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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Despite a driving rain on Sunday and a final-round 77, Graeme McDowell, who grew up next door to Royal Portrush at Rathmore Golf Club, wasted no time starting the call for The Open’s return to this seaside vacation village.

This year’s championship was the first played in Northern Ireland since 1951 thanks in large part to the subtle lobbying of McDowell and fellow Northern Irishmen Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke. Following what has been, by all accounts, a successful week, McDowell began what promises to be a steady drumbeat for a return.

“With the financial commitment that Portrush have made for this, for it to get the recognition and then get back here soon, to keep that Portrush train rolling, it would be huge,” he said. “If we have to wait another 10 years, the icing might rub off between now and then. People might forget a little bit. Hopefully we can get back soon.”

McDowell said he’s heard “whispers” that The Open could return to Royal Portrush in five years and the current lineup of championship venues goes through 2022 at Hoylake, which could make a 2024 return a possibility.

Watch: Sh*nk! Stenson snaps club over knee

Published in Golf
Sunday, 21 July 2019 05:17

Luckily, Henrik Stenson only had one hole to go in his Open Championship when his frustration met one of his golf clubs. 

Stenson was in the middle of the fairway on No. 17 with 143 yards to the green when he hit a textbook shank and yelled ‘fore right!’ before snapping his steel-shafted iron over his knee.

Full-field scores from the 148th Open Championship

Full coverage of the 148th Open Championship

He salvaged a bogey on the hole which got him to 3 over for the round, 2 under for the tournament. 

This is the second club-snap of the year, as you may remember when Patrick Reed went full Bo Jackson on No. 18 at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. 

PORTURSH, Northern Ireland — On the strength of a final-round 72 Sunday, the Republic of Ireland’s Shane Lowry won the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush in a six-shot romp over runner-up Tommy Fleetwood.

The win is the first major championship for the 32-year-old, who burst onto the professional scene a decade ago with a win at 2009 Irish Open as a 22-year-old amateur.

Ten years later, Lowry strode up the 18th fairway at Portrush to a raucous ovation, as the weather-braving crowd hailed an Irish Champion Golfer of the Year in only the second-ever playing of The Open on the Emerald Isle.

Four clear of Fleetwood and six clear of the rest of the field to start the day, Lowry got off to a shaky start, holing a 10-footer to an opening bogey. He rebounded with birdies at Nos. 4, 5 and 7, and bogeys at Nos. 8 and 9 saw him make the turn in even-par 36, ahead by 5.

Following dropped shots at Nos. 12 and 14, Lowry put a bow on the championship with a birdie putt and a clenched fist at 15. The celebration was in full force a hole later, with Lowry flanked by fans on winding walk from the 16th green to 17th tee, as Calamity gave way to coronation.

When he arrived at the 18th, he was surrounded by fans who had been serenading him since Saturday night. But this time, there was no doubt remaining. The engraver had already etched Lowry’s name on the claret jug.

He pulled iron off the tee and fist pumped his way down the fairway to yet more song.  On his way to the green, he hugged his caddie, removed his cap, threw his hands in the air, and let the Portrush crowd pile in behind him, carrying him home to the sounds of Ole, Ole, Ole. Two putts later, it was over.

Lowry’s six-shot margin of victory was the largest for an Open champion since Louis Oosthuizen won by seven at St. Andrews in 2010.

This win officially puts to bed Lowry’s final-round collapse from the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, where he likewise staked himself to a four-shot, 54-hole lead. That Sunday, a closing 76 left him three shots behind Dustin Johnson, in a three-way tie for second.

Lowry was asked to address that disappointment both Friday and Saturday here at Portrush, admitting that it took him a long time to process and move past the sting of a forfeiting a major lead. Once again sitting on a four-shot cushion Saturday night, Lowry displayed humor and candor. He said that while it would mean a lot to win this first major, and while it would mean even more to win this major at this golf course, he has more important concerns these days, namely his wife, Wendy, and two-year-old daughter, Iris.

“At Abu Dhabi (where he won) at the start of this year, four ahead going into the final round, I said to my wife, just have her there waiting for me when I finish, because no matter what happens I'm going to be either standing there with the trophy or it's going to be a disappointing day,” Lowry detailed Saturday night. “And it's going to be the same thing tomorrow.”

