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Larne extended their lead at the top of the Irish Premiership but by just one point as they played out a 1-1 draw with Linfield at Inver Park.

Leroy Millar gave the leaders a first-half lead, but the Blues hit back after the break through Adam Frizzell with Millar later shown a red card.

The result means Gary Haveron’s side, without a win in four league games, hold a three-point advantage on Coleraine with Linfield five behind.

Glentoran made ground on the leaders as Pad Hoban and Jordan Stewart hit two goals apiece in a 4-0 win at Cliftonville to move to within eight points of Larne with two games in hands.

Bottom of the table Glenavon claimed away to 2-2 draw at Ballymena United with Kian Corbally giving the hosts the lead late in the first half before Paul McGovern levelled minutes later.

Larne opened the scoring on 13 minutes as, after Rohan Ferguson produced a stunning save to deny Kirk Millar, Larne broke up the other end of the pitch and Leroy Millar was played in behind by Matty Lusty and confidently slotted past the onrushing Chris Johns.

Linfield had the better of the chances after falling behind most notably from Kyle McClean who had a low volley well saved before Millar failed to get the necessary power on a back post header. For Larne, Matt Ridley glanced a header just wide from a Chris Gallagher corner.

David Healy brought on Adam Frizzell at the break and that turned into an inspired move as the former Derry City man appeared to get the final touch on a Sam Taylor corner albeit it could well have been an own goal.

Either way, the Blues were level but the game turned somewhat niggly and bitty with free-kicks being dished out at great frequency by referee Chris Morrison.

The game was simmering away and it all boiled over on 80 minutes when goal-scorer Milar was sent off for a studs-up lunge on Ethan McGee.

After a quiet opening at Solitude, the Glens came closest to breaking the deadlock after Ryan Cooney let fly from 25 yards, but his dipping, curling effort was pushed to safety by an alert Lewis Ridd.

Declan Devine’s men continued to threaten from set plays and went close as MJ Kamson Kamara met Danny Amos’s inviting corner, but failed to hit the target.

That pressure should have told minutes later when Pat Hoban out-muscled Shaun Leppard and raced through with Lewis Ridd to beat, only for the Cliftonville goalkeeper to stand tall and deny the former Derry City striker.

After the interval, the away side maintained their momentum as Ross Clarke cut in from the right to exchange passes with Aaron McEneff before seeing his right-footed strike from 20 yards tipped behind by Ridd.

The breakthrough arrived just after the hour mark when Pat Hoban converted coolly from the penalty spot after Joe Toole’s high challenge on Aaron McEneff prompted Tim Marshall to point to the spot.

The visitors doubled their advantage midway through the second half as MJ Kamson Kamara diverted Ryan Cooney’s corner into the path of substitute Stewart, who pounced to head home from close range.

The points were effectively secured five minutes later when Stewart collected possession from McEneff under no pressure and curled into the far bottom corner.

Ballymena almost struck within the opening two minutes when Kian Corbally’s pass split the Glenavon defence but keeper Jacob Carney was quickly off his line to block Success Edogun’s effort with his body.

Glenavon’s best opening of the first half came when full-back Paddy Burns whipped in a cross from the left which Paul McGovern met with a glancing header and Ballymena keeper Brad Wade was relieved to see the effort whistle narrowly wide.

Ballymena broke the deadlock a minute before the interval when Matthew Clarke got to the bye-line and stood up a cross which David Toure headed back towards the far post, leaving Kian Corbally with a close-range headed tap-in.

Remarkably, Glenavon levelled in first-half injury time when Paul McGovern kept his cool to drill home a low shot through a ruck of players after United keeper Brad Wade had kept out a couple of initial efforts.

Ballymena had the ball in the net again before the half-time whistle but Aaron Jarvis’ effort from a Dylan McGeouch free kick was ruled out for offside.

The Lurgan Blues went in front on 57 minutes as they broke quickly with Luke McGerrigan feeding Peter Campbell. He tried to curl a low shot into the far corner with the ball eventually breaking for Nathaniel Ferris to slide home from close range.

Ballymena levelled on 62 minutes when half-time substitute Sean Murray’s low shot trundled past Carney and into the net with the aid of a couple of deflections.

Craig Tiley has been appointed as the new chief executive of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) after 13 years at Tennis Australia.

Former Australian Open tournament director and Tennis Australia chief executive Tiley will replace Lew Sherr, who has joined Major League Baseball’s New York Mets.

South African Tiley, 64, will formally assume his responsibilities at USTA later this year after helping to ensure a smooth transition of leadership at Tennis Australia.

Tiley, a former college coach in the United States, said: “I’ve long admired the organisation’s leadership in growing the game across the United States and the extraordinary success of the US Open.

