Sports world daily: Broad keeps Ashes Test alive; England, France win in Euro 2024 qualifiers

Stuart Broad’s twin late strikes helped England keep their hopes of winning the first Ashes Test alive. Chasing 281 to win, Australia were reduced to 107-3 with Usman Khawaja unbeaten at 34.

England and France kept their 100% win record in the Euro 2024 qualifiers alive in contrasting fashion on Monday. While England romped to a 7-0 win over North Macedonia, Kylian Mbappe’s penalty helped France beat Greece 1-0.

Venus Williams rolled back the years on Monday as she beat Camila Giorgi in a marathon three-set clash.

Here’s a look at the key stories from international sporting events through the day for June 20, 2023:

Broad keeps England’s hopes alive

England’s Stuart Broad took two late wickets on Monday to pile pressure on Australia as the opening Ashes Test at Edgbaston headed for a dramatic finish.

Australia were making steady progress at 78-1 in pursuit of a victory target of 281 when veteran paceman Broad removed both Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith – the world’s two top-ranked Test batsmen – to leave the Ashes holders 89-3.

At stumps, the world Test champions were 107-3, still needing a further 174 runs to win on Tuesday’s final day.

But Usman Khawaja, who ended his decade-long wait for an Ashes hundred in England with 141 in Australia’s first-innings 386, was still there on 34 not out.

The left-handed opener is now set to become only the second Australian, after Kim Hughes against England at Lord’s in 1980, to bat on all five days of a Test.

Broad said he was optimistic conditions on Tuesday would favour England’s quicks.

Khawaja should have been out to just the fifth ball of the innings when he edged James Anderson but neither wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow or first slip Joe Root moved for the catch.

Together with fellow opener David Warner he then settled in on a pitch previously dubbed “soulless” by Broad.

But the breakthrough England needed came when Warner fell for 36, with Ollie Robinson’s superb seaming delivery taking the outside edge on its way to Bairstow.

Labuschagne, out for a golden duck in the first innings, reverse-swept fours off successive deliveries from off-spinner Moeen Ali.

Broad, however, proved his undoing on 13 when he poked outside off stump and was caught behind.

Smith fell in similar fashion for just six to the raucous delight of the crowd.

Australia sent in Scott Boland rather than specialist batsman Travis Head and the nightwatchman was 13 not out at the close.

Earlier, Australia captain Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon took four wickets each in England’s second-innings 273.

There were times when England looked as if they might build an impregnable lead.

But their desire to bat in the aggressive ‘Bazball’ style that has proved destructive to opponents in a run of 11 wins in 13 Tests cost them several wickets on this occasion.

England were also up against an impressive attack, fast bowler Cummins leading the way with 4-63 and off-spinner Lyon taking 4-80.

Lyon’s haul included the key scalps of Root and Harry Brook, both out for 46, as he closed in on 500 Test wickets.

England, France win in Euro 2024 qualifying

Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick as England demolished North Macedonia 7-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying on Monday, while Kylian Mbappe’s re-taken penalty gave France a narrow victory over Greece.

Harry Kane swept England ahead at Old Trafford before Saka stole the show with two superb finishes either side of Marcus Rashford’s goal.

Saka completed his treble early in the second half, Kalvin Phillips added another and Kane then struck again from the spot as England won their fourth straight match in Group C.

England top the section on a maximum 12 points, six ahead of Ukraine, who are second after a 1-0 win over Malta in Trnava was secured by Viktor Tsygankov’s second-half penalty.

European champions Italy are nine points adrift in third but have played just twice.

France also kept up their 100 percent record in Group B with a 1-0 win over Greece in Paris, which propelled the World Cup runners-up six points clear of their opponents.

Mbappe saw his initial spot-kick saved by Odysseas Vlachodimos, but the France striker made no mistake with his second attempt after encroachment by a Greek defender.

Greece finished with 10 men as Kostantinos Mavropanos was sent off, having escaped red earlier when he caught Antoine Griezmann in the face with his studs and gave away the penalty.

Mikey Johnston, Evan Ferguson and Adam Idah scored as the Republic of Ireland picked up their first points of the campaign with a 3-0 home victory over minnows Gibraltar.

Wales face a difficult task to qualify after a second loss in four days, going down 2-0 in Turkey following the dismissal of midfielder Joe Morrell late in the first half.

Hakan Calhanoglu had his penalty saved before Umut Nayir and Arda Guler struck in the final 20 minutes to keep Turkey top of Group D.

Wales are five points behind Turkey in fourth place, level with Nations League runners-up Croatia, who have two games in hand.

Armenia are second after Tigran Barseghyan converted a stoppage-time penalty to snatch a 2-1 win against lowly Latvia in Yerevan.

Finland lead a tight Group H in which the top four are separated by only two points.

Substitute Daniel Hakans bagged a hat-trick in Finland’s 6-0 mauling of San Marino, the world’s lowest-ranked side, with Glen Kamara, Benjamin Kallman and Teemu Pukki also on target.

