This week would rank rather high in the unofficial league table of ‘all-time great sporting weeks’. By Thursday, it was full split-screen territory: ICC World Test Championship on one side of the TV, US Open on the other, with quick flicks over to F1 and Le Mans in between.
Almost another Lord’s controversy
Cricket
David Bedingham
Alex Carey has a knack for courting controversy at Lord’s, and his first visit back since the Jonny Bairstow stumping proved no different.
You will recall the 2023 Ashes moment: Carey’s sharp stumping of Bairstow sent the Long Room into uproar. Three MCC Members got banned, tempers flailed, and even the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, weighed in. Not bad for a wicketkeeper.
Fast forward to the final over of day two’s morning session in the World Test Championship final, and the atmosphere felt deja vu.
Beau Webster, bowling at South African batter David Bedingham, saw what looked like a faint edge, caught somewhere between bat and thigh pad. But before the ball could drop to the ground or into the hands of Carey, Bedingham plucked the ball out and threw it onto the pitch.
The crowd held its breath while Usman Khawaja conversed with umpire, Richard Illingworth. The decision was made after consultation with fellow umpire Chris Gaffaney and the dead ball signal given. No drama this time.
While "handled the ball" was removed as an official dismissal in 2017, the "obstructing the field" rule remains in place for incidents like Bedingham’s that could see a player dismissed.
In other news: Day three of the WTC final delivered a sickening injury to Australia’s vice-captain, Steve Smith.
Chasing 282 for victory, South Africa was 2/27 when Mitchell Starc found an outside edge off Temba Bavuma.
The ball rocketed straight at Smith, who was tucked in closer than usual at slip, helmet on, ready for anything.
Then, disaster. Smith misjudged the catch, much to the disappointment of us watching, and his right little finger took the brunt.
The moment the ball hit his hand, the digit bent the wrong way, bone visibly protruding through the skin.
He ran off, pale and in agony, dry-heaving as medics rushed to assess the damage. Cricket Australia later confirmed a compound dislocation, sparking concern for the upcoming West Indies tour.
South Africa secured their first major cricket trophy with a five-wicket victory over Australia, marking a historic and I dare say surprising win, in a hard-fought out final.
SA 138 & 5/282
AUS 212 & 207
Le Mans: A test of both machine and driver endurance
Motorsports
There is something deeply French and fantastically mad about the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It began in 1923 with the idea of testing cars’ reliability as much as their speed.
Back then, cars were pretty much glorified wheelbarrows. But over time, the race evolved and the cars with it.
What started as a test of public road machines became a theatre of engineering, where manufacturers like Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota, and now even Cadillac and Peugeot, fight it out for technological bragging rights and a massive bottle of Champagne.
It is, in short, a race where human beings and finely tuned machines go without proper sleep for an entire day and call it glory.
This weekend, like almost every June, the spectacle was back at the Circuit de la Sarthe, a track that is part racetrack, part public road and winding countryside.
It is Le Mans (pronounced “Luh Mahhhhhh”), a race so long it is measured in calendar days, so fast it once reached 407 km/h (253 mph) and so important it forms one of motorsport’s elusive Triple Crown - the others being the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix.
Unlike your average F1 Grand Prix, which is over fast, Le Mans is an endurance event in every sense of the word.
It demands more than just a heavy right foot, it requires strategy, discipline and the ability to drive at 330 km/h while hallucinating from sleep deprivation and caffeine.
The goal is simple: cover the most distance in 24 hours.
In 2010, Audi set the current record, a toe curling 5,410km (3,360 miles) - that is six times the Indy 500 and about 18 times longer than your average F1 race.
Modern teams manage fuel types, brakes and the sanity of their drivers, who rotate in squads of three, though “rotation” is generous. One poor soul is usually stuffed back into the cockpit before their croissant even settles.
Le Mans is not just one race, it is several mashed together like a french motorsport ratatouille.
Cars compete in multiple classes at once, meaning a purpose-built Hypercar might overtake a Grand Touring Porsche that looks like your accountant’s weekend car.
Here is the thing: watching Le Mans is like owning a cat. Sometimes it naps, sometimes it purrs. Sometimes it claws your face off at 3am. But through all the gear changes, pit stops, midnight stints and sunrise overtakes, there is a kind of romance to it all.
