LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) says the refusal of 10 senior Sri Lankan players to tour Pakistan “should not make a difference”, and that the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series will be held according to schedule. Officials said on Monday that at least 10 Sri Lankan players, including T20 skipper Lasith Malinga and former captains Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera, have ...

Brazilian tennis player Diego Matos has been banned from professional tennis for life and fined $125,000 (£100,600) after being convicted of multiple match-fixing offences. Matos has also been ordered to repay $12,000 (£9,650) received in winnings in tournaments played in Ecuador. An independent anti-corruption hearing found that 31-year-old Matos had contrived the outcome of 10 tennis matches played during 2018 ...

Andrew Strauss launched the Ruth Strauss foundation after losing his wife to a rare form of cancer Former England captain Andrew Strauss has been described as “an exceptional person” after receiving a knighthood in ex-Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation honours list. Strauss, 42, led England to two Ashes wins, as well as the number one Test ranking, in his 50 ...

Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals as Portugal beat Lithuania in Euro 2020 qualifying. The Juventus forward has now scored 93 international goals, 16 behind Iran legend Ali Daei’s world record. He scored an early penalty, before Vytautas Andriuskevicius equalised. Ronaldo’s 20-yard shot went in off the head of Lithuania goalkeeper Ernestas Setkus and he scored two more from Bernardo Silva ...

Belgium manager Roberto Martinez believes a fresh Kevin De Bruyne will be even better for club and country this season after the Manchester City midfielder tore Scotland apart in a 4-0 win for Martinez’s men on Monday. De Bruyne set up Romelu Lukaku, Thomas Vermaelen and Toby Alderweireld to score inside the first 32 minutes before capping a brilliant individual ...

David Warner, who served a one-year ban from international cricket due to his involvement in ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, apparently told former England opener Alastair Cook that he once “used substances attached to the strapping on his hand to accelerate the deterioration of the ball during a first-class match”. As per an interview published in The Guardian, Cook has ...

In a move aimed at improving West Indies’ standing in limited-overs cricket, Kieron Pollard has been appointed the captain of their white-ball teams with immediate effect. Pollard replaces Jason Holder as the ODI captain and Carlos Brathwaite in T20Is. Pollard, 32, was recently recalled to the T20I squad in the home series against India, but has not played an ODI ...

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has denied Niroshan Dickwella a no-objection certificate (NOC) to play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and will also prevent Thisara Perera from playing in the majority of the T20 league, after the two players – and eight others – refused to tour Pakistan in September and October. According to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, it ...

South Africa have hinted at the possibility of Quinton de Kock being a captaincy candidate keeping in mind next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. De Kock will lead a fairly young side in the three T20Is against India in regular captain Faf du Plessis’ absence, as their new team director Enoch Nkwe wants to “start building for the future”. ...

England’s failure to reclaim the Ashes in a home series for the first time in almost two decades can in part be put down to unhelpful pitches, according to the team’s senior fast bowler James Anderson. While a calf injury limited Anderson’s involvement to bowling just four overs in the first Test at Edgbaston, he suggested that the playing surfaces ...