Almost 24 hours later, there were Wendy and Iris, hugging Lowry on the 72nd green and walking him to the scoring trailer. On the way, he went through a lengthy receiving line that included Portrush natives Graeme McDowell and Ricky Elliott (Brooks Koepka's caddie), and Padraig Harrington.

Lowry is just the second player from the Republic of Ireland to win The Open, joining Harrington, who went back to back in 2007 and 2008. This is the fifth win for a player from Ireland in the last 12 years, following the Republic’s Harrington and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke (2011) and Rory McIlroy (2014). Northern Ireland’s Fred Daly became the first Irishman to claim the claret jug in 1947.

After nearly seven decades of waiting, Ireland’s first Open in 68 years ended with an Irish champion.

Harry Kane upstaged Cristiano Ronaldo in Singapore with a stunning injury-time goal from the halfway line to seal a 3-2 win for Tottenham against Juventus in the International Champions Cup.

Kane, a second-half substitute, beat Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with a first-time strike with his right foot after latching onto a pass from Lucas Moura, who had earlier made it 2-2 with a goal to cancel out Ronaldo's close range effort which had made it 2-1 to the Italian champions.

- International Champions Cup: All you need to know
- Full International Champions Cup daily fixture schedule
- ICC: News and coverage

"It's probably one of the best goals in my career," Kane said. "I saw the keeper was quite far off his a few times, so I thought I would take the chance if I had the opportunity. I saw him off his line and fortunately it went in."

Spurs had taken the lead in sweltering temperatures in Singapore, with both teams stopping for three minute drinks breaks in each half, following Erik Lamela's opener.

Gonzalo Higuain levelled for Juventus in the second-half before Ronaldo brought the crowd to its feet with his goal before being replaced after an hour of his first preseason outing.

Juventus, having only arrived in South East Asia on Saturday afternoon, were surprisingly competitive against a Spurs side that have been back in preseason for a week longer than Maurizio Sarri's team.

The game also saw £67.5 million new arrival Matthijs de Ligt make his Juventus debut following his move from Ajax, but Kane's late strike ensured that the Dutchman suffered stoppage time defeat against Spurs for the second time in three months having also been on the wrong end of a 3-2 loss in the Champions League semifinal second-leg against Mauricio Pochettino's team for Ajax.

Kent 146 for 8 (Blake 57*) beat Hampshire 145 for 5 (Vince 51) by two wickets

Alex Blake dragged Kent Spitfires to an incredible two-wicket Vitality Blast victory over Hampshire to replicate his 2015 heroics.

Big-hitting Blake powered 57 off 38 balls to maintain the Spitfires' 100 per cent record in the competition, having come to the crease with his side in dire straits.

Four years ago, Blake left the Ageas Bowl open-mouthed as he crashed 71 in 30 balls, having arrived at the crease at 70 for 5 chasing 178.

On this occasion, the 30-year-old walked out at 41 for 4, still requiring 105, and took Kent over the line by striking back-to-back sixes from the final Chris Wood over to secure two points from a tight encounter with a ball to spare.

"I obviously have good memories here like that game in 2015 and like playing here," said Blake. "David Griffiths, who was a Kent and Hampshire player, sent me a [photo] of after the 2015 game when we were in the changing room with champagne earlier, and said 'same again today' which jogged my memory.

"I was struggling against the spin but we were saying out there that if we could set it up towards the end then you never know if you could sneak over the line. You are never out of the game, and I have the confidence that I can clear the ropes."

After Hampshire had scored a par 145 from their overs, Kent lost stand-in captain Daniel Bell-Drummond to the fifth ball of the reply when he chopped Chris Wood behind.

Ollie Robinson clubbed Liam Dawson, returning after being unused in England's World Cup campaign, over the midwicket boundary but only picked out Aneurin Donald when attempting an action replay.

The Spitfires were then stunned to 32 for three when overseas star Mohammad Nabi mistimed a pull off Kyle Abbott to Vince at mid-off.

Abbott, who only played three times in last season's Blast, picked up a quick-fire second when Zak Crawley leading edged to mid-on.

