02/07/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | JULY 2, 2025

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Ű BY KIERAN JACKSON

light throughout his victory and while such precise coaching over radio is rare to hear for a frontrunning driver, the Briton acknowledged afterwards he is willing to digest as much helpful information as possible. “As much as I like to not have any radio and just do my own thing and concentrate, when you’ve got some quick guys behind you or ahead of you, there’s nothing wrong with asking for a bit of guidance and a bit of help every now and then,” Norris said afterwards. “I’m just trying to utilise the guys I’ve got around me. My engineers, my performance engineers, they’re looking at a lot more data than I can see. “Obviously, I’m the one in the car, but when you’ve got a guy catching you and there are some corners where you can improve, then I want to know those things. “I would say that’s nothing more than just general improvements, but also me trying to be a bit more accepting of some help sometimes.” So to Silverstone we go, with the gap at the top now down to 15 points from 22. The British Grand Prix will represent the halfway stage of the season and, with Max Verstappen’s retirement on Sunday, it is increasingly looking like a two-horse race for the world championship. – The Independent

FOR Lando Norris, so despondent this season at so many junctures, this is exactly what the doctor ordered. At one of his most successful circuits, the Briton breathed new life into his title challenge in the Styrian mountains. The challenge now is to keep the momentum rolling into his home race at Silverstone this weekend. Eager to bounce back after his horrid error in colliding with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in Canada, Norris dominated every Austrian Grand Prix session he participated in. While he stepped back for Irish rookie Alex Dunne in FP1, Norris topped the timesheets in FP2 and FP3. No doubt, he was a man on a mission. Thankfully, and in contrast to a plethora of races so far in 2025, he also maintained his composure at the end of qualifying, setting a table-topping time more than half a second quicker than Charles Leclerc in second. In F1 spiel, that’s a sizable gap. It was Norris’s best lap of the season. But the opening to the 70-lap grand prix was met with a robust challenge from Piastri, who leapt up to second at the start. The Australian spent at least 15 laps right on the gearbox of his teammate. Lap 12 saw the lead momentarily change hands before Norris came swooping back. It was tremendous race-craft and,

Norris heads to Silverstone reenergised

launch a second attack, Norris was guided – almost coached – by the trusted man in his ear. Will Joseph, Norris’ long-term race engineer, was a key cog in Norris’third win this season. Norris undoubtedly had a guiding

Stallard, over team radio, that the move was “too marginal.” He added: “We can’t do that again.” Yet throughout this early-race battle, and towards the end of the grand prix when Piastri looked to

ultimately, Norris came out on top. In fact, this time it was Piastri who pushed the limits too much, locking up his tyres and almost hitting his teammate at turn 4. Piastri was promptly told by his engineer Tom

SHORTS Archer misses out

India face ‘last-minute’ Bumrah call … as they bid to level England series

ENGLAND named an unchanged team for the second Test against India starting at Edgbaston today, as Jofra Archer was made to wait for his return. Ben Stokes’ men won the opening match of a five-Test series by five wickets last week after chasing down 371 on the final day at Headingley. Archer has not played Test cricket since February 2021 but had been called into the squad after bowling his first red-ball overs for four years in Sussex’s County Championship draw against Durham last week. However, the 30-year-old was forced to miss Monday’s training session due to a family emergency. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Archer rejoined the team in Birmingham yesterday. Barbados-born Archer burst onto the scene in 2019, hailed as a key weapon for England in their search for genuine pace to unsettle opponents. He bowled the decisive super over in England’s 50-over World Cup win over New Zealand at Lord’s in 2019 and took 22 wickets in four Tests that followed against Australia in the drawn Ashes series. But Archer was dogged by an elbow injury first sustained in 2020 that required multiple operations and has also had to overcome a recurring stress fracture in his back, first sustained in 2022. Knights on centre court THE footballing knight, Sir David Beckham brought his mum, Sandra, along to enjoy a sizzling day at Wimbledon for the centre court experience to watch defending champion Carlos Alcaraz kick off his campaign with an epic battle. With temperatures hitting a first-day record of 32.3°C, it was a very good day to enjoy the air conditioning in the Royal Box. Becks, who had bandages on his wrist after his operation last week, looked cool as a cucumber as he sat next to another footballing knight, former England manager Gareth Southgate. British No. 2 Katie Boulter was second on centre while Emma Raducanu made her tournament debut on court one against fellow Brit Mimi Xu winning in straight sets against her 17-year-old compatriot.

I NDIA will make a “last-minute” decision on whether to risk the outstanding Jasprit Bumrah in successive Tests as they look to level their five-match series with England this week. Bumrah is the world’s top-ranked Test bowler and, ordinarily, his selection for a match starting at Birmingham’s Edgbaston ground today (6pm Malaysian time), would be an obvious move following India’s five-wicket loss in the series opener at Headingley. Bumrah, however, is returning from a back injury, with the fast bowler saying before the series he only expected to feature in three of the five Tests against England. Opener Ben Duckett’s 149, as England made light of a seemingly stiff chase of 371, underlined the lack of support for Bumrah after the spearhead quick took 5-83 in the first innings but no wickets at all in the second. “Bumrah is ready to play,” India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters yesterday. “It’s how we manage these four Tests. So if we feel like there’s value in playing him in this Test, we’ll make that call at the very last minute.” India, who have now lost seven of their 11 Tests under coach Gautam Gambhi, could alter the balance of their attack by bringing in left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who didn’t feature at Headingley. Yadav has taken 56

highest fourth-innings chase in Test history, in what former skipper Michael Vaughan said was a display of “Bazball with brains”, named an unchanged team yesterday. Home wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who won the first Test with a six to finish on 44 not out, said at a media event staged by series sponsor Rothesay after last week’s win: “I think the really important thing is for the team to be quite ruthless and once you’re on top, try to put them to bed.” England lacked new-ball penetration in the first innings but their bowlers improved during the game. Nevertheless, they have resisted the temptation to recall Jofra Archer and so end the express fast bowler’s four years of injury induced Test exile after naming the Sussex paceman in their Edgbaston squad. Instead veteran all-rounder Chris Woakes, leading an attack without retired pace greats James Anderson and Stuart Broad, will look to bolster his tally of 182 wickets in 58 Tests on his Warwickshire home ground this week. “I played a lot of my England games with Jimmy and Broady so it is different not having them around but also it’s a great opportunity for myself,” said Woakes, 36. “I’ve enjoyed that role so far and it’s good to pass on some knowledge to the younger guys that haven’t played as much Test cricket.” – AFP

wickets at 22.16 in 13 Tests. Batting collapses of 7-41, after they had been 430-3, and 6-31, from 333-4, proved costly for India at Headingley as they became the first side in more than 60,000 first-class matches to score five individual hundreds and still lose. They were also hindered by some woeful out-cricket with a series of straightforward catches going to ground, two of them off Harry Brook who was dropped off a no-ball before he had scored and then had lives on 46 and 82 as he went on to make a vital 99 in England’s first innings. Shubman Gill, in his first match as India captain, led from the front with 147 in the first innings, and the good news for a team without retired skippers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli is that ruthlessness with the bat is a quality that can be acquired. So too is authority in the field, with Rishabh Pant – who scored two hundreds at Headingley – and fellow century-maker KL Rahul too often looking as if they, rather than Gill, were calling the shots. “At one point I felt there were too many captains,” former India spinner Murali Karthik told Cricbuzz . “I just couldn’t understand that. KL Rahul was making hand movements, Rishabh Pant was also doing it … There is only one captain.” England, buoyed by achieving the tenth