Long-awaited County Championship restructure at risk of year’s delay

The long-awaited restructure of the County Championship could be delayed by another 12 months after a crucial meeting of club chairs broke up on Wednesday without resolution.With no consensus emerging following the summit at Lord’s, a planned vote on a proposal to cut the Championship to 13 matches next season has been put on hold, leaving the entire restructure in doubt.The counties agreed to cut the Twenty20 Blast from 14 matches to 12 earlier this season following recommendations of the players union, the Professional Cricketers’ Association, but their call to trim the Championship has proved more difficult to execute.Four proposed new structures from the current 10/8 divisional split had already been rejected before the meeting, when a convoluted compromise that would involve most counties playing 13 Championship games from next season also failed to win sufficient support. In the model discussed on Wednesday, a 12-team County Championship Division One would be split into two pools of six, with the remaining six clubs in Division Two

Auger-Aliassime comes from set down to beat De Minaur and make US Open last four

Félix Auger-Aliassime continued his sublime return to form at the US Open with another demonstration of his growing maturity as he held his nerve in the decisive moments of a messy, nerve-racking four-hour tussle to defeat the eighth seed Alex de Minaur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (4) and reach the semi-finals in New York.By pulling off one of the most significant victories of his career, Auger‑Aliassime has now reached the US Open semi-finals for a second time in his career, four years after his first semi-final in 2021. “It feels amazing. Four years ago, it feels like more, honestly,” he said. “It was a tough couple of years but it feels even better now to be back in the semi-finals

Clippers deny claims star forward Kawhi Leonard was paid $28m for job that didn’t exist

The Los Angeles Clippers and their owner, Steve Ballmer, have denied allegations the team’s star forward, Kawhi Leonard, was paid $28m for a job that doesn’t exist.Journalist Pablo Torre laid out the allegations in his podcast on Wednesday. Torre, citing legal documents, claims Ballmer employed Leonard for a non-existent role in one of his companies to circumvent the NBA salary cap, which punishes teams for spending too much on player salaries.Torre claims that Ballmer partially funded a now defunct tree-planting company called Aspiration. That company then allegedly entered into a $28m agreement with KL2 Aspire, LLC, a company owned by Leonard

Added spice ensures Adelaide-Collingwood rivalry reaches boiling point in AFL finals | Martin Pegan

The richest rivalries are the lifeblood of an AFL season. They are born naturally, set hearts racing and get blood boiling. A shared history of fiery clashes, tight and contentious finishes, or simply close proximity, give a game soul even when there is little at stake beyond pride and bragging rights. They tend to be at their best when a deep and long-running feud comes together in a finals series.Adelaide and Collingwood have had a fresh rivalry brewing for years

‘You’ve grown’: Gout Gout reaches new heights in his bid to emulate Bolt

Sprint sensation Gout Gout is already the fastest Australian to have run the 200m, and Usain Bolt has described the 17-year-old’s appearance “like young me”. While he’s beginning to catch up with Bolt’s times, the teenager is also catching up to the towering Jamaican in height.Gout’s running style has an uncanny resemblance to Bolt’s, with long strides and an upright stance supporting his ability to reach a high top speed, even if he continues to work on his starts.There has always been a large difference between the pair’s heights, however. Bolt is 1

Venus Williams’s new quest: finding out how much longer she can stretch time

For a minute there, it was just like old times – with the high stakes and the capacity crowd and the Venus Williams on court. After Aryna Sabalenk’s singles match ended in a walkover on Tuesday, Williams’s doubles quarter-final was bumped into primetime on Louis Armstrong Stadium to fill the hole in the schedule. And when Williams took the court with partner Leylah Fernandez in her black pleated dress and matching visor as the sun dipped toward the horizon, she looked for all the world like a woman determined to turn back time. Unfortunately for her, Fernandez and the throng that gathered to cheer them on, their opponents were keen to skip forward.Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend didn’t just cut the nostalgia trip short