With the women’s cricket World Cup set to begin later this month, Australia showed on Saturday that they are ready to defend their title.

With the three match ODI series against India tied at 1-1, Australia batted first and scored a whopping 412 runs. Beth Mooney top-scored for the Aussies with 138 runs.

India did their best to reel them in but ultimately fell 43 runs short.

The women’s World Cup begins on 30 September. Australia will have one more chance to warm up when they play England in Bengaluru on 28 September.

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Oscar Piastri’s points lead in the F1 drivers championship after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku overnight. Piastri crashed on the first lap after starting in ninth and did not finish the race, while his teammate and championship rival, Lando Norris, finished seventh. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the race from start to finish, improving on his return to form with a second straight race victory. 

"A silver against [the man who is] now the three-time world champ, I'm pretty happy with that. It's an incredible feeling representing your country at the world level. To bring back a silver medal — it's not the one I wanted to bring back,  but it's a good consolation prize.”
Australian cyclist Jay Vine after finishing second in the men’s time trial at the cycling world championships in Rwanda. Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel won the event for a third successive time, beating Vine by one minute and 14 seconds and demonstrating his superiority in the time trial discipline. Belgium’s Ilan Van Wilder rounded out the podium in third place while four-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar came fourth.

In 2021, Australians Jett and Hunter Lawrence became the first pair of brothers to both finish in the top three of the U.S. motocross championship, contested over the course of a season. Over the weekend, at the annual SuperMotocross World Championship, Jett finished first with his older brother Hunter coming in second. It marks Jett’s third consecutive victory at the end-of-season event.

🏉 The Brisbane Lions are into a third successive AFL grand final after defeating Collingwood 100-71 on Saturday night. The Lions will go for back-to-back premierships against the Geelong Cats, who comfortably beat Hawthorn 115-85 on Friday night. It’s the seventh time the Cats have played in a grand final this century. Both preliminary finals were played in front of huge crowds at the MCG, where the final is set to be played next Saturday at 2:30pm (AEST).

🏉 The race to the NRL grand final has been whittled down to just four teams following the weekend’s semi-finals. On Saturday, the Cronulla Sharks beat the Canberra Raiders 36-12. The Raiders are just the second team in the NRL era (after the Dragons in 2009) to win the minor premiership and then fail to win a single finals match. Then on Sunday, the Penrith Panthers continued their campaign for a fifth consecutive premiership with a dominant 46-26 victory over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. In the preliminary finals next weekend, the Sharks will play the Melbourne Storm on Friday night and the Panthers will face the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday afternoon.

🏉 The women’s rugby World Cup final is set to be played between England and Canada, the world’s two top-ranked teams. In the first semi-final of the weekend, Canada defeated six-time tournament champions New Zealand 34-19. It marked the Black Ferns’ first loss at a World Cup since 2014. Then, England defeated France 35-17 to join Canada in the final and extend their winning streak to 32 games. For France, it was the ninth successive time they have lost in the semi-final stage of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. 

🏉 The NRLW preliminary finals are set for next weekend after the Cronulla Sharks and Newcastle Knights won their respective week one finals matches. The Sharks held off a late charge from the North Queensland Cowboys to win 24-18. Next week, they will take on reigning premiers the Sydney Roosters, who have not lost a game all season. Earlier on Saturday, the Knights beat the Gold Coast Titans 34-20 to secure their place in next weekend’s preliminary final against the Brisbane Broncos.

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The 2025 Brownlow Medal will be awarded tonight, honouring the best and fairest player from this year’s AFL season. Here’s what to know. 

It’s widely anticipated that this year’s Brownlow medallist will be one of five players who have never won the award before. 

The favourite to win the award is Collingwood’s Nick Daicos. The 22-year-old, who finished second in the votes last year and third the year before, has had a stellar season. He has already won the Leigh Matthews Trophy, a peer-voted award for the league’s most valuable player. 

Other players expected to be in the hunt for the medal include Adelaide Crows captain Jordan Dawson, Geelong midfielder Bailey Smith, and the Gold Coast Suns’ Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson. 

Last year’s winner was Carlton’s Patrick Cripps, who won with a record 45 votes. 

The Brownlow is voted on by the umpires who officiate the AFL. After every game during the regular season, three players are awarded points for their performance. The best player is awarded three points, the second-best two and the third-best one. The Brownlow Medal ceremony is held on the Monday night before the AFL Grand Final.

The ceremony will go through the votes for every round throughout the season while keeping tabs on the overall leaderboard. Tonight’s ceremony will be broadcast from 8:00pm (AEST) on Channel 7.

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On the final evening of the athletics world championships in Tokyo, Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers capped a remarkable season by winning her first outdoor world title, clearing 2.00m to claim gold. 

Here’s what to know following the conclusion of the world championships. 

Competing in heavy rain, the Olympic silver medallist held her nerve while others faltered. Olyslagers was one of only two athletes to clear 2.00m, and with fewer misses than her Polish rival Maria Żodzik, she secured the championship on countback. 

The result completes an extraordinary 2025 for the Australian, who earlier this year defended her world indoor crown, claimed the Diamond League title and set a new Oceania record of 2.04m in Zurich. 

Fellow Australian and Olympic medallist Eleanor Patterson cleared 1.97m to finish fifth. 

The drama was not limited to the high jump. Discus thrower Matthew Denny endured brutal conditions as heavy rain made the throwing circle dangerously slippery. Despite the challenges, Denny produced a throw of 65.57m to place fourth, narrowly missing a medal but once again confirming his place among the world’s elite. 

He said afterwards: “I’m pretty fortunate that I walked away without a concussion or an injury. It’s obviously hard the way it went down in these conditions. I’ve never felt more ready for a comp but it was a bit of a war of attrition. It was one of those things you can’t control.”

Ky Robinson proved he belongs on the world stage with a stunning fourth place in the hotly contested men’s 5000m. The 23-year-old produced the fastest 5000m ever run by an Australian at the world championships (12:59.61) to finish less than 0.3 seconds off the podium. The race was won by Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker of the U.S.

Robinson said: “I walk away from these Championships basically as happy as I could be. It was such a fast race from one kilometre and I don’t know how I managed to be there with 400 metres to go.”

After setting an Australian record in the semi-final of the women’s 800m, Jess Hull raced the final and finished eighth. It marks the best result for an Australian in the women’s 800m at a world championships and wraps up a stellar season for Hull. 

Meanwhile, Australia’s men’s 4x100m team (Conor Bond, Jacob Despard, Calab Law, Rohan Browning) ended their world championships on a disappointing note after failing to successfully hand the baton over on the last change in the final. 

Olyslagers’ gold medal was the fourth and final medal for Australia alongside three bronze medals won in Tokyo by Kurtis Marschall (men’s pole vault), Jess Hull (women’s 1500m), and Mackenzie Little (women’s javelin throw)

The four medals saw Australia finish 15th overall on the medal tally. The top medal haul belonged to the U.S, whose team took home a total of 26 medals, including 16 gold.