June 5, 2022 thesundaytimes.co.uk/sport

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

England’s nine-match unbeaten run

ended with a tame 1-0 defeat by

Hungary in Budapest last night in

their opening Nations League tie. The

game, though, was overshadowed by

booing when the England captain,

Harry Kane, inset, and his team-mates

took a knee before kick-off.

There were about 35,000

supporters, mainly children, in the

Puskas Arena for a match that was

supposed to have been played behind

closed doors. The five-game ban on

fans was imposed because of racial

abuse and homophobic banners

raised at last summer’s European

Championship games held in Hun-

gary, and racial abuse directed

towards England players during a

World Cup qualifier in

Budapest last September.

It was circumvented by

a loophole in Uefa’s rules

allowing under-14s from

schools and/or football

academies into the sta-

dium free of charge,

accompanied by adults.

A section of the young-

sters in the crowd booed when

the England team took a knee. It left

Gareth Southgate disappointed and

perplexed, with the England manager

questioning how Uefa could have

allowed so many people into a

“closed-doors” game. “How that

aligns with the decision [to impose a

stadium ban] is difficult to

understand,” he said.

“From a development

perspective, I want my

team to be playing in

front of supporters but,

of course, that’s not the

point. In this instance,

I’m torn between what

we got from that and what

the reality should have been.

That needs some consideration

[from Uefa] without a doubt.”

Hungary were awarded a penalty in

the 64th minute when Chelsea’s

England

booed by

children

before

defeat

Peter Wilson Reece James, the substitute, was

adjudged to have fouled Zsolt Nagy.

After a VAR review, Dominik

Szoboszlai fired the spot-kick confi-

dently low past Jordan Pickford.

England dominated possession but

without creating many clear-cut chan-

ces. The debutant Jarrod Bowen, of

West Ham United, was England’s out-

standing attacker, although Kane

almost scored his 50th international

goal with an 89th-minute snap shot

that hit the side netting.

The attendance of so many people

at a “behind-closed-doors” game

SPORT

DERBY

GLORY

DESERT CROWN GIVES

STOUTE HIS SIXTH WIN

IN THE CLASSIC WITH

DOMINANT DISPLAY

PAGES 10-11

A battling show

from Root took

England to

within 61 runs of

victory against

New Zealand in

the first Test at

Lord’s

Root’s

All in

Ex-captain leads the way

in nail-biting chase

MARC ASPLAND

Joe Root set up the prospect of a thrill-

ing finish to the first Test against New

Zealand with an unbeaten half-

century that put England within 61

runs of victory with five wickets

remaining.

After a familiar top order collapse

in which the hosts slumped to 69 for

four in pursuit of their target of 277,

Root, in his first Test since standing

down as captain, and his successor

Ben Stokes produced a 90-run fifth-

wicket partnership to claw back hope.

Root and Ben Foakes then put on an

unbeaten 57.

Stuart Broad was instrumental in

wrestling England back into the

match by taking two wickets in three

balls as part of a “team hat-trick”.

Colin de Grandhomme was run-out

from the second of the three deliver-

ies, having wandered down the pitch.

“That hour with Root and Foakes

before the new ball in the morning is

going to be crucial to try and get the

runs down as low as we can,” Broad

said. “Root is one of England’s best

ever batsman and Foakes I thought

settled really nicely.

“We knew we had to strike with the

new ball this morning because the

Test was riding on it. Taking 45 for six

this morning, we couldn’t have done

any better. I really enjoyed the feeling

of getting the crowd going, lifting the

energy. The crowd responded bril-

liantly and so did the players.”

Broad said he believed Ollie Pope’s

run-out of De Grandhomme showed

the change in mindset under Stokes

and Brendon McCullum, the new Test

head coach.

“I think our accuracy with our

throwing in the field, and I think our

fielding in general, has been outstand-

ing and it just shows what switching

mentality and an attacking mindset in

the field can do,” he said.

Elizabeth Ammon

CRICKET, PAGES 12-15

hands