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

Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall have done it, they take the gold in the men’s table tennis doubles.

They needed five games to retain their title.

They win was secured against India’s Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran after Achanta netting, finalising a 8-11, 11-8, 11-3, 7-11, 11-4 victory.

Captain Hollie Pearne-Webb admits she is “lost for words” after guiding England past Australia for a historic gold.

“I’m a bit lost for words,” Pearne-Webb tells BBC Sport. “It’s the first time in history we’ve ever done this. It’s a new group. I think over the next two years it’s pretty exciting when we join up with the GB squad when the Scots and the Welsh come in.

“The crowd’s support has been absolutely phenomenal. I just feel so lucky that’s it’s in my career that we get a home Commonwealth Games.

“It was a bit of an up and down game. We played well first half, stepped off a little in the second half, absorbed a bit of pressure and got there in the end.”

Amy Broadhurst has won gold for Northern Ireland to break the record for the most gold medals at a Commonwealth Games after landing a sixth in Birmingham.

It’s a fourth gold for Northern Ireland in the boxing, with Broadhurst, who has been tipped by Katie Taylor for a huge future, proving too good in the lightweight division.

The Dundalk woman had too much for England’s Gemma Richardson, with Aidan Walsh, Dylan Eagleson and Jude Gallagher also delivering boxing gold.

A tearful Katherine Brunt is unsure about continuing her record-breaking England career after they signed off from the Commonwealth Games without a consolatory bronze medal. With a narrow semi-final defeat to India still fresh in the memory, England seemed unable to rouse themselves to face New Zealand and limped to 110 for nine in their third-place play-off at Edgbaston.

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates put England’s total in a harsh light with a 54-run stand in 4.3 overs before the White Ferns cruised to an eight-wicket win with 49 balls to spare. Brunt finished with nought for 23, including having to bowl a nine-ball over at one stage, which would represent an unflattering end for England’s leading wicket-taker in one-day and T20 internationals.

But when asked whether she will end an England career that started in August 2004, the 37-year-old said while wiping away tears: “I don’t know. I need to reflect. I’ve got to get up in two days and play (for Trent Rockets) in The Hundred, which is savage. But that’s life and sport. I need to reflect on that bit and see where I’m at and what my next goal is.”

Brunt added: “This is really hard. The feeling is gutted. We’re a lot better than that, we’re a finalist team. On a personal level it’s my one and only shot at that, so I’m obviously taking it quite badly.

“Everything is heightened when you get to the end of your career. Things seem to mean a bit more and other things seem to slip away a bit further. That game against India was brutal. Normally playing international cricket for England, it shouldn’t be any different, but it did feel different, it felt like the actual whole country was behind us. We’re sad we let them down.”

Perhaps it’s finally time to drop the talk about dropping the baton.

With some notable exceptions, too often the story of sprint relays was more about the spills than the thrills.

But as England’s 4x100m male quartet scampered to Commonwealth Games gold, surely that trend has turned.

They held their nerve to defend their title from four years ago in the Gold Coast, less than two weeks after three of the team won bronze for Great Britain at the World Championships in Oregon.

Ojie Edoburun - replacing the injured Reece Prescod - anchored home the quartet that also included world medallists Jona Efoloko, Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, the latter two part of last year’s Olympic team that won silver only to lose it when team-mate CJ Ujah tested positive for drugs.

England endured a dismal end to their Commonwealth Games campaign, unable to win a consolatory bronze after an abject eight-wicket thrashing by New Zealand.

With a narrow semi-final defeat to India the day before still fresh in the memory, England seemed unable to rouse themselves for what was a third-place play-off and limped to 110 for nine at Edgbaston.

Hayley Jensen took three for 24 while there were two wickets apiece for Fran Jonas and Sophie Devine, whose 51 not out from 40 balls helped New Zealand overhaul a meagre target with 8.1 overs to spare.

It capped a miserable weekend for the tournament hosts, who crushed the White Ferns in their final group stage encounter three days earlier.

The volunteers at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games have been the stars of the show, according to the organising committee’s chief executive.

More than 13,000 people have signed up to assist at the Games, and have supported in a huge variety of ways from offering directions and advice to high-fiving children with giant foam hands and dancing while raking the sand at the beach volleyball.

On the Games‘ penultimate day, Birmingham 2022 chief executive Ian Reid paid tribute to the people who had stepped up.

“They are the stars of the show, alongside the athletes,” Reid told the PA news agency.

“They’re the constituent group that everybody talks about, and rightly so. Without their warm welcome, without their support, without engaging people around the region through the venues. It’s just a different vibe to a normal European or World Championships with that group and one thing we’re really proud about.

“Wherever you go you see the orange uniform and they’ve all been incredible in the amount of time some of them have given. They really enjoy it and I think it really does make it special.”

Australia’s double world champion javelin thrower Kelsey-Lee Barber has again played the waiting game to perfection at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday. After adding the 2022 world championship title in Oregon in July to her success in Doha in 2019, Barber traveled to England favored to claim her first Commonwealth gold medal.

But on the eve of the opening ceremony on July 28, she tested positive to COVID-19, putting her into isolation and casting doubt over her participation. It was not until Thursday that the 30-year-old received clearance to compete in the event, but she said the days spent in isolation recovering from the illness did not detract from her belief.

“Mentally, I coped. I wasn’t going to let it affect my performance today,” Barber said.

Seeking to complete the full set of Games‘ medals after winning a bronze in Glasgow in 2014 and a silver on the Gold Coast four years ago, Barber saved her best throw for last. She trailed her teammate Mackenzie Little, who threw a personal best of 64.27 meters, into the last round. But Barber responded with an effort of 64.43 meters to clinch the gold medal. It continues a theme for the Australian, whose first world title in Doha was achieved with her last throw, so too the bronze medal she claimed at the Tokyo Olympics last year. “I had great confidence from the world (championships) and a good feel for my javelin. I trusted that process, so today I was focused and knew what I wanted to achieve here,” she said. “I’m not going to lie. It is nice to know I have the confidence I can keep lifting through a competition and I can find something in that last round.” Barber claimed one of the 45 gold medals on offer on the penultimate day of the 2022 Games, which includes 16 to be contested in boxing. England won its first able-bodied gold medal on the track when the 4x100-meter men’s relay team sprinted to success over Trinidad and Tobago and Nigeria.

They’ve done it! Gold for England women in the hockey!

England defeat Australia, surviving a late scare after Ambrosia Malone’s strike for the Aussies.

But England held on for the remaining 19.4 seconds.

POST! Anna Toman strikes the woodwork, so close for England.

It’s a 2-0 lead for England with two minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Aussies are dominating though.