Cover up lifts Tiff

Silverwood reveals England may not even have their strongest side available against the Australians

SISTER ACT Porter in her mask with Cindy Sember

TIFFANY PORTER made history by becoming the first athlete to win a championship medal in a mask – but still came second in her family.

Britain’s 60metres hurdle sister act delivered in Torun, where Cindy Sember took silver ahead of older sibling Porter.

It was a double cause for celebration as Sember had come back from careerthreatening injury and Porter from having a baby.

“Wearing a mask isn’t my focus, it’s just a personal decision and that is where it begins and where it ends,” the 33-year-old said.

“It’s really important for me personally. But if I can inspire somebody, then that is fine.”

Holly Archer left Poland grateful to the judges for overturning her 1,500m disqualification but insisting been justice had served.

“If I did make a mistake, then everyone did,” the silver medal winner said.

“That’s racing and you can’t have non-contact when it’s that slow a race.

“There is going to be pushing – she who dares wins. There was a gap and I went for it.”

CHRIS SILVERWOOD says England’s heavy defeat by India will come in useful in next winter’s Ashes – before revealing top stars could fly home mid-series from Australia too.

Despite insisting the Ashes are No.1 and that players arrive fit and firing, he refused to offer any guarantees England would have their strongest team available for the entire series Down Under.

That will surely come as a scarcely believable piece of news to England fans, who must be hoping that Joe Root is given the best possible chance of regaining the urn.

Asked whether he would have the strongest available 11 for all five of the Ashes Tests, England coach Silverwood said: “We are trying to grow a group of players where we can put out a strong side all the time. We have to be aware we have to look after our players.

“There is a whole load of cricket coming up.

“Then we very quickly disappear abroad once our summer is finished. We’ve got to make sure we are proactive and look after our players.” So does that mean players could be flying home midway, like they have on this tour?

Silverwood added: “Well, we have to be proactive in looking after them, so it’s certainly something that we may have to look at, yes.” Silverwood and national selector Ed Smith have come under fire for the way in which stars such as Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow,

Chris Woakes and Sam Curran all missed Tests in India to fly home.

But they will all be available for the white-ball contests and the IPL that follow.

The reason given was to ensure players weren’t burnt out pre-Ashes and would still have enough energy to capture the biggest prize of all.

And while there may be some who would disagree with the timing and the rigid method employed by the rotation policy in India, it is

clearly an admirable approach to guard against damage that could be done by the schedule for multi-format players.

“We talk about working our way towards the Ashes and I want the squad to arrive there fit and in form, both physically and mentally,” said Silverwood, following a three-day fourth Test hammering by an innings and 25 runs in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

“It’s a tough tour, we know that, and one we’re prioritising.

“So we want to make sure everyone arrives at that point in as good a place as possible.

“We have to look after our players.

“We have some very fine young players – such as Zak Crawley, Dominic Sibley, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence.

“And I think the experience and seeing these conditions will in the long run do them a world of good. Hopefully we see them reap rewards in Oz and help us win the Ashes.”

ASK Mel Marshall the secret of her success and the coach of the world’s best swimmer will tell you straight.

“I’ve just never seen boundaries,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Impossible is nothing’. If someone tells me ‘No’, I’m up for a fight.”

Marshall has coached Adam Peaty (above) since he turned up at the City of Derby swimming club as a 14-year-old.

He has become the fastest human in history at breaststroke, and four months from now defends his 100 metres Olympic title in Tokyo.

Before then, Marshall has another goal she wants to accomplish inspiring a new generation of female coaches.

She has chosen International Women’s Day to join UK Coaching in calling for more women to go into sports coaching at grassroots level.

The ambition is to close the gender gap from just 43 per cent female coaches today to a 50/50 split in five years. Research shows that women and girls prefer female coaches and Marshall is convinced that stemming the decline in their numbers is a vital contributor to rebuilding the country coming out of lockdown.

“There are three things that can make a difference to the shape of gender equality as we move forward,” said the former world No.1 freestyler.

“Role models are really important, as are women having faith and confidence in themselves that they can do the role. And then there’s organisations providing opportunities.

“My philosophy in life is, ‘Get stuck in’. I’ve probably been naive, but if I don’t see a problem I just plough straight in.

“It’s about empowering women to know they can cope in these environments, to get to a position whereby they too can just plough straight in.”