Tiley championed innovation during his time as tournament director the Australian Open, overseeing its expansion to a 15-day event and this year hosting the inaugural Million Dollar One Point Slam.

The tournament also continually broke attendance and revenue records during his tenure, welcoming more than 1.3 million fans during this year’s event.

Tiley was head coach of the University of Illinois men’s tennis team between 1994 and 2005, winning the NCAA Division I National Championship in 2003 with a perfect 32–0 record.

“From the very beginning of this process, our top priority was identifying the right leader to accelerate participation growth and help us achieve our goal of reaching 35 million players by 2035,” said USTA chair Brian Vahaly.

Leaders in English cricket have come in many varieties.

There was Michael Vaughan the man-manager and Sir Andrew Strauss the strategist, who carefully planned England’s route to the top.

Sir Alastair Cook and Heather Knight led through pure determination. Ben Stokes is as inspiring as they come.

It is unlikely Harry Brook will ever have the poise of Strauss or the aura of Stokes.

That does not matter.

You know the story of Brook’s winter by now.

An altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington, a wasteful Ashes performance and a foolish attempt to hide the truth, for which he later had to come clean.

Few England captains have toured with such oversized baggage.

Thousands of England fans travelled to Australia for the Ashes. Thousands more set alarms night after night, day after day back home.

Brook owed them a performance and boy did he repay them here. It was the most mature of knocks after the most immature of winters.

It is curious that Brook, a man with a T20 World Cup winner’s medal from 2022 and a Test triple century, could perhaps have been accused of not having delivered a match-winning knock on the very biggest stage.

His highest score against Australia is 85 in 10 Tests.

Both of his hundreds against India last year were in Tests England lost – the second in the fifth Test at The Oval when his careless dismissal opened the door for India’s fightback to draw the series 2-2.

Brook’s highest score at the last 50-over World Cup was 66 and the previous T20 edition 53. Those doubts are silenced now.

Many have questioned Brook’s brainpower during his England career and at times this winter he has made it hard not to wonder.

There were the drives in Perth and Brisbane and the reverse sweep in Adelaide before even considering the issues off the field.

His ‘beer smash’ celebration when making a hundred against Sri Lanka last month showed another flash of childishness.

But those close to Brook and the England dressing room have always spoken of his sharp cricket brain.

This innings was the perfect example.

In 2022 he used a four-month break after the death of his grandmother to shed pounds not because he needed to fill his time or appear on the next series of Love Island.

He spoke then about how it would help him run twos in the 2024 T20 World Cup, thus getting himself back on strike to hit boundaries in the latter overs.

In Pallekele, Brook’s 100 from 51 balls was destructive, brutal at times, but he also ran nine twos.

It meant he could both attack – England took 11 from the second over and 17 from both the sixth and the 11th as Brook pushed on – but also go down the gears after wickets fell.

When Tom Banton was caught behind off Usman Tariq, Brook calmly took singles off his next five balls.

It was a perfectly paced innings, showing his wish for batters not to be “too careful” does not simply mean whack boundaries from every ball.

“I know we were losing wickets, but my job was still to try to go out there and put them under pressure throughout,” Brook said.

There is, of course, one other man Brook owed a performance to.

His coach Brendon McCullum was pushed to the brink by the Ashes defeat. Some will say he has already gone beyond the point from which he can return.

But in securing a semi-final spot, Brook has nudged England closer to a result that will keep the New Zealander in a job should he want it.

Brook could yet be the Mark Robins to McCullum’s Sir Alex Ferguson – granted the New Zealander has a long way to go.

Brook has always been one of Bazball’s most devoted believers.

McCullum is the only Test coach Brook has had, the only permanent coach he has worked under as white-ball captain. He often speaks straight from the McCullum philosophical handbook.

It was no surprise, therefore, that he credited his coach with the plan to promote Brook from number five to bat at three for the first time in his international career.

It was McCullum who put the idea to his captain early on Tuesday morning, less than 12 hours before the start of the game.

Some England players, like Jacob Bethell, who was nudged down to number four by Brook’s promotion, were told earlier in the day, but the rest were not fully made aware of the plan until McCullum spoke in the pre-match huddle.

“Baz was the mastermind there,” Brook said.

“He had the discussion with me this morning about going up the order and trying to maximise the powerplay.”

McCullum’s move means England now have a free hit in their final Super 8 match against New Zealand on Friday. After that they will travel to India for a semi-final.

Somehow, after stuttering and struggling to this point, they are the closest side to winning the title. Australia have gone already and defending champions India could follow before the week is out.

If the co-hosts remain, one of South Africa or West Indies will surely be knocked out.

Brook is two wins from becoming the fourth England men’s captain – after Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler – to lift a World Cup.

He is leading his way, which will bring moments that will leave you scratching your head. Now is the time for Brook to be backed, however.