James Anderson expects England to double down on their aggressive brand of cricket despite defeat in the opening Ashes Test earlier this week.

Debates over the wisdom of ‘Bazball’ returned in earnest after England lost a tense series opener by two wickets at Edgbaston, having declared in the first innings on 393 for eight.

But Anderson, 40, said England and captain Ben Stokes will only look to push things in one direction when the series resumes at Lord’s on Wednesday.

“I think we’ll go more positive, more aggressive, more entertaining,” the veteran paceman said. “We want to try and make sure people go home happy as they did each day at Edgbaston.

“Just because we’re 1-0 down I don’t think we’ll try anything different. I think we showed enough last week to show we can win the next four if we keep playing like that and iron a few things out. We’ll go exactly the same.”

Anderson was speaking as he swapped Bazball for baseball at the London Stadium on Saturday. As the Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals faced off in the first of two regular-season games in Stratford this weekend, Anderson threw out the ceremonial first pitch alongside Australia rival Nathan Lyon.

Anderson’s daughter had spent their journey down from Manchester showing him videos of the 10 worst ceremonial pitches in history but he managed to get his over the plate.

Anderson admitted he had not practiced the pitch, but he believes cricket is learning a lot from the American past time – particularly when it comes to more aggressive hitting.

“I think you see the way cricket has developed, the way guys try to hit the ball, I think they take a lot from the guys here,” he said.

“I don’t know how much knowledge there is about cricket in America, I don’t think the baseball players are trying to block anything, but for me I’ve always watched the fielding and thought it was something we could do better.

“The speed they get to the ball, the speed they release the ball and the speed of the throw. I know it’s a different ball but I think it’s something we could learn from.”

The baseball gave both Anderson and Lyon a bit of mental relief after the stresses of Edgbaston, where the game remained in the balance until the very end.

Lyon said throwing the first pitch was the first time he had picked up a ball since leaving Birmingham as he tried to get away from what he called a “mental rollercoaster”.

But with a 1-0 lead in the series, the Australians are understandably in buoyant mood.

“It was an absolutely incredible Test win and to be able to play a part in that was extremely special,” the 35-year-old spinner said. “It is going to go down as one of the best Test matches I’ve played in.

“The mood has changed. There’s a lot of work we need to do. We feel like we can still get a lot better, and we need to get a lot better if we want to compete against England and the brand of cricket they’re playing.

“It’s business as usual for us. We can’t control what they’re doing. We’ll sit down as a team and identify areas where we can be better and where we believe we need to get better, so just focus on what we can do.

“There’s no point worrying about what everybody else is doing.”

Ian Happ hit two home runs as the Chicago Cubs cruised to a 9-1 win over rivals the St Louis Cardinals on Major League Baseball’s return to the London Stadium.

Happ twice tested out the dimensions of West Ham’s home ground, where a full-scale conversion for two games this weekend saw blowing bubbles and beer replaced by hot dogs and peanuts for the first time since 2019, and Dansby Swanson added a late two-run shot to underline the Cubs’ dominance.

The manner in which the Cubs powered their way to an early lead, up 7-0 after four innings, took the jeopardy out of the game but did not dampen the enthusiasm of 54,662 paying punters keen to see American’s pastime back on British shores.

Four years on from two sold-out contests between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, and three years behind schedule following the pandemic, the Cubs and Cardinals played out their fierce National League Central rivalry in east London.

But, given the Cardinals’ deficiencies this season, it quickly turned into one-way traffic.

Much has changed in baseball since 2019 with the introduction of the pitch clock designed to speed up play, and both teams got down to business much more efficiently than New York and Boston four years ago.

Back then, the opening inning of what turned into an epic 17-13 scoring fest, won by the Yankees, took two minutes short of an hour.

But this entire contest would be over in less than three as the Cubs continued the hot run of form which has made them relevant again in a poor division, this their ninth win in 10 as they improved to 37-38, the Cardinals slumping at 31-45 as the 162-game regular season approaches the midway point.

