Stacy Boit,

England’s 18-year-old spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman has always appeared mature beyond her years.

In last year’s Hundred her captain at Southern Brave, Georgia Adams, let her be her dog sitter – not a role you’d give to every teenager.

That maturity oozed from Corteen-Coleman throughout her England debut in Chester-le-Street on Sunday – with the ball, in the field and, crucially, in the final-wicket partnership with stand-in captain Charlie Dean, which sealed the tense win over New Zealand in the first one-day international.

Not until after, with her voice breaking a touch as she spoke in her post-match press conference, were there any sign of nerves.

“It was a bit emosh to be fair,” she said of her maiden international wicket as Dean shook her head with a grin.

It had taken all day. That was the first evidence of her youthful side.

Corteen-Coleman’s day began in the outfield.

She looked the part, appearing fitter than in her previous major appearances last summer after a winter with England’s senior side on training camps, which led to her earning a place in the squad for this summer’s T20 World Cup.

The left-arm spinner was summoned to the attack by Dean after nine overs and was immediately waving her arms to move her own field.

There was that maturity again.

She beamed when the first wicket came – New Zealand batter Georgia Plimmer done in the air by some canny flight and picking out mid-off.

Corteen-Coleman was hugged by Lauren Bell and then Heather Knight. The latter had already played two seasons for Devon when Corteen-Coleman was born.

In the end, Corteen-Coleman ended with a more than respectable 2-49 as she added the wicket of Maddy Green for 88 in her final over.

She bowled accurately, ensuring England did not obviously miss Sophie Ecclestone – the world’s number one spinner who sat out the game with a thigh niggle.

“I was, for the majority, really happy with my performance,” said Corteen-Coleman.

Those words showed maturity but also the teenager’s high standards.

Corteen-Coleman perched herself next to England’s coaches on the balcony for much of her side’s chase. She believed her work for the day was done, but her most consequential moment was still to come.

Ten runs were still needed when she emerged as the last batter to join Dean.

Crucially, she helped Dean run twos and, with solid defence, bettered her previous high score of one not out in The Hundred to finish unbeaten on three and sealed the win.

“I am glad I looked calm because I definitely wasn’t,” she said.

“The main point for me was to keep it really simple.”

Corteen-Coleman did not, of course, complete the win alone.

Central was the role of Dean, who admitted to exposing her team-mate more than she intended by taking singles early in the over, but otherwise played the situation well.

Much has been made of Dean’s ability to hold her mettle in chases. There has been some success but failure too – notably in the Mankad ODI at Lord’s in 2022 and the second ODI of the Women’s Ashes last year.

This time, standing in as England captain for the first time, Dean dragged her side over the line.

If England’s training camp with the army last week was supposed to develop leaders, this was Dean’s Passing-Out Parade.

“I have worked on having that calmness and being ready in any situation but that mainly came from Deano,” added Corteen-Coleman.

“If I came out and she was panicking I would have been under the pump.”

Corteen-Coleman emerged with the words of coach Charlotte Edwards in her ears. She told her to back her strengths and keep a clear mind.

That was backed up by Dean in the middle.

“She came out with good clarity,” said Dean.

“I said, ‘Yorkers have been successful for them so they will probably look to get under your bat’.

“We decided getting forward was the best option.

“Tilly is really proactive with her thinking. She has a good cricket brain.”

The win, and its tight nature, undoubtedly masked familiar England failings.

They were poor again in the field, dropping a catch and leaking runs. Knight was done by an in-ducker again and Amy Jones played a rash shot when calmness was needed once more.

“There were a few nerves around,” Dean said of the fielding. “We are a better fielding unit than that and I look forward seeing it.”

The proof will be in the pudding.

But if context is going to be difficult to find until these two sides switch to the T20 format for a three-match series beginning on 20 May, the performances of Dean and Corteen-Coleman were enough for celebration.

England will also have different openers by the time their World Cup campaign begins against Sri Lanka on 12 June and their captain Nat Sciver-Brunt and best bowler, Ecclestone, should be back too.

Without them, Dean passed a major test under pressure and Corteen-Coleman came through on this stage for the first time in a close match England easily could have lost.

That gives some reason for optimism.

Stacy Boit,

Iga Swiatek dropped just one game as she raced past Elisabetta Cocciaretto to set up an intriguing Italian Open fourth-round meeting with Naomi Osaka.

Poland’s Swiatek is the best clay-court player of this generation, with four of her six Grand Slam titles coming at the French Open.

However, the world number three has not claimed a title on clay since her last Roland Garros triumph in 2024.

After splitting with coach Wim Fissette, who helped her win Wimbledon last year, Swiatek has teamed up with Francisco Roig, the former coach of the great Rafael Nadal.

And the 24-year-old showed glimpses of her best in a 67-minute 6-1 6-0 demolition of home hope Cocciaretto.

Swiatek, a two-time winner of the Rome title, won 76% of points behind her first serve and lost just six points behind her second.

She will now face Japan’s four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka, who has had an impressive few weeks despite not being a natural on the surface.

Osaka described herself two years ago as still being a “baby giraffe”, external on the clay but lost a close match to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in Madrid, before breezing past 19th seed Diana Shnaider 6-1 6-2 in Rome.

The 28-year-old came within touching distance of beating Swiatek when the two met in the second round of the 2024 French Open, holding match point before Swiatek recovered.

After being told she could potentially face Swiatek next, Osaka joked: “Life is a little cruel. Damn. Sabalenka, now Iga.

“For me that’s where I show up. Even though it hasn’t been in my favour the last couple of times, for me those matches are the most fun. I’m excited at the thought.”

