Australia will open the defence of their rugby league crown in a testing clash against England while New Zealand face Samoa after the draw was made yesterday for the 2017 Rugby World Cup.

Mark Bennett is the exception among the British men’s sevens squad named yesterday for the Rio Olympics as he is the only one to have been capped at XV level.

The atmosphere was particularly festive around the Latin American players at baseball’s recent All-Star game.

The Seattle Mariners didn’t follow up their “worst game of the season” on Sunday with an even worse showing on Monday night.

La Liga champions Barcelona said they agreed a one-year extension to their shirt sponsorship with Qatar Airways, increasing the annual value of the deal to around €35m ($38mn), according to Spanish media reports.

Amir, who served three months in an English young offenders institute, returned to international cricket earlier this year

Qatar’s Adel Hussein Abdulla heads to the punishing heat and dust of the Aragon region of Spain to take part in this weekend’s Baja Spain, round five of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

England added premier pace bowler James Anderson, all-rounder Ben Stokes and leg-spinner Adil Rashid to an expanded 14-man squad announced for Friday’s second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford.

Shah’s return of 10 for 141, including Sunday’s second-innings figures of four for 69, was pivotal to Pakistan’s 75-run win over England in the first of a four-Test series at Lord’s on Sunday

Phil Mickelson admitted there was not much more he could have done after being denied British Open glory by Henrik Stenson at Royal Troon on Sunday.

Stenson had arrived at Troon last week regarded as an outsider for the title after a frustrating run at the majors that culminated in his withdrawal from last month’s US Open after playing 16 holes of his second round in 10 over par

Leicester’s record signing Ahmed Musa admits the best decision he ever made was giving up goalkeeping to become a striker so feared that he is looking to make an immediate impact on the Premier League.