The scoring started at the top of the second inning as the Cubs wasted little time in getting to the Cardinals’ veteran starting pitcher Adam Wainwright.

Cubs outfielder Happ hit a solo home run straight over the centrefield wall, some 392 feet from the home plate, and they doubled their lead when third baseman Nick Madrigal’s single brought Cody Bellinger home.

It got worse for St Louis in the third. With two out and two strikes against Happ, Wainwright was one pitch away from getting out of the inning but Happ again went deep with a shot to right that landed in the Cardinals’ bullpen.

The Cubs made Wainwright pay as they extended the inning. Swanson and Bellinger hit singles before Christopher Morel’s line drive to centre field allowed Swanson to score and Bellinger came home on another line drive from catcher Yan Gomes.

Back-to-back doubles from Madrigal and Mike Tauchman at the top of the fourth saw the Cubs pad their lead even further and chased Wainwright from the game.

While Wainwright took an early shower, Cubs starter Justin Steele cruised through four innings without giving up a hit.

St Louis finally found a crack in the bottom of the sixth as Tommy Edman scored on a Paul Goldschmidt ground ball into right to give the Cardinals fans something to cheer, but it was too little, too late.

Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman was on hand to lead the crowd in a rendition of ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ during the seventh-inning stretch before another famous Cubs fan, Bill Murray, took an ovation from fans.

Murray and the rest of the Cubs on hand would have more to celebrate in the top of the ninth when Swanson launched a two-run homer over the right-field wall to put an exclamation point on their win.

England Under-21 manager Lee Carsley believes the versatility of his players gives him plenty of options to find ways of winning as he looks to secure their place in the knockout stages of the European Championships.

Victory over Israel on Sunday would take England into the quarter-finals, having won their opening game in the tournament for the first time since 2009, when they reached the final.

Carsley’s team selection in beating the Czech Republic saw him pick seven midfielders, with Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon playing as a striker.

The manager thinks that flexibility is advantageous.

“We’ve tried to come up with two or three ways of exploiting the opposition,” he told a press conference.

“We’ll try and find gaps and spaces. It surprises me that there is surprise (at his team selection). The players nowadays are multi-functional.

“I see that we’ve got a lot of players within this squad that can do different roles.

“Part of the squad selection was having that flexibility to play with a different kind of nine (striker).

“I see pretty much any of the forward players, whether they’re wide players or forwards, being able to do that nine.

“You get a different type of nine with Anthony than you would with Cole (Palmer) or Curtis (Jones) or Emile (Smith Rowe). We’ve got plenty of options.

“The way we’ve picked the squad, when we make a change it shouldn’t affect the team too much.”

Manchester City midfielder Tommy Doyle will miss the game against Israel, who drew 1-1 with defending champions Germany, after he sustained a minor knee problem in training while Norwich defender Max Aarons is ill.

Tammy Beaumont believes her historic 208 in the lone Women’s Ashes Test may have been inadvertently aided by being axed from England’s T20 set-up last year.

After breaking Betty Snowball’s 88-year record for the highest score by an England woman in going past 189, Beaumont became her nation’s first double centurion and just the eighth female overall in Tests.

Her epic knock – which helped England to 463 and a 10-run deficit before Australia got their noses in front by closing on 82 without loss to lead by 92 at Trent Bridge – raised the question as to whether Beaumont can slot back into the T20 side after being dropped ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

While Beaumont was coy at the suggestion, the England opener, who has featured in 99 T20 internationals, admitted being discarded led to her working hard to seek advancements in her batting.

“It’s certainly not been on my mind in the last three or four days, Test match cricket is very different to T20 cricket – even though the England men try to make it look pretty similar,” she joked.

“How I’ve worked this winter on my game, that probably has had an impact on me trying to find that motivation to get better and improve.

“I’ve worked on trying to not get hit on the front pad so much and get out lbw. That came about from trying to be more aggressive in the T20 game and access midwicket and because of that, I’m defending the ball better.

