Moon Cricket – The Ashes 5th Test

Moon Cricket

5TH TEST – ENGLAND TOUR OF AUSTRALIA

5TH ASHES TEST MATCH – AT THE SCG, SYDNEY< NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

England 346 (Root 82, Malan 62, Cummins 4-80) & 180 (Root 58*, Cummins 4-39)

Australia 649-7 (Khawaja 171, S Marsh 156, M Marsh 101, Smith 83, Warner 56)

AUSTRALIA WIN BY AN INNINGS AND 123 RUNS

AUSTRALIA WIN THE SERIES 4-0

Australia completed their demolition of England with a crushing win in Sydney. Joe Root top scored with 82 as England put 346 on the board which never looked enough on a flat pitch good for batting. Australia then put England to the sword, Usman Khawaja hit a superb 171 with the Marsh Brothers, Shaun with 156 and Mitchell 101 piling on the pain as Australia declared on 649.

The lead was far too much but England’s capitulation summed up the series. Only Root put up any resistance but he had to retire suffering from de-hydration. The wickets then continued to fall as Pat Cummins led the attack, taking four wickets in each innings. England were finished off for a miserable 180, a fitting climax to a one sided series as Australia celebrated winning back the urn. They also have won nine out of the last ten Ashes matches on Australian soil.

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN

Pat Cummins (Australia)

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Sunday Sportsround – Cycling, Cricket, Boxing & Rugby League

CRICKET – England take a 2-1 lead

England came back from the heavy defeat at Lords to regain the initiative in the 3rd Ashes Test against Australia. Australia decided to bat after winning the toss in overcast conditions and the decision backfired after superb bowling from Jimmy Anderson set up England’s win taking six wickets. Only Chris Rogers offered any resistance with 52 as the Aussies were bowled out for 132. England struggled with the bat to start with but stead innings from Ian Bell, now batting at number three, as well as in form Joe Root and Moeen Ali who all got half centuries steered England to 281 and a good lead.

The Australians collapsed to seven wickets down and were staring at a two day defeat. David Warner and Peter Nevill saw Ausrtralia through the end of the day and supported by a good inning from Mitchell Starc they at least gave England a total of 123 to chase. After an early wicket, Ian Bell with 65 not out drove England home to a clear 8 wicket win to take a 2-1 lead into next week at Trent Bridge, a ground which normally favours England’s swing bowlers.

BOXING – Jacobs defends Middleweight title

Middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs defeated Californian Sergio Mora in Brooklyn New York. Jacobs dominated the opening rounds and knocked Mora down in the 2nd round. Although Mora got up at the end of the round the medical staff diagnosed an ankle injury and deemed it not safe for Mora to continue. On the same card conqueror of Amir Khan, Danny Garcia defeated Paulie Malignaggi to put himself back into title contention. Elsewhere in Hull British olympic champion Luke Campbell defeated Tommy Coyle in 10 rounds in a Lightweight eliminator which could set him up for a World title shot later in the year.

RUGBY LEAGUE – Leeds to meet Hull KR in the Challenge Cup Final

Leeds will play Hull Kingston Rovers in the Final of the Challenge Cup at the end of August. Leeds saw off ST Helens in the battle of Super League’s top 2 in Warrington. Leeds stretched to an 18-4 lead after an excellent try to cap a fine performance by veteran Jamie Peacock.Two tries from Mark Percival brought Saints within four but Kallum Watkins late try sealed the victory and saw Leeds heading back to Wembley.

The Second Semi-Final at Headingley Saw favourites Warrington take the lead and dominate the early stages. However Hull’s defense with key tackles from Ken Sio and Paul Walker ensured the Humbersiders held firm as they began to get a foothold into the match. Josh Mantellato scored and converted his own try to level it up and Mantellato produced a perfect kick that was brilliantly taken by Ken Sio who ran 30 yards to score and give Hull KR the lead at half time. Hull dominated the early part of the second half and and another try from Kevin Larroyer with a penalty from Mantellato gave Hull KR a 20-4 lead. As in the other semi though, it was not over. Richie Myler produced 10 minutes of magic scoring a try and setting up Ben Currie for a second to bring Warrington within 2 points. In the final moments as both sides tried to find the key score, Gary Lunt went over for Hull K R to seal the upset victory as they look for their first Challenge Cup win since 1980.

