Sports

LONDON: England fast bowler Jofra Archer was on Tuesday ruled out of the Ashes series against Australia starting next month but a fit-again Jonny Bairstow has returned to the Test squad for the one-off match against Ireland on June 1. Archer spent 17 months on the sidelines following elbow and back injuries before returning to international cricket in January. The …

QUETTA: Wapda’s women’s softball team bagged the first gold on offer at the National Games before their women’s badminton team, lead by Pakistan’s top-ranked Mahoor Shehzad, brought them more glory here on Tuesday. Pakistan Army took gold in the men’s badminton team event and their women’s hockey team advanced to the final where it will face Wapda. Madiha, Ayesha and …

LAHORE: Pakistan international and advisor to the Government of Punjab on sports Wahab Riaz has called for an amicable agreement between the country’s cricket board and its Indian counterpart over the teams’ participation in the Asia Cup and the World Cup later this year. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are …

GILGIT: Two Pakistani women climbers stunned the mountaineering fraternity, and brought glory to their country, on Tuesday by scaling Lhotse, the world’s fourth highest peak at 8,516 metres in Nepal. The feat by Naila Kiani and Nadia Azad comes on the heels of another achievement by them just two days ago when they summited Mount Everest, the highest peak. They …

A second-half goal by forward Lautaro Martinez earned Inter Milan a 1-0 victory over rivals AC Milan in their Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday, sealing a 3-0 aggregate win to book their ticket to the showpiece in Istanbul. Milan recovered some of the spark they lacked in the first leg but Inter’s Martinez put the tie to bed …

BARCELONA: Barcelona claimed their 27th La Liga title and first for four years on Sunday after two first-half goals from Robert Lewandowski spurred them to a comfortable 4-2 victory over city rivals Espanyol. Barca moved to 85 points from 34 matches and extended their lead at the summit to an unassailable 14 points over second-placed Real Madrid. There was little …

LAHORE: Half-centuries from Hamza Nawaz and Shahzaib Khan and three wickets each by Ali Asfand and Arafat Minhas helped Pakistan U-19 beat Bangladesh U-19 by 80 runs in the fifth and final one-day to seal the series 4-1 at the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi on Monday. Chasing 245, Bangladesh were dismissed for 164 in the 37th over despite half-centuries …

SYDNEY: Australian spin king Nathan Lyon dismissed concerns Monday that England could use short boundaries for the upcoming Ashes to supercharge their attacking “Bazball” strategy, saying it worked both ways. The Times in London reported this month that the hosts had discussed bringing in the boundary ropes to the minimum 59 metres permitted by the International Cricket Council. That would help …

LONDON: Cricket chiefs on Monday announced they are scrapping the contentious “soft signal” rule and making helmets mandatory for wicketkeepers standing close to the stumps. The changes, ratified by the International Cricket Council chief executives’ committee, will come into effect on June 1 with the Lord’s Test between England and Ireland. “Umpires will no longer be required to give a …

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unhappy with the proposed new revenue distribution model for international cricket although it accepts that India, the game’s financial engine, should get the biggest share, chairman Najam Sethi told Reuters. The International Cricket Council (ICC), the game’s global governing body, has proposed a new revenue-sharing model for the 2024-27 cycle to be voted on at …