As we get further into the summer, sporting fixtures and events come at you thick and fast, especially with the rescheduled Euros being held this year.
Here we take a look back at what’s gone on in the world of sport in past the week.
Cricket
In men’s cricket New Zealand, captained by Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field, sending India into bat first. India come up against New Zealand in the first ever Word Test Championship final at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
Image: Lensbug Chandru
Kohli’s men struggled from the off falling to 63-2, however the captain restored some hope for his side with a knock off 44 from 132 before being trapped LBW by Kyle Jameison.
Anjinkya Rahane continued the revival for his side with 49 off 117 but this would be the last of India’s resistance, who finished their innings with only 217.
The aforementioned Jamieson being the pick of the bowlers with a 5 wicket haul.
New Zealand are currently into bat with 43/0, in the final session of the third day, at the time of writing.
The match has already had one day rained off for and several delays for bad light but is due to finish in the next couple of days.
Women’s cricket saw a first test in 7 years for England and India as they played a one off game at the Bristol County Ground.
Captain Heather Knight OBE, won the toss and sent her team into bat first on Wednesday 16.
Knight would have felt her decision was justified as her side finished on 396-9dec. Scores of 35 (63) and 66 (144) from openers Lauren Winfield-Hill and Tammy Beaumont, who was dismissed by a fantastic diving grab from 17-year-old Shafali Verma off the bowling of Sneh Rana, set England a decent platform to work with.
Captain Knight and Nat Sciver put on 95 (175) and 42 (75) each, before a small batting collapse left England in the lurch.
Debutant Sophie Dunkley helped steady the ship, finishing the innings with 74 not out. Added with a quickfire t20 style 47 off 33 from number 10 batter Anya Shrubsole, England found themselves on the front foot and decided to declare.
Indian bowlers Jhulan Goswani and Pooja Vastrakar took one wicket each, as well as Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma taking four and three respectively.
India came out the blocks determined with opening pair Smriti Mandhana (78 off 155) and number one WT20 batter Shafali Verma (96 off 152) putting on a 167 run partnership.
However, India couldn’t build on the foundations set by their openers and slumped to 231 all out. Yorkshirewoman Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole, Nat Sciver and Kate Cross all took one wicket each and Heather Knight took two. Spinner Sophie Ecclestone was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets.
The poor total meant India had to bat again with England enforcing the follow on.
Despite another 4 wickets for Ecclestone helping give a late flicker of hope as the test match went into the final stages, with the hosts reducing India to 199-7. Gritty performances from Sneh Rana (80 from 154) and wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia (44 from 88) helped India close out the match for a draw however, finishing on 344/8.
The entertaining nature has led for calls for women’s test matches to be increased to 5 days, the same as the men’s game.
Yorkshire Vikings enjoyed a successful week in the T20 Vitality Blast as they won two matches in two days.
Tuesday saw an enthralling contest between the White Rose and Leicestershire in a match saw a combined 462 runs scored at Emerald Headingley Stadium, equaling the T20 Blast record. Openers Adam Lyth and Jonny Bairstow hit 51 and 82, with David Willey and Harry Brook also getting in on the action with 44 and 48*. This left the hosts setting 240 to chase, which despite their best efforts, eventually proved too much for Leicestershire as they fell 18 runs short in an entertaining clash that went to the wire.
Image: Mcadge
Wednesday was a more comfortable win for Yorkshire, away to Worcestershire. The Vikings put on 216-6, with a stunning 112 off 52 balls from Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow also shared a record breaking partnership with Tom Kohler-Cadmore who rescued their side from 10-2, putting on 146 inside 12 overs for the third wicket.
Yorkshire wrapped up a comprehensive victory, bowling Worcestershire out for just 122.
The Vikings Friday game against Durham was unfortunately rained off denying them 3 in 3, but at the time of writing they are currently close to victory in today’s fixture against Derbyshire, who they have 94/6, needing 81 more to win off 30 deliveries.
Football: Euro 2020
Moving onto Euros games, an interesting second round of group stage football churned out some surprise results.
In Group A, Italy confirmed qualification by registering a second 3-0 win in two games with a tidy performance against Switzerland and Wales gave themselves a great chance of qualifying for the next round with a 2-0 win over Turkey.
Group B saw Russia bounce back from their loss against Belgium to scrape by Finland 1-0, whereas as Belgium themselves also confirmed qualification, in a comeback 2-1 win over Denmark.
Leeds’ Ezgjan Alioski scored for North Macedonia in their Group C game, but it was not enough as they fell to a 2-1 defeat to Ukraine. Netherlands were the third and final team to secure qualification early as they breezed past a lackluster Austria side 2-0.
Friday saw two draws in Group D, leaving it wide open, as Czech Republic drew 1-1 with Croatia and England were held to a 0-0 stalemate with old rivals Scotland, who were the happier of the two sides with the result.
Sweden secured their first win of the tournament with a 1-0 win over Slovakia to top the group. Spain were held to second successive draw as their match finished 1-1 with Poland, meaning Group E will go right down to wire.
Finally, in Group F, France were stunned by minnows Hungary and had to rely on Antoine Greizman to pull them back from 1-0 down to earn a draw. Portugal managed to shoot themselves in the foot after going 1-0 up to then scoring two own goals as they lost 4-2 in a goalfest to Germany.