The slide continued when Sean Dickson was stumped off Mason Crane, although Blake powered the legspinner to two straight sixes to keep the run-rate manageable.

At the other end, Dawson pinned Jordan Cox lbw, Abbott bowled Adam Milne, Chris Morris caught and bowled Hardus Vijoen but Blake was still there.

And with 16 needed from the last over Hampshire were still favourites.

But two twos and a pair of enormous straight sixes sent Blake running around in delight.

Earlier, Hampshire elected to bat first in front of the Ageas Bowl's highest domestic crowd for two years, with around 10,000 packing the ground including thousands of youngsters on All Stars Day.

They weren't treated to an electric start from Rilee Rossouw and Aneurin Donald as the former was dropped at midwicket.

Donald did smash Hampshire's first maximum of the competition, over fine leg, but departed next ball when he skied straight up in the air, before Rossouw nicked off.

James Vince proved his hangover had abated a week after the thrilling World Cup final at Lord's when he drove and then cut his first two deliveries the boundary.

The Hampshire skipper then dispatched two sixes off an Imran Qayyum over as he reached 29th T20 fifty in 33 balls.

But two balls later he handed Nabi a caught and bowled which the hosts failed to recover from.

Fred Klaassen, who dismissed James Fuller and Sam Northeast in consecutive balls, and Viljoen ended with figures of two for 27 and two for 20 respectively as Kent strangled Hampshire - with only 42 runs coming in the last six-and-a-half overs.

The 3D sequels aren't over yet. Among the clarifications India's chief selector MSK Prasad made on Sunday were a couple related to World Cup selections. Prasad stressed the decision to leave out Ambati Rayudu did not have any bias. He also explained why Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal had been picked as replacements for the injured Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay Shankar respectively, and admitted the choices may have seemed "confusing" to people.

The Rayudu riddle
The World Cup final hangover may be wearing off but Indian cricket's obsession with a discarded No. 4 is not. When India's World Cup squad was announced in April, Rayudu had been left out in favour of Vijay Shankar, with Prasad saying the latter brought "three dimensions" to the side. A day after the announcement, Rayudu in a not-so-cryptic tweet said: "Just ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the World Cup." It was followed by a winking and a smiling emoji. On Sunday, while announcing India's squads for the West Indies tour, Prasad said he had "really enjoyed" that tweet. "Frankly speaking, it was a lovely tweet, I really enjoyed it. Seriously. It was a very timely one, very sarcastic. it was fantastic one. I don't know how it struck him."

He also addressed the "emotional" side of Rayudu's decision to retire from all forms of cricket earlier this month. Although he had been marked as India's No. 4 by Virat Kohli last year, the selectors didn't pick him to go to England even after Vijay Shankar was injured and the team needed replacements. Prasad insisted there was no bias in that decision, and added that his committee had backed Rayudu previously.

"First of all, how much emotions have gone through anybody, the same emotions also have gone through the selection committee," Prasad said on Sunday. "When we pick any player and he does well, we feel so happy for him. Similarly, when someone, out of emotions, goes out in this way, selection committee members also feel for it.

"But, having said that, with regard to the decision that was taken, it was devoid of any bias or any favouritism. From the beginning, I have been telling why we have picked Vijay Shankar, why we have picked Rishabh Pant or Mayank Agarwal. Somewhere, it is definitely related to Rayudu's case also. There's no second thought, there's nothing against that.

"I will give you a small example on Rayudu. When Rayudu was picked on the basis of the 2017-18 T20 performance, we picked him in the one-day side, there was a lot of criticism but we had some thoughts about him. Subsequently, when he failed a fitness test, this selection committee backed him and we put him through a fitness programme for a month, and we ensured that he comes back fit and comes into the side. Once he came into the side we backed him, but due to certain permutations and combinations of the side, we couldn't pick him. That doesn't make this selection committee or me, in person, biased.

"I hope you will understand that there was a certain programme that was set to see that Rayudu should come into the side. There's nothing that we did against any particular person. So how much Rayudu is emotional, we are also emotional. We as ex-cricketers also feel for him. That's it, that's what I can say."

