Sports
Sri Lanka bank on Mathews to get their campaign back on track
Rex Clementine in Bangalore
Former captain Angelo Mathews is expected to make a comeback today as Sri Lanka take on England in their World Cup fixture here in Bangalore. Mathews wasn’t part of Sri Lanka’s original squad but was drafted in as an injury replacement and now he is expected to feature in the playing eleven, possibly replacing Chamika Karunaratne.
Training was optional for Sri Lanka yesterday and Mathews was one of the two players to turn up for practices with the other being Dunith Wellalage. Mathews had an extended session that involved a net session and fielding practice. He did not bowl but he is expected to send down a few overs at a venue where extra bowling options are a must.
The square boundaries in Bangalore are really small and usually the games here are high scoring ones.
Wellalage too is expected to come into the side replacing Dushan Hemantha.
England, the defending champions, are under the pump, and this is a make-or-break game for them as they have got just two points after four games where they have won only one. Even if England win their remaining five games, they will be on 12 points and would struggle to make it to the semi-finals with their Net Run Rate being so poor.
England have been plagued by injuries to key players, but overall, they have failed to get their act together in the competition and defeat to Afghanistan completely derailed their campaign.
Sri Lanka have not lost a World Cup fixture against England since 1999. In the last 24 years, there have been four World Cup fixtures between these teams and all four have been won by Sri Lanka.
In this campaign, Sri Lanka had a couple of close games in which mistakes cost them the matches. England, meanwhile have been beaten by big margins and have failed to compete.
England (Probable XI):
Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (Captain and wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood.
Sri Lanka (Probable XI):
Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (Captain and wicketkeeper), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka.
Umpires:
Chris Brown (NZ) and Adrian Holdstock (SA)
Third Umpire:
Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match Referee:
Javagal Srinath (IND)
India 503/9 decl (Devdutt Padikkal 117, Dhruv Jurel 115; Asitha Fernando 4-106, Prabath Jayasuriya 2-132) drew with Sri Lanka 290 (Sonal Dinusha 103, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and 429/9 f/o (Sonal Dinusha 133*, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 92; Ravindra Jadeja 3-94, Manav Suthar 3-121)
American golfer Matt Gogel has been suspended for six months for betting on golf tournaments, the PGA Tour has said.
The 55-year-old competes on the PGA Tour Champions circuit which is reserved for professional golfers aged 50 and older.
Gogel did not bet on events in which he was participating but admitted to unknowingly violating PGA Tour policy by placing “small recreational wagers” in 2024 and 2025.
“I would never knowingly violate the integrity of the game of golf,” Gogel said in a statement.
“I made an honest mistake and I look forward to playing in 2027 on the PGA Tour Champions.”
He had two top-10 finishes across 18 PGA Tour Champions events in 2026 and was most recently in action during the Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary, Alberta where he finished tied 30th last week.
Gogel, who has earned more than $760,000 (£559,000) in prize money from Champions events, won the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 2002 – his only victory in 179 starts on the PGA Tour.
His suspension came into effect on 23 August and lasts until 22 February.
[BBC Sports]
Asif Khan the UAE batter, has been banned for 15 months after admitting to having tested positive for a banned substance – “a metabolite of mesterolone” – in an out-of-competition test conducted in September 2025, the ICC said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement said that Asif, 36, “had admitted the violation” of Article 2.1 of the ICC’s anti-doping code and accepted the period of ineligibility “pursuant to a case resolution agreement entered into with the World Anti-Doping Agency and the ICC”, which means there is no right to appeal on the part of the player.
The sanction is effective from September 8, 2025 and will run until December 7, 2026.
“Asif may return to training with a team or use the facilities of a club or other ICC Member organisation from 8 October 2026 but will only be eligible to play from 8 December,” the statement added. “The player’s individual results from 8 September 2025 until his provisional suspension on 29 December 2025 have been disqualified, along with all resulting consequences, including the loss of any medals, points, prize money or prizes.”
Asif, a former Pakistan Under-19 cricketer, made his UAE debut in March 2022 in an ODI against Oman in the ICC’s Cricket World Cup League 2. He turned out in 38 ODIs and 56 T20Is between then and September 2025.
The last three of those T20Is, against India, Oman and Pakistan in the T20 Asia Cup in 2025, came after September 8, and will be removed from his record.
[Cricinfo]
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