Jordan Cox reflects on missed opportunities despite England’s big lead against Pakistan

With one semi-final in her last seven tournaments, the coming months will define the next stage of her career Towards the end of a messy first set tie-break late on Wednesday, Aryna Sabalenka wildly sprayed another painfully nervous backhand before slamming her racket to the ground. As the racket connected with the acrylic floor, its vibration dampener detached from the strings and rolled off in the direction of the broadcast camera pit by the side of the court. With the diminutive 20-year‑old Czech player Sara Bejlek leading Sabalenka 6-5 in the tie-break, this slapstick sequence forced play to pause while the Belarusian and a couple of volunteers comically searched for the missing vibration damper underneath the cameras until she gave up and retrieved a new one. A few minutes later, Sabalenka trailed by a set...

The Essex batsman, filling in for Jacob Bethell, wasted no time in laying down a claim to a longer run in the England side When Jordan Cox was 19, playing in his fifth first-class match and unbeaten overnight on 167 for Kent against Sussex, he decided to set himself a new task. Cox told Sam Billings, his captain and an England international, that he would go past Billings’ first-class best of 171. The top scores of other teammates were in sight, too. “I was just ticking people off,” Cox said a few weeks later. “Having a higher score than Sam Billings and Joe Denly at 19, that’s what got me going.” Denly, an England No 3, had a best of 227. Cox finished on 238 not out. Six years on, that confidence and bit of swagger made its way to Leeds, with Cox resuming on 23 after England’s near-perfect Wednesday. There were no visible nerves, no rollerskates on the feet. A few gentle taps of the ground, a small shift on to the back foot and then plenty of time before he presented the middle. He looked on holiday while batting in only his second Test, and that too with the responsibility of building a first-innings lead at first drop. Joe Root, 167 Tests in, was at the other end and Cox did not look out of place alongside his captain. The pair have done a bit of this now. Just last week they were decked out in red, trying to launch it together in the Hundred. Strong Welsh Fire, strong England?..

Meetings around event seen as chance to lobby for votes Fifa president may meet his most credible challenger Gianni Infantino wants to split the European and North American coalition that is seeking to oust him by attending a junior tournament in the Dominican Republic this weekend in another gamble to cling on to power from the Fifa president. The Guardian has learned that Infantino has made plans to attend the U14 Boys Challenge competition organised by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), 21 of whose associations are voting members of Fifa, despite being urged to stay away from the event by senior figures within Concacaf – the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football – which is working with Uefa to remove him...