Reuters Sports News Summary

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Cricket-Head hammers hundred as Australia win record-scoring thriller v NZ

Travis Head's rapid hundred trumped Rachin Ravindra's gallant 116 as Australia beat New Zealand by five runs in the highest-scoring match in World Cup history to stay on course for a semi-final slot in the 50-overs tournament on Saturday. Head smashed 109 off 67 balls in his first match of the World Cup and forged a breakneck 175-run opening stand with David Warner (81) to propel Australia to a commanding 388 all out at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.

Soccer-Brentford stun Chelsea in 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge

Brentford snatched a 2-0 win away at Chelsea on Saturday as the expensively assembled Blues failed to turn possession into goals once again and were punished by a thumping header from defender Ethan Pinnock and a last-minute breakaway goal by Bryan Mbeumo. The west London derby defeat was yet another setback for Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino, whose side had shown signs of putting a poor start to the season behind them recently with two wins out of three and a 2-2 draw against Arsenal last weekend.

Soccer-Bellingham double allows Real to fight back and win Clasico at Barcelona

Real Madrid battled back to win 2-1 at Barcelona in a nervy LaLiga 'El Clasico' on Saturday thanks to a brace by top scorer Jude Bellingham in the second half. Barcelona produced a performance full of verve and skill, with midfielder Ilkay Gundogan opening the scoring from close range in the sixth minute by taking advantage of a bad defensive mistake by the visitors.

Cricket-Netherlands stun Bangladesh to claim second win

The Netherlands climbed off the bottom of the World Cup table with an 87-run victory over Bangladesh on Saturday after Scott Edwards hit a feisty half-century and Dutch bowler Paul van Meekeren ripped through the Asian side in a fiery spell. Chasing 230 to win, Bangladesh collapsed to 70-6 inside 18 overs with Van Meekeren (4-23) mowing down the middle order and Bas de Leede dismissing set batsman Mehidy Hasan Miraz for 35, before they folded for 142 in 42.2 overs.

Rugby-England claim bronze but need more to challenge the elite

From where they were at the end of their dismal warm-ups, England's World Cup was an unqualified success and they were within three minutes of one of the great sporting turnarounds. But they leave France still very much a work in progress. They arrived amid the gloom of five defeats in six games but finished on a high with six wins out of seven.

Soccer-Nketiah hat-trick fires Arsenal to 5-0 win over Sheffield United

Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah ended his scoring drought in stunning fashion with a hat-trick in his side's 5-0 home thrashing of hapless Sheffield United in the Premier League on Saturday. The 24-year-old, who made his full England debut this month, had not scored for the Gunners since August and had recently lost his place in the starting line-up.

Alpine skiing-Swiss Gut-Behrami clinches narrow win in giant slalom World Cup opener

Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami narrowly won the women's giant slalom, edging out Italy's Federica Brignone, while the favourite, U.S. Mikaela Shiffrin, finished sixth at the opening event of the 2022-23 World Cup season in Soelden on Saturday. The race could hardly have been closer in sunny conditions in the Austrian Alps as Gut-Behrami was only two hundredths of a second faster than Brignone with a total time of two minutes and 18.94 seconds.

Motorcycling-Martin claims fifth straight sprint win at Thailand Grand Prix

Pramac Racing's Jorge Martin led from start to finish to win his fifth straight sprint of the season at the Thailand Grand Prix on Saturday to reduce the gap to championship leader Francesco Bagnaia to 18 points. KTM's Brad Binder finished second, less than a second behind, while VR46 Racing's Luca Marini was third. Ducati's Bagnaia started on the second row but finished seventh.

Games-Brazil finds Pan Am gold at the beach and in the ring

From the beach to the ring Brazilians punched and spiked their way to Pan American Games gold on Friday as the first week of competition in chilly Santiago came to an end along with the United States gold rush. Beach volleyball is considered a national pastime in Brazil and under the fog shrouded Andes mountains the top ranked women's pair of Patricia Ramos and Duda Lisboa and men's duo of Andre Stein and George Souto produced steely performances to return home with both titles.

Soccer-Bayern crush Darmstadt 8-0 with Kane hat-trick amid sea of red

Bayern Munich pulverised Darmstadt 98 8-0 on Saturday with a Harry Kane hat-trick and all the goals coming in the second half to go top of the Bundesliga, as keeper Manuel Neuer's injury comeback was overshadowed by a record three red cards. The hosts, playing with 10 men, were unstoppable after the break against nine-man Darmstadt, opening their account with Kane's 52nd-minute diving header.

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