Scottish Rocks lay foundation
Basketball: The Scottish Rocks restored their two-point lead at the top of the BBL last night, comfortably beating the Birmingham Bullets 91-79. Twenty-three points from Julius Joseph, the Rocks guard, helped the leaders to improve their record to 20-4, although they look set to suffer because of international call-ups next month. Newcastle Eagles scored a 77-72 win away to Leicester Riders on Saturday to make it three victories in five days for Fab Flournoy’s team. A Dean Williams shot with 0.9 seconds left earned the Guildford Heat a 78-76 win at Sheffield Sharks last night.
Matthew’s title
Squash: Nick Matthew, 25, the fourth seed, last night beat Lee Beachill, the three-times champion, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 10-11, 11-10 in the British National Championships final in Manchester. Tania Bailey, 26, beat Linda Elriani, the top seed, 9-7, 6-9, 9-6, 9-3 in the women’s final.
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Cannock triumph
Hockey: Cannock, the holders, squeezed into the fifth round of the English Cup after beating Chelmsford 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after the match finished 3-3 at full-time. The women’s title-holders, Leicester, lost 4-0 at home to Hightown after Tina Cullen netted twice.
Tett finds the net
Netball: Only three points separate the top three teams in the Superleague after Asha Tett, the England Under-21 shooter, inspired the leaders, Team Bath, to a convincing 67-34 win against Team Northumbria while Brunel Hurricanes, lying second, beat Leeds Met Carnegie 50-33.
Foster on top
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Rackets: Harry Foster, the world champion, defeated Mark Hubbard, the British professional champion, in an entertaining battle to win the Lacoste British Open Championship. The big-match temperament of Foster proved decisive on the key points.