• Welshman secures third world championship with 18-16 victory
• Higgins levelled at 15-15 but Williams sealed his third world title

Mark Williams won his third title at the World Snooker Championship and completed one of the best comeback stories in the sport as he defeated John Higgins 18-16.

It was a final that came with no end of storylines, but Williams’s was the most poignant. Last year the Welshman failed to qualify for this tournament and, after years in obscurity, was on the verge of retiring from the sport. Persuaded otherwise by his wife, Joanne, in 2018 Williams has rediscovered his form and held off an endlessly tenacious Higgins to claim victory.

Chris Froome’s battle to rescue his reputation after a failed drugs test looks bound for the court of arbitration for sport as it emerged that a study calling into question the efficacy of the test will form a key part of his defence.

The 32-year-old is currently competing in the Giro d’Italia with Team Sky as he bids to win a historic third successive Grand Tour. He won last year’s Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. In December the Guardian and Le Monde revealed a urine test submitted after stage 18 of the Vuelta showed excessive levels of the asthma drug salbutamol and he could yet be stripped of that title if he is found to have committed an anti-doping violation.

Great players do not always make successful managers. Will the Liverpool legend be a Zinedine Zidane or a Gary Neville?

When Ross Wilkins stood up during his late father’s memorial service at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea last week to address a congregation that included many of the great names of the past 40 years of English football, he found the words to express a poignant truth. “Football found a way to live without Dad,” he said, “but the simple truth was that Dad could never live without football.”

After calling time on his long and distinguished playing career, Ray Wilkins stayed in the game, as so many do. The next 20 years were spent in a variety of dugouts, as the manager of Queens Park Rangers, Fulham and the national team of Jordan, as well as assistant manager of Chelsea, Watford, Millwall, Aston Villa and England’s Under-21s. None of those appointments, it could be said, ended well.

Stuart Lancaster is not interested in the vacant job at Harlequins and has ruled out a return to the Aviva Premiership in the immediate future. The former England head coach wants to remain involved at Leinster, who face Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup final in Bilbao on Saturday.

There has been speculation linking Lancaster with the Quins role held previously by John Kingston but he is keen to continue working in Ireland and see out his contract with the increasingly powerful Irish province. “I’ve had no communication from Quins and I’ve certainly not proactively put myself forward for it,” the 48-year-old said.

• Lancashire leg-spinner’s career-best fails to force win
• Notts go top of First Division with win over Hampshire

On a scorching day in Manchester, as the swifts arrived from the south, Somerset batted all day until the teams shook hands at ten to five. There was a fifty for Steve Davies and an unbeaten 66 for Jack Leach – his highest first‑class score – as Somerset overcame a post-lunch quiver to finish on 269 for eight declared.

There were five wickets for the 21‑year‑old leg-spinner Matt Parkinson, who had the ball spitting with spleen at times and who collected a career-best match tally of eight for 181 in strangely spin‑friendly conditions in late spring. James Anderson took one wicket in his first match back for Lancashire, though he was perhaps unlucky not to have more.

Amid multi-year low TV ratings and dropping attendance, NASCAR could be up for sale.

The Cavs and Celtics will both try to sweep their respective opponents to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive season.

Will the Washington Capitals make history, or continue the city’s curse of sports mediocrity?

After winning titles at Tijuana and Club America, consistent playoff disappointment with Rayados was too much for the Argentine coach to overcome

The Guinea international, brother of Man Utd star Paul, hit the headlines in Turkey after becoming involved in a spat with his fellow team-mates