Sri Lanka XI 431-6 dec & 44-1 England 272-4 dec

Sri Lanka Board XI 169 England XI 6-0

Andrew Strauss expects Sri Lankan conditions to provide a tough physical test for England.

Ravi Bopara believes England's batsmen must not overplay their recent problems against spin when they take on Sri Lanka.

David O'Leary has asked Fifa to intervene in a contract dispute with his former club Al Ahli.

A retired British businessman extradited to the United States over arms dealing charges will remain in jail this weekend.

Flower leaves batsman out of Test squad and questions wisdom of concentrating on T20

The ousted Yemeni leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, plans to go into exile in Ethiopia, his aides said yesterday, as the newly inaugurated leader, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, took over from his predecessor of 33 years.

Kevin Pietersen's continued good form helped England to a thrilling five-run victory and 2-1 Twenty20 series success over Pakistan to conclude their tough tour of the United Arab Emirates tonight.

England reach the end of their most peculiar tour tonight by playing in front of their largest crowd. The Sheikh Zayed Stadium, another sporting monument which appears to have sprung up among sand dunes, will have a capacity audience for the decisive Twenty20 match against Pakistan.

Bairstow's brilliance sets up today's decider as T20 side learn lessons from Test series

A delayed start for the fourth leg of the Volvo round the world race to avoid severe weather in the South China Sea will see the overall leader Telefonica, of Spain, set off two minutes and 32 seconds ahead of France’s Groupama after an inshore prologue was staged instead of the ocean race start.

For Alastair Cook the moment of truth may already be at hand. Not a year into his captaincy of England's one-day team, three years before the next World Cup in which it is intended he should lead them, it is becoming clearer that if he wants job security he should become Health Secretary.