Picking Pant for Dhawan, Agarwal for Vijay Shankar

When an inexperienced middle-order batsman replaced an injured opener, and then an uncapped opener took an injured allrounder's place in India's World Cup squad, it "baffled" several fans and experts, including Sunil Gavaskar. After the side's semi-final loss to New Zealand, Gavaskar said a batsman like Rayudu should have been in the squad, since he was among the standbys, and could have handled the crisis of being 24 for 4 in a semi-final better.

"It is not the selection committee's decision. It is the team management which has been asking these things," Gavaskar had said. "We are not saying you are wrong but at the moment what we are seeing didn't work out, so we need to know."

Prasad addressed these issues on Sunday, clarifying that Pant and Agarwal had been picked on requests made by the team management.

"When Shikhar Dhawan got injured, we had a third opener in KL Rahul. At that juncture, after those two-three matches, we didn't have a left-hander at the top," Prasad explained. "Since KL Rahul was going to open, the team management requested for a left-hander and we had no choice other than Pant. We were very clear about that. We know what he is capable of. That's the reason why we had to bring in a left-hander, which actually confused many people thinking why a middle-order batsman has been picked for an opener.

"When Vijay Shankar was injured, again a middle-order player was injured, and an opener was brought in. In a game against England, when KL Rahul was trying for a catch, he had a big fall on the boundary line and he didn't field for the rest of the innings. There was a medical emergency at that stage whether he will be continuing or not. There was so much of a worry factor. At that juncture, a written communication was given to us that we need a back-up opener.

"We looked at some of the openers. Some were not in form, the others were injured. That is why we went for Mayank Agarwal. So that is very clear, no confusion on this. I'm sure by the end of the day all these speculations will be clear."

Australia's Test captain Tim Paine believes that the Newlands scandal and its aftermath served to end what had been a rapidly escalating arms race among international teams in finding methods for ever more rapid and frequent reverse swing - a race that resulted in heavy penalties for Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft when caught in the act.

In a frank admission ahead of the 2019 Ashes series, Paine suggested that numerous international teams had got caught into a cycle of trying to outdo one another in terms of generating reverse swing by different means of looking after the ball, without sufficient consequences for transgressing.

After Cricket Australia responded to the Newlands scandal and subsequent attempted cover-up by banning Smith and Warner for 12 months each and Bancroft for nine months, the ICC followed up by introducing far heavier penalties than had previously been in place for ball tampering. A suspension of up to six Tests or 12 ODIs is now in place, relative to the eight Test matches that Smith and Warner were forced to miss due to their bans under the CA code of conduct, and Paine said the traumas of South Africa had served to see that this area of the game is "cleaned up".

"I think teams are always looking at ways to get the ball to reverse swing," Paine told cricket.com.au. "Whether that's throwing it into [the dirt], or using their fingers to work on the quarter seam, or in England for years it's been talked about mints being used [to impart sheen through players' saliva] - there's always something.

"The worrying trend was that teams were starting to try more and more methods, and getting more adventurous. So the thing I hope will come out of South Africa is that it will be cleaned up, and it will be a more level playing field rather than teams trying to push the boundaries and develop a mentality of 'they're doing this, so we'll try this' and 'they do that, so we'll try it too'. I think for too long, it was allowed."

Australia's ultimate admission that Bancroft had attempted to change the ball's condition by using sandpaper had followed a period where increasingly extravagant reverse swing had been gained by numerous teams in a short space of time, a constant source of speculation and suspicion among opponents as to how such movement was being achieved. The ICC's change in penalties at last year's annual conference reflected widespread acknowledgement that it was not just a problem limited to Australia but a broader pattern of sharp practice.

"I could very easily be in England this summer, but working for Kookaburra, and getting the bats ready for the players" Tim Paine

Paine, who was thrust into the Australian captaincy by Newlands, has also admitted that he was close to retiring from the game for good until a phone call to Ricky Ponting in 2017 led to a longer deal with Tasmania that meant he was available when the national selectors came calling ahead of that year's home Ashes series.

"I had only been offered a one-year contract with Tasmania, which I felt didn't offer me enough security, and so I simply couldn't turn down the chance to start a new career," Paine told foxsports.com.au. "I still loved the game, but for the sake of my family I believed I had to make a sensible decision. It just felt like my time in the game had come to a natural end.

