The Padres’ trend of painfully short starts took on a literal meaning in Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Controversial plans to create a two-tier Test system have been scrapped by cricket’s world governing body after the powerful Indian board led a backlash, senior officials said yesterday.

The traditional pre-meeting press conference at the IAAF Diamond League final in Brussels brought together the two highest profile protagonists in the men’s high jump and women’s 100m yesterday.

Francois Hougaard has been selected on the wing as one of three changes in a revamped South African backline for their Rugby Championship Test against Australia in Brisbane tomorrow.

New Twenty20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed was delighted to end the England tour on a “high note” Wednesday erasing memories of the damaging spot-fixing controversy of their last visit six years ago.

Italy’s Marcello Lippi could return to Chinese top flight side Guangzhou Evergrande on a three-year, 60mn euro ($67.6mn) deal which would make him the world’s highest-paid coach, reports said yesterday.

Portuguese wonderkid Renato Sanches is in line to make his Bayern Munich debut as the Bundesliga champions go to Schalke 04 today evening.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has warned Mamadou Sakho he will have a difficult task to regain his place after a troubled few months.

A senior Qatari official facing a possible two-and-a-half-year ban following a recent FIFA investigation said he hopes a "full and fair" review of his case will exonerate him.

Novak Djokovic remains totally unaffected by the fact that he has reached the semi-finals of the US Open on the back of three walkovers or retirements from opponents.

Novak Djokovic boasts a dozen wins in as many matches against Gael Monfils, but the world number one remains wary of the exuberant Frenchman heading into their US Open semi-final showdown tomorrow.

Karolina Pliskova, a grand slam underachiever, took a big step towards shedding that unwanted label by sweeping past Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh 6-2 6-2 yesterday to roar into the semifinals of the US Open.