CYCLING – Italian’s dominate Women’s race,

The women took to the London stage first in the Ride London Grand prix. Sadly the race was disrupted by a crash at the start of the final lap leaving a number of leading contenders out of the race. The course looped around St Jame’s Park area of London and is scheduled to become an annual event. Italian Barbara Guarischi beat American Shelly Olds in a sprint finish with another Italian Annalise Cucinotta finishing third. British hopeful Katie Archibald and Laura Trott finished 6th and 8th respectively.

In the men’s Ride London-Surrey Classic a breakway that the main peleton had no interest in chasing meant home favourites Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish were well out of contention in the final stages. British hopes then rested with Ben Swift who had gone with the breakaway and had finished 2nd in the race last year. However in the sprint finish Jean Pierre Drucker of Luxembourg timed his finish to perfection to win the race and by the first winner from Luxembourg of a major race on British soil. Swift in the end finished third.

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MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

CRICKET

3rd Ashes Test At Edgebaston, Birmingham

England V Australia

Australia 1st Inns 136 ALL OUT (Rogers 52, Anderson 6-47)

England 1st Inns 281 ALL OUT (Root 63, Ali 59, Bell 53, Lyon 3-36)

Australia 2nd Inns 265 ALL OUT (Warner 77, Nevill 59, Starc 58, Finn 6-79)

England 2nd Inns 124 FOR 2 (Bell 65*)

England win by 8 Wickets

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN – Jimmy Anderson (England)

England lead the series 2-1

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BOXING

At The Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York

WBA Middleweight Title

Daniel Jacobs (USA) beat Sergio Mora (USA) by TKO (Round 2)

STILL WBA Middleweight Champion … Daniel Jacobs

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RUGBY LEAGUE

Challenge Cup Semi-Final At The Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington

Leeds Rhinos (12) 24 ST Helens (4) 14

Scorers – Leeds – Tries: Hardaker, Moon, Peacock, Watkins Goals: Sinfield 4

ST Helens – Tries: Percival 2, Savelio Goal: Walsh

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN – Jamie Peacock (Leeds)

Challenge Cup Semi-Final At Headingley, Leeds

Warrington Wolves (6) 18 Hull Kingston Rovers (12) 26

Scorers – Warrington – Tries: Atkins, Myler, Currie Goals: O’Brien 3

Hull K R – Tries: Mantellato, Sio, Larroyer, Lunt Goals: Mantellato 5

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN – Ken Sio (Hull Kingston Rovers)

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CYCLING

Women’s Ride London Grand Prix

1st Barbara Guarischi (Italy)

2nd Shelley Olds (USA)

3rd Annalise Cucinotta (Italy)

Babara Guarischi Wins the Women’s Ride London Grand Prix

Men’s Ride London-Surrey Classic

1st Jean Pierre-Drucker (Luxembourg)

2nd Mike Tuneissen (Holland)

3rd Ben Swift (GB)

Jean Pierre-Drucker Wins the Women’s Ride London-Surrey Classic

Sunday Sportsround – Cycling, Cricket, Tennis, Snooker & Boxing

Cycling – Froome in control of the tour

German sprinters dominated the 15th stage of the Tour De France today. The stage was won by Andre Griepel who won his third stage of the tour in the French town of Valance.Compatriot John Degenklob came second. Chris Froom who took a big lead in the mountain stages of the Pyrenees earlier in the week has maintained a 3 minute lead over his nearest contenders and is now red hot favourite to win his second tour in three years, which would be a third British victory in four years if he is successful.

Froome’s control has not been without controversy however. Some of the French media have cast aspersions of doping against Team Sky, which includes Froome, Sir Dave Brailsford the team boss has even complained of equipment being stolen by those desperate to try and find something on the team. It should be said there is not a shred of serious evidence to back up the accusations and jealousy may be part of this as Brailsford as head of Team Sky and Previously the British Olympic Team has led many to unprecedented success. This blog believes in innocent until proven guilty, and does not believe the allegations.

Tennis – Britain makes first Semi since 1981

Great Britain defeated 2014 finalists France in their Davis Cup Quarter Final at Queen’s Club in London. The first singles went to plan as Gilles Simon defeated James Ward and Andy Murray beat Joe-Wilfred Tsonga in straight sets on the opening Friday. Captain Leon Smith decided to play Andy Murray alongside his brother Jamie in the doubles on the Saturday and this was where the crowd really got involved in the battle. Nicholas Mahut and Joe-Wilfred Tsonga won the first set but the Murray’s battled back to take the second and then win an epic third set tie-break to take control. They went on to win the third to take a 2-1 lead into the Sunday.

A very tired Andy Murray struggled early on against Gilles Simon with Simon winning the first set and going up a break in the second. However Murray fought back to win the second on the tie-break and going on to defeat his French opponent in four sets including a 6-0 victory in the fourth As Simon wilted towards the end. Britain will play Australia after they came back from 2-0 down in Darwin against Kazakhstan, Veteran Leyton Hewitt won the final rubber to secure a 3-2 win. elsewhere Belgium will face Argentina, Belgium beat Canada and Argentina got the better of Serbia who were without World Number 1 Novak Djokovic.

Cricket – Australia hit back thrashing England at Lords

Australia won a crucial toss on a very good batting wicket at Lords and made England pay by racking up a huge score. Steven Smith scored 215 and opener Rogers got 173. Broad was the only bowler who put up any fight taking four wickets as Austtralia declared on a score of 588. The England response under big scoreboard pressure began badly losing four wickets quickly before Captain Alaistair Cook and Ben Stokes recovered the position. Cook fell just short of a century with 96 and that failure for anyone to get a big score left England well over 200 behind from the first innings.

Australia decided not to enforce the follow on and smith got another half century as did David Warner who top scored with 83. Scoring at speed Australia added another 254 before declaring leaving England with an unlikely target of over 500. However the English batting line up collapsed, summed up by a ridiculous run out of Stokes. Broad top scored with a mere 25 as Johnson took three wickets and Australia bowled England out for 103 to level the Ashes series at 1-1 and take all the momentum into the third game in Birmingham in two weeks time.

Snooker – John Higgins wins the Australian Open

John Higgins has won his 27th ranking title in Bendigo, Australia beating Martin Gould in a final frame decider. The match was close throughout with the game locked at 4-4 at the mid interval and then 7-7 after Gould had come back from 7-4 down. Higgins took a scrappy frame to take an 8-7 lead but Gould hit back to level again and take the final into a final frame. Higgins took his first chance in that final frame with a break of 89 to take the title. With Higgins 13th on the ranking list, the win should help him retain a top 16 place with his first win since the Welsh Open in February.

Boxing – Two new champions crowned

In a big night of Boxing all around the world Puerto Rican Mcjoe Arroyo became the new IBF Super Flyweight champion in Texas defeating Arthur Villanueva of Mexico after the fight went to the scorecards after the referee called a halt to proceedings after a cut to the Mexican. Arroyo was comfortably ahead on all three cards. On the same card Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton recovered from two knock downs early to defeat Alenjandro Gonzalez Jr by a comfortable unanimous decision to defend his Super Bantamweight title.

Two Manchester fighters had differing fortunes as they got home town World Title fight opportunities at the MEN Arena in Manchester. Scott Quigg defended his version of the Super Bantamweight title knocking out Kiko Martinez of Spain in two rounds and a unification fight with Carl Frampton remains a possibility. Meanwhile Anthony Crolla took on Colombian Lightweight champion Darleys Perez. Many thought the challenger had done enough to win the fight, especially given Perez had two points deducted for low blows.However the judges delivered a verdict of a split decision draw meaning Perez retains his title. A rematch is certainly a possibility.

A grudge match was settled in Halle, Germany where veteran German based Armenian Arthur Abraham knocked out Richard Steiglitz in six rounds to defend his Super Middleweight title. There has been a long war of words going into the fight but Abraham gave a vintage performance kncoking his Russian opponent down in the fourth before finishing the job in the sixth. Finally In Macao, China Argentinian Cesar Cuenta was crowned the new IBF Light-Welterweight title. The belt was vacant and hometown favourite the unbeaten Ik Yang was out of his depth at world level. Cuenta knocked Ik Yang down in the first round and dominated the fight, winning an easy unanimous decision to take the title.

MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

CYCLING

Tour De France (Reigning Champion Vincenzo Niebly)

Stage 15 – Mende to Valance

Stage result

1st Andre Greipel (Germany)

2nd John Degenklob (Germany)

3rd Alexander Kristoff (Norway)

Overall Positions

1st Chris Froome (GB)

2nd Nairo Quintana (Colombia) +3 Mins 10 Secs

3rd Teejay Van Garderen (USA) +3 Mins 32 Secs

TENNIS

At Queen’s Tennis Club, West Kensington, London

Davis Cup Quarter Final (Current David Cup Holders Switzerland)

Great Britain V France

Game 1 – G Simon Beat J Ward 3-0 (6-4, 6-4, 6-1)

Game 2 – A Murray Beat J-W Tsonga 3-0 (7-5, 7-6, 6-2)

Game 3 (Doubles) – A Murray & J Murray Beat N Mahut & J-W Tsonga 3-1 (4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1)

Game 4 – A Murray Beat G Simon 3-1 (4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-0)

Game 5 – Not Played by agreement

FINAL SCORE – Great Britain 3 France 1

CRICKET

At Lords Cricket Ground, ST John’s Wood, London

2nd Ashes Test (Current Ashes Holders Australia)

England V Australia

Australia 1st Inns – 588-8 Declared (Smith 215, Rogers 173, Broad 4-83)

England 1st Inns – 312 ALL OUT (Cook 96, Stokes 87 Johnson 3-53)

Australia 2nd Inns – 254-2 Declared (Warner 83, Smith 58)

England 2nd Inns – 103 ALL OUT (Broad 25, Johnson 3-27)

Australia win by 405 runs

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN – Steven Smith (Australia)

Series Level at 1-1

BOXING

At The Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester

WBA Super Bantamweight Title (Champion Scott Quigg)

Scott Quigg (England) Beat Kiko Martinez (Spain) by KO in Round 2

STILL WBA Super bantamweight Champion … Scot Quigg

WBA Lightweight Title (Champion Darleys Perez)

Darleys Perez (Colombia) drew with Anthony Crolla (England) after split decision (114-113, 111-116, 113-113)

STILL WBA Lightweight Champion … Darleys Perez

At The Don Haskins Convention Center, El Paso, Texas

IBF Super Bantamweight Title (Champion Carl Frampton)

Carl Frampton (N Ireland) Beat Alejandro Gonzalez Jr (Mexico) by Unanimous decision (116-108, 116-108, 115-109)

STILL IBF Super Bantamweight Champion … Carl Frampton

IBF Super Flyweight Title (Vacant)

McJoe Arroyo (Puerto Rico) Beat Arthur Villanueva (Philippines) by Unanimous decision (On Scorecards after fight stopped due to a cut after 10 rounds) (97-92, 98-91, 98-91)

NEW IBF Super Flyweight Champion … McJoe Arroyo

At The Gerry Webber Stadium, Halle, Germany

WBO Super Middleweight Title (Champion Arthur Abraham)

Arthur Abraham (Armenia) Beat Robert Stieglitz (Russia) by KO in Round 6

STILL WBO Super Middleweight champion … Arthur Abraham

At The Venetian Casino, Macao, China

IBF Light Welterweight Title (Vacant)

Cesar Cuenca (Argentina) Beat Ik Yang (China) By Unanimous Decision (117-108, 115-110, 116-109)

NEW IBF Light Welterweight Champion … Cesar Cuenca

SNOOKER

At the Bendigo Stadium, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

Austrlian Open Snooker Final (Best of 17) (Reigning Champion Judd Trump)

John Higgins (Scotland) 9 Martin Gould (England) 8

John Higgins Wins the Australian Open Snooker Title

Saturday Sportsround

TENNIS

Serena Williams continued her domination of the women’s game by taking her 21st Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Her opponent Muguruza, appearing in her first final, got a dream start with a break of serve in the first game. However at the latter end of the set the pressure told with a couple of key points where the underdog had chances to be aggressive but did not take them. Serena pounced to score two breaks of serve to take the first set 6-4. Serena then took control racing into a 5-1 lead. With nothing to lose the Spaniard played some inspired tennis to take the next three games, however Serena recovered to break Muguruza’s serve and with it the match and championship in straight sets to hold all four titles. Few would bet against her winning the calender Grand Slam at the US Open later in the year at Serena’s favourite tournament.

CRICKET

England finished off Australia with a day to spare in the first Ashes Test in Cardiff. David Warner with 52 got the Australians off to a good start, however the middle order collapsed and despite a spirited 77 from Mitchell Johnson, it was too late. Even Joe Root, without doubt man of the match with the bat, took a couple of wickets with his occasional off spin. England are off to the perfect start heading into the 2nd match at Lords.