"I phoned Ricky Ponting, who had made the same move [from Hobart to Melbourne] several years earlier. 'Hi mate, could you keep an eye out for me and see if there are any houses in Brighton up for sale?' I asked him. I was sort of joking because I couldn't afford to live in Ricky's neighbourhood in Melbourne, but I thought he could give me some advice about where else was good in the city.

"Ricky was really confused: 'I don't understand. What on earth are you talking about?' he said. I explained my situation, and how I only had a one-year offer from Tasmania, and planned to retire from cricket and take this new job. He listened and just said, 'Just wait, let me make some calls.' Within a few days I had an improved two-year deal with Tasmania, and that changed everything so I decided to keep playing. Things could have been very different if I hadn't made that call to Ricky."

In imparting significant cultural change on the Australian team, Paine has been given perspective by the fact he rose to the captaincy from a position where he could quite easily have been finished with the game.

"I could very easily be in England this summer, but working for Kookaburra, and getting the bats ready for the players, but instead I am captaining them in the Ashes. It feels amazing to say that, and this is all like a dream for me," he said. "I have been dreaming, literally dreaming about this moment since I was a kid. Even during the last Ashes series in Australia, I can remember winning it in Perth, and thinking, 'Imagine going to England in 2019 and trying to win it there too?' I didn't know if I would still be playing, and I would be 34, so probably no chance, but here I am.

"Even now when I am just at home doing regular things with the kids I think to myself, 'Wow I am Australian Test captain' and I have a laugh to myself and say, 'Can you believe this?' Or I can be watching the news or listening to the radio and someone will say 'Australian captain Tim Paine…' and I will just break out in a smile. I love it, and still can't believe it."

The USA men's national team players are starting to reap the rewards of gaining ODI status, with a total of 17 players awarded central contracts through funding supplied by the recent investment deal signed with American Cricket Enterprises. However, it has also sparked a tipping point in the club v country debate as some have pulled out of the Global T20 Canada after signing a USA Cricket retainer, while others have opted to forgo a central contract to keep their options open for franchise cricket.

According to multiple ESPNcricinfo sources, two key USA players have turned down central contracts: Ali Khan and Hayden Walsh Jr. They are the only two USA players who were drafted in both the Global T20 Canada - where they will be teammates at Vancouver Knights - and in the Caribbean Premier League. Ali Khan is returning to Trinbago Knight Riders while Walsh Jr. has switched from St Kitts & Nevis Patriots to Barbados Tridents for the 2019 season. Accepting a USA contract would have opened up the possibility that they would be denied No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to participate in these, and other, T20 leagues. However, both Ali Khan and Walsh Jr can play for USA on a match-fee basis, even though they chose not to accept a contract.

Conversely, five USA players have received one-year central contracts while 12 others have received three-month deals. The five players to secure one-year deals are batsmen Steven Taylor, Xavier Marshall, Monank Patel and Aaron Jones, and medium pacer Jessy Singh. Both Taylor and Jones had recently lost their central contracts with Jamaica and Barbados respectively in the Cricket West Indies Professional Cricket League after not being retained in April's PCL draft.

However, USA captain Saurabh Netravalkar and vice-captain Jaskaran Malhotra were not given one-year deals. Instead, they have been given three-month contracts along with the majority of those who made up USA's squad from WCL Division Two in Namibia this past April that secured ODI status for the country through 2022. The only player not offered a contract from that squad was Roy Silva, the 39-year-old allrounder.

Consequently it means that Taylor, Singh and Timil Patel have withdrawn from the Global T20 Canada which starts on July 25 in Brampton, Ontario. It represents a shift in priorities for Taylor, who in the summer of 2015 had withdrawn from USA's squad for the T20 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland to take up a rookie contract with Barbados Tridents and had stated ambitions to one day represent West Indies.

Two other USA players taken in the Global T20 Canada, fast bowler Kyle Phillip and batsman Sunny Sohal, were not offered USA Cricket contracts and have remained in the tournament. The availability of Netravalkar, Marshall and Jones for the CPL - drafted by Guyana Amazon Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots respectively - is unclear.

