Commonwealth Games 2022 LIVE: Laura Muir storms to 1500m gold after England win women’s hockey title

Crikey - that is one heck of a ride from Fred Wright, who has put more than two minutes into the very, very able Lukas Plapp across 37.4 kilometres of winding Black County and Staffordshire road. Ah, that would be why - a bad mechanical and a painfully slow mike change for the Australian, which is rather unfortunate.

Still, the signs were there at the Tour that Wright was in real form, but a time of 46:47.52 really will take some beating. The men’s time trial starters are split in two, so the late starters will have an hour or so to mull that over before they set off. England’s aerodynamics guru Dan Bigham starts at 2.26pm BST, with Australia’s Rohan Dennis off two minutes later, and Geraint Thomas the last man out on the course 60 seconds after Dennis starts pushing his pedals.

Having knocked Sri Lanka down with the ball, all that was left for South Africa to do was pick up the pieces with the bat, and opening pair Tazmin Brits and Anneke Bosch had little difficulty knocking off the 47 runs they required. Brits, bash, Bosch, and South Africa had the chase done at the start of the seventh over to take victory by ten wickets and avoid finishing bottom of Group B.

The winner of that group will be decided later: England vs New Zealand should, hopefully, be much tighter.

Plenty of riders are already underway, and currently top at the second timecheck is England’s Fred Wright. The versatile Bahrain Victorious rider had a breakthrough Tour de France, recording five top-tens including second place on Stage 13, and has a burgeoning reputation as someone who could evolve into a real contender across a variety of terrains.

His time of 25:25.79 at the second time check is about ten seconds quicker than that of Lucas Plapp, another real talent. The Australian, a teammate of Thomas’ at Ineos, already has a bronze in the team pursuit on the track from Birmingham 2022. The men’s course is 37.4km.

It was victory for Australia in the women’s time trial earlier, and the men are now out on course in Wolverhampton bidding for glory in the so-called “race of truth”. Geraint Thomas is the biggest name in the field, with the Welshman hoping the legs that took him to a third-placed finish at the Tour de France remain strong as he bids to better the bronze he won in Glasgow eight years ago.

His likeliest challenger is Rohan Dennis, an extremely proficient time triallist who is a two-time world champion in the discipline, but has had a slighly odd year. Dennis was a high-profile recruit to Jumbo-Visma from the Ineos Grenadiers but was a slightly surprising omission from their team for the Tour that eventually helped Jonas Vingegaard to victory. The ideosyncratic Australian did struggle with a stomach bug at the Tour de Suisse, but there have also been some faint whispers of some discontent within the team - if Dennis is on top form, though, he’ll have every chance today.

Most of the top Canadian sprinters elected to skip the Commonwealth Games, but Brendon Rodney is in Birmingham. The 30-year-old was part of the 4x100 relay quartet that took gold and set a new National Record at the World Championships in Eugene last month, and is through to the semi-finals with victory in the eighth and final heat.

Zharnel Hughes is the fastest qualifier for the semis, but Rodney and Jereem Richards seemed particularly to have more to give. Those three semis will take place just after 7pm BST tomorrow evening.

A comprehensive victory from England in the women’s hockey, reaching the last four of the competition with a 5-0 dismissal of Wales. Grace Balsdon, who secured bronze for Great Britain with a goal at Tokyo 2020, fired in a hat-trick to continue England’s unbeaten campaign. They will face defending champions New Zealand in tomorrow’s semi-finals, with Australia and India contesting the other place in the final.

21 goals scored and just one conceded by England in Pool A - ominous form.

“I’m happy to come out here. It was quite an early start and I think everyone just wanted to qualify safely and save as much energy as possible. I’m taking it race by race and I’m into the semis tomorrow.

“Regardless of how fit you are, the form you are in, outside distractions, it comes back to experience for me. I’ve done this so many times before.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s a morning session and we’ve got full stands. Why are we not having more events in the UK? It’s outrageous. It was so humbling the reception I’ve got. It did rival what I got at London 2012.”

A fast start and a good bend from Adam Gemili, up on the athlete outside him quickly. He’s struggled to hold his speed to the finish in 2022 but that looks a little better, more muscular than smooth striding, but competent enough and below 21 seconds in winning the sixth heat. He’ll probably need a little bit more than that in the semis.

The 28-year-old is eighth fastest of those through so far. Kadrian Goldson also progresses.

It’s not been a great year for Adam Gemili, with largely poor form and the controversy surrounding coach Rana Reider. He hasn’t tended to have too much major championship luck throughout his career - what sort of shape is he in here?

Spare a thought for Sri Lanka, playing an entirely meaningless group game against South Africa at Edgbaston with both teams unable to progress to the semi-finals.

Still, you’d have fancied Chamari Athapaththu and co. to perform slightly better against a South African side still shorn of so many key faces. Sri Lanka have been bowled out for 46 (!), with only skipper Athapaththu in double figures and ending, inevitably, with a comedy run out.

All-rounder Nadine de Klerk was chief dismantler, taking 3-7 from her four overs - knocking that off should be simple enough for South Africa, rather in need of a win after a long, tough time in England.