Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood received his reward for some fine domestic form on Wednesday when he was included in a pace-heavy 13-man squad for the first two One-Day Internationals against South Africa next month.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Former England captain David Gower has joined the list of critics who believe that controversial batsman Kevin Pietersen had allowed his ego to come before the needs of the team in England's 5-0 Ashes hammering by Australia.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will seek to consolidate their position among the top four, while bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab will and end a four-match losing streak when the two sides lock horns in Wednesday's Indian Premier League match in Bengaluru.
World champions Australia rallied from a two-goal deficit to prevail 4-3 over Olympic gold medallists Germany to bolster their position in the 36th Hero Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre.
Defending champions Bengaluru FC registered a narrow 1-0 win over ATK in the first leg of their Hero Indian Super League semi-final clash at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
Britain's Andy Murray enjoyed a routine win over Argentina's Juan Monaco to ease into the third round of the tennis tournament at the Rio Games on Tuesday, while Spain's world number nine David Ferrer was knocked out.
Opinion polls have suggested that while big business is broadly in favour of staying in the EU, small firms have been evenly split in what looks like a photo-finish.
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Australia have named swashbuckling batsman Aaron Finch captain of the Twenty20 cricket team, replacing George Bailey, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Monday.
World record holder David Rudisha of Kenya and Ethiopia's defending champion Mohammed Aman cruised through the heats for the 800 metres on a hot and humid opening morning at the world athletics championships in Beijing on Saturday.
Mumbai Indians seek to maintain momentum against Kings XI Punjab.
Sandeep Sharma scalped three crucial wickets as Kings XI Punjab produced a disciplined bowling display to compensate for their batting failure and notch up a comfortable 23-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL match in Abu Dhabi.
Table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders and a transformed Kings XI Punjab cross swords in an Indian Premier League contest in which big-hitting Jamaicans Andre Russell and Chris Gayle will be up against each other in Kolkata on Saturday.
Images from the World Cup Pool A match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
After launching their campaign on a winning note, IPL finalists Kings XI Punjab will look to dish out another dominating performance when they face the formidable Barbados Tridents in a Group B match of the Oppo Champions League twenty20 in Mohali on Saturday.
Australia have cut opening batsman Ed Cowan and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade from their list of 18 centrally-contracted players, but handed opener Phillip Hughes another chance to establish himself in the national set-up.
Royals Challengers Bangalore will start as overwhelming favourites against bottom-placed Kings XI.
Australia will have to win both Tests in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to go one point clear of South Africa, who displaced them at the top in July, but there is still little clarity about the side who would walk out for the first match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Britain's ruling Conservative party on Tuesday began the first round of voting to choose a new party leader who will succeed David Cameron as the prime minister with home secretary Theresa May emerging as a clear front-runner.
After bagging back-to-back man of the match awards in the ongoing cricket tri-series, left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc said he is relishing the opportunity of leading Australia's bowling attack in the absence of pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson.
Rediff.com has compiled a few photographs to show you the kind of selfies our world leaders have taken a fancy to. Different strokes for different folks, eh?
Chasing can be tricky but team's dressing room is positive, says Ravichandran Ashwin.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday led a shocked nation in mourning the death of 2 Australians who lost their lives at the cafe siege in Sydney that ended with the killing of lone Iranian-born ISIS sympathiser who took 17 people hostages, including 2 Indians.
Spinners Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa tore through the West Indies batting line-up to set up a dominant Australian victory by six wickets in the second match of a triangular one-day international series in Guyana on Sunday.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
The off-spinner dismissed Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews with the final ball of his eighth over and returned to send back Nuwan Kulasekara and Tharindu Kaushal with the first two deliveries of his next to achieve the milestone in the first quarter-final of the World Cup.
The top posts on social media from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
Australia will miss captain George Bailey in the One-dayer against England on Friday but their focus will be to seal a place in the ODI tri-series final.
Manish Pandey played a blinder as Kolkata Knight Riders held their nerves to beat a spirited Kings XI Punjab by three wickets in an exhilarating summit clash to win the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League in Bangalore on Sunday.
Australian batsman George Bailey has claimed that his side's World Cup squad has played consistently since the past 12 or 18 months, despite injuries, inexperience and the pressure of a home tournament bearing down on them.
Going into the final Test against South Africa, Australia are staring at the lowest ebb in their 140-year cricketing history.
England skittled out shell-shocked Australia for 60 and piled up 274 for four in reply to take control of the fourth Ashes Test on a dramatic first day at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
XTI Aircraft, a Denver, Colorado-based aerospace startup firm, launched an equity crowdfunding campaign.
The hits and misses of the week.
'He's come off a second stress fracture in his back and while he's just starting to get up and running in the nets now -- I think he's played six white ball games in the last 18 months -- that's T20 and one-day cricket'
Recalled Jonny Bairstow says he's in 'best form'.
Ravichandran Ashwin is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 of the latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings as he continues to lead the way in the all-rounders list.
England's James Anderson is the first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets.
Charlie Adam scored twice as Stoke City beat Manchester United 2-1 on Saturday to show the flailing Premier League champions it will take more than one big-money signing to improve their fortunes.