CYCLING

The French had a home stage win to cheer in the 8th stage of the tour. Alexis Vuillermoz pipped ireland’s Daniel Martin to take the stage as the Tour finished today in Brittany. There was no change in the main standings however, one of Chri Froome’s likely rivals Vicenzo Nibaly lost 10 seconds today as Froome retained the yellow jersey, remaining 11 seconds ahead of Slovakia’s Peter Sagan. Froome appears to be looking well on course to regain the tour crown he won back in 2013.

MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

TENNIS

Wimbledon Ladies Singles Final at the All England Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon

Serena Williams (USA) Beat Gabrille Muguruza (Spain) 2-0 (6-4 6-4)

Serena Williams wins the Ladies Wimbledon Championship

CRICKET

1st Ashes Test at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

England V Australia

England 1st Inns – 430 ALL OUT (Root 134, Mooen 77, Ballance 61, Stokes 52, Starc 5-114)

Australia 1st Inns – 308 ALL OUT (Rogers 95, Anderson 3-43)

England 2nd Inns – 289 ALL OUT (Root 60, Bell 60, Lyon 4-75)

Australia 2nd Inns – 242 ALL OUT (Johnson 77, Warner 52, Broad 3-39)

England win by 169 runs

Moon Of Liberty Star Man – Joe Root (England)

CYCLING

Tour De France Stage 8 – Rennes to Mur de Bretagne

Stage result

1st Alexis Vuillermoz (France)

2nd Daniel Martin (Ireland)

3rd Alejandro Valverd (Spain)

Overall

1st Chris Froome (GB)

2nd Peter Sagan (Slovakia) +11 seconds

3rd Tejay Van Garderen (USA) +13 second

Sportsround – Cricket, Tennis and Cycling

Tennis – Wimbledon Men’s Semi-Finals

The top two in the world showed their class to go through to the Wimbledon Final this afternoon. Novak Djokovic was first up taking on a brave but ultimately outclassed Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman took the first set to a tie-break but Djokovic gained key mini breaks early on to comfortably take the first set. From then on, without having to play great tennis, The Serb was just too good running out the winner in straight sets.

It was a similar story in the second semi as Roger Federer rolled back the years to produce one of his finest performances ever to see off home favourite Andy Murray. His first serve percentage was over 80% in the first two sets and he managed to get the break in both as the pressure on Murray told. Federer took both of the first two sets 7-5 and the third followed a similar pattern with Federer breaking at 5-4 up to take the match. If he plays like this on Sunday, he will have every chance of causing an upset against Djokovic. The two have been a class above the rest and deserve to fight out the final.

Cricket – The 1st Ashes Test Day 3

England have set Australia 412 over the final 2 days to win the 1st ashes test match in Cardiff. Joe Root and Ian Bell top scored with 60 each in England’s second innings with Nathan Lyon taking four wickets for Australia as England posted 289 in their 2nd innings. Earlier England has bowled the Australians all out for 308 to take a strong 1st innings lead of 122. England are now favourites to win the test, however having 2 days to chase the total down, Australia could yet win it themselves. the draw, which earlier looked the most likely outcome, is now a very unlikely outcome unless Cardiff gets plenty of rain.

Cycling – Tour De France Stage 7

Britian’s Mark Cavendish ended days of frustration by finally taking his first sprint stage of this years tour. The victory is his 26th stage win of his career and he is now only two short of moving to second place on the all time list. On the overall race Chris Froome leads Slovakian Peter Sagan by 11 seconds after Tony Martin had to withdraw due to the previous days crash.

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MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

TENNIS

At The All England Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon

Wimbledon Semi-Finals

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) (1) beat Richard Gasquet (France (21) – 3-0 (7-6 6-4 6-4)

Roger Federer (Switzerland) (2) beat Andy Murray (GB) (3) – 3-0 (7-5 7-5 6-4)

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CRICKET

At Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

1st Ashes Test, Day 3

1st Innings

England – 430 ALL OUT (Root 134, Moeen 77, Ballance 61, Stokes 52, Starc 5-114)

Australia – 308 ALL OUT (Rogers 95, Anderson 3-43)

2nd Innings

England – 289 ALL OUT (Root 60, Bell 60, Lyon 4-75)

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CYCLING

Tour De France Stage 7 – Livarot to Fougeres

Stage top 3

1st Mark Cavendish (GB)

2nd Andre Greipel (Germany)

3rd Peter Sagan (Slovakia)

Overall Top 3

1st Chris Froome (GB)

2nd Peter Sagan (Slovakia) +11 seconds

3rd Tejay van Garderen (USA) +13 seconds

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