Cricket: England received a boost yesterday with the news that Surrey left-hander Graham Thorpe will be available for selection for the second Ashes Test against Australia at Lord's which starts tomorrow.
Thorpe has overcome his troublesome calf injury and returned to training in a bid to get himself fit for a match England need to win to square the series.
"I've had three or four sessions in the nets, I feel OK and there's been no reaction," he said. Everything being equal, hopefully I'll be selected on Thursday."
Thorpe's batting skills will be welcomed back by the England selectors after the opening Test defeat at Edgbaston a fortnight ago.
He was England's leading batsman on the winter tours to Pakistan and Sri-Lanka and will be looking to prevent the Australians from ripping through the middle order as they did in the first Test in Birmingham.
Tennis: There was double first day success for Ireland at the LTA Ladies Tournament in Frinton on Sea yesterday.
Yvonne Doyle, seeded at seven, recovered from one set down to beat Russia's Ilona Vichnevskaya 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. And qualifier Karen Nugent takes on Australian top seed Kristen van Elden after beating Japan's Ayako Suzuki 6-2 6-4.
Sailing: Gale force south-easterly winds on the Irish Sea yesterday forced the cancellation of racing for the Bord Gais 470 European Championships at Dun Laoghaire.
Organisers at the Royal St George YC were hopeful that winds would abate by this afternoon to allow the schedule to resume with a further six races before tomorrow's finale.
A fleet of 99 crews from 25 nations are competing in the event that is the first Olympic class championship to be decided in Ireland for 30 years.
Irish Soccer: The Board of Management of the Eircom League have decided that the first division of the league will comprise of nine members for the 2001-2002 season. This follows the resignation earlier this month of St Francis from the league.
The next meeting of the Management Committee on August 13th, 2001 will consider the size of the first division for the season to run from June to December, 2002.
