Australia coach Justin Langer said there might come a time when Steve Smith has to wear a neck guard on his helmet — whether he likes it or not — after the star batsman was felled on Saturday by a bouncer in the second Ashes Test against England at Lord’s.
Smith had made 80 on the fourth day when he was struck by a short ball from fast bowler Jofra Archer — timed at 148.7kph — on an unprotected part of his neck.
Smith, who fell to the ground, retired hurt, but after just 46 minutes away, he returned at the fall of the next wicket, before he was leg before wicket to Chris Woakes for 92.
That dismissal denied Smith his third hundred in as many Ashes innings after he marked his comeback Test following a 12-month ball-tampering ban, with scores of 144 and 142 in Australia’s 251-run win at Edgbaston.
Significantly, Smith was wearing a helmet without the additional stem guard introduced following the death of Phillip Hughes, after his former Australia teammate was hit by a bouncer in a 2014 domestic Sheffield Shield match in Sydney.
“He [Smith] just doesn’t feel right [wearing a stem guard],” Langer said. “I know they came in after the tragedy of Hughesy. He might rethink it now after seeing what happened today, but you’d have to ask him that. At the moment, the players have a choice and I wouldn’t be surprised if they become mandatory in the future.”
SRI LANKA VS NZ
AFP, GALLE, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka yesterday chased down a target of 268 for the loss of just four wickets to win the first Test against New Zealand at Galle and take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Captain Dimuth Karunaratne posted his ninth Test hundred as he scored 122 in a key opening partnership of 161 runs with Lahiru Thirimanne, who made 64, as Sri Lanka collected their first points of the World Test Championship.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite