That’s me done for the day. I leave you with news that it is a humdinger out at the NEC where England and New Zealand are going toe-to-toe in the netball. There’s just under fifteen minutes remaining and the Roses are 39-33 to the good, at this rate it looks like a semi-final against Australia is on the cards.
Right, time to hit the Horlicks. I’ll be back on the tools for more CeeGees (as no one is calling it) action tomorrow. Until then, goodnight!
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Make sure you have a look at these pictures:
Some amazing shots from the day, treat yourself.
I’m going to tag out soon but not before I plug some bits and bobs to you good folk.
Cricket: Andy Bull was our man at the ground as England cantered to victory over New Zealand at Edgbaston.
Hurdles Final: BANG! And they’re off!
It is impossible to live live blog a race that takes 13 and a bit seconds but it is a cracker! Jamaica’s Broadbell takes the gold with a time of 13.08 seconds - shaving a few seconds off his personal best with that time. Barbados’ Shane Brathwaite takes silver and with a dive for the finish! Andrew Pozzi gets the bronze! He committed so fully to the dive that he tumbles onto the track!
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Track: They are lining up for the men’s 110m hurdles final... it’ll be the last event on the track of the night. Can I just shock you? I love hurdles. Always have. A childhood watching Colin Jackson and Sally Gunnell do their thing.
Olympic champion Hansle Parchment has withdrawn with injury but Jamaica will still be strongly represented by Rasheed Broadbell and Orlando Bennett.
England’s Joshua Zeller is in with a sniff too - his best of 13.19 seconds is bested only Broadbell’s 13.16 seconds and countrymen/journeyman Andrew Pozzi also has an outside chance. The gun is being greased, let’s do this!
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It’s been a good day for Australia, isn’t it always?
Netball: It’s a real ding dong between England and New Zealand at the NEC arena. England currently lead 16-10 in the second quarter. Wow! Helen Housby sinks one from range. This is some liquid netball. Fast and skilled. You may remember Housby from four years ago... (Sorry Australia)
ICYMI:
I’m off briefly to squirrel down some sustenance before the netball gets underway shortly. Back soon, keep an eye on things for me won’t you?
Cycling: Speaking of the time trial, here’s the peerless Sean Ingle with a cracking story:
Hello to our Aussie readers who might well be creaking into action on t’other side of the world and firing up the live blog to see what’s what in Brum.
Well I have news of more gold to go with your green:
Madi de Rozario becomes the first 🇦🇺 para athlete to win four gold medals at the Comm Games! 🥇🥇🥇🥇@CommGamesAUS #ThisIsAthletics #BoldInGold pic.twitter.com/OJMiwss7Di
— Athletics Australia (@AthsAust) August 4, 2022
Track: Madi de Rozario has her fourth gold medal! She held off fellow Aussie Angela Ballard and Scotland’s Sammi Kinghorn who took bronze.
Cycling: Australia’s Rohan Dennis added to Grace Brown’s success by taking the time trial gold with a time of 46min 21.24sec. England’s Fred Wright and Wales’s Geraint Thomas - who took a dramatic early tumble - taking silver and bronze respectively. Brown earlier won gold, 33 seconds clear of her nearest rival.
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Here’s Tumaini Carayol’s report from the aquatics centre as Jack Laugher has the last, well - laugh - from the 1m springboard.
Quick round up: I was gripped by the end of the diving so missed a few things, the perils of the live blog. Here’s a quick round up from elsewhere:
The T11/12 100m final - England’s Zac Shaw takes silver behind South Africa’s Jonathan Ntutu who defends his title by powering home 10.83 seconds.
The wonderfully named Goodness Nwachukwu has been tearing up the world records in the F42-44/61-64 Discus Throw - the 23 year old has now grabbed the gold, breaking the world record twice in the process. Incredible, Nwachukwu stands at the head of the throwing circle - placing her crutches to one side, she does a short spin and then unleashes a guttural roar as she flings the discus high and long.
More success for Nigeria as Folashade Oluwafemiayo takes gold in the women’s heavyweight powerlifting final. A lift of 155kg securing the bling.
Gold for Andrea Spendolini Sirieix!
Diving: She pulls off an almost perfect final dive to seal the gold medal! Absolutely Bisto stuff from the seventeen year old as she saves the best til last! She sprints from the pool (surely flouting the rules? We’ll let her off) to her team and looks absolutely delighted. It’s a 1-2 for England too as Lois Mae Toulson takes the silver medal and Canada’s Caeli McKay takes bronze.
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Diving: England’s Lois Mae Toulson pulls off an epic final dive and scores heavily with the judges to put the pressure on teammate Andrea Spendolini Sirieix who is next up - will the gold medal change hands at the last?! We’re about to find out.
Cricket: England beat New Zealand and will play India in the semi-finals.
This team ❤️💪
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 4, 2022
We finish the group stage with three wins from three!
Next up, a semi-final against India on Saturday. #Birmingham2022 | #BringItHome pic.twitter.com/Blq2fszHtH
Athletics: KJT has had her medal ceremony in the stadium.
Former Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis had some wise words for her: “I said to Kat, well done. You got the sign you were looking for, that it’s all worth it, to carry on and be pushing through. She was very doubtful about whether she was going to stay in the sport. This was the sign she needed.” KJT also mentions that Lewis promised her a bottle of bubbles if she won the gold and she has just delivered on her fizzy promise.
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Diving: England’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix is in the 10m platform final and her proud dad is in the crowd at the aquatics centre. Bet he’s looking sharp as ever. Sirieix is out in front with one round of diving to go. She has a score of 271.10 and leads teammate Lois Mae Toulson who is currently second on 255.70. The Canadian pair of Caeli Sierra McKay and Celina Jayne Toth are yapping at their heels though. It’ll all come down to the final dive.
— Fred Sirieix (@fredsirieix1) August 4, 2022
The BBC coverage has just shown footage of ‘Super Saturday’ from London 2012 which was ten years ago to the day. The screen shows Jess Ennis powering to victory in the heptathlon. Nice that.
Hurdles: Lina Nielsen spoke candidly about her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis earlier this week. The 26-year-old finished in sixth place in the 110m hurdles heats. Her time of 58.25 seconds a long way off her season’s best of 54.73 and she hit the very first hurdle but hats off to her, that was a brave run in front of a home crowd and she’s shown real guts just to be out there.
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Cricket: Half a job done for England at Edgbaston, Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt stride out with bat in hand hoping to make short work of the 72 runs needed for victory. If they win this they will face India in the semis, stutter and fall however and it’ll be the mighty Aussies lying in wait.
Diving: Gold for Jack Laugher!
Laugher has three commonwealth gold medals to his name now and looks as cool as anything poolside, like he’s just been told to pick up some milk from the shops. Ain’t no thing. Australia’s Shixin Li, the 34-year-old ‘grandpa’ (gulp) of the group pulls off a spectacular final dive to secure silver and nudge England’s Jordan Houlden into bronze.
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Diving: Jack Laugher nails it! A series of rapid front somersaults and a seemless entry into the pool pretty much guarantees him gold!
Diving: Here comes Jack Laugher...
Diving: The final round of dives are underway. Eighteen year old Danny Mabbot from Scotland gets us going. I’m nervous -I can barely swim never mind dive and don’t like heights (ok I could probably handle 1 metre but nothing more) so find this all doubly impressive.
A brief pause in the men’s 1 metre diving before the final round, all the better for ramping the pressure up. Later on we’ll have the women’s 10m platform diving final with England’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix going for gold after a splendid performance earlier this afternoon. Then it is netball - England v New Zealand to determine the semi final line-ups, and then it’s over to the main stadium for the discus finals and the 110m men’s hurdles final. Plenty to get stuck into.
England are in command with the ball in hand over at Edgbaston:
1️⃣2️⃣ balls
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 4, 2022
🔟 dot balls
2️⃣ wickets
1️⃣ maiden
Scorecard: https://t.co/O1IgfFtgti
🐐 | @KBrunt26 pic.twitter.com/IspNUyx9u0
Diving: Jack Laugher is closing in on gold... with one round to go he is clear by ten points. Shixin Li has leapfrogged over Jordan Houlden into second place. One round to go, it’s all on this.
Diving: England’s Jack Laugher is top of the table in the 1 metre springboard final - with four oF the six rounds completed he narrowly leads fellow countryman Jordan Houlden with Australia’s Shixin Li 15 points off the pace. It’s compelling viewing, the calm intake of breath before they leap from the board and enter a series of mind boggling contortions, completing them in time to enter the water as vertically as possible with minimal splash. When there’s loads of spray you know that something has gone awry - ‘over rotation’ is a phrase I’m hearing a lot.
I’m going to stick with this for now as there are just two rounds to go and England are in the hunt for medals.
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Thanks Michael and good evening all.
In the cricket, my bread and butter (I haven’t actually had my tea... ) England have their foot on the throat of the Kiwis. Edgbaston is bathed in early evening sun and Nat Sciver and her team are basking - they have New Zealand 35-5 at the halfway stage, gnarled ol’ gunslinger Katherine Brunt and youngster Issy Wong in the wickets.
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James Wallace is back from his tea, so will hand the reins back to him. Enjoy the rest of the day’s action. Bye!
In the cricket, England’s women have started magnificently against New Zealand, who have mustered just 14 runs for three wickets from their opening five overs. Katherine Brunt: two wickets for four runs in three overs. Wow.
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Scotland’s Jake Wightman admits his world title win has finally sunk in at the Commonwealth Games. The 28-year-old, who won shock 1500m gold at the world championships in Eugene last month, eased into Saturday’s final.
Wightman clocked 3mins 48.34sec to win his heat at the Alexander Stadium on Thursday. It was the first time he has been announced – by stadium commentator, dad and coach Geoff – as the world champion since July’s victory in Oregon.
He said: “It was special, it was a confidence boost if you get announced as that. That’s the most it’s sunk in because that is what I was waiting for, to be announced as world champion, and be like: ‘Yeah, I’ve actually done that’.
England’s Jack Laugher, who is the two-time defending champion here and world silver medalist earlier this summer, gets a huge cheer from the crowd as he aims to join Tom Daley, Jürgen Klinsmann, Sean Connery in Thunderball in the diving hall of fame. He’s competing in the men’s 1m springboard final.
England’s men have finished their match against 10-man Canada, and have won by only nine goals, final score 11-2, with Nick Bandurak scoring four. England needed to win by a clear 14 goals to finish ahead of India in their group, but instead settle for second, which means they take on favourites Australia in the semi-finals. India face New Zealand in the other semi-final. These are the standings after the conclusion of the group stage.
In the men’s para lightweight powerlifting, Malaysia’s Bonnie Bunyau Gustin – paralympic champion, two-time world champion – is now the Commonwealth champion. He’s a real superstar and is surely going to dominate the sport for years to come. England’s Mark Swan is absolutely delighted to get the silver medal, and remarkably, there’s some confusion over who is given the bronze. Two Nigerian athletes, Innocent Nnamdi and Thomas Kure are tied on points. Some of the BBC commentary team think Kure should be awarded the bronze on account of him being the lighter man, but it looks like Nnamdi is going to get it as a result of his heavier lift of 190kg. Looks like a tough one to swallow for Kure.
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Hello all! In the hockey, England scored with seven second left in the third quarter – Roper slingshotting it in from a short corner – and are 7-1 up. They need to win by 14 clear goals to avoid the dangerous Australians in the semi-final. Canada are down to 10 men as well, it’s not an impossible task!
I’m off for a short while but the esteemed Michael Butler is here to guide you through the action for the next hour or so. See thee soon!
Hockey: Make that ten more - a penalty corner sees England’s Nicholas Bandurak slam one into the top bin. That was Calum Giles esque. Remember him from Atlanta 1996?
This is pleasingly retro:
Hockey: Still 4-1 to England’s men in their match against Canada, they are into the third quarter so will have to go some to net 11 goals and manage to avoid the Aussies in the knockouts.
Lets start to look ahead to this evening where there will be diving finals, England will take on the Kiwis at cricket and netball and in the stadium there will be long jump finals from 7.45pm and then 110m hurdles at 9.45pm. Commonwealth Ambassador, you are spoiling us.
Weight lifting GOLD! (and Silver) for England
A 1-2 combo for England in the women’s lightweight powerlifting - Zoe Newson lifts a hefty 111kg to secure the gold and Olivia Broome takes silver.
Powerful🔥
— Team England (@TeamEngland) August 4, 2022
From a 🥉 medal in the Gold Coast, to a now🥇 @zoenewson92 lifts her way to the title of a Commonwealth champion👏#BringitHome #Birmingham2022 pic.twitter.com/jx5yjYKeVX
Cricket: No such thing as a free lunch? Tell that to England’s Danni Wyatt:
To the lovely woman in Côte, Birmingham who wished me good luck in the CWG and picked up my bill without saying a word - thank you. There are some lovely people in this world and you are one of them ❤️ #actofkindness #PassItOn
— Danielle Wyatt (@Danni_Wyatt) August 4, 2022
Wyatt and her England teammates will be in action against New Zealand at 6pm. They’ll be without captain Heather Knight unfortunately.
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Hockey: A topsy turvy match as England take on Canada to decide who they’ll play in the semi finals. England are 4-1 up in the second quarter and need 11 more goals without conceding to avoid the Aussies.
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Cycling: Talking to the BBC’s Jill Douglas, Gold medal winner Rohan Dennis of Australia is in reflective mood:
Really happy now that I’ve got a gold medal. It’s been a lot of hard work since Delhi and it has finally paid off to get on that top step. A lot of work done by my family as well with me being home for eight weeks straight and my wife ended up coming out on the bike with me.There’s a lot of people and friends to thank including - one guy (Alan Merchant) who really saved me with equipment this week. A bit of a mechanical stuff - let’s just put it down to that.”
Cycling: Geraint Thomas has been talking after an early crash saw him take bronze in the time trial. He’s phlegmatic as he reflects that he went into a corner “too hot” and caught the leg of the barrier, he nearly managed to stay on but fell to the tarmac and lost precious seconds. He has nice words for silver medallist, England’s Fred Wright too. Once a champ always a champ.
Beach volleyball: What a rally! On match point for the Scots an epic rally sees the Solomon Isles’ Gwali do a half bicycle kick over the net! A great touch... but all in vain. Scotland take the point, the match and face a long wait to see if they’ve done enough to make it through - they’ll have a beady eye on the rest of the group matches.
Skill level 💯
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 4, 2022
This was something else...#BBCCWG pic.twitter.com/RZ3S8Pz1zw
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Hockey: India prospered over Wales this afternoon, a 4-1 victory that sees them into the semi-finals. England are there too and they are just underway in their final group game against Canada. If they win by an (unlikely?) 14 goals then they will top of pool B and avoid current CG champs - Australia. Better get scoring.
ICYMI: Here’s Sean Ingle on the epic scenes with Eilish last evening:
Beach volleyball: Scotland take on the Solomon Islands and have to win to stand a chance of going through. Beach volleyball first appeared in the CG’s four years ago at the Gold Coast. I’ve already got into trouble for saying the cycling was happening in the outskirts of Birmingham (profuse apologies to the people of Wolverhampton and Dudley) so am loathe to make any comments about beach volleyball in Birmingham... Also, the sun is out - it does look positively troppy. Scotland have taken the first set but the SET/SPIKE/DIG stuff is currently on hold for a timeout whilst Scotland’s Mel Coutts has her ankle strapped up.
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Hazel Irvine, the incomparable, impeccable Hazel Irvine is helming the beeb’s coverage this afternoon. She does a seemless link into the beach volleyball coverage and I find myself humming this ditty as I run to put the kettle on. Enjoy:
“She does her research properly”
Boxing: The tv coverage heads over to the boxing ring, as if platform diving, terrifying hockey and high speed cycle crashes weren’t high octane enough on a Thursday afternoon. Men’s and women’s quarter final bouts in all weights take place this afternoon. I can already spy a cut eyebrow. Yeeesh. Aidan Walsh of Northern Ireland secures a slot in the semi-finals with a split decision win over England’s Harris Akbar in the light middleweight category.
Diving: Andrea Spendolini Sirieix plays it slightly safe with her third dive but she’s earned the right after two successful earlier dives at a higher difficulty rating. She pulls it off with seeming ease and then pulls off a more tricksy effort in the fourth round. She is way out in front of this field in the 10 metre platform. “A masterclass in diving” purrs the commentator. The final will be on in a few hours where Spendolini Sirieix is red hot favourite.
PS. Recognise the name? Yep her papa is Fred from First Dates.
Well done mon 🦆❤️ Good luck for the final at 6pm tonight #goAndrea https://t.co/OZ0agTL6R5
— Fred Sirieix (@fredsirieix1) August 4, 2022
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Cycling: Men's time trial - Australia's Rohan Dennis takes GOLD!
Green and GOLD! Great ride from Dennis who finished in 46 minutes 21.24 seconds. Geraint Thomas fought back admirably from that early fall and was pedal to the metal to the finish to try and snare silver but misses out by a few split seconds - England’s Fred Wright takes silver and Thomas will be a bit miffed to finish in third.
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Hockey: I took my eye off the hockey with all the crashing and diving but can see that India have taken a 3-0 lead over Wales in the third quarter. I’m currently using my glasses case to hold my phone (top tip passed over from Daniel) which has the diving on, hockey on the laptop and cycling on the tv. It’s like a Dixons shop window at my gaff. The sound of hakuna matata wafts down the hall from the other end of the flat, my 16 month old daughter not getting in the Commonwealth spirit at the minute, wait till I grab that screen off her...
Cycling: Here is that Dan Bigham smash. Remarkable how he gets right back in the saddle.
Not sure what’s more incredible; how Dan Bigham ended up hitting the barrier or how he just got up and cracked on like it was nothing 😳 #CommonwealthGames2022 pic.twitter.com/dBjv4eO3fH
— ᴀᴀʀᴏɴ ʙᴏᴡᴇʀ (@AaronBower) August 4, 2022
Cycling: Another crash! Those of a nervous disposition look away now - Dan Bigham goes over his handlebars after a corner and crashes into the barriers. Thankfully he dusts himslef off and hops back on a replacement bike as if nothing had happened. Madness. My brother once went over his handlebars when we were kids... because my other (older) brother decided it would be funny to re-enact this:
Diving: Andrea Spendolini Sirieix executes another spectacular dive off the platform for her second round effort. She nails a compicated routing of 3.2 difficulty and is rewarded with a score of 73.60. I’ve got half an eye on it, but she already has the two highest scores I’ve seen doled out by the judges.
Some amazing photography here:
Further proof too, if any were needed, that hockey is dangerous.
What you’ve always wanted:
Get your NFT now!https://t.co/grP0pKX1Jg#nft #judo #cryptonft #nftart #art #NFTmarket #NFTMarketplace pic.twitter.com/TCPmLrZFoQ
— Judo (@Judo) August 2, 2022
Cycling: Geraint Thomas is making time back in the time trial, he’s recovered well after that dramatic early fall, the camera is zooming in on his bike suggesting that there could be a bit of an issue as a result of the fall. Whatever it is it ain’t slowing him down. The footage cuts to Dan Bigham, currently third, and he’s absolutely flying down a picturesque country lane somehwere in Sedgley, the camera struggling to keep up with him as he zooms down a bumpy looking lane. This looks terrifying too.
Diving: The fantastically named Andrea Spendolini Sirieix is on the concrete platform for England and she executes a difficulty 3.0 dive extremely well, entering the water with very little splash. That’s the sort of high level analysis you can expect from here. She gets a 69.00 from the judges. Next up the Canadian Celina Jayne Toth - and she does over rotate slightly on entry after a complicated routine of backwards somersaults, the pronounced splash giving her away, she’s awarded 54.60. It all looks absolutely terrifying.
Cycling: Geraint Thomas is out of the traps and away! The 36 year old is resplendent in bright red... but HE’S FALLEN! The camera cuts away briefly and picks back up to see Thomas on the tarmac. He took a bend too quickly and crashed into the barrier, almost managing to cling on but not quite. That will have severely dented his medal hopes - about 30 seconds worth of a delay. He’s back in the saddle and away again but that was a dramatic and not especially ideal start for the welshman.
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Cycling : “Bright and benign conditions” the commentator says over lovely sunny scenes as the cyclists hurl around the outskirts of Birmingham... but two riders have come a cropper on the same bend already, the perils of going too hard too soon, apparently. The camera focuses on Geraint Thomas visualising in his space-age helmet in the traps. Thomas is, of course, a Tour de France winner and came third in this years race, he’s also got two Olympic Gold medals to his name. He’s on record as saying he fancies the time trial and it’s rigid parameters whereas in the road race anything can happen.
Hockey: Wales are currently taking on India in the Men’s hockey. It’s the first quarter and from what I can see the game is being played at a frenetic pace, both sides straining to break the 0-0 deadlock. And just as I’m thinking how scary it looks - the hard hockey ball being pinged around like a pinball - an Indian player takes one to the knuckles and has to be escorted from the pitch. Ouch.
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Thanks Daniel, an elegant splash-free stint as per. Jim here, bellyflopping my way into the live blog.
First up I’m tuned into the Cycling - Geraint Thomas will be the last rider out of the traps in the Men’s time trial - just after 14:30pm.
The riders hit the road one after another - England’s Fred Wright currently leads Australia’s Lucas Plapp and Wales’ Owain Doull. Some enviable ‘ironing boards’ (calf muscles) on display.
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And with that, I am done – though as I type that, a diver whose name escapes me totally loses track of where he is and clatters the surface via belly flop. We have all, I feel, sure, been there; ouch. Still, he wears it well, clambering out of the pool like he’s entered it with pike and zero splash; now here’s James Wallace to ease you through the rest of the day
Athletics: I couldn’t find the coverage, but the men’s decathlon shot is did. Australia’s Daniel Golubovic finished first with a PB of 15.60, but the bigger news is that Grenada’s Lindon Victor came second with 15.48. He was level at the top of the leaderboard with Cedric Dubler, but the Australian could only manage 12.83, so takes 162 points fewer.
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Diving: Jack Laugher is eighth after three of six dives; Yona Knight-Wisdom of Jamaica leads, with James Heatly of Scotland the highest-placed Brit; he’s third.
We’re having a little quiet moment – we’ve got that diving going on, and some early-rounds badminton and squash, but the men’s cycling time trial will be away again in about seven minutes.
Diving: What I didn’t realise: there are only 11 competitors, so all of them will qualify for the final. This qualifying contest will just decide in what order they jump.
Cycling: We’re having a break, but get going again at 13.54:30 BST, so in just under 25 minutes from now.
Boxing: Dylan Eagleson is very happy with his performance, especially his head and foot movement, which he tells BBC were “top class”. His guaranteed bronze means NI now have 12 medals, as many as they brought home from Gold Coast in 2018.
Diving: Jack Laugher’s first attempt in the 1m springboard qualifying wasn’t one of his best, but his second gets him some 8.0s. For a medal, he’ll need 9s, but he’s improving,
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We didn’t miss this achievement, but it did kind of get lost in the McColgan furore. Nevertheless, for KJT to win gold here, after the year she’s had, says so much about her mental strength, physical resilience and barely believable dedication.
2X Commonwealth Champ
— KJT (@JohnsonThompson) August 4, 2022
🥹🥰☺️🥹🙏🏽
This one means a lot. Thank you so much to everyone who has pulled me through this year to make this possible and end on such a high! 📈 pic.twitter.com/Pkt2tu8Z4p
South Africa's women's team end their two-month tour in the UK with an emphatic 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka to finish the Commonwealth Games 3rd in their group. That ends an eight-match losing streak but still plenty to think about in the six months before the T20 WC. #cricket
— Firdose Moonda (@FirdoseM) August 4, 2022
Cycling: Fred Wright catches Luke Plapp on the line, and he sets the fastest time so far. In comms, Chris Boardman reckons he’s got a decent chance of a medal, his time 46:47.52.
Boxing: Dylan Eagleson of Northern Ireland has guaranteed himself a bronze medal in the batamweight divison, outpointing Armando Sigauque of Mozambique.
Cycling: Plapp is back eating up road, but Wright still looks the best on the course. However, Geraint Thomas sets off at 14.29 BST, so whoever leads when will have plenty worrying ahead of them.
In the studio, they’ve just been laughing about how nails Denise Lewis is, and I can confirm I’ve been told that too. The way it was explained to me was that she not only won Olympic gold in the heptathlon, but did so before lottery money was involved, and that is something that would’ve been beyond even those with requisite sporting talent.
Cricket: Yup, South Africa have monstered Sri Lanka by 10 wickets – but neither will make the last four.
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Cycling: Eeesh, first Fred Wright takes nearly 10 seconds out of Plapp, then Plapp’s bike is jiggered and he has to grab a second. He’ll not be troubling the podium today.
Cricket: Chasing a mighty 47 to beat Sri Lanka, South Africa are 45-0 off eight.
Athletics: Brendon Rodney of Canada wins the final 200m heat, and Delan Edwin of St Lucia comes through in second. The semis are tomorrow and final on Saturday.
Cycling: At the first checkpoint, 8.9km in, Wright trails Luke Plapp of Australia by 0.04s. Or, in other words, he’s bang in this – though there are some nails riders still in the hutch.
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Athletics: Asamba of Kenya and Taib of Malaysia qualify from heat seven, the latter barging by the more-favoured Akintola of Nigeria late doors.
Women’s hockey: England now lead Wales 5-0 ... and that’s full-time. They will qualify from top of Pool A, ahead of India, and will play NZ in the semis; Australia complete the quartet.
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Athletics: Adam Gemili’s been having a tough time of it lately, but he gets a great reception from the crowd, then wins his heat from Kadrian Goldson of Jamaica. And while we were busy elsewhere, Joseph Amoah of Ghana and Kyle Greaux of T&T came through their heat. We’ve now had six of eight.
Cycling: Fred Wright is away; he’s got a chance of winning this, so we’ll be keeping a close eye.
Cricket: Oh dear oh dear oh dear. South Africa have bowled Sri Lanka out for 46, their lowest-ever T20 score – and Marizanne Kapp isn’t even there.
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Athletics: Back to that decathlon long jum, Alec diamond jumped farthest – 7.66m – and he sits third overall, on 180 points5. But Dubler, who managed 7.61m, and Victor, with 7.46m, lead the way, both on 1840.
Athletics: Jereem Richards of T&T wins the latest 200m heat – it’s mad how quickly they can go slowing down – and is followed home by Eswatini’s Sibusiso Matsenjwa.
Cricket: Sri Lanka have lost another wicket; they’re 41-8 now, and their lowest-ever T20 score is 57.
Athletics: Zharnel Hughes, who won the 200m in Gold Coast only to be disqualified after impeding the runner-up, glides through the field to win his heat easing up. Afterwards, he says that this is his event and that the crowd is amazing. He looks good, as it goes.
Cycling: The men’s time trial is away. Geraint Thomas, fresh from coming third in the Tour, is involved, but Dan Bigham and Fred Wright of England, and Rohan Dennis of Australia, will have words to say.
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Cricket: Sri Lanka are in all sorts, 40-7 off 12.4 against South Africa. This could get embarrassing.
Hockey: Grace Balsdon has scored her second and England’s third. Bigger matches to come, but the hosts are looking good.
Athletics: Abbas of Pakistan comes through to win the second heat of the men’s 200m, but Onwuzurike of Nigeria, who was leading and is a a big contender despite being just 19, might have hurt himself. He still manages second, but that’s a worry.
Women’s hockey: England now lead Wales 2-0 with 12 minutes left in Q3.
Athletics: There are eight of these, and Cmaeround’s Emanuel Eseme takes the first in 20.44; Dwight St. Hilaire of T&T is the second qualifier by right.
Athletics: We’ve not been shown the decathlon long jump, but Cedric Dubler, second to Lindon Victor in the 100m, has reversed the order. Both men delivered season’s bests, so will be close at the top of the standings with the shot still to come this morning. But we’ll be focusing on the men’s 200m heats now.
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Athletics: Wightman says that being announced as the 1500m world champ was the first time he felt like he was – “a nice moment,” he says with amusing, mortifying understatement. He’d originally planned to do the 800m here, but then decided it’d be nice to complete a metric-mile double – and he’s right, it would.
Athletics: There are eight men in the frame at they come into the home straight, so the world champ steps out and powers home. Jake Wightman wins and looks so confident is so doing – it’s amazing what a gold medal can do. He said he’d worked hard on his stamina to facilitate his finish, and that’s how he’s running. Matthew Stonier of England is second, Abel Kipsang of Kenya third, Neil Gourley of Scotland fourth and Samuel Tanner of NZ fifth.
Athletics: This second 1500m heat is slower than a middle-aged man after a night out; not a chance the fastest losers come from here, so Paulson will be in the final.
Athletics: Australia’s Ollie Hoare wins the heat, with Timothy Cheruiyot, the Olympics and Commonwealth silver medalist second. Heyward is third, Josh Kerr of Scotland – bronze medalist in Tokyo – fourth, and Elliot Giles of England fifth. William Paulson of Canada will have to wait and see.
Athletics: Hayward of Wales leads the first head, Hoare of Australia behind him; there’s a group of six, with five to qualify and the two fastest losers across the two heats.
Women’s hockey: England have just scored to lead Wales 1-0, but I didn’t quite see who scored or how, as I was reliving Wightman’s ludicrous gold. Please forgive me.
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Athletics: I should’ve said, the women’s 200m heats are now done. But in their stead we’ve got the heats of the men’s 1500m – there are two, and the second features Scotland’s Jake Wightman, the new world champ! What a sentence that is!
Grace Brown of Australia wins the time trial!
She finishes 33.35s quicker than Anna Henderson of England, who takes silver, while Georgia Williams of NZ nabs bronze.
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Women’s hockey: England and Wales are 0-0 with 1.30 left in Q1.
Cycling: Henderson of England has absolutely punished this time trial; she’s finished and leads with a time of 40:38.55. But Australia’s Grace Brown is still out there and though the sprint home is brutal, she looks strong and likely to take gold.
Athletics: Natassha McDonald of Canada breezes into the next round of the women’s 200.
Cricket: A diamond duck! Sinalo Jafta nicks off Hasini Perera and Sri Lanka are 0-1 off 0.1!
Athletics: ...and she glides home first in 22.80. What was so impressive about her yesterday was that although she wasn’t at her fastest, her technique and composure we near-perfect, so she was good enough to win anyway. The absence of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was obviously helpful, similarly that of Shericka Jackson, but still, she’s a great and an amazing competitor.
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Athletics: Fast Elaine is on the track...
Cricket: Sri Lanka are about to play South Africa – the latter won the toss and put the former in. I can’t lie, I’d happily watch this all day, but given both are out I’ll mainly be looking elsewhere.
Cycling: Grace Brown of Australia now leads the time trial, 4.53s ahead of Henderson after 8.9km of Black Country slogging.
Athletics: Favour Ofili of Nigeria wins the latest heat in the women’s 200m, 22.71 the time; she’ll be a threat here and, given she’s just 19, for a fair few years after this. Gina Bass of Gambia comes second.
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Women’s hockey: New Zealand have beaten South Africa 4-1; in 12 minutes, England will play Wales.
Cycling: At the first timing point, 8.9km in, Anna Henderson of GB leads – though not everyone has reached it yet.
Athletics: Natalliah Whyte of Jamaica eases through the third 200m head, cruising home in 23.62.
Athletics: Hima Das of India wins the second 200m heat in 23.42; Rhoda Njobvu of Zambia and Jacent Nyamahunge of Uganda also qualify. Meantime, in the hammer, Camryn Rodgers, the favourite and silver-medalist in Eugene, ails a Games record of 73.48m in her first throw. Smack: laid down.
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Cycling: The last racer is in the process of setting off in the women’s time trial; we’ll see how stuff shakes out as we move through the morning.
Athletics: Christine Mboma of Namibia, the Olympic silver medalist, wins the first heat of the women’s 200m in 23.20. She’ll fancy herself here, given Shericka Jackson, the world champ, has withdrawn, and Elaine Thompson-Herah, though she won the 100m last evening, isn’t in her best form.
Cycling: “It’s called the race of truth,” says Hayley Simmonds of the road race time trial – and she should know, having taken bronze in 2018. “In the end it’s just you and the pain in your legs and the thoughts in your head,” she surmises quite beautifully.
Netball: Jamaica beat Australia 57-55! That was a a great match, and what a performance from the Sunshine Girls to defeat the favourites! In the semis, they’ll meet whoever loses the evening match, between England and New Zealand; all four have what it takes to win gold.
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Athletics: Lindon Victor of Grenanda, the defending champin the decathlon, finished fifth in Oregon, but he nails his 100m here, running a faster time than he did there – 10.76. But Australia’s Cedric Dubler, his main rival, comes second and is well in touch after one event.
Netball: Hello! Jamaica have pulled it back, and with three minutes left in Q4 lead Australia 53-52!
Hockey: South Africa have stabilised, but still trail NZ 3-0 and we’ve got 11.30 left in Q4.
Let’s have some Commonwealth music, for I cannot stop listening to this – from Ghana, and King Promise’s new album.
Jeanette Kwakye is on BBC talking about last night. You could tell how much she loved it, and we cut to see Liz and Eilish enjoying the moment, again. Great stuff.
Cycling: The women’s time trial is away.
Netball: Australia have stretched away. At the end of Q3, the Diamonds lead 46-40.
Athletics: In this sesh, we’ve got the first three disciplines of the men’s decathlon which are – no cheating – the 100m, the long jump and the shot. We’ll also see the 200m heats for both men and women, so yes, we’ll get some Fast Elaine action, plus round 1 of the men’s 1500m women’s hammer qualifying and women’s high jump qualifying.
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The cycling, then: the way it works is that each rider sets off on their bill – the men go for 37km, the women 29km – and whoever records the fastest time wins. Easy.
Netball: It’s still tight as, Australia leading Jamaica 34-32 with 10.30 left in Q3. It’s a terrific contest – get the telly on if you can.
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At 10am BST – so in 13 minutes from now – we start both the cycling time trials and the athletics. Not bad.
This has absolutely nothing to do with the Commonwealth Games, but it’s just too brilliant not to share.
Non è un addio, è un arrivederci 💙 pic.twitter.com/osnXUaLBQr
— Dries Mertens (@dries_mertens14) August 3, 2022
Women’s hockey: NZ lead South Africa 3-0 with three to go in Q2; the look near-certs to move into the last four with Australia while, from the other pool, India and England are in control.
Netball: Australia lead Jamaica 15-13 at the start of Q2; whoever wins this wins the pool, with New Zealand and England waiting in the semis. Those two meet this evening, again to determine first and second place.
On the main BBC channel, we’re watching Canada’s Ryan Bester play Wales’ Daniel Salmon in the sectional bit of the men’s bowls. You may remember Salmon from Tuesday – he won gold in the pairs – but he’s just been nailed 21-10. He’s got another game later on, though, so all is not lost.
Preamble
Morning all and welcome to day seven of the Commonwealth Games!
I’ll level with you: I’m not even close to recovered from yesterday. Granted, Eilish McColgan celebrating gold with Liz is prime eyeball-sweating fodder for the middle-aged, but even if we ignore that aspect, the last 500m of that women’s 10,000 – the look on McColgan’s coupon, the pain she overcame, the way she dredged up that finish from the depths of her soul – was the absolute heigh of sport. “The race I always knew she had in her,” said her mum, eyes moist with naches. Just absolutely beautiful.
But today – ready or not, here it comes. We begin with the time trials of the men and women’s road races – Geraint Thomas, fresh off his Tour de France third-place, is in that – and also have some morning athletics, most particularly the start of the decathlon, then tonight we’ll enjoy the final of the men’s 110m hurdles and women’s steeplechase among other things.
In the water, the swimming meet might be over but the diving is just getting going – Jack Laugher goes in the 1m springboard – and we’ve also got England v New Zealand in the cricket, winners to top the pool, just as we do in the netball. So stick with us as we coax you through it all!
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