for 82, but captain Alastair Cook batted on to 130 before declaring his
side’s innings at 260-3. Faced with surviving 49 overs, India had some nervy
moments before batting out time at 172-6. Adil Rashid was England’s best bowler
with seven wickets in the match. The Second Test starts on Thursday.
England Women took a 2-0 lead in their four-match ODI series
with Sri Lanka, and in doing so secured qualification for next year’s World
Cup, which will be staged in England. England complied a formidable total of
295 batting first, with half centuries for Lauren Winfield, Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver, and
Sri Lanka could only reply with 173.
Motor Racing
The Formula One World Drivers’ Championship is still alive
going into the final race in Abu Dhabi on November 27. Lewis Hamilton recorded
his third victory in a row to win a Brazilian Grand Prix that was stopped and
re-started several times due to rain. However, Hamilton’s Red Bull team-mate
Nico Rosberg finished second and remains 12 points ahead in the Championship,
and must still be regarded as the favourite. Hamilton would need to win in Abu
Dhabi and Rosberg finish fourth or lower for the Briton to snatch the title.
Rugby Union
England recorded their first win over South Africa since
2006 with a 37-21 win at Twickenham. England have won all ten matches since
Eddie Jones took over as head coach, and this latest victory saw them score 23
unanswered points in a period either side of half-time between the 34th
and 49th minutes. Courtney Lawes, winning his 50th cap,
was one of four England try scorers. Both Lawes and his second row partner Joe
Launchbury produced excellent performances, and given that neither would have
been certain to play had it not been for a raft of injuries, their displays may
have given Jones some selection headaches.
Maro Itoje, one of England’s injured forwards, was named
breakthrough player of the year at the World Rugby awards.
As in last year’s World Cup, Scotland went down to Australia
by a single point – 23-22 on this occasion.
Wales stuttered to a 24-20 win over Argentina, but after
last week’s mauling by Australia, they may have been satisfied with any sort of
win.
Given that the match was sandwiched between two encounters
with New Zealand, it was perhaps not surprising that Ireland changed their
entire starting line-up for their match with Canada. The scores were tied at
14-14 late in the first half, before Ireland pulled clear, eventually winning
52-21.
Rugby League
England lost 36-18 to Australia, thus ending their
involvement in the Four Nations. England were competitive in the first half but
were blown away by three unanswered Australian tries in a 12-minute period early
in the second half that gave them a commanding 28-6 lead.
Scotland enjoyed one of their best days to date in
international rugby league as they snatched an 18-18 draw against New Zealand.
Australia and New Zealand will now contest the Four Nations final this weekend.
Tennis
Britain’s Jamie Murray and his
Brazilian doubles partner Bruno Soares won their opening match at the ATP World
Tour Finals in London. The pair are seeded second in the doubles tournament.
Jamie’s brother Andy starts his singles campaign at the tournament later today
(Monday).
Tipster Street.
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