Anderson takes figures of 5-65 as he tears through India.

England were the victors in a thrilling opening test of the series against India at Lord’s. The 2000th test match ever played was as exciting as most others in recent memory as England relied on a final session wipe out of the Indian rear guard to secure the win. England had battled to a significant lead after the first innings but a disappointing second innings (rescued only by the heroics of Matt Prior and Stuart Broad) meant that the tourists went into the fifth day with realistic hopes of drawing the test. James Anderson crushed any such ambitions though with a dominant display of pace bowling to end the Indian resistance. England will now turn their attention to the second test at Trent Bridge on Friday knowing that a series victory by two clear matches will place them at the top of the world rankings.   

Lewis Hamilton secured his second victory of the F1 season as he won a closely fought German Grand Prix. Hamilton, who had qualified second on the grid, got a far better start than pole sitter Mark Webber and took the lead into the first corner. Never able to pull convincingly ahead, the British driver constantly tussled with Webber’s Red Bull and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso as the lead frequently changed hands. Pit stop tactics looked like they may prove crucial but, despite losing the lead in the second set of stops, some thrilling overtaking manoeuvres from Hamilton ensured he ended the race on top of the podium. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had a frustrating home grand prix and finished in fourth (the first time he has failed to reach the podium all season). 

Amir Khan took a big step forward in silencing his naysayers with a fifth round knockout of experienced American fighter Zab Judah. Khan was on top from the start against former world title holder Judah who struggled with the Bolton fighter’s speed and accuracy of jab. A vicious body blow in the fifth round was enough to end the fight. Judah complained the blow was low but television replays indicated it was above the belt. After the fight, Khan talked of his ambition to move up the pound for pound rankings and targeted the undefeated Floyd Mayweather as a future opponent. In the British heavyweight title fight, Tyson Fury defeated holder Dereck Chisora on points after a scrappy 12 rounds of action. The height and reach advantage of the Manchester fighter proved crucial with his London opponent being confined to short bursts of attack. With both fighters talking up the prospect of the victor going on to challenge Wladimir Klitschko, it seems Fury may now have this opportunity. However, the Ukrainian WBO, IBF and WBA champion will have seen little to worry him in what was an entertaining but, ultimately, sophomoric contest.         

Suspended president of the Asian Football Federation Mohamed bin Hammam was handed a lifetime ban from football after being found guilty of bribery allegations by FIFA. The man responsible for helping secure the 2022 World Cup for Qatar claims the ban is an unjust form of “revenge” handed down by Sepp Blatter. The allegations of bribery relate to bin Hammam’s challenging of Blatter for the FIFA presidency. Bin Hammam claimed he will appeal the decision and looked to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Civil Court for justice after describing FIFA’s appeal committee as a “kangaroo court”.     

In the final stage of the Tour De France, Mark Cavendish confirmed his position as one of the greatest sprint cyclists of his generation as he secured the green jersey in Paris. Claiming his third stage victory in as many years at the Champs Elysees, the ‘Manxman’ became the first ever British winner of the green jersey. He also took his total haul of stage victories in the competition to 20, putting him joint sixth on the all time list. The overall tour was won by Australian Cadel Evans who, in time honoured tradition, will share his winner’s cheque of £430,000 amongst his BMC teammates.

In the Copa America final, A Diego Forlan brace and a man-of-the-match performance from Luis Suarez helped Uruguay to their 15th victory in the competition. Paraguay were the losing finalists, suffering a 3-0 defeat. At the Diamond League meet in Monaco, Mo Farah and Tiffany Ofili-Porter set new British records in the 5000m and 100m hurdles respectively.      

Finally, in less uplifting scenes in Monaco, French 1500m competitors Mahiedine Benabbad Mekhissi and Mehdi Baala were involved in a bizarre punch up after the race. It is unclear exactly what provoked the scrap but there is known to be a history of bad blood between the two. In terms of clean punches landed, it ranked pretty close to the Fury – Chisora fight of the following eve!

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