Cricket

Chasing 205, Travis Head slammed 123 as the hosts romped home on day two by eight wickets in the first Test in Perth

A rampaging Mitchell Starc took 7-58 to put England on the back foot before the visitors reduced Australia to 123-9 at stumps

Led by skipper Bavuma, South Africa defied the odds on a turning pitch with inconsistent bounce at Eden Gardens to beat India at their own game of spin

Only three England captains have secured the urn in Australia in the last 50 years, with Andrew Strauss the last in 2010/11

The highly anticipated series gets under way on a fast, bouncy track at a sold-out Perth Stadium and with Ben Stokes's visitors insisting they are not scarred by past failures

Going one-up in Perth could go a long way in England's quest to win back the urn for the first time since 2017/18

England have not won in Australia since 2011, with the Aussies winning their last three home series 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0

South African spinners claimed 12 of the 18 Indian wickets in the match exposing the home batters' vulnerabilities against the turning ball

Michael Vaughan has cheekily pointed out that the tourists could add Ian Botham, 69, and David Gower, 68, to their squad and their average age would still be lower than the Australians

Rizwan scored an unbeaten 61 and opener Fakhar Zaman knocked 55 to guide Pakistan past their target of 212 in 44.4 overs in the third ODI in Rawalpindi

Babar Azam struck his first international century since August 2023, and equaled Saeed Anwar’s record for the most ODI hundreds by a Pakistani batter, 20

Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir assured Sri Lankan Defense Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon of the team's safety, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi says

SLC issued a statement saying it had instructed the team to go ahead with their ongoing tour of Pakistan as scheduled despite an unspecified number of players requesting to return home

Stokes said he was fit and raring to go with both bat and ball and was looking forward to watching pacemen Wood and Archer at work