SPORTRESULTS

CRICKET

England have confirmed they will appoint separate head coaches to lead the men’s Test and limited-overs squads, with the interview process set to begin in just two weeks.

A return to the split coaching model has long been anticipated, with England’s exhausting schedule and the rapidly diverging fortunes of the red and white-ball teams making the change a virtual necessity.

The appointment of Rob Key, a proponent of the two-coach plan, as managing director essentially rubberstamped the shift and formal job specifications have been published by the England and Wales Cricket Board outlining the new roles.

Time is tight with England beginning their summer schedule on June 2, with the first Test of the summer against New Zealand, but they still hope to have a full-time coach in position by then. If not, a continuation of Paul Collingwood’s interim reign would not be unthinkable.

The application process concludes May 6 and first-round interviews will follow on May 9 and 10, just a fortnight away. Collingwood is the leading internal candidate,

and could be in with a good chance of landing the white-ball position, but the ECB will be crossing its fingers that recruitment partners SRI present a strong field of international names.

Australians Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer and Simon Katich have all been touted as options, should they wish to cross the Ashes divide, while New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming, Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene and South Africans Gary Kirsten and Graham Ford have all been linked.

CYCLING

Ethan Hayter claimed his first career WorldTour victory as he won the prologue of the Tour de Romandie to take the leader’s jersey.

The 23-year-old, wearing the British champion’s stripes, did enough to beat two-time former world time trial champion Rohan Dennis to win by three seconds in Lausanne.

“It’s really nice,” said Hayter, who recovered from Covid-19 earlier this year. “I had a couple of setbacks at the start of the year, I’ve taken a break from racing and trained really hard and to come back like this is nice.

“We thought these next couple of days could be quite good for me as well so we’ll keep trying

to win stages and the overall with the rest of the team.”

Hayter’s Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Geraint Thomas – the defending champion - took fourth, on the same time as Austrian Felix Grossschartner in third, both nine seconds down.

“It’s great Ethan’s won,” Thomas said. “Fourth’s alright, it could have been better. It’s a funny feeling doing a prologue like this after (LiegeBastogne-Liege, a 257km race) on Sunday. “But I’m happy with it. I gave it everything. We’ll see how this week goes.”

GOLF

KEITH – Seniors stableford — G.Winton (27), B.Ross (23) ,M.Pates (33) 39 pts; P.Allan (9) 36 ; J.Boardman (11) 35 ; C.Grant (26), L.Griffin (12) , J.Sinclair (13) 33 ; R.Hector (15) , L.Dawson (23) 32.

LUMPHANAN –

Friday Stableford 9 holes — Mixed: Dennis Robertson (10) 17 pts.

April Medal 18 holes — Mixed: Matthew Massie (20) 63, Callum Cromar (4), Trevor Glennie (17) 64.

Stableford 18 holes — Mixed: Lewis Smith (14) 43 pts, Bill Liversidge (19), Martyn Hossack (12) 39