“In an indirect way, it’s definitely played a part but it’s also reminded me that I’ve got a lot of cricket left that I want to play for England. Whether that’s in T20 cricket or not, who knows?”

Beaumont, who batted for more than eight hours across two days and struck 27 fours, revealed she was unaware she had eclipsed Snowball’s innings against New Zealand in Christchurch in February 1935.

“No, not at all,” she said. “I think when I hit the ball, it was announced and Sophie Ecclestone was desperate to give me a hug. But I was like ‘no, no, the job’s not done here’, so I just sent her away.

“I guess I was in the zone and I wasn’t thinking about records. I’d been really calm and tried to not show any emotion for two days but when I hit that run (to get to 200), it all came out.

“If you’re going to score 200 for England, you might as well celebrate it properly.”

England’s seamers were leggy and wayward at the outset of Australia’s second innings, with Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield putting on a 50-stand in just 55 balls as boundaries proved easy to come by.

With an enviable pool of batting talent to come – Annabel Sutherland scored a century from number eight first time around – Australia are already flying in a Test that is effectively a one-innings shootout.

Beaumont, though, feels England will be seeking to disrupt their progress on what remains a flat pitch at the start of the penultimate day.

“We’ve got to come out fighting and knock a few over,” she said. “Whoever comes out and seizes the moment in the morning and early afternoon session will be the one in charge.”

One prospect is Australia trying to bat England out of the game then declare ahead of or early into day five but Beaumont insisted that scenario would not be followed by the hosts just going for a draw, with captain Heather Knight and head coach Jon Lewis having emphasised an attacking approach this summer.

“It’s still a good track to bat on,” she said. “There are plenty of runs out there to get and we want to push ourselves and we want to try and get a result, no one came here for a draw.

“If they set us a target I have a feeling we’ll be giving it a good old crack.”

Off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner, who was the pick of the Australia bowling attack with four for 99, was adamant the tourists do not have a total in mind before declaring.

“I would certainly say there’s probably going to be a result and that’s what we’re going to be pushing for,” she said. “But I don’t think there’s a real target in mind that we’ve spoken about as a group.”

Frankie Dettori may have come away empty handed from the final day of his last ever Royal Ascot – but the affection felt for the rider was still palpable throughout the racecourse that has been the scene of so much success.

The Italian will bow out at the end of the year, meaning his tour of this season’s fixtures is a farewell to the sport he has dominated for decades.

The Gold Cup is the feature race of the five days and Dettori’s triumph seemed to be fated as he guided John and Thady Gosden’s Courage Mon Ami to victory when rolling the dice for the last time on Thursday.

The remainder of the week could not reach quite the same high note in terms of his rides, but there was another significant moment as the jockey and his wife were a part of the royal procession that is led by the King and Queen from Windsor Castle to the course.

“I was sad this morning but once I was up and running doing things, I went to Windsor Castle to have lunch with the King and the Queen,” Dettori said.

“I didn’t eat at all, I had a full-fat Coca Cola and I looked across and the King wasn’t eating himself. We were both fasting, I don’t know why because I was riding and he wasn’t – he must be on a diet!

“It’s been really amazing, I’ve been pulled left, right and centre by everyone, cheered by everyone so it’s been very overwhelming, but I haven’t had time to get emotional. I’ll enjoy this moment, I’m looking forward to a nice beer actually – but don’t tell anyone that!

“The royal procession was amazing, to see all the people there. Then I rode in five races back-to-back, I’m done!

“It was an amazing experience to look at the grandstand. The whole ride here, the love the people have for the royals, flags, kids, picnics next to the road, banners, shouting, cheering – amazing. I was the last carriage so by the time they got to me they forgot! But it was an amazing experience.”

Dettori has recorded 81 Royal Ascot victories and though there is some sadness at leaving it behind, he is not short of memories as second only to Lester Piggott as the most successful rider the showpiece fixture has ever seen

“It’s 81 and every one is special. I’d be here all day talking about all of them, but the last Gold Cup was the biggest race of the week and to win that was amazing,” he said.

“My wife is presenting the last trophy and she’s cross with me that I’m not riding! It will take a while to sink in, but you’ve got to look at the positive side of it, I’ve had a real good time.

“This week has been so hard, but I loved it. It hasn’t hit me yet that it’s my last Royal Ascot because it’s been so good, I won the Gold Cup, had four winners, got past 80 which is what I wanted to do. I’m sure I will be sad, but for now I’m just too tired to cry!

I’m looking forward to a nice dinner, I will take a few days off with my wife and then regroup and start again.

“It has been sensational. I can still claim that I retired second at the all-time best meeting in the world.

“I’m not going to die! I’m riding another four months so don’t make me feel sad, I’m still around!”

Ryan Moore took the honours in the last race of the meeting – receiving his trophy from Catherine Dettori – and indeed for the week as he was crowned top jockey for the 10th time. He paid a warm tribute to his long-time colleague and rival.

“It’s hard to know what to say, we’ll miss him, but he still has a bit to go yet,” he said.

“I remember Frankie riding for my grandfather when I was small, the reality is he is the most beautiful rider you’ve ever seen and if you wanted to build a jockey that is how you’d build one.

“He’s an unbelievable talent, he’s a tough boy as well. He’s always wanted to be at the top and he’s stayed there for 35 years – that takes some doing.”

Tammy Beaumont’s historic 208 underpinned England’s highest-ever Test total against Australia to set up what is effectively a one-innings shootout in this Women’s Ashes series opener.

After breaking Betty Snowball’s 88-year record for the highest score by an England woman in going past 189, Beaumont became her nation’s first double centurion and just the eighth female overall in Tests.

Her epic knock lasted more than eight hours across two days and included 27 fours before she was bowled after missing a sweep at Ashleigh Gardner, last out to abruptly end England’s first-innings on 463.

England lost their last four wickets for just 15 runs as Australia held a lead of 10 at the halfway mark of a contest that starts the multi-format series, which they upped to 92 after closing on 82 without loss to get their noses in front at stumps on day three.

But this one-off Test still being in the balance is largely thanks to the excellence of Beaumont, who made 201 in a warm-up against Australia A last week and registered her maiden Test ton on Friday.

Beaumont had a couple of let-offs in reaching three figures but was seldom troubled when she resumed on 100 on Saturday, her only scare coming on 152 as she overturned an lbw verdict against her after leg-spinner Alana King’s delivery was found to have fractionally pitched outside leg stump at Trent Bridge.

She settled by driving, steering then pulling Darcie Brown for three fours in an over as she and Nat Sciver-Brunt continued to pile up the runs. Sciver-Brunt might have been dismissed without adding to her overnight 41 after missing a flick at Brown and being given lbw, but she reversed the decision.

Australia’s seamers initially struggled on a flat deck so it was a surprise they waited 75 minutes into the opening session to turn to the spin of Gardner, who dashed Sciver-Brunt’s hopes of following Beaumont to a hundred when the all-rounder leaned back to cut but got a thick edge to Alyssa Healy.

Sciver-Brunt’s dismissal for 78 ended a freeflowing 137-run stand in just 187 balls with Beaumont that relied on timing and orthodoxy.

Sophia Dunkley, though, was unable to get going and the pressure told, dismissed for nine off 51 balls after lunch when she missed an uncontrolled heave at Gardner to lose her off-stump.

Having passed 150, Beaumont might have followed after missing a sweep at King as she was rapped on the front pad. Replays did not look promising but DRS was marginally in her favour.

With Gardner putting the squeeze on alongside King then slow left-armer Jess Jonassen as Australia declined to take the second new ball until the end of the 99th over, Beaumont used the sweep and moved her feet well to keep ticking over, helped by a quickfire cameo 44 on Test debut by Danni Wyatt.

