Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Prior targets unbeaten run for England

CRICKET: Matt Prior followed up his face-saving century against Victoria yesterday by predicting that England could go through the Ashes Test tour unbeaten, writes  DAVID HOPPS

He probably did not realise it, but he had just suggested that England could match an achievement not pulled off for 40 years, since Ray Illingworth’s England side won an acrimonious seven-Test series 2-0 as well as remaining unbeaten in eight other first-class matches.

“If we carry on playing the brand of cricket we have been, there is certainly no reason why we can’t go through the tour unbeaten,” Prior said. “Go on any tour and you want to be unbeaten, be it an Ashes or anywhere else. It would be a fantastic feat and it is something we are certainly targeting.”

With three Tests to go, Prior has upped the stakes. He will probably wake up and wish he had never said it. However England almost lost that unbeaten record (so far only two Tests and four other first-class matches) against Victoria, vowing at lunch that defeat was unimaginable after they had slipped to 78 for four, subsiding further to 149 for six with ample time remaining for Victoria to force victory, but surviving after Prior, who finished on 102 not out from 145 balls, found obdurate support from Andrew Strauss, blocking at number eight.

Strauss’s unbeaten 22 from 65 balls was the innings of a captain who, with sound reasons, had shuffled the batting order and encouraged confusion as a consequence. If Prior momentarily wondered about chasing the 311 needed for victory, it is certain that Strauss never did. He took the draw with alacrity.

“At lunch we were adamant we were not losing this game,” Prior said. “If we had lost today there would have been some very disappointed people. You can’t take an unbeaten run for granted.”

Snow Fairy turns on the style

RACING: Snow Fairy turned in another jaw-dropping display to win the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin. The brilliant dual Oaks winner came from a different parish to collar Irian under an ice-cool Ryan Moore.

Ed Dunlop’s three-year-old was adding to last month’s similarly impressive triumph in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in Japan. Reassuringly for her supporters, she will now stay in training as a four-year-old.

Although Packing Winner – the eventual third – teed up a generous pace, Moore was content to hunt, rather than chase, towards the rear of the field. Even heading into the final one and a half furlongs, the Intikhab filly still had at least seven horses in front of her.

But Moore’s patience was vindicated as Snow Fairy suddenly hit her stride and weaved into contention. Irian still looked to have pinched the Group One encounter under Brett Prebble, but Moore came with an exceptional late surge to take the glory by a neck.

Last year’s winner, Vision D’Etat, finished fourth in the hands of Olivier Peslier. Snow Fairy has now won four races at the highest level.

Dunlop said: “All credit to my staff who have worked so hard on an amazing day for the yard. I thought it was too close between races to run her after Japan and she didn’t gallop for seven weeks.

“To do it against the colts for the first time in her life puts her down as an exceptional horse, there can be no doubt over that.”

Hermes impress in lone fixture

HOCKEY: With the exception of the game between Hermes and UCD in Booterstown, which Hermes won 4-0 to go top of the Leinster first division, the women's senior hockey programme was wiped out at the weekend. Pitch and road conditions forced the postponements, with not a single first round match from the Irish Junior Cup going ahead.

Navratilova on the mend

TENNIS: Former tennis champion Martina Navratilova, who fell ill during a charity mountain climb, was discharged from hospital yesterday.

Navratilova was midway through her ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania when she became unwell after suffering a high altitude pulmonary oedema, an accumulation of fluid in the lungs. As she left hospital in Kenya, she said: “I am feeling much better and really pleased to be going home.”

Egelstaff and Vittinghus claim Irish titles

BADMINTON: Scotland's Susan Egelstaff and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark took the singles' titles at the Yonex Irish International Championships in Dublin yesterday, beating Karina Jorgensen (Denmark) and Pablo Ablan (Spain), respectively, in the finals, writes Mary Hannigan.

On Saturday Jorgensen brought Chloe Magee’s fine run in the tournament to an end, beating the Donegal woman 21-11, 21-9 in the semi-finals.

By then, though, Magee had knocked out top seed Elizabeth Cann in the last eight, beating her English opponent in straight sets.

Magee also reached the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with her brother Sam, the pair producing a marvellous comeback to beat England’s Heather Olver and Robin Middleton in the quarter-finals.

They lost out, though, to Danish opposition in the last four.