Latest - England broke their own world record for the highest team total in one-day international (ODI) history after they smashed 498-4 in 50 overs against a hapless Netherlands side to win a one-sided contest by 232 runs in Amstelveen.
Jos Buttler Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Phil Salt notched up centuries while Liam Livingstone walked into bat in the 45th over and scored England's fastest ODI fifty as they eclipsed their previous record of 481 against Australia in 2018.
Malan (125) and Salt (122) laid the foundation for England's record score with a 222-run partnership before Buttler (162 not out off 70 balls) came in and accelerated the scoring in what was a brutal onslaught on the Dutch bowlers.
Buttler, who top scored in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season with 863 runs, continued where he left off, smashing seven fours and clearing the ropes 14 times after he was let off twice by poor Dutch fielding early in his innings.
Buttler brought up his century in just 47 balls, the second-fastest in England history and one ball shy of his own record.
Needing to score at an eye-watering 10 per over to win, the Dutch side barely managed to score at half the required run rate before they were bowled out for 266, with Moeen Ali picking up three wickets.
- Reuters
SvG signs on for Far North Rally
Not content with his considerable lead in the 2022 Supercars Championship, nor his fifth in class finish at the Le Mans 24 Hour race last weekend, 2020 Bathurst winner Shane van Gisbergen has announced he is entering the Far North Rally.
Shane van Gisbergen Photo: EDGE
This is not van Gisbergen's first time on the gravel. He finished 15th overall and first two-wheel drive at the City of Auckland Rally in 2020 driving his father's Ford Escort and followed up the next day by winning the inaugural Battle of Jack's Ridge in the Ralliart NZ Mitsubishi Mirage AP4.
A second overall at the National Capital Rally in Australia earlier this year was van Gisbergen's first rally in the Race Torque Skoda Fabia R5 that he will be driving at Far North Rally on 2 July.
These successes have rekindled a strong interest in rallying that developed in his early years watching his father Robert, an accomplished rally driver in his own right.
van Gisbergen is using this rally as a chance to get more comfortable in the Skoda and improve his rally communications process with Australian co-driver Glen Weston.
The Far North Rally regulations do not allow reconnaissance but uses pre-prepared computer-generated safety notes that give crews information on every corner and straight along the 150 kilometres of special stages.
The Far North Rally will no doubt help van Gisbergen to prepare for his WRC debut at Repco Rally New Zealand starting 29 September in Auckland.
India's Dinesh Karthik's late fireworks send South Africa series to decider
Experienced India batter Dinesh Karthik smashed a maiden fifty in Twenty20 internationals to help set up the hosts' 82-run victory over South Africa at Rajkot and send the five-match series into a decider.
The 37-year-old Karthik, who played the team's first T20 international against the same opponents in 2006, smashed 55 from 27 deliveries to produce late fireworks as India posted 169-6 in their 20 overs.
South Africa, who won the opening two matches of the series, got off to a horrible start in their chase when captain and opener Temba Bavuma retired hurt after suffering blows to his hand and body.
Batting mainstay Quinton de Kock, who returned to the side after missing the last two matches with injury, departed soon after when he was run out -- leaving South Africa a mountain too steep to climb.
The touring side managed to reach only 87 for nine in 16.5 overs with Bavuma not returning to bat.
The sides will next head to Bengaluru for the deciding fifth T20 on Sunday.
India fast bowler Avesh Khan was the most successful with the ball for the hosts, making full use of the bounce on offer from the pitch to pick up 4-18.
- Reuters
WADA completes dark web investigation
The dark web is a bazaar for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) but is not a market place currently frequented by elite athletes, concluded the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following a nearly year-long investigation.
Having monitored the sales activity of target dark web platforms during a 10-month period WADA's Intelligence and Investigations department found purchasing drugs there presented significant risk.
These risks were heightened for elite or professional athletes, with many products inaccurately labelled containing concentrations less or more than advertised.
The Project Team did identify a group of dark web suppliers who specifically referenced elite athletes as clientele and a supposed ability to evade anti-doping detection.
Alarmingly, one substance obtained from an underground lab claimed to be new and capable of evading detection.
WADA is currently testing the substance trying to establish if it does qualify as a banned performance-enchancing substance.
"I am relieved it does not have the attraction that we were assuming at the beginning," Gunter Younger, WADA's Intelligence and Investigations director said.
"There were these rumours that elite athletes used the dark web to purchase PEDs, so we thought let's go into the dark web, pretend to be an athlete and find out whether it is easy to get the substances.
Investigators found that the vast majority of those wading into the murky waters of the dark web in search of PEDs were mostly body builders and amateur athletes with the bulk of products coming from illicit pharmaceutical laboratories and homebrewers primarily in Asia.
- Reuters