ONE up, many more to play – first blood has been drawn by England’s cricketers against their fiercest foes Australia, though perhaps the intention to do such was why Aussie bad boy David Warner took a swipe at Yorkshire’s Joe Root in a Birmingham bar.

Whatever anyone’s take on wig-gate, the International Cricket Council’s Champions Trophy group conquest by England was thoroughly convincing.

It was indicative not just of the need to establish an opening psychological blow but also the desire to erase a dismal record in one-day international competitions.

Tomorrow England have the chance to end a drought by lifting the trophy in the final against pre-tournament favourites India.

But while victory would vanquish a blot on England’s international record, Alastair Cook and his men have set a marker for the coming Ashes battle to start in less than three weeks’ time, and, which, after the usual crammed collection of one-dayers and t20-ers, will carry on to the Ashes duel on the other side of the globe throughout the winter.

Even if the Test teams of both adversaries will be markedly different from last week’s collision at Edgbaston, there’s no denying, nor doubting, that England now have the upper hand.

In contrast, it may mean too that the British & Irish Lions can be regarded as under-leos now that their unbeaten record perished in the final warm-up game against the Brumbies ahead of today’s opening test in Brisbane.

In any sport, acquiring any sort of edge can prove crucial, so is that true now of a certain Andrew Murray, champion of a sport that for two weeks can almost eclipse Ashes shenanigans?

In just over two days’ time the all-encompassing, though far from all-inclusive, All-England Championships at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club serves, volleys and smashes into action.

And for the first time in many decades a British hopeful, Scotsman Murray, goes into the fortnight of haves and will-never-haves with a grand slam win in his bank balance. Murray’s victory in the US Open last fall means that particular monkey is now off his back. Whatever he goes on to achieve, Murray is a major winner.

However, the other skin-seizing simian is that there remains no Brit winner of the men’s singles title in that affluent corner of London since Fred Perry, that original class-ceiling smasheroonie.

But as well as the kudos and confidence that should accompany his US Open win, Murray can also point to a winning return on grass to accord him a potentially vital boost.

His third success at Queen’s was not without its early travails. But his comeback semi-final triumph over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and repeat rally over Marin Cilic in the final warned rivals that Murray’s form on grass is potent, especially since wisely opting to miss the French Open so as to properly rest his injured back.

Recent sporting parlance has added phrases like “under-cooked” and “over-cooked” to its sometimes lazy lexicon, but Murray is coming to the boil and while Djokovic, Federer et Nadal are ominous obstacles, the Scot can prevail two weeks tomorrow.

AT first glance, pictures of an 82-year-old woman cheering her horse on to victory at one of England’s leading racecourses were charming.

Certainly, all the newspapers and television news/sports channels agreed as they relayed and replayed the unbridled delight of the day’s success.

But the owner was the Queen, her horse was Estimate, and the conquest was in the Gold Cup at the Royal Ascot meeting, the archaic tradition of which continues to amaze.

How come in the 21st century and in times of austerity disgraced by such an invidious issue as the bedroom tax, that this nation still revels in the pastimes of the privileged, and all in the name of sport? Shame.

HOWEVER, let’s not leave on a sour note. The biggest incident of sports joy was surely the unalloyed jubilation of the Tahiti football team on scoring their only goal – so far in the Confederations Cup.

Admittedly the strike was in the 6-1 defeat by Nigeria, a loss that was followed by a 10-0 caning from world champions Spain, but the celebrations of the Tahitians in the form of Hawaii 5-0 type canoeing was priceless.