Selected because of her proficiency against the slow bowlers and for her attacking nature that captain Heather Knight and head coach Jon Lewis want the England side to adopt, Wyatt fulfilled her brief with some fine drives, pulls and a couple of scoops as she drew on her considerable white-ball experience.

She edged Brown when the seamers returned while Amy Jones came and went once England had moved past 400 after tamely lofting to mid-on, but Beaumont remained and a cute late cut off Perry for four before tea saw her eclipse Snowball’s storied innings against New Zealand in Christchurch in February 1935.

From then on, she relied on singles to inch closer to 200 and got over the line in the final session after clipping Australia’s first-innings centurion Annabel Sutherland for one into the leg-side before taking off her helmet, raising her bat and soaking up the applause from a bumper crowd.

However, she was fast running out of partners as Tahlia McGrath – Australia’s eighth bowler in England’s innings – had Sophie Ecclestone lbw with a yorker, castled Kate Cross when she played down the wrong line before Lauren Filer nicked off.

While Australia added 235 for their last four wickets, England slumped in a hurry as Beaumont was finally dismissed from her 331st ball – for the fifth highest score in women’s Tests of all-time – in the search for quick runs to give impressive off-spinner Gardner figures of four for 99.

England’s seamers were leggy and expensive – having bowled 124.2 overs in the first innings – at the outset of Australia’s second dig, with Beth Mooney (33 not out) and Phoebe Litchfield (41no) putting on 50 in 55 balls.

A tough, low return chance when Litchfield was on 10 burst through Cross’ hands but Australia’s openers were otherwise untroubled. Slow left-armer Ecclestone was tight while Sciver-Brunt’s continued bowling absence because of a knee knock meant Knight turned her arm over for a couple of overs.

Ryan Moore landed his sixth and final winner of the week as Dawn Rising justified favouritism in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Trained by Joseph O’Brien, the six-year-old was having just his sixth run on the Flat, but he is a Grade Three winner over hurdles.

Never far from the pace, Dawn Rising had to be rousted along some way out by Moore but he kept on finding for pressure.

Typewriter then burst through against the rail looking a huge threat under Oisin Murphy but soon faltered and it was The Grand Visir who laid down the final challenge, going down by half a length. Run For Oscar stayed on for third.

Dawn Rising, a rare 2-1 winning favourite this week, was providing O’Brien with his second winner of the meeting after the success of Okita Soushi.

Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore picked up the top trainer and jockey awards for the week at Royal Ascot.

Finishing with four winners, O’Brien was landing his 12th trainer title and Moore his 10th jockeys’ crown following his six victories – fittingly taking the closing race, the Queen Alexandra Stakes, with the Joseph O’Brien-trained Dawn Rising.

The highlight for both was the emphatic success of Paddington in the St James’s Palace Stakes on the opening afternoon.

O’Brien said: “It is a privilege for us, we are in a very privileged position and really appreciate it.

“The team make it all happen for us all. We really appreciate it, it’s great to be a part of it.

“I suppose it is very hard to get away from Paddington (as highlight), he looks very different. He has come out of the race fine.

“We had plenty of placed horses too, and we have been delighted that they were placed.”

Saluting Moore, O’Brien added: “Ryan is a superstar, that’s the word that describes him best.”

Frankie Dettori was out of luck on his final Royal Ascot ride as Knockbrex trailed home well beaten in the Golden Gates Stakes won by Burdett Road.

Dettori went into an early lead on Charlie Johnston’s charge, but the writing was on the wall before the turn for home and he quickly backpeddled.

That left Liberty Lane in front but he too paid for his early exertions, as Neil Callan made stealthy progress on Michael Bell’s three-year-old.

Burdett Road (20-1) went several lengths clear and the race looked over. However, a combination of tiredness and being in front on his own meant he was in danger of being caught.

Lion Of War, briefly stuck in traffic earlier in the straight, came with a late rattle but the 9-2 joint-favourite could only close to within three-quarters of a length.

It was a second winner of the week for Callan having won the Queen Anne on Triple Time.