And this weekend Le Mans gave us another tale for the ages.
This time the victory belonged to Poland’s Robert Kubica, flanked by China’s Ye Yifei and Britain’s Philip Hanson - a trio that coaxed their Ferrari through 387 laps and into the winner’s circle.
For all three the silverware will sparkle, but for Kubica, the weight of it must feel different. It was here, in the long shadow of endurance, that he rewrote a story nearly lost.
After a harrowing crash at the Andora Rally in 2011 - the one that left him with a partial forearm amputation and a took his career in Formula 1 that once brimmed with promise - most assumed the final chapter had been penned.
But Kubica never stopped writing. Across the past 24 hours, he gave us five stints and more than three hours at the wheel in the closing moments. Then as the dawn broke, it was Robert Kubica who stood tallest.
McLaren play bumper cars
F1
George Russell snapped Mercedes’ 2025 winless streak with a masterclass in control at a damp and unpredictable Canadian Grand Prix. Hounded by Max Verstappen all the way to the flag, Russell did not flinch, delivering a performance as precise as it was defiant.
Starting from pole, Russell launched cleanly and managed the race from the front with calm authority, even as changing conditions and late pressure from behind turned the final stages into a strategic and mental challenge.
He crossed the line just 0.228 seconds ahead of Verstappen, delivering Mercedes a much needed morale boost after a difficult start to the year.
Behind the front two, the biggest surprise of the day came from 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli, who kept a cool head and a tight line to claim his first career podium in third for Mercedes’.
It was a performance that raised eyebrows and disrupted the usual order among the front runners.
Further back, the race took a dramatic turn late on as the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris found themselves locked in an internal scrap for fourth.
Piastri was chasing Antonelli for a podium, but Norris was closing in fast behind. The two ran closely for several corners before Norris clipped the back of Piastri’s car in a braking zone, damaging his own front left tyre and sending him into the wall.
Norris immediately took responsibility for the incident over team radio.
“I am sorry. It is all my bad. All my fault. Unlucky, sorry. Stupid from me.”
Lando Norris
It was a stark reminder of how fine the margins are, even between teammates, especially when podium positions are on the line.
While Norris limped back to the pits and out of the points, Piastri managed to continue and finished fourth, salvaging solid points for McLaren.
For Russell and Mercedes, however, the headlines belong to them. After a long and winless spell stretching back to the end of last season, this was a race they had to win, and did. A well-earned victory, and possibly, a turning point.
US Open: Gone by Friday
Golf
Oakmont played the role of polite host and then pulled the chair out from beneath some big names mid-swing.
With a wicked rough and a +7 cut line, several big names found themselves packing up early.
Bryson DeChambeau was the headline miss. Just a year ago he out-played McIlroy at Pinehurst to claim his second US Open. This time, the LIV star never looked settled. He signed for 10-over across two rounds, missing the cut by three.
Ludvig Åberg, one of the game’s most hyped prospects came in with form, as winner of the Genesis Invitational and T7 at Augusta, but he just never got going. A Thursday 72 followed by a Friday 76 left him at +8, a shot too many.
Justin Thomas, whose 2025 has shown flashes of vintage JT, added another major stumble to his year. T36 at The Masters, cut at the PGA, and now +12 at Oakmont. Five short of the cut and a long way from contending.
Wyndham Clark, the 2023 champ, would not repeat. Back to back 74s (+8 total) continued a trend of inconsistent major results this year. T46 at Augusta, T50 at Valhalla. He will need something special at The Open to salvage his major season.
Tommy Fleetwood flirted with survival through 32 holes, then faded. Two late bogeys did him in, 74 and 75 for a +9 early exit.
Justin Rose, so composed in that Masters playoff loss to McIlroy, could not find his spark at Oakmont. Two rounds of 77, and out. The 2013 champ still waits for another real run at a major.
Oakmont’s message? Bring your best, or bring a weekend tee time elsewhere.
While the spotlight was fixed on the early exits, Sundays round flipped the narrative to become an interesting watch. JJ Spaun drained an immense putt on the 18th to finish -1, securing a well-earned US Open title.
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