That, Marshall knows, is a gradual process. It requires the creation of platforms at every level to provide women with greater opportunities. She added: “When I first started out in my coaching career I wanted to make change and I wanted to do things differently.

“I came across a lot of challenges. People that presumed they had the authority and would be quite intimidating with their thoughts. But I built the skills to be able to do everything.

“Because when you’re trying to make change, as a female, as a leader, you need to be the iron maiden, the damsel in distress, the priest, the teacher, the inspirer, the data collector. You need to be able to do everything.

“It’s now about how we can empower other women to know they can cope in those environments.”

Marshall says Peaty has never questioned her credentials, and believes that is because she brings a “different dynamic” to him.

She said: “I’m able to blend being the disciplined teacher and the supportive parent in some ways. I think he likes that.”

But she wants her influence to extend further, to getting boys AND girls off their phones and back to being physically active. Now that would really be a golden legacy.

MAKING A SPLASH Mel Marshall receives the Daily Mirror Pride of Sport Coach of the Year award from Mark Foster and David Haye in 2015

DAVID MOYES disagrees with West Ham’s £100million valuation of Declan Rice – he says the England midfielder is worth more.

The club’s owners are understood to want nine figures for their prize asset, with Chelsea and Manchester United big admirers.

Speaking ahead of tonight’s home game against Leeds, however, Moyes maintained they were being far too conservative. “I don’t agree with the owners that Declan Rice is a £100m footballer,” said the Scot. “He’s worth far more than £100m. Far, far more.

“I look at the players who have joined some clubs from overseas and come in and had nowhere near Declan’s impact.

“Also, he’s English. We’ve just had Brexit, so I wouldn’t agree with the owners that Declan Rice is worth only £100m. No, I wouldn’t.

“The owners think he’s worth £100m – well, I completely disagree with that. You can decide which figure you want to put on it but I wouldn’t be sanctioning anything like that, that’s for sure. I have watched the prices of some players who have gone to clubs recently and they could not lace Declan Rice’s boots.”

West Ham had been widely expected to lose 22-year-old Rice (below) in the summer, with bigger clubs able to offer him Champion League football. But the Hammers go into tonight’s game challenging for a shock top-four place. And Moyes believes the steady progress at the London Stadium is such that West Ham no longer feel they need to reach Europe’s top competition to keep him. He added: “Do we need the Champions League to keep Declan? No, because Declan is under contract first and foremost, so he can’t go anywhere, no matter what.

“But Declan seems very settled. He is captaining West Ham, he plays for England, and I want to keep him thinking that his ambitions can be achieved here at West Ham.

“I will have to keep pushing that and keep pushing that with the owners as well.

“I keep saying – and I hope people know that when I say something I mean it – that we’ve not had an offer for Declan Rice and I hope we don’t get one. Now you’ve got an idea of where we’d need to be if an offer was even going to be considered, certainly by me.

“So I’m looking forward to keeping Declan, I look forward to keeping all the boys and building a young team. If we could finish in Europe, in some sort of European position, I think it would be progress.

“And that would be progress for Declan Rice as well because since he’s been at West Ham they’ve been bobbing round the bottom, so this is new for Declan as well.”

Hammers have a tough schedule ahead. After tonight’s visit of Leeds United, their next four Premier League games are against Manchester United, Arsenal, Wolves and highflying Leicester City.

NO side defending a title has ever surrendered it quite so pathetically as Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Their sixth straight home defeat – this time by a Fulham side who had previously won just once at Anfield in their history and had scored only once in their previous nine visits here – takes them into unprecedented territory.

Since they were top of the Premier League at Christmas after a 7-0 triumph at Crystal Palace, they have taken 12 points from a possible 42. They have never lost six straight home games before.

To say that is relegation form is a massive understatement. That form, taken over a whole season, would see them collect a measly 32 points from 38 matches.

They have caved in. They have hit rock-bottom. The scale of the collapse is staggering. Their top-four hopes are now shattered after Mario Lemina’s goal gave Fulham a deserved victory – a win which could have been by a greater margin than his fierce strike just before the interval.

And their chance of playing in the Champions League appears to rest on winning this season’s competition, which on current form will be impossible.

Quite the most shocking aspect of a truly dismal afternoon for Liverpool fans worldwide was the lame way they surrendered when