and it was william versus kate as the duke and duchess went head to head in a boat race in germany today with william taking first place. in a moment it will be time for sportsday but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. we'll be live at nottingham station in the heart of the east midlands after the department for transport scrapped the planned electrification of major railway lines there. and in wales. vince cable is elected unopposed as the party leader. we'll be speaking to alistair carmichael mp to establish why only mr cable wanted to be the boss. and whatever happened to neighbourhood watch? we're looking into the largest rise in recorded crime in england and wales in a decade. that's all ahead on bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for sportsday hello and welcome to sportsday, i'm leah boleto.

coming up: the open gets under way at royal birkdale. it has been around to forget for rory mcilroy as he drops five shots in the opening holes. with three days to go chris froome is still favourite to win the tour de france, but his lead is cut after finishing fourth on stage 18. england have set australia 282 to win in the women's world cup final. hello, welcome to the programme. we're starting tonight at royal birkdale after a blustery start in weather conditions

as the day passed the course became a more serene course as the 146th open championship got under way. the americans dominated but it was a tough day for many other top names. joe lynskey has the latest for you. take golf to the seaside and the sport is at its most brutal. at royal birkdale the conditions are pa rt royal birkdale the conditions are part of the appeal. could the local boy mastered them on the greatest stage? tommy fleetwood came to the town in the form of his life, but on the first day his challenge fell away. instead ian poulter‘s surprise opening and three under par and in contention. ian poulter would look to become the eighth straight major winner, but ahead of him are players who have done it before. jordan spieth is at home on top of leaderboards and climbing up alongside him in the us open champion. brooks koepka's heroics

took him to five under par. but for one former champion so far a day to forget. rory mcilroy‘s turmoil started from the very first hole. he stumbled to four over par in the front line, the elements and the mind getting the better of him. this is why golf is at its most brutal here. well, karthi gnanasegaram has been at the royal birkdale course all day for us so can appreciate the conditions that the players have faced. karthi, as expected it's been a tough day out there for quite a few of the players. yes, you can tell how the weather is by my hairand yes, you can tell how the weather is by my hair and how dishevelled outlook. at the moment there is a breeze. there are still players out on the course and we are on the fourth hole. in terms of the top players, they had a slightly better conditions today. jordan spieth, who is top of the leaderboard, the two times major winner, is in a group of

three and he went out relatively mid—morning which meant he had the better conditions. the rain had stopped by then. he is alongside brooks koepka who won the us open a few weeks ago, so looking for back—to—back major trophies. alongside them is matt kuchar who has just finished. they are all on five under and they are at the top of the leaderboard. an interesting pack behind them. the conditions have helped those who are where they are and the leaderboard. henrik stenson is the defending champion. are and the leaderboard. henrik stenson is the defending championlj am stenson is the defending champion.” ama stenson is the defending champion.” am a bit surprised to be able to start of this open extremely strong and not grind too much on the next few. but on this course and at the open championship and specifically at this golf course the conditions change this entire leaderboard. it isa

change this entire leaderboard. it is a really good start. i know it is coming tomorrow and i know even par would be as good or better than today. it is important to get the right numbers today.” today. it is important to get the right numbers today. i am happy with that first round and happy with the way i have played for a while. it was a lot better today and i felt i was a lot better today and i felt i was in pretty good focus. it is good to be out withjordan. he is playing pretty well and he parted as nicely as whenl pretty well and he parted as nicely as when i played with him at augusta. he might be the one to watch later on. i was happy with my game andl watch later on. i was happy with my game and i hit a lot of greens and i could hit one or two better. coming tojoin me is andy could hit one or two better. coming to join me is andy murray, could hit one or two better. coming tojoin me is andy murray, former european tour winner who has finished on the course commentating with sergio garcia. let's have a chat about him. the masters champion, but he is getting married next week. it's his mind on the golf? it is definitely on the golf,

you just did not play very well. i got moved from his game, it was not happening for him on the first 13 holes, and i could put back on the matt kuchar game. in some ways it was great to come in with matt kuchar. i did not want to leave garcia because you never know quite what will happen to him. it went the wrong way for him. but it is a fickle game and a difficult golf course and if you are not on top of it, it is a tough one. garcia ended on three over at the end of his round. matt kuchar is in the top group. an impressive start by all of those who made it to five under. impressive, he made two birdies in a i’ow impressive, he made two birdies in a row and five under par is fantastic. even though the conditions were better this afternoon, it was not easy. he came back very steadily with nine straight pars. he might