Kazakhstan are level on nine points in second after winning 1-0 away to Northern Ireland, Abat Aimbetov’s late goal fuelling their surprise qualification push.

Slovenia and Denmark drew 1-1 in Ljubljana as Andraz Sporar opened the scoring for the hosts only for Rasmus Hojlund to level before the interval.

Valentin Mihaila stunned Switzerland with two late goals as Romania fought back for a 2-2 draw in Lucerne after Zeki Amdouni’s brace had put the Group I frontrunners in control.

Israel saw off Andorra 2-1 while Belarus beat Kosovo by the same scoreline in Budapest.

Venus Williams wins Birmingham opener

Venus Williams clinched her first victory over a top-50 opponent in four years as the former world number one defeated Camila Giorgi in the WTA event in Birmingham on Monday.

Ignoring a knee problem that needed treatment in the first set and left her close to tears, Williams won a singles match for the second time in nearly two years.

The 43-year-old battled to a 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) first round win over world number 48 Giorgi in three hours and 16 minutes.

Williams had played a grass-court event in the Netherlands last week for her first tournament appearance since January and she was understandably rusty at times against Giorgi.

But the five-time Wimbledon champion also hit her stride in spells during an enthralling encounter.

Williams might be well into the twilight of her glittering career, but the seven-time Grand Slam champion still relishes the feeling of winning a hard-fought match.

“This one is especially sweet because I have been away from the tour for so long,” she said.

“The last couple of years I’ve had little to no matches and that’s very challenging.

“I almost feel like when I’m on the court I’m reminded of things I used to do that worked really well, so there’s a lot of memories and deja vu.”

Williams faces a last-16 tie against the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova or Latvian second seed Jelena Ostapenko.

There were different emotions for another former top-10 player returning to grass, with Elina Svitolina beaten 6-2, 6-0 by Czech 18-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova in less than an hour.

Svitolina made a brilliant comeback on clay following the birth of daughter Skai last October, reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open, but the 28-year-old was unable to find her feet on the grass.

Norrie wins in Queen’s Club, Medvedev wins in Halle

Cameron Norrie made a winning return to grass after last year’s run to the Wimbledon semi-finals as the British number one beat Miomir Kecmanovic in the Queen’s Club first round on Monday.

Norrie saw off Serbia’s Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) at the Wimbledon warm-up event in west London.

Just two weeks after losing in the French Open third round on the clay of Paris, Norrie is building towards the start of Wimbledon on July 3.

He was beaten by eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon last four just over a year ago.

The 27-year-old, who finished as Queen’s runner-up in 2021, let three match points slip against Kecmanovic before clinching the victory at the fourth attempt.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray knows what he needs to do at Queen’s this week in order to achieve a seeded ranking at the All England Club.

Murray, a five-time winner of Queen’s, arrives at the tournament boosted by successive titles on the Challenger Tour.

The 36-year-old’s successes in Nottingham and Surbiton took him up to 38 in the world, his highest ranking since his hip surgery.

Playing with a metal hip in the twilight of his career, the former world number one knows a run to the last four at Queen’s would take him into the top 32 and guarantee a seeding at Wimbledon.

Russian top seed Daniil Medvedev won his opener at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Halle on Monday, defeating American Marcos Giron in straight sets.

The world number three came into the match after two straight defeats but made short work of his opponent, winning 6-4, 6-3 in 71 minutes in Germany.

The 27-year-old set up a second round encounter with Serbian Laslo Djere.

Medvedev made it to the final at last year’s Halle tournament, but lost to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets.

Earlier on Monday, world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas came from behind to defeat Frenchman Gregoire Barrere to make it to the last 16.

The second-seeded Greek lost the first set and fell a break down in the second before recovering to win 6-7 (6/8) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) against Barrere, ranked 58th.

Tsitsipas, who was knocked out in the second round in his previous two appearances in Halle, is now 32-10 for the season.

He will face Chilean Nicolas Jarry next for a place in the quarter-finals.

Police raid headquarters of Paris Olympics organisers

Police raided the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday just over a year out from the opening ceremony of the quadrennial sporting showpiece.

Raids were carried out at the headquarters of the committee, which is known as Cojo, and at the offices of Solideo, the body in charge of the Olympic construction sites, a source close to the investigation told AFP.

The reason for the raid was not immediately clear but Cojo said they were “cooperating fully with the investigators in order to facilitate their investigation.”

This is the first such raid on the organising committee headquarters.

The searches of their premises were conducted by anti-corruption and financial crime investigators and the BRDE, the financial brigade of the Parisian police, another source close to the probe said.

Two years ago two reports by the French anti-corruption agency (AFA) highlighted “risks affecting probity” and “conflicts of interests” which it warned could impinge on the “whiter than whiter” image of the Games that the head of the organising committee, Tony Estanguet, wished for.

AFA inspectors said the procedure for purchases was “imprecise and incomplete” and emphasised that there “exists sometimes potential situations of conflicts of interests which are not overseen correctly.”

With text inputs from AFP

Updated through the day