County cricket talking points: it’s tight at the top in both divisions | County Championship

Ball one: oh, Mr Porter! In a round short on thrills, there was a sensational fourth morning at Chelmsford, where Worcestershire’s Ethan Brookes and Essex’s Jamie Porter were both cast in the role of a hero who wasn’t quite – for different reasons. It started innocuously enough with the assumption that Paul Walter’s century, supplemented … Read more

‘A total embarrassment’: Jamie Vardy apologises for Leicester’s awful season | Jamie Vardy

Jamie Vardy has apologised to Leicester’s fans for the club’s relegation and labelled his own season as a “total embarrassment”. Leicester were relegated on Sunday with five games of the Premier League campaign to play after defeat at home to Liverpool. That loss saw Leicester slump to a record ninth successive top-flight home defeat without … Read more

Just for kicks, the top 10 rugby union sharp shooters of the past 30 years | Rugby union

It is approaching that time of year. Big games hinging on increasingly slim margins, the pressure on goal-kickers intense. Check out Marcus Smith’s conversion attempt after Cadan Murley’s try for Harlequins against Sale on Saturday. The ball struck the right post, the crossbar, the left post and then the crossbar again in a classic “What … Read more

Harrison admits he misjudged Dončić’s popularity with fans before Lakers trade | Luka Dončić

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison says he miscalculated the depth of love his club’s fans had for Luka Dončić before the controversial trade that sent the star to the Los Angeles Lakers. But, despite the persistent calls from fans for Harrison to be fired in the months since the deal, he still believes it … Read more

Wests Tigers and Lachlan Galvin: a modern-day NRL saga for the social media age | NRL

The future of 19-year-old playmaker Lachlan Galvin may be its catalyst, but rugby league’s latest tug-of-war is a very contemporary NRL saga. It has been enriched this week by surprises, including the presence of a security guard at a local footy ground, an unusual intervention at a press conference by the Wests Tigers chief executive, … Read more