Aside from that group, six other players have been given three-month contracts by USA Cricket in the buildup to the T20 World Cup Qualifying. They are former South African international Rusty Theron, former USA vice-captain Timroy Allen, Hampshire medium pace allrounder Ian Holland, former Guyana Under-19 batsman Akshay Homraj, left-arm spinning allrounder Nisarg Patel and batsman Sagar Patel.

The three-month contracts are dated to begin on July 22 when all contracted players will fly to Los Angeles for the start of a three-week training camp at Woodley Park, the site of USA squad trials that were held last month. The training camp is in preparation for the next round of 2020 T20 World Cup Qualifying, when USA travels to Bermuda to take on the host side, Canada and Cayman Islands in a double round-robin event from August 18-25. The top two teams advance to the global T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE from October 11 to November 4.

Following the conclusion of the qualifier in Bermuda, USA's next action is their first home ODIs against Namibia and Papua New Guinea from September 7 to 14.

The series was originally announced by the ICC in May to be hosted at Church Street Park in the Raleigh, North Carolina suburb of Morrisville. But USA Cricket officials have confirmed that Raleigh will no longer host the matches. A new turf facility paid for by ACE funding which is nearing completion in the Silicon Valley town of Morgan Hill, California, is a leading candidate. If the facility does not receive clearance from the ICC in time, then Woodley Park in Los Angeles is the most likely alternative. The most recent international cricket to take place at Woodley was in November 2016 when USA hosted WCL Division Four. ACE hired a full-time groundsman for Woodley Park in June, brought in from India, to get the pitches at the facility back into suitable condition.

After the completion of USA's home ODIs in September, all USA contracted players who are not part of CPL squads are expected to be flown to Bangalore for another three-week camp at India's National Cricket Academy. The camp will serve as their final preparation for the T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE in October.

USA Cricket 12-month contracts: Aaron Jones, Xavier Marshall, Monank Patel, Jessy Singh, Steven Taylor.

USA Cricket three-month contracts: Timroy Allen, Karima Gore, Ian Holland, Akshay Homraj, Elmore Hutchinson, Nosthush Kenjige, Jaskaran Malhotra, Saurabh Netravalkar, Nisarg Patel, Sagar Patel, Timil Patel, Rusty Theron.

Australia Women 420 for 9 dec (Mooney 51) and 230 for 7 (Perry 76*) drew with England Women 275 for 9 dec (Sciver 88, Jones 64, Molineux 4-95)

As Australia drew their Test with England to retain the Ashes, it was only fitting that Ellyse Perry should still be at the crease late on the final day at Taunton.

Perry's performances have been a shining light in this series, not least in the Test, which ended in the non-defeat the tourists needed after she added an unbeaten 76 to her 116 in the first innings.

Almost as appropriate was the fact Sophie Molineux joined Perry until shortly before the captains shook hands on the draw when Australia lost the wicket of Ashleigh Gardner to close with a lead of 335 runs, which demonstrated their dominance of the match, despite the result. Spinning all-rounder Molineux made a stellar debut in the long format, claiming four wickets to destroy England's hopes of reviving the match after a severely rain-affected second day, and then put on 41 runs in a 50-plus partnership with Perry.

On a pitch offering little to anyone, the draw gave Australia eight points to England's two - they split the four points on offer in the Test - to retain the trophy with six points left to be claimed from the upcoming three T20s.

It kept alive Alyssa Healy's bold claim before arriving in England that Australia would not lose a match in the series and breathed life into the debate about whether women should play five-day Tests. In fact, it raised many questions. Should Australia have been more attacking and pressed for a result, given England's declaration before lunch while still trailing by 145? Should the women's game have pitches prepared specifically to promote attacking cricket? Or did the Australians simply do what they needed to do to achieve the result they came for - to win the Ashes.

Once the follow-on had been avoided, attention turned to a possible England declaration and, when Jess Jonassen trapped Laura Marsh plumb lbw attempting to sweep for her second wicket of the day - and the innings - then Heather Knight made the call to give her team a crack at the Australian batsmen before lunch.

