SPEEDWAY: Emil Sayfutdinov and Tom Brennan bagged 10 points apiece as the Ipswich Witches squeezed past Sheffield 46-44 and then snatched the aggregate bonus after a super heat to move three-points clear at the top of the Premiership. 

Thursday night’s other fixture saw Chris Harris rack up 13 points as King’s Lynn sealed their first away win of the season with a thumping 51-39 success at Oxford.

MEN’S FOOTBALL: England’s under-21s continue their European Championship campaign with a second Group B match against Slovenia on Sunday. 

Goals from Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, Marseille’s Johnathan Rowe and Toulouse’s Charlie Cresswell steered the defending champions to a 3-1 win over Czechia 3-1 in their opening fixture on Thursday. 

Nick Woltemade netted a hat-trick as Germany saw off Slovenia 3-0 in the other Group B game.

MEN’S CRICKET: Scotland’s opening bat George Munsey smashed 14 fours and 11 sixes on his way to a record-breaking 191 from 150 balls, but the Scots still lost Thursday’s World Cup qualifier to the Netherlands by four wickets. 

The Dutch completed the highest run chase in League Two history after reaching 374-6 with four balls to spare thanks to Max O’Dowd’s unbeaten 158 and half centuries from Teja Nidamanuru and Noah Croes.

HOCKEY: England’s men resume their Pro League season when they face Germany at Lee Valley on Saturday lunchtime. 

The English sit third in the league, 10 points behind table-topping Netherlands but with four games in hand. Germany are only a further three points behind in seventh place. 

England’s women, who are bottom of the table with just one win to their name, are in action against second-placed Argentina on Saturday afternoon.