Tennis - Australia chief Wood steps down after eight years

Wood restructured Australia tennis to put it on a firm financial footing and oversaw the development of the Australian Open into one of the strongest tournaments in the world.

While there was success in the women's game in his time in charge when Sam Stosur won the US Open in 2011, Australia's long wait for another men's grand slam champion continues.

Wood said he wanted to take a break.

"It has been an incredible time," he said in a news release. "We have achieved so much. I think the platform has been established and it is now time for an intensified push to reinvigorate every element of Australian tennis."

Tennis Australia president Steve Healy paid tribute to Wood's "creative and progressive" leadership and said Tiley was his natural successor.

"Steve's departure will coincide with a renewed focus on strengthening the foundations of the sport throughout Australia," Healy said.

"Steve's legacy is that tennis is well-positioned commercially and structurally to take on these challenges."

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Draw Looks Inevitable After Slow-Moving Day

Australia 492-9d (Watson 176) v
England 247-4 (Root 68)
Fifth Ashes Test, The Oval
Scorecard

An attritional third day at The Oval saw England end just 46 runs shy of avoiding the follow-on on 247 for four in their first innings. Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen both made stodgy half-centuries as Australia’s bowlers struggled for regular breakthroughs on the still-flat pitch.

Alastair Cook and Joe Root began the day at the crease for England and progressed steadily with relatively few alarms; a story that effectively became the theme of the day. Cook did suffer one scare in the 30th over when struck on the pad by Ryan Harris, but Australia’s use of the review to overturn Kumar Dharmasena’s not out decision proved ill-judged.

The following over, though, Harris had his man as Cook poked tentatively outside his off-stump and edged through to Brad Haddin to depart for 25. Jonathan Trott the joined Root and the two batted through until lunch without further loss. Root reached 50 for only the second time in the series to lay to rest, at least for the moment, concerns about his place at the top of England’s batting order.

Unfortunately, he was unable to press on to three figures and fell to a top-edged sweep shot off Nathan Lyon which found Shane Watson at short fine-leg. What followed was an impressive spell of off-spin bowling from Lyon at the new batsman Kevin Pietersen. Bowling around the wicket, he repeatedly caused Pietersen problems, but Pietersen largely reined in his natural attacking instincts and survived.

Trott’s long vigil was brought to an end at 40 off his 134th delivery when Mitchell Starc had him trapped LBW. The ball pitched on leg-stump and straightened enough to hit leg according to both umpire Aleem Dar and Hawkeye, which was called for once Trott decided to review the decision. The umpiring in this match, thus far, has certainly been much better than earlier in the series; perhaps demonstrating what a tough job it is and that even the best, such as Dar, can have bad match.

Pietersen completed one of his slower Test fifties after tea but was soon walking off after edging a full ball to Watson at slip. He had enjoyed a verbal joust with Clarke earlier, but that was about the only time that the tempo of the game moved out of first gear all day. England’s method can, of course, be justified. They have already won the series and don’t want to hand Australia a morale-boosting win ahead of the return series this winter.

Pietersen’s dismissal brought debutant Chris Woakes to the crease to partner the ever-present Ian Bell and the he welcomed his first ball from Starc by driving it square for four.

Woakes certainly enjoyed a better first hour of Test cricket with the bat than with the ball and ended on 15 not out, with Bell on 29. England had scored 215 runs in the 98 overs that were bowled in the day and, with rain forecast for tomorrow, it is hard to see this match ending in anything other than a draw.

© Cricket World 2013

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Sussex finish bottom after Kent loss

Kent 117-2 (13.1 overs) beat Sussex 113 (20 overs) by eight wickets

Kent's eight-wicket victory at Hove condemned Sussex to bottom place in the FLt20 South Group.

Both sides went into the game unable to qualify for the knockout stages and Sussex were skittled out for 113.

Only three players, including Matt Machan (31), reached double figures for the hosts, while Mitch Claydon (3-22) took three wickets in the final over.

Matt Coles hit three sixes and three fours in his 40 off 23 balls as Kent won with 41 balls to spare on 117-2.

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Wimbledon - Champion Murray in a blur after historic triumph

The British number one produced a stubborn display that underlined his mental toughness and increasing self-belief to beat world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-6 6-4.

He came out to serve for the title as a far from reserved roar, an unleashing of national frustration after so many years, reverberated around the hallowed Centre Court.

Murray quickly established three Championship points and then squandered them all.

He then saved three break points before producing a brilliant winner to set up another chance, which he finally took to end Britain's 77-year wait for a men's singles winner.

The British number one now holds the Olympic, US Open and Wimbledon titles - and, at just 26, is still at the peak of his powers meaning there is surely more to come.

"Winning Wimbledon is the pinnacle of tennis. Those last few points were the hardest of my life and I worked so hard in that last game," said Murray.

"I just can't get my head around it, I can't quite believe it.

"It's all a bit of a blur, from 4-2 down in the third set to holding the trophy, I don't know what to say.

"Mentally, that last game was the toughest game I will play in my entire career. I can't really believe that it's happened. This one will take a while to sink in."

Murray paid special tribute to coach Ivan Lendl, himself a two-time beaten finalist at Wimbledon, who has perhaps added a decisive missing ingredient to the world number two's entourage since his appointment early last year.

"He told me he was proud of me, which coming from him means a lot," added Murray.

"He doesn't smile too much in public but away from the cameras and crowds he is a very different character.

"He'd have loved to win here but this was the next best thing for him, he's stuck by me through some tough losses, he's been very patient and I'm happy I managed to do it for him.

"Ivan has made me learn more from my losses. He is extremely honest with me, if I work hard then he is happy. If I don't, he's disappointed and will tell me.

"He's got my mentality slightly different heading into these big matches."

Murray also paid tribute to the crowd - normally the most reserved on the Grand Slam circuit - who waved their flags and raised the roof with the sort of chanting you normally only find at the Davis Cup.

"It was a different atmosphere to the past, it was incredibly loud," he said.

"It does make a difference and it really helps when the crowd is like that. It's especially good in a tough matches, when it's extremely hot and there are long, brutal rallies. It helps get you through."

Murray admits to feeling strange that his entire career has been contrasted with a player, Fred Perry, who died when he was just seven years old.

And he hopes that he won't be held up as a similar example for those that will surely be inspired by his Wimbledon victory.

"It's an incredibly difficult tournament to win, so it's possible it could take a long time but I would hope not that long," said Murray.

"I think with the amount of money that is invested in the sport in this country, then it shouldn't take 70 odd years."

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