Basket, NBA: The Atlanta Hawks suffered a double blow on Wednesday when they were beaten 97-89 by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game One of the Eastern Conference finals and lost DeMarre Carroll to what looked like a serious knee injury. J.R. Smith caught fire off the bench with 28 points, including eight three-pointers, and LeBron James tallied 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the Cavaliers grabbed the lead in the best-of-seven series.

Cricket: Ben Stokes provided the gloss and Joe Root the glue as England recovered from a terrible start to reach 354 for seven at the close on the opening day of the first test against New Zealand at Lord’s yesterday. England collapsed to 30 for four in the morning after being sent into bat but Stokes and Root shared a fluent fifth-wicket partnership of 161 to lift the gloom at a sun-kissed home of cricket. Stokes was out for a sparkling 92, including a six and 15 fours, and Root fell for 98 in the final session after another innings of great maturity and class. Jos Buttler (67) was out lbw from the final ball of the day but Moeen Ali remained unbeaten on 49.

Olympics: The international federations of equestrian, curling and table tennis cut ties with SportAccord yesterday, the latest round of walkouts after its president sharply criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Some 17 Olympic federations have already withdrawn their membership of the umbrella organisation, which represents about 100 Olympic and non-Olympic sports bodies, after its president Marius Vizer criticised the IOC last month.

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