The Black Caps remain top of the table after Nottingham wash out, The Black Sox get off to a winning start at the World Mens Softball Champs, Super rugby reaches it's final round and we catch up with Kiwi Shot Putter Jacko Gill
England flexed their World Cup muscles overnight at the Cricket World Cup, but their win over West Indies came at a cost. Here is everything you need to know.
England crush Windies
The sun appeared after a week of gloom and shone on England, giving the World Cuphosts perfect batting conditions to chase down a meagre West Indies target and clinch an eight-wicket with almost 17 overs to spare.
Joe Root was able to get on the front foot to nullify any threat of an expected barrage from the West Indies pace attack and scored an unbeaten century to guide England to 213-2 in reply to 212.
England's Liam Plunkett, top left, celebrates taking the wicket of West Indies' Chris Gayle, foreground, during the Cricket World Cup match between England and West Indies. Photo / AP
Root also took two wickets — both caught-and-bowled — and Barbados-born Jofra Archer took 3-30 after England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and gave his bowlers advantage of the early cold, overcast conditions by sending West Indies in to bat.
England stars injured
England's Jason Roy, right, walks off the field of play with a leg injury during the Cricket World Cup match between England and West Indies. Photo / AP.
Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan have emerged as serious doubts for England's next World Cup fixture, against Afghanistan at Old Trafford on Tuesday, with the two men facing scans on their left hamstring and back respectively.
Roy, the opener, would have been unable to bat until five wickets had fallen in the England innings, having gone off the field clutching his hamstring as early as the eighth over.
Morgan, who suffered back spasms, went off in the 40th over - the innings lasted 44.4 overs - and in accordance with the ICC's regulations, wouldn't have been able to bat for 28 minutes at the start of England's chase.
With a relatively short turnaround to England's next match, Morgan said he and Roy would be monitored for the next 48 hours, before a "risk assessment" to decide whether it is worth including them for a contest that England will be expecting to win, regardless of their injury concerns.
"It is my back, it's a little bit sore, and Roy tweaked his hammy as well," said Morgan during the post-match presentations. "I have had a lot of back spasms as well in the past. It's a matter of waiting 48 hours to let it settle down, sometimes it settles a lot quicker than expected and sometimes it lingers around, so we'll just have to see how it goes."
At the subsequent post-match press conference, Morgan chose to stand to address the media due to his discomfort, but insisted the fitness of both him and Roy was not "panic stations".
"We'll do a risk assessment, see how risky it is going into that game, bearing in mind we have two games in quite a short space [of time]." England's next match after Afghanistan is against Sri Lanka at Headingley on Friday.
10-year-old's brilliant sledge for Aussie captain
Aaron Finch handled every delivery the press pack sent down with ease 24 hours out from Australia's World Cup match against Sri Lanka before a curly question took him down a peg.
The Aussie captain was his usual eloquent, thoughtful self when he faced reporters after Australia finished an indoor net session at The Oval while the rain tumbled down in London but he didn't bank on being on the end of a brilliant one-liner from a 10-year-old.
Australian fielding coach Brad Haddin's two young boys — Zachary, 10, and Hugo, 7 — joined Finch for his standard pre-game presser and the best question was left for last when Zachary was handed the microphone.
The journalists were outshone by some young fellas. Photo / Twitter.
"Are you going to win a coin toss?" he said, cracking up the couple of dozen journalists who loved the youngster's sense of humour.
Finch is yet to win a toss in four attempts at the World Cup but he's hoping his fortunes will change on Saturday. Like everyone else in the room, he too saw the funny side of the lighthearted moment.
"I don't know, I'd like to," Finch said with a smile. "I don't think I won one in the warm-up games either.
"I had a good run at the start of the Pakistan series then lost a couple towards the end so it's been a while since I won a toss. Good question."
But the opening batsman wasn't going to let the young Haddin boy have the last laugh.
"Can I ask you a question?" Finch asked Zachary. "Have you got a girlfriend?"
To be fair to Zachary, he showed plenty of poise when faced with a query that would make most 10-year-olds blush. In a flash he confidently shot back: "No!"
The hidden problem from Black Caps' washout
In February, Black Caps coach Gary Stead made a surprising admission – he wasn't sure his side had made enough progress to topple the world's best one-day sides.
Through four games of the Cricket World Cup, he almost certainly still has the same problem.
"India obviously exposed some areas that we wanted to keep brushing up on, and the brutal truth of it is until we play those guys again, we don't actually [know if we've learned] that lesson or not."
That is the potential long-term cost of the rainout in Nottingham. While the point they gained for the abandonment aids their semifinal chances – further enhanced by the West Indies' defeat to England – the Black Caps still haven't proven themselves against the favourites to raise the Cup, and now won't get a chance to do so until their final two pool games, when they face Australia and England.
Odds to make the semifinals
England $1.05 India $1.08 Australia $1.14 New Zealand $1.33 West Indies $3.00 Pakistan $5.50 South Africa $12 Bangladesh $21 Sri Lanka $21 Afghanistan $101
The Alternative Commentary Collective are podcasting their way through the World Cup. Known for their unconventional sports analysis and off-kilter banter, the ACC have come to ask the tough questions. Here's the latest episode of 'The Agenda':