Any sense of damned if she did and damned if she didn't over denying last batsman Kirstie Gordon the chance to have a swing with Sophie Ecclestone needed to be tempered by the realisation that England's hopes of winning the match had been placed in peril long before.

Similarly Australia were faced with the dilemma of whether to put the match too far beyond doubt to be interesting, or press for victory and, incidentally, an exciting end to the Test.

As it happened, two early wickets to Marsh forced Australia to put the shutters up - if they hadn't already - after Ecclestone had begun for England in fine fashion, threatening with every ball of the first over - a maiden - to Rachael Haynes, opening the batting in place of Nicole Bolton, who had injured her thumb while fielding.

Lunch was taken after five overs, by which time Haynes was still not off the mark after facing 15 balls and Healy was not out 13 off 15. Marsh came into the attack at the resumption and struck with her second and sixth deliveries, bowling Healy through the gate with a gem that angled across the right-hander, and then trapping Haynes lbw.

At 15 for 2, Meg Lanning and Perry dug in, building a 48-run partnership before Lanning's remarkable dismissal. Replacing Marsh, debutante spinner Gordon struck in her first over with a full toss which Lanning looked to punish on the on-side but managed to pick out Georgia Elwiss at cover, much to the batsman's disbelief and, possibly, the bowler's as well.

Ecclestone was rewarded when Beth Mooney tried to slog her over mid-wicket and found a cat-like Tammy Beaumont pouncing on the catch at short leg. By that time, Australia had extended their lead to 250 and Perry had a half-century in sight.

Perry, carrying a leg-muscle complaint and who benefited from a favourable but apparently errant lbw decision when on 20, brought up her fifty with a four off Katherine Brunt, who did not return from tea after injuring her right arm while fielding late in the second session. Perry did emerge, with the bat, alongside Jonassen after the break, squashing any hopes of a declaration.

Instead, the height of excitement through the final session was watching Player of the Match Perry in action again, and seeing what Molineux could do with the bat. Gardner also chimed in with the only six of the match before she was out for 7. The only other action of note, and it was certainly not positive, was seeing England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor struck on the shoulder by an Anya Shrubsole delivery to Perry that spat up off a full length. Taylor remained behind the stumps for some time before leaving the field for treatment, replaced by Amy Jones.

Earlier, Jonassen had claimed the wicket of Natalie Sciver, upon whom England's hopes had fallen late on day three, only growing as she neared her ton. But Sciver added only 26 runs to her overnight score before she was out for 88 chopping on.

Molineux had claimed the first wicket of the day when she tempted Shrubsole to try and hit her over the leg side, only to find herself out of her ground for a stumping by Healy. That gave Molineux match figures of 4 for 95.

Ireland's Lowry breezes to victory at The Open

Published in Breaking News
Sunday, 21 July 2019 11:12

Shane Lowry has won The Open for his first major title.

The Irishman held on through a wet and windy day at Royal Portrush to beat Tommy Fleetwood by 6 strokes.

Lowry, 32, entered the day with a 4-stroke lead. He shot 1-over 72 and finished with a 15-under 269 total.

It was the second time Lowry went into the final round of a major with a 4-stroke lead, but he ended up in a tie for second at the 2016 U.S. Open after shooting a 6-over 76.

There was never any major scare on Sunday at the first Open in Northern Ireland since 1951. Fleetwood got within 3 strokes after the first hole but never got any closer, finishing with a 3-over 74.

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Spurs say Vassell (foot) out until at least Nov. 1

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EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsSan Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell will miss the start of the up...

Sources: Pistons owner set to buy Chargers stake

Sources: Pistons owner set to buy Chargers stake

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsLOS ANGELES -- Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores has agreed to purcha...

Baseball

Unsettled playoff races? Will the White Sox ever lose again?! What to watch in MLB's final weekend

Unsettled playoff races? Will the White Sox ever lose again?! What to watch in MLB's final weekend

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsWe head into the final weekend of the 2024 MLB regular season -- wh...

Dodgers wrap up 11th NL West title in 12 years

Dodgers wrap up 11th NL West title in 12 years

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsLOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League West...

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    Nactional Football Leagues
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    Federation Internationale de Speedball

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