Key events
Hello everyone. Some news from the track to kick us off.
Athletics: Scotland’s Laura Muir, the Olympic 1500m silver medalist in Tokyo and a bronze medalist in the same event at the worlds in Eugene last month, has eased through into the final of the women’s 800m. Keely Hodgkinson, Olympic and world silver medalist in the 800m and favorite to pick up gold in Birmingham, also cruised through in the third and final heat.
Righto, my watch is over; here’s John Ashdown to ease you into your afternoon.
Athletics: With the men’s 100m heats done, now under way we have the heats of the women’s 800m and the long jump of the women’s heptathlon.
Cricket: England lose another wicket, a mix-up leading to the run out of Maia Bouchier! It’s now 94-5 off 13, and from a position of apparent impregnability, we have ourselves a ball-game!
Cricket: England are now 93-3 off 12.4; Alice Capsey has reached her half-century, but Nat Sciver is out… and now so is Capsey, flogging Malaba a return catch! Mlaba is delighted!
Maya Lylor of Canada takes gold in the women’s 76kg weightlifting!
Taiwo Liadi of Nigeria nabs second, Maximina Nuepa of Nauru bronze – and Deborah Alwode of DEngland is just out of the mdeals in fourth.
Athletics: More sprinting joy for Kenya: Samuel Imeta wins heat nine, Rohan Browning of South Africa taking second.
table tennis: In the men’s team bronze-medal match, England have taken the lead against Nigeria thanks to a doubles win.
Cricket: England are going nicely, 78-2 off 9.4; Alice Capsey is 39 not out and Nat Sciver 11 not out.
Athletics: Conroy James of Jamaica wins heat eight of the men’s 100, Adam Thomas of Scotland following him home.
Weightlifting: Deborah Alawode of England takes out 119kg – that puts her second overall – then Taiwo Liadi of Nigeria gets up 120kg.
Athletics: Ghana’s Benjamin Azamati streaks away with heat seven of the men’s 100m. Three more to go, and I don’t think we’re any the wiser as regards who might win.
Weightlifting: It’s getting tense in the women’s final 76kg. We’re into the clean-and-jerk portion – mmmm, jerk – and Maximina Uepa of Nauru has just nailed 117kg.
Cricket: i should remind you, England beat Sri Lanka in their first match, while South Africa – who are missing the excellent Marizanne Kapp, home for personal reasons – lost to NZ.
Cricket: England are playing South Africa and, having been inserted, have just lost Danni Wyatt. They’re 43-2 off 5.1.
Swimming: Kylie Masse, who’s already won silvers in the 100 and 200m back just won her 50m heat.
Athletics: Yupun Abeykoon powers home to win heat six; Oghenebrume comes second. Well done him.
Athletics: Ach, Godson Oghenebrume seems to overbalance on the falling blocks, and will he be disqualified for that? The runners are called back, but he stays. Good. Can he keep the heid?
Athletics: Omanyala’s time of 10.07 is, we’re told, perhaps the fastest recorded at this stage of the Games. He tells BBC he’s hoping to put Kenyan sprinting on the map.
Athletics: Omanyala of Kenya and Esseme of Cameron streak away in heat five of the men’s 100.
Swimming: Ben Proud of England, the world and Commonwealth 50m free champ, has eased through to the semis.
Athletics: Raymond Ekevwo of Nigeria wins the heat in 10.14, a hundredth in front of Kemar Bailey-Cole of Jamaica, who turns to stare as they cross line – essentially saying he could’ve won that race he had chosen to. And it’s a great picture because Ekwevwo is about 5 ”7 and Bailey-Cole 6” 3, so he it’s like a Dad and lad.
Athletics: Raphael Ngaguele Mberlina false starts in heat four of the men’s 100m, and really that is a nonsense rule. As far as I recall, it’s to ensure that races fit into prescribed TV schedules, and it makes no sense to punish a slight infraction so severely.
Swimming: England’s Holly Hibbert is into the women’s 200m butterfly final, but Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers is a strong favorite for gold; she was the fastest qualifier, and followed home by her teammate, Abbey Connor.
Athletics: Ojie Edoburun of England wins heat three of the men’s 100m, while Denise Lewis reflects on Johnson-Thompson’s performance. She says the speed between hurdles is n’t there, but she did n’t hit any and it’s not her best discipline. The long jump is next, starting in 15 or so minutes.
Athletics: Johnson-Thompson gets away well, but Taneille Crace of Australia powers through to win, Holly Mills of England behind her; Johnson-Thompson finishes fifth, and didn’t look great in so doing.
Athletics: Ah, the 100m hurdles in the women’s heptathlon have, I think, already been, but we’ve not been shown them until now. So let’s go with them, while also doing the heats of the men’s 100m; Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the defending champion, is taking her mark from her.