Saint Lawrence returned to winning ways in the Wokingham Stakes to oblige on his first start for Archie Watson and provide Hollie Doyle with a third victory at this year’s Royal Ascot .

A Listed winner at two for Roger Varian, the five-year-old had run several good races since but failed to get his head in front.

After two further runs for Varian this season, owner John Deer decided to move him to Watson, already on the mark twice this week with Bradsell and Rhythm N Hooves, both ridden by Doyle.

Drawn highest of all in stall 30, the high numbers looked a long way behind at halfway as the Swedish raider Duca Di Como set a blistering gallop on the far side.

Just over a furlong out the pace appeared to collapse in that group, though, allowing those drawn high to close up.

It was Doyle and Saint Lawrence (22-1) who finished fastest of all, to beat Apollo One by a length with Juan Le Pins third and Mums Tipple fourth for Frankie Dettori.

Carlos Alcaraz fired a Wimbledon warning to his rivals after claiming he feels like he has been playing on grass for 10 years.

The 20-year-old from Spain is only playing in his third tournament on the surface at the cinch Championships, and his first other than at SW19.

But Alcaraz will take on Australian Alex De Minaur in Sunday’s final at Queen’s Club after comprehensively beating America’s Sebastian Korda 6-3 6-4.

“I’m playing great and feeling great,” he said. “I’m really happy to play my first final on grass, and even more here at Queen’s.

“I’m getting better. I’m feeling better every match I play. I feel like I’ve been playing for 10 years on grass. I didn’t expect that.”

Should Alcaraz win the title – and it would be hard to bet against him – he will overtake Novak Djokovic as world number one, and be the top seed at Wimbledon.

“Honestly at the beginning of the week I didn’t know that I could recover the number one,” he added.

“But when I won yesterday they told me and it is an extra motivation. It’s in my mind and I’m going to go for it. Being top seed and number one is a dream.”

De Minaur reached his first Queen’s final after a grass-court masterclass against Holger Rune.

The 24-year-old ‘Demon’ won 6-3 7-6 (2) to become the first Australian to make the final since Lleyton Hewitt won his fourth title in 2006.

“He’s (Hewitt) played pretty decent here over the years. He’s got a pretty good record,” smiled De Minaur.

“I think I’m a little bit far away from that, but, you know, I would love to be able to put my name on the trophy tomorrow.

“He’s been a huge mentor and he’s my Davis Cup captain, so he’s been messaging me this week as well. Hopefully I can keep it going.”

De Minaur, the Australian number one, is the boyfriend of current British number one Katie Boulter, who won her first title at the Nottingham Open last weekend.

He added: “I was probably inspired by her last week. I mean, I think she put in a hell of a performance, all things considered.

“She’s playing her home tournament, she’s British number one for the first time, she’s non-stop playing more Brits so there’s always a lot of nerves and pressure.

“She went out there, had a great week, made the final and then the biggest match of her career, she played one of the best matches I’ve ever seen her play.

“To be able to stand and deliver in that crucial point and win her first title, I was like, ‘yeah, I’ve got to watch what she’s doing and learn myself’.

“I think I have tried to replicate that a little bit this week and just be nice and calm, have a positive mindset. You know, it definitely helps. I’ve got to get a couple more tips from Katie.”

Pyledriver once again showed his liking for Ascot when defying an absence of almost a year to win the Hardwicke Stakes.

The hugely popular six-year-old has been beset by niggling injuries since winning the King George V And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July last year.

Winner of the King Edward VII Stakes at this meeting in 2020, he looked to have hampered his chance in the first half-mile by running extremely keenly.

PJ McDonald was riding his first Royal Ascot winner having replaced the injured Martin Dwyer, while trainers William Muir and Chris Grassick have worked wonders getting their stable star back to full fitness.

As if to advertise his superiority over his rivals, once he hit the front Pyledriver (7-2) wandered in front of Changingoftheguard and West Wind Blows but went on to cross the line a length and a quarter clear of the latter.