have felt he should have done better, but it was a terrific ground for matt kuchar. my day started very early and i was out with ian poulter and it is a treat to watch him play very well. coming back from an injury. the conditions have varied throughout the day. you know this course, explain how good a course this is for the golfers and the spectators. for the golfers it is one of the best open venues, if not the best, in my opinion. turnberry might be up there as well. the golfers really enjoyed this one. the fairways are flat, but it is not too unpredictable and it is very testing with the greens with a great layout and lots of holes and you get the wind every which way. it is a very fair golf course and a lot of the players like this place. rory mcilroy really struggled today and he had a terrible day even though he

had good conditions. he had the best of the conditions, but they do not ca re of the conditions, but they do not care what the conditions are like. if you are not on top of your game, there are no hiding places out there. he got off to a difficult start. if you get off to a bad start, your confidence is low and it is difficult. not a good day for rory mcilroy. thank you for dashing over to talk to us. andrew murray. two englishmen arejust over to talk to us. andrew murray. two englishmen are just behind, over to talk to us. andrew murray. two englishmen arejust behind, paul casey on four under and ian poulter who is on three under as well in the clubhouse. we will be back tomorrow to let you know what is happening and we will bring you commentary from royal birkdale tomorrow. britain's chris froome has taken a big step to winning the tour de france for the fourth time and a third in a row he's he's emerged unscathed from one

of the toughest stages of the tour, starting in briancon and finishing at the summit of the col d'izowar. french rider warren barguil won an 111—mile long stage 18, but crucially froome finished the stage in fourth, meaning that with just three days to go he has a 23—second lead. drew savage reports. literally one last mountain to climb. anyone wanting that yellow jersey would be to conquer it and the combined might of the team sky. rigoberto uran was 20 seconds behind in the standings and so was romain bardet, whose team put in plenty of work to try and break down chris froome and his colleagues. he has not looked quite as invincible as in previous years, but even without geraint thomas, the team protected their leader well. saturday's course will not be good for romain bardet.

another frenchman, warren barguil, beat them all on the date, climbing to an impressive second stage win, but it will not affect chris froome for the race lead. but romain bardet and rigoberto uran hung on in there. a slight dent in chris froome's league, but the man in the yellow jersey will be confident he can keep it. jersey will be confident he can keep it. in the women's race britain's lizzie dignan finished second on stage one of the two—day la course. dignan ended up finishing second overall behind anne—miek van vleuten, the dutch rider who suffered serious injuries in the road race at last year's rio 0lympics. the two—stage race finishes in marseille on saturday. brian cookson, the president of cycling's governing body, the uci, say his leadership is being criticised by the man the uci, says his leadership is being criticised by the man who wants to replace him. david lapartient of france says cookson has been "poor" in his role and he wants to implement

a new clear vision for cycling if elected in september. cookson maintains the organisation has made progress under his leadership. i think the statute and the constitution of the uci is for an executive president and he is more the chairman of the board. that is not what we want, that is not the field and the way the uci must lead. i have been complaining about the fa ct i have been complaining about the fact that the president has not been informed about some key points of the constitution and that is not normal. lets turn our attentions to cricket for a moment — a brilliant day for india. they have set australia 282 in a match to reduced to 42 overs per side. australia made a shocking

start losing meg lanning without scoring, she is a key backer. a short time ago the defending champions were 127—4 with just under 20 overs to play. the winners face england in sunday's final at lord's. the winners face england in sunday's final at lord's. essex batsman tom westley will make his england debut after being selected for the third test against south africa. westley will bat at three at the oval, replacing gary ballance after he broke his finger. westley has already scored a century against south africa for the england lions this season and has scored almost 500 runs in the county championship. middlesex's dawid malan could also make his debut whilst keatonjennings retains his spot at the top of the order. with gary ballance rolled out,

england have been forced into making changes, but even after such an overwhelming defeat they are hardly dramatic. we know that westley will bat at number three on the back of an excellent season with essex. more interesting is the choice between playing an extra batsman rather than the underwhelming left arm spinner dawson. mallan scored against south africa last month. but he averages 42 in championship cricket this summer 42 in championship cricket this summerand 42 in championship cricket this summer and england need the extra depth. summer and england need the extra depth. we've been keeping you bang up to date with all the action from the world para—athletics championships here on sportsday. day seven gets under way shortly with plenty of british medal hopes wanting add to the total of 22 so far. that includes 11 golds, two of which have gone to hannah cockroft. she could make it three tonight. lets go live to our reporter kate grey at the london stadium. kate, hannah isjust one of the highlights to look forward to tonight? yes, there are actually 11 british

