A floundering England will be looking to avoid a potential banana skin when they take on minnows Scotland in a crucial Pool A cricket World Cup match at the Hagley Oval, in Christchurch on Monday.
List of Australian Open women's singles champions since the event began in 1922 (Australian unless stated):
England have named uncapped Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson in their 15-man squad for the World Twenty20, to be staged in India next month, but there was no dramatic recall for Kevin Pietersen.
Liverpool's defence of a Premier League crown won at a canter last season has become a nightmare
Strikers Marcus Rashford and Daniel Sturridge made Roy Hodgson's final 23-man England squad for Euro 2016 on Tuesday but winger Andros Townsend and midfielders Danny Drinkwater and Fabian Delph were left out. England are taking five forwards to the 24-team tournament in France, which starts on June 10, with Sturridge selected despite doubts over a calf problem. The injury had forced the Liverpool striker to miss England's last two friendly matches, including Friday's win over Australia in Sunderland. The 18-year-old Rashford, who signed a new long-term deal with Manchester United on Monday, became the youngest player to score on his England debut in the 2-1 win at the Stadium of Light. He scored that goal 138 seconds into what was only his 19th professional match, marking him out as one of the brightest emerging prospects and winning plaudits from Hodgson.
Rendered ineffective in the previous match, India's wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal will look to bounce back against 'well-prepared' England batsmen when the two teams clash in the series-deciding third Twenty20 International, in Bristol, on Sunday.
'The Indian side has realised that not talking to Pakistan has not served any useful purpose.'
Kevin Pietersen's test future may be in doubt but the mercurial batsman was hailed as a "million pound asset" when named in England's provisional 30-member squad for this year's Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka beat England by 90 runs in the sixth One-Day International at Pallekele on Saturday to take an unbeatable 4-2 lead in their seven-match series.
Joe Root hit an unbeaten 102 and Moeen Ali impressed on his debut as England recovered from the loss of three early wickets to reach 344 for five on the first day of the opening Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's on Thursday.
England skipper Eoin Morgan would like to believe his team peaked at the right time at the ongoing World Twenty20 while New Zealand were slightly premature going into Wednesday's semi-final at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Kane Williamson and his Kiwi team mates have not put a foot wrong since landing in India, winning all four group matches without really breaking a sweat to qualify for the semi-finals as the tournament's only unbeaten team. For a side boasting an explosive batting order and a balanced attack to go with, England's passage proved bumpier. Even before they could soak in the atmosphere, England were blown away by a Chris Gayle century in their tournament opener against West Indies in Mumbai.
England's transformation from 'startled rabbits' at this year's World Cup to record-breakers against New Zealand on Tuesday has left fans and pundits shaking their heads in disbelief.
A fine innings of 143 from Ian Bell helped England to recover from a terrible start and finish the first day of the first Test against West Indies on 341 for five in Antigua on Monday.
Jonathan Trott followed Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior into the international wilderness on Monday to leave England desperately short of experience ahead of this year's Ashes series against Australia.
Virgil van Dijk made a dream start to his Anfield career, scoring the winning goal on his debut for Liverpool, as they beat city rivals Everton 2-1 in a pulsating FA Cup third round tie on Friday.
Opener Sam Robson hit his maiden Test century before Sri Lanka fought back with four late wickets on the second day of the second Test at Headingley, on Saturday.
The South Africa-born 33-year-old has not played for the senior England team since the first Test in Brisbane 18 months ago, after which he returned home with stress-related problems.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scored a majestic 91 not out to lead Pakistan to a thrilling four-wicket victory over England in their final World Cup warmup at Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
England stormed into the final of the ICC World Twenty20 with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over New Zealand, riding on opener Jason Roy's blazing 78.
Danny Welbeck may frustrate at club level but put the Arsenal striker in an England shirt and he has proved himself to be a reliable figure on the international stage.
Premier League champions Chelsea eased past a disappointing Everton with goals from Spaniards Cesc Fabregas and Alvaro Morata sealing a 2-0 victory on Sunday.
Serena Williams, who held all four of tennis's grand slam titles for the second time in her career and won 53 of 56 matches in 2015, was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine on Monday.
England captain Eoin Morgan admitted that Kuldeep Yadav "completely deceived" his batsmen in the opening Twenty20 International in Manchester on Tuesday night, and said the hosts need to put up a better show against the Indian wrist spinners in the remaining matches if they want to give the visitors a tough fight in the series.
List of Australian Open women's singles champions since the event began in 1922 (Australian unless stated):
Summary of all that transpired on and off the football field
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday
The teenager, Nikolas Cruz, accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people at a Florida high school did not appear to be a peaceful man on social media. He made quite clear his desire to perpetrate the exact type of violence of which he now stands accused. Charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, here's what we know about him so far.
A clash of contrasting styles, the ICC World T20 final in Kolkata on Sunday gives both England and the West Indies a chance to create history.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's Premier League action:
Roy Hodgson has given himself the option to give England a youthful, fresh edge at the World Cup after including Ross Barkley, Raheem Sterling, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana in his provisional squad on Monday. There were no real surprises as the irresistible late-season form of Everton's attacking midfielder Barkley and Liverpool wide man Sterling made their inclusion an easy choice for Hodgson despite having only five caps between them.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was left casting envious glances at his rivals' squads after a second defeat in four days bruised their title challenge and left him looking up the table rather than down.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
India will have their task cut out against a vastly improved England
Of the 220 players who started for Premier League clubs at the weekend, only 73, or 33.2 per cent, were eligible to play for England.
Sweden beat Italy 1-0 to gain the upperhand after their World Cup playoff first leg on a chilly night, while a young England side held Germany goalless and Belgium drew 3-3 with Mexico despite Romelu Lukaku's double but France eased to a 2-0 victory against Wales.
Bruised and battered by Chris Gayle's mauling on Wednesday, England are faced with a must-win situation as they look for ways to contain South Africa in their ICC World Twenty20 match in Mumbai on Friday.
As we write this we still await the crucial India-Australia knock-out in Mohali. But India's individual performances in the T20 World Cup so far haven't been truly impressive. A look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) table reveals that there's no Indian player in the top 20. MVPI merges a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'. The formula to compute the MVP is devised to reward batsmen who score runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take wickets at low economy rate and fielders who field the best (take a lot of catches and participate in run-outs). Since this is a relatively low scoring tournament we have assumed a team's par score to be 150, and each wicket to be worth 15 'runs'. It isn't a surprise that players from New Zealand dominate the rankings so far, although Joe Root tops the table after his 83 in 44 balls against South Africa.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continued his dream start as Manchester United caretaker manager with a 3-1 Premier League win over Huddersfield on his Old Trafford debut in the dugout on Wednesday.
England captain Alastair Cook scored his first Test century in almost two years but lost his wicket in the final over of the day as the tourists ended the first day of the third Test against the West Indies on 240 for seven.
England and the West Indies advanced to the quarter-finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 following comfortable victories in their decisive Group C and D matches on Tuesday. England overcame Sunday's heart-breaking loss to Sri Lanka by bouncing back to defeat New Zealand by 115 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, while 2004 runners-up West Indies beat Canada by 63 runs at Abu Dhabi Oval 1.
