Morning Briefing: Hazlewood masterful in IPL, Kerr scores for Matildas yet again

[h2]Hazlewood wins Player of the Match award - and millions of hearts[/h2][p]In his second competitive game back from a long injury layoff that saw him miss the Ashes and the T20 World Cup, Josh Hazlewood produced some of his best T20 bowling for his beloved Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as they went 4-1 to top the Indian Premier League standings. [/p][p]Hazlewood bowled three of the first overs of the match and conceded only one four and six singles to help RCB strangle Lucknow Super Giants in what has been another run-laden IPL season, whilst his teammates bowled just as intelligently throughout the middle and death overs to skittle LSG on home soil for just 146. [/p][embed guid="7c3625d6-463a-4b9b-9f8e-c283651ae7e3" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1IN-lwTfk" social-type="youtube" /][p]The 35-year-old Australian inadvertently struck Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant in the left elbow with a 140kph following a play and miss. [/p][p]Rishabh was reduced to tears as he attempted to play on with what could be a serious injury, returning later in the match only to be dismissed from 1 (6) later in the innings, and Hazlewood won applause for his friendly consoling of the Lucknow captain during the incident.[/p][embed guid="2bbe5808-df14-4607-a2aa-a2a5827345ea" url="https://x.com/Dhruv685588/status/2044462975021711492" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Red-hot Sam Kerr scores sixth Matildas goal in 2026[/h2][p]Spurred on by the heartbreak of the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/australia/YXMhvJho/"]Matildas[/a]' Asian Cup final loss to Japan last month, Kerr has been in close to career-best form for both Chelsea and Australia.[/p][p]Kerr has scored in five of her last seven games for Australia or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/chelsea/Q7Hu2UDD/"]Chelsea[/a], including an FA Cup quarter-final win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tottenham/zJscgDii/"]Tottenham[/a], and also produced assists against both [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/AaUYwhYM/"]Aston Villa[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/arsenal/8CKOoQdn/"]Arsenal[/a] between the Asian Cup and this international window.[/p][p]She has been on song in the Tillies' two comfortable FIFA Series wins over Malawi and Kenya, although the goal she scored in the final against Kenya would probably go down as one of if not the easiest goals of her career...[/p][p]It was nonetheless another step in the right direction for Australia as they formalise their preparations for the next World Cup in June-July 2027, to be hosted by Brazil.[/p][embed guid="9d1cdd78-dd1d-40b0-ac62-f90e43ecd8da" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIfyEtvPjQ0" social-type="youtube" /][h2]Alex De Minaur tumbles out of Barcelona Open[/h2][p]Alex De Minaur was well below his best in yesterday's first round victory over Austria's Sebastian Ofner and we forecasted that he would need to kick things up a notch against in-form clay player Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia. [/p][p]Unfortunately, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/news/tennis-barcelona-atp-singles-de-minaur-suffers-surprise-early-exit-from-barcelona-open/8nRdTDPE/"]that was not to be the case[/a]. [/p][p]Medjedovic broke to go 5-3 up in the first set before serving it to love, whilst winning the last five games of the match to overrun De Minaur 6-4 from 4-1 down in the second. [/p][p]De Minaur converted only one of his nine break points, recorded five double faults and had a first serve percentage of only 36% in what was far from his best afternoon of tennis. [/p][p]It's hardly ideal lead-in form ahead of important ATP 1000 rankings events in Madrid and Rome, which will be De Minaur's two major commitments before the 2026 French Open.[/p][embed guid="318ef9c0-1b65-4c60-8e7a-f6b3be584e44" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzRg3GVVXVk" social-type="youtube" /]