Sri Lanka to carry on wearing ‘lucky’ yellow shirts

Manchester

Sri Lanka will stick with the yellow shirts they wore in their victory against England as a World Cup lucky charm after getting approval from the International Cricket Council. Dimuth Karunaratne’s side revived their flagging campaign by upsetting the hosts at Headingley to blow the race for the semifinals wide open. Sri Lanka, whose first-choice shirts are predominantly dark blue, will wear their alternative yellow kit in the team’s remaining three group games. “We approved Sri Lanka’s request to carry on wearing yellow as the colour,” an International Cricket Council spokesman said. The 1996 champions next play South Africa on Friday.

LONDON

Australia peaking at the right time in World Cup, says Waugh

Steve Waugh says Australia are "gathering confidence and momentum at exactly the right time" after their comprehensive victory against hosts England guaranteed their place in the semifinals. "Without doubt this was a commanding performance by a team that is gathering confidence and momentum at exactly the right time," Waugh wrote in a column for the ICC. — Agencies

New Delhi

Davis Cup team to visit Pak

An Indian Davis Cup team is likely to travel to Pakistan after 55 years with the national tennis federation (AITA) hinting that the central government will allow the players to compete against the neighbouring country in September. No Indian Davis Cup squad has travelled to Pakistan since March 1964 and in that tie, held in Lahore, India had won 4-0.

London

Kerber, Halep through

Former world No. 1s stormed into the quarterfinals at Eastbourne International today with Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova all sharpening their grasscourt games ahead of Wimbledon. Kerber beat Swede Rebecca Peterson 7-6(4) 6-0 and Pliskova crushed Elise Mertens 6-1 6-2, while Halep emerged 6-1 4-6 6-3 victor against Polona Hercog.

Alexandria (Egypt)

Nigeria beat Guinea 

Nigeria became the first side to advance to the knockout stage of the Africa Cup of Nations as they beat Guinea 1-0, having taken more than an hour to break the deadlock for the second straight match. Nigeria centre-back Kenneth Omeruo scored the only goal of the game after 73 minutes. 

London

Ramkumar bows out  

Ramkumar Ramanathan lost 6-7(5) 3-6 to Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in the second round of the men’s singles qualifying event at Wimbledon. — Agencies