athletes in action here this evening, but all eyes are likely to be an hannah cockroft as she goes for her third gold medal. more impressively it is her tenth world title. quite an achievement for the 24—year—old who comfortably won the 100 metres and the 800 metres earlier on in the week and now she goes for the 400 metres. she has competition from alexa how to run america. but he does not quite reached the standard of hannah cockroft who is a hot favourite for the gold medal. georgi hermitage goesin the gold medal. georgi hermitage goes in the t 37 400 metres. she is the world record—holder and is here to defend her title. she was inspired by watching the london 2012 paralympic games, so how fitting it would be for her to win gold in front of a home crowd. also stephen

miller goes in the f 32 clubs throw. he has been competing for great britain for over 20 years and was dominating that very event in the 90s. but he has struggled in recent yea rs. 90s. but he has struggled in recent years. he missed out on the medals in london 2012 and got a bronze at rio 2016, so he will be desperate to find his former glory and be back on the podium in london once again. lots to look forward to hear on day seven of the world championships. great britain have missed out on their chance to add to their tally at the world aquatics championships in budapest. ross haslam, marking his debut, finished in 11th position. everyone's still talking about that

england—scotland match at the euros yesterday. today england manager mark sampson thinks there's still room for improvement from his side, despite a 6—0 win over rivals scotland in their euros opener in utrecht last night. jodie taylor scored a hat—trick for the lionesses, who now face spain and portugal in their remaining group games. katie gornall has sent this report. welcome to england's training based just on the outskirts of utrecht. most of the players have been given the day off to recover from that 670 win over scotland last night. those who are here are understandably in good spirits. people have said mark samson side needed to be more ruthless and major tenements and a more than answered those critics last night. this was the most convincing performance we have seen yet at these championships. it is also the first time england have won their opening game at a major tournament since 2005. that is something england midfielder karen

hardy will remember as she was just 17 at the time and she scored the winner against finland. she said there was something different about this site in the netherlands. there isa this site in the netherlands. there is a confidence and not an arrogance. that is what you need. we have got that healthy mix and blend. i was before the game really at ease with the game plan and i knew the girls would execute it. we believe in ourteam as girls would execute it. we believe in our team as fully and we believed in the game plan and we executed it. it was a breath of fresh air watching the girls deliver it. you get the sense there will be a contrasting mood today at scotland's training camp. this was not the way they wanted to start their first appearance at a major tournament. they have a chance to bounce back against portugal, fellow debutants, but the scotland captain says she is not expecting an easy ride. we have been doing our homework, we understand where our opportunities are. they have got very good players

as well. they lost 2—0 to spain, but they have been putting work again in over the last year. we willjust then focus on us and what we can do better and look at the opportunities we created and look at the goals that england scored and how we can prevent them. plenty for scotland to work on. england face spain at the weekend and you expect that to be another step up. spain are wrapped 13th in the world, but on this form england seem ready for anyone. after the early departures of rangers and saintjohnstone, aberdeen are looking to avoid becoming the third scottish side to exit the europa league in the qualifying stages later this evening. they face a tough task though against bosnian side siroki brijeg in the second leg of their second qualifying round tie. they were held to a 1—1 draw at home a week ago, so need to better that scoreline to progress to the next stage. we believe that we can score here.

at our best european results we have normally scored on the road. ifeel that we are a team who can score in the team. we have shown that over the team. we have shown that over the last few seasons, and ability to score goals. but you are right. we do not have to go gung ho and score in the first minute. but we are confident we can get the goal that we need to. two aberdeen fans have been treated for injuries after supporters were attacked last night ahead of the match. about 50 supporters were caught up in an unprovoked attack outside a pub in the old town area of mostar. leigh griffiths has been suspended for the first leg of celtic‘s champions league third qualifying—round clash against rosenborg. griffiths has been handed a one—game ban from uefa for "provoking supporters" at the end

of their win over linfield. the belfast club have also been hit with a partial closure of their stadium for their next european game after the striker was targetted with missiles. west ham have agreed a deal with bayer leverkusen to sign javier hernandez. he'll fly to london in the coming days to finalise personal terms and undergo a medical. the fee for the former manchester united striker is reported to be around £16 million. the mexican spent five years at old trafford before joining the bundesliga side. that's all from sportsday. there'll be more sport here on bbc news throughout the evening.