World number two Elena Rybakina, the highest-ranked player left in the women’s draw after Sabalenka’s loss on Saturday, beat Alexandra Eala 6-4 6-3 to reach the fourth round.

Fifth seed Jessica Pegula made light work of Swiss qualifier Rebeka Masarova, winning 6-0 6-0 in just over an hour.

Stacy Boit,

Alex Fitzpatrick’s hopes of a first individual win on the PGA Tour were dashed as Kristoffer Reitan claimed a maiden victory at the Truist Championship on Sunday.

England’s Fitzpatrick went into the final round with a one-shot lead over Reitan but his Norwegian rival secured a two-shot victory at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The 28-year-old fired a two-under round of 69 to reach 15 under overall, with Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard and American Rickie Fowler tied for second.

Fitzpatrick was a shot further back after a round of 73, which began with a bogey and double bogey inside his first three holes.

The 27-year-old recovered to level par with his fourth birdie on the 13th hole, giving him a share of the lead.

There was a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard on the back nine but, while others faltered, Reitan stayed steady to win on only his 15th PGA start.

“I’m over the moon,” said Reitan. “It happened way sooner than I would’ve imagined. Absolutely thrilled, awesome experience and very grateful.

“There are a lot of pieces that have to fall in place. There’s a whole puzzle that needs to shape up and I’ve made some steps in multiple areas of the game.

“A big one is the belief that I can do it.”

Fitzpatrick won the Zurich Classic with his older brother Matt last month, which earned him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

He then finished in the top 10 at the Cadillac Championship and was one stroke behind Reitan before his second double bogey of the day on the par-three 17th.

Compatriot Tommy Fleetwood finished in a tie for fifth on 11 under after closing with a two-under 69.

Fitzpatrick, the world number 120, told Sky Sports: “It’s still very surreal [to be in contention]. It’s crazy to feel disappointed but I still am.

“I’m happy for Kris, he deserves it, and hopefully it’ll be mine another time.”

Fitzpatrick felt “one bad swing” cost him on the 17th after he had recovered from a “slow start”.

He added: “I’m disappointed not to have won, but I’m also really proud of myself for how I battled out there.

“I was three over through three and then in my head I’m thinking I could shoot 81 here. So I was super happy that I was very patient.”

World number four Matt Fitzpatrick finished on one over after a final round 72, while Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy bounced back from a 75 on Saturday to finish with a 67 on five under.

Stacy Boit,

Harlequins secured an easy bonus-point victory as they hammered Newcastle Red Bulls in a meeting of The Prem’s bottom two.

Quins collected the five points to close the gap on Gloucester in eighth, and the final Champions Cup spot, to just four points.

They ran in 12 tries, including seven by half-time as the home side were powerless to stop them.

Jamie Benson scored a hat-trick, Bryn Bradley got two and there was one apiece for Alex Dombrandt, Cadan Murley, Sam Riley, Marcus Smith, Will Hobson, Jamie Northmore and Jimmy Staples, who was making his debut.

Defeat for Newcastle leaves them 14 points adrift of their opponents and almost certain to finish last for a fourth straight season.

All they had to show for a miserable afternoon were tries from Adam Brocklebank and a double from Josh Hodge.

Newcastle have 23 new players arriving in the summer and on this evidence, the current campaign cannot end quickly enough as they shipped their most points in a Prem game since April 2024.

They had been slow out of the blocks in their previous two home games in The Prem as Exeter Chiefs and Bristol Bears had games quickly controlled the fixtures – and it was the same here.

Dombrandt scored from Quins’ first attack as he went over by the sticks and while Newcastle were a man down after a yellow card was shown to Ben Healy for a deliberate knock-on, Benson and Bradley added further tries.

Home prop Brocklebank got his side on the board, but it was a brief respite as Murley jogged in at the corner to wrap up the extra point after 24 minutes.

Hooker Riley took a tap-and-go and went past five tacklers to score, while a typical side-step from England fly-half Smith increased the lead.

Hodge went over after Benson had been sin-binned, but the second half followed a similar pattern.

Northmore went clear from halfway, two tries in three minutes completed Benson’s hat-trick and then Bradley got his second from the very next play.

By this point, the match had become very open and unstructured, and Hodge profited to get his third try since bringing forward his move from Exeter.

The final score came from teenage replacement hooker Staples on his Prem debut as Quins racked up over 50 points away from home for the first time since October 2021.

Stacy Boit,

There have been title races in Spain built on drama, momentum swings and late collapses. This year’s was not one of them.

Instead, Barcelona’s 2-0 win against Real Madrid means they clinched the title with the perfect script: at home, against their biggest rivals, by an emphatic 14-point margin.

Sunday’s El Clasico became the first in almost 100 years to definitively decide who won the league.

It is a title Barca boss Hansi Flick has won in his two seasons in charge.

BBC Sport looks at how Barcelona have dominated La Liga again this season.

Flick’s side have been on a relentless run of form since February, and have won their past 11 consecutive matches.

They have lost just four league games all season and have a 100% winning La Liga home record.

Barcelona endured disappointment by exiting the Copa del Rey semi-finals and the Champions League quarter-finals, but have never relinquished their control of the La Liga title race.

Barca have won 42 of their 53 games this term, a win rate of 79% – only Bayern Munich (83%) can better that across all competitions among teams from the big five European leagues.

In terms of goals scored, Bayern are the only team who have scored more than Barcelona in all competitions and in their respective leagues.

The scale of their dominance is reflected not only in the table, but in the context surrounding it.

When Flick arrived at the club in May 2024, Real had won the Champions League and La Liga and just added Kylian Mbappe to an already star-studded squad.

Yet within two years, Barca have won five domestic trophies from the six available under the German coach, while Madrid have to endure a second consecutive season without silverware.