Athletics: Akani Simbine of South Africa doesn’t get a great start, but eases through the field to win heat two of the men’s 10m by a street, in 10.10.
Wales win gold in the men’s pairs bowls!
They beat England 19-18; Jarrod Breen and Daniel Salmon go absolutely wild. And rightly so – they almost chucked it away, but responded really well to pressure and potential devastation. Jamie Walker and Sam Tolchard almost pulled off a comeback for the ages, but will have to make do with silver.
Men’s bowls: STRAIN! Wales are in front in the final end. England have one effort to try and steal…
Athletics: Favor Ashe of Nigeria storms out of the blocks and leads England’s Mitchell Blake home, easing up.
Swimming Brodie Williams, silver medalist in the 100m back, has won his head in the 200m version. He’ll fancy himself to podium again, yes I just used podium as a verb.
Athletics: In the women’s T37/38 100m qualifying, Sophie Hahn streaked clear to win in 12.80, her best time of the season.
Athletics: The first round of the men’s 100m is soon to get going; there are 10 [ten] heats.
Men’s bowls: But a terrific saving bowl from Jarrad Breen knocks one of England’s out of the way, taking the end with a oner. Wales now lead 19-17 after 17!
Men’s bowls: England reduces the deficit to 18-17 at 16, and are looking strong through 17, a potential two there for them. The Wales lads look nervous, I must say.
Women’s hockey: Australias have beaten NZ 1-0. But both will likely make the last four, and could easily meet again in the gold-medal match.
Men’s bowls: Wales responded! They lead 18-16 after 15 ends, which makes some sense: England were so far behind, and though momentum was with them, it’s almost impossible to pile up points with no reply.
Athletics: Sreeshankar of India is first through in the men’s long jump, recording 8.05m – the mark is 8.00m. He’s got a chance of a medal, reckons Rob Walker.
Athletics: We’re away in the stadium, the men’s long-jump heats in progress. The heptathlon will also soon get going; the 100m hurdles is first up.
Men’s bowls: Have a look! Two for England, and the scores are level at 16-16! Wales had the gold in their fingertips, but now have to seize it all over again, in the knowledge that if they cannot, they’ll be haunted by the last four ends until they day they die.
Women’s hockey: Just at the end of the Q3, Australia hit the post, but with 13 minutes left they still lead NZ 1-0 – and are a player down.
Men’s bowls: They cannot! Wales hit all the balls, alter nowt, and after 13 ends, it’s 16-14; not that long ago, it was 15-6, but two fours in three ends and it’s up for grabs now!
Men’s bowls: England are closing! 16-10 behind after 12 ends, a delicious delivery from Sam Tolchard gives them four, and you could cut the atmosphere with an atmosphere cutter. Can Wales find something to disrupt the momentum?
Athletics: We’re just 15 minutes way from the start of the competition. oooh yeah!
Women’s hockey: With three minutes left in Q3, it’s still Australia 1-0 NZ.
This is an important piece by Kieran Pender.
Men’s bowls: A colossal end for England sees them claw back four points, but with seven ends to play, they still trail Wales 15-10.
Women’s weightlifting: The end of the 76kg is away.
Men’s bowls: Wales are storming away from England now, 15-6 in front of 10 ends – but England are well placed in the 11th, with two on top of the of the jack.
Women’s hockey: It’s still Australia 1-0 NZ at half-time. So far in the competition, Australia have beaten Kenya 8-0 and South Africa 5-0; NZ have beaten Kenya 16-0 and Scotland 1-0.
Women’s hockey: It’s a tight one in Pool B, where Australia lead New Zealand 1-0 with 90 seconds left in Q2.
Bowls: I’m watching the finals of the men’s pairs; Wales lead England 11-6, while Scotland lead Northern Ireland 17-4 in the bronze-medal match.
Preamble
Morning all, and welcome to day five of the Commonwealth Games! With the track cycling finished, now is the perfect time for track and field to spring into action … and it does, the centerpiece Joshua Cheptegei’s attempt to add another gold to augment the 10,000m gold he won a fortnight ago in the world championships. But we’ve also got Holly Bradshaw and Hannah Cockroft in action, all of which makes for a terrific evening session.
Otherwise, there are absolutely loads of goings-on in the pool – can Adam Peaty rebound from his shock defeat in the 100m breast with gold in the 50m? – in the 3×3 basketball, which has both men’s and women’s finals – and the end of the gymnastics. Jake Jarman, who has three golds already, is after another in the vault, while Joe Fraser, with two, chases a third in the parallel bars.
So, stick with us – this is going to be good.