■ CRICKET
Pink ball in Lord’s debut
Members at the traditional home of cricket were treated to the sight of a fluorescent pink ball being smashed across the outfield when the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) beat Scotland in a one-day match at Lord’s on Monday. The pink ball was being used as an experiment to see if it retained its visibility longer than the white version that has become established in one-day games. The MCC, guardians of the laws of the game, will study feedback from the trial and may consider using a pink ball in county fixtures and one-day internationals if the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) agrees. “MCC were tasked with finding a white ball that lasts the course,” the club’s head of cricket John Stephenson told the BBC. “Kookaburra presented me with a luminous pink ball and I thought it had potential. We decided to play various research games this summer and this is the start of it. At the end of the summer we’ll draw some conclusions which I will report to the ECB,” he said. “The first five or 10 overs in the field it was a bit strange, a bit surreal, but after that it was no problem,” former Kent and England spinner Min Patel said.
■ TENNIS
Mardy Fish to skip Beijing
Mardy Fish, who stunned world No. 1 Roger Federer in last month’s ATP final at Indian Wells, will join Andy Roddick in skipping the Beijing Olympics for a US Open tuneup event. Fish, a silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, on Monday committed to the ATP Washington Classic, which will be played from Aug. 9 to Aug. 17 opposite the Olympic men’s tennis tournament. Roddick had already said he would defend his title at Washington rather than represent the US at Beijing because it would offer a better preparation for the US Open, which begins eight days after Washington’s final. Fish, ranked 42nd overall, is the third-ranked US player on the ATP Tour behind sixth-ranked Roddick and eighth-rated James Blake.
■ ICE HOCKEY
Revelers torch police cars
At least three police cars were set on fire in downtown Montreal on Monday night after the Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of their playoff series. Cable news channel LCN caught images of the destructive celebration from a camera in a helicopter. People could be seen smashing a police car before it was set ablaze. Montreal police spokeswoman Annie Lemieux said in a statement on the department’s voicemail that at least three police cars had been set on fire a few blocks away from the Bell Center, where the Canadiens beat the Bruins 5-0. “Many arrests have been made. Fortunately, no one seems to have been seriously injured so far,” Lemieux said.
■ RUGBY UNION
Chavhanga, Moller injured
Former Springboks winger Tonderai Chavhanga and rising prop JD Moller will miss the rest of the Super 14 regular season just as the Stormers’ playoffs bid is heating up. It was confirmed on Monday that Chavhanga suffered a hamstring injury and Moller dislocated his shoulder in the 20-12 win over the Wellington Hurricanes on Saturday at Newlands. Chavhanga will be out for at least four weeks and Moller will miss three to four months, Stormers media manager Frikkie Erasmus said. “It is a huge setback, but we have to deal with it,” Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus said. “The nice thing about it is that Tondi set a high standard ... Now the challenge is there for the rest of the guys to prove themselves.”
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
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